It must suffice man and woman to
"Walk this world
Yoked in all exercise of noble end,"
of a more practical character, while woman is at liberty
"To live and learn and be
All that not harms distinctive womanhood."
This was the conclusion of the poet who had the most chivalrous
reverence for womanhood. This is the eirenicon of that old strife
between the women and the men--that war in which both armies are
captured. It may not be acceptable to excited lady combatants, who
think man their foe, when the real enemy is (what Porson damned) the
Nature of Things.
A new poem like The Princess would soon reach the public of our day,
so greatly increased are the uses of advertisement. But The Princess
moved slowly from edition to revised and improved edition, bringing
neither money nor much increase of fame. The poet was living with
his family at Cheltenham, where among his new acquaintances were
Sydney Dobell, the poet of a few exquisite pieces, and F. W.
Robertson, later so popular as a preacher at Brighton. Meeting him
for the first time, and knowing Robertson's "wish to pluck the heart
from my mystery, from pure nervousness I would only talk of beer."
This kind of shyness beset Tennyson. A lady tells me that as a girl
(and a very beautiful girl) she and her sister, and a third, nec
diversa, met the poet, and expected high discourse. But his speech
was all of that wingless insect which "gets there, all the same,"
according to an American lyrist; the insect which fills Mrs Carlyle's
letters with bulletins of her success or failure in domestic
campaigns.
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