big
barn of mine; but come early and I shall read you some ballads, and
we can talk of many things." An hour later than the arrival of these
letters came a third epistle, which ran: "Of course when I speak of your
dining with me, I mean tete-a-tete and without ceremony of any kind. I
usually dine in my studio and in my painting coat!" I had before me a
five hours' journey to London, so that in order to reach Chelsea at 6
P.M., I must needs set out at mid-day, but oblivious of this necessity,
Rossetti had actually posted a fourth letter on the morning of the day
on which we were to meet begging me not on any account to talk, in the
course of our interview, of a certain personal matter upon which we had
corresponded. This fourth and final message came to hand the morning
after the meeting, when I had the satisfaction to reflect that (owing
more perhaps to the plethora of other subjects of interest than to any
suspicion of its being tabooed) I had luckily eschewed the proscribed
topic.

Cheyne Walk was unknown to me at the time in question, except as the
locality in and near which many men and women eminent in literature
resided. It seems hard to realise that this was the case as recently as
two years ago, now that so short an interval has associated it in one's
mind with memories which seem to cover a large part of one's life. The
Walk is not now exactly as picturesque as it appears in certain familiar
old engravings; the new embankment and the gardens that separate it from
the main thoroughfare have taken something from its beauty, but it still
possesses many attractions, and among them a look of age which contrasts
agreeably with the spic-and-span newness of neighbouring places. I found
Rossetti's house, No. 16, answering in external appearances to the frank
description he gave of it. It stands about mid-way between the Chelsea
pier and the new redbrick mansions erected on the Chelsea embankment.
It seems to be the oldest house in the Walk, and the exceptional
proportions of its gate-piers, and the weight and mass of its gate and
railings, suggests that probably at some period it stood alone, and
commanded as grounds a large part of the space now occupied by the
adjoining residences. Behind the house, during eighteen years of
Rossetti's occupancy, there was a garden of almost an acre in extent,
covering by much the larger part of the space enclosed by a block of
four streets forming a square. At No. 4 Maclise had lived