MS Mrs Clare Roels
My dear Christabel
This is all the writing paper I have1, being ‘en clôture’, with a pupil teacher, a candidate- and three senior scholars – whom I have to superintend, as Mr Brock is called off to preach at Andover. It must be rather a relief, for his son and heir squalls incessantly day and night, and Gabrielle resents being a dowager at less than 13 months.2 Well- I was not sure about the last phase of the matter till I wrote to May – and I find that at first John did not object to Milly’s harmony classes, though whether he overlooked her prospectus, she does not know- But he did not refuse only because he did not want to give further cause of accusation of persecution, and she has made the circulars go so far, and has written such letters with them that now he has withdrawn all consent to their being in Sussex Square, and has forbidden intercourse with Adams. You see what she means by the pittance is that John will only give her any thing for her life- so that she wants to earn for Adams’s future.3
I am delighted with Astray. I hope to send you the Langley Adventures soon, comprising my Chorister’s temptations – ie Gurrs. Our prefaces are unlucky, for Clay went and lost mine to this, and I have just been writing a fresh one! I shall finish my Prentices in a week – ten days, and then I shall like to have Mrs Lyndhurst to fill in again.4
One point we did not go into in the great young lady controversy is that there are jokes and jokes. Refined families may be trusted to make innocent fun – like Jean Paul and his religion– though I don’t agree with him -but where the people are not refined, there should be absolute forbidding of jokes5 And the whole thing is rather as people feel about parodies of favourite poems, when some really are wretched and indignant at the profaning the poem; while others because it is so very dear to them can laugh at the parody quite contentedly- I remember one we made on Hohenlinden6, about the wasps in the bottles on the peach trees, which amused the Kebles but made some friends of theirs quite unhappy. There is a story now come for M P where a girl thinks a man is an Atheist because he does not know what G F S means. I expect the regular G F S worshippers will not like that at all. I suppose you have the proofs of the Mixed Babies7
Fanny Patteson has been at Winchester speaking, and came over to see Gertrude who is very fond of her Gertrude keeps much the same. She has got her soldier brother today
yours affectionately
C M Yonge