O! FORD U NIVE RSITY PRE SS" L ONDON E DINBU RG H G LASG OW T ORONTO ME L B OU RNE , B OMBA Y

MPH REY LFO RD MA . H U MI . PU BLISH ER TO THE U NIVE RSITY PREFATORY NOTE

THIS lecture a s here published differs slightly in form t from what it was as delivered . On the one hand the tex

l a s i to is a litt e longer , want of t me made it necessary

On omit then some passages given in these pages . the

a s il n other hand some of the pieces read lustrations, whe

wa s the lecture delivered, are not reproduced, but are

th e give n by reference to pages of the Oxford Book,

Th e Poetica l Works o Robert Brid es th e f g , excluding

E am ! m il x U ight Dr as Hu phrey M ford, O ford niversity f P 1 1 . ress, 9 3 The di ferent forms and prices of this edition wil l be found at the end .

REA DING S FRO M T H E PO E T LA U RE ATE

WITH AN INTRODU CTION

U NDOU BTE DLY the event of the vacation for u s in O xford, the event of the year in the English literary

world , was the appointment of our neighbour , the friend

P t . of u s . R many of , Mr obert Bridges, to be oe Laureate ’ I t a t The friend of many Of u s . ought to ell you the

outstart that I am an old friend , and I Speak with the

c partiality of an Ol d friend . You may dis ount my it O . pinion , if you will , proportionately But is my belief that it is an event and an appointment of no small or

brief importance . I would begin with one word, or rather really two w ords , of congratulation . I would congratulate Mr .

Bridges in your name and in the name of his university,

of h a s c which he shown himself not only su h a worthy ,

but such a loyal and affectionate son . And I would

c P ongratulate that other son of Oxford , the rime Minister , a n d thank him for not having listened to those in Parlia m t en and elsewhere , who would fain have persuaded ffi him to abolish this historic and picturesque o ce .

The history of the Laureateship is not very well known .

T o recount it would require a spec ial lecture . I will only sa y that it is partly the fault of the poets themselves if it is less continuously creditable than it might have

been . Some years ago I had the Opportunity of hearing ’

. ffi Mr Gladstone s opinion about the o ce . He said to me that the history of the Office wa s curious and seemed 6 Poetica l n a mes of Poets

t b e to Show that an appointmen , to prosperous , required to combine a number of conditions It has had, of

its . course, ups and downs Oddly enough, it was vacant just a hundred years a go this summer by the death of

wa s P e th e then holder , whose name y , a member of my own college . l Mr . Bridges has, in the Co lection of Sonnets entitled The Growth of Love a delightful sonnet in which he notes how by a happy chance so many of the names of the great poets are themselves beautiful and musical , and might seem to have been chosen for their beauty and euphony . t Thus may I hink he writes ,

the adopting Muses chose

Their sons by name, knowing none would be heard r Or w it so oft in all the world as those , S Dan Chaucer , mighty hakespeare , then for third u s The classic Milton , and to arose

Shelley with liquid music in the word .

’ P wa s a n d Mr . ye s name not poetical , however spelt , e was Often made game of . The Laureateship at that tim

wa s u wa s very down . But why it down The fa lt lay not t K P f d with h e ings or the rime Ministers . They had o fere it in the previous c entury to one of the very best poets of the century, to Gray . Gray refused it , in a clever and h e characteristic letter . But in this very letter he said a nd hoped some one might be found to restore its credit , h aving refused, he shortly after wrote the Installation

- Ode , a pre eminently occasional , laudatory, laureate piece containing some splendid and some most beautiful verses, but the concluding lines of which are absolutely in the h s vein w ich he and others di paraged . The star of Brunswick smiles serene

And gilds the horrors of the deep . ’ ‘ ’ Th e poets l a u rel Th e odorou s ba y 7

Infth e year 1 81 3the laurel was offered— again to one — of the best poets of the day to Sir Walter Scott . One of the reasons why Scott declined it was that Gray had

so done . It was then given to Southey, then to Words worth, and then to Tennyson . Tennyson received it as w e all know , Greener from the brows

Of him who uttered nothing base .

Onl l He left it not y greener , but more glorious stil , fragrant and fertile with the flower and fruit of some ’ forty years . The poet s laurel , be it remembered, is the odorous bay Wh en the Exhibition of 1 862 wa s opened and Tenny ’ t son s Ode was sung , one of the newspapers reported tha the poet - laureate was present clothed in his green ba ize

- - A Tennyson died just one and twenty years a go.

child born on the day of his death would , this autumn , exactly have reached his maj ority . Born four or five

so t c years earlier, hat he ould just remember Tenny

- fi - - v e . is son, he would be to day or six and twenty It

e th period of a generation . During all that time the laurel has certainly been , to put it gently , somewhat in

it is n ot is th e shade . But if cut down it an evergreen

su n tree, and once more it is shining in the .

Ha bemu s oeta m l a u rea tu m ! p We have a laureate , in the E E true nglish line of nglish poetry , of Chaucer and Spenser ,

i . of M lton and Gray , of Wordsworth and Tennyson

Ol d But I am not going to praise , or to appraise , my I friend . am not going to attempt any critical study I of his work or his works . have done so before now, and I may perhaps be allowed to mention to you the name of a little volume in which some three- and-twenty years ago I ventured to introduce and commend him to 8 Regin a Ca ra

’ Mil e s s readers of poetry . It was a volume in Mr . A . H . series of the Poets and the Poetry of the Century and it wa s entitled Robert Bridges a n d Contemdmra ry 2 Poets .

