Next time I have to set down ‘Likes and Dislikes,’ I shall put a General Election as my chief antipathy.

I always fancied Hyères the most of these resorts, perhaps because my father was there to take charge of a consumptive cousin in 1816-17, and he used to talk of the sheets of big blue violets. He had been at Waterloo, and was with the army of occupation, and this cousin came out for the fashionable ... continue reading

Thank you for your letter and exposition of Lord Hartington's views. I think it is very hard on Lords Salisbury and Iddesleigh, who have been stanch, [sic] religious Churchmen all their lives, to be accused of making a party cry of the Church's danger; and it was not they, but the Record, who published the scheme of the 400 robbers. It seems to me that, if Lord Hartington and ... continue reading

I can’t help being attracted by ghost discussions, and there are some things that I very decidedly believe.

I don’t care much for Nuttie myself. I am getting too old to write of the swing of modern life; I don’t see enough of it.

My dear Christabel

I should think on the whole that it was intended to decline the book except at your expense. I do think the resemblance to Don John is a disadvantage though you have treated it in such a different way. And had not Low something to do with Don John, either through Good Words or Miss Ingelow. I am on the whole afraid that as I see in the Guardian that ... continue reading

My dear Mrs Blackburn,

It is very pleasant to hear from you again! Someone ought to collect versions of Father Isams[?] and Sister Katieaia[?] (as she was in my time) Our school children have been seeing [sic] playing at them in Church. I should not have understood but my mother and her half sister had played at it in their childhood without understanding it. A few years ago one of my cousins saw another - a ... continue reading

My dear Miss Gordon Cumming

I have been thinking it over, and I am afraid I must decide against the Red Sea. I have had one batch of letters from the Soudan which are coming in the next number and perhaps there may be more so that I could not promise any other paper on Egyptian matters a place at the same time, though of course it is quite uncertain whether I may get any ... continue reading

Here are two proofs of your conversation, which, by-the-by, must be headed 'A Conversation on Books.' It will not go in this time, so you will have plenty of opportunity to do what you please with it. A conversation on Archbishop Trench's book must precede it, to give the old man a chance of hearing it, as it is by a young relation of his own - young, I ... continue reading

My dear Miss Blackburne

Thank you for the sight of this. I have sent the review on to Mr Shorthouse. That Glasgow paper must have clever people belonging to it, for they always make notices to the purpose

I have sent the proof to the printers, and hope it will get in this next April number.

It is very interesting to see what Mr Shorthouse likes as his interpretation Artistically I think it was a great ... continue reading

Dear Mr Tyrwhitt

The copy right is yours. It always stays with authors in the Packet, so neither Mr Smith nor I can have any objection to Natural Beauty appearing in America

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Mr Wither

It has been a beautiful day Easter day, full Church and 104 Communicants – 50 early and 54 late – not quite so many as last year, but Frances was in bed with neuralgia and Helen is at Arlington. We had scarcely enough primroses for the Church, they are so late this year – but there were plenty of daffodils and it looked very well

No, Mildred Coleridge has not married Adams nor ... continue reading

My dear Mary

Gertrude has brightened up this week but she had an embarras de richesses on Wednesday for Jane Harper, two children, Bella Heathcote Mrs Buston and Emily Dampier all came. She could not see the last two but they are coming on Wednesday afternoon to see her.

We had 104 communicants today - 50 early and 54 late. Frances was neuralgic and could not come out so Maurice was alone. George has grown ... continue reading

My dear Fanny Yes, I think it is an excellent little paper and shews a good deal more knowledge of Sir Tristrem than I have, inasmuch as I have never got up Modern poems, and it is a good while since I poked in the ancient[.] I have a curious old Italian one printed in Italics called La Tavola Rotonda and with a good deal about Sir Tristram in it - which was bought ... continue reading

Dear Mr Coleridge

Thank you much for kindly remembering me on this occasion but I do not think I shall be in London at the time.

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Annie

If only you would not snap your fingers at Rome! I don’t want to give her more than her due, but I do love and honour S. Gregory the Great too much to like what we owe to him and his noble spirit to be so treated.

