Patmore’s _Seasons_, with which he will make a beginning; but he
warns me that we must get our materials together with all possible
speed, as, next week being Christmas week, it is almost impracticable
to get his people to work. In the evening we had a meeting in
Gabriel’s study, where, besides the whole P.R.B., the two Tuppers,
Deverell, Hancock, and Cave Thomas, as being persons interested in
the magazine, were present. The latter brought the commencement of an
opening address he is writing for No. 1.... Ford Brown came in at a
late hour, and showed us a sonnet which he has composed on _The Love
of Beauty_, and which we will find room for in the first number. I
gave George Tupper my review, which will (he calculates) occupy at
least some eighteen pages; also our sister’s poem of _Dreamland_. It
was proposed by Woolner, and carried without opposition except a very
strong one by myself, that our names should not be published; and
another point in which all present came to the vote was the title to
be finally adopted. _The Seed_ was set aside in favour of _The Germ_;
and this was near being superseded by _The Scroll_ (also Thomas’s
invention),[197] but was finally fixed on by six to four. Gabriel is
to do his best to have _Hand and Soul_ completed in time. His morning
had been devoted to painting on the Virgin’s head.
Thursday 20th.--Gabriel set hard to work at _Hand and Soul_; or at
least the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak against Maitland
in the morning, who was engaged in putting together a screen, and
against Clayton, North, and Bliss, in the evening.[198]
Friday 21st.--... I went to Seddon’s, where Cave Thomas had arranged
to meet me with his contribution; but, as he did not come, ... I
called in at his house. I found him writing the last words of the
prefatory address, which I took with me.... Gabriel had been all
day at his tale, and sat up at it all night as well, without going
to bed. By this means he was enabled to finish the narrative, and
nothing remained except the epilogue. I copied out such part as
required it to be fit for printing....
Saturday 22nd.--The proof of the first sheet ... comprises Thomas’s
address, Woolner’s poem, Brown’s sonnet, and begins Tupper’s
contribution. As Woolner’s poem commences at the back of Thomas’s
address, and as it is thought desirable that the etching should front
what it belongs to, we agreed that it should be inserted opposite the
first page of the poem, instead of immediately inside the cover.
Sunday 23rd.--Gabriel ... has again got some idea of painting the
subject of Francesca of Rimini, instead of what he is now doing;
making an alteration in the action, and relinquishing, for want of
time, the two proposed side-pieces, of Dante and Virgil, and the
spirits in hell. His reasons for thinking of giving up the Virgin
subjects for the present are the fear of being too late to get them
finished, and the want of a satisfactory design for the Annunciation,
and of any design at all for the Death....
Monday 24th.--... Hunt has been told by Millais that Mr. Wyatt, of
Oxford, wants to have some proof-impressions of the etching, for
sale; and Hunt thinks of having some fifty or so printed on fine
large paper, to be sold at 3s. or 4s. each. A third impression has
been made of the etching, which Gabriel has seen, and considers a
most striking improvement. Hunt is about to leave his lodgings at
Brompton, which he finds inconveniently small for painting, and will
look out for others in the same neighbourhood or at Bayswater.
Wednesday 26th.--... Gabriel continued painting on the head of the
Virgin, having resolved to go on with that picture.
Thursday 27th.--To-night we had the proof of the last sheet,
containing the end of Gabriel’s tale and my review. The latter
however is still, after all my reductions, too long, and exceeds
the limits of the number by about a page and a half. Under these
circumstances it is thought advisable to omit Thomas’s opening
address, especially considering certain strong objections urged
against it by Hunt and Stephens. This, besides making room for the
whole of the review in its present shape, will enable us to insert
Tupper’s little poem, _A Sketch from Nature_, and our sister’s _An
End_.... Gabriel ... did four stanzas of _Bride-Chamber Talk_.
Friday 28th.--Hunt called here. Having been disappointed of a model
this morning, he has been catching sparrows in a trap, and painting
from them--afterwards decorating their heads with green, and sending
them on their way rejoicing.... He understands from Millais that
the printseller at Oxford is likely to want not more than some ten
or twelve copies of his etching.... Aleck Tupper brought us the
second proof of the last sheet.... Thus then, after many changes
and counter-changes, will stand the contents of _The Germ_, No.
