My dear Anne It is a very long time since I have had such a nice long letter from you. I think the great Corfu news has given you a spur. It did take me very much by surprise though certainly if I had been asked to guess which of the Colbornes was going to be married, I should have said Jane, and you know she is at an age when two years of ... continue reading

I was thinking of the Southey and Scott controversy, and wondering if the self-consciousness of the men had anything to do with the personality of their heroes, whether Sir Walter went any deeper into himself than into the rest of mankind, and whether Southey from looking at the outside of himself con amore did not get inside of other humans too. I always do think it a strange thing how one can care so ... continue reading

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