Charlotte Yonge is one of the most influential and important of Victorian women writers; but study of her work has been handicapped by a tendency to patronise both her and her writing, by the vast number of her publications and by a shortage of information about her professional career. Scholars have had to depend mainly on the work of her first biographer, a loyal disciple, a situation which has long been felt to be unsatisfactory. We hope that this edition of her correspondence will provide for the first time a substantial foundation of facts for the study of her fiction, her historical and educational writing and her journalism, and help to illuminate her biography and also her significance in the cultural and religious history of the Victorian age.
Featured Letters...
My dear Marianne If the maids had not an evil habit of keeping the arrival of a parcel a secret for some hours, I should not have let the dear Guy go without note or comment, but we never heard of him till just as we were starting for Winchester, when I wrote his mother's name in the first that came out, and carried him off. I hope she has had him by this time, and ... continue reading
My dear John I hope the untoward task you had to perform on Monday may turn out better than there seems reason to expect, for really one has no right to look for happiness from such a marriage. As the little man was going to Gibraltar, she had better have left him to take a wife from among the Monkeys of the Rock. He might have matched himself from among so many. Delia ... continue reading
Dear Miss Roberts, I enclose the letter which I received from Mr Neale this morning. Perhaps it will be the best way for you to answer his question about the Latin yourself. His address is at Sackville College, East Grinstead, and I hope the researches in the book whose name I cannot read may prove successful. By the by, I find that the children here call the little blue prunella Lady’s slippers, whether from any connection ... continue reading
My dear Friends,
Forgive us for not having remembered to write to you yesterday. Our dear Sister departed like a babe from its mother’s arms with hardly a shudder, seemingly in the midst of a sweet sleep which had lasted a great many hours. God be thanked for her, and may He pour His rich blessings on you and all who love her.
It was at 9.30 yesterday morning; my wife was poorly, but ... continue reading