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REFACE publishing at his own discretion."* Further light is thrownupon this subject by Mr. Theodore Watts- Dunton in an articleentitled Rossetti 9 s Unpublished Poems J Therein a promise wasmade: "Time . . . is the suzerain before whom every king,even Sorrow himself, bows at last The rights of Rossetti'sadmirers can no longer be set at nought, and I am makingarrangements to publish within the present year Jan Van Hunksand the 'Sphinx Sonnets,' the former of which will show anew and, I think, an unexpected side of Rossetti's genius."Seven years have elapsed since this was written but these" rights " unhappily remain unsatisfied ! Concerning three other poems, " two of them sonnets, a thirda ballad of no great length," we have already dealt with thefirst sonnet — Nuptial Sleep — in the only manner possible.As regards the second sonnet — After the French Liberationof Italy — which Rossetti put into print when preparing thevolume of 1870, we can for once entirely agree with him andhis editor as to the propriety of its remaining unpublished. 4 a See Preface to the Collected Worhs % Vol. I, pp. xxxiii ; also DanteGabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer : Notes by W. Af. Rossetti, (Lon-don, 1889,) p. 175, where the title of the first poem is given as TheDutchman's Pipe. The sonnets (p. 93,) were entitled The Sphinx. 3 Contributed to The Athenamm for May 23, 1896. See also a letterof great interest in The Spectator lor April 25, 1896, upon which webase our closing paragraph. 4 This sonnet along with his Autumn Song is now and again offeredat an exorbitant price to collectors : Verses / By / Dante Gabriel Rossetti/London: Privately Printed: / 1881. Octavo. Wrapper. Pp. 16, (including half-titles and blank leaves).
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