My dear Driver I never expected Henrietta to produce such pretty fruits. I am delighted with it. I wish you would give Linny Sintram to read, and see what she would make of it. Ours are hearing it with great satisfaction. The Tree was very successful; the gentlemen would come to look on, which made the children very silent, but they were exceedingly happy. Mr. Wither cut down the fruit, and there was much fun, ... continue reading

My dear Driver Thank you for all your encouragement with regard to Henrietta; I assure you I mean to have my own way, and if the Churchman finds he has caught a Tartar, he must make the best of it. I am very angry with Sister’s Care, for it has done the very thing I wished not to have been done, that is to say, in one way I am glad of it, for I ... continue reading

My dear Miss Dyson If developments interest you, you should begin with Charlotte long before Abbey Church, and trace the dawnings, not only of herself, but of some of the Beechcroft young ladies in the Chateau de Melville. Let me send you one if you have not seen it, and if ever you begin to teach your herd to low in French, we can furnish a complete stock. The French is probably good enough for ... continue reading

I send a Château de Melville, and if you do not stick fast in it I should be amused to hear if you can identify the people with the Magnanimous Mohuns in their youth, that is to say, tell which is the origin of which. I have a most funny series of MSS. connecting them, which my executors may hereafter publish as a curious piece of literary history- I don’t mean that I keep them ... continue reading

My dear Driver I rather doubted about sending you Cyrus, because, as you will see, he does not stand alone, but is a chapter of general history and therefore is not very minute, nor has he been written more than once, so that you must excuse numerous deficiencies and please to let me have him again. To my shame be it spoken I have not read Clarendon; we ought to have read him aloud ... continue reading

My dear Driver The first thing I did when I opened your letter this morning was to laugh, it was so exactly what I had been thinking about before I was up, as far as regards Guy's character, for what I had been planning was to make the encounter with Martyn happen at Oxford, whither Martyn has volunteered to go to hunt up the supposed debts of Guy's. I mean Guy to have hazel eyes ... continue reading

[no salutation] I have taken a sheet of paper and turned my dramatis personæ loose upon it to see how they will behave; at present the part of Hamlet is left out, that is to say, they have only got a letter from Guy announcing his grandfather's death. I find that Philip is greatly inclined to be sententious and that Charles likes to tease him by laughing at him, and mimicking his way of saying ... 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

Sir Guy Morville has just arrived at Hollywell, and Charles does not know whether to like him or not. I have got hard into the beginning now, but I believe some work at the Landmarks  will be very wholesome for him. You know his first confession of love was made at a time when all was going smoothly, and I should think the consciousness of the doom was not at ... continue reading

My Dear M. A. O that the sky of the Church was as clear as the sky above our heads, and how, as they always do, yesterday's Christian Year seemed to chime in with the thoughts that must sadden one even in this most glorious weather, as we thought last night when the full moon was shining so gloriously in the midst of the sky, and the elm-tree making such a beautiful shadow on the ... continue reading

My dear Marianne If the maids had not an evil habit of keeping the arrival of a parcel a secret for some hours, I should not have let the dear Guy go without note or comment, but we never heard of him till just as we were starting for Winchester, when I wrote his mother's name in the first that came out, and carried him off. I hope she has had him by this time, and ... continue reading

Dear Miss Roberts, I enclose the letter which I received from Mr Neale this morning. Perhaps it will be the best way for you to answer his question about the Latin yourself. His address is at Sackville College, East Grinstead, and I hope the researches in the book whose name I cannot read may prove successful. By the by, I find that the children here call the little blue prunella Lady’s slippers, whether from any connection ... continue reading

My dear Marianne That Bild-worship question is, as you know, a puzzle to me; I am not quite sure that Dorothea is an exemplification of it, because her Bilds were not so much Bilds as human attachments. Mr. Llewellyn was her lover, and it was marrying love she had for him; on Owen she fastened herself with something of maternal spoiling; her real reliance was on Bertram Charlecote, and he died instead of disappointing her. ... 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

My dear Marianne I thought often of your saying papa would be the worst of us, for we have had a terrible night. After the long day at Portsmouth he came home, and about 10 o'clock at night a sort of attack came on that frightened us very much, and we sent for Mr. Lyford who cupped him, which relieved him much, and he has been getting better since, though still with very bad oppression and ... continue reading

My dear Marianne Your letter was the pleasure of sympathy that I knew it would be. We have been going on what seems a long time, with a great deal of severe pain in the head, which gets better late in the afternoon, then he sits up, overtires himself, and makes it worse again. Yesterday mamma had one of her worst varieties of headache, as might have been expected, but it mended in the middle of ... continue reading

My trouble has come; he had a second attack and died at six to-night.

