[Boston—Friday, 30 October 1863]
Oct 30. J.T.F. received a most delightful call yesterday from Rose Terry—a sweet lady full of dignity and character in poor health. She had never seen Boston before. Her life is devoted to an invalid sister.
A note came from Robert Browning saying that two new volumes of poems by him will come in the Spring. This is grand good news for all his lovers. He was in Vichy [sic, for Pornic] and his boy at Eton [sic].
Alden came again to his second lecture. He defined the radical difference between ancients and moderns as not a difference resulting from the Pagan or Christian religion but as the progress of human development which left behind the age he called Spectacular for the Reflective era. His illustration was very fine and his glimpse of Greek life, the ceremonies at Eleusis in particular very clearly drawn. Homer was spectacular, Milton reflective.
After our return we talked late and he read with enjoyment Jean Ingelow’s poem “Persephone.”
