A Key to Lord Tennyson's 'In Memoriam' Part 22

be as the Latin _hei mihi_, "woe is me!" See also P. xl., 6.

[31] The early purple orchis is said to bear 200,000 seeds, and perhaps one grows to a plant.

[32] Coleridge says: "The Jacob's ladder of Truth let down from heaven to earth, with all its numerous rounds, is now the common highway on which we are content to toil upward."--_Friend_, viii.

[33] The doctrine of evolution may dispute this statement, and tell us that the type, or form, of the winged lizard of chaos, now fossilized in the rock, has been developed and continued in the reptile of the ditch; but its living self has perished, and its type is gone.

[34] "To die,--to sleep,--no more."--Hamlet.

[35]

"But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still."

[36] The term "toll" is correct--

"When we lament a departed soul We toll."

[37] _Dixitque novissima verba_, ae. iv., 650.

[38] A poem by Catullus (_Carmen_ ci.) who visits his brother's grave, concludes with these lines:

"_Accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu, Atque in perpetuum, frater, Ave, atque Vale._"

_Ave_ is the morning greeting: _Vale_ that of the evening. This seems the like idea to that of the morning and evening star. See P. cxxi., 5.

[39] There is often great charm in the cheerfulness of those who we know have suffered.

[40] See the Poet's own words on this point at the end of Poem XCVII.

[41] "Doubtful sh.o.r.e" may mean that here there may be doubt, whether there has not been a previous existence.

[42] "Thou, as one that once declined," recalls in Hamlet, Act I., s. 5, "To decline upon a wretch, whose natural gifts were poor to those of mine."

[43] Clevedon Church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, is quaint and picturesque in appearance, but not architecturally beautiful. It is an irregular structure, which has evidently been added to at various times, the chancel being the original fisherman's church, and it has a solid square tower. Within the sanctuary is the Hallam vault, on which the organ now stands. Two cliffs, known as Church Hill and Wains Hill, rounded and gra.s.s-grown, that rise on either side, seem to guard and shelter it, with its surrounding churchyard that holds the quiet dead. There are only two bells in Clevedon Church--a small one, on which are three initial letters L. A. C., and a larger one, weighing 25 cwt. which is inscribed--

"I to the church the living call, And to the grave do summon all."--1725.

[44] There are other tablets in this church, which contain touching memorials of the Hallam family. The historian's own death is recorded as having taken place on 21st January, 1859. Mrs. Hallam died 28th April, 1840. Their son Henry Fitzmaurice died at Sienna, 25th October, 1850, aged 26; and he is said, by one who knew him, to have had all the charm and talent of Arthur. On 13th June, 1837, in her 21st year, Eleanor Hallam was suddenly called away, and was buried in the vault where her brother, Arthur, had been laid.

It was after this sad bereavement, that Mr. and Mrs. Hallam made a brief sojourn at Sevenoaks, then unspotted by villas, where they lived in strict retirement. Mr. Hallam only a.s.sociated with Sir John Bayley, the retired judge, who was a kind friend of my own youth. I see the sorrowing couple at church in garments of the deepest mourning: and the fine brow of Mr.

Hallam resting on his hand, as he stood during the service in pensive devotion.--A. G.

[45] The Severn is nine miles wide at Clevedon.

[46] _Consanguineus leti sopor._ aen. vi. 278. See also Iliad xiv., 231, and xvi., 672.

[47] In Tennyson's "Ode to Memory" the lines occur

"The seven elms, the poplars four.

That stand beside my father's door."

[48] The foot of "Maud" opened these fringes by treading on the daisies.

"Her feet have touched the meadows, and left the daisies rosy."

[49] Sir Thomas Browne, in his "Letter to a Friend," says, with reference to some one recently dead, that "he lost his own face, and looked like one of his near relations: for he maintained not his proper countenance, but looked like his uncle."

[50] In "The Two Voices," Tennyson says,

"I know that age to age succeeds, Blowing a noise of tongues and deeds, A _dust_ of systems and of creeds."

And again, in "The Vision of Sin,"

"All the windy ways of men Are but _dust_ that rises up, And is lightly laid again."

Also in Poem LXXI., 3.

"the _dust_ of change."

[51] Shakespeare says,--"Till the diminution of s.p.a.ce had pointed him sharp as my needle."--_Cymbeline_, Act i., s. 4.

Chaucer says,

"And all the world as to mine eye No more seemed than a prike."

_Temple of Fame._

[52] "The Poet Laureate has written his own song on the hearts of his countrymen that can never die. Time is powerless against him," said Mr.

Gladstone, in returning thanks at Kirkwall for himself and Mr. Tennyson.

To both of whom the freedom of the borough was presented, on the occasion of their visit--13 Sept., 1883.

[53] This term is Shakespearean,

"What devil was't That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman-blind."

_Hamlet_, Act iii., s. 4.

[54] A younger sister of Lady Tennyson.

[55] Their scholarly father gave them their first cla.s.sical training. He was a strict tutor, and would make them repeat some odes of Horace before breakfast.

[56] In "The Two Voices" we find the idea that man may pa.s.s "from state to state," and forget the one he leaves behind:

"As old mythologies relate, Some draught of Lethe might await The slipping thro' from state to state."

[57] Miss Emily Tennyson eventually married a naval officer, Captain Jesse.

[58] In this Poem occurs the line

"Arrive at last the blessed goal."