Mamma is too like Amy, excited with thankfulness. I dread what it will be; I don't think we half believe it yet.

You will write to me; perhaps I may write to-morrow, but I can't tell. We have Mr. and Mrs. Keble helping us to-night. Oh what will the waking be! So many of our Psalm superstitions have come true.

Your most affectionate C. ... continue reading

My dear Marianne . . . But all this time you have not heard how I had three walks between College and St. John's house arm-in-arm with the Bishop! Don't you call that preferment?

We went to the Cathedral with the troop of Moberlys, and I am glad my first sight of him was in his lawn sleeves. I never saw a face of which one would so much say it was inspired. ... continue reading

My dear Anne It is a relief every time your letters are opened to see the [sic] at least not worse, and it is cheering that they go at the best time of the day, but one feels half sick to know that the afternoon did not bring a return of that terrible suffering. Julian is intending to go and get the letters today, but if the terrible weather lasts he cannot attempt it, as ... continue reading

My dear Miss Butler Many thanks for the chapter of Likes and Dislikes, which brings out Emilys moral very satisfactorily. I should not like it to be the absolute last, and should quite wish to continue her history after an interval. How would it be - if we were to continue the story next July year - if we may venture to look so far forward, and if it do not suit you better ... continue reading

My dear Miss Bourne To answer while the observations are fresh. 1. Lord Ormersfield was meant to be courteous & respectful with his aunt, but undemonstrative, and I cannot fancy him saying ‘Aunt’ - though he would talk of my aunt.

2. Mrs Frost was a woman who went by feeling, and only disposed to work for her son, & bask in his presence.

3. Louisa’s health was so broken that no one expected her to survive her ... continue reading

Dearest Carry, I enclose the memoranda which I have made in reading Dynevor Terrace here for the second time. If you can not explain all my difficulties, perhaps you will get Charlotte herself to do so. Some of them, mainly those which proceed from ignorance or forgetfulness of passages in books with which she is quite familiar, will appear to her very strange, and many of them probably to you also.

The characters are I ... continue reading

My dear Miss Butler With all Christmas wishes, and with my brother’s thanks, I return your catalogue, he has taken the address of the bookseller and means to write to him as soon as the Icelandic fervour returns. At present he is more occupied with his turning lathe. I wish some critic would laugh at the endless repetitions of Thor’s visit to Loki, as if it were to Sagas what Harold’s body is to ... continue reading

My dear Miss Bourne,

In the first place you will be glad to hear that it was a very nice quiet Sunday & Monday at the Nest. Mrs Dyson cheered by the return of “her son,” and both glad of finding that his family really consider it a boon that they should stay and take care of him while their house is building at Crookham. I hope that Mr Keble’s suggestion will take effect, and the ... continue reading

My dear Miss Bourne,

Taking out your letter to answer I see that you return to Pickhurst on Monday, so I must direct there. I wish I had written on Saturday. Is it that Mrs Laidlaw that you have lost - there was something in her countenance and manner that I liked very much, and how are the little children disposed of? We shall be very glad if you can give us a day after your ... continue reading

Dear Miss Erskine,

Many thanks for so kindly enquiring to satisfy the Salisbury correspondent. I will wait till this day week to answer him; in case you should have more particulars for me, I wonder whether he wants to make any use of the story, which should I am sure be widely known, I have no longer the address of Miss Blanch Shelley who sent it to me, and with whom it was a tradition from ... continue reading

My dear Miss Bourne

Mamma’s letter to you was a surprise to me when she shewed it to me, and I did not answer it till we had heard from you again, in hopes we might see you. The matter with Winchester is overbuilding - the Itchen supplied all drainage while the place was of moderate size, but it is now too big for that, and the dear Warden, Dr Moberly and the Cathedral people have ... continue reading

My dear Miss Bourne,

I believe I sent you a queer incoherent note yesterday, but we were so glad to find the hospital taken up in that quarter that there was an immediate impulse of writing, not very rationally carried out I suspect. Now after seeing your note to M A D I will begin with Ploughing and Sowing about which I thought I had told you long ago. 'My Life' does not write from it, ... continue reading

Miss Yonge would wish the following presentation copies of the Trial to be sent - if they have not already been sent, - she is not certain whether Messrs Macmillan had her list and should wish to guard against any being sent twice over - Copies to be sent to

