List of “Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) Letters Home”
1
January 1,
1866
Violet Paget to Eugene LeeHamilton (Oxford, England)
2
January 6,
1866
Violet Paget to Eugene LeeHamilton (Oxford, England)
Thanks him for a "swet broch" he had given
her; includes watercolor of Eugene labeled
"The pride of Oxford and Oriel." [Includes
separate watercolor drawing.]
Sends him birthday greetings; tells of trip to
see the opera "Doiw Roffiloim now
Lanjuman." [Includes separate watercolor
drawing.]
3
November
28, 1866
4
March 3,
1866
Violet Paget (Baden-Baden,
Germany) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton
(Oxford, England)
Violet Paget (Baden-Baden,
Germany) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton
(Oxford, England)
Has two teachers now, one for German and
arithmetic, the other for French; mother has
given her book by "le chainsin shmit."
Thanks him for stamps he sent her; asks for
more stamps and arms of Oxford and
Cambridge
Acknowledges receipt of his letter; describes
her birthday gifts. Enclosure reads: "Mamma
and Baby to the Bruder."
5
no date, 1866
6
no date, 1866
Violet Paget (Baden-Baden,
Germany) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton
(Oxford, England)
Violet Paget (Baden-Baden,
Germany) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton
(Oxford, England)
7
June 16, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
8
June 17, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
9
June 22, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
10
June 23, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
1
"Old Flower" (?) fled to France, having
pawned his silver for 900 francs.
Her cousins and Mary Trump called;
description of Mrs. Jenkin's house, appearance
and Mrs. Jenkin's theory that "No one can be
happy. That when anyone attains to perfect
happiness he necessarily dies"; Mrs. Jenkins
advising on composition and French lessons;
VP reading "Sixte Quinte" by Baron Hubner.
Description of the Ruffini's house, after a visit
there; she had been to Mr. Story's studio in
Rome; Mrs. Turner told her about publishing;
she will write more, now that Eugene can "post
our letter to you gratis"
Very unflattering description of Mrs. Jenkin's
husband; Mrs. Jenkin found her a "mistress of
French style," a Madame Blancheotte; Eugene
is to dine with Madam Planat de la Fey and
will meet the actress Madame Ristori
A visit by the "perfect Frenchman"
Wrotnowski; describes the hideous, ornate
architecture of Paris' new public buildings,
under the government of Napoleon III; new
signs in Paris saying "La Majeste Robespierre,"
which she calls "some absurdity of the Rouge
party."
11
June 26, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
12
July 16-17,
21, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
13
July 28-29,
1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
14
August 4-5,
6-7, 1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
15
August 4, 7-8
1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
16
August 8-9,
1870
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
17
February 15,
1871
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
2
A visit to Mrs. Jenkin, whom they "luckily
found alone"; records a "peu pres," of the
conversation among Mrs. Paget, Eugene, and
Mrs. Jenkin, concerning "attraction and
repulsion," Dante, and authors' leading ideas.
Visit from Mrs. Jenkin, who is interested in the
1848 Maygar insurrection for her novel; visit to
a bookstall; 17th--Mrs. Jenkin's stories about
"old Mrs. Murray." 21st-- she can't find books
on 18th century music for her essay; she is
reading Mrs. Turner's novel "Charity."
Violet, Eugene, and Mamma visit Mrs. Jenkin;
record of their conversation about Violet's
whistling and opera singers in Rome; Mrs.
Jenkin criticizes Violet's faulty copy of
Eugene's essay; 29th--her disgust with the way
the Swiss paper "La Famille" is treating her
"Les Aventures d'une Piece de Monnaie."
Eugene's essay to be sent to the "North British
Review" at Mrs. Jenkin's suggestion; 5th--copy
of a note Mrs. Jenkin sent to Eugene about his
essay and Violet's potential; 7th--copy of a
note, in French, she received from "that donky
Vulliet," editor of "La Famille"; sends regards
to Mme. Eggemann as "I am so busy in the
literary line that I cannot write to her just
now."
7th--100,000 men marched on Ministere de
l'Interieur in Paris; 8th--copy of a letter she
received from Mrs. Turner praising "La
Biographie d'une Monnaie"; an unexpected
visit from the Jenkins; political problems in
France; she is reading Plutarch's "Lives" and
Story's "Roba di Roma."
8th--a frightening mob gathered outside the
Paget's windows in a noisy "patriotic
demonstration against the Prussians"; 9th-more citizen uprising finally subdued by new
political appointments; the Paget-Hamilton
household in a state of great excitement.
Seige of Paris is over; the carnival is going on;
description of a "decayed gentleman" she met,
who claims to be the Comte de Cleremont;
observation that Paris is still in the 18th
century; includes copy of her story "Capo
Serpente" which she is trying to get published.
Laments that Mrs. Jenkin has decided to write
no more novels; she is reading Kavanagh's
"French Women of Letters" and "English
Women of Letters"; she is working to improve
her Italian; the gardens in Rome are
outstanding; her mother is learning to play the
mandolin; they will leave Rome within a
month.
A trip to the Teatro Valle; description of a
terrible play, "The Glacier of Mount Blanc."
17th--note from Matilda Paget to Henry Paget
concerning travel arrangements.
A visit by Violet and her schoolmaster to the
Bosco Parrasio which houses the Accademia
delgi Arcadi; a "precis of the history of the
literary society"; description of the villa and its
incompetent curator; her plans to write a
biography of Metastasio, with fragments of
translation of his works; a trip to see Ristori as
"Phedre" at the Teatro Apollo
She clarifies her plans for a work on
Metastasio: a series of papers on "Metstasio
and his correspondents," Mrs Jenkin
apparently having suggested that criticism or
history or biography might be unwise; they
wait to rejoin Eugene in Paris.
18
April 19,
1871
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
19
May 15, 17
1871
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Henry
Paget
20
June 28, 1871
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
21
July 1, 1871
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
22
August 1,
1871
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry
Paget
23
August 27,
1871
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Henrietta Jenkin
24
October 5,
1872
Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to
Henry Paget
25
February 18,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Cornelia Turner
Saw Bressant playing Alceste in "The
Misanthrope."
Sends Mrs. Jenkin a volume of Racine; she puts
herself in the French, rather than English, class
of Mrs. Jenkin's correspondents, as "your
letters are always awaited with impatience and
received with rejoicing"; she accepts Mrs.
Jenkin's advice about the Metastasio work.
Is planning to go to a Rossini play; previous
day had been the feast of St. Petronius, with
much celebration; visit to the Philharmonic
Lyceum.
Has deferred her work on Metastasio until she
has gained "a more or less thorough
acquaintance with aesthetics in general"; she is
learning Latin and counterpoint; recurrances
of the previous summer's illness prevent her
from working; cites her admiration for Shelley
and Goldoni.
26
March 15,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugen
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French and English
3
28
March 23,
1873
March 31,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugen
Lee-Hamilton
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugen
Lee-Hamilton
29
April 2, 1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
30
31
April 4, 1873
April 12,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
32
April 15,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
33
April 16,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
34
April 20-21,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
35
April 22,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
37
April 23,
1873
April 24,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
38
April 25,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
39
April 27,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
Letter written in French
40
April 29,
1873
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene
Lee-Hamilton
41
July 15, 1874
Violet Paget (Salzburg, Austria) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, Francis)
42
April 19,
1874
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
Letter written in French
Her continued interest in Clementi; they left
Rome because of her illness; on the way to
Salzburg, stops at Bologna, Padua and Verona;
her dislike of Germany; Eugene's health
improving.
Thanks Mrs. Jenkin for her help in the
Clementi business and says she advertised for
information about Clementi in the
"Athenaeum" too; Eugene very ill and ignoring
doctor's orders; she feels herself unsuited to
pursue music seriously, but perhaps she might
write on comparative aesthetics or the
aesthetics of music.
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
Asks her to assist some Romans, led by Violet's
music teacher, in makin a biography of Muzio
Clementi; Eugene is very ill; she is learning to
sing and asks advice about practicing; asks the
27
36
43
March 10,
1874
4
Letter written in French
Letter written in French
Letter written in French. To Emily Sargent?
Letter written in French
Letter written in French
Letter written in French
Letter written in French
title of Mrs. Jenkin's new novel.
44
August 22,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
45
September 4,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
46
September
29, 1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
47
October 2,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
48
October 14,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)
49
October 23,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
50
October 24,
1874
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
51
November 78, 1874
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
5
Pagets have been travelling from Munich to
Innsbruck, to Recoaro, to Vicenza, to Padua
and Bologna; she continues to gather
information on the musician Clementi; she is
reading on the Italian Renaissance; ask for the
"modus operandi" of publishing novels; she has
given up piano, and is concentrating on voice
lessons.
Has enjoyed Mrs. Jenkin's new novel; feels
there should be a book written on music,
consisting of "the aesthetical, abstract
examination of principles, illustrated by
examples, then the historical, critical part"; her
contempt for dillettantes in music; Eugene has
had "a slight relapse."
Eugene to have an interview with Mr. William
Blackwood about publishing stories in his
magazine; Violet would like to write about
Bologna for the magazine.
Asks for an introduction to a magazine; her
desire to write, someday, on literature and art;
Eugene has had a serious relapse.
Has completed her essay, "Autumnal
Impressions of Bologna," and is trying to get it
published by Blackwood or Fraser's Magazine;
her distaste for doing translations.
Asks Mrs. Jenkin to give her mss. to Mr.
Constable of Blackwood's for a reading;
beginning one series of articles about "various
quaint things I have met in Italian towns or
Italian books," and another on "aesthetical
subjects growing with my own lights and
following the course of my studies."
Retracts her request of the previous day, that
Mr. Constable be a mediator between herself
and Blackwood's; asks Mrs. Jenkin to send the
mss. herself to Blackwood's editor.
Has received news of Mrs. Turner's death;
doubts about her essay in its finished form;
"My besetting sin is redundancy"; 8th--She is
sending the mss. to Mrs. Jenkin
52
December 20,
1874
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
53
January 28,
1875
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
54
April 6, 1875
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
55
April 30,
1875
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
56
May 18, 1875
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
57
May 19, 1875
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
58
June 18, 1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
60
June 20, 1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
61
July 20, 1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
6
Asks her to return the mss. if it is rejected by
Blackwood's so she can imporve on it; Eugene
seriously ill again; her music lessons continue;
she is reading Taine's "de l'Ideal dans l'Arte"
and Muller's lectures on the science of
language.
No word from publishers on her article, nor
has Eugene heard from Blackwood's; she is
reading Muller on philology and comparative
mythology; first draft of a paper on the Arcadi
written; she wants to do a series of papers on
musical aesthetics and studies of Arcadi,
Frugoni, Goldoni, Metastasio, and Hasse.
Has reconsidered her wish to have her article
published anonymously, and has chosen H.P.
Vernon Lee as her pen name; still no word
from Blackwood's about accepting her or
Eugene's articles.
Her amusement at the unexplained loss of her
mss; she is sending a story about Germany to
an Italian review, "Nuova Autologia" and
awaits its rejections
Considers sending her mss. of "Autumnal
Impressions of Bologna" to "Contemporary
Review" as Blackwood's hasn't accepted it; the
"Nuova Antologia" hasn't accepted yet her
story about Germany; Eugene has had another
relapse
Wants Mrs. Jenkin to be sure that
"Contemporary Review" knows she expects
payment for her article on Bologna, if it is
accepted.
Asks what needs to be communicated to Sig.
Zeni; "Contemporary Review" rejected her
article on Bologna; Mr. Turner sent her a
watch which his wife had; she is trying novel
criticism; Mr. Fenzi's unflattering description
of the author Onida.
Her resentment at Blackwood's rejection of her
article; "Revista Europia" offered her 8
pp./month to write reviews of female novelists;
she is writing an article on the author Onida.
Asks her to send the "Autumnal Impressions of
Bologna" manuscript to Coomes Booksellers
who might find a publisher for it; newest
articles on musical aesthetics seemingly done
by "newspaper critics"; she thinks
"Middlemarch" "clever," "disagreeable," and
"tiresome."
Has communicated with Mr. Ruffini about
reviewing Mrs. Jenkin's novels, and hopes she
will not be thought impertinent.
62
July 23, 1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
63
July 27, 1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
August 6,
1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
64
August 28,
1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
65
August 29,
1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
66
October 2,
1875
Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
to Henrietta Jenkin
67
December 18,
1878
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Henrietta Jenkin
Asks her to send the "Bologna" manuscript
herself, directly to Fraser's.
Sends her the review of "Once and Again"
from the "Revista Europia"; repeats her
request that her "Bologna" article be sent
directly to Fraser's
Fraser's wants her to continue her series on the
18th century in Italy; she is writing on the
Italian Comedy of Masks; her acquaintance
with Mrs. Lynn Linton, the novelist; the
"Academy" has discovered that "Vernon Lee"
is a pseudonym.
68
June 2, 1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
Received news of the death of Mr. Robinson's
father; she is going to hear Sarah Bernhardt.
69
June 16-17,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
70
June 20-22,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
63.1
71
June 25-27,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
72
June 29-30,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
7
Asks how the title of Mrs. Jenkin's book "Once
and Again"might be translated into Italian.
Wants the Italian title immediately. Asks Mrs.
Jenkin to tear out certain pages of her article
on Bologna
Her first article in the "Revista Europia" will
appear in September, the article about Mrs.
Jenkin, in October; later articles will be on
Miss Kavanagh, Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot;
she has invested in a society of amateur
authors.
26th: John Sargent has done a sketch of her; a
trip on the James in a steam launcher with the
Corks; visit from Horatio Brown; saw
"Hamlet" and Sarah Bernhardt; 27th: promises
to write more often; visit to Mrs. Clifford's
where she met Huxley and Leslie Stephen.
Allen accepted her article on Elizabethan
Dramatists; intends to submit her manuscript
of "Child in the Vatican" to Satchell; attended
a "combination performance" of tragedy,
comedy, and melodrama; 30th: the
MacCarthys took her to the Houses of
Parliament; Longman's refused Ottilie; she is
encourging Mary Robinson in her novelwriting.
73
July 5, 1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
Visited the Morrises at Hammersmith; went
with Mary Robinson to Royal Academy,
thought pictures "extremely poor" but liked
statue of Teucer; John Sargent gone to Paris;
Mary's book received poor reviews; met Lewis
Morris at Miss Cobbe's house: "the most
utterly repulsive brute I ever beheld"; visited
National Gallery and arsenal at Woolwich.
73a
74
July 7-10,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
75
July 12-15,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
76
July 18, 1881
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget
77
July 19-20, 23
1881
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget
78
July 26, 28,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget
8
Went to flower show in Regent Park; met
Evelyn Wimbush and Mr. Marston at the
Sharp's; people at the grand soiree at the Royal
Academy astounded her; 8th: had lunch at the
Clifford's house; 9th: claims she cannot get
Eugene's book reviewed, as "London literary
society is merely a thing shown to me through
a grating"; thinks her "sworn admirers" are
avoiding her; 10th: went to a dismal party at
Pultney; visited the Gosses, Mr. Gosse being
"the only nice man I have met in this literary
set."
Will send Eugene's manuscript to Longman's;
sent her manuscript of "Belcaro" to Satchell;
visited Robert Browning, who is "completely a
gentleman"; Mrs. Linton's friends are "far the
most impressed about me"; 14th: thinks the
British Museum marbles "magnificent" but the
gallery itself poor; MacCarthys visited; 15th
(from Oxford): the city "so much les
mediaeval" than she'd expected; liked Gilbert
and Sullivan's "Patience."
Is writing the epilogue to "Belcaro"; met Pater
at the Ward's; again refuses to give Mr. Gosse
Eugene's book to review, as it would be
improper and useless.
Evelyn Pickering visited; Violet and Mary
Robinson going to dinner at the Pater's; 20th:
had a nice visit with Mr. Pater whom she calls
"heavy and dull, but agreeable"; 23rd (from
London): Pauline de Cargouet invited Mary
and Violet to her home in Brittany; sent the
end of "Belcaro" to Satchell; lunched with Mrs.
Stillman.
Tea at the Clodds' (?) "consisted mainly of
philologists and was exceedingly dull"; 28th:
Mary Robinson can't go with Violet to
Brittany, as Mr. Robinson forbids it.
July 28August 3,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton
82
July 30, 1881
August 3,
1881
August 4,
1881
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Servan, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
83
August 4-6,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Servan, France) to
Matilda Paget
84
August 7,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
85
August 10,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
86
August 12,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
87
August 14-15,
1881
Violet Paget (Lambalu, France) to
Matilda Paget
89
August 18,
1881
August 19,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
90
August 22,
1881
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget
79
80
81
88
9
Apologises for infrequency of her letters; dined
with Miss Cobbe; surprised that Longman's
refused Eugene's manuscript; Oscar Wilde's
book very popular and highly praised.
Will leave for Lambalu, Brittany on
Wednesday, August 3.
Will leave for France Wednesday; asked
Pauline de Cargouet to meet her at St. Malo.
Sea crossing was difficult; she must get to
Lambalu by herself.
In St. Servan overnight before going on to
Lambalu; anxious for Mary Robinson to stay
with them in Florence; 5th (from Dol, France):
three hour wait in this "very medieval" town
for the train to Lambalu; 6th (from Ste.
Melaine): Pauline de Cargouet's home here
nice, but everything "dull as ditch water";
intends to work on articles for "Cornhill's
Magazine" and "Contemporary Review."
Thinks Pauline de Cargouet is suffering from
"dullness" there and finds her neighbors
"insupportable."
Pauline de Cargouet seems unhappy to have
married Theophile because of loneliness;
Pauline has "a curious indifferent, rather
depressed manner."
Needs five pounds immediately as her trip to
Paris will be expensive; will have to leave Ste.
Melaine suddenly if Pauline's baby gets
whooping cough.
Pauline de Cargouet's "wretched little baby"
still sick; drove to Launar, home of Alice
Lamobe (?).
Records itinerary for her trip in France and
Italy with Mary Robinson; the Murrays are also
visiting the de Cargouets at St. Melaine; went
to see the medieval castle at the Chateau de la
Hunandagu
May leave for Paris on Tuesday, August 23.
Is appalled at her mother's suggestion they stay
at the Bagni home for October rather than go
to Florence; they shouldn't have taken the
expensive Casa Bertagna with them; sent her
manuscript of "Apollo the Fiddler" to
Cornhill's Magazine; 23rd: will send money
home; leaves to meet the Robinsons in Paris.
92
August 26,
1881
August 27,
1881
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Met Mary Robinson upon arrival there; John
Sargent came for dinner.
Went to the Louvre, then to John Sargent's
studio; he did a portrait of Mary Robinson.
93
August 28,
1881
Violet Paget (in France) to Matilda
Paget
94
June 8, 1882
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget
Is detained for a few hours between train
journeys; Mary Robinson has been ill.
Saw the play "Le Monde ou l'on s'ennuie" with
the Sargents; visited the "salon," the Louvre
and Luxembourg with John and Emily
Sargent; going to Roven tomorrow, then to
London Saturday (10th).
94.1
June 10, 1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
95
June 11, 1882
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence).
96
June 14, 1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
97
June 16-17,
1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
98
June 21, 1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
99
June 22-25,
1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
91
10
Is with the Robinsons and is going with them
to their country home in the afternoon.
Mary Robinson and V.P. visited Stillmans
before leaving London; visited at Epsom by the
French painter Bertha Newcombe and the
actor Forbes-Robertson
She and Mary Robinson visited Mullers and
met Rotoli there "to whom I proceeded to turn
my back"; Willie Sargent visited, a
"patronising shy creature"; sent Eugene's
manuscript of "The New Medusa" to Elliot
Stock; Mr. Stillman and Lisa visited.
Called on the Dicksons and Mrs. Ward, "a
tiptop intellectual woman"; dined with the
Rosettis and Stillmans where there was a
"grand discussion about thrashing brats"; saw
John Sargent's pictures at the Academy; 17th:
saw "Romeo and Juliet" at the Lyceum.
Spent the weekend at Epsom; MacColl visited;
Violet and Mary Robinson dined at the
Gurney's and met there Mr. and Mrs.
Richmond Ritchie, Mrs. Ritchie having been
Miss Thackery; Elliot Stock willing to publish
Eugene's "The New Medusa"; visited British
Museum with MacLean; visited, with Mary
Robinson, Bertha Thomas and Helen
Zimmern.
Robinsons had a dance for 70 people last night;
Fischer Unwin, publisher, called, wanting
advice on life of Garibaldi; feels she's still
obscure as an author; 23rd: Madeline and
Gosse visited; went to Mary Robinson's lecture
on Lake Poets at Working Women's College;
more negotiations with Elliot Stock over
Eugene's book; 24th: dined at Leslie Stephen's;
25th: Symonds is not well; she and Mary saw
Wagner's "Tristan"
100
June 27-28,
1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
101
June 29, July
1, 1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Siena, Italy)
102
July 3, 1882
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy).
103
July 5-6, 8,
1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Siena, Italy)
Elliot Stock will publish Eugene's "Medusa";
she and Mary Robinson visited Mrs. Clifford;
Mrs. Beoington's new book of poems "full of
imbecility"; attended party at the Tennants',
and an "afternoon" at Mrs. Alma Tadema's;
28th: saw Mr. Browning at Mrs. Sutherland
Orr's; visited Mr. Bunting of the
"Contemporary Review" at his "shabby genteel
house"; Fraser published "Apollo the Fiddler."
