It will be readily understood that, in Mr. Stephens's article,
"Modern Giants," the person spoken of as "the greatest perhaps of
modern poets" is Browning.
By W. M. Rossetti: "The Evil under the Sun: Sonnet." This sonnet was
composed in August 1849, when the great cause of the Hungarian
insurrection against Austrian tyranny was, like revolutionary
movements elsewhere, precipitating towards its fall. My original
title for the sonnet was, "For the General Oppression of the Better
by the Worse Cause, Autumn 1849." When the verses had to be published
in "The Germ," a magazine which did not aim at taking any side in
politics, it was thought that this title was inappropriate, and the
other was substituted. At a much later date the sonnet was reprinted
with yet another and more significant title, "Democracy
Down-trodden."
Having now disposed of "The Germ" in general, and singly of most of
the articles in it, I have very little to add. The project of
reprinting the magazine was conceived by its present publisher, Mr.
Stock, many years ago--perhaps about 1883. At that time several
contributors assented, but others declined, and considerations of
copyright made it impracticable to proceed with the project. It is
only now that lapse of time has disposed of the copyright question,
and Mr.
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