Details
TENNYSON, Alfred, 1st Baron. Autograph manuscript signed ('A. Tennyson'), his famous epitaph on Sir John Franklin's memorial in Westminster Abbey, four lines on one leaf, 185 x 90mm (remnants of guards). Provenance. The manuscript was discovered together with the series of letters to A.P. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, in the following lot.
'Not here: the white North has thy bones; & thou,
Heroic sailor-soul,
Art passing on thine happier voyage now
Toward no earthly Pole'.
Although Sir John Franklin died on 11 June 1847 in his quest for the North West Passage, evidence of his death was not discovered until 1859. Tennyson's lines were composed for the memorial erected to him by his widow, Jane, in Westminster Abbey.
'Not here: the white North has thy bones; & thou,
Heroic sailor-soul,
Art passing on thine happier voyage now
Toward no earthly Pole'.
Although Sir John Franklin died on 11 June 1847 in his quest for the North West Passage, evidence of his death was not discovered until 1859. Tennyson's lines were composed for the memorial erected to him by his widow, Jane, in Westminster Abbey.
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