My dear Fanny,

I thought it might be more comfortable to you not to hear from me till the great stress of letters was over at first, and so that I would wait to write till I could send the precious letters. We took our turn the last, and so read them upon Friday, the very day one would have chosen above all others for it, the girding to the battle in that calm and self-devoted ... continue reading

A sort of notion of locating a story at Market Stoneborough had made us look up the Mays and find out what they are doing now.

Blanche and Hector are just married, and Aubrey, having proved too delicate for Eton, is Ethel’s faithful pupil still, and Flora’s house is very well managed, but so stupid, and Mary is married to a clergyman.

I have changed the cart accident into ... continue reading

I have been entreated to send Dr. May to cure her [Ermine], but I think that would be past even his capacities!

There is no heart

breaking about him [the Colonel]; with Rachel, she had made up her mind to immolate her affections at the shrine of her asylum before she found out that she was in no danger. Now I believe in her.

I hope you have Eugénie de Guérin. You are one of the people to like her especially and extremely, with her sweet religious, pastoral spirit and . . . devotion to her brother. I am exceedingly in love with her myself.

We have just finished Dr. Livingstone, noble man that he is; all that one can wish is that he knew what the Church meant. The grand simplicity of his courage and endurance is most magnificent. I am sure England has not come to degeneracy yet.

My dear Mr Palgrave The shortest way will be to send you our number, to which you are very welcome as long as it can be of any use to you - though I should like to have it again ultimately.

You will see that a good deal of the scope of the article goes to the influence of Scott’s works in preparing minds for the Church movement, but the suppressed poetry breaking out is the main ... continue reading

It was the one bright, beautiful day of a cold, wet spring, and the celandines spread and glistened like stars round the grave where we laid him, and bade him our last 'God be with you' with the 23rd Psalm, and went home, hoping that he would not blame us for irreverence for thinking of him in words applied to the first saint who bore his name: 'He was a burning and a shining light, ... continue reading

J.F.O. slept here last night to assist at the opening of Mr. Randall's church at Clifton, to which we have been this morning. The Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Moberly, preached most beautifully about the Shadow and the Image. Mr. Skinner is also here for it. . . Those who stayed for the luncheon are full of enthusiasm, and say it was most successful, and that the two Bishops spoke ... 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 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

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 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

A. must have known him at Trinity. He must have just missed Dr. Moberly at Winchester. . . . What I think wants to be understood now especially is how far want of faith is to be treated as Sin. The Bible and the Church have always done so (query). And now even the good seem to think it is only to be dealt with ... 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.

You really must beg, borrow or steal something to help me. After this winter I shall get on better, but there are The Two Guardians and the Landmarks of History to finish before I can feel really at ease in giving my mind to this affair. I am rather afraid of spoiling the Landmarks by getting into a hurry. If you can send me something, I think we could meet the ... continue reading

No. III. is in clover. I have had something of some sort almost every day lately, and am not at all afraid of the 60 pages.

. . . Sir Guy Morville considers himself much honoured by your invitation, and as much as there is or will be by that time of him shall attend you. It will be a real kindness to take him out of my reach, for he is such ... continue reading

Thank you, I have seen the Times. Sir William Heathcote told me there was such an article, but he had not had time to read it, so I had to wait till morning in doubt whether it would be knock-down one, and it was rather a relief that it was not all abuse. It is very amusing to see how Miss Wellwood comes in for exactly the same abuse as if she was ... continue reading

Dear, good old slave, How nice and kind and understanding your letter was, and how thankful one should be for such friends! ...

The worst will be over when we hear from Julian, poor boy! Till then it seems like bearing the first stroke. But I am sure it fell mercifully as far as we were concerned, and the flow of feelings that meet us from all is very gratifying.

I believe my uncle, always living in his ... continue reading

Mamma told you of the wonderful début of Violet. I only wonder whether she will thrive as well when the critics have set their claws on her; the home critics are very amusing in their variety and ‘characteristicalness’ (there's a word!).

My Colonel correspondent complains of the babies . . . .Sir W. Heathcote says the will would not stand; Judge Coleridge falls foul of the geography of the Lakes; and so ... continue reading

The place we are in is a sight in itself - an old house of the Knight Hospitallers, which the great Ormond converted into an Irish Chelsea, making the Commander of the Forces the Master. It is built round a quadrangle, with a cloister, a chapel, and great hall, all in Louis XIV. style . . . this house occupying one side, with the hall and chapel, the house of the Chaplain, ... continue reading

It is nine years since I had been here. . . . All is much the same, and the ways of the house, sounds and sights, walks and church-going, are all unaltered. And there is all the exceeding pleasure of the old terms, the playful half teasing and scolding, and being set down for nonsense, and oh, above all, Uncle Yonge - having more of the father to me than ... continue reading

What seems to me to be the fact . . . is that, having been brought up in the Protestant school of thought, and worked out Catholicity for himself, when everybody thundered at the Tracts, etc., he [John Henry Newman] thought the fault lay in the Church of England, not only in the blundering of individuals, and he did not wait to see her clear herself. And then I think that he had, ... continue reading

Dean Church's beautiful book came in time for me to work it in with the Cardinal. It is a sort of key. By the way, there is a mistake- I don't know whether J. H. N.'s or Miss Mozley's - about the consecration of a church to which he could not go in 1838: it is said to be Hursley but it really was Otterbourne. Hursley was not consecrated, of course, till ... continue reading

It was a wonderful surprise, for the secret had been very well kept, and the day before I had a present from my former and present scholars which gave me great delight. £200 came with the autographs . . .

I do feel that Mr. Keble's blessing, ‘Prosper Thou the work of her hands upon her,’ has been most marvellously fulfilled, and this has brought me to think that the peculiar care ... continue reading

Will you allow one who is almost a stranger to you personally, to express my deep sympathy and sorrow when I saw the notice in the paper of the awful blow that has fallen on you? I know from Annie Moberly of your great kindness on my birthday last year, and that leads me to hope that you will not feel a few words from an old woman an intrusion; though pray do ... continue reading

The folk here, are quite on my side about ‘Debonnaire.’ In the first place, the King was so called as synonymous with Pious, according to Sismondi, and the proper original meaning of this word seems to have been ‘gracious,’ in which sense it is constantly applied to the best of the knights. Modern French has debased it, and given it of late the sense of weakness.... In English it decidedly means ... continue reading

I do not think the mass of the world is as morally bad as it was then [in the Middle Ages]. The great saints and the great sinners are much alike in all times, I suppose, and I am afraid there are fewer ignorant, simple saints. But I think the goodness of mediaeval times is altogether a delusion; and though I do not like ‘progress cant,’ I think the good should be owned, ... continue reading

My dear Mrs. Norsworthy, I must write a few lines to thank you for your account of my dear old friend, who, I feel, is lying in the land of Beulah, though broken by these times of distress. It was something the same with good old Judge Patteson, father of the Bishop. He had a throat complaint that he knew must bring final choking. And when it had very nearly come, as he revived, he said, ... continue reading