There are documentary evidences of the
verisimilitude of the picture in every respect. Let one be given out
of many. There exists a pathetic record that has never yet been
published, by one who knew Rossetti--knew him with special
intimacy--the poet Swinburne--depicting the great tragedy which
darkened Rossetti's life--the loss of his wife.
It gives the only authorized account of that tragedy--a tragedy which
ever since the publication of William Bell Scott's _Autobiographical
Notes_ has been so grievously misunderstood and misrepresented. In
this narrative Swinburne tells how, when first introduced to
Rossetti, he himself was an Oxford undergraduate of twenty. He
records how he and Rossetti had lived on terms of affectionate
intimacy: shaped and coloured on Rossetti's side by the cordial
kindness and exuberant generosity which, to the last, distinguished
his recognition of younger men's efforts: on his (Swinburne's) part
by gratitude as loyal and admiration as fervent as ever strove and
ever failed to express 'all the sweet and sudden passion of youth
towards greatness in its elder.
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