’A volume full of manuscripts had been ready for more than a year, when suddenly, a short time ago, when I fancied I had no heavier work than to make copy and corrections, I fell upon a fragment of a sort of masque on “The First Day’s Exile from Eden”—­or rather it fell upon me, and beset me till I would finish it.’[91]

[Footnote 91:  Letters to R.H.  Home, ii. 146.]

At one time it was intended to use its name as the title to the two volumes; but this design was abandoned, and they appeared under the simple description of ‘Poems, by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett.’  The ‘Vision of Poets’ comes next in length to the ‘Drama’; and among the shorter pieces were several which rank among her best work, ’The Cry of the Children,’ ‘Wine of Cyprus,’ ‘The Dead Pan,’ ’Bertha in the Lane,’ ‘Crowned and Buried,’ ‘The Mourning Mother,’ and ‘The Sleep,’ together with such popular favourites as ‘Lady Geraldine’s Courtship,’ ‘The Romaunt of the Page,’ and ‘The Rhyme of the Duchess May.’  Since the publication of ‘The Seraphim’ volume, the new era of poetry had developed itself to a notable extent.  Tennyson had published the best of his earlier verse, ‘Locksley Hall,’ ‘Ulysses,’ the ’Morte d’Arthur,’ ‘The Lotus Eaters,’ ‘A Dream of Fair Women,’ and many more; Browning had issued his wonderful series of ‘Bells and Pomegranates,’ including ‘Pippa Passes,’ ‘King Victor and King Charles,’ ’Dramatic Lyrics,’ ‘The Return of the Druses,’ and ’The Blot on the ‘Scutcheon’; and it was among company such as this that Miss Barrett, by general consent, now took her place.

To Mrs. Martin January 8, 1844.

Thank you again and again, my dearest Mrs. Martin, for your flowers, and the verses which gave them another perfume.  The ’incense of the heart’ lost not a grain of its perfume in coming so far, and not a leaf of the flowers was ruffled, and to see such gorgeous colours all on a sudden at Christmas time was like seeing a vision, and almost made Flush and me rub our eyes.  Thank you, dearest Mrs. Martin; how kind of you!  The grace of the verses and the brightness of the flowers were too much for me altogether.  And when George exclaimed, ’Why, she has certainly laid bare her greenhouse,’ I had not a word to say in justification of myself for being the cause of it.

Papa admired the branch of Australian origin so much that he walked all over the house with it.  Beautiful it is indeed; but my eyes turn back to the camellias.  I do believe that I like to look at a camellia better than at a rose; and then these have a double association....