Tags:

To Edward Augustus Freeman
Elderfield, Otterbourne, Winchester
March 13th 1867

MS John Rylands Library, Manchester, FA1/7/831

Sir,
I am afraid you will think your kind mention of the Little Duke in your history of the Norman Conquest1 has brought on you an infliction –

But I cannot resist the desire to send you my later story the Prince and the Page because in it I have tried as far as the scope of the story would allow, to do justice to the character of Simon de Montfort and Edward I. I am aware that there is a very serious blunder owing to my having supposed that a Knight Hospitalier was necessarily also a priest, and I am also told that I was led astray by the temptation of interweaving the story of the Beggar of Bethnal Green; but on the whole I think it tends to bring out the character of that great hero whose fame you have been so thoroughly defending. And I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of thanking you for the clue you have given to that chaos of history before the Conquest

Yours faithfully
C. M.Yonge

1Freeman had written in his History of the Norman conquest I, 233:'I cannot help also mentioning Miss Yonge's tale of the ;Little Duke,' where the whole legend is very pleasantly told, though with too great a leaning to the Norman side.'
Cite this letter


The Letters of Charlotte Mary Yonge(1823-1901) edited by Charlotte Mitchell, Ellen Jordan and Helen Schinske.

URL to this Letter is: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/yonge/2151/to-edward-augustus-freeman

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.