nd here the poet obtained his extensive knowledge of the
English classics. When only twelve years old he wrote an epic of 6000
lines, and two years later a drama in blank verse. Tennyson's early
knowledge of the sea was obtained at Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire
coast, where the family spent their summer holidays. His father would
not allow him to leave Somersby until he could recite from memory the
whole of the odes of Horace.

In the early part of 1831 he returned to Somersby from Cambridge, and
within a few days his father died. The new incumbent, however, allowed
the family to continue at the rectory for some years. In 1837 they were
finally obliged to leave, and for the next three years they lived at
High Beach, Epping Forest.

[Illustration: SOMERSBY RECTORY.

Where Alfred Tennyson was born in 1809.]

GLASTONBURY ABBEY

=How to get there.=--Train from Waterloo. South-Western Railway.
=Nearest Station.=--Glastonbury and Street.
=Distance from London.=--132-1/4 miles.
=Average Time.=--Varies from 3-1/2 to 5 hours.

1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=--Single 21s. 0d. ... 10s. 6d.
Return 36s. 9d. ... 21s. 0d.

=Accommodation Obtainable.=--"George Hotel," "Red Lion Hotel,"
"Crown Hotel," etc.
=Alternative Route.=--Train from Paddington. Great Western Rly.

In the early days of Christianity in Britain this celebrated abbey,
according to tradition, was established in A.D. 63. Joseph of Arimathea
was supposed to be the founder, and the "miraculous thorn," which
flowered on Christmas Day, was believed to be holy by the common people
even up to the time of the Puritans. During the wars between Charles I.
and his Parliament the thorn was destroyed, but sturdy trees grown from
cuttings of the original still flourish in some of the neighbouring
gardens. This thorn was believed by the people to be the staff used by
Joseph in his journey to Britain from the Holy Land. At one time
Glastonbury Abbey covered 60 acres, and was the lengthiest
ecclesiastical building in England, but as many of the houses in
Glastonbury, and also a causeway across Sedgemoor (where the unhappy
Duke of Monmouth was defeated) were constructed of the materials, the
ruins are of necessity much diminished. The most interesting remains are
the Abbey Church, with St. Joseph's Chapel, St. Mary's Chapel, and the
Abbot's Kitchen. St. Joseph's Chapel is supposed to have been erected in
the time of Henry II.