1.--Woolner’s _My Lady_, Ford Brown’s _Love of Beauty_, Tupper’s
_Subject in Art_, Patmore’s _Seasons_, our sister’s _Dreamland_,
Gabriel’s _My Sister’s Sleep_ and _Hand and Soul_, my review of
_The Bothie_, and sonnet _Her First Season_, Tupper’s _Sketch from
Nature_, and our sister’s _An End_. Gabriel wrote a short poem,
_Lines and Music_.
Saturday 29th.--... Millais ... says he has begun his picture
from the childhood of Christ, and is going to have a bed in the
carpenter’s shop he paints from, so as to be able to set to work
early in the morning.... Millais’s brother continues to paint
still life and objects in Nature with great success, and is
determined to become a professional Artist. John is to bully him into
doing nothing all next summer but paint out in the fields. Gabriel
had Maitland to sit for his picture, but found him useless, and he
thinks of beginning to paint from me to-morrow....
Sunday 30th.--Gabriel drew-in the head of the Angel (from me) in his
picture. In the evening we went to Bateman’s with Millais, who has
finished the _Ferdinand and Ariel_, all except something more he
means to do to the background. He is going to send to the British
Institution a small painting he did at Oxford, of Mr. Drury and a
grand-daughter of his, for which he asks me to write an illustrative
sonnet.[199]
Monday 31st.--To-day before noon fifty copies of _The Germ_ were in
the hands of the Publishers; I took home with me twelve.... I wrote
to Thomas explaining the circumstances which compelled us to omit his
article....
* * * * *
1850.--Tuesday, January 1st.--The fifty India-paper copies of the
etching printing off for the magazine having been bound in, I took
some of them home: however they are not generally superior to those
on common paper. This was the day appointed (in lieu of yesterday,
which was found unsuitable) for our first anniversary meeting at
Stephens’s--fixed on the last day of 1848 for the last day of each
succeeding year. Millais and Woolner were prevented from attending.
We settled to what magazines and newspapers to send _The Germ_, and
to what private gentlemen and authors--viz.: Sir Robert Peel, Lord
John Russell.... [here comes a tear in the MS.]
Saturday 5th.--Gabriel went to see Hunt, who removed this evening
from Brompton to Prospect Place, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea....
Monday 7th.--... Deverell called on Gabriel, and told him that the
porter at Somerset House, who supplies the School of Design Students
with stationery &c., would be very likely to get off some of _The
Germ_; and it is arranged to let him have fifty, on the understanding
that, if he succeeds with the whole number, he is to have 10s., in
which case we might probably try it on with another fifty. Hunt, in
coming to Gabriel, sold twelve copies out of nineteen; and I left
three with a bookseller on trial. I had a letter from Mr. Clapp,[200]
the American we met at Patmore’s, sending me for insertion a short
poem of his own, _My Gentle Friend_, which he says has already
appeared in an obscure provincial Temperance-paper. If we should not
be inclined to put it in, this will be excuse sufficient. I paid for
the insertion of a second advertisement in the _Athenæum_.
Tuesday 8th.--George Tupper suggested to me the great propriety
of sending about _The Germ_ to the principal Club-houses. I
accordingly made out a list of twenty-one, which I gave to the
Publisher.... Another letter from Mr. Clapp, who says he has
“enlisted on our behalf some of the most enlightened minds he has
met with in England,” and that he intends to make _The Germ_ subject
of “inter-friendly correspondence” in Scotland and America. Gabriel
borrowed a lay figure from Barbe’s, and began on the drapery of the
Virgin....
Thursday 10th.--Gabriel had a large meeting at his studio,
including--besides the P.R.B.--Thomas, Brown, Tupper, Dickinson, &c.
&c. Collinson brought the remainder of _The Child Jesus_.[201] Two or
three matters concerning _The Germ_ were resolved on: such as to send
out more copies to literary men &c., and to magazines, and to try to
introduce it among Artists’ Colourmen. Ford Brown also will write for
No. 2 an article on the painting of a historical picture....
Friday 11th.--I copied out and left with Tupper, in conjunction with
Collinson’s poem, two little songs of our sister’s, one of which is
to be introduced into the 2nd No. Another thing to be put in is a
sonnet that Calder Campbell has sent Gabriel.
Friday 11th.--All the P.R.B. was at Ford Brown’s, with several
others, to induct him properly into his new rooms in Newman
Street.... Millais has been knocked up these two or three days with
colds caught at his carpenter’s shop. He has sent off his picture
to the British Institution, with my sonnet as title. He has thrown
up the commission for his _Ferdinand and Ariel_, as Mr. Wethered,
among other things on which they did not come to terms perfectly
satisfactory to Millais, expressed some doubts of the greenness of
his fairies, and wished to have them more sylph-like.... Stephens
says he has by this time disposed of thirty _Germs_....
