A half), and the power of flitting at will from land to land. At the end of the term, Melmoth's soul is to be forfeited, unless he can meanwhile induce some one else to take the compact off his hands. Melmoth makes numerous efforts in this direction, but all abortive. One of his intended victims is a beautiful girl named Immalee, a child of Nature in an Indian island-a second Miranda. She

becomes deeply enamoured of Melmoth, but resists his tamperings with her soul. She is finally identified as the daughter of a Spanish Grandee, and is then baptized as Isidora. At one point of the story she espouses Melmoth, and bears him a child. Christina's poem her deathbed scene. The last line is truly a fine stroke of pathos and of effect; but it is not Christina's-it comes verbatim out of Maturin.

is

Zara, p. 107.-See the note on the poem Look on this picture, and on This (p. 323). In the novel of Women, Zara is the rival (she finally turns out to be the mother) of Eva; she is a shining ader of society. In the same year, 1847, when she wrote Zara, my sister wrote a separate composition, Eva.

Its

merit is but middling, and I do not reproduce it here. The device to Zara is a foxglove plant, with insects sucking its poison-honey.

Immalee, p. 108.-See the note (p. 466) on Isidora.

Heart's Chill between, p. 109.-This poem, called at first The Last Hope, was published under its present title in The Athenæum, 14 October 1848, being the first poem by Christina that got published. It was reprinted in Mr. Mackenzie Bell's book, 1898. When I was compiling, in 1895, the volume named New Poems, I omitted this composition, thinking that, 2s it comes, in point of date, near the dose of the Juvenilia, it ought to have been better than it is, and was hardly good enough for re-publication. revival of the poem by Mr. Bell alters the conditions somewhat, so I now put it in.

The

Lady Isabella, p. 109.-This was Lady Isabella Howard, a daughter of the Earl of Wicklow; she was a pupil of my aunt, Charlotte Polidori. My sister entertained an ardent admiration for the loveliness of character and person which marked this young lady, who died of a decline at the age of eighteen or thereabouts.

Night and Death, p. 109.-It may reasonably be assumed that this lyric

also has some reference to the death of Lady Isabella Howard.

Death's Chill between, p. 110.-See the preceding note upon Heart's Chill between. Death's Chill between was published in The Athenæum, 21 October 1848. It was originally named Anne of Warwick, and was intended to represent (in a rather young - ladyish' form) the dolorous emotions and flitting frenzy of Anne, when widowed of her youthful husband, the Prince of Wales, slain after the battle of Tewkesbury. If I remember right, this poem was offered to The Atheneum at the same time as Heart's Chill between; and my brother then substituted these titles for the original ones, so as to establish between the two a certain relation of contrast in similarity. At the present distance of date, it might perhaps have served better to preserve the first titles. My observations as to the exclusion of Heart's Chill between from the New Poems apply to this composition as well.

The Lotus-Eaters, p. 111.-Of course the sentiment here, as well as the title, comes to some considerable extent out of Tennyson.

One Certainty, p. 119.-This appears to have been written during a period of illness. In the MS. notebook, the next preceding poem is the sonnet Rest, in Christina's own handwriting (15 May); then the present sonnet and Looking Forward (8 June) are in our mother's handwriting. Again, on 31 August, A Testimony is in Maria's. Towards this period, and even before, Christina's state

of health gave rise to serious anxiety. See the Memoir, p. 1.

In

Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims, p. 120. This series of poems continues inclusively up to the verses Looking back along life's trodden way, p. 145. It consists of lyrics out of three volumes— those which are named respectively Called to be Saints (1881), Time Flies (1885), and The Face of the Deep (1892). They were reprinted in the Verses (1893) published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and then, for the first time, they were ordered under one general heading, as given above. this instance, and in others ensuing later on, I, as a matter of course, follow the arrangement made by my sister, although it entails a certain interference with the order of date. The Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims form the eighth and last (not the first) section of those which make up the volume Verses; I place it here first because one of its compositions dates as early as 2 March 1850. the present complete edition, this point, rather than the sequence of sections in the previously issued volume, seems to govern the question. The eight sections (which will be found reproduced one by one as we proceed) take the following order in the Verses: (1) Out of the Deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord; (2) Christ our All in All; (3) Some Feasts and Fasts; (4) Gifts and Graces; (5) The World-Self-destruction; (6) Divers Worlds-Time and Eternity; (7) New Jerusalem and its Citizens; (8) Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims.

