1892 VIEWS ON TENNYSON 269 



With this may be compared one of Mr. Wilfrid 

 Ward's reminiscences {Nineteenth Century, August 

 1896). 



" Huxley once spoke strongly of the insight into 

 scientific method shown in Tennyson's In Memm-iam, 

 and pronounced it to be quite equal to that of the 

 greatest experts." 



This view of Tennyson appears again in a letter to 

 Sir M. Foster, the Secretary of the Eoyal Society : — 



Was not Tennyson a Fellow of the Eoyal Society ? 

 If so, should not the President and Council take some 

 notice of his death and delegate some one to the funeral 

 to represent them ? Very likely you have thought of it 

 already. 



He was the only modern poet, in fact I think the only 

 poet since the time of Lucretius, who has taken the trouble 

 to understand the work and tendency of the men of 

 scienca 



But this was not the only side from which he 

 regarded poetry. He had a keen sense for beauty, 

 the artistic perfection of expression, whether in poetry, 

 prose, or conversation. Tennyson's talk he described 

 thus : " Doric beauty is its characteristic — perfect 

 simplicity, without any ornament or anything arti- 

 ficial." And again, to quote Mr. Wilfrid Ward's 

 reminiscences :— 



Tennyson he considered the greatest English master of 

 melody except Spenser and Keats. I told him of 

 Tennyson's insensil:>ility to music, and he replied that it 

 was curious that scientific men, as a rule, had more 

 appreciation of music than poets or men of letters. He 



