,
when that poet was young, asked him to write an elegy on his
grandmother, who had recently died, and when it was written gave him ten
shillings, with the remark, "There, that is the first money you have
ever earned by your poetry, and, take my word for it, it will be the
last." How little he foresaw at that time the fame and fortune which the
youth's poetry was to bring him, and the lasting honor he was to bestow
upon the family name! That name was already an honorable one, for the
Tennysons were an old family, and had good blood in their veins. The
home was the old rectory of Somersby, where George Clayton Tennyson,
LL.D., held sway in the old-time priestly fashion for a lifetime. He is
described as a man of strong character and high principle, full of
accomplishments, and gifted withal; a strikingly handsome man, with
impressive manners. Twelve children were given to his hands, of whom
Alfred was the third. The eldest, Frederick, and the second, Charles,
were both poets, and not without merit,--especially Charles, who
published a volume of sonnets, which gave great pleasure to so good a
judge as Coleridge; and the Laureate is himself very fond of his
brother's work.

The children led a very free and unconstrained life in that beautiful
part of Lincolnshire, and had a few friends to whom they attached
themselves for life. Arthur Hallam was Alfred's intimate, and later on
he became engaged to one of his sisters. Young Hallam's early death was
the first shadow upon their lives. But who would not willingly die at
twenty-three to be immortalized in such a poem as "In Memoriam"?

Of Arthur Hallam's own quality as a poet we get a pleasant glimpse in
the sonnet addressed to his betrothed when he began to teach her
Italian:--

"Lady, I bid thee to a sunny dome,
Ringing with echoes of Italian song;
Henceforth to thee these magic halls belong,
And all the pleasant place is like a home.
Hark, on the right, with full piano tone,
Old Dante's voice encircles all the air;
Hark yet again, like flute-tones mingling rare
Comes the keen sweetness of Petrarca's moan.
Pass thou the lintel freely; without fear
Feast on the music. I do better know thee
Than to suspect this pleasure thou dost owe me
Will wrong thy gentle spirit, or make less dear."

After Tennyson had made his first literary successes, and after the
family life at Somersby was broken up, we next hear of him through a
warm and life-long frien