Tuesday 15th.--W. B. Scott (to whom Gabriel wrote some days ago,
sending a copy of _The Germ_, and requesting contributions) answered,
enclosing two poems, viz.: a sonnet, _Early Aspirations_, and a
blank-verse piece, _Morning Sleep_. The latter, which is gloriously
fine, must absolutely come into No. 2....
Wednesday 16th.--... Gabriel ... in the evening began a rough sketch
of a design for my _Plain Story_, which (it is likely) may appear in
our 4th No., and which he thinks of illustrating. Collinson was at
his studio all day, working on the etching[202].... I had a letter
from Stephens, giving me a list of the subscribers he has obtained,
and suggesting that we need not print so many as 700 copies of No. 2:
300 would, he thinks, suffice. In answering him I concurred in the
reasonableness of the suggestion, but consider that 400 will not be
too much....
Thursday 17th.--George Tupper ... advises that 500 copies should be
published of the 2nd No., to which I agreed....
Friday 18th.--This was to have been a P.R.B. meeting at Collinson’s,
but the day turned out so intensely sloshy that only Hunt and I kept
the appointment.... We had some argument concerning the limitability
of the P.R.B.: Hunt maintaining that it ought inviolably to consist
of the present Members, for which Collinson and I do not see any very
cogent necessity....
Monday 21st.--By enquiry at the Publisher’s I learn that he has sold
120 or 130 copies, which is at least as good as I looked for. He sent
me a letter he has received from a Mr. Bellamy, Secretary to the
National Club (to which I sent a copy), advising him to send one to
the Proprietor of _The John Bull_.... Yesterday’s _Dispatch_ contains
a few words in praise of No. 1....
Tuesday 22nd.--Ford Brown showed Gabriel his article _On the
Mechanism of a Historical Picture_. He will finish it and copy it
out, and is to let Gabriel have it back to-morrow. After dinner I
went for the first time to see Hunt at his new lodgings, 5 Prospect
Place, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, where he seems very comfortably
settled. He has made a good deal of substantial progress with his
picture; of which, since I saw it last, he has done some more figures
in the background, the boy listening on the floor, the straw &c. on
the roof, with some sparrows in it, and something of the view outside
the hut. The figure he is now painting at is that of the foremost
man pushing at the door. Whilst I was there he went on working upon
a stump of a beech-tree which forms one of the supports of the hut,
and on which he means to paint a net hanging.... Stephens came with
John Tupper, who read, and left with me, a poem of his written on
Penge Wood. This, should there be room for it, will come into No.
2[203].... At half-past ten o’clock Hunt was requested to allow his
gas to be turned off, as the family were about to go to bed!! which
did not exactly meet his views or intentions....
Wednesday 23rd.--... A letter to “The Editor of _The Germ_” reached
me through the Publisher. It is from a Mr. G. Bellamy (a relative, I
presume,[204] of the other Mr. Bellamy) addressed from the British
Museum, expressing the highest admiration of the poetry of the
magazine, and begging the favour of an introduction to the author, as
he conceives it to be all by the same person. I answered to thank
him, and to say that I would call with Woolner as soon as I could
find time....
Friday 25th.--... Gabriel finished up his _Blessed Damozel_, to which
he added two stanzas. A letter came from “Shirt-Collar Hall,”[205]
acknowledging the receipt of a copy of _The Germ_ which was sent him
on Saturday; complimenting those engaged in it, who will, he says, be
“the future great artists of the age and country”; and promising that
it shall be reviewed in the _Art Journal_ for March, as it came too
late for next month’s No.
Saturday 26th.--... A note also came from Heraud[206] acknowledging
a _Germ_ which Campbell had left with him, and asking me to tea on
Tuesday. Gabriel sent Tupper an additional stanza for _The Blessed
Damozel_....
Sunday 27th.--Gabriel went on with the drapery of his picture.
Stephens called on him in the evening, when it was determined that
the authors’ names shall be published in our future Nos. For our
Sister Gabriel invented the name “Ellen Alleyn.” ... I had a letter
from Clough, conveying his thanks to me for the copy of _The Germ_
and the criticism.[207]
Monday 28th.--Collinson saw Gabriel, and showed him the new
impression (the fourth) of his etching, which is a great advance on
all the preceding ones. Gabriel wrote one more stanza of his _Blessed
Damozel_....
