I don't have time to offer a lesson in history, but the point of this post is not the ToE, but rather the relationship between the supposed omnibenevolence of God, and what appears to be a very wasteful design...
Yes ... but I still maintain that the design is equally wasteful (not to mention cruel) if one adheres to fiat creationism. The Malthusian pressures remain, as does the fact of extinction; as does the redness in tooth and claw. At least if there is evolution these cruel and wasteful processes achieve something; if there is no evolution the flaws of nature are entirely gratuitous.
As for Tennyson, the point is simple: Lyell's 'Principles of Geology' is a central influence.
This is true; but a Cuvierian catastrophist could also have concluded that nature was not "careful of the type". What with all the extinct types.
And indeed nowadays although we tend to agree with Lyell about sedimentary deposition we take a more catastrophic view of extinction; but this does not stop us from thinking that it's a wasteful process.