I wa s k . . s as ed to do this by Mr Miles , and Mr Bridge himself aided me in the task by giving me a few auto

c biographi al notes, which I still possess , and of which

I made use . Among the contemporary poets whom it contained E were Frederic W . H . Myers , Edward Dowden , rnest

Myers, Gerard Hopkins (with an introduction from ’ ’ O Sh a u h n e ss w Mr . Bridges own pen) , Arthur g y , Andre R E . . . . Lang, dmund Gosse , W E Henley , H D awnsley , R R S . . . L . tevenson , Alice Meynell , A Mary F obinson ,

R K . William Watson, and udyard ipling

1 06 wa s re In 9 , fifteen years later, it revised and Brid es to Ki l in s issued under the title g p g. The ladie were removed to another volume and some new poets were added, a mong them Henry Newbolt and Laurence

Binyon . o to What , with y ur kind concurrence , I should desire

- to do to day is , to ask you to judge, and to help you judge , for yourselves , of this fine poet , for such he is , and his production , giving such amount of introduction and explanation a s may enable y ou to understand h is poems better .

n o b een For it is the truth that his poems have t , and

a s still are not , as well known they ought to be . I find , for instance , that comparatively few know that he has already written a beautiful piece in what might be con sidere d a peculiarly laureate vein . It wa s not written to

al l command and is of course the better for that . It V ’ was written , however , for Queen ictoria s Diamond ’ ‘ R C - . e ina a ra f Jubilee It is headed g , Jubilee Song , or Fa ll en tis semita vita e 9

1 8 Music , 97 It has a characteristic Latin Envoy

6 . It will be found on p . 3 4 of the Oxford edition is t It a commonplace to say tha Mr . Bridges is not

t is . a popular poet . In a sense hat true He has

to ul never sought be pop ar . He does not live in the street . His poetry is not known to the man in the street whether on the pavement or on the top of the s is tram . May I a y that the cult of him not one which falls under the formula

u ad sem er u od u bi u e u od a b omn ibu s P Q p , q q , q

a o th e t He left the street long g , for very reason tha he di d not Wish for this sort of worship .

And country life I praise ,

And lead , because I find The philosophic mind Can take no middle ways Sh e will not leave her love wi a rt To mix th men , her Is all to strive above

t . The crowd, or s and apart

’ So he wrote in th e Invitation to the Country (Oxford edition, p . But his critics sometimes go further than this and sa y l that he has deliberately shunned popu arity, that he has only brought out his poems in the rare edi tions Of a r p ivate press or in separate and isolated pamphlets , hi ’ w ch, like the Sibyl s leaves, he has allowed the winds of chance to scatter , and has never gathered together again .

I do not thi nk that is quite fair . We have all heard of the timid gentlewoman who had f seen better days and was reduced to selling mu fins , and who cried her wares in ever so soft a voice, saying , ’ Mu ffins ! Mu fi n s ! I h o e n ob o will h e ar me I P dy Well , don t k think Mr . Bridges was ever quite li e that , but he has B O Ten n son Brid es a n d th e Du ke o Wellin ton I y , g , f g sometimes reminded me of his own fla me -throated robin of whom he writes

Thus sang he then from his spray

He saw me listening and flew away .

But of this and of h is poems I want y ou to judge for l n we yourselves . If we cou d understand them I thi k

fin d a s o o should that of him , of other p ets, his p ems a ou themselves were the best biography . But th t y may r t ri of unde stand them, I will attemp a b ef outline his

e v h is . car er, gi ing it when I can in own words in 1 8 of u a m . o He was born , then , at W l er , 44 Some y ma y remember the lin es which stood in the ea rliest ’ v ersions of Tennyson s Ode on the Death of the Duk e ofWellington

Where shall we lay the man whom we deplore ’ h n r s He died on Wa e lonely shore .

o Tennyson was nearly six when Waterloo was f ught .

- 8 s 1 2 . He wa forty three when the great Duke died, in 5

his wa s of . Mr . r B idges, in turn, then a boy eight There is a charming autobiographical poem of his styled The Summer House on the Mound which r e o ro desc ibes how he used to watch , through a tel sc pe f m ’ r i an d h ow his fathe s garden , the sh ps in the Channel , , in

r 1 8 sa w E e pa ticular in 54, he the nglish Fl et under

m k al mo Napier a ing its way to the B tic , and a ng the v essels the Admiral ship The Duke ofWellington o ou ma r o m Tennys n , y y remember, hea d the b o ing of the guns at Portsmouth as he wrote Ma ud in th e r of 1 8 a Janua y 54, and he watched the ships of b ttle S o n m l wly creepi g under the cliffs at Freshwater . I re em ‘ ber Mr . Bridges telling me that the Letter to F . D . r Mau ice was a poem he much liked . 1 1 Th e Ba ltic Fl eet, 1 854

’ Let me now read you Mr . Bridges own description .

!Oxford edition , pp . 334

One noon in March upon that anchoring ground Came Napier ’s fleet unto the Baltic bound k se a Cloudless the s y and calm and blue the , ’ f As round Saint Margaret s cli f mysteriously, Those murderous queens walking m Sabbath sleep

Glided i n line upon the vvin dle ss deep . For in those days was first seen low and blac k ’ -ri d — Beside the full gg mast the strange smoke stack, ’ And neath their stern re v ol v d the twisted fan . a s Many I knew soon as I might scan, Ro al G eor e A cre The heavy y g , the bright , Ha u A ax The g e and j , and could name aright O thers that I remember now no more Bu t fla chief, her blue g flying at the fore , W n ith fighting gu s a hundred thirty and one , i Th e Du ke o Well i n ton The Admiral sh p f g , ’ (1 i n i Whereon sail George , who her g g had flown

The silken ensign by our sisters sewn . The i ron Duke himself — whose soldier fame - E ’s t To ngland proudes ship had given her name , And whose white hairs in this my earliest scene ’ ’ h on ou r d a ccu stom d Had scarce more than been, Wa s two years since to his last haven past I had seen h is castle- fla g to fall half- mast sa t se a One morn as I looking on the , ’ a ll E When thus ngland s grief came first to me , ’ Who hold my childhood fa v ou r d that I knew S c t t o well the fa e hat won at Wa erloo .

E A little later Mr . Bridges went to ton . This was i t nl E may certai y be said, fortunate for ton and fortunate — E for him fortunate for him because ton, whatever may b e its failings , is certainly a good school for a poet , not

! its its only from associations , its splendours, delightful

its amenities, but still more from free and varied life . It leaves them more alone , gives them more scope to be t t hemselves , than many schools which are be ter for more

a . E verage, ordinary boys This may be seen in the ton 1 2 E ton a n d h er Poets

S S a ll poets , in Gray and helley, in winburne , and above

in Mr . Bridges .

wa s E c It fortunate for ton , sin e none of her sons have written so happily about Eton and for Eton as he ! none

above all with such ideal truth to her real nature, to

what She was meant to be .

Gray loved her, and in the formal eighteenth century di he scerned and declared her historic tradition , her

dedication to learning . di Ye stant spires , ye antique towers c That rown the watery glade , Where grateful Science still adores ’ Her Henry s holy shade .

