Wednesday 30th.--I found the invitation to Marston to be to a regular evening party. On leaving I presented him with a copy of _The Germ_, and he asked me to call some day when I might find him alone. Hervey, in talking with me, maintained that _Sordello_ is absolute nonsense, and said he has no patience with men who write in that style. He tells me also that before publishing it Browning asked his friends whether it was intelligible, and that they informed him it was; in consequence of which, the result having proved the contrary, he became somewhat indignant against them. I left with the Publisher a list of twenty-five newspapers, magazines, &c., to which No. 2 is to be sent. He tells me that he has sold some 70 copies of No. 1--not 120 or 130, as I heard some time back.... Thursday 31st.--Appeared No. 2 of _The Germ_--containing Collinson’s _Child Jesus_; _A Pause of Thought_, _A Song_, and the _Testimony_, by our sister; Stephens’s article _The Purpose and Tendency of Early Italian Art_; Scott’s _Morning Sleep_; a sonnet by Calder Campbell; Patmore’s _Stars and Moon_; Brown’s _Mechanism of a Historical Picture_; my _Fancies at Leisure_ (including the _Sheer Waste_, for which room was found at last), and my review of _The Strayed Reveller_; Deverell’s sonnets, _The Sight Beyond_; and Gabriel’s _Blessed Damozel_. Stephens figures as “John Seward,” as he does not wish his own name to appear. Tupper’s articles in the 1st No. also remain by his desire anonymous.... George Tupper gave me his bill for No. 1, amounting, on a scale even below his original estimate, to £19. 1s. 6d., from which he will deduct five per cent. for discount, leaving £18. 2s. 6d. It now becomes a most momentous question whether we shall be in a position to bring out a 3rd No. The chance seems but very doubtful--quite beyond a doubt, unless No. 2 sells much better than its predecessor, and of this we see but little likelihood. Even if it does appear, we shall probably have to postpone the publication of _Bride-Chamber Talk_, which Gabriel cannot write at much, having to paint his picture: in which case, my _Plain Story of Life_ will probably be substituted. I spoke to the Publisher about pushing the sale of No. 2, and he promised to introduce it, on sale or return, among his customers in the trade. Friday, 1st February.--... By Campbell’s advice I left one of each No. at the house of Mr. Cox, Editor of _The Critic_, to whom Campbell had spoken of it.... Gabriel finished the drapery of the Virgin in his picture; whereupon he immediately deranged the position of the lay figure, so as to preclude himself from the possibility of working at it any more....