h in Shakspeare's case is
the more distressing, when we consider that "Mr. W. H., the only
begetter of these ensuing sonnets," was, in all likelihood, William
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, a man of noble and gallant character, but
always of licentious life.

As for _Lycidas_, we must confess that the poetry--and we all know how
consummate it is--and not the affection, seems uppermost in Milton's
mind, as it is in ours. The other element, though quick and true, has no
glory through reason of the excellency of that which invests it. But
there is no such drawback in _In Memoriam_. The purity, the temperate
but fervent goodness, the firmness and depth of nature, the impassioned
logic, the large, sensitive, and liberal heart, the reverence and godly
fear, of

"That friend of mine who lives in God,"

which from these Remains we know to have dwelt in that young soul, give
to _In Memoriam_ the character of exactest portraiture. There is no
excessive or misplaced affection here; it is all founded in fact; while
everywhere and throughout it all, affection--a love that is
wonderful--meets us first and leaves us last, giving form and substance
and grace, and the breath of life and love, to everything that the
poet's thick-coming fancies so exquisitely frame. We can recall few
poems approaching to it in this quality of sustained affection. The only
English poems we can think of as of the same order, are Cowper's lines
on seeing his mother's portrait:--

"O that these lips had language!"

Burns to "Mary in Heaven;" and two pieces of Vaughan--one beginning

"O thou who know'st for whom I mourn;"

and the other--

"They are all gone into the world of light."

But our object now is, not so much to illustrate Mr. Tennyson's verses,
as to introduce to our readers what we ourselves have got so much
delight, and, we trust, profit from--_The Remains, in Verse and Prose,
of Arthur Henry Hallam_, 1834; privately printed. We had for many years
been searching for this volume, but in vain; a sentence quoted by Henry
Taylor struck us, and our desire was quickened by reading _In Memoriam_.
We do not remember when we have been more impressed than by these
Remains of this young man, especially when taken along with his friend's
Memorial; and instead of trying to tell our readers what this impression
is, we have preferred giving them as copious extracts as our space
allows, that they may judge and enjoy for themselves. The italics are