Tuesday 29th.--At Heraud’s, to whom I went, I met Westland Marston,
who asked me to his house for to-morrow. Heraud complimented us a
great deal on _The Germ_.... Hervey, the Editor of _The Athenæum_,
came in rather late. Soon after we had been introduced, he explained
to me that the reason why he had neglected many months ago to answer
the letters that I sent him concerning certain poems had offered
for _The Athenæum_,[208] was that he wished to call and explain
personally why he felt unable to insert them, viz.: on account of
their being too Tennysonian; and that his many engagements had
prevented him from fulfilling his intention till too late. He asked
me to call on him any Saturday or Sunday.... George Patten[209] was
there, and Miss Glyn the Actress, who promised to subscribe to _The
Germ_.
Wednesday 30th.--I found the invitation to Marston to be to a regular
evening party. On leaving I presented him with a copy of _The Germ_,
and he asked me to call some day when I might find him alone. Hervey,
in talking with me, maintained that _Sordello_ is absolute nonsense,
and said he has no patience with men who write in that style. He
tells me also that before publishing it Browning asked his friends
whether it was intelligible, and that they informed him it was; in
consequence of which, the result having proved the contrary, he
became somewhat indignant against them. I left with the Publisher a
list of twenty-five newspapers, magazines, &c., to which No. 2 is to
be sent. He tells me that he has sold some 70 copies of No. 1--not
120 or 130, as I heard some time back....
Thursday 31st.--Appeared No. 2 of _The Germ_--containing Collinson’s
_Child Jesus_; _A Pause of Thought_, _A Song_, and the _Testimony_,
by our sister; Stephens’s article _The Purpose and Tendency of Early
Italian Art_; Scott’s _Morning Sleep_; a sonnet by Calder Campbell;
Patmore’s _Stars and Moon_; Brown’s _Mechanism of a Historical
Picture_; my _Fancies at Leisure_ (including the _Sheer Waste_,
for which room was found at last), and my review of _The Strayed
Reveller_; Deverell’s sonnets, _The Sight Beyond_; and Gabriel’s
_Blessed Damozel_. Stephens figures as “John Seward,” as he does not
wish his own name to appear. Tupper’s articles in the 1st No. also
remain by his desire anonymous.... George Tupper gave me his bill for
No. 1, amounting, on a scale even below his original estimate, to
£19. 1s. 6d., from which he will deduct five per cent. for discount,
leaving £18. 2s. 6d. It now becomes a most momentous question whether
we shall be in a position to bring out a 3rd No. The chance seems but
very doubtful--quite beyond a doubt, unless No. 2 sells much better
than its predecessor, and of this we see but little likelihood. Even
if it does appear, we shall probably have to postpone the publication
of _Bride-Chamber Talk_, which Gabriel cannot write at much, having
to paint his picture: in which case, my _Plain Story of Life_ will
probably be substituted. I spoke to the Publisher about pushing the
sale of No. 2, and he promised to introduce it, on sale or return,
among his customers in the trade.
Friday, 1st February.--... By Campbell’s advice I left one of each
No. at the house of Mr. Cox, Editor of _The Critic_, to whom Campbell
had spoken of it.... Gabriel finished the drapery of the Virgin in
his picture; whereupon he immediately deranged the position of the
lay figure, so as to preclude himself from the possibility of working
at it any more....
Saturday 2nd.--... In the evening we had a full P.R.B. meeting at
Gabriel’s.... Millais has had his picture back from the British
Institution--on account of its being in reality a portrait, we
conclude--and will send it to the Academy.... Millais has had an
offer from Oxford to paint a copy of a portrait by Holbein; which,
as he does not feel disposed to accept, he offered to Stephens, who
will do it after the opening of the Exhibition. We consulted about
_The Germ_, and are unanimously of opinion that it will not reach
another No. Calculating the number of copies sold among ourselves as
ninety-five (not I think more than in fact) and by the publisher as
seventy (from which profits we shall have to deduct some few personal
expenses, which can scarcely amount to 15s.) it seems that the
expense to each of us beyond the receipts will be £1. 15s. 5¼d. This
is a kind of experiment that won’t bear repetition more than once or
twice.[210] The next meeting is fixed for Monday at Millais’s. On
coming home I found a letter from Mr. Cox, of _The Critic_, proposing
that, in case _The Germ_ should not continue (as he considers
probable), one of the Art-writers in it, or I, should write on the
same subject for his paper; in which case he says he would resign
the entire management of the articles on Art, the exhibitions &c. He
would not be able, however, to offer any remuneration in cash. His
proposal is not, I think, disadvantageous for the P.R.B., as it would
enable us to review the exhibitions in our own feeling, and might
besides lead to some other literary employment. I answered that I
would consult the others (Brown, Stephens, and Tupper), and, if they
should not undertake it, that I would accept....
