The last I heard of Professor Schiff was that his enemies had prevailed,
and that he had returned to Berne, welcomed by his own people.
In the November of this year, I revised “Ecce Homo,” and composed the
“Double Soul,” both of which are in “New Symbols.” I also wrote “Lucilla,
the First Saved,” at that time, a favourite of the good and gifted
Christina Rossetti.
It was at this period that I was engaged on “The Sculptor” (M. Angelo). I
sat in the Hall of Niobe for the manner, and stood in the Chapel of the
Medici for the matter, of this little poem. I sent it as aforesaid, to
Rossetti, who was at Kelmscott.
“Pythagoras,” too, was of this period.
In February, 1874, I wrote an article on some of Professor Schiff’s work,
and sent it to Dr. Anstey, to be inserted in _The Practitioner_, in which
it shortly appeared, giving much satisfaction to Schiff himself.
During this visit to “Florence my Fair,” I was in constant correspondence
with D. G. Rossetti, Theodore Watts, and other friends; and I left behind
me many there whom I had reason to esteem. Colonel and Mrs. Gillum
showed me many kindly attentions, not the least of which was that of
asking me to meet Madame Mazzini at their table. He, in common with that
lady, took a deep interest in a recently deceased friend, Miss Blagden,
who, through Mr. Watts, had appointed to meet me at Florence. She was
an authoress of promise. But, before I reached Italy, she was lying in
the English cemetery at Florence, where, with her friends, I visited her
grave.
It was, however, as a social centre that she took her high position in
Florence. She was the intimate friend of Mr. and Mrs. Browning, and she
is the heroine of Madame Villari’s novel, “In Change Unchanged.”