Swinburne loved her and h a s written of her beauty and her associations

a nd Still the reaches of the river , still the light on field i h ll , ’ Still the memories held al oft as lamps for hope s young

fire to fill , l l for Shine , and whi e the ight of England lives , shall shine E ngland still .

. Et But Mr Bridges has seen more deeply . on is too

O a s ften thought of, Oxford is also sometimes thought of,

as a place of elegant education for elegant youth , for the

eu n esse dorée j , a smart and fashionable school where a good deal of cricket and rowing and other athletic enjoyment accompany the acquisition of a tincture of the classics , a knowledge of the manners and ways of ’ society and all things fitting gentleman s attire

Mr . Bridges appreciated and enjoyed all this to the full , but he and his best friends found something more in the

St. V i E fo da College of Mary the irg n of ton , the fair u n th e tion of royal and murdered sain t . I wonder whether any here know the Charter of th e E Foundation of ton . It is headed by a beautiful illu mina - Th e Dedication of Eton 1 3

tion representing King Henry VI dedicating his college P to h er atron .

An i ri ofMr . d . o r ntimate f end Bri ges, Mr Li nel Mui head , x or t when they had just left school and were at O f d toge her , painted a picture representing more fully the same m al or dedication , and containing sy bolic p traits of the

b e n . d Dol an . r . f iends , Mr , Mr Stuckey Coles, Mr Bridges himself . o l o i ir Mr . Bridges has m st happi y c mbined th s insp ation and this view of Eton with her other aspects in the charming Eton Ode written for the Ninth Jubilee of

e . the Coll ge (Oxford edition , p

. h as r in m an o Mr Bridges w itten aga , ore th once , ab ut o for Et n , about his own life there , in the Eclogu e the

o . 0 o Fourth of June Oxf rd edition , p 33 , about her sorr w for in in —E her sons , the Ode memory of the Old tonians Whose lives were lost in the South African War (Oxford edition , p . r The same spi it pervades them all . It was a spirit

m a s common to hi self and his friends, may be seen , not o i ai n e nly from th s p nti g of one of th m , but from the u faithf l , vivid, and humorous picture which he has drawn of their little coterie in the memoir wh ich he wr ote ’ s for the edition of his friend Mr . Mackworth Dolb en poems .

At Eton Mr . Bridges was , as might be gathered from his hl o i . poems , a sch lar and an at ete in happy comb nation xf It was the same when he came to O ord . o i He chose Corpus, of which c llege a k nsman of his ,

r P f r . m Dr Tho as Edward B idges, had been resident o

- r o P r twenty one yea s , dying the year bef re the oet Lau eate

was . born He pursued the usual classical course , reading for Greats and taking his degree with Honours in 6 1 8 7. 1 4 Oxford a n d Tra vel

to He had original ly intended seek Holy Orders , and P had c ome to Oxford with introduc tions to Dr . usey

Liddon h is and Canon , who remained friends during his undergraduate time . He gave up this idea , however, and d after his degree travelled with his friend Mr . Muirhea in the East . Later he travelled with this same companion

n o the Continent .

Mr . Muirhead h a s kindly given me in a letter some a ccount of their travels . He writes

1 6 R se a In January 8 8 . B . and I went by to Alex andria, and thence to Cairo , where after spending some m n ti e we went leisurely up the Nile , seeing everythi g we c to l ould , as far as Assouan , and did not return Cairo ti l

n R . . t the begi ning of May . B wro e poems even in those d fin d c - wi ays, and I in my sket h book a small pencil dra ng of him smoking his pipe with th e legend beneath ! ”

R s . . B . a he appeared when he c omposed his ode The ode is no longer in existence unless the Pyramids and the Nile with their eternal recollections (vide

in t t Now win ry deligh s keep it in mind . I have also got a Sketc h of h im writing in one of the temples at P hylae the Nile has now drowned the temple , though

O h a s siris fortunately preserved the poet . In May we went by Jaffa to Jerusalem where we Spent s C everal weeks seeing the surrounding ountry, the Dead R Sea , and going south to Hebron . . was then suddenly summoned to England and I continued my journeyings a lone . 1 8 P In March 74 we went to Italy, seeing isa , Florence, P S R P P m erugia , iena , Orvieto , ome , Naples , ompeii , aestu , S orrento .

1 881 t to In November we wen Amiens , Turin , Genoa, R S Nervi , apallo , pezzia , and to Florence and Rome in Italy a nd th e E a st 1 5

R . 8 2 . R . 1 8 Thence went on to Sicily, leaving me in ome Some of the sonnets in the Growth of Love were written 1 88 -triflin s at Florence in 2 Life g Lions for in tance , I thin k may be so dated— thou gh a great number of the sonnets were written much earlier (the first edition. of some of them was in 1 876) and some of those dealing with Florenc e date from 1 874 ; without much more research than I can give I should be afraid of venturing on ’ dogmatic statement about dates .

This travel widened h is views and gave him in his Own language

Mirrors bright for the magic cave ,

of memory. They gave him in particular a living idea of Greece and Egypt which no book learning alone can supply . I note not a few reminiscences of them in his poem . One of the best instances may be found in a poem of which ‘ a I am speci lly fond , Achilles in Scyros Let me quote one passage from this poem . It is about Achilles and

Homer .

1 0 to But , I am come to give thee j oy, call

Thee daughter , and prepare thee for the sight a s Of such a lover , no lady yet Hath sa t to await in chamber or in bower On any walled hill or isle of Greece

Nor yet in Asian cities , whose dark queens Look from the latticed e a se men ts over seas Of hanging gardens nor doth all the world Hold a memorial not where ZEgypt mirrors The great smile of her kings and sunsmit fanes In timeless silence none hath been like h im

And all the giant stones , which men have piled U o c pon the illustri us dead, shall rumble and j oin h is i The desert dust , ere high dirg ng Muse e Be dispossess d of the throne of song . 1 6 Rowin g a n d th e River

Among his contemporaries and friends at Oxford were k S . an . Dr . anday, Mr Andrew L g , and Mr Gerard Hop ins,

v r 'in te re stin h e a e y g , poetic , pathetic figure , of whom has n a s al written a brief memoir, to be fou d, I have ready Ki i m Brid es to l n . mentioned, in the little volu e , g p g

As an oarsman Mr . Bridges achieved some remarkable successes , stroking the Corpus Eight and carrying it to P th e x the head of the river , while at aris as stroke of O ford E l r r tonians he , I be ieve , perfo med g eater feats still , and ask r h I often find, when I his contempora ies w at he was like , that it was in this capacity that he made the strongest impression on them . I remember well that when I was getting up a list of supporters to nominate him for the Professorship of Poetry I found that Bishop Chavasse had been with h im at Corpus , and with some hesitation I asked the Bishop if he would let me add his name . Most assuredly I will E h im he said . I steered the ight for at Corpus and I have th ’ e greatest respect and regard for him . Th e river may be sai d to stream like a shin ing thread h t rough his poems , and the oarsman is a very frequent

. t is r son figure in them In his he a t ue of Oxford .

