Sunday 9th.--... To-day I called on Woolner, and saw his head of Carlyle, and a first sketch for the Wordsworth monument competition. Wordsworth is seated, the whole arrangement of the figure being subordinated to the supremacy of the head; on the base of the plinth whereon he sits is a bas-relief of _Peter Bell_. Two side-plinths are left entirely plain, as expressive of the ideal in contrast with the human. Mounted on these are two symbolic groups; the first of Control--a refractory child restrained by the authority of his father; the second of Aspiration--a girl who, showing to her mother a flower which she has gathered, is taught to raise her thoughts to the stars. The manhood (rather than womanhood) of the controlling figure in the first symbol is the suggestion of Carlyle, who expressed his entire approval of the general conception of the monument. There are several excellent names on the Committee for carrying out the subscription and awarding the commission--such as ought to give Woolner a fair chance of success; and the terms of the prospectus promise a certain elevation of principle in the selection.... Friday, 2nd May.--After another discreditable lapse, I take occasion to renew the P.R.B. Journal--this being the private-view day at the Academy, to which I had a ticket through _The Spectator_. The P.R.B. pictures here are Millais’s from _The Woodman’s Daughter_, _The Return of the Dove to the Ark_, and _Mariana_,--and Hunt’s _Valentine rescuing Sylvia from Proteus_. Millais’s two first are on the line--_The Woodman’s Daughter_ in the old architectural room, from which the architecture has been this year transferred to the Octagon Room; the two others in the West Room--the _Mariana_ being partly below the line. Hunt’s has been abominably shirked off into much the same position as his _Rienzi_ of 1849 occupied. Collins exhibited two pictures--a portrait, and _Convent Thoughts_--very charming indeed; a strong claim to P.R.Bhood, which it appears however he is now in no hurry to apply for, thinking it should have been offered long ago. Brown’s _Chaucer_ is here, and attracts much admiration; the other best pictures being Eastlake’s, Dyce’s, Leslie’s, Mulready’s (an old one), and Poole’s.... In my progress I heard some one--by his looks, an Academician--observe, in reference to one of Millais’s pictures, that no sarcasm could be too fierce for such absurdities; and another, a Frenchman-cropped monkey-looking being,[258] was in ecstacies of amusement which he made it his care to communicate. The _Mariana_ appeared nevertheless to be a great favourite with women, one of whom said it was the best thing in the exhibition.... The rest of the evening was spent here (the time happening to have come round) in assembled P.R.B.: Woolner excused himself through indisposition.... Millais had heard from Mrs. Collins[259] something about abuse encountered by his pictures; which, it seems, are denounced by Mrs.