Called on the Paters who invited her to stay
with them on her way to Wales; lunched with
Nina Barstow; visited Leslie Stephens and Mrs.
Ward; July 1: advises him to omit the Elegy,
"which completely lacks interest," from his
"Medusa" book.
Visited Mrs. Stillman and Mrs. Ward, then
joined Robinsons at Epsom; (from London):
Mrs. Stillman had taken her to the Morris's
house; Emily Sargent will visit tomorrow.
She and Mary Robinson took Emily Sargent to
the Academy and Liberty's; Paters, among
others, at Robinson's dinner party; feels she
has finally been accepted by the Watts, Pater,
Stephen, Mrs. Clifford, Maccoll, and the
Wards; 6th: Mrs. Muller intoduced her to
Professor Lankester, "a great big bulldog
young man"; 8th: "Magazine of Art" refused
her "Blood and Bones" novel; she and Mary
going to Pulborough to rest and work. P.S.
Mary Robinson to Matilda Paget: Violet not
ill; they go to the country to work.
104
July 11, 1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
Leaves for Pulborough in the afternoon; visited
Miss Thomas and the Buntings.
105
July 12, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
106
July 13, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
107
July 14, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
108
July 15, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
11
She and Mary Robinson rented a cottage here.
Happier in the cottage here than she had been
at Gower St.; she is working on portrait art of
the Renaissance, Mary on Emily Bronte.
Will return to Italy soon if Eugene continues
to be so ill.
Is very nice here, but it cannot compare to
Italy; Mr. Lemon told of his "very weird
ghostly experiences" which "put into my head a
sort of story"; they have some problems with
the landlady.
109
July 20, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
110
July 22, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
111
July 24, 1882
112
July 26, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
113
July 27, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
114
July 29, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
115
July 31, 1882
Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
116
August 2,
1882
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
117
August 3-4,
1882
Violet Paget (Gloster, England and
Llandovery, Wales) to Matilda Paget
(Siena, Italy)
118
August 5,
1882
Violet Paget (Llanfair, Wales) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
12
Real reason for her leaving London was Mrs.
Robinson's treatment of her; there was a
misunderstanding about a ticket to the
Academy and Mrs. Robinson virtually asked
her to leave; Mary stood by her throughout the
quarrel; Longman refused "Blood and Bones."
Feels Mary Robinson has grown tired of her
parents' literary circle, as "she is growing and it
is shrinking"; the quarrel (with the Robinsons)
may be advantageous to Mary if it gives her
more independence from her parents.
Talked to Satchell about publishing Eugene's
new book; she plans to write on "Art and
Evolution," writing the musical with the
serious aesthetical articles and submit it to
Macmillan; dined at Coates' Farm; wrote
"Portrait Art of the Renaissance" for the
"Fortnightly."
Will amend Eugene's manuscript as requested.
Thanks her for her understanding of the
quarrel with the Robinsons; seeks advice about
whether she should go directly to the
Robinsons to pick up her things there.
Went to Arundel with Mary Robinson and
Emily Callwell; beautiful parks and cathedral
there; she leaves for Oxford August 1.
Needs 20 pounds to go to Wales; it had been
very inexpensive for her and Mary Robinson to
stay at Pulborough. P.S. Mary Robinson to
Matilda Paget: she wished Violet to be her
guest at Pulborough, but she refused.
Is staying at the Paters' in "one of the prettiest
houses I have ever seen."
Spent the previous day with the Paters in
Oxford; found the cathedral there at Gloster
"compared with French cathedrals, coarse,
clumsy, and uninteresting"; 4th: staying at the
small house of her "very worn and not pretty"
cousin Adah Hughes.
Her cousin Adah Hughes reminds her much of
Pauline de Cargouet; visited her mother's old
house at Middleton; much complicated
intrigue among the cousins there, "it all sounds
like a horrible mixture of "Wuthering
Heights" and "Zola.""
119
August 9,
1882
Violet Paget (Llandovery, Wales) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
120
August 12,
1882
Violet Paget (Leamington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
121
August 13,
1882
Violet Paget (Warwick, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
122
August 17,
1882
Violet Paget (Warwick, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
123
August 23,
1882
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
124
August 24,
1882
Violet Paget (Bruges, Belgium) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
125
August 25,
1882
126
August 26,
1882
Violet Paget (in train near Brussels)
to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
Violet Paget (in train, just after Koln,
Germany) to Matilda Paget (Siena,
Italy).
127
August 26,
1882
Violet Paget (Coblenz, Germany) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
129
August 28,
1882
August 28,
1882
130
June 20, 1883
Violet Paget (Coblenz, Germany) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
Violet Paget (Basel, Switzerland) to
Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)
Violet Paget ("Casa Duffy,"
Florence, Italy) to Matilda Paget
(Bagni di Lucca)
131
June 21, 1883
132
June 22, 1883
133
June 22, 1883
128
Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Bale, Switzerland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
13
Cornhill published "Botticelli at the Villa
Lemmi" manuscript quickly; leaves Wales
tomorrow to stay with the Jeffersons at
Leamington.
Staying with Mary Robinson at the Jefferson's;
went to Warwick to train
She and Mary Robinson have rooms in a large
15th or 16th century house which was once a
monastery.
Will travel from England to Belgium on the
23rd with Mrs. Smillie and go from there to
Siena; rowed on the Avon with the Jeffersons;
visited Warwick Castle, "the most Faery
Queen sort of place I have ever seen"; a Miss
Nussey, "Charlotte Bronte's only surviving
friend," is criticising Mary Robinson's work on
Charlotte Bronte; Mary wrote prologue to
"The New Arcadia," but expects no good
reviews.
Will leave for Belgium with Mrs. Smillie in the
afternoon
Mr. Robinson saw her off in England, "he was
very polite and says he is extremely sorry;" she
and Mrs. Smillie now take the train to Ghent.
Spent two hours sightseeing in Brussels; will
make her way through Germany and Italy and
arrive at Siena on Wednesday (August 30).
Spent last night in Cologne; will spend the day
travelling through Germany
Must stay a day in Coblenz with Mrs. Smillie,
who isn't well; tomorrow she will go to see the
Rhine.
Found the Rhine "very disappointing as a
whole…I would give the whole Rhine for the
Avon."
Travelled all day on the train; will arrive in
Florence on the 30th, Siena the following day
Had a successful journey from Lucca to
Florence
Met the Stillmans at Pistoria; saw Mrs.
Callander and Mr. and Mrs. Meser (?) at the
station; dinner with the Addisons.
Will arrive in Paris tomorrow night and see
John Sargent there.
John Sargent will visit tomorrow; "Of Mario's
book, the first story is perfectly splendid, the
others very good."
134
June 23, 1883
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
135
June 25, 1883
136
June 26, 1883
Violet Paget (between Dieppe and
Newhaven) to Matilda Paget (Bagni
di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
137
June 29, 1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
138
June 30, 1885
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
139
June 30, 1883
140
July 2, 1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
141
Went with John Sargent to the Louvre and
met Ben Castillo there; saw John's new studio,
"from his having invested in this house, I
presume Miss Burckhardt is gone off the
horizon;" saw a statue of Venus, "a beautiful
and singular thing" which would be a good
sonnet subject for Eugene; is going on to
Roven, then London.
Arrived in Roven on the first day of the races
there and left because of the crowds; boarded a
boat at Dieppe and will arrive in Newhaven,
England; John Sargent calls the author Rollinat
a "beast without any talent."
Mary Robinson met her at the station, as the
Duffys hadn't expected her so early.
"Art Journal" would like poems from Eugene;
dined at the Robinson's new house; saw
Richard Garnett at the British museum;
lunched with Mrs. Ward; talked to Henley
about Cecconi's article in the "Magazine of
Art"; complicated misunderstanding between
the Wards and the Middlemores, MacColl
having put Mrs. Ward "into quite a
disagreeable position"; visited Mrs. Clifford.
Celice (?) arrived and seemed friendly; met
Mary de Morgan "of whose odious identity you
have heard me speak" at the Barrington's; Mrs.
Clifford had a party in her honor; tomorrow
she goes to the Paters; finds the "old literary
clique" boring, longs for Alice Calander and
John Sargent; her friends have literary
successes, "alas, alas, for "Miss Brown.""
Went to tea at the Bunting's, where "the
atmosphere of strict morality is perfectly
choking"; rather bored and dislikes London;
met Fagan at the Br. Museum; saw Mrs.
Caldecott and Agnes Clarke; party tonight at
the Robinson's; will go with Evelyn Pickering
to meet Miss Barrington, "who writes on art";
will take her book "Miss Brown" to Macmillan.
Going to Hampton Court; saw Mr. Theodore
Watts; sends manuscript of "Miss Brown" to
Macmillan.
Re-entry of 140.
14
July 2, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 6, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 7, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 9, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
146
July 11, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
147
July 13, 1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
148
July 14, 1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
149
July 15, 1883
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
142
143
144
145
15
A man "very much after Mary Robinson" took
them rowing; Evelyn Pickering took her to
lunch at Mrs. Barrington's, " a rumpled,
scrumpled little brown paper woman"; in his
studio, G.F. Watts talked to her about her
"Portrait Art" article; went on to Sir F.
Leighton's house, "the 8th wonder of the
world"; at Mrs. Clifford's met Fred Macmillan,
the painter Alfred Parsons, Mrs. Orr, and Mrs.
Carr
Went to the McGurneys' and talked about
ghosts; she and Mary Robinson went to tea
with "the funny little aesthetic painter"
Holiday, and met there Annie CobdenSanderson and Mrs. Morris; has a busy, full
schedule of invitations, but Mary is not well.
Has been socializing with Lalia (?), Mrs.
Dickson, Robinsons, Barringtons, and Evelyn
Pickering; is trying to find a publisher for
Eugene
Dined at the Barringtons' with Evelyn
Pickering; talked to Theodore Watts, an
admirer of Eugene's poetry, about meter and
how Eugene could improve his "monotony in
the pacing of the caesura"; greatly enjoyed a
visit with the Monkhouses.
"The Academy" publishing her paper on Mario
Pratesi's book; visit to Leyland's house to see
Rossetti paintings, which she thought "not
merely ill-painted and worse modelled, but
coarse and repulsive"; went with Bella Duffy to
the Buntings'; visits to art galleries to see
Rossetti paintings; dinner with the Stephens.
Send manuscript of "Apollo and Marsgas" to
Henley.
Visited the Gurneys; travelling to Epsom with
Mary Robinson; Adah Hughes will be going to
Italy.
Went with Evelyn Pickering to see the artist de
Morgan in his studio; then went to de
Morgan's mother and sister--"I never saw
anything odder"--who believed they saw ghosts
about; Mrs. De Morgan "felt sure I must be a
ghost seer from my expression"; saw Mr.
Graham's collection of Burne Jones and
Rossetti paintings; lunched with the Gurneys.
Henley rejected "Apollo and Marsgas"; went
with mary Robinson to meet the Ellises, of the
Ellis and White publishing company; will offer
Ellis the manuscript of "Euphorion"; feels
writing fiction not lucrative for her; went to
Salvation Army meeting, which she found
"utterly trivial and vulgar."
July 18, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 20, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
152
July 22, 1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
153
July 27, 1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
154
July 29, 1883
155
July 30, 1883
156
August 1,
1883
157
August 3,
1883
158
August 5,
1883
Violet Paget (Canterbury, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Canterbury, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
159
August 6,
1883
Violet Paget (Canterbury, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
160
August 8,
1883
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
French Jesuits have set up a college there.
Cavalry men stationed in Caterbury make
streets there "very animated"; went to service
at the Cathedral; tomorrow she and Mary
Robinson go to Sandwich.
Tenterden is "a very dead little place"; asked
Austin to return her article, "Transformation
of Chivalric Poetry" as he was putting too
many restrictions on it.
161
August 9,
1883
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Despite the Coltons' recommendation of
Tenterden, she finds it a "great fraud"; will go
to see the Fishers at Midhurst; has just begun a
150
151
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Canterbury, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Canterbury, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
16
Huish interested in Eugene's sonnets; Duffys
gave a big party; lunched with MacColl
Will not visit the Paters at Oxford; she and
Mary Robinson may go to Kent; lunched at the
Dicksons'; visited Mrs. Clifford; supper with
the Hamleys, "unwriting literary people."
Needs money before she and Mary Robinson
can go to Kent; feels the Clifford set "claims"
her, but the Watts, Marston, etc., "don't care a
rap about me"; has been working in the Print
Room and the Eglin Room at the British
Museum; visited the "pedantic" Mrs. Bunting.
Sent photos to Eugene; leaves with Mary
Robinson tomorrow for Tenterden, Kent
Stopped here on the way to Tenterden;
Caterbury "has something of Oxford, but with
more old houses."
Will stay in Caterbury for a week before going
to Tenterden.
She and Mary Robinson read Eugene's new
sonnets; Alfred Austin wants to publish her
paper "Transformation of Chivalric Poetry"
anonymously, as her signature is connected
with ideas which are "scandalizing to the
readers of the "National Review."
paper for Escott; Marston's book being
published by Stock.
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
162
August 11,
1883
163
August 11,
1883
164
August 14,
1883
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
166
August 16,
1883
August 18,
1883
Violet Paget (Tenterden, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Rye, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
167
August 19,
1883
Violet Paget (Rye, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
168
August 21,
1883
Violet Paget (Rye, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
165
169
August 23,
1883
Violet Paget (Rye, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
170
August 28,
1883
Violet Paget (Midhurst, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
171
September 1,
1883
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
172
September 23, 1883
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
17
Austin will publish manuscript
"Transformations of Chivalric Poetry" signed
"V. Paget"; will go to Midhurst about the 25th.
Will stay in Tenterden another 1/2 week; met
a Mrs. Redmund, "like a woman out of G.
Eliot's books," who took her and Mary
Robinson on a drive; Mary is reading "The
Mill on the Floss" aloud to her; has been
exploring an abandoned farmhouse.
May go to Rye on the 18th; will be in Italy in a
month.
She and Mary Robinson go to Rye in two days;
will stay briefly with the Robinsons before
leaving England; took the landlady's niece to
the circus; rescued the cat from drowning.
Found good lodgings there.
Rye is "one of the most picturesque places I
have ever seen"; drove to Rye harbour; going
to Winchelsea which Baring Gould wrote
about in "Mehalah." [Includes envelope and
two paper dolls, described as "Mary's sister
Helen effigy of Alfred Austin."]
Will go to the Fishers at Midhurst on Saturday
or Tuesday; drove through the marsh to the
seaside; many sailors angry at new regulation
which has condemned many boats as not
seaworthy
Fishers live in a beautiful house; went to see
the ruins of the Cowdray (?) estate; saw a
collection of Vandykes at Petworth Place; she
and Mary Robinson go to Epsom on Thursday
(30th).
Will stop to see Amiens and Riems on the way
to Italy.
Escott won't say yet if he'll take her article;
Nencion doesn't want her article on the
"Outdoor Renaissance"; has applied to do a
biography of Mme. D'Arblay for W.H. Allen's
Eminent Women Series; drove to Box Hill;
going to meet Mr. Fisher at the British
Museum Print Room.
173
September 5,
1883
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
174
September 6,
1883
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
175
September 8,
1883
Violet Paget (between Bologne and
Amiens, France) to Matilda Paget
(Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
176
June 4, 1884
177
June 8, 1884
178
179
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 8, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 10, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
180
June 13, 1884
181
June 16, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
182
June 19, 1884
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
18
Will leave for Amiens on Sunday (9th) and
meet the Lemons at Riems; will write a
biography of the Countess of Albany for W.H.
Allen for fifty pounds.
Travel plans have changed; Mrs. Robinson
doesn't want her to go to Amiens and Riems
alone, so she shall go with the Lemons.
Had a bad crossing; signed agreement with
W.H. Allen for biography of Countess of
Albany.
John Sargent had his "famous nominee tea
party" to which V.P., the two Robinson girls
and Arthur Lemon each invited four nominees;
chance meeting between Lady Colin Campbell
and Mrs. Callander "greatly added to the
dramatic interest" of the party.
Will visit the Symonds with Mary Robinson;
lunched with Miss Wakefield; dined at the
Wards'; MacColl, Garnett, and Maclean
visited; saw an exhibition of Whistler sketches;
party at the Sharps' with "frumpy women and
frowsty literary people"; will dine with Leslie
Stephen.
Visited Mrs. Clifford who "has a screw loose,
for surely not even literary London could
produce such manners"; has had many
invitations since she got to London from
Rossetti, Miss Wakefield, Mrs. Callander; went
with Mabel Robinson to Beauington Atkinson,
a "rather seedy art critic."
Visits from Miss Hamley, Mrs. Rossetti, Mrs.
Hueffer, Mrs. Stillman; Maclean very
depressed about death of Mme. Meyer; "two
pictures of the year" are by Burne Jones and
Whistler; saw William Rossetti, Sharp, and
MacColl at Mrs. Augusta Webster's
homecoming; is tired of the "literary
frumpdom" in London.
Heard Manning preach; met Henry James at
National Museum; "Euphorian" seems selling
well."
Is staying with the Paters; Mrs. Augusta
Webster astounded to discover Violet Paget is
Vernon Lee; Clara Pater took her to Christ
Church; "the rising poet is Michael Field,
supposed to be a woman."
June 20-21,
1884
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
June 24, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
185
June 26, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
186
June 29, 1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
187
July 2, 1884
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
188
July 11, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
189
July 14, 1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Enjoys staying with the Paters and each
afternoon has a "long, private audience" with
Pater; Mr. Creighton comes for dinner; will
see the Campbells and the Wards before going
to Epsom; 21st: Mrs. Cadele and Miss Frasor
just died; "St. James" gave "Euphorion" a
terrible review.
Met Professor Jenkin, "a clever, lively,
opinonative, paradoxical man," at the
Campbells'; suspects Middlemore wrote the
bad review of "Euphorion" in St. James
Gazette, but he denies it; visited Mrs. Dickson,
Mrs. Barrington; party at the Tennants';
Nencioni's review of "Euphorion" "very
good."
Had an "odd medley" of visitors: Evelyn
Pickering, Ellen Clerke, Mrs. Callander,
Maclean, John Sargent, Lemon, and Henry
James; then all went to a party at the
Tennants'; a "better letter" soon; has read and
liked very much his "Spissimus" (sp?).
Visited Mrs. Fitzgerald, "literature and
metaphysics smitten, this clever, vain, half
crazy little woman"; with Mabel Robinson saw
"Glargebrook's people at Harrow"; dinner at
the Gurneys', the MacColls; may offer
manuscript of "Miss Brown" to Eliott Stock.
Saw the Ellis' Rossettis at Epsom; Blackwood
gives no answer on publication of "Miss
Brown"; may do Beckford for the "English
Men of Letters" series.
Good reviews of "Euphorion" by Pall Mall,
British Quarterly; Unwin may put
"Euphorion" into one volume cheap edition;
Mme. Villair is visiting; Agnes Clarke is
"grinding away at astronomical biographies";
had large tea party where Theodore Watts and
Henry James complimented her on
"Euphorion."
Review in the "Spectator" of "Euphorion"; will
see Mrs. Fleming Jenkin and the Stephens
tomorrow.
July 16, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Cholera epidemic prevents entrance to Italy, so
Mme. Villari can't get back; visited Mrs.
Dickson; dined at the Stephens' along with
183
184
190
19
Sidney Calvin, Cyril Flower, and Mrs. Velly.
"Academy" had a "jocose but good review" of
"Euphorion"; her old friend Sir Frederick
Burton visited; Oswald Crawford visited, "I
fancy he is rather a swell"; dined with the
MacCarthys and met Lord Randolph
Churchill, whom she thought very feeble and
factious"; saw Sarah Bernhardt in Sardon's
"Fedora."
Won't return to Italy until the quarantine is
over; Mary Robinson read and corrected
Eugene's new poem; John Sargent brought
Paul Bourget ("flabby and blond") to visit;
went with Mary to see Mr. Watts; bad reaction
to her flu vaccination; Unwin ecstatic over the
success of "Euphorion"; Mary finishing her
biography of Marguerite de Navarre.
July 19, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 23, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 26, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
194
July 30, 1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
195
August 3,
1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
196
August 5,
1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
197
August 8,
1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Blackwood will publish "Miss Brown"; will stay
at the Robinson's London house until midAugust and work on rewriting "Miss Brown."
Told Blackwood clearly that she wouldn't
agree to alter "Miss Brown"; Contemporary
Review did a not "very grand" review of
"Euphorion" but the Buntings "strewed my
path with flowers, that is, with invitations to
write for the Contemporary"; will stay with
Emily Ford at Leeds; has decided to dedicate
"Miss Brown" to Henry James.
Is working on the end of Miss Brown; will
press Elliot Stock for an answer (concerning a
manuscript of Eugene).
Returns Eugene's poem which Mary Robinson
had been making; she and Mary staying alone
in Robinson's house; will return to Italy when
quarntine is lifted, perhaps with Mary.
Alternative plans for her return to Italy: if
cholera still around, will come alone on 26th or
27th; if cholera gone, will come with Mary
Robinson mid-September; discussions with
Blackwood about American rights to "Miss
Brown"; Stock will decide on Eugene's
manuscript.
August 11-12,
1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Plans for returning to Italy still uncertain;
12th: went with Mary Robinson to Hampton
Court; will go to the Fords in Leeds on 14th;
Mary has completed her book on Marguerite
191
192
193
198
20
de Valvis and has good reviews; finished
revision of "Miss Brown."
