298 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



That seems to me a very pleasant letter, expressing his 

 position very clearly. Of course, he had no rudeness to 

 apologize for, as I told him, and though I do not think we 

 met very often afterwards, we continued very good friends. 



While residing at Godalming, I made the acquaintance 

 of William Allingham and his wife — the poet and the artist — 

 who then lived at Witley — I think it was about the years 

 1886 or 1887. Mr. Allingham "told me that Tennyson 

 wished to see me, and would be glad if I would come some 

 day and lunch with him, A day was fixed, and I accom- 

 panied Mr. Allingham to the beautifully situated house on 

 Blackdown, near Haslemere, where the poet lived during the 

 summer. Lord Tennyson did not appear till luncheon was 

 on the table, but in the mean time we had seen Lady Tenny- 

 son and her son and daughter-in-law, and been shown round 

 the grounds. After luncheon we four men retired to the 

 study, with its three great windows looking south-east over 

 the grand expanse of the finely wooded Weald of Kent. 

 Here Tennyson lit his pipe, and we sat round the fire and 

 soon got on the subject of spiritualism, which was evidently 

 what he had wished to talk to me about. I told him some 

 of my experiences, and replied to some of his difficulties — the 

 usual difficulties of those who, though inclined to believe, 

 have seen nothing, and find the phenomena as described so 

 different from what they think they ought to be. He was 

 evidently greatly impressed by the evidence, and wished to 

 see something. I gave him the names of one or two 

 mediums whom I believed to be quite trustworthy, but 

 whether he ever had any sittings with them I did not hear. 



Then we talked a little about the tropics and of the 

 scenery of the Eastern islands; and, taking down a volume 

 he read, in his fine, deep, chanting voice, his description of 

 Enoch Arden's island — 



" The mountain wooded to the peak, the lawns 

 And winding glades high up like ways to heaven, 

 The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes, 

 The lightning flash of insect or of bird, 



