. Memories of the Tennysons . auty of the terraced garden atHarrington Hall ; the huge old moat, where theolder Harrington Hall once stood ; the little copsenear with its quaint tussock grasses,—all these weresure to touch the imagination of the growing boys. But it was not only that Lincolnshire, its sightsand scenes, soaked into the minds of the Tennysonboys and girls, just at the time when these mindswere most receptive and the dewy-dawn of memoryfreshest; the language of Lincolnshire also enteredinto their ears, and this, such pure dialect as the colonyof Danes, who in olden time peopled t
. Memories of the Tennysons . auty of the terraced garden atHarrington Hall ; the huge old moat, where theolder Harrington Hall once stood ; the little copsenear with its quaint tussock grasses,—all these weresure to touch the imagination of the growing boys. But it was not only that Lincolnshire, its sightsand scenes, soaked into the minds of the Tennysonboys and girls, just at the time when these mindswere most receptive and the dewy-dawn of memoryfreshest; the language of Lincolnshire also enteredinto their ears, and this, such pure dialect as the colonyof Danes, who in olden time peopled the trianglebetween Boston, Horncastle, and Louth, had kept inpurity quite till the middle of the present century. More than fifty years had passed since LordTennyson left his fathers homeland, but he neverseemed to me to be so entirely his best self aswhen, brimming over with humour, he repeated, inthe broad Lincolnshire dialect, some of the quaintconversations that he had in his bygone days withthe typical northern oa OS wso SOMEKSBY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 5 His poets ear was as practised as a blind manstouch, and he remembered the least modificationsand variety of tone, as he spoke or read the dialectof the old countryside. Anyone who knows thedialect to-day and listened to him could see whereand what changes had taken place in it for theworse during the last two generations. It was fortunate for the Tennysons that thechurches near their home were not without monu-ments of the knightly days of old. In SpilsbyChurch the famous Willoughby Chapel told of atime of chivalry ; in Harrington Church, within twomiles of their fathers door, lay one of the best pre-served of the Crusader effigies in Lincolnshire. Themonument of old Sir John de Halton, as he wascalled, lay cross-legged in the Halton HolegateChurch, whither the boys would often go, for theold rector, Hardwicke Rawnsley, was one of fastest friends ; but that monument,though the armour was well prese
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