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To Mary Anne Dyson
Wantage,
June 7. [1869]

MS location unknown. Printed in Coleridge, Life p. 259

My dear Marianne-
We have had a very successful time, so successful that I have had no time for letter-writing or anything else, but I have been most enjoying myself. I did just shake hands with Dr. Pusey, in his red doctor’s gown, and moreover heard him speak about the Palestine—no, the Sinai exploration.1

9th.—There, I wrote on Monday, and not a bit of time have I had to write since, but I am enjoying all things. I think the eager life here just suits me, from the wonderful unflagging feeling about it. It is so much the sparkling, hurrying stream.2

I know it is a delusion to hope to make this letter longer, so I shall not try—

Your most affectionate
C. M. YONGE

1The universities of Oxford and Cambridge had recently voted money for the purchase in the Near East of Arabic and other ancient manuscripts. There was also a geographical survey being made of the Sinai peninsula, which it was hoped would shed light on the history and geography of the Old Testament.
2If this is a quotation it is unidentified, but it clearly refers to the elaborate parish arrangements which the Reverend William Butler and his family had established in Wantage. These included schools, welfare workers and a nunnery, the Community of St. Mary the Virgin, of which CMY at about this time became an Associate Member.

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/2317/to-mary-ann-dyson-9

One Comment
  1. Ellen Jordan says:
    December 25, 2012 at 9:01 am

    I think you need to provide a link to the Butler biography otherwise the second note is pretty obscure. Is it possible that part of CMY’s purpose at Wantage was to become an Associate of the Community of St Mary the Virgin? Perhaps it was the life of the community she was describing in these glowing terms.
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