Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892 -- Friends and associates
A few years later Tennyson published the memorial lines in the volume
called _Demeter and other Poems_, which show how closely his observant
mind had taken in the character of his friend:
Farewell, whose living like I shall not find,
Whose Faith and Work were bells of full accord,
My friend, the most unworldly of mankind,
Most generous of all Ultramontanes, Ward,
How subtle at tierce and quart of mind with mind,
How loyal in the following of thy Lord!
[Illustration: HORATIO TENNYSON.]
Freshwater was in those days seething with intellectual life. The Poet
was, of course, its centre, and that remarkable woman, Mrs. Cameron, was
stage-manager of what was for us young people a great drama. For Tennyson
was still writing the "Idylls of the King," which had so greatly moved the
whole country, and we felt that we were in the making of history. There
were many in Freshwater who were keenly alive to their privilege. Even
among the permanent residents in the neighbourhood there were not a few
who were worthy of remark, and Farringford was very hospitable and often
added to their number some of the most interesting people in England. Mrs.
Cameron herself was one of the well-known Miss Pattles, a sister of the
late Lady Somers and Lady Dalrymple. She was a great wit and a most
original and unconventional woman, with an enthusiasm for genius and for
art. Her large artistic photographs are a permanent record of the
remarkable people who congregated from time to time round the Poet's home
in the island. They include Carlyle, Ruskin, Tyndall, Darwin, Lord
Dufferin, Palgrave, D. G. Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Lecky, Aubrey de Vere,
Sir Henry Taylor, Herschell, Longfellow, Auberon, Herbert, Pollock,
Allingham, and many another. Among other residents I would name the Rev.
Christopher Bowen, a man of very unusual ability, though he never had
enough ambition to become famous. His sons--Lord Justice Bowen and Mr.
Edward Bowen of Harrow--are better known. Then there were the Poet's two
remarkable brothers, Horatio and Arthur Tennyson, and two fine old
admirals, Sir Graham Hamond and Admiral Crozier. Then again from 1874
onwards we had at the Briary G. F. Watts, and Mrs. Cameron's sister, Mrs.
Prinsep and her husband, with Mr. Val Prinsep as an occasional guest. A
little earlier Sir John Simeon was still living at Swainston, and was one
of Tennyson's most intimate friends. Again, Mrs. Grosvenor Hood and Mrs.
Brotherton were both people for whom literature and art counted for much.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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