Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1884 — An Indignant Poet. [ARTICLE]

An Indignant Poet.

T. Buchanan Read, the dead poet, a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, was in London in the summer oi 1861, and was invited to meet Tennyson at the house of a common friend. He went with eagerness and' enthusiasm to see the illustrious singer, who figured in his mind* as the striking, h&ndaoipe, hoble-looking creature whose portrait, taken in his younger days, is so familiar. An introduction revealed a very dissimilar person, a thin-faced, fussy man, with scant hair, blue glasses, and round shoulders—the reverse of his ideal: Immediately the Briton broke out with: “I wish to say, Mr. Read, that I have in the past had a liking for your country; but, as it is now plainly going to the dogs, I feel bound to tell you that yon must not look for sympathy or aid from ns Englishmen.” Very properly nettled at-such unpardonable rudeness, Read replied, with heat: “Do not disturb yourself, Mr. Tennyson, about our country. We don’t care a—— either for you or your aid and sympathy. It is not worth having under any circumstances. We propose te fight this thing out ourselves, regardless of Europe. John Bull and his noble family can go to for all us. We Americans are not going that way just at present” This insohmt response, as Read himself said, instead of offending the elder poet, seemed to have a mollifying effect. “After that,” to use his own words, “Tennyson treated hie quite decently, and spoke very kindly of America and Americans. If I had allowed his effrontery to pass in silence, he would have had no respect for me. The only way to get on with Englishmen who bully you is to bully them in turn.”— London letter.