Here [Kensington] on Sunday afternoons in summer, men who were famous and women who were beautiful would assemble ; croquet and bowls, tea and strawberries, would serve as accompaniments to merry, witty talk, and here at dusk and often far into the night, my father and Joachim would take to their instruments, and convey the thoughts of the great masters of their art to the ears of Tennyson and Swinburne, Burne Jones and Rossetti. Watts, Browning, Leighton, Millais, Fred Walker, Doyle, and many another poet and painter who lingered on to listen to them. My father always delighted in having such men to play to ; with painters, as he has himself said, he was always safe with litterateurs he was occasionally not quite so fortunate. They were fond of talking and found it difficult to sit long and listen, whatever other sounds were being made, and at times matters fared even worse. << less