The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851: Edited, with Extracts from the Diary of the Latter — John Shaqi
The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851: Edited, with Extracts from the Diary of the LatterWellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
History
The Letters of the Duke of Wellington to Miss J., 1834-1851: Edited, with Extracts from the Diary of the Latter
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852 -- Correspondence
These hitherto unpublished Letters from the Duke of Wellington to Miss
J., and the Diary of the latter, have lain for years in a trunk in the
attic of a country-house within thirty miles of New York city. Their
publication is permitted through the kindness of a friend with whose
family Miss J. was remotely connected. The facts with regard to Miss
J.'s life and character have been in part obtained through those who
knew her personally, but mainly through her own Diary,--a worn volume
once handsome, that at the first glance would be taken for a Bible.
This book is supplied with a spring-lock. Its hundreds of pages are
closely covered with a minute handwriting, and the ink with which they
were traced has faded to a yellowish brown, indistinct in places, but
never quite undecipherable. The Duke's letters are written in a
peculiar, irregular hand, very difficult to read, and becoming more
crabbed as he advanced in years. While the spelling is almost
invariably correct, the construction of the sentences is often
involved, and the punctuation follows no known method.
At the time Miss J.'s correspondence with the Duke of Wellington
opened, she was a very beautiful woman about twenty years of age. Her
parents were from among the smaller English gentry, and in her girlhood
she, with her elder sister, attended one of the best schools in
England. Many of her companions were of noble birth, and the
associations then formed were continued in later years. Miss J.'s
father died while she was little more than a child, and not long after
the mother followed. At her death the daughter writes that a vision was
vouchsafed to her of the heaven her mother was entering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account