In

Her Seed: It shall bruise thy head, p. 120. This poem comes from The Face of the Deep, and would, in ordinary course, stand dated by me 'before 1893.' But a note made in that book by Christina shows that it was written before the date of our mother's death (which was in April 1886), so I name a date to correspond. The note in question runs : 'This one dearest mamma heard and liked.'

Judge nothing before the time, p. 121 -From Time Flies. The lines form the entry for 16 January, and appear to be intended to be read as a sequel to the entry for the 15th, which is on the text, 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,' followed by a reflection that Adam's initial work of production (so far as we are told) was sin, death, hell, for himself and his posterity.'

Man's life is but a working day, p. 121.-This stanza is modified from the conclusion of the little poem In Patience (p. 238). In its present form it belongs to Time Flies.

Afterward he repented, and went, p. 123.-In Time Flies this lyric, which has an energetic personal tone, stands, without any title, as the entry for II May. I do not remember that any salient even: of Christina's life was associated with that particular day, but may mention that 12 May was the birthday of Dante Gabriel, and the prose entry for this latter day might, without much straining, be supposed to have a certain reference to him; he had died three years before Time Flies was published. It may be that the two entries were, in some degree, 'read together' in their author's mind, as having a relation to him.

point specially raised in the prose comment, which leads up to the poem, is that this gracious and joyful message is delivered by one of those same angels who poured forth the plagues.

Our life is long, etc., p. 124.-This piece appeared in Time Flies, and I date it accordingly 'Before 1886.' But, on reference to p. 185, it will be seen that this is a modification of a much earlier poem, How Long?- dated 14 April 1856. As there are some fundamental differences between the two pieces, I → print both here.

Lord, what have I to offer? etc., p. 124. -The reference to 'a heart-breaking loss' seems to indicate that these lines refer to some particular event in my sister's life. They appear in Time Flies, under the date 24 April; I do not identify any such event with that day, but can easily conceive a relation in the poem to some different day.

Can I know it?-Nay, p. 125.-This composition (from The Face of the Deep) forms a sort of meditation on the words addressed by Christ to the Church of Philadelphia. Amid those words comes the expression Thou hast a little strength.' On this the authoress comments (in prose) Why not much strength? God knoweth.' And soon afterwards the poem ensues.

What is it Jesus saith unto the soul?

The

p. 127. This sonnet, in its first form, was written on 2 March 1850. As printed, the octave is not much altered, but the sextett is entirely recast. title used to be Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The first form of the sonnet appears printed in the prose tale Maude, published in 1897.

The sinner's own fault,' etc., p. 128. -Stanza I is a modification of stanza 7 in Margery (p. 360).

Who would wish back the saints, etc., p. 129. These three stanzas, now altered

Vanity of Vanities, p. 133.-These stanzas, altered in diction, come out of the poem Yet a Little While (p. 342).

Scarce tolerable Life, which all life long, p. 133.-I date this sonnet circa 1884,' because I find the rough draft of it written upon a scrap of paper which bears the date Easter Eve 1884.'

Alleluia! or Alas! my heart is crying, p. 135. This little poem comes from The Face of the Deep. It depends immediately upon those texts of The Apocalypse which purport that the kings of the earth' were saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon!' on the same occasion when much people in heaven' were 'saying, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord authoress proceeds to reflect upon the our God.' From this consideration the alternative in her own spiritual state.

The Flowers appear on the Earth, p. 135.-Originally these two stanzas formed a part of the poem I have a Message unto Thee, p. 316. Their diction has been slightly altered, but only slightly.

Bury Hope out of sight, etc., p. 137.In Time Flies this forms the entry for 5 December, which was the authoress's birthday. I assume that it was purposely inserted in relation to that anniversary, and probably to the death of Charles Bagot Cayley on the same day.

A Churchyard Song of Patient Hope, p. 138. -Christina, in placing this poem in the Verses next after the last-named, seems to have intended that the two

should be read together. The original

framework of the Churchyard Song was quite different: it formed in The Face of the Deep part of the reflections upon the Apocalyptic text, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,' etc.

One woe is past, etc., p. 138.-Naturally this poem belongs, in The Face of the Deep, to the same words in chap. ix. of The Apocalypse. As arranged in the Verses, I think Christina intended it to be read in association with the preceding two compositions.

Thus I sat mourning, etc., p. 139.—I have seen these two lines objected to as being somewhat ludicrously grotesque. Christina Rossetti did not think any part of the Bible ludicrous, and she found in the prophet Micah, I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.'

Behold, I stand at the Door and Knock, p. 147. These verses were published in some magazine. I fancy it may have been one named Aikin's Year, with which Mary Howitt was connected. If so, I think the publication must be not later than 1854; and these would be (apart from the Versi, etc., see p. 446) the first verses by Christina which got into print after the cessation of The Germ in 1850.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, p. 150.I take it that this lyric received its immediate inspiration from the picture of like subject painted by James Collinson.