199
August 15,
1884
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
200
August 19,
1884
201
August 22,
1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (E. Grinstead, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
202
August 24,
1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
203
August 28,
1884
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Is staying at the Fords' house (Adel Grange)
near Leeds; sky is constantly grey with smoke
from the city; tomorrow goes to Haworth; will
be glad to leave there.
Discussing with Mrs. Barstow and Mrs. Smilie
the possibility of returning to Italy with them;
went to see the moors at Haworth.
She and Mary Robinson staying with Mrs.
Paynter there; Mary will not return to Italy
with her
Only way open to Italy is via Vienna; may
travel there with Mme. Villari.
As cholera epidemic is spreading, advises her
family to move to a secluded villa in Florence;
Elliot Stock will make agreement about
Eugene's manuscript; MacCarthys expected to
visit; had "extremeley touching" letter from
Mrs. Callander; spiritualisit friend of the Fords
tells of meeting an Ancient Briton on the
moors.
Strongly urges her family to move to Florence
before the grape harvest; will travel to Italy
alone, as other arrangements fell through, and
"I am surely old enough to take care of
myself."
Relates her itinerary from London to Florence;
Elliot Stock will risk thirty six pounds on
Eugene's book.
Did not leave for Italy alone, as she discovered
quarantine would soon be lifted; will arrive at
Florence Monday (15th); Watts will review
Eugene's new book; glad they have gone to
Florence
204
August 31,
1884
205
September 2,
1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
206
September 9,
1884
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
207
September
13, 1884
Violet Paget (on train near Amiens,
France) to matilda Paget (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
208
June 21, 1885
Violet Paget (between Alexandria
and Turin, Italy) to Matilda Paget
(Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Finally left England, despite the Robinsons'
objections to her travelling alone; will arrive in
Florence on Tuesday (16th).
Arrived in Florence and met the Duffys; Bella
Duffy wants Frankie Forbes Robertson
(Eugene's reader) to meet a Miss Coray, an art
student.
209
June 23, 1885
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Pauline de Cargouet and husband met her in
Paris; is expecting John Sargent for dinner.
21
June 25, 1885
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
June 27, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 3, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 6, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
215
July 9, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
216
July 11-12,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
210
211
212
213
214
22
Fears John Sargent "is getting rather into the
way of painting people too tense"; lunched
with John and Miss Burkhardt; John sends
advice to Frankie Forbes Robertson to paint
only in black and white; will go to England
tomorrow.
Mary and Mabel Robinson met her when she
arrived in London; Alice Callander arrives
tonight; Campbells liked "Miss Brown," but
"there seems a strange lull of invitations."
No entry.
Robinsons are giving a dinner party for her;
went with Mabel Robinson to tea at the
Robertsons' studio and met Mrs. Jopling; has
had invitations from the Dicksons, the
Stephens; went to an exhibition of MacLean
paintings; will call on Miss Dunn and Miss
Osborne, "two nice, semi-artistic old maids"
and Mrs. John Richard Green, "widow of the
historian"; Austin of "National Review" will
accept "The Value of the Ideal: a
Conversation"
Lunched with the Dicksons; observed Jack's (?)
comments on Leslie Stephen: "It is amusing to
see these different classes working at each
other"; visited Mrs. Fitzgerald who talked on
metaphysics, love and marriage amid a large,
unknown crowd at Mrs. Jopling's; talked to
Lord Campbell and the Robertsons; visited
Mrs. Elliott.
Agrees with Mrs. R.J. Green that the troubled
times ahead will hinder the production of any
great literary work in England; "Pall Mall"
being censored for printing obscene material;
mixed reactions among her friends to "Miss
Brown," but "I have got the better of any
intention to give me the cold shoulder";
attended studio party at Tristam Ellis'.
Stock has turned down Eugene's book;
Maclean not doing well with his paintings;
12th (from Epsom): arrived here last night;
went with Alice Callander to a meeting of the
Psychical Research Society and from there to
at large party at the Jeunes'; only Rossettis and
Watts still angry about "Miss Brown"; visited
Mr. Newton, director of antiques at British
Museum.
217
July 15, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
218
July 16,18,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
219
July 19-21,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 23, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 25, 1185
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
220
221
23
Went with Mabel Robinson over to
Bartholomew's Hospital; dined wih Lewis
Campbell and saw there Watts who seemed
cold toward her; visits expected from Miss
MacCarthy, Crawford, Henry James, and
Forbes Robertson; will settle with Unwin over
"Baldwin."
Unwin will publish "Baldwin" and wants her to
do a history of the Italian Republics; F.R
(Forbes Robertson) visited, "a boasting,
fulsome, melodramatic swaggerer"; Arthur
Lemon came; lunched with Emily Ford;
Professor Jenkin died; 18th: saw Sarah
Bernhardt in "Theodora"; Alice Callander
leaves on 20th; Stillman and Pater candidates
for Oxford Slade Professorship; feels visiting
England after May 1 useless, as everyone is
leaving.
Alice Callander returns to Wales; went to
Coombe near Kingston to see Flekher's
"Faithful Shepherdess" performed outdoors,
arranged by Lady A. Campbell, "a very clever,
delightful, fantastic wayward creature"; 20th:
Lucy (?) came for lunch; 21st: will go to see
Mrs. Barstow; is writing a paper on the play at
Coombe and Sarah Bernhardt for the
"Fanfulla."
Unwin has unexpectedly lowered his price for
"Baldwin"; just discovered that a George
Moore had attempted to include bits of "Miss
Brown" in an anthology of "improper
passages," but Mary Robinson prevented it;
trying to atone for having ignored "Miss
Brown"; wil be staying with Mary for 10 days.
Shocked to hear of Mrs. Dickson's death;
Unwin has returned to original agreement
about "Baldwin"; lunched with Cotter
Morrison who urges her to spend as much time
as possible in England; Henry James suggests
she "never lose an opportunity of seeing
anything of any kind"; can't see the play at
Coombe again as it's too expensive; was
introduced to Mrs. Andrew Lang; Blackwood
would see another story of hers.
July 27, 1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
223
July 29, 1885
Violet Paget (Cambridge, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
224
August 1,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
225
August 1,
1885
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
226
August 5,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
227
August 6,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
228
August 8,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
222
24
Mary Robinson is weak and having fainting
fits, but is writing many verses; visited Mrs.
Clifford whom she finds "interesting and
cordial"; talked to Mr. Tilton at the
Barrington's about the Coombe play; feels Mr.
Newton will be a useful friend; John Sargent
visited; Andrew Lang wrote uncomplimentary
article on "Miss Brown" in "St James'
Gazette."
Came to Cambridge, as Mary Robinson was
suddenly ill and she (V.P.) was in the way
there; the Langs sent apologies for the review
of "Miss Brown," "I think both their behaviour
remarkably nice"; staying with the Creightons
at Cambridge which "gives no impression in
the sense that Oxford does, but it has charming
things; saw John Sargent and Mrs. Green
yesterday.
Is at Epsom with Mary Robinson for 3 days;
visited Mrs. Callander; the latest problems with
Frankie Forbes Robertson stem from her
discontent at Bagni di Lucca; Frankie has a
reputation of being "very fast"; Mrs. Callander
intends to pursue literature seriously and work
at her novel.
The Creightons took her to the cathedral at
Ely; invitations to dine with Mrs. Clifford and
with Mr. Newton where she shall meet Lady
Strangford; Mabel Robinson thinks Henry
James a "vulgar American," which "vexed me,
as this abusing of my friends is quite a habit";
may go to Venice for ten days; she and Mary
Robinson visit the Austins on the 19th.
Is distressed about all the problems Frankie
Forbes Robertson has caused at Bagni; is
making plans for a trip to Venice; Henry James
visited; met Lady Strangford at Mr. Newton's
and found her "sniffy to an incredible degree";
will dine with Mrs. Clifford.
Will return to Italy at once if the problems
with Frankie Forbes Robertson have "left you
both morally ill and so sad and desolate";
intends to make Alice Callander aware of the
entire situation.
Talked to the Robertsons about the problems
Frankie had caused at Bagni; Frankie's sister,
Mrs. Bromley, apologised for Frankie's
behaviour; Frankie will be brought home from
Florence.
229
August 10,
1885
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
230
August 13,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
231
August 17,
1883
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
232
August 21,
1885
Violet Paget (Swinford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
233
August 25,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
244
August 27,
1885
Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
245
August 28,
1885
Violet Paget( Epsom, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
25
Mrs. Callander's novel shows "delicate and
charming conception of character,…if only she
could learn to write"; next spring will work on
the 15th century novel; Mabel Robinson says
Frankie Forbes Robertson's bad conduct not
surprising.
Saw Mrs. Clifford, Colvin and the publisher
Tuer at MacColl's; at Mrs. Von Glehn's, met
the painter Richmond and the poet MacKail;
Paters have moved into a nearby house;
Herkomer won Slade Professorship; Robert
Browning showed her "the real 'Book' of the
"Ring and the Book.""
In two days goes with Mary Robinson to
Ashford; has been buying new clothes; Bella
Duffy will go to Florence in September.
[Includes poem by Mary Robinson called "The
Siren."]
She and Mary Robinson staying with Alfred
Austin "who spouts a sort of utilitarian
toryism"; visited Goddington, the 17th century
manor house: "I think I shall use it up in a
ghost story I am projecting"; asks her mother
to save the August 16th edition of "Fanfulla
della Domenica" containing her article on the
play at Coombe.
The visit with the Austins was very pleasant, as
there was a "great difference between their
whole manner and that of ordinary literary
folk"; Mrs. Callander intends to introduce her
to her friends in Venice and she has letters of
introduction from Mme. Villari to two other
women there.
Will leave England in about a week; saw the
Clarkes; Henry James will introduce her to two
women in Venice; expects A.W. Benn will
arrive to announce his engagement; Austin has
"hanking after passing my Renaissance novel
thro' the "National"."
Reports of Benn's engagement were false--he
may visit them at Bagni; heard that Frankie
Forbes Robertson is now staying at a convent;
will leave London on the 5th, travel through
France and arrive in Venice on the 9th; her
articles out in "Contemporary Review" ("A
Dialogue on Novels") and "National Review"
("The Value of the Ideal: A Conversation").
246
September 1,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
247
September 3,
1885
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
248
September 5,
1885
Violet Paget (Amiens, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
249
September 7,
1885
Violet Paget (Lucerne, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
250
September 8,
1885
Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
251
September 9,
1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
252
September
11, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
253
September
13, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
254
September
14, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
255
September
16, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
26
Went with Mary Robinson to visit Lalla
Dickson, who gave her (V.P.) an old portrait of
Matilda Paget; everyone but the Rossettis "has
got over "Miss Brown."
Sends Eugene a copy of Palgrave's "Golden
Treasury"; Norman Robertson came to
apologize for his sister Frankie's behaviour;
dined with the MacCarthys, where "little Justin
impressed me painfully"; went to say goodbye
to Alice Callander.
The Robinsons saw her off from London; had
lunch with Miss Burkhardt and John Sargent at
his studio; will visit the Lemons, the
Barringtons and Frankie Forbes Roberston's
parents.
Mrs. Duffy and Bella Duffy met her at the
station there; visited the cathedral at Bale
during a stopover there; "Contemporary
Review" paid her "by anticipation."
Trip from Lucerne to Milan was pleasant;
being back in Italy is a relief, as she knows
"how to tackle the people"; will arrive in
Florence on 25th or 26th; hasn't yet been paid
for articles in "Fanfulla" and "Fracassa."
Has found a decent hotel room there; visited
St. Mark's, "far away the loveliest place in the
world," and a fruit market; Venice has "six
times more of Italy than Florence, even than
Siena."
Most of the people to whom she had letter of
introduction are out of town; met Mr. and
Mrs. Curtis, American friends of John Sargent
and Henry James, "these sort of Americans,
who shudder at Howells, look up to James as a
sort of patron saint of cosmopolitan
refinement"; will return to Florence on the
25th, as Venice is expensive.
Austin has finally sent payment for her last
article; her neighbors in the hotel know some
of her friends in London; saw Horatio Brown
yesterday.
Will dine with the Curtises; Layards have
returned to town
The Curtises are kind to her, but she is very
much on her own and does not have "H.
Brown or young Curtis to pilot me about";
Curtises tod her a story about an Italian hero
which could be material for a ballad.
September
18, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
257
September
19, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
258
September
22, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
259
September
23, 1885
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
260
June 3, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
June 6, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 8, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 10, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
256
261
262
263
27
Hopes there is no delay in her return trip to
Florence, as she doesn’t want to stay in Venice
until the 1st.
Is tired of sightseeing and ready to do some
work; called on Lady Layard who has "a
certain indifference to humbler mortals"; the
Curtises entertain her frequently.
Will return to Florence on Saturday, the 26th;
is anxious to be home as "one can't always feel
up to the imaginative excitement necessary" for
sightseeing; went to Chioggia by steamer;
upcoming parties at the Bronsons' and
Curtises'.
Will return to Florence Friday evening, as
cases (of cholera?) are spreading, and she is
anxious to get South; spent a dreary evening
with Mrs. Bronson.
Is staying there with the Robinsons; had an
"admirable crossing"; is going to Miss
Wakefield's concert.
Has engagements with the Stephens, Mrs.
Clifford, Mrs. von Glehn, Alice Callander,
Browning, and Mrs. Jeune; the Paters and
Lizzie Sharp called; with Mabel Robinson,
visited the Raffaloviches, "some eccentric
people…in a fashionable artistic sort of
milieu"; went to Mrs. Hancock's party--"I
never bored myself more in a frowstier lost; has
"boring" reviews in "The Pall Mall" and the
"Academy."
Had lunch with Mrs. Green who displays
"hospitality of attention, not merely, as usual,
of food"; Mabel Robinson attended the debate
on the Irish Bill; visited Alice Callander; will
go to Coombe to see "Lady Archie" Campbell;
Blackwood wants to publish her "Oke of
Okehurst"; lnched with Mary Wakefield.
At the party there last night, "I saw mainly H.
James, John, and Miss Burckhardt…Miss
Hamley, Mrs. Stillman, and Miss Wakefield";
had called on Mrs. von Glehn and Mr. Watts
who has just done a painting sufficient "to
place him as a really imaginative artist"; will
lunch with Mrs. Jeune and go to a concert with
John Sargent, Mary Robinson, and Miss
Burckhardt.
264
June 13, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
265
June 16, 1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
266
June 19, 1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
277
June 21-22,
1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
288
June 22-23,
1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
June 26, 1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
289
28
Went with Mrs. Green to the Youngs' for
dinner; called on Lady Welby, Miss Tennant,
the DeHoghtons; lunched with Cross; Oswald
Crawford called; will stay with the Paters when
the Robinsons leave.
Sent clippings of reviews from the
"Athenaeum" and "Academy"; will lunch with
Lady Wolseley on Friday; lunched with Mary
Wakefield and Marion Terry, then spent the
weekend at Epsom; visited Alice Callander;
went to a Wagner concert with Anne Callwell
and the Lemons.
On Thursday, went to Bloomsbury and called
on Miss Levy, Mrs. Thursfield, Mr. Newton,
the Wards, and Mrs. Rossetti; lunched with the
Wolseleys and some disagreeable people; dined
with M. Wakefield, "an appalling feast"; called
on Miss Browning, who had been ill, and Mr.
Browning gave her some flowers.
Book by Alma Tadema's daughter well-written
but an imitation of "Wuthering Heights"; has
been suffering from neuralgia; has visited the
Stillmans, the DeHoghtons, Lady Welby, Mrs.
Linton, Helen Zimmern; 22nd: met Maud
White, "a rather famous composer of
fashionable songs" at Miss Wakefield's; had a
nice lunch with the deHoghtons; Lady Welby
a "delicate, sickly, spiritual, very paintable
woman,...metaphysical to the backbone."
Lady Archie Campbell, in a scene which left
V.P. "with a strong sense of the New Arabian
Nights," insisted she (V.P.) send her article
"Perigot" immediately to Knowles for
inclusion in July ed. Of "Nineteenth Century"
in order to "humble that horrid little Austin"
who could promise no publication date for the
article; 23rd: next morning Bunting, of
"Contemporary Review," said he'd publish the
article in his August issue.
Dined with the Wolseleys; went with Paters
and Robinsons to the Academy; visied an
eccentric friend of George Eliot; called on
Marion Terry; Mrs. Stillman took her and
Mary Robinson to Hamilton Aide's rooms
where they again met Lady Archie Campbell;
went with Lady Archie to see Knowles of
"Nineteenth Century" who begged for the
"Perigot" article.
290
291299
300
301
302
303
304
June 29, 1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
July 2, 1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
July 8, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 10, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 13, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 15, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
29
Went to Epsom instead of to Coombe as Lady
Archie Campbell had an unexpected visit from
her sister-in-law; dined at the Wolseleys' along
with the Archbishop of Canterbury; saw Fancy,
Bertha Newcombe, and Phyllis Ellis at Epsom
who, "gave me the sort of sequel to "Miss
Brown""; will visit the Myers at Camberley.
No entries.
Told Knowles of "Nineteenth Century" she
would rather have "Perigot" appear in the
Contemporary Review; dined with the
Crawleys; went with Mabel Robinson to hear
Ulster Protestants talk about Home Rule;
visited Mary Wakefield, Mrs. Green and Miss
Chapman, author of the "New Godiva"; has
elaborate travelling plans for the next month.
Lately has had dull dinners wit the George
Macmillans and Mrs. Orr; Mary Robinson
asked Alice Callander to lunch; at Henry
James' flat, met Mr. Lowell, "who told some
excellent ghost stories about buccaneers in the
style of Washington Irving."
Invitations from Lady Wolseley, Lady Welby
and Mary Wakefield to various parties; went
with Mary Robinson to dinner at Newton's;
Lady Archie Campbell "is going to be of much,
much more use to me than I ever dreamed of";
while travelling will stay with the Paters, the
Stillmans and the Wakefields.
Spent the weekend at Epsom; is not invited to
the Rawlinsons' party because Mrs. Morris
(whom she upset by putting her in "Miss
Brown") will be there; American reviews say
"Baldwin" supposed to be about her
relationship with Pater--"that would indeed be
a thrilling tale!"
Met Julian Story and Mrs. Mason at Henry
James' house; after dining with Unwin went to
see "a miserable adaptation by Wills" of Faust;
called on Browning and his sister and saw
Gosse; going to the Macmillans' "boring
garden party"; revised part of "A Phantom
Lover."
July 20, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 22, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
July 25, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
308
July 28, 1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
309
August 1,
1886
Violet Paget (Kendal, England) to
Matilda Paget
310
August 4,
1886
Violet Paget (Kendal, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
311
August 7,
1886
312
August 10,
1886
Violet Paget (Northumberland,
England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di
Lucca)
Violet Paget (Tynemouth, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
313
August 13,
1886
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
305
306
307
30
Is staying with the Paters, to whom she read
the proofs of "A Phantom Lover"; she and
Mary Robinson visited Sharp; to the
Robinsons' "literary tea drinking" came the
Paters, James, Thomas Hardy, and others;
Mrs. Mason will take her to the Coombe play
at Wimbledon.
At the Paters' dinner party, met three
agreeable young men of the "fashionable
Bohemian element"; went to the Coombe play
which was "a fearful falling off from last year."
Has left the Paters' house and is staying with
the Stillmans; Hamilton Aide and Alfred
Austin have asked her to visit; saw Mary
Robinson at the play at Wimbledon; will visit
Lady Wolseley.
Will go to the Wakefields' house on the 31st;
met Mr. Edward Arnold who wants her to
write for his new magazine; spent yesterday
with the Wolseley family, "who seem so fond
and proud of each other."
Is staying at the Stillmans' "huge, cockney,
gothic, excessively grandiose" house; Miss
Herbert at Tynemouth wants her to visit on
the 6th.
Went hiking in the hills with Mary Wakefield,
who "is remarkably intelligent and very
goodnatured, and altogether as queer a
creature as one can meet"; enjoys herself more
at the Wakefields' than at Emily Ford's,
"despite all the aspirations of her soul."
Is in the Northumbrian moors, stayin with
Miss Herbert and the Thursfields; she and
Mary Wakefield went out driving every day of
her stay at the Wakefields' house; read
manuscript of "Medea da Carpi" to Mary
Wakefield and will submit it to Edward
Arnold's magaine; Roberts of Boston will pay
ten pounds for "Oke."
Came from Alston to Tynemouth with the
Thursfields, Miss Herbert and Mr. Woods; the
Tyne River polluted and hideous.
Is visiting Emily Ford; during her stay with the
Herberts and Thursfields a parson took her to
see old, dilapidated houses, "had I but the
story, I have got background for five and
twenty ghosts"; will travel around England,
staying with various friends, until she goes to
Venice on September 4th or 5th; Arnold has
accepted "Medea" for the new magazine.
314
August 15,
1886
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
315
August 18,
1886
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
316
August 22,
1886
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
317
August 23,
1886
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
318
August 25,
1886
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
319
August 28,
1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
31
Encloses an "extraordinary epistle" from Adah
Hughes, apparently objecting to the fact that
some characters in "Miss Brown" and "The
Countess of Albany" were imitations of Adah's
relatives; has written to Alice (Callander?) and
awaits a reply to settle her travelling plans.