ELE G Y

Clear and gentle stream K nown and loved so long , That hast heard the song And the idle dream Of my boyish day While I once again

Down thy margin stray , In the selfsame strain S till my voice is spent , With my old lament

And my idle dream , Clear and gentle stream

1 8 Medicin e in Lon don

i i There is a h ll beside the s lver Thames (Oxford edition , 8 p . 24 ) is again one of the most ch aracteristic and beautiful

h is . n r of pieces A other poem a little later, characte istically headed Indolence (Oxford edition , p . describes a voyage by boat from Oxford to Abingdon . Wh en he came back from travel he determined to study i ’ medic ne . He joined St . Bartholomew s Hospital and m ade himself thoroughly proficient . MB . r x He took the deg ee at O ford, and in course of time held several hospital appointments . In particular f ’ he was on the sta f at St . Bartholomew s and at the l ’ Chi dren s Hospital in Great Ormonde Street . He also practised generally. He much preferred treating young

i i a s i ch ldren to treat ng adults , he very witt ly said , for

n two reasons , firstly that they could not tell him u truths dl about their symptoms , secon y because they were obliged to take the remedies which he prescribed for them .

He was moreover Very fond of children . One of the

i ou t collected works , aris ng, I believe , of his hospital time ,

i . is the poem On a Dead Ch ld (Oxford edition , p

I wonder how many here know it . I will venture, though it is not an easy poem to read, to read it .

ON A DE AD CHILD

ul Perfect little body, without fa t or stain on thee , With promise of strength and manhood full and fair

Though cold and stark and bare ,

The bloom and the charm of life doth awhileremain onthee .

’ Thy moth er s tre a su re wert thou — alas no longer To visit her heart with wondrou s j oy to b e ’ — Thy father s pride ah , he M s t a u t gather his faith ogether, and his strength m ke

stronger . Livin Child 1 Th e Dea d, a n d th e g, 9

, To me , as I move thee now in the last duty Dost thou with a turn or gesture anon respond Startling my fancy fond

t . With a chance attitude of the head, a freak of beau y

’ Thy hand clasps , as twas wont , my finger , and holds it ak i But the grasp is the clasp of Death, heartbre ng and stiff Yet feels to my hand as if ’ i t. Twas still thy will , thy pleasure and trust that enfolds

So l a , I y thee there, thy sunken eyelids closing ff G o lie thou there in thy co in , thy last little bed P ropping thy wise , sad head,

. Thy firm, pale hands across thy chest disposing

— So quiet doth the change content thee Death , whither hath he taken thee

To a world, do I think , that rights the disaster of this

The vision of which I miss , wi Who weep for the body, and sh but to warm thee and awaken thee P Ah little at best can all our hopes avail us

To lift this sorrow, or cheer us, when in the dark , U nwilling, alone we embark , And the things we have seen and have known and have

heard of, fail us .

- off As a set to this sad poem let me read you another, a glad poem on a child . It is entitled The Garland of Rachel The heroine was the little newly-born daughter of m . P Mr Henry Daniel, at that ti e Bursar , now rovost , of was 1 1 . 880 . Worcester College She born on September 7,

It was Mr . Humphry Ward who suggested the Garland after the model of the famous Guirlande de Julie of the

HOtel R l wa s x ambouil et , and it printed the ne t year . There were eighteen contributors ! (1 ) her father himself ;

2 . t P B. () Mr Albert Wa son , afterwards rincipal of N. C. i (in Lat n) (3) Mr . Austin Dobson (4) An drew Lang ! ’ 20 Th e G a rl a n d of Ra chel

6 Ro r ri s (5) John Addington Syrn on ds ( ) Mr . be t B dge ’ (7) Lewis Carroll (8) Sir Richard Harin gton (Latin) m Darm r r . R a estete (9) A . Ma y F obinson , afterwards Mad e ;

1 1 Mr . B 1 0 m o n . ourdill on ( ) Mr . Ed und G sse ( ) Fra cis W

1 . Cou rt O (1 2) W . E . Henley (in French) ( 3) Mr . W . J h pe 1 6 (1 4) Frederick Locker ; (1 5) Mr . Humphry Ward ; ( ) 1 1 8 Mr . Ernest Myers ( 7) Margaret L. Woods ( )

Cr ttw . Mr . C . J . u ell

um . . Mr . Daniel printed the slender vol e Mrs Daniel added the floral lettering or miniation in red ink .

A . ri r P r R . m r Mr. Alf ed a sons, , then a young So e set f end, r an d i and cont ibuted three designs , for head ta l pieces for the tops of the pages . ’ r Here is Mr . B idges poem

’ RACHEL S GARLAND

Press thy hands and crow, ’ Thou that k n ow st n ot j oy

Rouse thy voice and weep, ’ Thou that k n ow st not care ’ toil st Thou that not , sleep ar Wake and wail nor sp e,

Spare not us, that know ’ Grief and life s annoy .

Thine unweeting cries P ’ l assion s a phabet, L o a n d ri ab ur , love, st fe ’ Spell, or e er thou read But the book of life

Hard to learn indeed,

Babe , before thee lies

For thy reading yet .

Thou when thou hast known Joy, will laugh not then i e When gr ef bids the weep , Thou wilt check th y tears ‘ 1 1 La tin l ongs a n d shorts 2

Wh en toil brings not sleep , ’ Thou, for others fears

Fearful , shalt thine own

Lose and find again .

