My dear Mrs England A basket of what we can get shall be left at your door about two o’clock on Wednesday.

I have told the children, but we do not live in the same profusion as heretofore Squires have grown so much more particular about trespassing than they used to be in the good old Heathcote days that we are cut off from many of our best copses!

yours sincerely C M Yonge

My dear Ellie- Thank you for your loving little note. Did you see in the Hants Chronicle a little bit of what I said after the speeches, of the Bishop of Guildford and Mr. Warburton? I could not help, when they said I had made clergy and good men seem real, almost murmuring that my good men were not ideals, but I had really known their equals (and superiors) in reality. Mr. Warburton was ... continue reading

My dear John, Since P?? I have thought a little more about Northcote’s application for a reduction and really on second consideration it does seem to be most unreasonable. Considering the situation, Garden &c I do think that at £70 it is one of the cheapest houses to be found. I am sure I know of none in a come at able situation to be compared to it for cheapness I ... continue reading

My dear Anne, As Sir William Heathcote is coming here this evening I take this opportunity of writing to you, I hope, to thank you beforehand for the letter I am to expect on Saturday. I think your Coronation Festival must have been most splendid, especially the peacocks’ feathers. You must have wanted Duke to help you arrange it all, I think. I know he always used to be famous for arrangements. ... continue reading

My dear Anne

Thanks for your letter, and Mamma’s thanks for Mary’s. I am very glad indeed that you like Amy Herbert though I was sure you would enjoy it, her brother comes here today and I am sure he will be glad to hear of its being such an amusement to aunt Yonge. I am curious to know what you say about certain things I have heard objected to Some people especially ... continue reading

My dear Anne, I scarcely expected you would be so kind as to write to me so soon, and I hope it was no great exertion of spirits to you. Such a morning as this is just what one would figure to oneself as the right day for you, and I think I can see both Puslinch and Newton this morning. At the moment I am writing I suppose you are just beginning to ... continue reading

My dear Anne It is enough to frighten one to see all one’s words taken so seriously, not that I did not really mean them, but perhaps I spoke more freely from not thinking you would attach so much weight to what so young and so flyaway a person might say. However it is quite right to feel that words have weight. I think I must begin from henceforth to assure you that you ... 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 Mary I could hardly help writing a note last night before I went to bed, it seemed so long to have known about Harvey without saying a word. I do not know whether I mentioned that we were to spend Saturday in a shopping expedition to Southampton & so no chance of writing then, but so it was. You will quite understand how little I mean the words to apply to herself ... 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

Dear Madam, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of writing to tell you how much your Thorns and Roses have already elicited of admiration. One of my best contributors (the School Sketches) has written this morning ‘you must let me say how much charmed I & all here are with the beautiful tale, Thorns &c Is it a secret absolutely whose authorship it is, or is it permissible to ask whether ... continue reading

My dear Madam Many thanks for Wishop, which looks much improved by the omissions.

The M P was Sir William Heathcote MP for Oxford, perhaps you will even better like to hear that Mr Keble could not help listening to the Thorns and Roses with great interest in the middle of his work. I have put out the beginning of Wishop for March, but I cannot make sure of it, as there is a short story ... 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 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

Dear Mr Macmillan, I sent the drawing by the train yesterday. It was very dull of me not to have seen that it was a drawing. Our only other criticism is that a touch or two might make the little Duke’s limbs more child like.

As a matter of fact I believe the Normans did not wear beards, but I only found this out long after the book was out, so book and beard must both stand ... continue reading

My dear Charlotte, 1. The charge of Forgery may be received, & the person accused committed by any Magistrate before whom he is brought, without reference to the place where it is said to have been committed

2. The Handwriting may be disproved by any person acquainted with the genuine handwriting.

3 The trial may take place in any county in which the Person shall be apprehended, or shall be in custody.

Therefore Mr Grey may receive the ... 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

It is quite a comfort, my dear Mrs. Moberly, to have your letter, and to answer it immediately. And it is better to write than to see you; our hearts would be too full for speech. Charlotte and I can only trust ourselves to talk at times. It comes at the best possible time for us all; these services are so especially full of Mr. Keble. At the same time we are quite alive to ... 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

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 Caroline It did indeed seem to be bringing sorrow upon sorrow when that account came of your dear father, and one recollected all that he was to us in 1854, and indeed ever since, and the accounts since have been a great cheer. It is strange that scarcely any of our own specially near and dear friends who were round us fourteen years ago were either left or at hand, Dr. Moberly even out ... continue reading

. . . Barnacle article rather in the style of the Spring of the poets, and we wanted you to laugh with us. I think you know the Gattys, so I conclude you do not want an autograph from that quarter.

