erusalem_, but did not
otherwise write that chapter, except as regards the
illustrations. However, don't mention what I have done (in
case you write on the subject) except so far as the indices
show it, and of course I don't wish to be put forward at
all. What I do wish is, that you should say everything that
can be gratifying to Mrs. G. as to her husband's work. There
is a plate of Blake's Cottage by young Gilchrist which is
truly excellent.

As I have already said, Rossetti traversed the bypaths of English
literature (particularly of English poetry) as few can ever have
traversed them. A favourite work with him was Gilfillan's _Less-Read
British Poets_, a copy of which had been presented by Miss Boyd. He
says:

Did you ever read Christopher Smart's _Song to David_, the
only great _accomplished_ poem of the last century? The
accomplished ones are Chatterton's,--of course I mean
earlier than Blake or Coleridge, and without reckoning so
exceptional a genius as Burns.... You will find Smart's poem
a masterpiece of rich imagery, exhaustive resources, and
reverberant sound. It is to be met with in Gilfillan's
_Specimens of the Less-Read British Poets_ (3 vols. Nichol,
Edin., 1860)....

I remember your mentioning Gilfillan as having encouraged
your first efforts. He was powerful, though sometimes rather
"tall" as a writer, generally most just as a critic, and
lastly, a much better man, intellectually and morally, than
Aytoun, who tried to "do for" him. His notice of Swift, in
the volume in question, has very great force and eloquence.
His whole edition of the _British Poets_ is the best of any
to read, being such fine type and convenient bulk and weight
(a great thing for an arm-chair reader). Unfortunately, he
now and then (in the _Less-Read Poets_) cuts down the
extracts almost to nothing, and in some cases excises
objectionabilities, which is unpardonable. Much better leave
the whole out. Also, the edition includes the usual array of
nobodies--Addison, Akenside, and the whole alphabet down to
Zany and Zero; whereas a great many of the _less-read_ would
have been much-read by every worthy reader if they had only
been printed in full. So well printed an edition of Donne
(for instance) would have been a great boon; but from him
Gilfillan onl