W.E.H. Lecky

Henry Herschel Hay Cameron (1852 - 1911)

RA Collection: Art

William Lecky visited Alfred Tennyson at Farringford towards the end of the 1860s. In his reminiscences he describes how during long walks with Tennyson, he gained much insight into Tennyson's way of thinking, and how Freshwater society had, at that time, a singular charm.

'Among the permanent residents in the neighbourhood were Mr Watts, Mr Ward the well known Catholic metaphysician and reviewer, and that true artist and most gifted woman Mrs Cameron. Miss Thackeray made long visits. Sir John Simeon ("the prince of courtesy" of a very beautiful poem) sometimes came over from Swainston, and Farringford received many illustrious visitors from London, Oxford and Cambridge. Among the strangers who stayed there was Longfellow for whom your father conceived a deep affection, and whom he described as one of the most enchanting of men. There was a delightful flavour in the house of the best intellectual society mingling with the tastes and habits of the most genuine country life.'