His frock-coat, though
the Muses had crumpled it, inspired confidence in his judgment of
other things than verse. But let there be no mistake. He was no mere
bourgeois parnassien, as his enemies insinuated. No doubt he had been
very useful to men of genius, in virtue of qualities they lacked, but
the secret of his hold on them was in his own rich nature. He was not
only a born man of letters, he was a deeply emotional human being
whose appeal was as much to the heart as to the head. The romantic
Celtic mysticism of `Aylwin,' with its lack of fashionable Celtic
nebulosity, lends itself, if you will, to laughter, though personally
I saw nothing funny in it: it seemed to me, before I was in touch with
the author, a work of genuine expression from within; and that it
truly was so I presently knew. The mysticism of Watts-Dunton (who,
once comfortably settled at the fireside, knew no reserve) was in
contrast with the frock-coat and the practical abilities; but it was
essential, and they were of the surface. For humorous Rossetti, I
daresay, the very contrast made Theodore's company the more precious.
He himself had assuredly been, and the memory of him still was, the
master-fact in Watts-Dunton's life. `Algernon' was as an adopted
child, `Gabriel' as a long-lost only brother.
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