Rossetti papers, 1862-1870

Front matter

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Preface

A VERY few words may suffice for ushering-in this volume.

In 1899 I published two separate books — named respectively, Ruskiii, Rossetti, PrcBraphaelitisin, and Prceraphaelite Diaries and Letters. They both consist of letters, journals, and similar papers, of old date. The main though not the exclusive object of these books is to show forth the career of my brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. They carried the record up to February 1862, when his Wife died : and in the present volume I prolong the record up to April 1870, when his first book of original poetry, entitled Poems, was published.

As in the two volumes mentioned above, so also here, I adopt a strictly chronological arrangement of my materials, whatever may be the diversity of subject-matter. Diaries however are allowed to run on uninterruptedly year by

year.

Where I make an omission from any document, I mark the fact by dots. In the volume named Ruskin, Rossetti, PrcBraphaelitism, I explained that the passages omitted are very generally such as would be of little or no interest to the reader ; although occasionally it happens that something which might be of interest is excluded on other grounds. In prefacing the Prcsrapliaelite Diaries and Letters, I might have repeated the same observation : I thought it superfluous to do so, and some critics raised a query as to what could have been the motive for the omissions. Therefore, with respect to the present volume, I recur to my original statement, which once again holds good. I would not deny that, viil PREFACE

in a certain sense, letters read better if given without the omission of even unimportant matter; but, apart from my reluctance to include what is really trivial, I must, in such a compilation as the present, economize my space.

In various instances I have had to consult the writers of letters, or the representatives of the writers. Ready permission for publishing has been accorded, and for this I tender my thanks.

Wm. M. Rossetti.

London, /w/^ 1900.

It may serve the reader's convenience if I here give a slight account of some leading contents of this volume.

Year 1862.— The death of Mrs Dante Rossetti. The removal of Dante Rossetti from Chatham Place to Lincoln's Inn Fields, and to No. 16 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. William Blake, and Alexander Gilchrist's Life of him. My trip to Italy with William Bell Scott. Froude in his editorial connexion with Erasers Magazine. These matters are treated of in letters from Scott, Rossetti, Mrs Gilchrist, Frederick Tatham, John Linnell Junr., and Froude, and in my Diary, etc. See especially Nos. i, 2, 7, 15, 16, 10, 14.

Year 1 863.— Blake and Gilchrist (as above). My Brother's trip with me in Belgium. These matters are treated of in a letter from William Haines and in my Diary, etc. See especially Nos. 23, y:).

^ Year 1864.— Dante Rossetti's hobby for collecting blue china. His relations with Mr Dunlop as a proposing purchaser of his pictures. His picture entitled Found. Christina Rossetti's suggested new volume of poems, and her poem The Prince's Progress. W. J. Stillman's position as United States Consul in Rome. My trip to Venice, Bergamo, etc. The Exhibition of Madox Brown's pictures and designs. These matters are treated of in letters from Dante Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and Stillman, and in

PREFACE ix

my Diary, etc. See especially Nos. 40, 46, 55, 41, 57. 43.

Year 1865. — My translation of Dante's Inferno, and

article on Englisli Opinion on the American War. My experiences at some "spiritual" seances. Christina Rossetti's chest-malady. Her trip in Switzerland and North Italy with our Mother and myself. The Madox Brown Exhibition. The strained relations between Ruskin and Dante Rossetti. The collapse of commissions given to Dante Rossetti by Mr Dunlop and Mr Heugh. These matters are treated of in letters from Teodorico Pietrocola-Rossetti, Professor Norton, Carlyle, Ruskin, and Dante Rossetti, and in my Diary and Memoranda, etc. See especially Nos. 61, 107, 105, 70, 86, 80, 88, 95, 96, 99-

Year 1866.— Barone Kirkup's spiritual experiences, and particularly with the "spirit of Dante." His adhesion to the theories of Gabriele Rossetti concerning Dante etc. My account of a trip to Naples; Swinburne's pamphlet on his Poems and Ballads; Ruskin's return to Dante Rossetti's house. My booklet, Swinburne's Poems and Ballads, a Criticism. Some scraps from a notebook of Dante Rossetti. These matters are treated of in letters from Kirkup and Professor Norton, and in my Diary, etc. See especially Nos. 112, 115, 132, 119, 125, 120.