Will not visit Alice Callander in Wales; on
23rd or 24th will stay with the Stillmans; Emily
Ford took her to "a club for millwomen" where
she talked about Italy; these millwomen were
to her "quite unlike my idea of English lower
classes"; with Emily Ford's cousin, Wolf,
toured a factory and observed the terrible
working conditions.
Considers her own story "very much better"
than Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll"; will visit the
Stillmans, then the Austin's; will travel to
Venice with the Wakefields, Terry and the
Curtises; met a Dr. Allbut upon whom George
Eliot is said to have modelled Lydgate in
"Middlemarch", but "I am sufficient of a
novelist to understand the value of such
sayings."
Requests all her letters be sent to Robinsons'
or Stillmans'.
Told Adah Hughes she was being overly
sensitive in being offended by "Miss Brown";
Fishers have invited her for the same days she
will be with the Austins; is determined to elave
for Venice or Lucca on the 8th of September;
is going to see Hamilton Aide; saw her
"Phantom Lover" being sold--"I felt
celebrated!"
Had an enjoyable visit to Hamilton Aide's
house in Ascot; she has, for Aide,"the double
attraction of being a demi-semi lion and the
friend of Mrs. Stillman"; "Oke" is "flaring
about on all the bookstalls of the kingdom";
will go to the Austins on September 1.
320
August 31,
1886
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
321
September 3,
1886
Violet Paget (Kent, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
322
September 4,
1886
Violet Paget (Amiens, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
323
September 8,
1886
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
324
September
11, 1886
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
325
September
13, 1886
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
326
September
16, 1886
Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
327
June 2, 1887
Violet Paget (Bale, Switzerland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
328
June 3, 1887
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
329
June 4, 1887
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
330
June 7-8,
1887
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
32
Will leave England September 4, as that's
when the Wakefield-Terry party wants to go;
may be able to see Mary Robinson at Como; is
annoyed that the Austins have invited Mallock
to visit at the same time she does.
Will leave tomorrow for Venice with Dover
Wakefield, Marion Terry, and Evelyn
Pickering; looks forward to returning to Italy;
Mallock, who "cares only for people in the
peerage" was there: "I never saw a more sunless
creature"; has begun a ghost story for Unwin's
annual.
Mr. DeMorgan is accompanying them;
"excellent crossing."
Is glad to be back in Italy "for all my interest in
England, this is my country"; cholera in Venice
is sporadic, would like to invite Miss Wakefield
and Marion Terry to Casa Bertagna.
Will spend the rest of her stay in Venice with
Mrs. Curtis; Mary Robinson s enjoying Davos;
will be home in a week.
Is delighted to be staying with the Curtises,
"this is Venice; the other's merely Cook's
Touristdom"; will stay at Mme. Pisani's villa
on the way to Bologna.
Is safely in Milan
Met Amy (?) in Milan; had a comfortable
journey by way of Lucerne to Bale; leaves for
Paris tomorrow.
Mme. Poynter asked her to dinner; is
comfortably situated there; waits to hear from
John Sargent.
With Mlle. Read, saw an exhibit in the Rue de
Seze; Miss Poynter took her to a lecture on the
Gospels at the College de France; boring party
at Miss Read's; "literary mediocrity is the same
all the world over"; dined with the Panniers;
went to the Salon with John and Ralph Carter;
Mlle. Read intoduced her to Mme. Ackerman,
an "old lady of insipid conversation."
Mlle. Read introduced her to the Hayems;
wishes to send Mme. Hayem a copy of "Miss
Brown" and Mr. Pannier a photo of Botticelli's
"Primavera"; Masson called; has several
invitaions for when she arrives in England; ran
into Mrs. Eliot, who persists in attempts to
establish a friendship with her.
331
June 9, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
332
June 11, 1887
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
333
June 13, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
334
June 17-18,
1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 21, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 24, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
June 26, 1887
Violet Paget (Tunbridge, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
335
336
337
33
Met Mary Robinson upon arrival in England
Enjoys the freedom of staying alone in
lodgings; Robinsons had many people in to see
her; has had very many invitations from various
friends; Unwin just published "Juvenilia"; has
seen Browning, who "treated me like a long
lost grandchild."
Went with Miss Grace Black and Papafava to a
socialist conference where "Stepniak the
Nihilist" and Champion were present; called
on the Gosses, Stephens, Edward Arnold, Mrs.
Hardy; visited with Mrs. Jeune and Tottie
Pater; with Mary Robinson, dined with Lady
Dorothy Nevill, "a sceptical, ironical 18th
century woman"; the party at Lady Nevill's
"one of the pleasantest parties I have ever been
to."
Called on Gurney, Alice Callander, and many
others in Bloomsbury; Mrs. Stillman and Mary
Wakefield called; 19th: went to Lady
Shrewsbury's where everyone treated her as if
she were "a governess come after a place"; Miss
Black took her to a meeting of the socialist
Fabian Society.
Mrs. Jeune had "prepared a party of socialists"
to meet her, so she talked with Stepniak, "a
mild, dreamy Russian" and Hyndman, "a cocka-whoop man"; spent Sunday with the Cobden
Sandersons; talked to Lady Dorothy Nevill at
the Jeunes' dinner party; has seen Miss Sellers,
Dolly Bloomfield, Aide.
Is trying to collect information about socialists
to offer Bella Duffy; will meet Cotter
Morrison, Miss Gruner and Champion;
doesn't see Mary Robinson often; lunched with
Lady Wolseley; went to tea at Mary
Wakefield's; dined "more or less en famille
with the Leslie Stephens"; lunched with John
Sargent; "A Phantom Lover" well received.
Is staying at Miss Pete's "pleasant, pretty,
Philistine house"; returns to London tomorrow
to dine with Annette Callwell; Lady Welby
wants her to go to Denton; lunched with
Cotter Morrison; has several engagements
planned for the next week in London.
June 30, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
339
July 2, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
340
July 5, 1887
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
341
July 8, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
342
July 11, 1887
Violet Paget (Grantham, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
343
July 15, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
344
July 17, 1887
Violet Paget (Coventry, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
338
34
Her mother need have no fear that she is
foolishly "cultivating the Peerage"; spent
Tuesday (28th) visiting friends, including Mary
Wakefield, John Sargent, Emily Ford, Lady
Mt. Temple, Stepniak, Tennants.
Is rather exhausted from all her running about;
travel plans are uncertain, but she may visit the
Lewis Campbells at St. Andrews, and "some
people of George Eliot's" in Warwickshire;
met Champion, the socialist, "a very serious,
honest person"; dined with Lady Young and
the McCarthys.
Has been very busy with social engagements
with various friends, and "a fearful party at the
Rossettis"; "Fortnightly" want her to do an
article.
Mrs. Robinson very ill with asthma; at the
Thursfields' saw Hubert E.H. Jerningham, an
old friend, "you never saw such a thin, holloweyed personification of failure"; went to the
British Museum with Newton; attended a
meeting of "The Fellowship of the New Life,"
"they are something between Socialists and
Positivists"; the Rossettis' party consisted of
"extraordinary frowsty ghosts of the great
aesthetic movement."
Friday evening went, with Miss Sellars, "the
beautiful Greek scholar" to a party given by
Mr. Somerset Beaumont, "the only pleasant
party I have almost ever been at"; is staying
with Lady Welby who has an "extraordinary
cracky illuminated sort of cleverness all come
to nothing."
Has vague plans to travel north, visiting the
Herberts and perhaps Mme. Ybarrando; may
spend tomorrow with Lady Archie Campbell;
took Cotter Morrison to see Lady Dolly and
discussed "18th century things"; at the Welbys'
met Miss Muir Mackenzie, " a charming old
maid"; on Saturday, will visit George Eliot's
friend Mrs. Cash.
Miss Clapperton, whose Scietnific Meliorism
she once reviewed, contrived to get this
invitation for her to stay with G. Eliot's friend
Mrs. Cash; there at Rosehill, "the atmosphere
in fact is heavy with Geo. Eliot"; toured ribbon
and watch factories; will return to London to
see Lady Dolly and Aide; on Friday, visited the
Stillmans, Paters, Cottons, Theodore Watts,
Shadwell, Alice Callander.
July 20, 1887
Violet Paget (England) to Matilda
Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
346
July 23, 1887
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
347
July 24-25,
1887
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
July 27, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
349
July 30, 1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
350
August 3,
1887
Violet Paget (Haslemere, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
345
348
35
Enjoyed her stay at Coventry, although "it was
so odd living among people who spoke of
George Eliot…as Marian"; visited Lady Dolly
and Aide; spent yesterday with Lady Archie
Campbell, "it was delightful and so funny!"
Is staying at the Robinson's house; will
definitley go to Scotland.
Miss Anstruther-Thomson, "a semi-painter,
semi-sculptor, handsome creature…with whom
I am expected to make great friends" will join
her there at Muir Mackenzie's house; 25th
(Kensington): liked Miss Anstruther-Thomson
very much, "she is a picturesque personality";
will go to the Robinson's house at Epsom, then
to the Wolseleys.
Will travel north to Berwick, Carham,
Edinburgh, and St. Andrews before leaving for
Brittany; Henry James visited; received a letter
from Benn, "quite like a guide book"; various
friends want her to visit before she leaves
England, but there won't be time, "that blessed
Brittany curtails my English possibilities
cruelly."
Is staying with the Paters, as Mrs. Robinson is
ill; will visit the Wolseleys at Haslemere for 3
days (August 1-3); C. Anstruther-Thomson has
asked her to visit; lunched with the Stillmans,
and consequently missed John Dillon's visit to
the Robinsons; Pater has written a review of
"Juvenilia" for the "Pall Mall"
Is staying at the Wolseleys' manor house,
along with Mrs. Andrew Lang, "a nice, bright,
tidy little woman"; likes the Wolseleys very
much, "Lady Wolseley has a delightful,
unconventional, clean, bright sort of mind,
with an odd dash of sentiment"; will call on
Miss Mackenzie, then return to London; has
refused to write an article for the
"Fortnightly," having been given only 13 days
notice.
351
August 5,
1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
352
August 8,
1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
353
August 10,
1887
Violet Paget (Carham on Tweed,
England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
354
August 15-16,
1887
Violet Paget (St. Andrews, Scotland)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
355
August 18,
1887
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
356
August 20,
1887
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
357
August 25,
1887
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
36
Has been conferring with Dr. Jonathan
Hutchinson about Eugene's illness; the doctor
"calls the malady one of nervous
hyperaesthesia…he thinks E.'s nerves are
permanenetly in a state of unhealthy
sensitiveness"; asks Eugene to send a complete
history of his case.
On August 6 went with Mabel Robinson to
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; later that
eveneing at Pope's Villa at Twickenham saw
"Midsummer Night's Dream" "done by
electric light"; yesterday went with Mary
Robinson to see Lady Archibald Campbell, "an
enchanting being, giving one an impression of
a delightful big child brought up on fairy
books."
Had a long, tiring journey north to Carham
where she is staying with the Herberts;
Carham is surrounded by the Cheviot Mts., the
Eildon Hills and the Tweed R., "full ballad
country."
Had herself photographed at Kelso, in
Scotland; finds Scotland "a much scrubbier
England, everything more untidy and happy go
lucky"; 16th: discovered Leonard Huxley is
also staying there at the Campbells' house;
wants Eugene to write a play, "something
antique but fantastic and spectacular" which
Lady Archibald Campbell could use.
Will send the doctor further details of
Eugene's illness; Gaston Parin has written on
behalf of a friend wishing to translate
"Juvenilia"; will visit M. Ybarrando at
Liverpool.
Will consult Hughlings Jackson "the nerve
specialist" about Eugene's illness;
"Fortnightly" wants her to do an article on the
New Reformation, but she'd rather write
"another paper of the Baldwin sort" for the
Contemporary Review; thinks the AnstrutherThomson house delightful, and Miss Thomson
herself "a very enchanting creature."
Must alter travel plans, as there has been an
occurrence which "has given me rather a
shock," but which she cannot explain; asks
permission to invite Miss Thomson to
Florence in the winter; feels closer to Miss
Thomson than to anyone except Mary
Robinson; is writing a dialogue for the
"Contemporary Review"; "Fortnightly" has
raised her pay.
358
August 27,
1887
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
359
August 30,
1887
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
360
September 2,
1887
Violet Paget (Liverpool, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
361
September 2,
1887
Violet Paget (Liverpool, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
362
September 5,
1887
Violet Paget (Liverpool, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
363
September 6,
1887
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
364
September 8,
1887
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
37
Will go to the Ybarrandos in Liverppol on the
31st; the rest of her travel plans are uncertain.
Reveals that what had upset her plans so much
was Mary Robionson's sudden engagement to
James Darmsteter, "a Jewish Professor at the
College de France"; feels quite strongly that
the marriage is ill-advised because of
Darmsteter's physical deformities; is thankful
that she was in the company of Miss Thomson
when Mary's shocking announcement was
made.
Arrived there after a 12 hour journey; will meet
with the doctors on the 5th to discuss Eugene's
health.
M. Ybarrando took her to an art exhibition in
Manchester; the Ybarrandos' house is very
beautiful and comfortable, but she preferred
the atmosphere at the Anstruther-Thomsons';
Mary Robinson seems quite jubilant about her
engagement despite everyone's
disappointment.
Will go to stay with the Stillmans in London;
will meet with two doctors to discuss Eugene's
illness; hopes to start for Itlay next week.
Her consultation with the doctors about
Eugene's illness was disappointing, as
Hughlings Jackson could not prescribe any
new medicine; thinks the Robinsons had better
allow Mary to marry Darmsteter, as they
couldn't prevent it anyway; intends to be back
in Italy by October 1.
Spent some time with James Darsteter and
thinks he'd be a suitable husband for Mary
Robinson despite his physical deformities;
Darmsteter himself promises the marriage will
be platonic, as neither he nor Mary is "fitted
for an ordinary marriage"; for Mary's sake,
hope the engagement can be made to appear as
normal as possible.
365
September
12, 1887
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
366
September
14, 1887
Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
367
September
18, 1887
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
368
September
20, 1887
Violet Paget (S. Martino, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
369
September
22, 1887
Violet Paget (S. Martino, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
370
September
24, 1887
Violet Paget (S. Martino, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
371
September
26, 1887
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
372
September
27, 1887
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
38
Is at the house of Pauline de Cargouet who is
"weak as water" so the children and the house
are in a wretched state; will leave on the 17th,
but her itinerary is uncertain; cannot
understand how Mary Robinson will be happy
with James Darmsteter as he is very dull,
unartistic and unliterary.
The London doctors think Eugene has a
nervous, rather than vaso-motor, malady; has
had a letter from Adele Alfieri, and will visit
her for two days; realizes her attitude towards
Mary Robinson's engagement vascillates, but
she only cares about Mary's "moral dignity,
which means her essential happiness"; feels
that her friendship with Mary has been hurt by
Mary's engagement; "I feel a wretched,
helpless idiot."
Met Mary Robinson in Paris; will travel to the
Alfieris' house tomorrow.
Feels she has done as much as she can to
persuade Mary Robinson to break her
engagement, but all in vain; arrived at Asti,
home of the Alfieris, and will stay there until
the 23rd.
She and Mary Robinson remain with the
Alfieris until the 24th when they travel to
Venice, via Milan; wants Kit AnstrutherThomson to have a copy of Eugene's poems.
Delayed departure for Venice until 25th so
that she can visit the house of Mme. Alfieri;
Mary Robinson is not very well, having
received so much opposition to her
engagement to Darmsteter; implores Eugene
to restrain himself and behave properly when
Mary and Darmsteter are in Florence.
Will remain in Venice while Mary Robinson
does her archival research, but only until
October 2nd; after that date, will go to
Florence.
Will arrive in Florence with Mary Robinson on
Oct. 2; thinks that as long as Mary and
Darmsteter's marriage remains platonic, and
no children are produced, it may be a
satisfactory, if unnatural, arrangement;
D'Annunzio, the publisher, is staying at their
hotel, and wants to meet Vernon Lee.
373
September
29, 1887
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence)
374
October 1,
1887
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
375
n.d. (1888)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
376
n.d. (1888)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
377
February 26,
1888
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
378
March 5,
1888
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
379
n.d. (March
10? 1888)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
380
April 20,
1888
Violet Paget (S. Terenzo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
381
April 23,
1888
Violet Paget (S. Terenzo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
382
n.d. (1888)
Violet Paget to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
383
n.d. (1888)
Violet Paget (S. Felice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
39
Darmsteter wrote to Mary Robinson assuring
her that he could have none other than a
platonic marriage; feels the situation "is all very
extraordinary and not very human" but "After
all one cannot make rules for exceptional
people"; found D'Annunzio a "Neapolitan";
includes (in Italian) "a memorandum about my
room"
Delays departure for Florence for one day so
that she and Mary Robinson can see Mme.
Pisani at Rovigo.
Is staying with the Gambas in Rome; with
Maria Gamba walked around the city which
she thought "all very small and provincial
looking compared to Florence."
Is glad to be away from Florence, "I am in such
a whirl that all this hideous business (Mary
Robinson's engagement to Darmsteter) seems
a dream"; was introduced to Donna Laura
Minghetti; has had invitations from the
Stillmans, Miss Hall and Mme. Pasolini.
Maria Gamba is making her stay there very
pleasant; spends a lot of time with Mme.
Pasolini, "far the most charming Italian I
know"; visited Marchesa Guerrieri Gonzaga.
Will return to Florence on the 9th; the
Gambas have been very kind to her, while her
English friends there are rather ignoring her;
Alice Callander may come to Florence in the
spring; dined at the Gonzagas, and spent two
evenings at Mme. Minghetti's; Pasolinis took
her to a Sistine Chapel; "the Pope in complete
toggery."
She and Donna Laura Minghetti thought of
sending a copy of "Belcaro" to Miss Hastrister,
the actress; when Kit Astruther-Thomson
visits, V.P. will keep her out of Eugene's way.
Is staying in a remote place by the sea, next
door to Shelley's Casa Magni, "the house of a
drowned man."
The weather has been so bad, they have not yet
been to Porto Venere, "the place I have come
to see," so the journey home is delayed.
Her health is not good, so will return to
Florence after seeing the Cinis at S. Marcello.
Is enjoying this quiet place, as "I am subject to
sudden fits of fatigue"; Baldwin (V.P.'s doctor)
"said I must make no efforts."
384
June 13, 1888
385
June 15, 1888
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
386
June 22, 1888
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
387
June 28, 1888
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
388
July 1, 1888
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
389
July 3, 1888
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
390
July 7, 1888
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
391
July 11, 1888
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
392
July 14, 1888
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
393
July 17, 1888
Violet Paget (Reading, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
394
July 21, 1888
Violet Paget (Effingham, England) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
395
July 25, 1888
Violet Paget (Effingham, England) to
Henry Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
40
Had a good journey, but very hot weather.
Is feeling much better due to the cooler
weather; spent yesterday at Ravenna.
Will leave Sunday night (24th) for Milan, then
on to Airolo and Paris, and England on July 1.
Will go to the Wolseleys when she arrives in
England; wants to go to Scotland immediately
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson who "takes care of
me in a hundred ways other people wouldn't."
Has managed the journey from Italy but found
Paris tiring and noisy; the doctors advise baths
for her health and Kit Anstruther-Thomson
wants her to go to Scotland very soon; read
that Edmund Gurney died from an overdose of
chloroform.
Is being sensible about her health, "I am really
doing nothing you would think silly"; received
Mary Robinson's new book of poetry.
Will see a doctor about her gout; the Russian
doctor says she will need 3 months to regain
her health.
Doctor in London told her "short of Norway
the east coast of Scotland is the best place I
could be in"; Mary Robinson is avoiding most
of her old friends; will stay with Kit
Anstruther-Thomson at Miss Mackenzie's
cottage in Effingham , then visit the Sargents
and the Fords before going to Scotland.
Is getting lots of rest there, although General
Wolseley "tires me only just less than
Pannier"; work is impossible as "I seem to live
in a half waking condition only"; feels her
health is too weak for a visit to the Austins';
went to see the Sligos near Guildford; all her
London friends, except Lady Duffy and Mary
Wakefield have been ignoring her.
Finds the Sargents' mill cottage there very
quiet and peaceful, "for the first time for
months I seem to feel well."
Is quite comfortable there at Miss Mackenzie's
cottage; she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson
leave for Scotland in a week.
Requests the "exact colours of the carriage
wheels" be sent to the India Rubber Tyre Co.;
her travel plans undecided because of the
illness of Kit Anstruther-Thomson's brother.
Is staying with Evelyn Wimbush until
tomorrow morning when she leaves for
Scotland with Kit Anstruther-Thomson; still
suffers sudden fatigue, "particularly after the
slightest mental effot"; Kit gave her an idea for
a ballad for Eugene; Kit and another woman
are founding a Consumer's League.
396
July 27, 1888
397
July 28, 1888
Violet Paget (N. Finchley, England)
to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca,
Italy)
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
398
August 2,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
399
August 6,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
400
August 8,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
401
August 12,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
402
August 13-14,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di
Lucca, Italy)
403
August 18,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
404
August 26,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
405
September 2,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
written in French
Is comfortable there but feels it will be months
before she'll be able to write again; an Austrian
woman has written for permission to translate
"Miss Brown."
Masson, the publisher, "proposes an AngloFrench publication of my 4 stories"; tomorrow
she begins her sea baths.
