CHAPTER XIII.
THE TENNYSON PORTRAITS.
1.
A Crayon drawing by Samuel Lawrence.
The earliest published portrait of Tennyson. A lithograph of this portrait by J. H. Lynch (12 by 10 in.) was published at Cambridge by E. Roe, 14, King's Parade. An engraving from it by J. C. Armytage, with a facsimile of the poet's autograph, appeared in the second volume of "A New Spirit of the Age," edited by R. H. Horne. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. 1844.
2.
Bust by Thomas Woolner.
Mr. Euskin, in his " Notes on the Eoyal Academy Exhibition," 1857 (p. 37), says: "It is much to be regretted that Mr. Woolner's highly wrought bust of Tennyson was not sent here instead of to Manchester, as we might then have compared in it and in Mr. Brodie's two conceptions of the noble head, each containing elements which are wanting in the other." This bust is now the property of Trinity College, Cambridge, where it is placed in the vestibule of the Library.
3.
Photograph by Mayall. 1856.
Engraved in the "National Magazine," November,
1856.
4.
Medallion by Thomas Woolner.
An engraving of this medallion appeared in the illustrated edition of Tennyson's Poems, published by Edward Moxon in 1857.
5.
Two Photographs published by Cundall and Downes.
Two Oil Paintings by G. F. Watts, R.A.
The first of these was exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862. An engraving from it, by James Stephenson, 1512 by 1134 inches, was published by Colnaghi, of Pall Mall.
*** The most wonderful, perhaps, of all the portraits, and reminding us of Tennyson'a own lines in "Elaine":
Divinely, thro' all hindrance, finds the man
Behind it, and so paints him that his face,
The shape and colour of a mind and life,
Lives for his children, ever at its best
And fullest."
Mr. Watts's second portrait of Tennyson, with a background of laurel, was exhibited at Gambart's Gallery in 1867.
7.
Photographs by W. Jeffrey. 1863-1865.
8.
Photograph by Mayall, published June, 1864.
9.
Various Photographs by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.
10.
Photographs by Elliott and Fry, 55, Baker-street, Portman-square.
11.
Two Photographs by Rejlander.
12.
A new Medallion by Thomas Woolner.
Published by Moxon and Co. in 1865. An engraving of it is given in the illustrated edition of "Enoch Arden."
13.
A series of most wonderful Photographs by Mrs. Cameron, of Freshwater, a personal friend of the poet, 1865—1867.
*** Mrs. Cameron informed me, as long ago as September, 1865, that Tennyson had sat to her no fewer than seventeen times; and since then she has exhibited several new portraits of him even finer than the first series.
I cannot better close this chapter than by one or two personal notices. The first is by Mr. Charles Knight, who had the privilege of meeting the poet at the chambers of his friend, John Forster:
"Mr. Forster and I," he says, "became more intimately associated about the middle of the century. In his chambers in Lincoln's Inn he frequently gathered around him a small circle of men of letters. Those who sat at his hospitable board were seldom too few or too many for general conversation. There I first met Tennyson, and there Carlyle. In familiar intercourse, such as that of Mr. Forster's table, Mr. Tennyson was cordial and unaffected, exhibiting, as in his writings, the simplicity of a manly character, and, feeling safe from his chief aversion, the digito monstrari, was quite at his ease."[1]
Tennyson is thus described by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Manchester Exhibition, July 30, 1857):
"While I was among the Dutch painters, ——— accosted me. He told me that the 'Poet Laureate' (as he called him) was in the Exhibition rooms, and, as I expressed great interest, was kind enough to go in quest of him. Not for the purpose of introduction, however, for he was not acquainted with Tennyson. Soon Mr. ——— returned, and said that he had found the Poet Laureate, and, going into the saloon of the old masters, we saw him there, in company with Mr. Woolner, whose bust of him is now in the Exhibition. . . . .
"Gazing at him with all my eyes, I liked him well, and rejoiced more in him than in all the other wonders of the Exhibition.
"How strange that in these two or three pages I cannot get one single touch that may call him up hereafter!
"I would most gladly have seen more of this one poet of our day, but forbore to follow him; for I must own that it seemed mean to be dogging him through the saloons, or even to look at him, since it was to be done stealthily, if at all.
"He is as un-English as possible—indeed, an Englishman of genius usually lacks the national characteristics, and is great abnormally.
"Un-English as he was, Tennyson had not, however, an American look. I cannot well describe the difference, but there was something more mellow in him—softer, sweeter, broader, more simple than we are apt to be. Living apart from men as he does would hurt any one of us more than it does him. I may as well leave him here, for I cannot touch the central point."
The following graphic account of a visit to Tennyson is from a work by Mr. Bayard Taylor, another accomplished American writer:
"I had so long known the greatest of living English poets, Alfred Tennyson, not only through his works, but from the talk of mutual friends, that I gladly embraced an opportunity to know him personally, which happened to me in June, 1857. He was then living at his home, the estate of Farringford, near Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. I should have hesitated to intrude upon his retirement, had I not been kindly assured beforehand that my visit would not be unwelcome. The drive across the heart of the island, from Newport to Freshwater, was alone worth the journey from London. The softly undulating hills, the deep green valleys, the blue waters of the Solent, and the purple glimpses of the New Forest beyond, formed a fit vestibule of landscape through which to approach a poet's home.
