"
In November 1870 The Last Tournament was begun; it was finished in
May 1871. Conceivably the vulgar scandals of the last days of the
French Imperial regime may have influenced Tennyson's picture of the
corruption of Arthur's Court; but the Empire did not begin, like the
Round Table, with aspirations after the Ideal. In the autumn of the
year Tennyson entertained, and was entertained by, Mr Huxley. In
their ideas about ultimate things two men could not vary more widely,
but each delighted in the other's society. In the spring of 1872
Tennyson visited Paris and the ruins of the Louvre. He read Victor
Hugo, and Alfred de Musset, whose comedies he admired. The little
that we hear of his opinion of the other great poet runs to this
effect, "Victor Hugo is an unequal genius, sometimes sublime; he
reminds one that there is but one step between the sublime and the
ridiculous," but the example by which Tennyson illustrated this was
derived from one of the poet's novels. In these we meet not only the
sublime and the ridiculous, but passages which leave us in some
perplexity as to their true category. One would have expected Hugo's
lyrics to be Tennyson's favourites, but only Gastibelza is mentioned
in that character. At this time Tennyson was vexed by
"Art with poisonous honey stolen from France,"
a phrase which cannot apply to Hugo. Meanwhile Gareth was being
written, and the knight's song for The Coming of Arthur.
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