ir fairy telescopes out of the garrets of Fleet Street. I,
alas!--though I sought assiduously--could mark nothing of the
kind."

Nothing of the kind was there. Why should anything of the kind be
there? Her poetry has been one of England's divinest treasures: but
of her population a very few understand it; and the shrine has always
been guarded by the elect who happen to possess, in varying degrees,
certain qualities of mind and ear. It is, as Mr. Gosse puts it, by a
sustained effort of bluff on the part of these elect that English
poetry is kept upon its high pedestal of honor. The worship of it as
one of the glories of our birth and state is imposed upon the masses
by a small aristocracy of intelligence and taste.

Mr. Gissing's Testimony.

What do the "masses" care for poetry? In an appendix Mr. Gosse prints
a letter from Mr. George Gissing, who, as everyone knows, has studied
the popular mind assiduously, and with startling results. Here are a
few sentences from his letter:--

(1) "After fifteen years' observation of the poorer classes of
English folk, chiefly in London and the south, I am pretty well
assured that, whatever civilising agencies may be at work among
the democracy, poetry is not one of them."

(2) "The custodian of a Free Library in a southern city informs
me that 'hardly once in a month' does a volume of verse pass over
his counter; that the exceptional applicant (seeking Byron or
Longfellow) is generally 'the wife of a tradesman;' and that an
offer of verse to man or woman who comes simply for 'a book' is
invariably rejected; 'they won't even look at it.'"

(3) "It was needless folly to pretend that, because one or two of
Tennyson's poems became largely known through popular recitation,
therefore Tennyson was dear to the heart of the people, a subject
of their pride whilst he lived, of their mourning when he died.
My point is that _no_ poet holds this place in the esteem of the
English lower orders."

(4) "Some days before (the funeral) I was sitting in a public
room, where two men, retired shopkeepers, exchanged an occasional
word as they read the morning's news. 'A great deal here about
Lord Tennyson' said one. The 'Lord' was significant. I listened
anxiously for his companion's reply. 'Ah, yes.' The man moved
uneasily, and added at once: 'What do you think about this