For further illustrations see _Illust. of Tennyson_, p. 158. [16] Paraphrased from _Odyssey_, vi., 42-5, or _Lucretius_, iii., 18-22. [17] The expression “_crowned_ with summer _sea_” from _Odyssey_, x., 195: νῆσον τὴν πέρι πόντος απείριτος ἐσταφάνωται. The Gardener’s Daughter or, The Pictures First published in 1842. In the _Gardener’s Daughter_ we have the first of that delightful series of poems dealing with scenes and characters from ordinary English life, and named appropriately _English Idylls_. The originator of this species of poetry in England was Southey, in his _English Eclogues_, written before 1799. In the preface to these eclogues, which are in blank verse, Southey says: “The following eclogues, I believe, bear no resemblance to any poems in our language. This species of composition has become popular in Germany, and I was induced to attempt it by an account of the German idylls given me in conversation.” Southey’s eclogues are eight in number: _The Old Mansion House_, _The Grandmother’s Tale_, _Hannah_, _The Sailor’s Mother_, _The Witch_, _The Ruined Cottage_, _The Last of the Family_ and _The Alderman’s Funeral_. Southey was followed by Wordsworth in _The Brothers_ and _Michael_. Southey has nothing of the charm, grace and classical finish of his disciple, but how nearly Tennyson follows him, as copy and model, may be seen by anyone who compares Tennyson’s studies with _The Ruined Cottage_. But Tennyson’s real master was Theocritus, whose influence pervades these poems not so much directly in definite imitation as indirectly in colour and tone. _The Gardener’s Daughter_ was written as early as 1835, as it was read to Fitzgerald in that year (_Life of Tennyson_, i., 182). Tennyson originally intended to insert a prologue to be entitled _The Antechamber_, which contained an elaborate picture of himself, but he afterwards suppressed it. It is given in the _Life_, i., 233-4. This poem stands alone among the Idylls in being somewhat overloaded with ornament. The text of 1842 remained unaltered through all the subsequent editions except in line 235. After 1851 the form “tho’” is substituted for “though”.