"As we drew near Freshwater, my coachman pointed out Farringford, a cheerful gray country mansion, with a small, thick-grassed park before it, a grove behind, and beyond all, the steep shoulder of the chalk downs, a gap in which, at Freshwater, showed the dark-blue horizon of the Channel. Leaving my luggage at one of the two little inns, I walked to the house, with lines from 'Maud' chiming in my mind. 'The dry-tongued laurel' shone glossily in the sun, the cedar 'sighed for Lebanon' on the lawn, and 'the liquid azure bloom of a crescent of sea' glimmered afar.
"I had not been two minutes in the drawing-room before Tennyson walked in. So unlike are the published portraits of him[2] that I was almost in doubt as to his identity. The engraved head suggests a moderate stature, but he is tall and broad-shouldered as a son of Anak, with hair, beard, and eyes of southern darkness. Something in the lofty brow and aquiline nose suggests Dante, but such a deep, mellow chest-voice never could have come from Italian lungs.
"He proposed a walk, as the day was wonderfully clear and beautiful. We climbed the steep comb of the chalk cliff, and slowly wandered westward until we reached the Needles, at the extremity of the island, and some three or four miles distant from his residence. During the conversation with which we beguiled the way, I was struck with the variety of his knowledge. Not a little flower on the downs, which the sheep had spared, escaped his notice, and the geology of the coast, both terrestrial and submarine, was perfectly familiar to him. I thought of a remark which I had once heard from the lips of a distinguished English author, that Tennyson was the wisest man he ever knew, and could well believe that he was sincere in making it.
"I shall respect the sanctity of the delightful family circle, to which I was admitted, and from which I parted the next afternoon, with true regret. Suffice it to say that the poet is not only fortunate and happy in his family relations, but that, with his large and liberal nature, his sympathies for what is true and noble in humanity, and his depth and tenderness of feeling, he deserves to be so."[3]
Again, in another part of the same book:
"I spent two fortunate days at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, the residence of Tennyson. In the scenery round about the poet's residence, I recognized many lines of 'Maud.' He lives in a charming spot, looking out on one side over the edges of the chalk cliffs, to
The silent sapphire-spangled marriage-ring of the land,'
and on the other, across the blue channel of the Solent, to the far-off wavy line of the New Forest on the northern horizon. Never shall I forget those golden hours spent with the noble poet and noble man, on the rolling windy downs above the sea, and under the shade of his own ilex and elm!"[4]
In August, 1859, Mr. Tennyson made a fortnight's tour in Portugal, in company with Francis Turner Palgrave, who has published a journal of the little expedition in which it was his privilege to enjoy such companionship.[5]
The following passages from the Remains of Arthur Clough will be very interesting read in connexion with the poem entitled "In the Valley of Cauteretz."[6]
"Mont Dore-les-bains, July 21, 1861.
"August 8.
"The Tennysons are at Bigorre. I am very glad to have the prospect of joining them.
"August 31.
"September 1.
"The Tennysons arrived at 6.30 yesterday. Tennyson was here with Arthur Hallam thirty-one years ago, and really finds great pleasure in the place; they stayed here and at Cauterets. 'Œnone,' he said, was written on the inspiration of the Pyrenees, which stood for Ida.
"September 6.
"Tennyson and ——— have walked on to Cauterets, and I and the family follow in a calèche at two.
"Cauterets, September 7.
"To-day is heavy brouillard down to the feet, or at any rate ankles, of the hills, and little to be done. I have been out for a walk with A. T. to a sort of island between two waterfalls, with pines on it, of which he retained a recollection from his visit of thirty-one years ago, and which, moreover, furnished a simile to 'The Princess.' He is very fond of this place, evidently."[7]
During his visit to England, while staying in the Isle of Wight, Garibaldi paid a visit to Tennyson. This ever-memorable meeting took place on the afternoon of Friday, 8th April, 1864.[8] Garibaldi stayed an hour and a half, and, at the request of the poet's wife, he planted a Wellingtonia Gigantea in the grounds.
- ↑ "Charles Knight: Passages of a Working Life" (London, 1865), iii. 39-40.
- ↑ It must be remembered that this refers to the year 1857, and probably to Lawrence's early portrait, a copy of which had been prefixed to the American editions of the poems.—Ed.
- ↑ "At Home and Abroad: a Sketch-book of Life, Scenery, and Men," by Bayard Taylor (London, 1860), pp. 445, 446.
- ↑ "At Home and Abroad," p. 372.
- ↑ "Under the Crown:" a magazine, Nos. 1 and 2.
- ↑ Published in 1864, in the "Enoch Arden" volume.
- ↑ "Remains of Arthur Hugh Clough," vol. i. pp. 264-269.
- ↑ There is an engraving representing Garibaldi's arrival ("Meeting of Garibaldi and Tennyson at Farringford House") in the "Illustrated London News," vol. xliv. (April, 1864), p. 381.