This picture which is considered by some to be Rossetti's most important work, illustrates the following passage in the Vita Nuova: "Then my heart that was so full of love said unto me: 'Is it true that our lady lieth dead'; and it seemed to me that I went to look upon the body wherein that blessed and most noble spirit had had its abiding-place. And so strong was this idle imagining, that it made me behold my lady in death, whose head certain ladies seemed to be covering with a white veil." This picture, painted in 1871, passed through several hands and was taken back by Rossetti from Mr. Valpy, on account of its large size in exchange for several smaller works. It was eventually bought by the Liverpool corporation. Rossetti first treated this subject in a little water-colour painted for Miss Heaton in 1856.] Rossetti had now reached his fortieth year and for about a twelvemonth had been suffering from insomnia. This was the cause of the break-up of his health, for to gain relief he acquired the habit of taking chloral, a drug of which the properties were then little known. VI During a visit to Penkill the thought of publishing his early poems occurred to him. Towards the end of 1869 he was busy with their preparation. Some of them were in circulation in manuscript in a more or less finished condition and some others were buried with his wife. As a relief from the strain of painting he began to write again. "The Ballad of Troy Town," part of "Eden Bower," and the "Stream's Secret," were among the new poems. He thought at first to collect as many of the earlier works as he could remember, together with those of which friends had manuscript copies, and to have them set up in type as the foundation of a possible volume. But he was persuaded with difficulty to apply for permission to open the grave of his wife in order to recover the buried manuscript. In 1870 the book, under the title, "Poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti," was published by Mr. F. S. Ellis, then in King Street, Covent Garden. Round Rossetti and his buried poems a sort of legend had been growing up which, aided by his fame as a painter, guarded his work against the indifference with which a volume of verses by an unknown poet is bound to be received. The book proved a great success and within a week or two Rossetti found himself in possession of £300.