To- day the child for whom the garland was then - i own twined, has a nursl ng of her , and her poet wears the ’ nation s laurel . An other poem belonging to this period and phase

is I will not read . It exceedingly clever and amusing ,

i . but it is in Latin , and I am not lectur ng in Latin It is entitled Ca rmen El egia cu m Roberti Bridges de Nosocomio

o oma ei Londin en si Sti . Ba rth l , and is an account written

‘ so in the longs and shorts dear to Eton , of that hospital P is . and its staff. It addressed to Dr atrick Black, and has a very neat and fluent Introduction dated from 5 2 Bedford

Square, on the Ides of December , and a merry motto

Si qu a videbu n tu r ca su n on dicta l a tin é u it In qu a scribeba m barbara terra f .

ul Indeed, the whole piece is f l of a delightful playful ’ ness . Dear to Eton , I said, and Mr . Bridges himself writes

An deo qu a e qu on da m propter Th a mesina fl u en ta P m te u rogen iem docu it a r Etona s a m.

was 1 8 R It published m 77. It was exhibited at the oyal P ’ . k a College of hysicians on St Lu e s Day l st , when

Dr . Bridges was entertained by the President and Fell ows as the guest of the evening . Another production of his , k one of the wisest and wittiest things of the kind I now , R is not a poem at all , but that very prosy thing a eport an in ra account prose of the treatment , the g tuitous and necessarily rather perfunctory treatment , of the casual ty patients at a London Hospital .

Mr . Bridges became then a Fellow of the Royal College P of hysicians . But as regards his poetry the most 2 2 Poetry a n d Scien ce important effect of this period of his career is the influence of h is medical and scientific study upon his thought . He r a possesses and exhibits a g asp of Natur l Science, so potent a factor in our time , such as will be found in no E nglish poet before Tennyson , and in no other poet in since Tennyson . Good specimens of it may be seen x the He ameter Epistle to L . M . (his friend Mr . Lionel P P Muirhead) , the first of the oems in Classical rosody O B. . ( . p

Fond as he was , however , of Science , and strong as m was his belief in its i portance , he loved poetry better, is and became convinced that it was his vocation . This 2 shown in the Spring Ode (Oxford edition , p . 54)

Thrice happy he , the rare

Prometheus , who can play

With hidden things, and lay New realms of nature bare Whose venturous step has trod

Hell underfoot , and won A crown from man and God s For all that he h a done .

That highest gift of all , Since crabbed fate did flood s My heart with luggish blood , I look not mine to call d But , like a truant free , m Fly to the woods , and clai A pleasure for the deed Of my inglorious name

And am content , denied

The best , in choosing right 5 For Nature can delight Fa n cie s unoccupied With ecstasies so sweet

As none can even guess , Who walk not with the feet

Of j oy in idleness . Th e Sin cere Wooer 23

And still more forcibly in Sonnet 62 in th e Growth

Ox . 1 Love ( ford edition , p 2 3)

G od me n or I will be what made , protest of Against the bent genius in my time,

That science of my friends robs all the best , wa s While I love beauty, and born to rhyme .

Be they our mighty men , and let me dwell o m In shadow am ng the ight shades of old, ’ With love s forsaken palace or my cell o Whence I look forth and all the world beh ld,

An d say , These better days , in best things worse , ’ hi n T s bastardy of time s mag ificence , l r off u Wil mend in fashion and th ow the c rse, o r x l To cr wn new love with highe e cel ence , ’ ’ Cu rs d to tho I be live my life alone , ’ i o My to l is for man s j oy, his j y my own .

A very interesting autobiogr aphic piece which describes

' this period of h is life and his conflict of inclinations is the R o o d ec llecti ns of Solitude (Oxfor edition , p . h im In the end it may be said of that , he was not

d s was isobedient to the heavenly vi ion for indeed, it a call He chose poetry not from ambition but from

for r . love, better , for worse , for richer, for poo er This is o to h w that shy mistress ought be wooed, and how she

is to be won and wedded. He has a beautiful little poem u pon this theme — x o e . 286 (O f rd dition , pp 7)

’ 0 L m t or ove , y muse , how was f me m A ong the best to dare , In thy high courts that b owed the knee With sa crifice and prayer

Their might offeri ngs at thy shrine

Shame me , who nothing bore r of Their suits were mocke ies mine, r so mor I sued fo much e. 24 Th e Growth of Love

Ful l many I met that crowned with b a y ri In t umph home returned, And many a master on the way P roud of the prize I scorned .

I wished no garland on my head Nor treasure in my hand

My gift the longing that me led , mm My prayer thy high co and,

My love, my muse and when I spake ’ ma d st Thou me thine that day , And more than hundred hearts coul d take ’ G a v st me to bear away .

1 882 8 In then , at the age of 3 , he gave up London and

Medicine and retired to the country, and to Berkshire , in un h as which co ty he lived ever since . For a number of a ye rs he had his home at Yattendon , on the downs above

Pan b ou me . ou r an g Now, to adv tage, he is settled near ’ Boar s Hill . His first volume of poems was published in 1 873when

- - was in . an d he n e and twenty It is now exceedingly rare ,

hin - am so are the t , paper covered p phlets which succeeded i it du ring the next few years . Some of the poems conta ned

r . is in in these he has never rep inted There one particular, a very fine Lucretian piece on Nature which I have i O ften wished he would repr nt . In 1 876 he published what must be regarded as one of the most characteristic of his works the sequence of Sonnets entitled The Growth of Love As then given

- to the world it consisted of twenty four numbers . In

1 8 i in 1 880 79, and aga n , he published volumes , entitled P Simply, oems by the author of the Growth of Love 1 88 a Then in 3, the year after he had left London , c me i a notable event in his literary career , the print ng for the first time of one of his plays by his now intimate friend

’ 26 A n drew La n g s Criti cism

r n h is p i ting and publishing poems and plays , now with

. t his friend Mr Daniel , now wi h Messrs . Bell , now with Mr . Edward Bumpus , the plays chiefly with the 3 latter .

wa s n n He not well k ow , but he had his poetic friends , and other good judges spoke up for him from time to time .

. n Letters on Litera tu re Notably Mr A drew Lang , in his , 1 88 i 9, quoted and praised , with equally happy discrim na

o m h is all ti n and war th , several of pieces , above the Elegy on the Lady kil led by grief for the death of her betrothed (Oxford edition , p . ’ It is interesting to read Lang s criticism again to

t 1 88 c day , writ en in 9, nearly a quarter of a entury n a um ago , before Brow ing had published his l st vol e , n or Ten yson his last but one .

