There are some lines in _In Memoriam_ (I have not the book at hand, but any
reader thereof will instantly recollect them), which indicate Tennyson's
acquaintance with and appreciation of Jeremy Taylor, who thus expresses the
thoughts of the "wild fellow in Petronius," suggested by the sight of a
floating corpse.
"That peradventure this man's wife, in some part of the Continent, safe
and warm, looks next month for the good man's return or, it may be, his
son knows nothing of the tempest: or his father thinks of that
affectionate kiss which is still warm upon the good old man's cheek
ever since he took a kind farewell; and he weeps with joy to think how
blessed he shall be when his beloved boy returns into the circle of his
father's arms."--_Holy Dying._
Compare with "Sure never moon to evening," &c., in the same poem, and I
think the same place: {320}
"Nec nox ulla diem, neque noctem aurora secuta est,
Quae non audierit mistos vagitibus aegris
Ploratus mortis comites, et funeris atri."--_Lucretius_, ii. 579.