A writer in the Boston _Transcript_ notices the fact that even men
eminent in literature are not above borrowing from each other, and
sometimes display the borrowed article as their own:
When Tennyson's "In Memoriam" appeared, a certain poet was standing in
the Old Corner Bookstore, turning over the leaves of the freshly-printed
volume, when up stepped a literary friend, of rare taste and learning in
poetry, saying to the poet,---
"Have you read it?"
"Indeed I have!" was the answer; "and do you know it seems to me that,
in this delightful book, Tennyson has done for friendship what Petrarch
did for love."
This was too neat a _mot_ for the literary friend to forget. That
afternoon, he called upon a lady on Beacon Hill, and noticing a copy of
"In Memoriam" on her table, saw his opportunity.
After the usual greetings, he took up the book. "Have you read it?" he
asked.
"Yes," said the lady, "and I have enjoyed it greatly."
"So have I," said her visitor, "and do you know that it seems to me that
in this charming poem Tennyson has done for friendship what Petrarch did
for love."
"Indeed," rejoined the lady, adding, with a mischievous smile, "Mr.
------" (naming a well-known essayist and critic) "called this morning,
_and said the same thing_."
Who it was that originated the apt comparison remains an unsolved
mystery to this day.
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