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 I enclose a draft for 8.12. 6. with many thanks both to you and your sister. I was not aware of her marriage, so that congratulations would now lag sadly behind. My School Sketches friend Miss Emily Taylor, the author of that pretty little book ‘the Boy and the Birds’ is the person so anxious to know your name; she is - as perhaps you know - actively engaged in ... 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