Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence; Eden, Emily, 1797-1869 -- Correspondence
I am going on here just as was expected, very unhappy at first for about
three days, without any particular place in the room, or any particular
rule about being in the library, or my own room, or Lady Grantham’s, and
then, you know, my trunk and all my worldly possessions were missing
and lost, which was a cruel blow, at my first setting out, but at last
my dear trunk reappeared unexpectedly, and from that time I got
comfortabler and comfortabler, till I could get no further.
Miss Wynn[68] I like very much, probably because I expected to dislike
her. The rest of the family are perfectly inoffensive, with nothing
particularly agreeable or disagreeable in them, except indeed I have the
pleasure of beating Mr. Wynn at chess every evening, till the tears
almost course one another down his innocent cheeks, but I go on beating
him for all that.
Lady Grantham is much better than she was during the journey; we go out
every day in the pony-cart together, and call on the farmers and
cottagers. I do not understand one word in ten the people say, and
should be glad to take a Yorkshire master if I could find one. I hope,
for your sake, Gog Magog[69] is not as green as this place is, else you
will be more angry than ever with the dusty trees and brown grass of
Eastcombe. The grass was quite dazzling when I first came here, and the
green is a bad colour for the eyes, after the nice quiet brown we have
been accustomed to, but green peas agree remarkably well with me, and
sometimes I give a little passing thought to you, when I am packing up a
great forkfull of them, and again when the children bring me in immense
nosegays of mignonette, sweet peas, jessamine, which are to be put out
at night because they smell so very sweet.
Lady Grantham’s garden is beautiful, and full of every sort of flower,
but then it is generally locked. The house is excessively comfortable,
with a stove in every passage, and a fire in every room, servants’ and
all, an excellent library, and a very pretty statue gallery, heaps of
amusing books, and an arm-chair for every limb. I foresee a great
probability of my being very happy here, as my love of Lady Grantham
does not diminish by any means, and he and I are great friends, and he
likes to be played to for hours together. Your most affec.
E. EDEN.
_Miss Eden to her Brother, Lord Auckland._
NEWBY,
_Monday_ [1818].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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