list of “vernon lee (violet paget) letters home · list of “vernon lee (violet paget) letters...

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List of “Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) Letters Home”

1 January 1, 1866

Violet Paget to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (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.]

2 January 6, 1866

Violet Paget to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Oxford, England)

Sends him birthday greetings; tells of trip to see the opera "Doiw Roffiloim now Lanjuman." [Includes separate watercolor drawing.]

3 November 28, 1866

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."

4 March 3, 1866


Thanks him for stamps he sent her; asks for more stamps and arms of Oxford and Cambridge

5 no date, 1866


Acknowledges receipt of his letter; describes her birthday gifts. Enclosure reads: "Mamma and Baby to the Bruder."

6 no date, 1866


"Old Flower" (?) fled to France, having pawned his silver for 900 francs.

7 June 16, 1870 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry Paget

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."

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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.

12 July 16-17, 21, 1870

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henry Paget

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."

13 July 28-29, 1870


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."

14 August 4-5, 6-7, 1870


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."

15 August 4, 7-8 1870


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."

16 August 8-9, 1870


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.

17 February 15, 1871

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)

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.

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18 April 19, 1871


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.

19 May 15, 17 1871

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Henry Paget

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.

20 June 28, 1871 Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)

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

21 July 1, 1871 Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)

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.

22 August 1, 1871


Saw Bressant playing Alceste in "The Misanthrope."

23 August 27, 1871

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Henrietta Jenkin

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.

24 October 5, 1872

Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to Henry Paget

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.


Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Cornelia Turner

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

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27 March 23, 1873

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugen Lee-Hamilton Letter written in French

28 March 31, 1873

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugen Lee-Hamilton Letter written in French

29 April 2, 1873 Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton Letter written in French. To Emily Sargent?

30 April 4, 1873 Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton Letter written in French

31 April 12, 1873

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton Letter written in French

32 April 15, 1873


33 April 16, 1873


34 April 20-21, 1873


35 April 22, 1873


36 April 23, 1873


37 April 24, 1873


38 April 25, 1873


39 April 27, 1873


40 April 29, 1873


41 July 15, 1874 Violet Paget (Salzburg, Austria) to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, Francis)

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.

42 April 19, 1874


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.

43 March 10, 1874


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

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title of Mrs. Jenkin's new novel.

44 August 22, 1874

Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin (Paris, France)

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.

45 September 4, 1874


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.

47 October 2, 1874


Asks for an introduction to a magazine; her desire to write, someday, on literature and art; Eugene has had a serious relapse.

48 October 14, 1874


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.

49 October 23, 1874

Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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."

50 October 24, 1874


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.

51 November 7-8, 1874

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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

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52 December 20, 1874


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.

53 January 28, 1875


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.

54 April 6, 1875 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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.

55 April 30, 1875


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

56 May 18, 1875 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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

57 May 19, 1875 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

Wants Mrs. Jenkin to be sure that "Contemporary Review" knows she expects payment for her article on Bologna, if it is accepted.

58 June 18, 1875 Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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.

60 June 20, 1875 Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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.

61 July 20, 1875 Violet Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) to Henrietta Jenkin

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."

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Has communicated with Mr. Ruffini about reviewing Mrs. Jenkin's novels, and hopes she will not be thought impertinent.


Asks how the title of Mrs. Jenkin's book "Once and Again"might be translated into Italian.

63.1 August 6, 1875


Wants the Italian title immediately. Asks Mrs. Jenkin to tear out certain pages of her article on Bologna

64 August 28, 1875


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.

65 August 29, 1875


Asks her to send the "Bologna" manuscript herself, directly to Fraser's.

66 October 2, 1875


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


71 June 25-27, 1881


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.

72 June 29-30, 1881


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 novel-writing.

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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.

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74 July 7-10, 1881


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."

75 July 12-15, 1881


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."

76 July 18, 1881 Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Matilda Paget

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.

77 July 19-20, 23 1881

Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Matilda Paget

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.

78 July 26, 28, 1881


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.

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July 28-August 3, 1881

Violet Paget (London, England) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton

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.

80 July 30, 1881 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Will leave for Lambalu, Brittany on Wednesday, August 3.

81 August 3, 1881

Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Will leave for France Wednesday; asked Pauline de Cargouet to meet her at St. Malo.

82 August 4, 1881

Violet Paget (St. Servan, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Sea crossing was difficult; she must get to Lambalu by herself.

83 August 4-6, 1881

Violet Paget (St. Servan, France) to Matilda Paget

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."

84 August 7, 1881

Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to Matilda Paget

Thinks Pauline de Cargouet is suffering from "dullness" there and finds her neighbors "insupportable."

85 August 10, 1881


Pauline de Cargouet seems unhappy to have married Theophile because of loneliness; Pauline has "a curious indifferent, rather depressed manner."