R r i s The name of Mr . obert B idges he says , probably stran ge to many lovers of poetry who woul d like nothing better than to mak e acquai ntance with his verse . But

in his verse is not so easily found . This poet never writes magazines his books have not appealed to the public r m by any so t of advertisement , only two or three of the have come forth in the regul ar way . The first was P R in oems , by obert Bridges, Batchelor of Arts the

U e Pa rva se es sa tis est. ! niv rsity of Oxford . g London P c i 1 8 i ker ng, 73

wa s a n This volume presently, I f ncy, withdraw , and the author h as distributed some portions of it in succeed ’

i . a ing pamphlets , or in books pr nted at Mr D niel s private ’ o press in Oxford . In these , as in all Mr . Bridges p ems; di there is a certain austere and indifferent beauty of ction, i and a memory of the old English poets , M lton and the t w earlier lyrists . I remember being grea ly pleased ith the ! Elegy on a Lady whom Grief for the Death of Her Betrothed Killed Th e E a rly Poems 27

Let the priests go before , arrayed in white , - And let the dark stoled minstrels follow slow ,

Next they that bear her , honoured on this night ,

And then the maidens in a double row, E ach singing soft and low, And each on high a torch upstaying U nto her lover lead her forth with light , w With music , and ith singing , and with praying .

is This a stately stanza .

In his first volume Mr . Bridges offered a few rondeaux

r n n as and t iolets , tur i g his back on all these things soon

. as they became popular In spite of their popularity, l I have the audacity to like them sti l , in their humble

in twitterin g way . Much more his true vein were the lines , Clear and Gentle Stream and all the other verses E in which , like a true tonian , he celebrates the beautiful 8 . 2 Thames (Oxford edition , p 4 )

e is Ther a hill beside the silver Thames , Shady with birch and beech and odorous pine And brilliant underfoot with thousand gems

Steeply the thickets to his floods decline . Straight trees in every place

Their thick tops interlace , And pendant branches trail their foliage fine i U pon h s watery face .

e A rushy island guards the sacr d bower ,

And hides it from the meadow, where in peace o The lazy cows wrench many a scented fl wer, Robbing the golde n market of the bees And laden barges float By ba nks of myosote And scented fla g and golden flowe r- de- lys

Delay the loitering boat .

sa t I cannot y how often I have read tha poem , and how delightfully it carries the breath of our river through s the London smoke . Nor less welcome are the two poem 28 G rowing Repu t

on spring, the Invitation to the Country and the R 2 eply (Oxford edition , pp . 5 2

P Fortni htl rofessor Dowden also in the g y , and

. Th u rsfi el d Ti es Mr Humphry Ward and Mr . in the m spoke up for him . 1 8 0 It was about 9 that he began to take his real rank . 1 88 i t In 9 Mr . Daniel repr nted for him the Grow h of

- Love now increased to seventy four sonnets, while he

Pa licio Th e Retu rn o U l sses published four plays , , f y , Th e Christia n Ca tives A chilles in Sc ros wi p , and y , th

Bumpus and with Messrs . Bell , the first edition of the c ollection ca lled the Shorter Poems It was this little volume that made him more widely known . A reprint a 1 8 1 was called for the s me year, and two more in 9 and 1 8 2 94. Its further history will be found on page 2 4 of the Oxford edition .

1 8 1 . In the year 9 it was that Mr Alfred Miles , had the courage and prescience to entitle h is new volume Robert Bridges and Contemporary Poets R 1 8 8 . w In 9 Canon . W Dixon , his old friend, rote a most discerning and emphatic commendation of him for R a series of portraits by Will othenstein, of which more anon .

In 1 899 Messrs . Bell issued a shilling edition of the Shorter Poems to which a fifth book had been added 1 8 sa in 94, and this was again reprinted the me year . 1 8 This same year , 99, saw the publication by a new firm, E l Co. Messrs . Smith , lder , of a col ected edition of all 4 his works in six volumes . This is a very attractive

so- P edition . It contains the called New oems and the plays , and has a number of notes on the history of the poems . 1 0 In 9 3he made another new departure , publishing Mr ni f P with . Da el the first o the oems in Classical Th e Oxford Poets Prose Writin gs 29

Prosody which grew ou t of the theories and experiments h is ri R dl m o o of f end, the a ey Master, Mr . Willia J hns n ’ ill o ersifi Stone . W St ne s v ca tion as he calls it in the of so r first the poems w itten and published, the first, that is , of the Epistles .

1 1 2 r of In 9 , last year , Oxford gave him the deg ee Doctor of Letters ; and in the autumn the U niversity P n h im li ress, to its lasting credit , ra ked ving with the — m al oft! n eu vflofla i 702be a xi a dia a ow w —a nd dead i mort s , , l! im i ri of x P put h nto the se es O ford oets, in the volume

- which I hold in my hand , and am using to day . It was

o . a b ld step , but it has been abundantly j ustified This edition adds to the poems collected before a series - P m ofso called Later oe s which, as will be seen , have

appea red in a variety of periodicals and papers, ranging from the Sh eaf and the Corpus College Pelica n to the n l E n l R Mo th y and g ish eviews . P L r Last July he was appointed oet au eate , and when at the end of the month I asked for a copy of the cheap

ou t. edition, I was told it was all sold There are then seven years wh ich are landmark s in ’ P n 1 8 1 88 the oet Laureate s poetical career, amely, 73, 3, 8 1 1 0 1 8 1 0 1 1 2 1 . 9 , 99, 9 3, 9 , and 9 3 o r d of Besides his verse , he has als w itten a good eal

r t o d . c i icism in pr se , some avowe and some anonymous Speciall y noteworthy ar e the criticisms of Keats which ’ a s l o he wrote an Introduction to Mr . Bu len s editi n, his ’ prose tractate on Milton s Prosody (published with the Clarendon Press in and his recent delivera nce on

En lish Pron u n ia tion m g c issued from the sa e source . These should be remembered by any one wh o wishes to study his r to h is poet y with thoroughness, and understand art and