You know it is a fact that, though there were British clergy about, they did not choose to try to convert the Saxons, because they wished ... continue reading

My dear Mrs Joyce,

I am sorry to say I must ask you to put off your kind visit till next week.

My sister in law’s brother, Charles Walter, has been killed in Alderney by a fall from his dog cart. He is to be buried on Tuesday, beside his father at Winchester, and the relations will be in and out here to see the poor invalid sister so that I cannot venture to have anyone ... continue reading

My dear Miss Gatty

‘A bit of Green’ was only in the number preceding ‘the Blackbird’s Nest’- July 1861. I had been on the like quest for the sake of the few words I have said in a conversation on books in the August number, I should have done so in the July one only that it was another persons conversation into which [it] would not fit

I did not write to you for what can I ... continue reading

Dear Madam

Will you send the Altar Cloth addressed to the Bishop of Melanesia at the Close, Lichfield. He thinks he will probably use it in Norfolk island.

You had better write to him when you send it

Yours truly C M Yonge

My dear Lottie

Many thanks for the Water Soldier who came in excellent order. Fancy Arthur Yonge being like Julian. He was in a very different style in his younger days being very dark and always carrying his chin rather in the air but I think his beard must have made a difference and I know there always is a tendency in us to be more like the Duke Yonges than anyone else. ... continue reading

. . . August and very dreary it was to see the beautiful rooms at Heaths Court with no mistress. I still believe that there will be a great awakening from the present blindness, and Mary . . .

I think Winchester is a rock that binds its limpets fast - not a good simile either for the limpets do go off, only perhaps it is their affections that stay there. I have not near ... continue reading

My dear Miss Gordon Cumming

Thank you so very much for the photos, I am very glad to have it. I am afraid this is no return, as it was taken from a not very good picture. Bassano’s negatives are used up and he has been intreating me to come again- but I have not been in London for two years. If ever we are there at the same time, I do hope we may get ... continue reading

My dear Mary

Thank you for the sight of the photographs Julian says the iron work is meant to cover it. It is very beautiful but I am afraid I do not like the idea of the Dove. It seems to me going beyond the lawful symbol, and I am sorry for it, though of course I have heard of such before, but not I think very frequently. I do not think ... continue reading

Dear Mrs Charles

Thank you most heartily for the book you have been so kind as to send me. Such lives as those always remind me of that saying of Sir Walter Scott that Mrs Hemans preserved - ‘Do not say that noble blood is wasted, it sends down a roaring voice through all time’

May it lead to fresh worthy deeds -

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

Dear Mrs Molesworth

I am very sorry there has been such a delay in answering your letter. All those directed to the office were delaying in coming to me by a mistake

I shall be very glad to see your MS if you will still send it to me, it had better come direct here, to save time

Yours truly C M Yonge

Dearest Jay

I find I have a copy of the Shield which you are welcome to keep, I never did any more to the volumes than this, only imagined it. I found when I was half through the Shield that I had used the name of Merrifield before, in the Stokesley Secret. . . ... continue reading

My dear Miss Soulsby,

The worst of it is that I am afraid all the writers of the ‘rejected addresses’ want to be paid and I do not suppose the resources of the All Saints Magazine would warrant that hope. I am sorry I have sent home most of the competition stories for the Christmas number

yours truly C M Yonge

I have just found one. If it will do, write and ask permission of the

[the ... continue reading

Dear Mr Craik

The story I wrote to you about will be ready in less than a week. If I am not getting like the Archbishop of Granada, I think it is better than my last two or three. Shall I send it up to the printers? Which would be the most taking first title- Chantry House or the Mullion Chambers The second title must be the same in any case - the ConfessionsNarrative of A ... continue reading

I could not get time to answer your last letter immediately, as I have been very busy in various ways, and, as you may suppose, much disappointed in the elections, in proportion no doubt to your satisfaction. But I see no safety now, humanly speaking, for the Church, or anything else that is worth preserving, unless the moderate Liberals will make a stand, which I see no sign of their ... continue reading