ABSTRACT
Meredith’s remark about Swinburne’s ‘internal centre’, concerned with an early work of fiction (now accessible in New Writings by Swinburne), has often been quoted in disregard of chronology and Meredith’s other statements. His novel Emilia in England (later entitled Sandra Belloni) introduced a Tracy Runningbrook, whose last name may be equated with the second syllable of ‘Swinburne’ and who has several Swinburnian characteristics. Though the fictional portrait was by no means offensive, the hypothesis that Swinburne did not relish it may be supported by textual changes in the revision of the early version.