Monday 4th.--Gabriel and I went together to the British Institution,
of which this is the first day, as I wish to write something in the
way of notice in the event of my being retained on _The Critic_....
Tuesday 5th.--I began writing my notice of the British Institution.
Gabriel assumed the responsibility of F. S.[211] and a few others....
Wednesday 6th.--John Tupper resigns in my favour; and Stephens wrote
me to the same effect, but offering his co-operation in any way he
might be wanted....
Thursday 7th.--Woolner and I went to Patmore’s, to whom I gave some
_Germs_, and his own poems. He likes the _Testimony_, which is he
says in the style which should be adopted in hymns &c., to make them
good. Says that there are very fine things in Gabriel’s _Blessed
Damozel_, and speaks highly of Stephens’s article.... He says that
William Allingham has promised some contributions; but these will
probably not be available....
Saturday 9th.--I saw the publisher about the sale of the 2nd _Germ_,
and am informed that some forty copies or so have sold, and that the
1st No. also continues to go off every now and then. This is the last
knockdown blow. We certainly cannot attempt a 3rd No. Woolner and I
went to Stephens. He showed us the design he has made of _The Marquis
dining in Griseldis’ Father’s House_, Griseldis attending, which
he means to paint; also two other designs from Chaucer--_Griseldis
parting from her Child_, and _The Revellers meeting Death_. Gabriel
got some stuff for the chasuble in which he means to drape his
angel....
Monday 11th.--... This was a P.R.B. night at Millais’s, where all
were present except Collinson.... Millais has very high accounts,
from Oxford and elsewhere, of the estimation in which Collinson’s
poem is held....
Tuesday 12th.--Gabriel ... in the evening ... was engaged with
Hannay, Clapp, North, and others; and I with the Museum Mr. Bellamy,
who has got us reviewed in _The John Bull_--the critic himself
not having looked at the book, but trusting entirely to Bellamy’s
report....
Friday 15th.--... I went in the evening, by invitation, to the
house of Mr. Bellamy, where I read the _John Bull_ notice of _The
Germ_. Mr. Bellamy seemed really to regret the apparently inevitable
death of _The Germ_; and took a copy of each No. to send to Justice
Talfourd, with whom he is intimate, and who might, he thinks,
probably do something for it....
Saturday 16th.--My review of the British Institution Exhibition
(first half) appears in _The Critic_ of to-day; also a notice of _The
Germ_, quoting four of the poems. George Tupper called on me in the
morning, and said that he and his brother,[212] looking with regret
at the _Germ_ failure, propose to carry it on at their own risk for
a No. or two longer, to give it a fair trial; when it would have a
better chance of success, through their being able to send about the
subscribers’ copies, to advertise by posters, &c. This I consider
a very friendly action on their part. I wrote at his request to
convene all the hitherto proprietors, and saw the publisher about
the sale of Nos. 1 and 2. It appears from what he says that he must
have sold not much less than 100 of the 1st, but the 2nd he states
goes off less well. All the P.R.B.’s came to Gabriel’s study at night
to talk the matter over.... It seems more than doubtful whether the
3rd No. can come out at the end of this month. Another point raised
was about the publisher. There was some talk of Tupper’s publishing
himself, but this does not seem very likely to be carried out....
Sunday 17th.--... We thus find ourselves docked of the two poems
on which we had to rely for Nos. 3 and 4. However, as there was no
help for it, we set to thinking how to manage with this deficiency.
The first thing thought of was Gabriel’s _Dante in Exile_, but
this he is unwilling to have printed until he shall have been able
to give it full consideration as a whole--besides its connexion
with his translation of the _Vita Nuova_, separated from which,
he thinks some allusions in the poem scarcely intelligible. His
_Jane’s Portrait_[213] was then discussed. This however is too much
like Woolner’s _My Lady in Death_ as regards subject; nor does
Gabriel think it good enough as a specimen of his powers. The last
suggestion was that Woolner should look up that part of his old
poem of _Hubert_,[214] which describes the lovers’ meeting, and see
whether it can be got into shape as complete in itself....