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THE TENNYSON PORTRAITS.
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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,