than the words they quote, so I dare say that brings us right in the
end.

Then there is the quotation about "a very parfitt gentil knight," or
words to that effect. At the moment of writing it down I felt that my
version was so correct that I would go to the scaffold for it; but
at this very instant a doubt insinuates itself. Is "parfitt" with two
"t's" the right spelling?

It is related somewhere that TENNYSON and EDWARD FITZGERALD once
conspired together to see which of them could write the most
Wordsworthian line, and that the result was:--

"A Mr. Wilkinson, a clergyman."

But there was no need for TENNYSON to go beyond his own works in
search of such an effect. He had already done the thing; and this was
his effort, which occurs in _The May Queen_:--

"And that good man, the clergyman, has told me words of peace."
This sounds as if it could not be defeated or matched, but matched it
certainly was in _Enoch Arden_. After describing _Enoch Arden's_ death
and the manner in which he "roll'd his eyes" upon _Miriam_, the bard
informs us:--

"So past the strong heroic soul away.
And when they buried him the little port
Had seldom seen a costlier funeral."

But I feel that I have strayed beyond my purpose, which was to claim