CHAPTER XIII.

LETTER FROM DANTE GABRIEL

M

ROSSETTI.

1862-1863. AGE 34-35.

RS. GABRIEL ROSSETTI died in February, 1862. Dante Rossetti writes about his loss March 2nd, from 45, Upper Albany Street:

"My dear Mrs. Gilchrist: I thank you sincerely in my turn for the words of sorrow and sympathy, which, coming from you, seem more terribly real than any I have received. I remember clearly the mistrustful feeling of insufficiency with which I sat down to write to you so short a time ago, and know now what it is both to write and to receive even the sincerest words at such a time.

"I have now to be thankful for obligations connected with my work which were a source of anxiety before; for without them it seems to me that I could never work again. But I already begin to find the inactive. moments the most unbearable, and must hope for the power, as I feel most surely the necessity, of working steadily without delay. Of my dear wife I do not dare to speak now, nor to attempt any vain conjecture

whether it may ever be possible for me, or I be found worthy, to meet her again.

"I am staying at my mother's just now, and hope that some of my family, if not all, may join with me in seeking a new home together, as in any case I cannot any longer bear to remain in the old one. I have thoughts of coming if possible to Chelsea, and have already, in the impossibility I find of remaining inactive, been seeking for fresh quarters in that and other directions. Your photograph I still have, and still hope to send you some result from it, if I find such possible. [Gabriel Rossetti wished to construct some kind of posthumous portrait of Alexander Gilchrist.]

"Whenever it may be necessary to be thinking about the Life of Blake,' I hope you will let me know; as my brother is equally anxious with myself, and perhaps at the present moment better able to be of any service in his power. While writing this, I have just read your letter again, and again feel forcibly the bond of misery which exists between us; and the unhappy right we have of saying to each other what we both know to be fruitless. Pray believe that I am not the less grateful to you, at least, for the heartfelt warmth with which it is said.-I remain my dear Mrs. Gilchrist, yours ever sincerely,

D. G. ROSSETTI."

Shortly before going to Brookbank, Anne Gilchrist wrote to William Rossetti about the completion of The Life of Blake:

"MY DEAR SIR: Mr. [Gabriel] Rossetti has so earnestly assured me you are willing to render help in my sorrowful task, that I venture at once to trouble

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you. I have not at present found, and much fear I shall not find, any memoranda respecting the 'Selections' from Blake's writings, which were to form an important part of the volume. I would by no means trust my own judgment in making these selections. Will you therefore, in those cases in which I did not know my dear husband's intentions, help my choice? . . . .

"I have been obliged to return Mr. Monckton Milnes's 'Jerusalem,' in which also were many markers, but I took a note of the pages at which these occurred, and I feel sure the British Museum possesses a copy of that. I send also Mr. Denman's Gates of Paradise,' because I found written on a little slip, 'Look in the Gates of Paradise for headings to Chapters.' This of course must refer to illustrations, as there is little or no letter-press."

On the twenty-eighth of April, 1862, Anne Gilchrist wrote for the first time from Brookbank to William Michael Rossetti :

"The French Revolution was not engraved by Blake, but printed and published in the ordinary manner, though it had no circulation at all. Mr. Linnell has a copy, but we shall not need to borrow it, as I distinctly remember copying either the whole or such portions as my husband thought he might want, and shall doubtless come upon this copy.

"Mr. Denman's must certainly have been an imperfect copy of the Gates of Paradise,' for I find it spoken of as one of Blake's most beautiful and characteristic books

a little foolscap octavo containing sixteen plates of emblems accompanied by verse, with a title or motto to each plate.' My Husband's old and dear friend, almost

brother, William Haines, had copied out for him the entire contents of your Manuscript book. .

Whether the work of selection is already done or no, Mr. Haines, who is shortly coming here, will be able to tell me. .. I find that Thel' was to be given entire. In regard to the additional chapter, I earnestly thank Mr. Rossetti and yourself. If it ought to be done, assuredly his and yours are the hands to which I would gratefully intrust the task. But I think you will not find it hard to forgive me a little reluctance that any living tones should blend with that voice which here speaks for the last time on earth. I will not however, sacrifice the interests of the book to this feeling. Perhaps, we are not yet in a position to decide with certainty what is best. When I have incorporated all the additional matter contained in the notes, we shall be better able to do so. With renewed thanks, and with kind regards to Mr. [Gabriel] Rossetti, believe me, Dear Sir, yours very truly, ANNE GILCHRIST,

"This place is a bona fide Cottage, and would stand comfortably in your drawing-room in Tudor House. Hence I found myself on first arrival in a dense wilderness of furniture. But having stowed a good deal into the attic we are now tolerably comfortable, and as there is plenty of scope for the children out of doors, I think it will do well enough. The scenery round is of surpassing loveliness.”

"Brookbank, May 22nd, 1862. . . . . I trust Mr. [Gabriel] Rossetti is well in health, and able to throw himself into work with sufficient earnestness to beguile that up hill all the way,' which for both of us the

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journey of life has with terrible reality become." ["Up hill all the way," is a phrase from a poem by Christina Rossetti.] . . . I am glad to say I find the Manuscript even more complete than I anticipated, and that a large mass of notes which I thought contained new matter, were merely for reference and verification."

They commenced printing the Life in the summer of '62, and Anne Gilchrist, in a letter to her sister-in-law Mrs. Burnie, speaks of literary and domestic life at Brookbank; though at the time staying with her mother at Colne, near Halstead in Essex: August 25, 1862.

"Reluctant letter-writer as I am, I have in truth, longed impatiently for a spare hour in which to write to you-without being able to find it—so harassingly busy and anxious a life has mine been of late. Ever since we

resumed printing, in fact--for not till then did I get in to my work enough, get sufficient command of it, to see what really needed doing. I found that the only grave omission in the book-the only place where dear Alec had left an absolute blank that must be filled in-was for some account of Blake's mystic writings, or Prophetic Books,' as he called them. And then to begin with, was the grand difficulty of how to get sight of these, some not even at the British Museum. At length after much letter writing, I got Mr. Monckton Milnes to lend me, down at Shottermill, his magnificent copies of some of these; but they were to be fetched and returned by hand, and only to be lent for a week; so, as they are far too difficult to understand or to give any intelligible account of in a hurry, William Haines and I copied them all out. Then there was to write the