de on that night by Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, and which is now in the possession of Robert Barrett Browning.
This inscription, written by Robert Browning, reads: "Tennyson read his
poem 'Maud' to E. B. B., R. B., Arabel, and Rossetti, on the evening of
Sept. 27th, 1855, at 13, Dorset Street. Rossetti made this sketch of
Tennyson, as he sat, reading, on one end of the sofa, E. B. B. being on
the other end." And this is signed, "R. B. March 6th, 1874 ... 19, Warwick
Crescent." As the date is Mrs. Browning's birthday, it is easy to realize
how, in that March of 1874, he was recalling tender and beloved memories.
On the drawing itself Mrs. Browning had, at the time of the reading,
copied the first two lines of "Maud." Tennyson replied to a question from
William Sharp, who in 1882 wrote to the Laureate to ask about this night,
that he had "not the slightest recollection" of Rossetti's presence; but
the inscription on the picture establishes the fact. William Michael
Rossetti was also one of the group, and a record that he made quite
supports the fact of Tennyson's unconsciousness of his brother's presence,
for he says: "So far as I remember the Poet-Laureate neither saw what my
brother was doing nor knew of it afterward." And as if every one of this
gifted group present that night left on record some impression, Dante
Gabriel Rossetti has noted that, after Tennyson's reading, Browning read
his "Fra Lippo Lippi," and "with as much sprightly variation as there was
in Tennyson of sustained continuity." In a letter to Allingham, Rossetti
also alluded to this night, and infused a mild reproach to Mrs. Browning
in that her attention was diverted by "two not very exciting ladies"; and
in a letter to Mrs. Tennyson, Mrs. Browning speaks of being "interrupted
by some women friends whom I loved, but yet could not help wishing a
little further just then, that I might sit in the smoke, and listen to the
talk," after the reading. So, from putting together, mosaic fashion, all
the allusions made by the cloud of witnesses, the reader constructs a
rather accurate picture of that night of the gods. Mrs. Browning, who "was
born to poet-uses," like the suitor of her own "Lady Geraldine," was in a
rapture of pleasure that evening, and of "Maud" she wrote: "The close is
magnificent, full of power, and there are beautiful, thrilling lines all
through. If I had a heart to spare, the Laureate would have won mine."
Tennyson's voice she found "like an orga