A Harvest, p. 153.-In the MS. note

book the title is Annie, and the poem extends to twenty stanzas. It then took the form of an address to 'Annie' by a husband or lover; possibly the poignantly pathetic lines of Edgar Poe, For Annie, were partly in my sister's mind. some later date she numbered five out of ing to retain those five alone. the twenty stanzas, evidently contemplatI follow her lead, and supply a new title. The poem as it originally stood is, however,

by no means a bad one.

At

Sleep at Sea, p. 154.-Was at first named Something like Truth.

Some Feasts and Fasts, p. 156.—This general heading continues up to the poem Sunday before Advent (p. 179).

Embertide, p. 163.—This poem (from The Face of the Deep) takes occasion from the passage of The Apocalypse'And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not.' The prose comment on the passage contains the following: 'What we know with certainty of this beatified elder is not his name, but his Christ-likeness. As once his Master on earth, so now he in heaven saith, Weep The one and only aspect high or low need desire to be known by is Christlikeness. Thus the saints are stamped, thereby they become recogniz able.' And then follows the present poem.

not.

Monday in Holy Week, p. 165.-This short piece was originally entitled For under a Crucifix. Written in 1853, it was first published in 1885, in Time Flies.

Ascension Day, p. 170.-To the last two lines in this poem (ending, 'Is that His cloud?') Christina wrote, in a copy of Time Flies, the note: An idea picked up, I cannot remember where.'

There remaineth therefore a Rest, pa 180. In the notebook this composition numbers twelve stanzas; two of them, under the title The Bourne, were eventually published (Underneath the growing grass,' etc.). The remaining ten were

not unworthy to pair with those two, but I think it best to use only five of them.

Paradise, p. 180.-The first title of this poem was Easter Even. In a printed copy of her Poems, wherein Christina made a few jottings, she has here noted 'Not a real dream.'

Ye have forgotten the Exhortation, p. 181. Our father having died on 26 April 1854, it is not unnatural to think that this poem, dated 10 May 1854, bears some direct relation to that loss. There had been two other deaths in the family, May and December 1853those of our maternal grandparents; to her grandfather especially Christina was most warmly attached. The title, Ye have forgotten the Exhortation, standing by itself, does not seem to be specially apposite to this poem. It becomes so when read with its context (Hebrews xii. 5, 6): And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.'

The World, p. 182. This is one of Christina Rossetti's most energetic utterances, and a highly characteristic one. She had in fact a great horror of the world,' in the sense which that term bears in the New Testament; its power to blur all the great traits of character, to deaden all lofty aims, to clog all the impulses of the soul aspiring to unseen Truth. I recollect her once saying to me with marked emphasis, when my children were past their very earliest years, I hope they are not worldly.' It is an interesting observation of the great poet Leopardi, in one of his prose writings, that this sense of the world' appears to have been entirely unknown to antiquity, and to have formed one of the most potent messages of Jesus Christ.

some

In Christina's sonnet the opposite aspects of the world by day and by night may call for a little reflection. The primary sense (of course subsidiary to spiritual meaning) appears to be that the world-like other devils, spectres, and hobgoblins-appears in propriâ personâ in the night-hours only; it is then that she is recognized for the fiend she actually is.

Zion Said, p. 183.-As in a previous instance, the context makes this heading more significant,—Isaiah xlix. 13, 14: The Lord hath remembered his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.' This quotation appears in a condensed form in the poem Christian and Jew (p. 203).

Hymn after Gabriele Rossetti, p. 183. -In our father's volume of religious poems, L'Arpa Evangelica (1852), there is a composition named Nell' Atto della Comunione, in three parts. The third begins with the words 'T' amo, e fra dolci affanni,' and is the one which Christina here translates in two separate versions. The date which I give is conjectural; I assume the translation to have been made not long after our father's death. The copy of the Arpa Evangelica

into which these verses were inserted is profusely illustrated with pencil-designs by Christina.

I will lift up mine Eyes unto the Hills, p. 184.-In MS. the title of this poem (viewed with predilection by its authoress) was Now they desire a better Country. It was printed in the Lyra Eucharistica, 1864, as Conference between Christ, the Saints, and the Soul (this must, I think, have been a title proposed by the editor of the selection); in 1875, under its present title, it was included in Christina's

collected Poems.

A Christmas Carol for my Godchildren, p. 187.-Christina, from time to time, acted as godmother to various children