Year 1867. — My account of a visit to Swinburne's paternal home; the removal of myself and others to No. 56 Euston Square (5 Endsleigh Gardens); the collision of James Whistler with the Burlington Fine Arts Club; my selection from Walt Whitman's Poems; the condition of Dante Rossetti's eyesight. A list of subjects suitable for pictures. The Cretan Insurrection. The beginnings of Oliver Madox Brown as a painter. Dante Rossetti's picture Found, and his design Aspect a Medusa. Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The Firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, & Co. These matters are treated of in my Diary, and in letters from Stauros Dilberoglue, Dante Rossetti, James Leathart, Whitman, and Warington Taylor, etc. See especially Nos. 137, 146, 140, 144, 148, 153, 166, 161, 162,

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Year 1868.— My account of Browning's poem The Ring and the Book; my notes on Shelley in Notes and Queries, and my edition of Shelley's Poems, with notes and memoir ; Dante Rossetti's picture of Dante's Dream ; the pamphlet, by Swinburne and myself, on pictures in the Royal Academy etc. ; my brochure on Italian Courtesy-Books ; my trip to Venice, with robbery of cash ensuing ; my collation of Boccaccio's Filostrato with Chaucer's Troylus ; the condition of my Brother's eyesight during his stay at Penkill Castle. Dante Rossetti's first connexion with William Graham as a picture-buyer. Whitman's Leaves of Grass etc. Oliver Brown's first exhibited painting, Tlie Infant Jason and the Centaur. These matters are treated of in my Diary, in letters from William Allingham, Graham, Oliver Brown, and Addington Symonds, and in an article written by W. D. O'Connor. See especially Nos. 175, 206, 184, 190, 196, 194.

Year 1869.— My account of my edition of Shelley's Poems, and of a compilation of Shelley's autobiographical writings ; of the series Moxoti's Popular Poets, edited by me; of the illness of John Lucas Tupper as my travellingcompanion in Italy; of my acquaintance with Edward John Trelawny; of the rupture between Frederick Sandys and Dante Rossetti ; of Mrs Gilchrist as an admirer of Whitman's poems ; of the privately printed collection of Dante Rossetti's Poems, and of the recovery of other poems by him from the coffin of his Wife ; of the Byron- Stowe scandal ; of the arrival of W. J. Stillman in London from Crete; of Dr Hake's acquaintance with my Brother. Dante Rossetti's pictures, Dante's Dream, and Found. His Nonsense Verses. These matters are treated of in my Diary and letters, and in letters from Dr Garnett, Dante Rossetti, Dr Hake, and William Graham, etc. See especially Nos. 210, 212, 242, 232, 252, 267, 273.

Year 1870. — My account concerning Trelawny; Dante Rossetti with Stillman at Scalands, Sussex, and the issue of his volume named Poems; Swinburne's Songs before Sunrise. My edition of Shelley's Poems. Whitman, and

PREFACE the article of Professor Dowden regarding him. Critiques on Dante Rossetti's Poems, and the anticipated hostility of Robert Buchanan to them. Stillman's approaching re-marriage. These matters are treated of in my Diary, and in letters from AUingham, Dowden, Dante Rossetti, etc. See especially Nos. 275, 284, 288, 297, 302.

60 61

63 64

65 66 67 68 69 70

DATE.

1863 October 29 November 6

18 23 25

March 28 April 10 .

May 7 .

„ 10 .

July 14 .

„ 19 •

„ 12

» 23

„ 25

September i

» 23

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42

43 44

45 46

February i

„ 10

J. A. Froude Anne Gilchrist

Philip Hamerton

)> Dante Rossetti Philip Hamerton Dante Rossetti Christina Rossett Dante Rossetti W. J. Stillman

Wm. Rossetti Dante Rossetti

PEKSON ADDBESSKD, OR HEADING.

J. A. Froude Dante Rossetti

Christina Rossett Dante Rossetti Frederic Shields Christina Rossetti Teodorico Pietro

cola-Rossetti Christina Rossetti

Dante Rossetti Thomas Keightley Christina Rossett

Teodorico Pietro

cola-Rossetti Charles Cayley

Madox Brown Wm. Rossetti Madox Brown Dante Rossetti The Seed of David Wm. Rossetti

Diary Madox Brown

W^m. Rossetti .

Madox Brown Allan P. Paton Madox Brown

Dante Rossetti Madox Brown Dante Rossetti

Wm. Rossetti Dante Rossetti

Madox Brown Wm. Rossetti Dante Rossetti

XV

Ko.

DATE.

WRITER.

PERSON ADDRESiSKD, OR HEADING.

PAGE.

March .

1}>

„ 19

Wm. Allingham .

11 21

Dante Rossetti .

)5

1, 21

11 30

„ 31

Alexa Wilding .

Thomas Carlyle .

1,{

„ 18

Dante Rossetti .

„i

?) ,1 lOI

May 9

11 13

Julia Cameron

June 26

„ 10

Dante Rossetti .

JJ

June 26 .

Dante Rossetti .

11 28

JJ

July

Dante Rossetti .

Walter Dunlop

11 8

Walter Dunlop

September i

John Heugh .

. 147

JJ

. 147 lOI

JJ

Walter Dunlop

11 -'

Aldam Heaton

Walter Dunlop

II A Spiritual (?) Seance (i)

December i

Wm. Rossetti .

„ 8 and 9

James Smetham .

Ernest Gambart .

JJ no

A Spiritual Seance (3) .