‘ d its evelopment completely . a now to m ak But I w nt let these poe s spe for themselves, 30 Love a n d th e gen tl e h ea rts

to o o and give, thr ugh them , and in his own language , s me i indication of the character of his genius and h s work . ’ Has it any dominant note I think it has . Tis Love , ’ o re ra in Love, L ve, says the old French f , that makes ’ ’ ’ l Amou r u i l the world go round . C est q fait o in onde

a r . la onde That is the secret of all life . And this ’

r . o is ce tainly Mr . Bridges creed But l ve implies an m a object , it is of any kinds , love of husb nd, wife, child, ’ al and friend, of man in gener , of beauty in man s work, r in all the va ious arts , of the fair face of nature, and

o e . c ntaining and crowning all th se , the love of God r d e r of Mr . B i g s has put his creed into one of the sho ter IV r P . the Sho ter oems No 9 of Book , a little poem that all r has all his art yet his naturalness, his since ity and

di . 2 86 artistic simplicity (Oxford e tion , p )

My eyes for beauty pine , My soul for G oddés grace No other care nor hope is mine

To heaven I turn my face .

One Splendour thence is shed From a ll the stars above ’ ’ e is Tis nam d when God s name said, ’ ’

tis . Tis Love, heavenly Love

a And every gentle he rt,

That burns with true desire , Is lit from eyes that mirror part

Of that celestial fire .

’ Amore e cor entil son u na Every gentle heart . g

- an d cosa as the great Italian lover poet sang . Love ’ a hi the gentle heart are one s me t ng . Mr . Bridges has a had above all , and always , the chiv lrous heart Th e next two poems run division a s the old phrase 1 0 h ow a . was, on the s me theme Number shows us by following truly his true love of beauty he won the unique Love a n d Scorn 3I

reward of the sincere , who are faithful to their love and

. themselves His ambition was to succeed in Science ,

wa s his vocation to succeed in poetry . He followed his

vocation .

I wished no garland on my head

Nor treasure in my hand .

Th e garland is on h is head now and I hope some treasure

in the hand , but just because he did not seek them they

were added to him . Love is the theme of his two longer poems The Growth of Love and Eros and Psyche which takes the old ’ fairy tale of True Love and the Soul , from Apuleius

tinsel setting , and gives of it a new, a healthy and

heavenl y reading .

The poet in a golden clime was born ,

With golden stars above .

Dowered with the hate of hate , the scorn of scorn , v The love of lo e .

So wrote another Poet Laureate in his youth some eighty

a o years g . How does the Poet Laureate of to- day put it (Oxford 0 edition, p . 33)

Since to be loved endures , To love is wise

Earth hath no good but yours,

u . Brave, j oyf l eyes

Earth hath no sin but thine , Dull eye of scorn ’ O er thee the su n doth pine

And angels mourn .

The counterpart of j oy is sorrow , and the measure is i x of love grief . This too is worth ly e pressed in ’

. r mo o c n Mr B idges poems . One of the st t u hi g of them 32 Ma u rice

’ m ro all is the poe on the death of his wife s b ther, Maurice

x n . 0 Waterhouse (O ford editio , p 3 9) I never shall love the snow again Since Maurice died o With c rniced drift it blocked the lane , And sheeted in a desolate plain r The count y side . The trees with silvery rime bedight

Their branches bare . By day no su n appeared by night hidden moon shed thievish light

In the misty air .

We fed the birds that flew around In flocks to be fed

No sh elter in holly or brake they found . The speckled thrush on the frozen ground

Lay frozen and dead .

We skated on stream and pond we cut The crin ch in g snow To Doric temple or Arctic hut

We laughed and sang at nightfall, shut r By the fi eside glow.

Yet gru dged we ou r keen delights before Maurice should come In - - of- We said, door or out door o We shall love life for a month or m re ,

When he is home .

’ They brou ht him home twas two days late For C ristma s day

Wrapped in white, in solemn state, o all a A fl wer in his hand, still and str ight

Our Maurice lay .

And two days ere the year outgave

We laid him low . n ot The best of us truly were brave, When we laid Maurice down in his grave

U nder the snow .

34 Mu si c

’ No wonder if words hav a -grown to blows That matters not while nobody knows

For love him I shall to the end of life , ’

a s r . An be , I swo e, his own true wife

’ ’ ’ An when I am gone, he ll turn, an see ’ ’ His folly an wrong , an be sorry for me ’ ’ An come to me there in the land 0 bliss i To g ve me the love I looked for in this .

‘ ’ Love ofh is c ountry will be found i n the Fair Brass

(Oxford edition , p . a delightful quietly original and

so very characteristic lyric , on a subject apt that it seems

h as strange it never been handled before, and in the P eace Ode (Oxford edition , p . o It remains to speak of two points which g together , of ’ Mr . Bridges knowledge and skill in music , and of his com ff r mand of that rare and di icult art , the art of w iting hymns .

My own knowledge of music is slight . I only know enough to believe that I can see for myself, wh at others ’

is . tell me , that Mr . Bridges knowledge deep and true His love of it certainly breaks out again and again in his poems . He has written an Ode to Music for the Bic entenary Commemoration of Henry Purcell (Oxford E P edition , p . He dedicated ros and syche to the

celestial spirit of the same rare English composer . In the Christian Captives he introduces the music of A n erio

All e ri and g , and he writes charmingly about music in the

in sonnet to Joseph Joachim , and critically about it , P x the first Epistle in Classical rosody (O ford edition ,

p . Of his hymns it is hardly possible to give a fair idea in x a short time , or by one or two specimens . He e cels both

in translation and in origin al work . I first came across r r L a hymn of his , a t anslation f om the atin , in that very Hymn s tra n sl a ted a n d origin a l 35

o Tra n sl ation s rom Pru dentiu s pleasant b ok f , edited by

Re v . his friend the Francis St . John Thackeray, the Mornin g Hymn I was at once attracted by it and

I have always , when I have returned to it, thought it very beautiful . It is , however , somewhat long , and I will only quote the first two stanzas

e t e t Nox tenebrae , nubila d e t Confusa mun i , turbida , in tra t a lb escit Lux , polus , e discedite ! Christus v nit ,

Caligo terrae scin ditu r Percu ssa solis spicu l o Rebusque ja m color redit t n tis Vu ltu ni e sideris .

Night and gloom and cloud The world’s confusion and shroud

Lightenters , the sky grows bright ,

Christ comes, take ye your flight .