Miss Coleridge Heaths Court

Care of JD Coleridge Esq 6 Southwark Crescent

also to -

Sir William Heathcote Bart M P 91 Victoria Street

Mrs Pode 3 Craven Place Westbourne Terrace

Miss [[person:1582]Anne ... continue reading

My dear Miss Sewell, Miss Cleveland did not put her direction in full so that I must ask you to be so kind as to enclose this note to her. I am afraid people would have an over dose of America if I put in both journals together and I don’t think the contrast would be so much in favour of the North as she thinks, since these holiday makings, so pleasantly described are not quite ... continue reading

My dear Maggie, Your book marker [is] a great beauty, and I thank you very much for it, particularly admiring the beautiful little shy bee. Mamma thanks Alice for her [note] and good news of you all. I hope we shall see you before long I am much better, and feel quite proud that I am sitting up to my work this morning while Miss Wilford is lying on her back. It is ten weeks since ... continue reading

We had a wonderful visit yesterday from an utterly unknown little American girl of fourteen or fifteen, who bobbed into the room, rushed up to me, shook hands, ‘Miss Yonge, I’ve come to thank you for your books, I’m an American.’ Papa and mamma were, it appears, seeing the church, and were going round by Hursley back to Winchester. It was odd to be thanked by a little bolt upright mite, ... continue reading

My dear Marianne To write to you seems matter of necessity, though time does not seem to be found anywhere in the interval of church-going and eating. The Consecration day you heard about, and on the next, after a tolerably quiet day, when we went to luncheon with Mrs. Scroffs, the dear people came. They had fraternised with Mr. Wilson by the way, and he came in the fly with the ladies, while the vigorous Primate ... continue reading

My dear Edith I am so glad to have heard from you though I wish I could hear that Malvern was invigorating you, to say nothing of Dr Gully. Miss Dyson is the niece of my friend; I have only once seen her. She, ie Miss Dyson of Malvern is the daughter [of] old Mr Frank Dyson of Tidworth whose name I think you must know and do not take it as a bad omen, has ... 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

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 Marianne Here we are, after having, I think, done very well on our journey. We met Miss Martin on board the steamer. I forget whether I told you that she had begged to come at the same time for the benefit of our escort, and though we had rather have been alone, she was very helpful and pleasant. She is the editor of the Sunday Library, which is the way we fell in with ... continue reading

My dear Marianne- The day went in this way yesterday---towards eleven o’clock there was a bell, and we all went down and wandered in the garden till everybody was assembled, then we went to M. Guizot’s study and had prayers, he reading a chapter of St. Matthew, and Mme. de Witt making a short prayer of it, ending with the Lord’s Prayer. Then came the post and breakfast, upon rissoles, fried potatoes, fruit and vin ordinaire, ... continue reading

My dear Marianne- Yesterday was so rainy that there really is very little to say about it. The breakfast was enlivened by our being told that Madame Adelaide always had a set of bonbons placed beside the seat of each member of her brother’s cabinet whenever they met, and that they were of a superior quality or not according as to whether she liked the ministry or not. M. Guizot said he had the experience of ... continue reading

My dear Marianne- This last day will be a very quiet one, for M. de Witt is gone to a horse-fair at Falaise, and Julian, Frances and Miss Martin are gone with him, starting at eight this morning, and coming home at eleven at night; unluckily I could not go, and Mme. de Witt caught a bad cold yesterday and I fear will not be good for much to-day. Caen had to be given up because ... continue reading

My dear Marianne-

Here is our last morning here, at least so I hope, for I ended the day yesterday by a collapse, and instead of spending the evening with M. Guizot, had to lie on my back in my room all the evening. However, I am much mended, and hope to be in thorough repair before we start at 12 o’clock. Madame de Witt’s cold was very bad yesterday and she only came out at ... continue reading

My dear Edith I should think that it was a case for Miss Twining’s Home at 21 New Ormond Street for Incurables, but I believe it is very difficult to get in, as she has only 27, and they are paid for to about half the amount of their cost, though I do not know what the weekly amount is. They also take Incurables at Clewer, for a servant of Mrs Keble’s is there. I think ... continue reading

My dear Marianne Well, we have our Bishop, and I feel we really have. I never saw a Bishop in our throne, and I never saw the Cathedral like what it was to-day. I really feel some parts of the day were among the best delights of my life. To see that dear old Cathedral which in some respects is one of the things I love above all, doing as it ought to do, and ringing ... continue reading

My dear Mrs Packe I am sure that the correspondence would be most interesting and suggestive, only I am not quite sure in what way you thought of letting it appear, whether as the actual letters abridged or as a digest of them, or to shew a selection to anyone who might be writing an account of the times. They would reflect the feeling of the early times surprisingly to many, and I think ... 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

Dear M. E. C. I feel strongly impelled to write to you both to thank you for your letter and for St. Christopher's legend. A German lady once sent me a set of photographs of frescoes of his history, where he was going through all sorts of temptations, including one by evil women.

