My dear Anne I was very busy yesterday or I should have thanked you for your two notes, I thought it was a long time since we had heard from Deer Park, and had written to Cordelia the same day I wrote that scramble to you, though without any notion that there was anything the matter, I wonder whether Edmund had at all over done the cold water system, one is so very sorry to think ... continue reading

My dear Caroline, If you are at leisure this next/ week will you come and spend a day with us, when we can take a walk in the Cranbury gardens, as the house is still uninhabitable, and I do not think they can come home for a week or so. Any day but Monday will suit us equally well, and we hope you will come before one o’clock. It is so long since I have ... continue reading

My dear Mrs Blackburn, I was very glad of a letter from you, it is so pleasant to keep up our intercourse that I am always wishing to invent some cause for writing. I wonder if I shall ever arrive at writing the Siege of Waspburg, it is a thing I cannot do till the spirit of wasps seizes me and I suppose it will do some time or other. Your birds must be delightful, except ... continue reading

My dear Francis,

Here is a new stamp just issued in Philadelphia for carrying letters from one part of the city to the other, I suppose a successor to our old friend Blood. I conclude you have not got it, but if you have one, please return this, as my stamp office has four clients, of whom you always have the first turn, as the original one - I wish you had all been at the ... continue reading

My dear Anne Most peaceful, most gentle has the day been. The Psalms suited perfectly, and while we said ‘In His pleasure is Life,’ a butterfly flew about in the sunshine in church. I had a short talk with the Bishop of Brechin and told him your abode, and he hopes to come and see you about the end of the week. You had not sent me the Hursley letter about our dear Louisa. When you ... continue reading

Many many thanks for your most kind letter, and for telling me of the happy prospect before Dora . . . I have asked Mrs. Wilson to send on to you a letter of Bishop Patteson’s, which I think you will feel refreshed by reading; please send it on to Miss Anne Mackenzie. You are so very kind, and it would be very delightful to make one in the migration; but I have only seen ... continue reading

My dear Marianne- Here I am in the heat of the weather, with a copse before my eyes where the "grey blossoms twinkle" more like “a bright veering cloud" than I ever saw anything do before, but they are the silver buttons on the withies. Maria had a talk with Mr. Siddon, who expressed the most unqualified delighted approval of the book, but in general I think people regret that it is more the history of ... continue reading

My dear Edith I have thought much of you, you may be sure, in the great sorrow and loss that has come to you - in your Soldier of the Cross having passed the narrow stream

What a grand and beautiful thing it is that the needs and the down treading of the Church should have the power to awaken the latent power and heroism in men's souls. How little anything but a Divine faith could ... continue reading

My dear Marianne I have had a beautiful letter from Lady Martin, which I think you must see as well as Mrs. Moberly's equally beautiful comment on it. The palm and the white garment and the crystal sea seem to come like music back in answer to the 'Who knows' in the Lyra Innocentium! I have been living in it a great deal with the Wilsons who were at the Park, their hearts ... continue reading

My dear Misey Here is a note from Mr Gurney. I send it in case you should be changing your address, in which case it might not be so safe to let him write direct even under the care of the Angels.

I was at Rownhams yesterday, and was sorry to hear of the new sorrow. Maria had had a cold, but was nearly well, Mr Wilson has left off crutch in the house

yours affectionately C ... continue reading