Encourages Eugene to send copies of his book
to Gosse, Browning and Mary Robinson; is
enclosing a note she received from Mary whom
she thinks is "trying to get patched up with me
while it is still time, before the thing is done";
will attempt to go sea bathing today.
Thinks the sea baths and walks are improving
her health; she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson
are usually alone there, so it is very quiet;
knows that she will have to slow down the pace
of her life unless she wants to become a
"permanent invalid."
Has not been writing often because of her
weak condition; will not allow Mary Robinson
to write anymore, as it would be a "dangerous
beginning for her married life."
Her life there is monotonous, "but it is a very
pleasant monotony"; her health is improving,
but "the intellectual damage seems the worse";
has begun to read a little.
Her first notice of Mary Robinson's marriage
was through Mrs. Sargent's letter her mother
forwarded.
Has had a relapse, and has resumed taking "Dr.
Hutchinson's tonic"; Kit AnstrutherThomson's brother and aunt have visited;
wants Eugene to send copies of his new book
to Mary Robinson and Kit.
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Is hesitant about accepting Miss Wimbush's
invitation to travel at her expense; her health
has not improved and she knows she will not
be able to spend the winter in Florence, but
406
September
12, 1888
41
alternative plans all confused.
407
September
17, 1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
408
September
20, 1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
409
September
27, 1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
410
September
28, 1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
411
October 2,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
412
October 7,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
413
October 9,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
414
October 15,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
416
October 20,
1888
October 25,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
417
October 28,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
415
42
Refuses her mother's offer to send a check; will
not allow Kit Anstruther-Thomson to sacrifice
her painting all winter; dreads returning to
Florence because it is so busy and noisy.
Is returning her mother's check, as she has
plenty of money; will accept Miss Wimbush's
offer to take her South in the winter; is
recovering from her relapse.
Is angry there has been such a mixup about her
accepting Miss Wimbush's offer to pay her way
south; feels that accepting, then declining the
offer, is unfair to Miss Wimbush; insists her
reason for not wanting to return to Florence is
not that she has "disagreeable associations"
there; would prefer to go to Sicily or Tangier
rather than Egypt.
Apologises for the angry letter she sent
yesterday; thinks Tangiers would be the best
place for her to visit.
Suggest various towns outside of Florence
where they might move to escape the city;
thinks Miss Levy would serve as a good reader
for Eugene; Kit Anstruther-Thomson is
teaching her to ride.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson have been
spending time with the Fergusons, "he a
Gladstone M.P."
Suggests the problem with the new carriage
wheels is "due to some defect in balancing"
Likes his new book of sonnets "immensely,"
but fears there is too much crammed into it;
she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson will stay on a
farm for 3-4 days; has hired a pony to learn to
ride.
Expects to sail for Tangiers on November 29.
Is sure she won't be able to travel sooner than
in 6 weeks.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson will stay
with a Lady Campbell in Glasgow and a Miss
Taylor in Northumberland before going to
London; will stay with the Stillmans until her
boat sails; is progressing well with her riding;
no publisher will take her four stories.
418
November 1,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
419
November 5,
1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
420
November
12, 1888
Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
421
November
16, 1888
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
422
November
17, 1888
Violet Paget (Kent, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will go directly to London in two days.
Will give up plans to go to Tangiers, "altho I
hear from people just returned that all ground
of alarm is limited to the interior of the
country"; will go to Gibraltar, and possibly
Granada and Corfu.
Is staying with the Austins until the 19th as
London was too noisy; the Lemons came to
visit; Mrs. Robinson is still very upset by
Mary's marriage; has heard that there is not
danger at Tangiers, "so eventually I hope we
may go."
423
November
22, 1888
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Spent yesterday at Oxford; will sail tomorrow
for Gibraltar.
424
November
23, 1888
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
425
November
25, 1888
Violet Paget (off the coast of
Portugal) to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
If she can't stay in Spain, would rather go to
Sicily than Algiers.
The voyage is very rough, but she is not too ill;
her strength is improving, "but I feel I shall
never be as before, with regard to my head";
Miss Wimbush is miserably sick.
426
November
27, 1888
Violet Paget (Gibraltar, UK) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
428
November
28-29, 1888
December 1,
1888
Violet Paget (Gibraltar, UK) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
429
December 4,
1888
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
December 7,
1888
December 12,
1888
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Bella Duffy (Florence, Italy?)
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
427
430
431
43
Must sail on the 22nd rather than the 29th;
needs a check for 50 pounds.
Will travel to Tangiers then to Spain with
Evelyn Wimbush; she and Kit AnstrutherThomson will leave Charleton at the end of
the week, going to Edinburgh and
Norhtumberland.
Just arrived.
She and Miss Wimbush will cross over to
Tangiers tomorrow, as it is quite safe; hired a
horse and rode through "several Spanish
villages, sort of horrible dust heaps"; 29th: will
leave at noon for Tangiers.
She and Miss Wimbush are perfectly safe
there; has hired a horse to tour on.
Is quite comfortable there; will try bathing as
the weather is very warm.
Tangier is wonderful, but "without the
something intimate, the soul, which a
picturesque European town possesses"; the
only industrious people there are the Jews;
misses Scotland and Florence, "I hope this
amusing evil may soon be at an end."
Takes Spanish lessons from a Jew there; will go
to see the Spanish theatre with Perdikaris;
finds it rather dull there.
432
December 19,
1888
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
433
December 23,
1888
Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
434
December 26,
1888
Violet Paget ("on the steamer in the
Strait") to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
435
December 28,
1888
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
436
January 2,
1889
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
437
January 5,
1889
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
438
January 8,
1889
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
439
January 8,
1889
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
440
January 12,
1889
Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
441
January 13,
1889
Violet Paget (Seville, Spain) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
442
January 22,
1889
Violet Paget (Gibraltar, UK) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
January 26,
1889
Violet Paget (on board the S.S.
Iberia) to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
443
44
Finds it difficult to move around there; went to
see a Moorish woman: "like a Madonna in gala
dress"; going now to see "snake charmers."
Is feeling much better, but "this sort of life is
wearying me"; may return to Florence in a
month.
Travelling to Malaga, as Tangier was too hard
to move around in; found Evelyn Wimbush a
dull companion; will travel in Spain before
sailing for Naples; is concerned about the
future, "as it seems more than ever difficult to
make money."
Had a smooth journey from Tangiers which
didn't hurt her health.
Is very depressed there because "the place and
life are fearfully dull"; it is impossible to go
riding and the people are "hideous, stupid and
intolerably rude"; will leave for Naples on the
23rd.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson will return to
Scotland from Paris at the end of the month
but V.P.? will go to Florence as soon as her
personal affairs are settled.
Has a ballad subject for Eugene about a
Moorish woman; will stay for two weeks at
Naples or Capri with Evelyn Wimbush.
Has translated the story of Catalina de Arrogo;
has an idea for a ghost story called "The Virgin
of the Daggers" about Granada; relates, in
some detail, the Moorish history of that place;
will leave Gibraltar on the 23rd.
Will leave tomorrow for Seville; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson is not going to Scotland;
Miss Mackenzie wil be in Florence.
Arrived there after an 11-hour journey; "this is
a very pretty cheerful town and quite
picturesque."
Will leave tonight on the S.S. Iberia for
Naples.
Will stay in Rome and Naples only for a short
time as she is anxious to get back to Florence;
her health again is bad, "I have been unwellish
a long time….this illness has been a great
lesson to me not to strain after the impossible,
but to do what lies at hand"; wants her friends
to know that she is "quite unfit to resume
ordinary life."
Will stay with Maria Pasoline when she goes to
Rome; likes Naples very much, "this place is so
cheerful after Spain."
Just received a letter from Eugene sent on the
6th of December, telling her how bad his
health is; not having had this letter earlier, she
never understood how bad his condition was.
Is very upset that her mother does not seem to
understnd how fragile her health is; insists, "I
shall in future, if my life and work are of any
value, have requirements as distinct and
necessary as a ground floor and carriage are to
Eugene."
Will stay in Rome with Maria Pasolini until
the 15th; went to hear Orfeo, "beautifully
given by a German woman."
Asks her mother to send Kit AnstrutherThomson an invitation to stay with them in
Florence; went to Orpheus a second time;
Pasolinis will lend her their groom so she will
be able to ride.
444
January 27,
1889
Violet Paget (Naples, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
445
January 28,
1889
Violet Paget (Naples, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
446
January 29,
1889
Violet Paget (Naples, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
447
February 6,
1889
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
448
February 7,
1889
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
449
July 10, 1889
Violet Paget (S. Marcello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
450
July 18, 1889
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
451
July 20, 1889
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
452
July 24, 1889
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
453
July 27, 1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
454
July 28, 1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will leave for Coccolia tonight, has enjoyed
her stay there.
Had a good journey from France; glad to see
Mrs. Stillman, "but much depressed by
London"; will go to the Sargents' on the 25th.
Went to a doctor about her hurt arm; "I am
much discouraged aobut the Stuarts; there
seems no demand for them at all"
Hurt her arm falling down some steps; will stay
with the Stillmans until Friday (26th), then go
to the Sargents'
Arrived there at Sargents' yesterday; the city
was bad for her health; saw Ben Castillo, "not a
bit changed"; dined with Alice Callander,
"quite broken by death of brother and bad
health"; "Princess Penelope" "not publishable
at present."
There has been much confusion about cashing
her check; feels better in the country than she
did in London.
455
August 5,
1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Hopes to be able to remain there for a week or
ten days.
45
456
August 10,
1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
457
August 16,
1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
At the end of the week will go with Evelyn
Pickering to Yorkshire.
Will leave for Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire, Aug.
20; Kit Anstruther-Thomson has been ill,
"very weak and worn out generally."
Left the Sargents' at Fladbury last night; will
make arrangements to have sea baths there;
"Have suffered terribly from nervous
depression of late, said to be a symptom of
getting better!"
Is changing lodgings to Ilkley; began sea baths;
Kit Anstruther-Thomson will join her and
Evelyn Pickering next week.
Evelyn Pickering "insisted on Kit AnstrutherThomson and me being her guests here for a
fortnight and took this cottage"; her health is
bad again, "this odious discomfort and the
worry and fatigue have rather pulled me
down."
Sea baths have been helping her health
somewhat; John Sargent decided to paint Kit
Anstruther-Thomson, so she'll be delayed in
getting to Ilkley; wishes she were getting
hydropathy, "The Dr. here seems very
backward, and is a disagreeable cuss."
Kit Anstruther-Thomson and Vi (?) will arrive
tonight; baths and air are helping her health;
wrote Spanish story for "New Review."
Health is improving due to sea baths and the
air there; Kit Anstruther-Thomson arrived
with Vi (?); "Alfieri has an article in the "19th
Century!!!"
458
August 21,
1889
459
August 23,
1889
Violet Paget (Ben Rhydding,
Yorkshire) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ben Rhydding,
Yorkshire) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
460
August 24,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
461
August 28,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
462
August 30,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
463
September 3,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
464
September 5,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
465
September 8,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
466
September
11, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will bring Miss Levy with her to Florence to
see Eugene; will return to Italy in November
Will leave London October 15th with the
Childers to return to Italy; Miss Levy can't go
with her to Florence.
Evelyn Wimbush left two days ago, but Vi (?)
still remains with her and Kit AnstrutherThomson there.
469
September
14, 1889
September
18, 1889
September
18, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Would Eugene rather have Alice Abadam or
Lisa Stillman stay with them in Florence?
Vi (?) left yesterday; is having difficulty finding
someone to go to Florence with her.
Amy Levy died last week, "and had her novel
cremated with her."
470
September
23, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Fears Masson may be giving up his magazine,
"a great loss for me"; Emily Ford has visited.
467
468
46
471
September
24, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
472
September
26, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
474
September
28, 1889
September
30, 1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
475
October 1,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
476
October 2,
1889
Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
477
October 5,
1889
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
478
October 8,
1889
Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
479
October 12,
1889
Violet Paget (Fladbury, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
481
October 14,
1889
October 16,
1889
Violet Paget (Fladbury, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Fladbury, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
482
October 18,
1889
Violet Paget (Fladbury, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
483
October 22,
1889
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
484
October 25,
1889
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
473
480
47
Insists her mother needn't have Alice Abadam
unless she really wants her to visit.
Has been reading Fere and Binet's book on
Animal Magnetism and thinks hypnotism
should be tried on Eugene; will stay with the
Fords at Adel Grange for two days, then go to
the Sargents; proposes bringing Miss
Mackenzie back to Venice with her.
Asks to have Elliot Stock send copies of
Eugene's book to the Sargents.
Wants the size of the coachman's glove; "much
of my time and money this winter will have to
go at the Dentist's!"
Is willing to see the doctor in Paris about
Eugene; Miss Mackenzie will go to Florence
with her.
Has been staying with the Fords since
yesterday and today goes to the Sargents'; is
happy to be travelling to Florence with Miss
Mackenzie as the Childers "couldn't look after
me"; Mary Darmsteter (Mary Robinson) wrote
saying she wanted to resume their friendship,
"the letter doesn't seem to me very sincere."
Will see Dr. Luys about "his machine," as
Eugene shouldn't try hypnosis without a
doctor; will arrive in Florence on the 21st.
Explains itinerary; will arrive in Florence on
21st.
Dr. Luys will show her "his machine," but says
he's never heard of a case like Eugene's; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson would like to go to
Florence in February; has learned that Amy
Levy committed suicide, being "on the verge of
a terrible and loathsome form of madness";
Miss Mackenzie is ill, so she may have to travel
to Florence alone.
Doctor says Miss Mackenzie will be well
enough to travel by next week.
Will wait until the 24th for Miss Mackenzie to
get well, otherwise, she will travel to Florence
alone; goes to the Paters until the 24th.
Is at the Paters' until the 24th, when she leaves
for Florence with Miss Mackenzie.
Has seen Dr. Luys with his hypnotism
machine; Mary (Robinson) Darmsteter will
arrive in Florence on the 27th.
485
January 18,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
486
January 21,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
487
January 22,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
488
January 27,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
489
January 31,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
490
February 4,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
491
February 5,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
492
February 10,
1890
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
493
July 22, 1890
Violet Paget (Panzano, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
494
July 23, 1890
495
Had a good journey; "M. P. (Maria Pasolini)
met me in evening clothes between two
parties!"
July 26, 1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Olive Thomson will return to Florence with
her; is enjoying herself very much there.
Spends her time with Maria Pasolini and the
Stillmans; took a drive in the Campagna; met
Boughe at Princess Venosa's.
Has been driving with Duckworth in the
Campagna; went to the French Academy; R.
Ferguson and Lady Helen called.
Will stay in Rome for another week; has seen
the Stillmans, the Martinis, and Princess
Venosa.
Thinks "Michael Field's" criticism of Eugene's
poems is absurd; Princess Venosa has
interesting dinner parties; will return to
Florence on the 9th.
Can't return to Florence before the 12th or
13th; spent yesterday at Anagni, "a curious
mountain town."
Has decided to return to Florence with Olive
Anstruther-Thomson on the 13th; will ask
Evelyn to lunch on Friday (14th); lunched at
Donna Laura Minghetti's, then went to the
Duchess Grazioli's.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson are very
comfortable there, in a "delightful farmhouse,
with such kind people."
Arrived there safely with Kit AnstrutherThomson from Panzano; the people at
Panzano were very kind.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson's health is better;
weather has been unseasonably cold.
496
July 30, 1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is able to take nice drives there, but "I have a
little of Kit's neuralgic complaint now."
497
August 1,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
498
August 7,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
499
August 10,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
"I am so vexed about Cecconi and wrote off to
him at once."
Bourget has married a "Catholic jeune
personne"; Lord Wolseley is given a command
in Ireland.
Her health has been bad again; Quilter, editor
of the "Universal Review," wanted articles
from her, but wouldn't accept the fiction she
offered; the races will be on the 16th and 17th;
will begin a week-long tour of Italy on the
18th.
48
Her health is not good: "I fear I am in for a
little relapse, getting weaker and some of my
old symptoms I had in Spain"; will try to get
hydropathic treatment in Piedmont.
500
August 12,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
501
August 13,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
502
August 14,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
503
August 17,
1890
Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
504
August 19,
1890
Violet Paget (S. Ginugnano, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Plans for travel are still vague because of her
health; is angry that Eugene wrote Cecconi "a
stinger--after all, he was not solely to blame."
Is concerned that Kit Anstruther-Thomson
insists upon paying her own way when they
travel together; thinks she (V.P.) ought to pay
for both of them, "as she (Kit) is necessary to
my getting about at all" and Kit has very little
money; has fallen into a relapse "due to writing
and generally doing too much"; the
"Contemporary" and "Fortnightly" want
articles but she can't write.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson insists on
accompanying her to the hydropathic and
paying her own way; the "Contemporary"'s
acceptance of her manuscript of "A Worldly
Woman" is unexpected; has been attending the
horse races there for three days; tomorrow will
begin their trip through Italy.
Stayed here for one night, will move on to
Volterra; will have a hydropathic treatment in
the Appenines, as it isn't too far away; met
Mrs. Jack Gardener at Mme. Chigi's.
505
August 20,
1890
Violet Paget (Volterra, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay in this "strange Etruscan place"
overnight, to rest the pony.
506
August 22,
1890
Violet Paget (Pontedera, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
507
August 23,
1890
Violet Paget (Lucca, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
508
August 24,
1890
Violet Paget (Lucca, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
509
August 28,
1890
Violet Paget (S. Marcello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
August 30,
1890
September 1,
1890
Violet Paget (Prataccio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Prataccio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay here "in this manufacturing hole"
overnight before going on to Lucca.
Has given up going to the hydropathic as it
would be a long journey; will take a cottage
near Abetone and have sea baths at Venice.
Will arrive at S. Marcello tomorrow morning,
where they will have rooms; Bunting (ed. Of
"Contemporary Review") has sent her 20
pounds.
Elena French has taken a house for her and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson 2 hours from S.
Marcello.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson are
comfortable there, but it is quite cold; will
leave Thursday (Sept. 4th) for Bologna or
Modena.
Wonders if she should return to Florence, as
Eugene's health is so bad.
510
511
49
512
September 4,
1890
Violet Paget (Piteglio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
513
September
14, 1890
Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
514
September
16, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
515
September
18, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
516
September
20, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
517
September
21, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
518
September
21, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
519
September
25, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
520
September
26, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
521
September
30, 1890
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
522
October 3,
1890
Violent Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
523
October 6,
1890
Violent Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
524
October 8,
1890
Violent Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
50
Asks her mother to send tea and soup tablets,
"we find them a great resource in this
wilderness."
The Pasolinis are taking care of their pony, and
tomorrow they leave for Venice; read an article
on Mary Darmsteter and wonders "how Mary
can endure such a piece of impertinence…she
must have utterly ceased to be an
Englishwoman."
Is staying with Kit Anstruther-Thomson in
nice, inexpensive lodgings; does not
understand how Mary Darmsteter could like
the article that was written about her, but "she
had got strangely avid of even the most
fulsome and impertinent personal flattery";
suggests Eugene take Clementina Black as a
secretary for a month.
Has begun to take sea baths.
Is taking sea baths and swimming lessons;
Claude Phillips and Schuster took her and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson rowing; Kit is very weak
with constant cold and fatigue.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson will go to
stay with Mrs. Bronson at Asolo after October
7th.
Will stay an extra week in Venice, with the
money her mother sent as a birthday present; is
very worried about Kit Anstruther-Thomson's
health and fears consumption.
Is "horrified" about Bergust's accident; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson's health is a little
improved; will lunch with Mr. Peto.
Have had invitations from Css. Marcello and
Mme. Pisani; Symonds is expected to move in
next door.
Thinks the Curtises' lack of hospitality due to
"the V. business, or with that story 'Two
Novels.'"
Thinks Miss Black would be "immensely
grateful" to be able to stay with them in
Florence.
As Mrs. Bronson is ill, the trip to Asolo must
begiven up; she and Kit Anstruther will go to
Ravenna to await Maria Pasolini's return from
Paris.
October 9,
1890
October 11,
1890
Violent Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
528
October 14,
1890
October 18,
1890
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson are staying
in the Pasolini's house there; encourages
Eugene to take Clementina Black as a
temporary secretary; is very concerned about
Kit's ill health; thinks "someone at Venice has
been making mischief against me" as people
are being barely civil.
They are very comfortable in the Pasolini's
house there, and are living cheaply.
"This is my birthday, so I must write to thank
for having been brought into a world which is
most often tolerable and occasionally good";
will lunch with the Gambas.
Gives instructions about matting and
carpeting.
529
October 19,
1890
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Asks to have winter clothes sent to her.
530
October 21,
1890
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
531
October 24,
1890
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
532
October 26,
1890
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
533
October 28,
1890
Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
534
November 1,
1890
Violet Paget (Rubbiera, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
535
November 3,
1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
On their way to the Spallettis'; is trying to sell
her pony.
Was sick with a "very bad chill," but hopes to
travel to Coccolia tomorrow; is expecting a
check from the "Contemporary."
Cannot buy a new horse until she sells the one
she has; was very sick for one day at the
Spallettis'; the "Contemporary" published, in
two installments, her story "A Wordly
Woman," "which I hope you will do me the
honour to read."
536
November 5,
1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
May have a buyer for her horse.
537
November 8,
1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is taking quinine for her cold and chills.
525
526
527
51
Is trying to find a different pony; may go to the
Spallettis'.
