'Cyril Aylwin,' that he was never known to
laugh. The pen-picture of him in _Aylwin_ is one of the most vivid
things in the book.

With regard to the most original character in the story, those who
knew Clement's Inn, where I myself once resided, and Lincoln's Inn
Fields, will be able at once to identify Mrs. Gudgeon, who lived in
one of the streets running into Clare Market. Her business was that
of night coffee-stall keeper. At one time, I believe--but I am not
certain about this--she kept a stall on the Surrey side of Waterloo
Bridge, and it might have been there that, as I have been told, her
portrait was drawn for a specified number of early breakfasts by an
unfortunate artist who sank very low, but had real ability. Her
constant phrase was 'I shall die o' laughin'--I know I shall!' On
account of her extra-ordinary gift of repartee, and her inexhaustible
fund of wit and humour, she was generally supposed to be an
Irishwoman. But she was not: she was cockney to the marrow. Recluse
as Rossetti was in his later years, he had at one time been very
different, and could bring himself in touch with the lower orders of
London in a way such as was only known to his most intimate friends.
With all her impudence, and I may say insolence, Mrs. Gudgeon was a
great favourite with the police, who were the constant butts of her
chaff.

With regard to the gipsies, although I knew George Borrow intimately,
and saw a great deal of Mr. Watts-Dunton's other Romany Rye friend,
the late Frank Groome, I did not know Sinfi Lovell or Rhona Boswell.
But I may say that those who have said that Sinfi Lovell was painted
from the same model as Mr. Meredith's Kiomi are mistaken. Sinfi
Lovell was extremely beautiful, whereas Kiomi, I believe, was never
very beautiful. But that they are represented as being contemporaries
and friends is shown by D'Arcy's mention of Kiomi in Scott's
oyster-rooms. The characters who figure in the early Raxton scenes I
cannot speak of for reasons which may be pretty obvious; nor can I
speak of the Welsh chapters in _Aylwin_, which have been a good deal
discussed in recent numbers of _Notes and Queries_. But being myself
an East Anglian by birth--one of my Christian names is St. Edmund,
because I was born at Bury St. Edmunds--I can say something about
what the East Anglian papers call 'Aylwinland,' and of the truth of
the pictures of the east coast to be found in the story, Since
_Aylwin_ was published an interesti