mostly, I think, children of poor people in the neighbourhood of Christ Church, Albany Street, Regent's Park. It may be worth noting that this carol was written not at Christmas time, but early in October; and in many instances a reference to dates would show that poems about festivals of the Church, or about seasons of the year, were written at dates by no means corresponding.

After this the Judgment, p. 188.— This composition in terza rima, written immediately after Christina Rossetti had completed her twenty-sixth year, was at first named In Advent, and it began with eight terzine, evidently prompted by a sense of the waning of early youth, and of melancholy at present and prospective conditions of life. These opening terzine had not any distinctly devotional character, and Christina, when she published her poem, excluded them. They are little or not at all less good than the rest of the composition, so I give them separately (p. 328), supplying a title-Downcast, for In Advent would no longer have any adequate application to them.

Old and New Year Ditties, p. 190.— It will be observed that these three lyrics were written in three several years. They used to be called-(1856) The End of the Year; (1858) New Year's Eve; (1860) The Knell of the Year. I have always regarded this last as the very summit and mountain-top of Christina's work.

Christina used to put these Ditties last, followed only by Amen and The Lowest Place. In reading them together, it is natural for her brother to reflect whether they indicate any special occurrences in the years to which they relate. I cannot remember that they do- cannot, for instance, say that in 1856 she was in any express sense stripped of favourite things she had'; however, the year 1860 (besides being the year of Dante Gabriel's marriage) was that in which Christina, a few days before she wrote The Knell, attained the age of thirty, and her thoughts as to the transit of years may have been more than ordinarily solemn. Her reference to her having won neither laurel nor bay' has also its interest. The bay began sprouting soon afterwards, with the appearance, in Macmillan's Magazine for February 1861, of the poem Up-hill, which at once commanded a considerable share of public attention. It is quite possible that Christina-the most modest of poets, but by no means wanting in the self-consciousness of poetic faculty-thought in 1860 that the bay had been kept waiting quite long enough; and it is a fact that, between 24 July 1860, the date of The Lambs of Westmoreland, and 23 March 1861, the date of Easter Even, she wrote no verse whatever except this Knell of the Year.

The Heart knoweth its own Bitterness, p. 192.-Few things written by Christina contain more of her innermost

In her volume Verses (published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) she took the first and last stanzas of this vehement utterance, and, altering the metre observably. and the diction not a little, she published them with the title, Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive (see p. 194). think it only right to give the poem in full, as well as the extracted portion of it.

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Divers Worlds-Time and Eternity, p. 193.-This series of poems continues up to the verses For All. For some

eneral remarks on the series see the ote (p. 468) upon Songs for Strangers nd Pilgrims.

Earth has clear call of daily bells, p. 93. These two stanzas (first printed n Time Flies) are modified from two out of the eight which compose the poem Yet a Little While (p. 342). That poem has no connection with a stanza which bears the same title (p. 193).

Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive, p. 194.-See the note (p. 472) to The Heart knoweth its own Bitterness.

Was Thy Wrath against the Sea?' p. 195.-These lines from The Face of the Deep relate to the text, 'There was

no more sea,' after the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.' This text dwelt much in Christina's mind, and prompted various allusions in her writings.

And there was no more Sea, p. 195.See the preceding note. Notwithstanding the title which the present piece bears in the volume Verses, it comes in The Face of the Deep in connection with a very different passage of The Apocalypse And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.'

Roses on a brier, p. 196. - Another variation on the same theme. It comes from Time Flies, being the entry (without any associated prose) for 9 June.

Parting after parting, p. 200.-' -This little poem is made up from two separate stanzas first published in Time Flies. Stanza I forms the entry for 30 May; stanza 2 belongs to 10 August, and in Time Flies it relates to the parting and reunion of two martyrs-Laurence and Pope Sixtus. Stanza I (ten lines) is condensed from fourteen lines, named Good-bye, which were written on 15 June 1858, and (as marked in the MS. note

book) in the train from Newcastle.' This implies that Christina was then 'parting' from her friends the Bell Scotts of Newcastle, and, her visit being then terminated, was returning home to

London. It will thus be seen that the intensity of feeling here expressed really originated in a very slight occurrence— the occurrence itself merely served the poet's turn as a suggestion of highly serious matters. Stanza 2 used to be the conclusion of the lyric Meeting, written on 11 June 1864 (see p. 366).

Advent, p. 202.-In the annotated copy of her Poems Christina wrote against this one: Liked, I believe, at East Grinstead '—which one may well credit. The liking is shared, by the Wise Virgins' of that establishment, with the greatest living British (or European) poet, Mr. Swinburne, who has fixed upon this compositon as about the crown of Christina's devotional work. The greater part of it was set to music for Christina's funeral service at Christ Church, Woburn Square, by the organist, Mr. Lowden. I heard the music sung, and can testify to its beautiful and touching effect.

