Saturday 9th.--I saw the publisher about the sale of the 2nd _Germ_, and am informed that some forty copies or so have sold, and that the 1st No. also continues to go off every now and then. This is the last knockdown blow. We certainly cannot attempt a 3rd No. Woolner and I went to Stephens. He showed us the design he has made of _The Marquis dining in Griseldis’ Father’s House_, Griseldis attending, which he means to paint; also two other designs from Chaucer--_Griseldis parting from her Child_, and _The Revellers meeting Death_. Gabriel got some stuff for the chasuble in which he means to drape his angel.... Monday 11th.--... This was a P.R.B. night at Millais’s, where all were present except Collinson.... Millais has very high accounts, from Oxford and elsewhere, of the estimation in which Collinson’s poem is held.... Tuesday 12th.--Gabriel ... in the evening ... was engaged with Hannay, Clapp, North, and others; and I with the Museum Mr. Bellamy, who has got us reviewed in _The John Bull_--the critic himself not having looked at the book, but trusting entirely to Bellamy’s report.... Friday 15th.--... I went in the evening, by invitation, to the house of Mr. Bellamy, where I read the _John Bull_ notice of _The Germ_. Mr. Bellamy seemed really to regret the apparently inevitable death of _The Germ_; and took a copy of each No. to send to Justice Talfourd, with whom he is intimate, and who might, he thinks, probably do something for it.... Saturday 16th.--My review of the British Institution Exhibition (first half) appears in _The Critic_ of to-day; also a notice of _The Germ_, quoting four of the poems. George Tupper called on me in the morning, and said that he and his brother,[212] looking with regret at the _Germ_ failure, propose to carry it on at their own risk for a No. or two longer, to give it a fair trial; when it would have a better chance of success, through their being able to send about the subscribers’ copies, to advertise by posters, &c. This I consider a very friendly action on their part. I wrote at his request to convene all the hitherto proprietors, and saw the publisher about the sale of Nos. 1 and 2. It appears from what he says that he must have sold not much less than 100 of the 1st, but the 2nd he states goes off less well. All the P.R.B.’s came to Gabriel’s study at night to talk the matter over.... It seems more than doubtful whether the 3rd No. can come out at the end of this month. Another point raised was about the publisher. There was some talk of Tupper’s publishing himself, but this does not seem very likely to be carried out....