Thanks her mother for having sent the winter
clothes, as it is so cold there; Maria Pasolini
will arrive in Coccolia in a week; will go with
Kit Anstruther-Thomson to the Spallettis' for
4 days; Mary Darmsteter continues to write to
her, despite her pleas that she stop; includes an
extract from one of Mary's letters about
Eugene's poetry.
Goes tomorrow to Spallettis'; will be at
Coccolia on the 30th; will try to see Dr. Murri
at Bologna about her diet.
Buntin, editor of the "Contemporary Review,"
has raised her pay only insignificantly; is
"restless to get home and settled to my work";
has had an invitation from Mme. Gordigiani to
stay her villa.
Walter Scott, proprietor of the "Art Journal,"
returned some of Kit Anstruther-Thomson's
drawings; as production of the "Art Journal"
has ceased, there seems no chance that Eugene
will be paid for the sonnets he sent them; can't
sell her horse as it has a cold; will go home as
soon as the horse is sent over the Appenines.
538
November 9,
1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
539
November
12, 1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
540
Novembe 17,
1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
542
November
18, 1890
November
21, 1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
543
November
23, 1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
544
November
24, 1890
Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Wants to leave by the 21st.
Has been asked for an article by the "New
Review"; although she has been cured of her
"cerebral weakness," has discovered that her
digestion is "quite ruined"; insists that once she
returns to Florence she be allowed to order
and prepare her own food.
Will return to Florence soon, after spending a
few days with Mrs. French at Pistoia.
Dr. Murri told her she suffers from "nervous
dyspepsia," which requires the "greatest care
and humouring"; the doctor has prescribed a
nerve tonic and a dilution of hydrochloric acid;
hopes to be back in Florence on the 28th, after
having spent 3 days with Mrs. French.
Will not be able to see Mrs. French, as she is
still at S. Marcello; she and Kit AnstrutherThomson will arrive in Florence tomorrow.
545
March 5,
1891
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
"This is a most lovely place"; Kit AnstrutherThomson leaves in the afternoon.
546
March 5,
1891
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
547
March 10,
1891
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
548
June 24, 1891
549
June 25, 1891
Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
550
June 27, 1891
Violet Paget (Rubbiera, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Alice "accepts with joy and gratitude"; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson has just left.
Had lunch with Maria Pasolini's sister-in-law;
yesterday drove into Genoa; will return to
Florence on 14th.
The Gambas saw her off at Florence; travelled
part of the way with the Magneders and
Gennaro Placci; will see the doctor in Bologna
tomorrow.
Will go to the Spallettis' tomorrow; visited
Modena.
Will stay here one day before moving on to
Milan where she will be met by Donna Laura
Gropallo; didn't see Dr. Murri.
541
52
551
June 28, 1891
Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
552
July 2, 1891
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
553
July 4, 1891
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
554
July 7, 1891
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
555
July 9, 1891
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
556
July 11, 1891
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
557
July 14, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
558
July 16, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
559
July 18, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
560
July 20, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
561
July 25, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
July 28, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
562
53
Was met at the station by Laura Gropallo; will
lunch with a friend of Placci tomorrow;
received a letter from Mary Darmsteter.
Will number the sentences in her letters so as
to "give the news in small numbered particles
to Eugene"; visited the Sargents; John Sargent
took her to the new Salon; Panniers invited her
to dinner; went to see Mary Darmsteter at her
home with Carlo Placci; found Mary
"tremendously changed...apparently no interest
beyond herself"; will go to the Paters' upon
arrival in England.
Will stay with the Paters until the 10th or
11th; "I hate this black hideous place and wish
I were back in Italy."
Harris, editor of the "Fortnightly", wants her
to do criticism of his articles; called on the
Robinsons.
Is going to stay with Kit Anstruther-Thomson;
will lunch with Miss Ferguson; has seen only
the Robinsons and Mrs. Barstow; "it's a bad
business about poor little Mar=t C=den."
Went to hear the socialists at Morris' house at
Hammersmith; Miss Arnold, Miss Wakefield,
and Miss Black all called.
Maitland wants to see her; lunched with Sir
Charles Newton, "rapidly dying, but
charming"; Dorothy Blomfield likes Eugene's
play; may go to the Austins'.
Hamilton Aïdé called; lunched with Miss
Wakefield; has sent Unwin mss. of three
stories; confusion over how much money she
will receive from "Fortnightly" for her article.
Called on Lady Wolseley; Kit AnstrutherThomson's brother called; has seen much of
the Fergusons; Miss Black brought "Champion
the socialist" to meet her.
Will not accept only 20 from Unwin for her
stories; is going to a polo match; sees "a good
deal" of the Fergusons.
Is sending her stories to Balesten, "without
much hope"; Miss Ferguson took her to see
Lucas Malet; will go to the Austins' for 3 or 4
days.
563
July 30, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
564
August 1,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
August 7,
1891
August 8,
1891
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
568
August 11,
1891
August 13,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Ascot, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
569
August 15,
1891
Violet Paget (Ascot, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
570
August 18,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
571
August 22,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
572
August 25,
1891
Violet Paget (Guildford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
573
August 28,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
574
September 3,
1891
Violet Paget (Crarae, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
575
September 7,
1891
Violet Paget (Inverary, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
576
September 8,
1891
Violet Paget (Crarae, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
565
566
567
54
Went to Mrs. Graham Thomson's party-"such scrubs!"; "Baldwin" and "Juvenilia"
"virtually out of print"; first half of "Pictor
Sacrilegus" out in the "Contemporary"; will
dine with the Paters.
Is dissatisfied with her book sales, "I am
decidedly an unsuccessful author, well known
but not read."
Is staying with the Austins until the 10th; "have
been very low in health and spirits"; will visit
Hamilton Aïdé at Ascot.
Asks her mother to get a copy of "Fantasia" for
Alfred Austin.
Unwin wants to get back the rights to
"Juvenilia"; "Contemporary" has paid £28.10
for first half of "Pictor Sacrilegus"; will see
Mary Darmsteter for a day in London.
Has had a pleasant stay with Aïdé; her last
book of stories was a loss to Heinemann.
Will stay with Lady Campbell from the 4th to
the 11th of September; with Kit AnstrutherThomson will visit various friends in England;
requests fruit, flowers, and wine be sent to the
Paters from Florence.
Will visit some of Kit Anstruther-Thomson's
relatives; Emily Ford called; went to the
Museum with Eugénie Sellers, "like her so
much."
Has been staying there for 2 days; will go to
Maidenhead, then London, then Chelmsford,
before leaving Scotland.
Leaves today to stay in Chelmsford until
September 1, visiting Kit AnstrutherThomson's brother.
Of an article in the "Review", "these English
have no more imagination than pint pots."
Will be at Assynt for a week; wants to go to
London for a while "to see a few people,
particularly Buddhists with a view to a story";
Miss Little will stay with them in Florence at
Christmas; Kit Anstruther-Thomson also
wants to go to Florence at that time.
577
September
10, 1891
Violet Paget (Crarae, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
578
September
12, 1891
Violet Paget ("Steamer on
Caledonian Canal," Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
579
September
14, 1891
Violet Paget (Assynt, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
580
September
17, 1891
Violet Paget (Assynt, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
581
September
19, 1891
Violet Paget (Assynt, Scotland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
582
September
22, 1891
Violet Paget (Corstophine, Scotland)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
583
September
25, 1891
Violet Paget (Chipchase Castle,
England) to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
584
September
27, 1891
Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
585
September
29, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
586
October 2,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
587
October 4,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
588
Octobert 6,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
55
Will be at Assynt for a week, then will stay
with Mrs. Taylor near Newcastle, before going
to Emily Ford's near Leeds; Mrs. Graham
Thomson "handsome certainly but rather
Athenaeumy."
Stayed last night at Oban with Kit AnstrutherThomson; will arrive at Inverness, then take
train to the Fergusons'; will meet Kit at the
Fords' on 21st.
Arrived there on the 12th, after a long journey;
may go to Edinburgh with Mme. Cantagelli's
sister; will visit Mrs. Taylor at Newcastle.
Will go to the Tods' at Edinburgh for 2 days
then to Mona Taylor in Northumberland; will
be back in Florence by November 15; went to
pony races in Inverness.
Will visit Mme. Cantagelli's sister at
Edinburgh, then join Kit Antruther-Thomson
at the Fords'; will see Mrs. Graham Thomson
and Mrs. Webster when she is in London; may
visit with Kit, Miss Mackenzie.
Is staying with Miss Tod outside Edinburgh;
will meet Kit Anstruther-Thomson in Leeds in
2 days.
Will stay here with Mrs. Taylor for a day
before going to the Fords'; saw the Forth
Bridge at Edinburgh, "a marvelous and very
beautiful monument."
Found Chipchase Castle "delightful"; will see if
she can stay with the Creightons on her way
south; will be in Chelsea by the 30th.
Henry James called and said "he is going in
deliberately for playwriting"; will see a
dramatization of "The American"; her health is
very good.
Went to see a dratization of Henry James's
"American", "a great deal seems to me
unnecessary concession to a vulgar public";
Olive Thomson is very anxious to go to Italy.
Went to see the Daly Company "considered
the best comedians in English. So vulgar and
lachrymose."
"Poor little Margaret C-n Cobden is dead";
visited Mrs. Clifford whose "literary house
strikes me as more odious than ever"; "I am in
search of Buddhists and spiritualists for a
story."
Bad health may necessitate an early return to
Florence; Mrs. Graham Thomson and Mrs.
Webster are both away from London; before
she died, Margaret Cobden "had lost her mind
utterly"; will see some Theosophists in the
evening.
Her health is much better; "Half the edition of
'Hauntings' was burnt accidentally. A new
cheap one will come out."
Would like to ask Mrs. Ward's sister to come
to Florence; "on better acquaintance I like
Miss Sellers very much."
Spoke to the Travellers' Club at a dinner at
Toynbee Hall; will visit Lady Archie Campbell
at Coombe; "Nineteenth Century" returned
one article, but asks for another.
589
October 8,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
590
October 9,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
591
October 11,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
592
October 14,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
593
October 15,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
594
October 17,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Dined with Mrs. Barstow.
Mlle. De Bury called, "very much Melegan
type, sentimental, elderly, but slatternly!!!";
dined with the Dunhams.
Mrs. Mahomed took them to see some schools
in the East End; "Contemporary" took her
article which "Nineteenth Century" rejected.
595
October 22,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
596
October 23,
1891
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
597
October 25,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
598
October 28,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
599
October 31,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
600
November 2,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
602
November 5,
1891
November 7,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay overnight with Miss Mackenzie.
Visited the Stephens and Mrs. Clifford; would
like to invite Miss Sellers to come to Florence
in May.
Lunched at Coombe with Lady Archie
Campbell; Robinsons have asked her and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson to dinner; may go to stay
with Kit's cousins at Norfolk.
Olive Thomson will arrive in Florence
November 4; will attend Miss Sellers' lecture
at the British Museum; will see the Paters and
lunch with Sir Charles Newton.
Is tempted to return to Florence, but thinks
she had better stay in London and see a few
people; called on the Garnetts.
Mrs. Taylor is taking her and Kit AnstrutherThomson to see "As You Like It"; has been to
Miss Sellers' lectures at the British Museum;
may write about Greek sculpture.
Saw the production of "The American" again,
"Didn't like it this time."
603
November 9,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is considering lecturing as "a mode of
influence and money making"; went to a dull
601
56
dinner at Raffalovich's.
604
November
11, 1891
Violet Paget (Thetford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
605
November
14, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
606
November
16, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
607
November
18, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
608
November
21, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
609
November
22, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
610
November
29, 1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
613
n.d. (1891)
December 1,
1891
December 3,
1891
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
614
December 5,
1891
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
615
December 7,
1891
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
January 15,
1892
April 12,
1892
April 14,
1892
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson
Violet Paget (Orvieto, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
611
612
616
617
618
57
Will stop at Cambridge on her way back to
London on the 13th; Miss Gladstone and Fred
Myers are both out of town.
Visited Sir Charles Newton; will lecture the
"Toynbees" on the 20th.
The University Extension wants her to begin
lecturing at once; may lecture on "Greek art as
a standard of all art."
Will give her "Toynbee lecture" on the 20th;
will return to Florence immediately, "if you
want me."
Her lecture at Toynbee went well.
Will come to Florence very soon; found that
the lecturing season is 20 October to Easter,
which would be hard for her to arrange.
Will leave for Florence Dec. 2, stopping at
Paris and Nervi; will try lecturing in Rome at
Easter.
Has been Bella Duffy only twice; will go with
Kit Anstruther-Thomson to the Ranee at
Wimbleton.
Leaves for Florence tomorrow.
Lunched with Mme. Blanc and had tea with
Mary Darmsteter; leaves tonight for Nervi.
Is tired and would like to remain there until
the 7th or 8th.
Will arrive in Florence on 9th.
"The Fenzi business has been much worse than
the worst anticipations," involving
"bankruptcy, complicated with fraudulant
affairs"; Nina Barstow implores her to give up
her idea of lecturing; feels about lecturing,
though, that "if it's worthwhile writing for
shoddies, it's also worthwhile lecturing"; asks
Kit to "nail Miss Sellers" on the subject; Miss
Duffy warns her that essay writing "was only
journalism after all."
Has enjoyed seeing things there; leaves for
Rome today.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson were met at
the station there by Maria Pasolini.
620
April 28,
1892
April 28,
1892
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
621
June 16, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
622
June 17, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
623
June 19, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
624
June 21, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
625
June 22, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
626
June 24, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
627
June 26, 1892
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
628
June 28, 1892
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
629
June 30, 1892
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
630
July 2, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
631
July 5, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
632
July 7, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
619
58
Spent 1/2 day at Frascati; dined with the
Bourgets; will return to Florence May 7.
Will start her journey as planned.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson dined with
Vitteria Cima, Placci's friend; "Pratesi called,
much aged"; will call on Mary Darmsteter and
the Panniers.
Called on Mary Darmsteter and found Miss
Poynter staying there; will meet Gaston Paris
at at Mary's tomorrow; called on Mlle. Read.
Called on Mme. de Bury, "infinitely untidy and
poor, but very genial and enthusiastic";
lunched with Mary Darmsteter, "won't again";
Mason called.
Went to see Mr. Müntz, Directeur des Beaux
Arts; visited Mme. de Montibello; dined with
Placci's sister.
Will go to the Paters' on the 27th; dined with
the Panniers and "Mary [Darmsteter] became
sore subject."
Mme. de Montibello "proved delightful";
Knowles, ed. of "Nineteenth Century" sent a
check for only £12, which she assumes was for
someone else.
Received letter from Knowles (ed. of
"Nineteenth Century") with new check; Violet
Desmond had a baby girl; will call on Burgs
and Mary Darmsteter; leaves tomorrow.
Will lunch with Miss Dunham to see John
Sargent and Placci; "England uninviting,
cannot conceive why I've come!"
Lunched with Mrs. Taylor and Miss Ferguson;
saw Bella Duffy and Mrs. Lang; has been
invited by Mrs. Creighton; called on the
Robinsons.
Will lunch with Mr. Watts today, tomorrow
with Bella Duffy; on 4th will go to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson's.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson's health is no better;
"I am awfully feeble and depressed with the
usual London depression;" will lunch with the
Fergusons.
Has left cards with the Wards and Gosses;
"everyone engaged in elections, small liberal
majority expected"; is studying at National
Gallery.
Visited Bunting; dined with Miss Dunham; will
go with Mrs. Ward for an afternoon in the
country; will lunch at Cyril Flowers'.
Swelling in her leg, for which she saw "the
Russian Doctoress in Paris," is better; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson's brother Arthur visited;
would like to ask Arthur to stay with them in
Florence at Christmas; visited Mrs. Clifford:
"how grimy and grubby and literary!"
Had to see a doctor about her swollen eye; will
go to Miss Mackenzie's for a few days; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson "very seriously run
down."
Will go to Miss Mackenzie's for a week,
leaving Kit Anstruther-Thomson alone in
London.
Leaves today for Miss Mackenzie's; will try to
go to Venice on the way back to Florence;
dined with the Fergusons.
633
July 9, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
634
July 11, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
635
July 13, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
636
July 16, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
637
July 18, 1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
638
July 19, 1892
Violet Paget (Ranmore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
639
July 22, 1892
Violet Paget (Ranmore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is very comfortable there with Miss
Mackenzie; will stay a week or 10 days.
May go to Scotland in August, "if London
knocks me up again"; Will go see Aide at Ascot
for a few days.
640
July 25, 1892
Violet Paget (Ranmore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Has resumed writing; may stay with some
Americans at Losely Hall for the weekend
641
July 28, 1892
Violet Paget (Ranmore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will return to Kit Anstruther-Thomson in
London as she is very ill.
642
July 30, 1892
Violet Paget (Ranmore, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
643
August 1,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
644
August 2,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Returns to London today; may stay with Aide
for a few days.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson very ill, but "insists
on going to Psychological Congress today!";
will begin study of Greek sculpture; visited St.
Paul's.
Is attending the Psychological Congress
attended by Helmholtz, Suley, Barn, Galton,
Stanley; Dr. Bramwell did a hypnotic
experiment; "remarkable new lights on
suggestion in functional diseases."
645
August 5,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
646
August 7,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
647
August 10,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
59
Saw experiments of hypnotic suggestion at the
Psychological Congress.
Went to see the Robinsons and Mary
Darmsteter at Epsom; may stay with Lady
Welby or Aide if Kit Anstruther-Thomson
goes to her cousin's.
Will stay alone in London while Kit
Anstruther-Thomson goes to her cousin's near
Epsom.
648
August 12,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will go to the Palmers near Guildford for the
weekend, then to the Austins for as long as Kit
Anstruther-Thomson stays away from London.
649
August 15,
1892
Violet Paget (Guildford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is staying in a "beautiful old house" there;
hopes to go to the Austins tomorrow.
650
August 17,
1892
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will go with Kit Anstruther-Thomson to St.
Moritz to stay with Miss Dunham.
651
August 18,
1892
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
652
August 20,
1892
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will leave for St. Moritz with Kit AnstrutherThomson next week.
Will stay with Kit Anstruther-Thomson at
Miss Dunham's in St. Moritz; will arrive in St.
Moritz on the 27th.
653
August 23,
1892
654
August 27,
1892
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
655
August 29,
1892
656
August 31,
1892
656.1
September 1,
1892
656.2
September 4,
1892
656.3
September 6,
1892
656.4
September 8,
1892
656.5
September
10, 1892
656.6
September
12, 1892
656.7
September
13, 1892
656.8
September
15, 1892
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (St. Moritz,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Promontogno,
Switzerland) to Matilda Paget
(Florence, Italy)
60
Is staying with Miss Moffat until tomorrow
when she leaves for Bale.
"Very wonderful and beautiful scenery
here…brilliant sun and delightful air."
Kit Anstruther-Thomson's health is already
improving there; took a drive with Placci
yesterday; has been invited to stay with
Contessa Suardi at Bergamo.
Countryside there is "delightfully stimulating
and full of strange beauty"; they take many
drives.
Met another of Maria Pasolini's sister, Mme.
Esengrini, who invited her and Kit AnstrutherThomson for a visit.
Will stay with Miss Dunham until the 12th or
13th; will go to Venice, then to see Maria
Pasolini.
Met the "charming local magnates, Von
Planta, sort of feudal sovereign."
Will leave on the 15th, stopping at
Promontogno.
Gives itinerary of her trip with Kit AnstrutherThomson from St. Moritz to Venice.
Has seen Mrs. Penn Browning several times; is
reading about French literature.
Will leave in 2 days for Promontogno,
accompanied by Kit Anstruther-Thomson and
Miss Dunham.
Will stay here overnight before going to
Cernobbio tomorrow.
September
17, 1892
Violet Paget (Cernobbio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
656.1
September
19, 1892
September
20, 1892
September
21, 1892
Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Was met upon arrival there by Laura Gropallo.
Recovered her lost bag after 3 days; dined with
Donna Vittoria Ceina; is staying with Mme.
Esengrini, "a timid copy of Maria Pasolini,
very kind."
Will remain here for 1 or 2 days, then go to
Contessa Suardi at Bergamo.
Will remain there until the 23rd; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson's health much improved.
656.1
September
22, 1892
Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is sending photos home as they are too heavy
for her to carry.
656.1
September
24, 1892
Violet Paget (Bergamo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay there until the 29th, then go to
Verona.
656.2
September
24, 1892
Violet Paget (Bergamo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
656.2
September
27, 1892
Violet Paget (Bergamo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay there until 27th, then may go to stay
with Countess Marcello.
Will go tomorrow to Contessa Marcello's until
the 30th; then will go to Mrs. Bronson's at
Asolo Veneto.
656.2
September
29, 1892
Violet Paget (Magliano, Italy) to
Matilda (Florence, Italy)
Will stay here overnight before going to Mrs.
Bronson's at Asolo, Veneto.
656.2
October 1,
1892
Violet Paget (Asolo, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Arrived here at Mrs. Bronson's yesterday; will
probably go to Venice on the 4th.
656.2
October 4,
1892
Violet Paget (Asolo, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
656.2
October 6,
1892
October 9,
1892
656.2
October 12,
1892
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
656.2
October 14,
1892
Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
657
January 31,
1893
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
658
February 2,
1893
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
"This is the most beautiful place in the world;"
will go to Venice tomorrow.
She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson hope to be
in Florence on the 16th; wants to take Kit to a
doctor in Bologna for her ear.
Wants Eugene to order flowers and bushes at
once; will be in Florence on the 16th.
