d copied them into a little book presented to him for the
purpose, and on the day of the funeral he walked into the room where
the body lay, and, unmindful of the presence of friends, he spoke to
his dead wife as though she heard, saying, as he held the book, that the
words it contained were written to her and for her, and she must take
them with her for they could not remain when she had gone. Then he put
the volume into the coffin between her cheek and beautiful hair, and it
was that day buried with her in Highgate Cemetery.

CHAPTER II.

It was long before Rossetti recovered from the shock of his wife's
sudden death. The loss sustained appeared to change the whole course
of his life. Previously he had been of a cheerful temperament, and
accustomed to go abroad at frequent intervals to visit friends; but
after this event he seemed to become for a time morose, and by nature
reclusive. Not a great while afterwards he removed from Blackfriars
Bridge, and after a temporary residence in Lincoln's Inn Fields, he took
up his abode in the house he occupied during the twenty remaining years
of his life, at 16 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. This home of Rossetti's shall
be fully described in subsequent personal recollections. It was called
Tudor House when he became its tenant, from the tradition that Elizabeth
Tudor had lived in it, and it is understood to be the same that
Thackeray describes in _Esmond_ as the home of the old Countess of
Chelsey. A large garden, which recently has been cut off for building
purposes, lay at the back, and, doubtless, it was as much due to
the attractions of this piece of pleasant ground, dotted over with
lime-trees, and enclosed by a high wall, that Rossetti went so far
afield, for at that period Chelsea was not the rallying ground of
artists and men of letters. He wished to live a life of retirement, and
thought the possession of a garden in which he could take sufficient
daily exercise would enable him to do so. In leaving Blackfriars
he destroyed many things associated with his residence there, and
calculated to remind him of his life's great loss. He burnt a great body
of letters, and among them were many valuable ones from almost all
the men and women then eminent in literature and art. His great grief
notwithstanding, upon settling at Chelsea he began almost insensibly to
interest himself in furnishing the house in a beautiful and novel style.
Old oak then became for a time his passion, and