My dear Mary I am glad you have been keeping the wedding day with Charlotte. I am afraid that the hotel must spoil sitting out of doors except in front of the house. I am writing now in the garden while Blanche Webber, who is here to recover from the remains of the influenza is lying down in her own room. She had it at Easter and does not quite get over the remains, ... continue reading

My dear Anne Many thanks for the further particulars of Tern, I am glad they are allowed to be Arctic. Alethea’s children seem chequered in and out, brown and fair instead of being divided into boy and girl, how very amusing the others must be, I think Edmund must be remarkably clever to be doing lessons, and joining so much in the play of the others. Alethea Mackarness’s daughter came as unexpectedly as Frank ... continue reading

My dear Anne,

How strangely sorrows have thickened on the family. Poor Delia Oldfield, she seems so especially desolate in her helplessness. I am glad Francis Yonge was with her, he must be more able to comfort her than any one else, and now that he has no call to other duties or any other home, he can best be with her. We were at Emsworth barely a month ago, and have certainly liked the General ... continue reading

My dear Marianne Things have gone on well and quietly; I only wonder what I am that I seem to have no breakdown in me, but cannot help feeling for ever that the ‘Ephphatha is sung’when I think of the frowning look with which she would try to make us understand her, and that struggle to say words of praise, ‘glorify’ so often coming. You cannot think how her work, the illuminated ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ and ... continue reading

My dear Mary I was obliged to let the Guardian go that week before I had really read it, but it must be a mistake for our dear Charles cannot be referred to in Bp Wordsworths Christian Boyhood, as it was published before his death. I know he had a copy full of marks of his own. There is a note in the book about the poet Bowles and the habits at Winchester, and ... 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 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

My dear Mary Edmund Morshead has just been here, and we informed him of his new cousin. It did take me by surprise and reminded me of a lady in one of Miss Ingelow’s books who says her niece had babies with lightening [sic] rapidity- It is much for Sydney to have this nursing on her hands just after her own illness I have been out today and hope to be quite let loose ... continue reading

My dear Edmund, Here is an entreaty I have had from Mary. I can’t worry the old Warden, and I don’t know what niece is with him. I don’t think there is much to see extra at New College, but would you send her a note to make it possible. I think one sees the Hall naturally, and there was not much in the Library to see, but I suppose William of Wykeham’s staff is only ... continue reading

My dear Mary

I know you will be wishing to know about us, but I am afraid there is nothing very cheering to tell except that I think the worse must have come to the worst. The five banks that were creditors would not take any compromise though they were offered more than Julian’s proper share of the deficit but it seems that by the law each single director can be made responsible for the ... continue reading

My dear Mary

I hoped to be able to tell you by this time that Julian was quite free and had had his discharge but though the money is paid, the forms take a long time owing to the wearisomeness of lawyers however all the real trouble is over now. I do not think it has every been in any but the Hampshire papers which had a kind little paragraph about a Gentleman much respected

Fancy ... continue reading