The solemn burial
service was conducted by the aged Dean, doomed, not long after,
to follow the beloved poet to his own final resting-place
near by.
The choir sang two anthems, both by Tennyson--"Crossing the
Bar" and "Silent Voices"--the music of the latter by Lady
Tennyson.
The grave lay next to Robert Browning's, hard by the monument
to Chaucer. I looked into it and saw the oaken coffin with
the coronet on the lid.
The pall-bearers were the Duke of Argyle, Lord Dufferin,
Lord Selbourne, Lord Rosebery, Mr. Jowett, Mr. Lecky, Mr.
Froude, Lord Salisbury, Dr. Butler, Head of Trinity, Cambridge,
Sir James Paget, Lord Kelvin and the United States Minister.
The place of Mr. Lincoln, who had gone home on leave of absence,
was taken by Mr. Henry White.
After depositing the body, the bearers passed the seat where
I sat, one by one, pressing through between two rows of seats,
so that their garments touched mine as they went by.
The day was cloudy and mournful, blending an unusual gloom
with the dim religious light of the Abbey. But just as the
body was let down into the earth, the sun came out for a moment
from the clouds, cheering and lightening up the nave and aisles
and transepts of the mighty building.
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