Lady Ripon’s declining health—I frequently visit her at Putney
Heath, and I settle at Roehampton—Her friends and guests—Sir
Charles and Lady Douglas—Mrs. Charles Lushington—George Borrow
my frequent guest—Dr. Robert Latham—D. G. Rossetti—My visits to
Nocton Hall, the country place of Lady Ripon—My poem of “The
Lily of the Valley” describes Nocton Wood—How I came to write
“Old Souls”—A volume printed for private circulation, called
“The World’s Epitaph,” sprang from these poems—How the work
fared—The impression it made on Rossetti 204