A child's recollections of Tennyson (1906) (14592559759)

Lane, Farringford
Identifier: childsrecollecti00elli (find matches)
Title: A child's recollections of Tennyson
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Ellison, Edith Nicholl Bradley
Subjects: Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892
Publisher: New York, E.P. Dutton and company
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN



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riting. But to go back to our playtimes.Those games of the imagination OF TENNYSON ^9 played by us in Maidens Croftwere really best beloved of all. Maidens Croft, well known toall the poets friends, was part ofthe Farringford estate ; and thoughwe often played the same gameswhen Hallam and Lionel came tosee us at our own home, themagic of the Croft was somehowmissing. 5o A CHILDS RECOLLECTIONS Chapter III Maidens croft, through which runs the path from Farring-ford to the now famous BeaconDown, is a long, tree-borderedmeadow. A lane — a real Englishlane, shut in by moss-grown,flower-strewn banks, as shown inthe picture — divides the Croftfrom the lawns and groves sur-rounding the house. A rusticbridge crosses this roadway, andalmost underneath the bridge is thelittle green postern-gate of whichI spoke before. The Croft wasconstantly used by the poet as anoutdoor study, and when he wasthere no one else was permitted tocross the bridge. Usually he pacedthe length of the meadow, back
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LANE, FARRINGFORD OF TENNYSON 5i and forth, composing and meditat-ing, but sometimes he wrote inthe picturesque summer-house hehad had built halfway along themeadow. It was octagonal inshape, and was fitted with benchesand a table, and, as his son tells,the poet had himself painted on itswindows marvellous dragons andsea-serpents. The great man safely out ofthe way, with some chosen com-panion, on his daily walk toBeacon Down, stirring times some-times arrived for that summer-house, and this sacred building wastransformed into a castle. Thensprang over the bridge little knightsand squires of high degree, bearinglances of reed and shields of closelyplaited rushes. Terrific were the 52 A CHILDS RECOLLEGTIOJNS onslaughts upon that castle, gallantits defence, and many a splendidhorseman bit the dust. Or thegreensward of Maidens Croft be-came in imagination lists, whereonwere held gorgeous jousts andtournaments, witnessed by high-born ladies, sumptuously arrayed.The sole cause of dispute a