Those who are familiar with Tennyson's poems know how exalted is his ideal of woman as wife and mother. Lady Tennyson seems to have met the poet's exacting requirements almost perfectly. What sort of helpmeet she has been he lovingly portrayed in the "Dedication,"--a tender tribute that was fully deserved. "His most lady-like, gentle wife," Fitzgerald called her. Of superior education and talent, she was a worthy companion for an author. A number of her husband's songs she has set to music. She has never sought public recognition. Content with the round of duties in a domestic sphere, she has lived for husband and children. Their married life has been exceptionally harmonious.[6] In 1852, the Laureate's largely increasing income enabled him to purchase an estate of more than four hundred acres near Freshwater, Isle of Wight. In the lines, "To the Rev. F. D. Maurice," dated January,[7] 1854, the poet depicts his pleasant life in this delightful retreat: Where, far from noise and smoke of town, I watch the twilight falling brown All round a careless-order'd garden Close to the ridge of a noble down. You'll have no scandal while you dine, But honest talk and wholesome wine, And only hear the magpie gossip Garrulous under a roof of pine: For groves of pine on either hand, To break the blast of winter, stand; And further on, the hoary Channel Tumbles a breaker on chalk and sand. In 1855, Tennyson received the honorary degree of D. C. L. from Oxford.[8] His prosperity continued--there being considerable profits from judicious investments and immense sales of his books. In 1867, he bought an estate near Haslemere, Surrey, "for the purpose of enjoying inland air and scenery." Here he built a fine Gothic mansion, which is an ideal residence for a poet. Aldworth House is situated far up on Blackdown Heath, and overlooks a lovely valley. It is near the northern border of Sussex. "The prospect from the terrace of the house," says Church, "is one of the finest in the south of England." The poet thus pictures the place which has been his summer home for more than twenty years: Our birches yellowing and from each The light leaf falling fast, While squirrels from our fiery beech Were bearing off the mast, You came, and look'd, and loved the view Long-known and loved by me, Green Sussex fading into blue With one gray glimpse of sea. In 1883, the Laureate had amassed property estimated to be worth £200,000. He was offered and accepted a peerage during the latter part of this year, and became Baron of Aldworth and Farringford, January 24, 1884. He took his seat in the House of Lords March 11. In 1865, he declined a baronetcy offered by the Queen as a reward for his loyal devotion to the Crown. Whatever distinction may attach to the honorable name of Lord Tennyson, the majority of his numerous readers prefer to call him plain Alfred Tennyson.