which Carlyle could praise but never practice; but when
he spoke his remarks rarely failed to strike the bell.

Another comrade worthy of special notice was FitzGerald, famous to-day
as the translator of Omar Khayyam, and also as the man whom two great
authors, Tennyson and Thackeray, named as their most cherished friend.
He was living a hermit's life in Suffolk, dividing his day between his
yacht, his garden, and his books; and writing, when he was in the
humour, those gossipy letters which have placed him as a classic with
Cowper and Lamb. From time to time he would come to London for a visit
to a picture gallery or an evening with his friends; and for many years
he never failed to write once a year for news of the poet, whose books
he might criticize capriciously, but whose image was always fresh in his
affectionate heart. Of his old Cambridge circle Tennyson honoured, above
all others, 'his domeship' James Spedding, of the massive rounded head,
of the rare judgement in literature, of the unselfish and faithful
discharge of all the duties which he could take upon himself. Great as
was his edition of Bacon, he was by the common consent of his friends
far greater than anything which he achieved, and his memory is most
worthily preserved in the letters of Tennyson, and of others who knew
him. In London he was present at gatherings where Landor and Leigh Hunt
represented the elder generation of poets; but he was more familiar with
his contemporaries Henry Taylor and Aubrey de Vere. It is the latter who
gives us an interesting account of two meetings between Wordsworth and
his successor in the Laureateship.[27] The occasions when Tennyson and
Browning met one another and read their poetry aloud were also cherished
in the memory of those friends who were fortunate enough to be
present.[28] Differing as they did in temperament and in tastes, they
were rivals in generosity to one another and indeed to all their
brethren who wielded the pen of the writer. To meet such choice spirits
Tennyson would leave for a while his precious solitude and his books.
London could not be his home, but it became a place of pleasant meetings
and of friendships in which he found inspiration and help.

[Note 27: _Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir_, by his son, vol. i, p.
209 (Macmillan & Co.).]

[Note 28: _Robert Browning_, by Edward Dowden, p. 173 (J. M. Dent &
Co.).]

Thus it was that Tennyson spent the quiet years of meditation and study
bef