Transcriber's Note: Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant spellings have been retained. Unique sidenotes have been placed at the beginning of relevant paragraphs and are shown within {braces}. The oe ligature is represented by [oe]. THE LETTERS OF HER MOTHER TO ELIZABETH [Device] JOHN LANE: THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON & NEW YORK · _MDCCCCI_ _Copyright, 1901_ BY JOHN LANE FIFTH EDITION UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. NOTE Every one who has read "The Visits of Elizabeth," in which a girl of seventeen describes her adventures to her mother in a series of entertaining and clever letters, has instinctively asked the question: "What sort of woman was Elizabeth's Mother?" Perhaps an answer that will satisfy all will be found in the following "Letters of her Mother to Elizabeth." THE LETTERS OF HER MOTHER TO ELIZABETH LETTER I MONK'S FOLLY, 27th July DEAREST ELIZABETH: I am glad you reached Nazeby without any mishap. Your letter was quite refreshing, but, darling, do be more careful of your grammar. Remember, one never talks grammar now-a-days in Society, it isn't done; it is considered very Newnham and Girton and patronising, but one should always know how to write one's language. Because the fashion might change some day, and it would be so _parvenu_ to have to pick it up. As I told you before you started on your round of visits, you will have a capital opportunity of making a good match. You are young, very pretty, of the bluest blood in the three kingdoms, and have a fortune--to be sure this latter advantage, while it would be more than a sufficient _dot_ to catch a twelfth-century French duke, would be considered by an impecunious British peer quite beneath contempt. Your trump card, Elizabeth, is your manner, and I count upon that to do more for you than all the other attributes put together. Nature and my training have made you a perfect specimen of an _ingénue_, and I beseech you, darling, do me credit. Please forgive the coarseness of what I have said, it is only a little plain speaking between us; I shan't refer to it again; I know I can trust you. {_These Horrid Smiths_}