I think I must tell you that the Daisy Chain was written just when I was fresh from the influence and guiding of ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan Please be so kind as to direct on this letter.

I am taking the Chaplet of Pearls to have a final reading by its greatest critics

Yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Mary, There are very anxious accounts of poor uncle James, the last Kate Low had seemed to think he must give himself up to be an invalid, I think however that the power of bearing confinement often comes with weakness, in those who have been most active – and what a blessing his wife is. What should we have done but for her? I do not like the accounts of Alethea Pode’s ... continue reading

My dear Miss Sewell, Would you mind my changing the time of your proposed session to the later day you had fixed. I am asked to spend a day or two at Mr Portal’s to meet the Bishop on the 10th, and that is a thing I should like so much to do that I venture to ask you to change the day. The week after I go to Miss Dyson.

I think you said ... 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 Charlotte I had written one letter to you today when your other came by the second post and I just stopped it. I am writing to Mrs Johns to desire her to put these Carters into communication with you. I believe the Bishop of Victoria is not much of a Churchman. On the whole I think governesses are much more inclined to height than depth in the present day. [[person:2279]Mrs ... continue reading

My dear Sir William Would you be so kind as to look at page 9 of the 'Gleanings' at the beginning of the Musings on the Christian Year, and tell me whether you have any recollection of telling Mr. Keble anything about your opinion of King Charles's truth?

There is a new edition called for, and Miss Dyson wants me to take it out. Her letter coming while I was at Salisbury, I asked whether it ... continue reading

My dear Sir William Thank you greatly, I thought just as you do that it was rather a needless question since I was quite sure of the fact of what Mr. Keble said to me, and I should not have asked you if it had been any one else who advised me, but having asked him it seemed wrong not to do just what he told me.

Miss Dyson is a devoted lover of King Charles, and ... continue reading

My dear Marianne, It seems a long time since I have written - in fact Miss Wordsworth hardly let me do anything for talking. I have not taken to a person so much for a great while past; she is so good and so sensible, and, what I was far from expecting, so funny, and her fervent love and devotion to her father are so very charming, and her last evening she made such ... continue reading

My dear Miss Poole I suspected that you would have to change to Monday. I wonder if the enclosed will make any further change. We shall be very glad to have you here on Sunday, and the carriage with Miss Mackenzie in it will meet you at Bpstoke at the same time.

I suppose - as you do not say so - Miss Dyson has heard no more from Heaths Court

yours affectionately C M Yonge

My dear Marianne

I heard this morning that good old Mr. Gibbs is gone - on Friday night - his flowers fresh in our church. We had a very successful day, and no doubt Amélie has told you about it, the Confirmation afterwards, thirty-five of our children, the girls led off by Helen, Amy, and Gerty and six of the school-girls with such sweet solemn faces, and a Cranbury man who had been baptized on ... continue reading

My dear Mary

I am with Miss Sturges Bourne till Saturday and then poor Mildred has written of the sad end of their anxieties, a letter direct from Beatrice came after, with more hope in it; so I suppose the poor boy must have sunk in one of those fits of suffocation. It is very sad, and will half kill poor Mrs Morshead, who seems to have been able to do so much less ... continue reading

My dear Lizzie

Beatrice Morshead wrote to me on Saturday, so that I had her letter at the same time as yours. I had heard from Miss Bourne the day before this change. Beatrice's letter seemed as if there was a little more revival, and it seems now to be possible that there may be more vitality even now than we thought. But one cannot wish for aught but rest. There was something ... continue reading

My dear Florence

I am glad you finished your journey prosperously, and I hope you have brought home a store of strength for the winter and for the trials.

How one sometimes wishes that one's people may never have another worry, and yet I suppose it is all right! I have just lost my most good and wise friend Marianne Dyson. For more than a year she had been in so utterly feeble and broken ... continue reading

My dear Mrs Curteis

First I must tell you of what perhaps you have seen in the Guardian, my dear Miss Dyson’s death. She had been growing feebler and feebler for the last two years and had for months been wholly confined to bed, and unable to read even a letter, though she was constantly read to for the last fortnight she was almost unconscious, and slept herself away. She leaves a great blank behind her!

I ... continue reading

My dear Lizzie-

. . . It is of no use to debate about W. E. G. You know even dear M. A. and I had to avoid the subject, so I am not likely to be more convinced now of anything but that he deceives himself most of all, and takes love of power and popularity and hatred of Conservatives for love of right.

I have the outline of a story for the Xmas ... continue reading