Beale, Dorothea, 1831-1906; Cheltenham Ladies' College -- History; Teachers -- England -- Biography
To find contributors Miss Beale went even beyond the outer circle of the
College. ‘We always hope to have some good writing in our Magazine, thus
to maintain a high standard,’ she had said at the beginning. She liked
to gain the notice of those who were eminent in literature or science
for this dearly loved literary child, and as occasion brought her in
contact with any who were distinguished for the things she appreciated
she would send them the Magazine, often asking for a paper. Letters
from people of widely differing thought and position, acknowledging the
receipt of the Magazine, are now in the College archives. They vary in
warmth and interest. The late Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol wrote in
1889: ‘However busy I may be, I always find time to read portions of
[the Magazine], and I am always thankful to recognise not merely the
cultivated, but the wise and—what we men specially value—the womanly
tone that characterises it. I read with much interest your article on
the Sorbonne gathering.’ Bishop Westcott in 1890 wrote, on receiving
the number containing Miss Beale’s ‘In Memoriam’ article on Browning:
‘May I confess that when the copy of the Ladies’ College Magazine
came this morning with the letters, my correspondence was at once
interrupted? I felt constrained to read your words on Browning, just and
wise and helpful and suggestive.’ Some notes are little more than the
acknowledgment of a polite friend who had ‘already cut the pages.’ The
request for contributions was not always granted; sometimes it was won
by a little importunity. It brought about rather an amusing incident with
Mr. Ruskin, whose letters on the subject and on some of Miss Beale’s own
Magazine articles are too characteristic to be omitted.
Miss Beale sent him the number containing her paper on ‘Britomart.’ He
replied at once:—
‘_March 12, 1887._
‘Have you not yet to add to your Britomart, at p. 219,
due justification of Feminine—may we not rather call it
Disguise—than Lie? And, for myself, may I say that I think
Britomart should have sung to the Red Knight, not he to
Britomart.—Ever faithfully yours,
J. RUSKIN.’
Five days later he wrote:—
‘But I much more than like your essay on Britomart.
‘I am most thankful to have found the head of a Girls’ College
able to do such a piece of work, and having such convictions
and aspirations, and can only assure you how glad I shall be to
find myself capable of aiding you in anything.... I trespass
no further on you to-day, but have something to say concerning
ball-play as a Britomartian exercise, before saying which,
however, I will inquire of the Librarian what _ground_ spaces
the College commands, being so limited in its bookshelves.—And
believe me, ever your faithful servt.,
JOHN RUSKIN.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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