Will take Kit Anstruther-Thomson to see
nurse in Bologna on 14th; hopes to be in
Florence on the 16th.
Will return to Florence on Monday, the 17th;
Dr. Murri says Kit Anstruther-Thomson's ear
problem is "only influenza effects hanging
about."
Journey there was "long and rather tiring";
Miss Sellers would like to visit them in
Florence.
Finished writing dialogue ("Althea?") for
Harris; "It is the first fruit of all that wearisome
political economy reading, so I am very
pleased"; asks her to send a copy of "Walden"
to Miss Krahnstörer.
659
February 5,
1893
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Went to Genoa for a day; will stay at Mme.
Heurano's house at Tuscana until the 11th.
656.9
656.10.
656.1
656.20.
61
660
February 6,
1893
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Dr. Erb said Eugene will never be
"permanently the worse for a relapse, as it is
now a mere matter of hyperaesthesia"; Miss
Sellers will visit for 3 days; sent ms. of dialogue
to Harris ("Althea?")
661
February 28,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Miss Anstruther-Thomson, Kit's aunt, is very
ill.
662
February 29,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Miss Anstruther-Thomson, Kit's aunt, died
yesterday; Kit "very busy, sad, and fagged."
663
March 3,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
664
March 6,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
665
March 7,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
666
March 8,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
668
March 9,
1893
March 10,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Attended Miss Anstruther-Thomson's (Kit's
aunt's) funeral; has called on Maria Gamba.
Harris will pay £15 less than she expected for
her mss; suggests Eugene employ Dorothy
Blomfield as a secretary for May; will return to
Florence by the 15th.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson is busy with the
lawyers settling her aunt's estate; advises
Eugene to find himself a secretary; Lady
Campbell is ill, and Kit may go to nurse her.
Has asked Dorothy Blomfield to be Eugene's
secretary; Kit Anstruther-Thomson want to
return to Florence, "Don't refuse her, she
might be hurt."
Dined with the Stillmans and Aïdé; attended a
dinner for the Russian Ambassador, Martini,
the Venosas, Primoli; will dine with Maria
Gamba.
Will return to Florence with Kit AnstrutherThomson on the 20th.
669
March 12,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
670
March 13,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
671
March 16,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
672
March 18,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Maria Gamba wants to take Kit AnstrutherThomson riding.
Will return to Florence on the 20th, with Kit
Anstruther-Thomson following on the next
day.
"The Queen seems to wish to see me, but… I
have no clothes, among other difficulties"; met
Countess Glerchen, "a sculptor, nice."
Will return Monday evening (20th); wants
Eugene to try a secretary in May, in
preparation for the summer; insists Bella Duffy
and Emily Sargent be asked to visit; has given
up meeting the Queen, as she didn't have the
proper clothes; went to a party at the Venosas.
673
March 21,
1893
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will arrive in Florence with Kit AnstrutherThomson tomorrow.
667
62
674
June 8, 1893
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
675
June 9, 1893
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Had a good journey from Amiens where she
saw the Cathedral; "my hosts (the Austins) are
out, having had no notion of the hour of my
train."
Will leave the Austins on the 16th, going to
Miss Moffatt's until the 19th, then to Miss
Price's until the 28th.
676
June 11, 1893
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Received a letter from Pratesi, saying he'd
received the post of Provvidetore at Belluno.
677
June 14, 1893
Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
678
June 17, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
679
June 19, 1893
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
680
June 22, 1893
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
681
June 29, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
682
June/July,
1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
683
July 4, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
684
July 7, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is upset about Eugene's health; Kit AnstrutherThomson is at Charleton, Scotland.
Is staying in London with Miss Moffatt; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson will visit tomorrow; will
go to Oxford on 19th.
Arrived this morning in Oxford; Kit
Anstruther-Thomson came for dinner last
night; will go to the Paters' June 28-July 3.
Saw Lord Rosebury given a degree at
Commemoration; went to "a great lunch at All
Souls… I sat between the President of Trinity
and Master of University, whose gowns almost
buried me."
Kit Anstruther-Thomson took her to the New
Gallery to see John Sargent's portraits; John
Sargent's portraits; John is "the great man of
the season"; "London has had its usual effect of
depressing and disgusting me."
Mrs. Robinson and Mabel took her to see Mrs.
Rosetti; "Paters had people to tea, 24 women
and no man!"; will spend a day at Wimbledon
with Ranee Brooke; dined at the Dunhams';
with the Sargents will "see some Dahomey
people War dance at the Crystal Palace"; goes
to Miss Sellers' on Monday.
Is living with Eugenie Sellers in London; met
Bernard Shaw, "who despite… his socialism, is
one of the most really brilliant writers and
thinkers we have"; dined with Cotton and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson at the Paters'; Mme.
Ybarrando is near death; publisher MacIlvaine
has accepted new volume of Dialogues, to be
called "Althea"; will write a final dialogue,
"summing up"; will dine with Claude Phillips.
Saw Swenburne while visiting a Miss Hay; "I
have been seeing and attempting to see various
socialists"; saw Bella Duffy; yesterday there was
a Royal Wedding.
63
685
July 11, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
686
July 13, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
687
July 16, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
688
July 21, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
689
July 22, 1893
Violet Paget (Windsor Castle,
England) to Henry Paget (Florence,
Italy)
690
July 27, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
691
July 29, 1893
Violet Paget (Paddington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
64
Attend Aïdé's dull party; dined with Claude
Phillips; went to Wimbledon with Ranee and
met Mrs. Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter;
lunched with Playfairs; met Cunningham
Graham, "socialist member, delightful man."
Is finishing the last dialogue in "Althea", "it is
far the most important book I have so far
written… of course it will be financially and
otherwise a deadfailure"; Eugene Sellers is
"editing the portion of Pleny (?) which refers
to antique sculpture."
May go in September with Helen Dunham to
see Lady Agnew in Wigtonshire; would also
visit while there Miss Orr Ewing Dryburgh
Abbey and the Hays at Melrose; leaves
tomorrow to stay with the Wards in
Hertfordshire, then Lady Ponsonby, then
Ranee at Wimbledon; called on Mrs. Cyril
Flower who had changed her name to Lady
Battersea, "doesn't it sounds like the queen of
the washerwomen?"
Will go with Kit Anstruther-Thomson, Flora
Priestly, and Miss Price into the country for 10
days; Kit took her and Berenson to see the
Velaquezes at Apsley House; called on
Countess Feo Gleichen, "a funny mixture of
royalty and Bohemia"; went to Ham Common
to see Mrs. Scott and her daughters.
Is staying there with the Ponsonbys, "the
Court being away, one can ramble about
freely"; the Queen's apartments seem "very
German"; Windsor has "an extraordinary want
of stateliness and appearance… just the reverse
of Oxford or Cambridge."
Has finished writing the last chapter of
"Althea"; will go with Kit AnstrutherThomson, Miss Price, and Flora Priestly
somewhere in the country for 10 days; had a
wonderful time at Windsor with the
Ponsonbys; has been seeing socialists, "Mr.
Podmore, a conspicuous one" and
Cunningham Graham; is glad to be getting, in
England, "a thorough shaking about all of my
ideas."
Will go to Lady Brooke's to meet Placci; on
August 1 will go to Bushey with Kit
Anstruther-Thomson, Flora Priestly, and Miss
Price.
692
July 30, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
693
August 1,
1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, England)
694
August 4,
1893
Violet Paget (Bushey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
695
August 7,
1893
Violet Paget (Bushey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
696
August 11,
1893
Violet Paget (Bushey, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
697
August 15,
1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
698
August 17,
1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
August 20,
1893
August 21,
1893
Violet Paget (Cambridge, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
699
700
65
Spent the afternoon with Ranee at
Wimbledon; thinks the three houses she has
"added this year," Ranee's, Ponsonbys', and
Prices', are "on the whole the nicest I have
here"; will send him a copy of Huxley's Oxford
lecture on Ethics and Evolution; recommends
he read Mill's "Liberty".
Will go tomorrow with Kit AnstrutherThomson to Bushey where Miss Price and
Flora Priestly will join them.
Is glad to be there "as the air of London was
beginning to tire me"; "Althea" is finished and
going to press.
Likes this village very much, as she can be
outdoors; Ranee Brooke is glad to have her
stay with her at any time; Miss Price is reading
to her Browning's "Fifine at the Fair" which
she recommends Eugene read but, "I don't
think he'd appreciate it yet."
Spends all day outdoors there; will return to
London on 13th with Kit AnstrutherThomson; on 18th gives a lecture at
Cambridge; her travel plans for September are
uncertain.
Enjoyed Miss Price's company at Bushey very
much; would like to have Miss Ponsonby visit
them in Florence in October; realizes she
"must set to some consecutive study to cure
myself of the desultoriness and incapacity for
steady application"; wants Laura Gropallo to
start her at working on her "facility for mental
science"; travel plans for September are still
vague.
Her plans are vague, as no one is able to have
her to stay with them; may have to return to
Italy early; will go to Cambridge for the
weekend.
Her lecture at Cambridge went well, with an
audience "mainly of the class of school
teachers; also Americans and people desirous of
disconnected culture"; is in lodgings with
Evelyn Wimbush and the Chittendens;
lunched with the ladies at Newham, then went
to tea with Pertzes; will lunch with Mr. Ward,
professor of mental science.
Is trying to arrange for a friend of Miss Price
(Miss Cruttwell) to serve as Eugene's secretary.
701
August 24,
1893
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
702
August 26,
1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
703
August 31,
1893
Violet Paget (Kensington, England)
to Eugene-Lee Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
704
September 5,
1893
Violet Paget (Weybridge, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
705
September 9,
1893
Violet Paget (Wimbledon, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
706
September
13-14, 1893
Violet Paget (Farnborough, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, England)
707
September
15, 1893
Violet Paget (Grantham, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
708
September
17, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
66
Thinks Miss Cruttwell would be an acceptable
secretary for Eugene; likes Mrs. Ward very
much, but thinks Mr. Ward "rather a
blundering, bumptious snob"; in September,
will stay with the Foster Arbuthnots, Ranee
Brooke, the Welbys, Mrs. Taylor, the Hays,
the Orr Ewings; will begin for Italy on
September 25th.
Advises Eugene on how to resume writing;
went with Kit Anstruther-Thomson to "a sort
of new Toynbee Hall on a smaller scale called
Mansfield House"; this a sort of club for
workmen run by socialists.
Thinks she is not a popular writer because of
her "habit and determination to write only to
please myself, irrespective of readers"; it does
not trouble her that she makes little money
from her writings; feels she doesn't yet know
enough about life to write a novel; "life is too
serious to be misrepresented as in 'Miss
Brown'...So I am bound to be unpopular, and
you must just put up with it. And so must
mama."
Is staying for one day with the Trowers here
before going to Ranee Brooke's; will be joining
Kit Anstruther-Thomson in Scotland; saw the
Ponsonbys at St. James' Palace.
Likes Ranee Brooke very much; "she is such a
very good, kind, sincere simple creature";
"Faust" always bores her, but "Browning's
'Paracelsus' is obscure enough to make one
commit suicide"; is reading Dante very slowly;
is correcting proofs of 'Althea' and it seems
"awfully bad"; will visit Miss Smyth for 2 days,
then Lady Welby.
Will go to Lady Welby's tomorrow; as Lady
Campbell is ill, Kit Anstruther-Thomson is
nursing her; stayed one night at Eugenie
Sellers' house; met Miss Smyth at Waterloo;
14th: went with Miss Smyth to see the
Empress Eugenie, "nothing could be more like
a visit to anyone else"; may return to Italy in a
few days.
Has given up plans to go to Scotland; may
return to Florence on 21st or 22nd.
Has taken a room close to Kit AnstrutherThomson; will leave England on the 30th,
arriving in Florence on Oct. 4th or 5th.
Is staying in "weird" lodgings inhabited
entirely by women; will leave England on 29th
or 30th, stopping in Paris on the way to
Florence; Lady Welby has improved and seems
"comparatively sane," having original ideas
about philosophy.
Will leave England on 30th, stopping in Paris,
and stayin with the Esengrinis at Monza before
coming to Florence; will see Miss French at
Pistoia.
709
September
19, 1893
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
710
September
22, 1893
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
711
September
29, 1893
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
713
October 3,
1893
October 26,
1893
Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will leave tomorrow for Calais and spend a
day in Paris before going to Italy.
Had a good journey from Paris; will stay
tomorrow at Elena French's, then go to
Florence.
Is staying with Elena French, who is not well;
will go to the Rossegliosis on 29th.
714
November
26, 1893
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Has arrived at Maria Pasolini's, having
travelled with a priest on the train.
715
November
29, 1893
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is enjoying herself there; will return to
Florence December 2.
716
April 15,
1894
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
717
May 31, 1894
Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
718
June 2, 1894
719
June 3, 1894
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Hasn't written because "holding the paper is so
very tiring and troublesome."
Was met by Placci, Mlle. Alfieri and the
Papafavas at the station; will dine with Laura
Gropallo and lunch with Mme. Esengrini.
Saw the Esengrinis, Laura Gropallo and Mme.
Ponti while in Milan; travelled from Milan to
Paris with Flora Priestly who helped an old
Swiss couple find their way abroad.
720
June 9, 1894
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
721
June 12, 1894
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
712
67
Will dine with the Panniers tonight.
Will go to Miss Price's at Oxford, rather than
the Paters', when she gets to England; has seen
Mary Darmsteter twice, "but briefly and
badly"; has seen the Taines, Mme. Blanc, and
Mme. de Montebello; "I like Paris so much
better than London."
Has seen much of Mme. Blanc, at whose house
she met Rosny, "a strange illdressed, black,
bristling person"; did not like either Whistler
who gave "no indication of genius" or Tissot,
"a painter with next to no talent"; went with
Mme. Ormond to a lecture of Desjardins at the
Union Morale Association; "went to the
'Revue des 2 Mondes' and saw Bruntiere."
722
June 15, 1894
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
723
June 23, 1894
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
724
June 28, 1894
725
June 30, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
726
July 3-4, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
727
July 6, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
728
July 13, 1894
729
July 16, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Windsor Castle,
England) to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
730
July 21, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
731
July 24, 1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
732
July 24, 1894
Violet Paget (Richmond, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
68
Travelled from France on the same boat as
Sarah Bernhardt; lunched with Gandarax,
editor of "Revue de Paris" and saw Mary
Darmsteter there; met Desjardins "with whose
charming personality I am delighted."
Has been busy preparing to deliver a lecture;
spends part of each day rowing on the river;
will lecture in London on 27th.
Her first lecture "went off tolerably", but the
audience was nearly all women; "I speak badly,
no doubt about it."
Will write when she is not so busy with her
lecture.
Kit Anstruther-Thomson has persuaded her to
write her entire lecture, to cut down the
temptation to improvise; dined with Mrs. St.
John; will go for 2 days to Hertfordshire with
Emily Simcox, "one of the last survivors of the
George Eliot set"; is reading on Darwinism;
lunched at the Playfairs' and had tea with Mr.
Watts, "a Michelangelo come in the wrong
century."
Her second lecture was successful; had a
lovelty time in Buckinghamshire with Emily
Simcox, "a writer on Ethics and Political
Economy"; Macmillan has accepted her paper
on Ravenna.
Made £35 on her lecture series; will visit the
Ponsonbys at Windsor for 2 days; she and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson will go to see Lady Ross
at Richmond; heard Bernard Shaw speak at
The Pioneers' Club.
Will stay here with the Ponsonbys until
tomorrow; all her articles were refused, "I have
5 on my hands"; is able to live on £ a week.
Has been ill since her last lecture; doctor said it
was "relaxed sore throat and general slight
smash"; is going to Richmond until the 24th;
on 26th will visit Mrs. Costello at Haslemere;
"Nineteenth Century" may publish her
lectures.
Has been learning to ride a tricycle.
"Hauntings" and "Vanitas" are not selling well;
"Nineteenth Century" has decided not to
publish her lectures; "'Fortnightly' is distinctly
no good"; Lady Ross is treating her well there;
will visit Mrs. Costello in Haslemere for a
week.
July 24, 1894
Violet Paget (Richmond, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
July 28, 1894
Violet Paget (Haslemere, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
735
July 30, 1894
Violet Paget (Haslemere, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
736
August 8,
1894
Violet Paget (Buckinghamshire,
England) to Matilda Paget (Florence,
Italy)
737
August 13,
1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
738
August 16,
1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
739
August 25,
1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
740
August 28,
1894
Violet Paget (Farnboro, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
741
September 1,
1894
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
733
734
69
Her health is still not good; Helen Dubham
has invited her to go to Whitby in Yorkshire.
Her health has improved because of the air
there; will spend next weekend with the Wards
in Hertfordshire.
Her health has not improved, so she'll visit the
Wards, then go to see Miss Simcox; enjoys the
Costello family very much: "I never saw so
united, independent and cheerful a family"; has
heard a rumor "that Oscar Wilde has got into
terrible hot water and left England"; may go to
Whitby with the Dunhams.
Deals with some household business; thinks all
the refusals she's had from publishers may have
affected her health; has nothing to do in
England, "none of the people in Scotland or
the North have invited me"; has only Miss
Smyth and Ranee Brooke to visit.
Returned from Miss Simcox's and went to the
National Gallery; thinks perhaps that her
recent illness may have been influenza; Mme.
Placci "has been almost at death's door in
Florence."
"With the help of the publisher Heinemann I
have recovered my long lost 'Virgin of the 7
Daggers'"; will go visit Mrs. Scott.
Has been preparing her lectures to give them
to a publisher; has sent mss. of "The Virgin of
the Seven Daggers" to Blackwood; went with
Kit Anstruther-Thomson to visit Mrs. Scott;
plans visits to Aïdé, Miss Smyth, and Ranee
Brooke.
Met Harry Cust, editor of the "Pall Mall", and
Oswald Crawford, at Aïdé's; "Fornightly
Review" may again be receptive to her articles,
as Harris is no longer editor; while visiting
Miss Smyth, met Thornycroft, "a sculptor I
used to admire but now think pretty poor."
Eugene's sonnets had a favorable review in the
"Academy"; will probably be back in Florence
on the 22nd, after stopping to see the
Esengrinis, the Alfieris, and Mrs. French along
the way; has lunched and dined with the
Ponsonbys.
743
September 8,
1894
September
12, 1894
Violet Paget (Wimbledon, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will leave England on the 13th, going first to
Paris, then to the Alfieris' at Asti.
Leaves tomorrow for Paris; will go to Asti,
arriving on 16th.
744
September
14, 1894
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
745
September
18, 1894
Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
746
September
19, 1894
Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
Will go to Asti on 17th; Laura Gropallo wants
to visit in October.
Is staying at Asti with Adele Alfieri; on 21st will
go for the weekend to visit Elena French at
Pistoia; will arrive in Florence on 24th; while
in Paris, saw the archeological excavations
from the palace of Artaxerxes Nnemon at Susa.
Has felt better ever since she left England; in
Paris, got on better terms with Mabel Price,
feels Mabel has an intuitive sensitivity about
art, but "I think one must be utterly
impersonal about her"; "on the whole the
Louvre antiques are a poor lot."
747
September
20, 1894
Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will go tomorrow to Igno, then to Florence on
the 24th.
748
Septmeber
21, 1894
Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
749
September
25, 1894
Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
750
November 910, 1894
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
751
November
17, 1894
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
752
January 26,
1895
Violet Paget (San Remo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will go to Igno from the 24th to 26th.
Will arrive in Florence tomorrow; assumes
there must have been some confusion about
coordinating her travel plans with Miss
Crutwell's, who is to be Eugene's secretary.
9th: While Eugene admits his illness is caused
by auto-suggestion, he is doing nothing to
bring himself out of it; Eugene has convinced
himself that he is in for a 2-month relapse;
10th: Eugene "seems to fill the whole horizon
with the thought of himself"; will go to
Ravenna next week.
Is perfectly well, and Kit need not worry about
her; her father's death came rather suddenly,
but her mother is taking it well; her father "had
such a simple, sportsman's or naturalist's
temper."
Publisher Smith paid £50 for 1000 copies of
"Renaissance Fancies and Studies"; will stay
there until February 1.
753
January 29,
1895
Violet Paget (San Remo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Visited Bordighera (?), "very lovely,
particularly from the profusion of palms."
754
January 31,
1895
Violet Paget (San Remo, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will leave tommorow for Nervi.
755
February 1,
1895
Violet Paget (Genoa, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is detained here while waiting for a train to
Nervi.
742
70
757
February 3,
1895
February 5,
1895
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
It is very cold there, "almost enough to spoil
the place for one."
758
February 12,
1895
Violet Paget (Bogliasco, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will stay with Ranee Brooke until the 15th, as
she is unwell.
759
March 19,
1895
Violet Paget (Foligno, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
760
March 23,
1895
Violet Paget (Castello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
761
May 3, 1895
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
762
May 5, 1895
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
763
May 8, 1895
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will remain there until the 22nd, then go to
Cittadi Castello.
Arrived "in this beastly little hole"; will stay
tomorrow night at Cerezzo, then return to
Florence on the 25th.
Was met there by Maria Pasolini; "had a
philosophic discussion interspersed with dress
matters."
Kit Anstruther-Thomson has been unwell, and
she hopes it won't interfere with their work in
the galleries; will stay there until the 12th.
Doctor there told her she suffers from nervous
exhaustion and must not work for some
months; "This is a bore."