86 August 12, 1881


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.

87 August 14-15, 1881

Violet Paget (Lambalu, France) to Matilda Paget

Pauline de Cargouet's "wretched little baby" still sick; drove to Launar, home of Alice Lamobe (?).

88 August 18, 1881


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

89 August 19, 1881

Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to Matilda Paget May leave for Paris on Tuesday, August 23.

90 August 22, 1881


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.

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91 August 26, 1881

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Met Mary Robinson upon arrival there; John Sargent came for dinner.

92 August 27, 1881


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

Is detained for a few hours between train journeys; Mary Robinson has been ill.

94 June 8, 1882 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget

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)

Is with the Robinsons and is going with them to their country home in the afternoon.

95 June 11, 1882 Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence).

Mary Robinson and V.P. visited Stillmans before leaving London; visited at Epsom by the French painter Bertha Newcombe and the actor Forbes-Robertson

96 June 14, 1882 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

97 June 16-17, 1882

Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

98 June 21, 1882 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

99 June 22-25, 1882


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"

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100 June 27-28, 1882


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."

101 June 29, July 1, 1882

Violet Paget (London, England) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Siena, Italy)

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.

102 July 3, 1882 Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy).

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.

103 July 5-6, 8, 1882

Violet Paget (London, England) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Siena, Italy)

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) She and Mary Robinson rented a cottage here.

106 July 13, 1882 Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

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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."

112 July 26, 1882 Violet Paget (Fittleworth, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy) 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.

116 August 2, 1882

Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Is staying at the Paters' in "one of the prettiest houses I have ever seen."

117 August 3-4, 1882

Violet Paget (Gloster, England and Llandovery, Wales) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

118 August 5, 1882

Violet Paget (Llanfair, Wales) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.""

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119 August 9, 1882

Violet Paget (Llandovery, Wales) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Cornhill published "Botticelli at the Villa Lemmi" manuscript quickly; leaves Wales tomorrow to stay with the Jeffersons at Leamington.

120 August 12, 1882

Violet Paget (Leamington, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Staying with Mary Robinson at the Jefferson's; went to Warwick to train

121 August 13, 1882

Violet Paget (Warwick, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

She and Mary Robinson have rooms in a large 15th or 16th century house which was once a monastery.

122 August 17, 1882

Violet Paget (Warwick, England) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

123 August 23, 1882


Will leave for Belgium with Mrs. Smillie in the afternoon

124 August 24, 1882

Violet Paget (Bruges, Belgium) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

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.

125 August 25, 1882

Violet Paget (in train near Brussels) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Spent two hours sightseeing in Brussels; will make her way through Germany and Italy and arrive at Siena on Wednesday (August 30).

126 August 26, 1882

Violet Paget (in train, just after Koln, Germany) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy).

Spent last night in Cologne; will spend the day travelling through Germany

127 August 26, 1882

Violet Paget (Coblenz, Germany) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Must stay a day in Coblenz with Mrs. Smillie, who isn't well; tomorrow she will go to see the Rhine.

128 August 28, 1882

Violet Paget (Coblenz, Germany) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Found the Rhine "very disappointing as a whole…I would give the whole Rhine for the Avon."

129 August 28, 1882

Violet Paget (Basel, Switzerland) to Matilda Paget (Siena, Italy)

Travelled all day on the train; will arrive in Florence on the 30th, Siena the following day

130 June 20, 1883

Violet Paget ("Casa Duffy," Florence, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca)

Had a successful journey from Lucca to Florence

131 June 21, 1883 Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Met the Stillmans at Pistoria; saw Mrs. Callander and Mr. and Mrs. Meser (?) at the station; dinner with the Addisons.

132 June 22, 1883 Violet Paget (Bale, Switzerland) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Will arrive in Paris tomorrow night and see John Sargent there.

133 June 22, 1883 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

John Sargent will visit tomorrow; "Of Mario's book, the first story is perfectly splendid, the

14

others very good."


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.

135 June 25, 1883

Violet Paget (between Dieppe and Newhaven) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

136 June 26, 1883

Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Mary Robinson met her at the station, as the Duffys hadn't expected her so early.

137 June 29, 1883 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

"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.

140 July 2, 1883


Going to Hampton Court; saw Mr. Theodore Watts; sends manuscript of "Miss Brown" to Macmillan.

141

Re-entry of 140.

15

142 July 2, 1883


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

143 July 6, 1883


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 Cobden-Sanderson and Mrs. Morris; has a busy, full schedule of invitations, but Mary is not well.

144 July 7, 1883


Has been socializing with Lalia (?), Mrs. Dickson, Robinsons, Barringtons, and Evelyn Pickering; is trying to find a publisher for Eugene

145 July 9, 1883


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.

146 July 11, 1883


"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.