The darkness of earth is torn

By the level spears of the morn , The colours return and play

In the smile of the star of day .

1 8 own Th e In 99 he published a Hymn Book of his ,

Yattendon H mnal n al y , a most origi volume based on his own personal experiment and experience with his rustic choir in h is parish church on the Berkshire Downs . It is described a s Hyrrms in Four Parts with English Words n n r R for si gi g in Chu ch , edited by obert Bridges In the preface he makes acknowledgement to h is friend

. i m P Mr Henry Ell s Wooldridge , some ti e the Slade rofessor

n . wa s of Fi e Art , for the music It published in various

Edition de Lu xe is forms . The , at a guinea a part , a m so x agnificent volume , is the ne t largest form , but there are also quite cheap editions procurable at a very 36 Th e Ya tten don Hymna l

m w ! m . e s all p rice, fro Messrs Blackwell . I ill quot one m o . 82 Hy n from this b ok, No

My heart is fill ’d with longing And thick the thoughts come thronging Of my eternal home That all desire ful fill eth And woe and terror stilleth

Ah, thither fain, thither fain would I come .

o Creati n knows no staying , And with the world decaying May love itself decay ! a s Yea , the earth grows older

Her grace and beauty moulder ,

Her j oy of life passeth, passeth away .

0 But Thou , Love supremest , Wh o re dee me st man from woe ,

My Maker, Thee I pray, My soul with night surrounded;

Above the abyss unsounded,

Lead forth to light , lead to Thy heavenly day.

I said at the beginning of this Lecture that I would not myself praise or appraise my friend , but I do not feel th precluded from quoting e appreciation of another . Let me conclude by reviving an appreciation written some

. R sixteen years ago It is that of Mr . ichard Watson

- Dixon . It will be found in the letter press of a volume E n lish Portra its R i entitled g , by Will othenste n , pub lish d 1 8 8 e in 9 , opposite a portrait of Mr . Bridges himself. ” m n A ong them that k ow the writer there says, there is continual wonder that wider recognition is not R given to the genius of obert Bridges . His generation hesitates to place h im where in heart it feels that he ought to be placed but the reason for not doin g a thing i should scarcely be that it ought to be done . The liv ng R . . W Dixon 37

O ne generation ought to give the sign al to posterity. or ir o n two fa pportu ities have been lamentably lost .

One of his dramas contains the most ludicrous situation

His ever invented, another the most pathetic . sonnets are a collection that will stand among the first three or

r . fou , unless his generation befool posterity by its reticence His Shorter Poems are as new an application to nature as photography . To poetry as an art he has rendered h h i a special service . T e influence of s new prosody n is apparent everywhere . We k ow of Milton and of

Keats what we should not have known without him . It is perhaps a pity that the masters so seldom write on one another . If Milton had written on Shakespeare we should have kn own things that we shall never ’ know. The whole is to my mind an excell ent piece of English and an admirable piece of criticism . The author was the — lifelong friend of William Morris and of Bume Jones . He was m an excellent and approved writer himself . A ong

h is them that know to use own phrase , he is accounted ,

Ib eliev e ou r , one of the best of Church historians , and he was also himself a poet . If you would know more of him

m Selected let me commend to you the two little volu es , P m oe s b R. Dix n w W . o ith a Memoir b Robert Brid es y , y g ,

La st Poems o Rich a rd W tso Smith , Elder, and the f a n

Dixon sel ected a nd edited b Robert Brid es , y g , Henry Fr wd 1 o e 0 . , 9 5 x w as r . Di on a warm friend of Mr . B idges Make allow

il a s ance for that friendship if you w l , I have asked you to

i . i do for m ne He put h s opinions strongly . I told him m at the ti e , I remember , how much the strength and ra h cou ge of is words pleased me . He said that he ’ 38 Wordsworth s test had not written when he had th e chance without de i l beration .

Yet friendship is not all a disadvantage to the critic . Is not the deepest truth about a poet that spoken by a poet And you must love him ere to you

He will seem worthy of your love .

If only he could have been spared to know that Bridges’ generation has not befooled posterity by its reticence that the living have given the signal If Dixon coul d have lived to see this day

1 Th is fa ct is state d in a n in te resting l etter ofG ra y to W a lpol e . H is riticizin n d I fe a r c orre ctin th e b ook of a n Oxford e c g , a g, ’ rofe ssor of oe tr S en ce s Pol metis a n d h e sa s p p y , p y , y r r v ra l l i l e n l e s th a t on e mi h h a v e told Th e e a e se e tt eg ct , g t h im of whi ch I n ote d in rea din it h a stil on a e 1 1 a dis , g y p g 3 ’ c ou rse a b ou t ora n ge tree s occ a sion e d b y Virgil s In ter odora tu m r h f n i R m n L r La u re l l a u ri n emu s, wh e e e a c es th e o a a u ru s to b e ou , th u h u n dou b te dl th e b a tre e whi ch is odora tu a n d Ib elie v e o g y y , m, ( ) ’ still c a ll e d La u ra , or A ll oro, a t Rome . 2 A noth e r c ritiqu e ofmin e a pp e a re d in th e Litera ry Yea r Book r fo 1 900 . 3 H u b lish e d E ros a n d Ps ch e Be ll 1 88 Nero Bu m u s e p y , , 5 . , p , ’ F t o Ba cch u s D ni e l 1 88 E l e s M l t s 1 88 Th e ea s a . men t o i on 5 . f , , 9 f ’ Mr Be e ch in s di ion 1 88 P o P di se l a n k Verse in . e t . rosod ara B , g , 7 y f d s n A on istes B ck w e l xf r 1 88 R a i n ed a n Sa m o l a l O o d . eg g , , , 9 4 A se v e n th v ol u me is u n de rstood to b e n ow in pre pa ra tion h i i i n wh ich wil l compl e te t s ed t o u p to da te . ROBERT BRIDGES

OVING th b elov éd L the joy of ear , and well , Home at the last he is come

- and stre arnl ets th e The meadow sweet , of Isis ,

And the gr eate r themes of high Hellenic story

Master of Attic song .

0 e e- i o agl eyed, know ng the l fty music

- e To day the heart of the land with thee rejoic s ,

Hearm of g, far from the murmur city voices magic known Work s b y th e Poe t La ure a te publish e d b y th e O ! FO RD U NIVE RSITY PRESS

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