764
May 12, 1895
Violet Paget (Viareggio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Feels the sea air is good for her health; will
remain there until the 15th.
765
May 14, 1895
Violet Paget (Viareggio, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will remain there an extra day, returning to
Florence on the 16th.
766
May 31, 1895
Violet Paget (Bale, Switzerland) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
767
June 2, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Had a good journey from Milan; will go to
Pairs tomorrow.
Has had invitations to visit Mme. Ormond,
Mme. Heureux, and Mabel Price; is going to
the Louvre and Notre Dame.
768
June 4, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
769
June 7, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
June 8, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
771
June 10, 1895
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Had a pleasant journey from Paris; is staying
with Bella Duffy; "I find London very
abominable."
772
June 11, 1895
Violet Paget (Nottinghill, England)
to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Her lecture went well, but the audience was
small; is going to Oxford.
773
June 13, 1895
Violet Paget to Kit AnstrutherThomson
June 19, 1895
Violet Paget (Oxford) to Matilda
Paget (Florence, Italy)
756
770
774
71
Saw Mary Darmsteter, "very thin and altered,
terribly."
Will dine with Bernard, "in my opinion quite
the greatest living painter; will be in London
on the 10th.
Second lecture was successful, but the audience
so small that "economically, it is a dead
failure."
775
June 26, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
776
June 28, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
777
July 3, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
778
July 6, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
779
July 11, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
780
July 13, 1895
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
781
July 16, 1895
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
782
July 20, 1895
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
783
July 28, 1895
Violet Paget (Beaufresne, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
784
July 28, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Will arrive in Florence August 1
Found Dieppe "after England…so pretty and
picturesque"; will go to Beauvais to see the
cathedral; will arrive tomorrow at Mary
Darmsteter's.
Likes France, as it seems "no island or semiisland like England or Italy"; stayed with Miss
Cassatt in France who seemed "the almost
childish garrulous American provincial"; is
afraid she was "blinded by a jealously I was
quite unaware of" in having such a negative
view of Mary Darmsteter's marriage: "If so,
what a loss for me, and what stuff are we made
of?"
785
July 28, 1895
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is glad Eugene has decided to go to Andorno
to see the Venostas.
August 6,
1895
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
Eugene's trip to Andorno lasted only 24 hours,
and he returned refusing to leave home again;
"Good Lord, I shall always have him on my
hands?"; Eugene, having gotten his own way,
786
72
Asks her to tell Eugene that she could be back
in Florence on the 1st or 15th of August.
The net profit from her lecture series just over
7 pounds; will visit the Simcoxes for the
weekend; "my utter repugnance to dinner
parties immensely chokes sociability."
Will go with Evelyn Wimbush to Norfolk for
3 days; interviewed R. Smith of Smith, Elder
publishers.
Is glad Eugene will translate her "Madonna";
will leave England on the 24th.
"Debale" is willing to pay only for the
translation of "Virgin of the Seven Daggers"
not the original; will visit Fabbri for the
weekend at Maidenhead; met R. LeGallienne,
"a curious person got up with a 15th century
head of hair."
Debale is willing to pay only for the translation
of "Virgin of the Seven Daggers" no the
original; will visit Fabbri for the weekend at
Maidenhead; met R. LeGallienne, "a curious
person got up with a 15th Century head of
hair."
Will leave England on the 24th, staying with
Mary Darmsteter in Paris the 28th-29th; from
Paris, will travel to Florence via Bale and
Milan.
"seemed very cheerful…I feel dazed and utterly
idiotic."
787
August 14,
1895
Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
788
August 15,
1895
Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
789
August 18,
1895
Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
790
August 20,
1895
Violet Paget (Foligno, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
791
August 26,
1895
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
792
September
10-12, 1895
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Will return to Florence on Tuesday.
On Saturday will go to Citta de Castello;
visited Spello, "one of those curious little hill
towns."
Asks her to send the manuscript of the "Virgin
of the Seven Daggers" to Watts; Eugene "is
too weak to think about anything except
himself"; is "working with delight at
psychology"; Amy Turton will visit for the
weekend.
Eugene has gone to visit at Abetone for a
while; "it is sad to find his absence such a
relief"; Miss Price, who is visiting, "said since
knowing me (V.P.) she had lost so much of her
terror of people"; 11th: is writing a paper on
Limbo; urges her to read Bain's "Emotions and
Will"; 12th: the Bernards will come to
Florence in October; is distressed that the
criticism of experts can make so much trouble
for artists.
793
September
21, 1895
Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is staying with the Frenches there.
794
September
26, 1895
Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Will travel to Seravezza, stopping overnight at
Lucca.
795
September
27, 1895
Violet Paget (Seravezza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
May stay there 3 or 4 days, as she wants to see
some of the high quarries.
796
September
29, 1895
Violet Paget (Seravezza, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
797
September
29, 1895
Violet Paget (Seravezza, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
She and Miss Price will ride up to the quarries
on mules.
Arrived here 2 days ago, after a half day at
Lucca; visited a quarry yesterday--"I had no
idea how wonderfully lovely it was"; Mabel
Price is a good companion, "like a delightful
ghost by one's side"; will remain there 3 or 4
days more.
798
October 14,
1895
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Is staying at Maria Pasolini's house.
73
Is enjoying her stay there at the Cinis' house.
Mme. Spalletti has invited her to visit, but it is
impossible, as Amy Turton and Miss Price are
coming to Florence.
799
October 26,
1895
800
December 31,
1895
Violet Paget (Mte. Ricco, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Marie Belloc Lowndes (place
unknown)
801
September
12, 1896
Violet Paget (Exmouth, England) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
802
September
15, 1896
Violet Paget (Exmouth, England) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
803
September
28, 1896
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence,
Italy)
804
September 2,
1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Bernard Berenson (place unknown)
805
September
20, 1897
Violet Paget (Gloucester, England)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (plalce
unknown)
806
November,
1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Alfred W. Benn (place unknown)
807
November 3,
1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mrs.
Costelloe (Mary C. Berenson) (place
unknown)
November 9,
1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mrs.
Costelloe (Mary C. Berenson) (place
unknown)
808
74
Is with Maria Pasolini who will take her for 2
days to Ravenna; will return to Florence on the
29th.
A letter of recommendation for Violet Garrad,
requesting that Marie Belloc Lowndes get her
a job as an illustrator.
Feelse she has been a burden to Kit; Miss Price
has invited her to go to Gloucester; is staying
with Mabel Prices' aunt; Mabel is "radiant like
a sort of archaic Apollo"; is anxious to be again
in Florence with Kit; bicycling has made her
lame; the Tremaynes were very nice when she
visited.
Will go with Mabel Robinson to Gloucester;
advises Kit not to lead a busy life and work at
the same time, as it is bad for her health; will
return to London on the 23rd or 24th; has
plenty of money, so Kit should feel free to
spend it; wants desperately for Kit and Mabel
to become friends.
Intends to make Bella Duffy and Eugene the
executors of her will; will leave Kit AnstrutherThomson money in the will; would like to be
able to give up writing for money; will go to
Oxford on October 7th or 8th.
Confronts him with innuendoes he made in a
letter to her and suggests that he is accusing
her and Kit Anstruther-Thomson of
plagiarism.
Has been doing a lot of bicycling; asks her to
get certain books on psychology from the
library; is glad to be "a free woman, with
enough money to live on," but at the same
time feels "there is something dreary in never
being anything save a visitor in people's lives."
Acknowledges receipt of Bernard Berenson's
apolgy for his accusation of plagiarism, but
deems the apology "unsatisfactory"; wishes Mr.
Benn to fulfill his promise to act as arbitrator
in the matter.
Concerns accusation of plagiarism made
against V.P. and Kit Anstruter-Thomson by
Bernard Berenson
As a P.S. to a letter from Kit AnstrutherThomson to Mrs. Costelloe; discusses again
the accusation that she and Kit AnstrutherThomson plagiarized Bernard Berenson.
809
November
12, 1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mrs.
Costelloe (Mary C. Berenson) (place
unknown)
810
November
17, 1897
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mrs.
Costelloe (Mary C. Berenson) (place
unknown)
811
July 9, 1898
(?)
Violet Paget (Rothenburg, Germany)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
812
September
13, 1898
Violet Paget (Birmingham, England)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson
(Northumberland, England)
813
October 16,
1898
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
814
November
10, 1898
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place
unknown)
815
December 4,
1898
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
816
817
December 21,
1899
n.d. (before
March 5,
1899)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Mona Taylor (place unknown)
75
Discusses the accusation of plagiarism made by
Bernard Berenson against her and Kit
Anstruther-Thomson.
Notes that she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson
are accepting Bernard Berenson's apolgies for
his accusation of plagiarism; requests that her
notes be examined to acquit her completeley.
Will remain there in "the most delightful place
Germany can possibly produce" until the 11th;
intends to go on to Paris, then to Eugene's
wedding in London.
Her plans for visiting people in London are
uncertain; has been staying in Ireland with
Lady de Vesci and Miss Vesey, who "make me
feel that there is a home for me outside Italy";
will leave for Italy on September 30 or October
1.
Eugene has become "more flat and
unprofitable since his marriage"; her sister-inlaw, Annie Holdsworth, irritates her; sends
manuscript of her new book "Genius Loci" for
comments and suggestions; the house in
Florence is being remodelled; has had many
invitations to visit friends in Italy.
Wishes Kit to write more often to inform her
of her travel plans; tells Kit to come to
Florence only if she wants to and feels well
enough.
Recognizes her enormous need of Kit, "I don't
know what would happen if I thought you were
going to marry"; has just finished an article on
"Firenze Antica" for the "Times"; had a bizarre
interview with Herbert Horne; "my little
romance with dear Lady de Vesci is dribbling
its natural course into nothingness"; wants to
normalize her relationship with Lady de Vesci
without dropping the connection altogether.
Understands Kit has been delayed in coming to
Florence beccause she was caring for Mrs.
Head after her operation; feels that living alone
for 2 months has been good for her; Evelyn
Wimbush, Miss Lowndes, and Mrs. Cruttwell
are coming for Christmas.
818
March 5,
1899
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Mona Taylor (Northumberland,
England)
819
March 6,
1899
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Mona Taylor (Northumberland,
England)
820
March 17,
1899
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Mona
Taylor (Northumberland, England)
821
March 18,
1899
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Mona
Taylor (Northumberland, England)
822
March 19,
1899
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Mona
Taylor (Northumberland, England)
823
March 25,
1899
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Mona
Taylor (Northumberland, England)
824
April 10,
1899
Violet Paget (place unknown) to
Christine H. Head (place unknown)
76
Sends along a letter just received from Kit
Anstruther-Thomson asking, "is Kit reduced
to imbecility of expression?"; finds the
diagnosis of Mrs. Head's illness, whom Kit is
nursing, hard to believe; "I have no attraction,
no raison d'etre for her (Kit) except when I
have teeth out!"
Feels her suspicion of Mrs. Head's symptoms is
due to "20 years of hysteria on my brother's
part"; thinks Kit Anstruther-Thomson should
not be giving Mrs. Head sympathy.
Has decided she feels better about her
relationship with Kit Anstruther-Thomson if
she keeps Mrs. Head out of her thoughts;
recognizes the break with Mary Darmsteter
damaged her health, and feels "not 20 Kits
would be worth losing my serenity and
intellectual elasticity"; a long discussion of her
sense of betrayal by Kit and a list of resolutions
for dealing with the situation.
Kit is angry with her for suggesting she borrow
money from Mrs. Head to help Amy Turton
start a convalescent home and nursing school;
"I cannot lock my heart to Kit. I love her more
than ever."
Will not warn Kit against Mrs. Head, "I only
want her to realize that she has a large share of
my happiness in her keeping"; feels Kit doesn't
want or need her anymore; to her motto
"Labora et noli constristari" she now adds a
feeling of great gratitude to Kit.
Feels this world is one of "isolated atoms," but
it is some comfort to think that other people
have problems too; is not jealous of Kit's
relationship with Mrs. Head, but feels that "she
(Mrs. Head) is Fate against whom I cannot
struggle"; is angry with Kit, not for staying
with Mrs. Head, but for not being vexed that
Mrs. Head was keeping her away from V.P.,
perhaps unnecessarily.
Assures her that Kits' illness is past; feels that
Kit nursing Mrs. Head last winter kept Kit
from being ill herself; feels she and Mrs. Head
must become friends because they are both so
close to Kit.
June 19, 1899
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
826
July 27, 1899
Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to
Christian H. Head (Inverailot,
Scotland)
827
October 28,
1899
Violet Paget (near Padua, Italy) to
Mona Taylor (Northumberland,
England)
828
December 7,
1899
Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
829
January 2829, 1900
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
830
February 2,
1900
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy (?)) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson (unknown
place)
831
April 15,
1900
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Lillian Granville-Barker
832
August 12,
1900
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to
Mona Taylor (Northumberland,
England)
825
77
Will work at improving her health as she
would like to be entirely free from the
lingering ailments of her long illness; feels
Evelyn Wimbush is much better, emotionally,
since her parents' death; has asked Amy
Turton to come to Florence.
Feels she should explain she did not visit Mrs.
Head because Kit Anstruther-Thomson felt
such a visit would be too upsetting to Mrs.
Head's nerves.
Carlo Placci is recovering from his long illness;
has done much travelling lately: "I am learning
to be a spectator of life, and a pleased one!";
Kit "has been more and more perfunctory" and
is still with Mrs. Head.
Has been reading a lot of books on psychology;
will spend the winter working on literary
analysis; after this, will begin "methodological
enquiries on aesthetics"; lists several studies on
aesthetics she intends to undertake; is enjoying
being with Maria Pasolini, "so young, so quick
of intellectual perception, and full of interest."
High praise of Stevenson: "the man was a sort
of saint and paladin mixed"; "Genius Loci"
"has produced mainly a bill for postage of
copies!"; admires Kits' brother Bill's courage
for not going into the war; reaction to the news
of Ruskin's death; a plan for "teaching the
enjoyment of art...to the capable ones among
the uneducated and poor"; 29th: has written
ten pages on Ruskin.
Is writing a paper for the "Fortnightly" to be
called "Our Debt to Ruskin"; feels that
"marriage deprives women of intellectual
staying power"; feels her early attraction to
aesthetics, and her ability for sticking with it,
makes her different from other women.
Fells it will not be possible to arrange for a
performance of "Ariadne": "it was intended for
reading, not for the stage."
Feels she cannot return to Mona's house where
she spent such a difficult time in her life (after
her break with Kit); has resumed visiting old
friends: Mrs. Stillman, Ranee Brooke; Kit has
moved in with Mrs. Head; feels she can trust
only old friendships.
833
December 13,
1900
834
March 23,
1901
835
April 4, 1901
836
June 23, 1901
837
July 29, 1901
838
August 27,
1901
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (unknown
place)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Edinburgh,
Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Hampton Court,
England) to Kit AnstrutherThomson (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
839
September
10, 1901
840
October 7,
1901
841
October 22,
1901
842
November 6,
1901
Violet Paget (city not named, France)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson
(Glasgow, Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
843
November
16, 1901
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Evelyn Wimbush (place not named)
844
December 20,
1901
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Invernesshire,
Scotland)
845
January 1,
1902
846
February 1,
1902
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
847
March 9,
1902
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Evelyn Wimbush (place not named)
78
Is using Kit's check to "feed up that tailoress I
told you of!"; urges her to go abroad for the
winter; writes of the disappointment she
suffered at losing Kit: "it did to me a little what
I suppose people mean when they speak about
hearts breaking."
848
June 24, 1902
849
August 22,
1902
850
August 22,
1902
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Annie Lee-Hamilton (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Eugene Lee-Hamilton (place not
named)
852
October 25,
1902
December 13,
1902
853
February 13,
1903
854
February 1516, 1903
855
June 6, 1903
856
August 19,
1903
Violet Paget (Astaffort, France) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson
(Invernesshire, Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Paris, France)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Paris, France)
Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Glasgow,
Scotland)
857
September 8,
1903
Violet Paget (Savoy, France) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort,
Scotland)
858
October 7,
1903
Violet Paget (Zatters alla Calcina [?])
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson
(Inverailort, Scotland)
859
October 16,
1903
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort,
Scotland)
860
November 6,
1903
Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort,
Scotland)
861
November
14, 1903
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Alice
Callander (place not named)
862
November
16, 1903
863
December 12,
1903
851
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort,
Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
79
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Pittenweem, Scotland)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place
not named)
864
December
25-26, 1903
865
January 7,
1904
866
February 29,
1904
867
March 27,
1904
868
April 7, 1904
869
April 17,
1904
870
August 18,
1904
871
October 23,
1904
872
October 24,
1904
873
November
28, 1904
874
August 1,
1905
875
February 11,
1906
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Fife, Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Middleton-inTeesdale, England) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
876
June 2, 1906
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Alexander Moring (place not named)
877
June 9, 1906
878
June 9, 1906
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Alexander Moring (place not named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to E.
Grant Richards (place not named)
80
[Copy [?] Includes draft of an agreement
between Violet Paget and Alexander Moring,
publisher.]
879
June 18, 1906
880
May 6, 1906
881
November
25, 1906
882
n.d. [1907?]
883
September
14, 1907
884
October 25,
1907
885
November 7,
1907
886
November
27, 1907
887
December 20,
1907
888
December 22,
1907
889
December 25,
1907
890
December 28,
1907
891
n.d. [1908]
892
January 3,
1908
893
January 7,
1908
894
January 8,
1908
895
January 17,
1908
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Alexander Moring (place not named)
Violet Paget (Bern, Switzerland) to
Kit Anstruther-Thomson
(Inverailort, Scotland)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Annie Lee-Hamilton (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Sarah Orne Jewett (South Berwick,
Maine)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (Inverness,
Scotland)
Violet Paget (Athens, Greece) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Irene
Forbes-Mosse (place not named)
Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Irene
Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Carlo Placci (place not named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
81
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden,
Germany)
896
January 23,
1908
897
February 28,
1908
898
April 7, 1908
899
June 10, 1908
900
June 10, 1908
901
October 31,
1908
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Rome, Italy)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Elena French (place not named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Eleanor Metcalfe (place not named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (London,
England)
902
November
25, 1908
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Elena French (place not named)
904
November
26, 1908
December 22,
[1909?]
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Elena French (place not named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Herbert G. Wells (place not named)
905
January 5,
1910
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Herbert G. Wells (place not named)
906
January 19,
1910
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Herbert G. Wells (place not named)
907
February 13,
1911
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Austin Harrison (place not named)
908
November
13, 1911
909
November
17, 1911
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Matilda D. Shields (place not named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (Munich,
Germany)
910
May 25, 1913
911
April 17,
1915
912
September 26
?, 1920
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Carlo Placci (place not named)
Violet Paget (London, England) to
Union of Democratic Council (place
not named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
George Bernard Shaw (place not
named)
913
January 23,
1924
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Mrs. Berenson (place not named)
914
February 3,
1926
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Bella
Duffy (London, England)
903
82
Concerns alleged shooting of Baroness
French's dog by Miss Metcalfe.
Is sending the first copy of a book to Mrs.
Berenson in appreciation for "much hospitality
and friendliness in the last few years."
Apparently in reply to a letter from Miss Duffy
which told Violet Paget she was near death;
consoles her and thanks her for "what you have
been all through my life."
915
September
13, 1930
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak
(Wimbledon, England)
916
January 31,
1933
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Roger Fry (London, England)
Updated and
Miscellaneous
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
918
August 23,
1898 ?
June 5
"wrong date,"
1884
919
n.d.
920
September 2,
1895
921
n.d.
922
January 21,
1901
923
August 14,
1905
924
October 22,
n.d.
925
October 20,
n.d.
926
n.d.
927
August 19,
1906
928
September
14, 1920?
Violet paget (place not named) to
Henry Paget (place not named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
929
March 30,
n.d.
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Miss Chittenden (place not named)
917
Envelope to missing letter
Violet Paget (Paris, France) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
Violet Paget (on train in France) to
Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
83
Envelope to missing letter
Envelope to missing letter
Envelope to missing letter
Envelope to missing letter
Envelope to missing letter
930
n.d.
931
n.d.
932
n.d.
933
n.d.
934
n.d.
935
n.d.
936
n.d.
937
n.d.
938
February 28,
n.d.
939
940
941
942
943
July 2, 1888
n.d. (in 1884
letters)
June, 1884
n.d.
August 9,
1882
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Malmesbury, England)
to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place
not named)
Violet Paget (Sciarra, Italy?) to Kit
Anstruther-Thomson (place not
named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
Envelope, no letter, note on back
"Euphorion" Clipping
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
944
944.1
n.d.
n.d.
945
n.d.
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
946
August 21,
n.d.
Violet Paget (Warkwick [?]) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
947
n.d.
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Matilda Paget (place not named)
84
Envelope to missing letter
948
December 29,
1907
949
November 4,
1895
950
n.d., 1895
951
July 21, 1895
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Irene Forbes-Mosse (place not
named)
Envelope to missing letter
Violet Paget (place not named) to
Marie Belloc Lowndes
Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to
Marie Belloc Lowndes (place not
named)
Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to
Marie Belloc Lowndes (place not
named)
952
1899
Envelope labeled: "Mona Taylor's excellent
letter to me after Kit's departure and my letters
to her which she sent back at this time."
953
1882
Envelope labeled: "V.P. letters Home 1882"
Wrapper labeled: 1881, 1883, 1885; V.P.'s
letters home (in considerable disorder)
954
85