The series of
'large attics in which was a number of enormous oak beams' supporting
the antique roof was a favourite resort of my own; but all the
ghostly noise that I there heard was the snoring of young owls--a
peculiar sound that had a special fascination for Rossetti; and after
dinner Rossetti, my brother, and I would go to the attics to listen
to them.
But a more singular mistake with regard to the _Aylwin_ characters
than that of Morris being confounded with 'Wilderspin' was that of
confounding, as certain newspaper paragraphs at the time did, 'Cyril
Aylwin' with Mr. Whistler. I am especially able to speak of this
character, who has been inquired about more than any other in the
book. I knew him, I think, even before I knew Rossetti and Morris, or
any of that group. He was a brother of Mr. Watts-Dunton's--Mr. Alfred
Eugene Watts. He lived at Park House, Sydenham, and died suddenly
either in 1870 or 1871, very shortly after I had met him at a wedding
party. Among the set in which I moved at that time he had a great
reputation as a wit and humorist.
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