i8 9 2 DEATH OF TENNYSON 359 



This view of Tennyson appears again in a letter to Sir 

 M. Foster, the Secretary of the Royal Society : — 



Was not Tennyson a Fellow of the Royal 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 under- 

 stand the work and tendency of the men of science. 



But this was not the only side from which he regarded 

 poetry. He had a keen sense for beauty, the artistic per- 

 fection of expression, whether in poetry, prose, or conversa- 

 tion. Tennyson's talk he described thus : " Doric beauty is 

 its characteristic — perfect simplicity, without any ornament 

 or anything artificial." 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 

 insensibility 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 told me of one long talk he had had 

 with Tennyson, and added that immortality was the one dogma 

 to which Tennyson was passionately devoted. 



Of Browning, Huxley said: " He really has music in him. 

 Read his poem The Thrush and you will see it. Tennyson said 

 to me," he added, " that Browning had plenty of music ift him, 

 but he could not get it out." 



Eastbourne, Oct. 15, 1892. 



My dear Tyndall — I think you will like to hear that the 

 funeral yesterday lacked nothing to make it worthy of the dead 

 or the living. 



Bright sunshine streamed through the windows of the nave, 

 while the choir was in half gloom, and as each shaft of light 

 illuminated the flower-covered bier as it slowly travelled on, 

 one thought of the bright succession of his works between the 

 darkness before and the darkness after. I am glad to say that 

 the Royal Society was represented by four of its chief officers, 

 and nine of the commonalty, including myself. Tennyson has 

 a right to that, as the first poet since Lucretius who has under- 

 stood the drift of science. 