I am glad Dr Harris was able to go to George’s wedding, but I shall be glad to hear that he is safe back again Poor Hursley has been very forlorn all the ... 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

Dear Mr Macmillan Herewith I send the MS of ‘John Keble’s Parishes’ I shall be glad to know what you think the best way of dealing with it and what you think about illustrations.

There should be a map of the parishes which are locked together but I wait to get it drawn out till I hear about the size of the page

What would be advisable as to illustrations. We had thought of

Ruins of Merdon Castle Old ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan I delayed my answer till I had communicated with the Heathcote family - at whose request chiefly this history of Hursley has been undertaken.

I rather expected them to demur at making the book so expensive to buyers, and was thinking over the possibility of starting with it much abridged, leaving out the Plan and the Customs of Merdon Castle, the Birds Flowers, descriptions of parishes and Words - and most of the ... continue reading

Dear Mr Macmillan I hope to send off the illustrations - or the material for them on Saturday.

I will write to Mr Portal, the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for permission for the portrait of Sir Wm Heathcote

Two books are with them - one (Lady Heathcotes) for the sake of the old views and plans - it is the original book by Marsh.

The other belonging to me is the Revd J.F. Moor’s written about 1860.

The ... continue reading

My dear Mary Very likely the bill will come out tomorrow, I think Mr Hart may hold his hand now, as the school is in existence. I am not quite sure without asking Mr Layland, but I really think those photographs have raised £20. Yes, dear Anne did send 2/2 every half year for the penny club. It shews how long ago it began that the girl she first took is a ... continue reading

My dear Sir William- I hope it is not very presumptuous to follow my impulse of not exactly congratulating you, but expressing my great pleasure in the award of this mark of honour to you, coming, it seems to me, in an especially gratifying manner, as being so entirely free from all connection with party and at a time when I suppose it cannot be as a matter of course, but as showing how high real ... continue reading

My dear Sir William- Your letter has come on to me here. I came on Monday to be instructed respecting Bishop Patteson's life, which I am to try to draw up from the very full materials that his family and Bishop Selwyn can provide. I hope to return on Saturday.

Thank you for letting me see Mr. Faithfull's decision; I think he is wise to give his name, and so obtain the subscriptions of all his friends. ... continue reading

My dear William I have to thank you for some game which gives me an opportunity of writing to you. I have thought much of your concern for Lord Carnarvon’s illness, which must have been great; I felt no little interest in it myself, as he is too good a man to be spared. I was the more alarmed from recollecting how few of his family have lived to be old : now ... continue reading

My dear Sir William, Many warm thanks for sending me Mr Austen Leigh’s kind comment on the Daisies. I believe I enjoyed them most, which is the best way to make a thing prosper. I am afraid the moral is not good but I have always found that what one likes best one does best. As to the crayfish, I did not know that they were so local, having always associated them with rivers and ... 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 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

My dear Mary

Many thanks for this letter. I suppose the congestion is the great danger now, but youth does so much that I cannot help still hoping and with all the suffering it is not so sad as poor Mr Chamberlayne’s state, for this creeping paralysis has now mastered both arms, so that he can not even point to letters and spell words but he takes food, and his pulse is stronger, and they ... continue reading

My dear Ellie-

I have just heard of that having happened which for years I have feared to recollect must come some day. I don't know how to dwell on it or how to think of it. I think what comes before me oftenest is selfishly the sorrow for not having seen more of him this last year, especially this spring.

There are some friends that one looks to like a sort of father, and he was ... continue reading

My dear Caroline

Somehow I must write for one can easier do that than say, all that my mind is full of .

It is very very kind of Lady Heathcote to send me that message and of you to think of me. I shall be there at the house on Tuesday - and as it is Gertrude’s Communion day, it will be a fit beginning and will chime with you.

I hope to come over on Thursday, ... continue reading

My dear Elizabeth

I wonder whether you are taking your holiday at home or abroad. Of course I am only having the grace to write to you to ask you to help me, but I daresay you will excuse that. I think you went once to Buxton. Do you happen to have a guide book or the like with a description of Pools’ hole, or did you see the latter (if you hate ... continue reading

My dear Dr Freeman,

How very kind in you, and as you say what a pity I did not know of it in time The history of the thing is this one of the sons of my very old friend, Sir William Heathcote is in Allens firm - He asked me to write one of their eminent women series and as I know Roberts’s history as one knows the Sunday books of one’s youth, I took ... continue reading