149 July 15, 1883 Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, 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.

16

150 July 18, 1883


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."

151 July 20, 1883

Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Huish interested in Eugene's sonnets; Duffys gave a big party; lunched with MacColl

152 July 22, 1883


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

155 July 30, 1883

Violet Paget (Canterbury, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Stopped here on the way to Tenterden; Caterbury "has something of Oxford, but with more old houses."

156 August 1, 1883


Will stay in Caterbury for a week before going to Tenterden.

157 August 3, 1883


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."

158 August 5, 1883

Violet Paget (Canterbury, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) French Jesuits have set up a college there.

159 August 6, 1883


Cavalry men stationed in Caterbury make streets there "very animated"; went to service at the Cathedral; tomorrow she and Mary Robinson go to Sandwich.

160 August 8, 1883

Violet Paget (Tenterden, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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


Despite the Coltons' recommendation of Tenterden, she finds it a "great fraud"; will go to see the Fishers at Midhurst; has just begun a

17

paper for Escott; Marston's book being published by Stock.

162 August 11, 1883


Austin will publish manuscript "Transformations of Chivalric Poetry" signed "V. Paget"; will go to Midhurst about the 25th.

163 August 11, 1883


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.

164 August 14, 1883


May go to Rye on the 18th; will be in Italy in a month.

165 August 16, 1883


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.

166 August 18, 1883

Violet Paget (Rye, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) Found good lodgings there.

167 August 19, 1883

Violet Paget (Rye, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."]

168 August 21, 1883


169 August 23, 1883


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

170 August 28, 1883

Violet Paget (Midhurst, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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).


Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Will stop to see Amiens and Riems on the way to Italy.

172 September 2-3, 1883


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.

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.


Violet Paget (between Bologne and Amiens, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Had a bad crossing; signed agreement with W.H. Allen for biography of Countess of Albany.

176 June 4, 1884


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.

177 June 8, 1884


178 June 8, 1884


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.

179 June 10, 1884


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."

180 June 13, 1884


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.

181 June 16, 1884


Heard Manning preach; met Henry James at National Museum; "Euphorian" seems selling well."

182 June 19, 1884 Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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,

19

supposed to be a woman."

183 June 20-21, 1884

Violet Paget (Oxford, 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.

184 June 24, 1884


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."

185 June 26, 1884


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?).

186 June 29, 1884 Violet Paget (Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

188 July 11, 1884


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.

190 July 16, 1884


Cholera epidemic prevents entrance to Italy, so Mme. Villari can't get back; visited Mrs. Dickson; dined at the Stephens' along with

20

Sidney Calvin, Cyril Flower, and Mrs. Velly.

191 July 19, 1884


"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."

192 July 23, 1884


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.

193 July 26, 1884


Blackwood will publish "Miss Brown"; will stay at the Robinson's London house until mid-August and work on rewriting "Miss Brown."

194 July 30, 1884


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.

195 August 3, 1884


Is working on the end of Miss Brown; will press Elliot Stock for an answer (concerning a manuscript of Eugene).

196 August 5, 1884


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.

197 August 8, 1884


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.

198 August 11-12, 1884


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

21

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)

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.

200 August 19, 1884


Discussing with Mrs. Barstow and Mrs. Smilie the possibility of returning to Italy with them; went to see the moors at Haworth.

201 August 22, 1884

Violet Paget (E. Grinstead, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

She and Mary Robinson staying with Mrs. Paynter there; Mary will not return to Italy with her

202 August 24, 1884


Only way open to Italy is via Vienna; may travel there with Mme. Villari.

203 August 28, 1884


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.

204 August 31, 1884


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.


Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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


Violet Paget (on train near Amiens, France) 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).

208 June 21, 1885

Violet Paget (between Alexandria and Turin, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Arrived in Florence and met the Duffys; Bella Duffy wants Frankie Forbes Robertson (Eugene's reader) to meet a Miss Coray, an art student.


Pauline de Cargouet and husband met her in Paris; is expecting John Sargent for dinner.

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.

211 June 27, 1885


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."

212

No entry.

213 July 3, 1885


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"

214 July 6, 1885


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.

215 July 9, 1885


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'.

216 July 11-12, 1885


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.

23

217 July 15, 1885


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."

218 July 16,18, 1885


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.

219 July 19-21, 1885


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."

220 July 23, 1885


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.

221 July 25, 1185


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.

24

222 July 27, 1885


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."

223 July 29, 1885

Violet Paget (Cambridge, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

224 August 1, 1885


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.

225 August 1, 1885


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.

226 August 5, 1885


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.

227 August 6, 1885


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.

228 August 8, 1885


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.

25

229 August 10, 1885


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.

230 August 13, 1885


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.""

231 August 17, 1883


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."]

