My dear Anne, You must not expect a very continuous letter from me as Mary Davys is here but I believe the best chance is to begin a long time beforehand to thank you for your charming long letter which we were delighted to see on coming back from school on Sunday. You said when you were here that we should sit in the drawing room gasping for a drop of water but last Sunday ... continue reading

My dear Helena Here is your ‘little bill’ I made out the cheque to you as I thought it might give less trouble.

I am not sure if you meant that Mrs White was one of the two daughters who erected Richard Cromwell’s Monument or one of the Wyndham daughters, on the tablet of the Bethia who had twenty children. What was the date?? I do not think you mentioned it of either. When we came ... continue reading

My dear Bea, I think I might add these two bits from ‘Old Times at Otterbourne’ as the thing turns out so short

I heard a very odd thing from Anna Bramston. She says she has seen a sword said to be old Oliver Cromwell’s in the possession of old Mr Comely. He said that at the sale in ‘the old home’ a blacksmith had obtained it, and it had descended to him. Could the old house ... continue reading

My dear Aimée, Many thanks for the Major Correspondence. The account of the battle of Newbury is curious and so is the account of the week’s pay of the officers and soldiers The trumpeters must have made a good thing of it. Pray thank the possessor very much from me.

The woods are a perfect feast of colour just now, almost as lovely as in primrose time

yours affectionately C M Yonge

Dear Mr Macmillan I wish to consult you on a matter that I am taking in hand.

Hursley - beside the recent association with Mr Keble has a good deal of local interest connected with it. It has the remains of an old Castle destroyed in Stephen’s time, and the customs of the manor’ are all complete

There are a few curious local anecdotes connected with the place, and there is correspondence in Cromwell’s life about his son ... continue reading

My dear Bea, No doubt this extract is what Carlyle went upon. Oliver Cromwell’s - or the Commonwealth Great Seal as figured by Knight has the map of England and Ireland on one side, and (apparently) parliament sitting on the reverse. The authority for it is not given. Rapin’s history however says that Richard had a new Great seal made for himself, and this must be the thing that was hidden, as it was an awkward ... continue reading

My dear Edmund Thank you for the result of your audacious bit of sacrilege, and also Mr Hardy. Mr Bowland’s epitaph, I am glad he was a keeper of the parks and not of the swine! Duthy read the name Bockland and Marsh Bowland He must have been a man in good odour with employers and tenants I wonder whether his eulogy is the work of a Bishop’s Chaplain or a ... continue reading

My dear Ellie I am delighted to hear of the Medallion!

Have you seen Sir Herbert Maxwell’s book of the months-? He disbelieved the rod and someone ought to write to him. He watched Mullins - and fancied he had discovered the places before. But Lady Crawley, the mother of Mrs William Gibbs, who had the power only in that generation of the family laughed at it as imagination, and I believe Mrs Gibbs inherited it, but ... continue reading

My dear Bea, It must have been the Die and not the seal itself that was hidden in the wall. Lottie Yonge has discovered at the Croft Vertue’s Cromwell seals and medals with Richard’s seal - he is on horseback on one side and in parliament on the other. Also that Timbs in his ‘Abbeys and Castles’ says that ‘Wllm Heathcote Esq found the die and sold it but Sir William Heathcote bought the die. ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan I have been so often asked for a cheaper edition of my novels that I am delighted to hear that you are beginning on one of them, and I hope it will answer so well that you may follow it up with others

I hope by the 1st of July to send you the 'Parishes of John Keble’. It is being looked over by the Heathcote family now, and I shall not have it ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan Herewith I send the MS of ‘John Keble’s Parishes’ I shall be glad to know what you think the best way of dealing with it and what you think about illustrations.

There should be a map of the parishes which are locked together but I wait to get it drawn out till I hear about the size of the page

What would be advisable as to illustrations. We had thought of

Ruins of Merdon Castle Old ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan I hope to send off the illustrations - or the material for them on Saturday.

I will write to Mr Portal, the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for permission for the portrait of Sir Wm Heathcote

Two books are with them - one (Lady Heathcotes) for the sake of the old views and plans - it is the original book by Marsh.

The other belonging to me is the Revd J.F. Moor’s written about 1860.

The ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan The Clerk of the Peace undertakes to ask the consent of Mr Portal and the Magistrates at the Quarter Sessions - so there is no doubt that this will be right.

Could the little wood cut of the Ampfield fountain (in the book) be inserted - And one view of the old Hursley Church would be liked

Otherwise the list is very satisfactory.

That likeness of Mr Keble has never been published, and would be ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan Many thanks for your cheque which was an agreeable surprise to me. I hope the experiment of cheapness will be successful.

The great day at Hursley is to be the 24th October so if we could have a few of the presentation copies of John Keble’s parishes, it would be a great boon

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

Dear Sir I am much obliged for your letter, with the curious particulars about the Bartons. The cow is delightful!

But Manydown is not a mistake, it is near Basingstoke, and (I believe) held on the tenure of receiving the Winchester scholars if the plague was in the city. I have known many of the family of Bigg, who two generations ago, took the surname of Wither, on inheriting Tangier Park from the ... continue reading

Dear Mrs Belfield The precious mittens are safely come - it is a very curious genealogy for them - They are exactly like some little lace mittens of the 17th century figured in Mrs Earle’s ‘Child Life in Colonial days’

Madam Cromwell must been Elizabeth daughter of Richard who died at 83 in 1741 - Her mother, who was Dorothy Major of Hursley died in 1675 - so the mittens could not have been sent to her ... continue reading