Only Believe, p. 205.--There were originally some other lines concluding this poem. They appear under the title What good shall my Life do me? (p. 215).

New Jerusalem and its Citizens, p. 206. This heading (from the Verses, 1893) extends on to the poem just aforenamed, What good shall my Life do me?

wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you.' And in the prose commentary Christina said: 'Men know him not now, how he lived or how he died. God alone knows him. Enough for blessed Antipas.'

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, etc., p. 209. These three stanzas are partly identical with the five stanzas which compose A Shadow of Dorothea (p. 216). The present three, having been published by my sister, cannot here be omitted. I think it would be a pity to omit the other five, and they therefore figure here as well.

"Our Mothers, etc.,' p. 214.—Christina evidently associates together, in the New Jerusalem series, this piece and the following one, as having a bearing personal to herself. They both come from The Face of the Deep, but from very different contexts there.

Is it well with the Child? p. 214.This small lyric appeared in Time Flies, as being related to the martyrdom of St. Faith (supposed to be ‘a noble maiden of Aquitain' in the third century). Her feast is 6 October. The verses formed originally a part of a longer composition named Young Death-date, 3 November 1865 and obviously relating to some very youthful person known to the authoress. Who this may have been I cannot now say. The portion of Young Death which was not included in the Verses has thus a certain personal interest. It is marked by a union of devoutness with quaint naïveté characteristic of Christina's verse in some moods; and, as I should not wish the lines to be totally lost, I give them separately under their proper date and title (see p. 244).

What good shall my life do me? p. 215. See the note (p. 473) on Only Believe.

A Shadow of Dorothea, p. 216.—I do not find in the legend of St. Dorothea any incident corresponding closely to this. I understand that, in the poem,

the speaker is a human soul, not as yet confirmed in saintliness, appealing to the flower-bearing Angel of the legend, or rather indeed to the Saviour Christ. See the note above on the poem s Cold Waters, etc.

For Henrietta Polydore, p. 217.Christina's title only says H. P.,' but the lines are certainly intended for Henrietta Polydore, our cousin (see note to p. 421). She was born in England and brought up a Roman Catholic. By a curious train of circumstances she was at one time, while still a child, in Salt Lake City with the Mormons. Her father recovered her thence, at a time when a military expedition was sent by the Federal Government to control affairs in the Territory of Utah; and the present lines were presumably written by Christina when she heard that her youthful cousin was about to re-embark for England.

Ash Wednesday, p. 217.-These verses bearing no title beyond Jesus, do I love Thee?-were printed in the Lyra Euchar istica, 1864. Ash Wednesday is the authoress's own title in her MS. notebook; I retain it, as the lines were evidently written towards the date of that fast. Preceding the last quatrain, the MS. gives six verses of ecstatic religious appeal which, as they were not printed, I with some hesitation omit.

A Christmas Carol, p. 217.-This was in the Lyra Messianica, 1865, named simply Before the paling of the stars. retain my sister's own title.

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Christ our All in All, p. 218. -This general heading continues up to the poem The Chiefest among Ten Thousand (p. 232). See the note (p. 468) to Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims.

An exceeding bitter cry, p. 218.-The phrase too late for rising from the dead' may ask a word of explanation. The poem comes from The Face of the Deep, and relates to Christ's address to the Church of Sardis, in which occur the

And now why tarriest thou?' p. 228. -This was set to music (like Adventsee the note on p. 473) by Mr. Frank Lowden, and was sung at Christina's funeral service.

Within the Veil, p. 234.-From the Lyra Messianica. These verses would

seem to refer to the recent death of some religious and cherished young friend; I cannot say who it was. In MS. the title of the verses is One Day.

For a Mercy Received, p. 235.-I am unable to say what the mercy' was.

The Lowest Place, p. 237.-As an expression of her permanent attitude of mind in the region of faith and hope, Christina evidently laid some stress on this little poem. She made it the concluding piece in the Prince's Progress volume, and also in the combined form of that volume with the Goblin Market one. Hence I thought the second stanza of this poem the most appropriate thing that I could get inscribed upon her tombstone in 1895. In the sequence of compositions in her MS. notebook there is nothing to show any exceptional degree of devout absorption towards this date. The Lowest Place bears the same date as The Ghost's Petition, and comes immediately after the sunny playful-minded Maiden Song.

