Dear Otterbourne Readers,

All I can give you this time to read is a little account of some of my doings while I have been away from home. I began with a visit of two days to the good Bishop of Bedford, who though bearing that title has really been an assistant to the Bishop of London, till now, when he is gone to the new see of Wakefield, in Yorkshire. One of the ... continue reading

I have been reading an article in the National Review, showing how utterly Carlyle misquoted Cromwell’s speeches, and absolutely neglected shoals of contemporary papers which would have spoilt his conceptions of his idol. It is curious, but really, poor old Carlyle must have been a good deal of a humbug for all his bluster.

My dear Mrs Sumner

I shall be very happy to come to luncheon on Thursday Please do not wait for me if I am a few minutes late for I shall not be able to set off till 12.30, and the roads may be as bad as they are today!

yours sincerely C M Yonge

Gentlemen

I am much obliged for £10 for the publication of the Modern Telemachus I am sending the receipt to Mr Asgood

I remain &c C M Yonge

Messrs Harper

My dear Mrs Wordsworth I hope to come down to Salisbury by 2.24 on Tuesday, but as I owe an afternoon to the Moberlys, I will send on my goods and my maid to the Palace, and appear there myself at about 5 o’clock

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Miss Keary

I am afraid Lady Jane Grey will not do for me, as I have had her before in the Cameos.

Please thank the writer for me. Are you living at Kensington still, or is your present address only a temporary one. Not that I ought to give you the trouble of answering me. I hope no girls you were interested in were in that terrible catastrophe.

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Edith

I want to tell the SSW of a lovely book that has been sent to Gertrude by another invalid. It is called 'the Sermon in the Hospital', and can be had from Kegan Paul for 3d or 20s for 25 copies. It is in blank verse and is an extract from a poem by a Mrs Hamilton King, called the Disciples I am sorry to say they were Mazzini's ... continue reading

My dear Miss Webster

I will try to bring the paper in when I can upon the Mission Parcel society, which no doubt is very useful. As to time I can only undertake to tell you when I am actually seeing it safe in type - for I am never certain of the space, as Debatable Ground, and the criticisms come in at the last moment and are of varying lengths, so that the shorter ... continue reading

My dear Lady Mount Temple,

I am much obliged for your kind invitation, but I am wanted here on Friday evening, so that I cannot accept it. I had already declined to sleep at Mitchelmarsh on the same account.

I am told that I am to [paper torn]d the Jubilee collection to Mrs Beach, instead of to you as we are in the Northern division. I have not all the cards in yet, but there will be ... continue reading

Dear Sir

I think it would be well to send me a set of sheets of What to Read, that I might add to them or cancel them on occasion. I know there are some good books of this winter not added, and Goldhanger Woods, and I have not seen a sheet since before Christmas. I am afraid the books may be forgotten and omitted if I do not set them down soon

Yours &c C M Yonge

My dear Christabel

I do not know what advice to give but that I wish they would take GFS, though I know I would not the authorities are so troublesome. How stupid about the Jubilee address sacrificing the reality of the Signature to the tidiness of the sheets. I think as someone said that the GFS is like the Church in flourishing in spite of the drawbacks of its supporters!

As to your questions, ... continue reading

My dear Christabel

Many thanks. It will be the printers own fault if we are late for they are to keep holiday till Tuesday. I think you are right as to GFS chiefly because there is a continual conjugating of the verb to worry, active & passive I wish the Central would learn not Men’s Societies dont They have made all clergymen hate the concern! I wish I could ... continue reading

My dear Christabel

Don’t answer till you have time, and the fascinations of the twins are withdrawn, but I am moved to tell you first that Katie Lloyd has sent me a most exquisite oil picture of Fotheringay Church with such a look of sunshine, such reflections in the water, such trees. I am sure she has improved much – and she has put it in a frame that I fear must have cost her ... continue reading

Dear Mrs Drew,

I was out all yesterday and could not answer your kind letter, nor thank you for the excellent paper, which I have ventured to take to Mrs Sumner, who is really the parent of the Mother’s Union. I could not use it for the Monthly Packet as I am obliged scrupulously to keep that for young girls’ reading; but there is a yet undeveloped notion of starting some kind of paper, leaflet ... continue reading

My dear Mr Moor

Thank you very much. There is one thing more that I want, when you come to the Confirmation, & that is the last SPG report. Subscribing through my friend here, I don’t get it direct I have made a beginning but I go from home for nearly a week after the Confirmation I do not know what to do about the Chandlers Ford children. There really are not many - & when ... continue reading

My dear Christabel

I never did expect the debate in time for June, only we should have had a question. It may be as well to reserve those two letters in case of need for August. I fancied you knew that Annie Cazenove is the Muffin man I think she is one of the very best and most selfdevoted people in the world, but she had the disadvantage of being the only ... continue reading

My dear Mr Moor

I wrote the paper you asked me to do for the CQ but I am sorry to say it was not good enough, and was rejected. I rather suspected that it would be for it was too long and too like a report. Do you like to have it for use in any other way? I have had an article from Mr Donald Mackay sent me for the Packet for August ... continue reading

My dear Miss Smith

I am much entertained by your Scarborough paper as I remember those Rivaulx terraces some 25 years ago, the only place where my sights coincide with yours. I only wish I saw more present prospect of room for it! You must be one of my oldest contributors. Did you not like Miss Sewell’s paper on family traditions

yours sincerely C M Yonge

Dear Sir

The lines are certainly not mine - nor do I think I could ever have quoted them for I do not remember ever to have heard them

Yours truly C M Yonge

My dear Nina

Gertrude desires me to say that we have never had an American edition of the Three Brides but she has taken measures for getting a second hand one and it will be sent to you. All my stories in the Monthly Packet do get published again Gertrude is tolerably well just now

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Lizzie

Thank you for your kind letter. This is the dear Mrs. Gibbs's burial day, and I have been prevented from keeping it properly by Mr. Brock suddenly knocking up this morning with neuralgia and sick headache. If it had only begun yesterday he would have got help on such a great Saint's day; but that is not to the purpose. We knew what was coming for nearly a month; ... continue reading

My dear Frances

All I know about Juliana Coningsby is in the Cameo of December 1886. I got it out of Carte’s history also Knights, and they both took it from the King’s own account which Pepys wrote down at the time. The adventures were really more curious than Jane Lane’s and I have always wondered whether there were anything not told which prevented them from being made more of. But Carte is too old ... continue reading

My dear Dr Freeman,

How very kind in you, and as you say what a pity I did not know of it in time The history of the thing is this one of the sons of my very old friend, Sir William Heathcote is in Allens firm - He asked me to write one of their eminent women series and as I know Roberts’s history as one knows the Sunday books of one’s youth, I took ... continue reading

Dear Madam

Perhaps the book is out of print – My own private copy of ‘What to Read’ is one in sheets, the extras having been given away – so that RTS may have been taken out later. I have not the Half Hours still, I must have given them away or lent them, and so I cannot refer to them for the publisher

Yours truly, C M Yonge