Benson says, the author of _Aylwin_ was that man with regard to
Rossetti. No one has ever ventured to challenge the assertion in the
article on Rossetti in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ that there was a
time when with the exception of his own family the poet-painter saw
scarcely any one save the writer of this book, whom he was never
tired of designating his friend of friends. There is no need to
multiply instances of this friendship, which has been enlarged upon
by Rossetti's brother, and by many others. Elizabeth Luther Gary, in
the best of all the books upon Rossetti, published by G. P. Putnam's
Sons two years after the first edition of _Aylwin_, speaks of
_D'Arcy_ as being 'the mouthpiece of Rossetti.'
It may be added that Rossetti's _Ballads and Sonnets_, published in
1882, were dedicated to the author in these words: 'To the Friend
whom my verse won for me, these few more pages are affectionately
inscribed.' When he drew his last breath at Birchington it was in
that friend's arms. It is necessary to dwell upon such facts as the
above to show how fully equipped is the author of _Aylwin_ for
understanding and depicting the great poet-painter, to whose memory
he addressed the sonnet at the head of this note.
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