Come unto Me, p. 237.-This is the title given to the sonnet when first published in the Lyra Eucharistica; in MS. it stands as Faint yet Pursuing. It belongs to a knot of pieces showing some dejection and self-reproach, from 20 Janu

The next following Easter, have a less The other pieces in

ary to March 1864. lyrics, Patience and disconsolate tone. question are Beauty is vain, What would I give? Who shall deliver me?

By the Waters of Babylon, p. 239.In Captivity was the first name of this forcible piece of terza rima.

point of view in this poem is rather Despised and Rejected, p. 241.-The

remarkable. To some extent it pairs with the earlier composition (p. 147), Behold I stand at the Door and Knock. That, however, is obviously addressed to the prosperous and callous-the Dives who will not take count of Lazarus. Here we have a different situation. The supposed speaker is clearly a person who has been rather hardly treated by the world, and who determines that henceforth he will be left alone. The message addressed to him is: Whatever you exclude, through condonable disgust with the world and its ways, don't exclude Christ, nor yet the poor and suffering, who are Christ's representatives here.' Thus the poem bears some faint analogy (yet not the least resemblance) to The Poet's Vow of Mrs. Browning.

Birds of Paradise, p. 242.-This was printed in Lyra Messianica, under the title Paradise in a Symbol. In that volume the substituted title is appropriate, because another poem by Christina is there, named Paradise in a Dream ('Once in a dream I saw the flowers,' etc., see p. 180). For the present poem her own title in MS. was Birds of Paradise, which I prefer to retain here. In the MS. the last line of stanza one stands Windy-winged they came.' reproduce the printed phrase, yet am sorry to lose the written one.

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I know you not, p. 243. From Lyra Messianica. Date conjectural.

Young Death, p. 244.-This is only a portion of the poem, as first written. See the note (p. 474) on Is it well with the Child? The gaps left by the extrac

tion of the latter lyric are indicated here by asterisks.

A Christmas Carol, p. 246. This was first published in Scribner's Monthly, January 1872. It was republished, 1875, in the volume of united poems, being then made to open the series of Devotional Poems.

Wrestling, p. 247.-This is the introductory poem to Christina Rossetti's volume of prayers named Annus Domini, published by Messrs. James Parker and Co. in 1874. It had not hitherto been reproduced in any volume of her poems. In Annus Domini the composition stands untitled. I supply a title of my own. Stanza 7 was not printed in Annus Domini. Christina (as notified in Mr. Mackenzie Bell's book) wrote it afterwards, and I find it in the copy which she inscribed to our mother for her birthday, 27 April 1874.

The Master is come and calleth for Thee, p. 248. In the annotated copy of Christina's poems I find a note as follows: 'Dr. Littledale wanted a hymn-for a "Profession," I think; so I wrote this. But I think it was not adopted.'

Saints and Angels, p. 249.-On this poem Christina made a rather quaint note, personal to myself: William aptly remarked that this contains nothing about angels.'

A Rose Plant in Jericho, p. 250.-This sweet little poem has (it would seem) less of personal intensity of emotion than a reader might surmise from its terms. It stands annotated by Christina thus: 'Written once when Mr. Shipley wanted something' (the Rev. Orby Shipley, who edited more than one volume of de

votional verse). The precise bearing

of the title is not clear to me.

Patience of Hope, p. 250.-This comes from The Children's Hymn-book, edited by Mrs. Carey Brock, Bishop How, and others, and published by Messrs. Riving

ton.

The date of publication appears to

be 1881, and I therefore date this poem circa 1880.' The words are set to be sung to the tune 'Grasmere by Mr. Cameron W. H. Brock. In The Children's Hymn-book the composition was named Thou art the same, and Thy Years shall not fail: when it was reprinted in the volume of 1891, the present title was substituted.

I will Arise, p. 251.—To this and some other poems I give the date before 1882,' on the ground that they were published in the Pageant volume, 1881.

'Behold, a Shaking,' p. 255. — The first of these two sonnets is an evident recasting of the third sonnet in the series (p. 384), named By Way of Remembrance. I much prefer that third sonnet. It was not published by Christina herself, and I give both forms of the composition.

Why? p. 260.-It will be seen that this sonnet bears some relation to another sonnet, If only (p. 244), and to the lyric, When my heart is vexed I will complain (p. 248).

If thou sayest, etc., p. 261.-The whole context may as well be quoted here: If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those Behold, we knew it not; doth not that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it?'

A Sick Child's Meditation, p. 263.-Comes from a little Church serial named New and Old.

Out of the Deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord, p. 264.-This section of the Verses continues on to the sonnet, Light of Light. See the note (p. 468) to Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims.

Gifts and Graces, p. 270.-Continues on to the verses which begin, 'Lord, grant us grace to rest upon Thy word.

Christmas Carols, p. 278.-It is reasonable to suppose that these three carols were written in different years.