l
gods.

The June of 1872 brought to Browning the sad news of the death of his
wife's dearest friend, Isa Blagden. "A little volume of Isabella Blagden's
poems was published after her death," writes Thomas Adolphus Trollope.
"They are not such as would take the world by storm, but it is impossible
to read them without perceiving how choice a spirit their author must
have been, and understanding how she was especially honored with the
friendship of Mrs. Browning."[14]

On the publication of "Red Cotton Night-cap Country," Browning sent a
first copy to Tennyson, and the Laureate's son says of it: "Among the
lines which my father liked were

'Palatial, gloomy chambers for parade,
And passage lengths of lost significance';

and he praised the simile about the man with his dead comrade in the
lighthouse. He wrote to Mr. Browning: 'My wife has just cut the leaves. I
have yet again to thank you, and feel rather ashamed that I have nothing
of my own to send you back.'"

An entry in Tennyson's diary in the following December notes: "Mr.
Browning dined with us. He was very affectionate and delightful. It was a
great pleasure to hear his words,--that he had not had so happy a time for
a long while as since we have been in town."

Tennyson's "Queen Mary" was published in 1875, and on receiving a copy
from the author Browning wrote expressing thanks for the gift, and even
more for "Queen Mary the poem." He found it "astonishingly fine"; and he
adds: "What a joy that such a poem should be, and be yours." The relations
between the two great poets of the Victorian age were always ideally
beautiful, in their cordial friendship and their warm mutual appreciation.

In a note dated in the Christmas days of 1876 Browning writes:

MY DEAR TENNYSON,--True thanks again, this time for the best of
Christmas presents, another great work, wise, good, and beautiful. The
scene where Harold is overborne to take the oath is perfect, for one
instance. What a fine new ray of light you are entwining with your
many-colored wreath!...

All happiness befall you and yours this good season and ever.[15]

The present Lord Tennyson, in his biography of his father, makes many
interesting allusions to the friendship and the pleasant intercourse
between the poets. "Browning frequently dined with us," he says, "and the
_tete-a-tete_ conversations between him and my father on every imaginable
topic were the best talk I have