6 copies of the volume were sold in a few weeks. Four more Idylls-The Coming of Arthur,' The Holy Grail,' 'Pelleas and Ettarre,' and 'The Passing of Arthur' (in which the Morte d'Arthur' of 1842 was incorporated) — were published ten years later, in 1869, when forty thousand copies of the book were ordered in advance. The Last Tournament' and Gareth and Lynette' were added in 1872. Meanwhile Enoch Arden,' etc., had appeared in 1864, and The Window' had been privately printed in 1867. Sundry poems had also been contributed to magazines, and were included in 'The Holy Grail and Other Poems' of 1869. In 1875 the drama of 'Queen Mary' was given to the world, and in 1877 that of Harold.' The former, in a condensed and altered form, was put on the stage in 1876 with moderate success, but the latter has never been acted. In 1879, as already stated, 'The Lover's Tale,' withdrawn in 1833, was published, with the addition of a third part entitled 'The Golden Supper.' Later in the same year, 'The Falcon,' a one-act play based on the well-known story of Count Federigo and Monna Giovanna from Boccaccio that had been already told in verse by Barry Cornwall and Longfellow, was produced at the St. James Theatre in London. In the Ballads and Other Poems' of 1880 certain pieces contributed to the Nineteenth Century' in 1877-1879 were gathered up, with others that had not been previously printed. Early in 1881, 'The Cup,' a tragedy in two acts, was brought out at the Lyceum Theatre, under the direction of Mr. Irving, and had a very successful run. In November, 1882, a fourth drama by Tennyson was acted in London a prose work called 'The Promise of May.' Late in 1883 it was announced that the Queen had offered a peerage to Tennyson, and that he had accepted it. It had been offered him twice before (in March, 1873, through Mr. Gladstone, and in December, 1874, through Mr. Disraeli) and had been declined; but he probably felt that it would be ungracious to refuse it a third time. He was gazetted Baron of Aldworth and Farringford, on the 18th of January, 1884. Among the letters he received on the occasion was one from an old woman named Susan Epton, who had been in the service of the poet's father and afterwards lady's maid to Mrs. Tennyson. I have received many letters of congratulation,' Tennyson remarked in a letter to a friend, 'some from great lords and ladies; but the affectionate remembrance of good old Susan Epton and her sister touched me more than all these.' There were those, however, who found fault with the Laureate for consenting to become Lord Tennyson. 'Not only could no fame accrue to him from a title, but it was urged that, by taking one, he was scarcely true to his own ideals, at all events, that he did not rise to the height of his own inspiration.' I know of no better answer to this than has been made by an American and a republican. Mr. Stedman (Victorian Poets,' revised ed., 1887, p. 422) says: 'When the Laureate was raised to the peerage a station which he twice declined in middle life he gained some attention from the satirists, and his acceptance of rank no doubt was honestly bemoaned by many sturdy radicals. It is difficult, nevertheless, to find any violation of principle or taste in the acceptance by England's favorite and official poet of such an honor, bestowed at the climax of his years and fame. Republicans should bear in mind that the republic of letters is the only one to which Alfred Tennyson owed allegiance; that he was the first citizen" of an ancient monarchy, which honored letters by gratefully conferring upon him its high traditional award. It would be truckling for an American, loyal to his own form of government, to receive an aristocratic title from some foreign potentate. Longfellow, for example, promptly declined an order tendered him by the King of Italy. But a sense of fitness, and even patriotism, should make it easy for an Englishman, faithful to a constitutional monarchy, to accept any well-earned dignity under that system. In every country it is thought worth while for one to be the founder of his family; and in Great Britain no able man could do more for descendants, to whom he is not sure of bequeathing his talents, than by handing down a class privilege, even though it confers no additional glory upon the original winner. Extreme British democrats, who openly or covertly wish to change the form of government, and even communists, are aware that Tennyson does not belong to their ranks. He has been a liberal conservative: liberal in humanity and progressive thought, strictly conservative in allegiance to the national system. As for that, touch but the territory, imperil the institutions of Great Britain, and Swinburne himself — the pupil of Landor, Mazzini, and Hugo- betrays the blood in his veins. Tennyson, a liberal of the Maurice group, has been cleverly styled by Whitman a "poet of feudalism;" he is a celebrator of the past, of sovereignty and knighthood; he is no lost leader, "just for a ribbon" leaving some gallant cause forsworn or any song unsung. In all fairness, his acceptance of rank savors less of inconsistency than does the logic of those who rail at the world for neglect of genius, and then upbraid them both for coming to an understanding.' Early in 1885 Lord Tennyson published the drama of 'Becket,' and at the close of the same year the volume entitled 'Tiresias and Other Poems,' the larger portion of which had not previously appeared in print. Balin and Balan' in this volume concluded the series of Arthurian idyls. The book was dedicated to Robert Browning. In 1886 Locksley Hall Sixty Years After' appeared, — forty-four years after the first 'Locksley Hall' electrified the literary world. The volume also included three poems contributed to the 'Times' and other periodicals during 1885. In 1889 Demeter and Other Poems' came out, twenty thousand copies of which were sold within a week after publication. As the work of an octogenarian it was every way remarkable. The Laureate's eightieth birthday, August 6, 1889, called forth many tributes both in prose and verse on both sides of the Atlantic. The romantic play of 'The Foresters,' founded on the story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, was produced at Daly's Theatre in New York, March 17, 1892, and was published soon afterwards. On the 6th of October of the same year Lord Tennyson died after a brief sickness, and was buried in the Poet's Corner' of Westminster Abbey on the 12th. The volume entitled 'The Death of Enone, Akbar's Dream, and Other Poems,' which was in press at the time of his death, was published a few weeks later. For fuller information concerning the poet and his works, the reader may be referred to the 'Memoir' (2 vols., London and New York, 1897) by his son, the present Lord Tennyson. CAMBRIDGE, May, 1898. W. J. R. |