ed to Farringford
at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, a residence subsequently purchased
with the proceeds of _Maud_, published in 1855. The poem had a somewhat
mixed reception, being received in some quarters with unstinted abuse and
in others with the warmest praise. In the year that _Maud_ was published
Tennyson received the honorary degree of D.C.L., from Oxford. In 1859
was published the first four of the _Idylls of the King_, followed in
1864 by _Enoch Arden and Other Poems_. In 1865 his mother died. In 1869
he occupied Aldworth, an almost inaccessible residence in Surrey, near
London, in order to escape the annoyance of summer visitors to the Isle
of Wight, who insisted on invading his privacy, which, perhaps, more than
any other he especially valued.

From 1870 to 1880 Tennyson was engaged principally on his dramas--_Queen
Mary_, _Harold_, and _Becket_,--but, with the exception of the last,
these did not prove particularly successful on the stage. In 1880
_Ballads and Poems_ was published, an astonishing volume from one so
advanced in years. In 1882 the _Promise of May_ was produced in public,
but was soon withdrawn. In 1884 Tennyson was raised to the peerage as
Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Farringford, after having on two previous
occasions refused a baronetcy. In 1885 _Tiresias and Other Poems_ was
published. In this volume was published _Balin and Balan_, thus
completing the _Idylls of the King_, which now assumed their permanent
order and form. _Demeter and Other Poems_ followed in 1889, including
_Crossing the Bar_. In 1892, on October 6th, the poet died at Aldworth,
"with the moonlight upon his bed and an open Shakespeare by his side." A
few days later he was buried in Westminster Abbey, by the side of Robert
Browning, his friend and contemporary, who had preceded him by only a few
years.

Carlyle has left us a graphic description of Tennyson as he was in middle
life: "One of the finest--looking men in the world. A great shock of
rough, dusky dark hair; bright, laughing hazel eyes; massive aquiline
face--most massive yet most delicate; of sallow brown complexion, almost
Indian-looking; clothes cynically loose, free-and-easy; smokes infinite
tobacco. His voice is musically metallic--fit for loud laughter and
piercing wail, and all that may lie between; speech and speculation free
and plenteous; I do not meet in these late decades such company over a
pipe! We shall see what he will grow to