LECTURE ON TENNYSON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 107, 9 May 1902, Page 2

LECTURE ON TENNYSON.

Considering the we.vthor, there was r.r: excellent attr-ndanc-' ;it Whi::el y\ Memmhl Hall on Thursday evening to }]<}. i- tho Rev. A. H. C llins'lecture »n "Tennyson's debt to the Bible." No: doubt the fame of the lecturer wan! larg-lv i esponsibl•; for good attendance, j and apait from the subject im't,ero f , the lcctui« it was an elocutionary effort' of a very high order. Mr Collins has , an admirable flow of langu»go, a welltrained and nicely-modulated voiee, is a c'fiver-word p'tint' r, and pucceods in holding the interon. of Id's audience ti the fullest extent, jftlr.oget.her, the lecture was a treat not often enjoyed ii; New Plymouth, being exceedingly interesting and instructive. The chair wan lalcn by hU Worship the Mayor (Mr E. Do-ikrill), who expressed th.9 pleasure it gave him t'i preside, and briefly introduced the lecturer. Mr Collins, in dealing with his subject, said it had been claimed that every hook printed was in some way indebted to the Bible. He then ran through a list of authors and poets, comprising all the best known, whose works c 'atainod some direct or indirect reference to Bibla stories or Bible characters. A Frenchman had said that no book so largely influenced the British rac l , and it was mainly due to the tendancy of the Saxon mind to drag religion and morality into everything tb«y undertook. The lec'urer then dwelt on the influence of the Bible on our race; it was the counsctting link between all classes of society and a bond of union between the English fpe.iking people in t-vtry part of the globe. It was a grand thing that men like Lord Tennyson and Browning were eminently Christian men. The lecturer then dwelt on the high personal character and the influence his poems Had given. Vandyke had stated that Tennyson's po»ms contained no less than 300 direct quotations from Scripture; another author had put them down at 450. He then went on to illustrate his subject by quoting passages whero either direct referance to Scripture was made or the incident

was clearly b>sed on Bible story, the] reading of the various quotations being not the least effective and interesting portion of the leocure. Mr Collins claimed that poetry was superior to painting and sculpture to illustrate oo«,'s meaning. As an instanca o" Lord Tennyson as a dramatic writer, he referred to the poem "In the Children's Hospital." To give Mr Collins a rest Mrs Bigebw hero read the poem in a very effective manner.

Mr Collins, continuing, said he had | not called attention to the subject of I his lec'ure because the Bible needed I the patronags of gr at inon, but to| emphasise the ereafness, power, and I loving force of the Book itself, which was so lible to impress itself and, in- 1 fluence the work of ihe greatest of < ur secular writers. Mr Ooll ; ns concluded by giving a splet.did reading of Rizp^h,, doing fu'l justice to the weird, but! pathetic tale. Boring tho evening Ambury R.mg "The B-ook," Miss Nixon "Too Late," Miss Goodacre "Home they brought her warrior dead," and Miss Drew " Crossing the Bar." A vo' e of thanks was pacsad to the lrctiirer on the motion of the Rev. S. S Osborne, seconded by Mr Green ; to the chairman on the motion of the Rev. Collins, seconded by Mr H, Goodscre, and to the ladies who eang on the motion of the Rev. Woollay, who closed the meeting with the Benediction.