New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-14
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
possrrT1. THE MAN AND WRITER.

Il.
Mr.. T. Hall Caine 10 . young gentleman oil liter
ary tastes and poetic proclivitles who held 10
Rcssetti something of the relation of the neophyte
TO the priest and ievealer of mysteries That his
reverence was not altogether blind Is shown by the
frankness with which he speaks Of matters concern
ing which they disagreed, and OF traits In hossett
which were, to say the least, not lovabie. lheH
acquaintance began in literary sympathy, and
long correspondence preceded their meeung'
When at last that about Rossetts death was
not far distant and until the end he chung TO the
personal presence OF his young friend. Of these
months of illness and WEAKNESS Mr.. Game tells
little that is pleasant TO read the poet was then so
firmly fixed in the grip Of his tyrant, Choral that
nearly all the manifestations of his mind were NOR
bid and full of dolor and fantasy.
AT his best Rossetti could not have been whole
some soul to live with. His nervous vanity, the
sensitiveness which led him to anticipate and i'm
agile sights and insults and conspracies against
him. and his intellectual arrogance were intensified
by ilthealth and by the drug which in his later
years possessed him, but they had their birth in his
Southern temperament and we're the inallenable
inheritance of the man. Intellectually. spiritually,
physically Rossetti was italian and should not be
Judged as an Englishman. Men have eered because
in bis despair at bis wfes death he buried with her
the MSS. of his poems and then resurrected them
them. Both tho emotional impulse and the self
assertive second thought belonged to the Southern
nature that could never be in harmony with its
Anglo-Saxon setting He has described himself as
beng when a schoolboy reclusve in habit and
selfish of nature, though not without generous I'M
pulses. Mr.. Gaines portrait of the man reveals
much the same characteristics. Various acts OF
kindness and self-sacrifce his part are recorded
by the associates of his manhood. and where he
was permitted to rule be was the most amiable OF
men. But in matters Of taste IN art or criticism
ia poetry" Mr Game says, he would brook no
opposition from any quarters nor did he ever seem
to be conscious of the unreasonabeness of compel
ling his associates to swallow his opinions as being
absolute and final. never resisted any idea
of Rossettis at the moment Of its inception, since
resistance only led to temporary outburst OF self
assertion on his part. He was man of so muoh
impulse-impulse often violent as lawless,-
that to oppose him merely provoked anger to no
good purpose for as often not the position at
first adopted with much pertinacity was after
ward silently abandoned and your own aims quietly
acquiesced in In his earlier years ROssetti de-
lighted to saItle well-ordered people out of their
proprety. vehemently espousng in sheer pervers-
ity all manner of theories in which he had no be-
lief He even once horrIhed Dean Stanley by de-
Tending lin sporty the vices of Neronian Rome. He
was alive with contradictions. man full of NOR
bid gloom he vet had outbreaks Of fun, and some
play OF sportive fancy recluse by nature and
intention he could never conceal from his friends
any event however trfIng OF however important
which weighed upon his mind. His medieval ten
denotes were shown not alone in his art. He had
inherited a strong religious spirit which was the
reverse OF Protestant, and impressed Mr.. Game
with the con, lotion that he was by religious bias
of nature monk of the Middle Ages-a statement
haan
loath at one time to credit.
Rossetti began to write verse in childhood one
of the most remarkable Of his poems The Blessed
Damosel" was produced when he only nine
teen 1t grew out of his love for POe's Raven
az saw he said. that Poe had done the utmost IL
was possible to do with the grief Of the lover on
earth and so l determined to reverse the cOndi-
lions and give utterance TO the yearning of the
loved one in heaven" For many years his poems
were known only by hts recitation of them TO his
intimate friends and 10 1862 the only complete
copy of them was buried with his wife. Seven and
half years after he began to banker after poetic
reputation, as he saw Mr.. Morris, Mr.. Swinburne
and Others Of his friends attaining to distinction.
n The Ms. was exhumed and published, and seven
editions were called for In rapid succession. II
was reviewed with enthusiastic appreciation, hut
not in all quarters. The Scotch bosom of Mr.. Rob
ert Buchanan burned; and in q certain famous
magazine article on "The Fleshly School of
Poetry" he bitterly inlpeacbed ROssetti's
on the ground Of sensuality. The injustice OF this
attack was a, that time felt by most candid per-
sons and it has lately been admitted by MI. Blu
chanan in manly terms. Its effect. and that of some
other reviews in the same tone. upon Rossetu was
disastrous His genius was thrown of balance by
the reeoil of his sensitive spirit, and he not only
seemed definitely TO lay aside all hope of producing
more poetry but to become possessed Of the delu-
sion that he had forever lost all power OF dong So
After several wears of nOn-producton, nl-health
sn1 morb,dness. friend prevailed uron him to try
his hand upon a sonnet, and though it turned out
very bad sonnet indeed, bestowed upon it measure
less praise The artifce succeeded; tho author
was led gently on from poem to another, until
most of the material Of the volume Of 1881 was
prepared. 1t is a singular story or variable, i'm
pulsive, weak aud unhealthy nature beside which
poor Poe's almost takes ali of sanity.
Rossetti produced with many pangs of iusplra-
ton ~ lie on the couch" he said, the racked
and tortured medium, never permitted an nstant's
surcease OF agony until the thing hand is fin
ished One benefit do derive a result of my
method of composition my work becomes
depsed. Probably tho man does not live who could
write " hat have written more briefly than have
aonen 1t is worth noting that the poet was
ALWAYS penetrated by his own work. and
would read or recite it with tears and sobs He
told Mr.. Caiue tnat all poetry that really
poetry affected him deeply and often to tears not
needing to be pathetic nor yet tender TO produce
such result Il have known" he said two men,
and two orIy who are similarly senstive-Tcnny.
son and my old friend and neighbor William Bell
Scott once heard Tennyson read Maud,' and
while the fiery passages were delivered with a
voice and vehemence which he alone OF living men
can compass. the softer passages and the songs
made tie tears course down his cheeks" Rossetti
was with all his oddities, impatient of having them
attributed to him. HIS biographer. when ridicuing