232 August 21, 1885

Violet Paget (Swinford, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

233 August 25, 1885


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.

244 August 27, 1885


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"."

245 August 28, 1885

Violet Paget( Epsom, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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").

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.


Violet Paget (Amiens, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Lucerne, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."


Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."


Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

27



Hopes there is no delay in her return trip to Florence, as she doesn’t want to stay in Venice until the 1st.


Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

260 June 3, 1886 Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is staying there with the Robinsons; had an "admirable crossing"; is going to Miss Wakefield's concert.

261 June 6, 1886


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."

262 June 8, 1886


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.

263 June 10, 1886


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.

28

264 June 13, 1886


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.

277 June 21-22, 1886


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."

288 June 22-23, 1886


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.

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.

291-299

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.

301 July 8, 1886


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."

302 July 10, 1886


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.

303 July 13, 1886


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!"

304 July 15, 1886


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."

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305 July 20, 1886


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.

306 July 22, 1886


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."

307 July 25, 1886


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.

308 July 28, 1886


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."

309 August 1, 1886

Violet Paget (Kendal, England) to Matilda Paget

Is staying at the Stillmans' "huge, cockney, gothic, excessively grandiose" house; Miss Herbert at Tynemouth wants her to visit on the 6th.

310 August 4, 1886

Violet Paget (Kendal, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

311 August 7, 1886

Violet Paget (Northumberland, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca)

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."

312 August 10, 1886

Violet Paget (Tynemouth, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Came from Alston to Tynemouth with the Thursfields, Miss Herbert and Mr. Woods; the Tyne River polluted and hideous.

313 August 13, 1886


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

31

accepted "Medea" for the new magazine.

314 August 15, 1886


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.

315 August 18, 1886


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.

316 August 22, 1886


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."

317 August 23, 1886


Requests all her letters be sent to Robinsons' or Stillmans'.

318 August 25, 1886


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!"

319 August 28, 1886


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.

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320 August 31, 1886


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.


Violet Paget (Kent, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Amiens, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) Is safely in Milan

327 June 2, 1887 Violet Paget (Bale, Switzerland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Met Amy (?) in Milan; had a comfortable journey by way of Lucerne to Bale; leaves for Paris tomorrow.

328 June 3, 1887 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

330 June 7-8, 1887

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

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331 June 9, 1887 Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Met Mary Robinson upon arrival in England

332 June 11, 1887 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

333 June 13, 1887


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."

334 June 17-18, 1887


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.

335 June 21, 1887


Mrs. Jeune had "prepared a party of socialists" to meet her, so she talked with Stepniak, "a mild, dreamy Russian" and Hyndman, "a cock-a-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.

336 June 24, 1887


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.

337 June 26, 1887

Violet Paget (Tunbridge, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

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338 June 30, 1887


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.

339 July 2, 1887


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.

341 July 8, 1887


Mrs. Robinson very ill with asthma; at the Thursfields' saw Hubert E.H. Jerningham, an old friend, "you never saw such a thin, hollow-eyed 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."

342 July 11, 1887 Violet Paget (Grantham, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

343 July 15, 1887


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.

344 July 17, 1887 Violet Paget (Coventry, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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,

35

Shadwell, Alice Callander.

345 July 20, 1887 Violet Paget (England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

347 July 24-25, 1887

Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

348 July 27, 1887


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."

349 July 30, 1887


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"

350 August 3, 1887

Violet Paget (Haslemere, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

36

351 August 5, 1887


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.

352 August 8, 1887


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."

353 August 10, 1887

Violet Paget (Carham on Tweed, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

354 August 15-16, 1887

Violet Paget (St. Andrews, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

355 August 18, 1887

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

356 August 20, 1887


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 Anstruther-Thomson house delightful, and Miss Thomson herself "a very enchanting creature."

357 August 25, 1887


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

37

"Contemporary Review"; "Fortnightly" has raised her pay.

358 August 27, 1887


Will go to the Ybarrandos in Liverppol on the 31st; the rest of her travel plans are uncertain.

359 August 30, 1887


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.


Violet Paget (Liverpool, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

38


Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (St. Melaine, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (S. Martino, France) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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 Anstruther-Thomson 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.

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Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence)

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"

374 October 1, 1887

Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Delays departure for Florence for one day so that she and Mary Robinson can see Mme. Pisani at Rovigo.

375 n.d. (1888) Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

376 n.d. (1888) Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

377 February 26, 1888

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

378 March 5, 1888


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."

379 n.d. (March 10? 1888)


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.

380 April 20, 1888

Violet Paget (S. Terenzo, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is staying in a remote place by the sea, next door to Shelley's Casa Magni, "the house of a drowned man."

381 April 23, 1888

Violet Paget (S. Terenzo, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

382 n.d. (1888) Violet Paget to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Her health is not good, so will return to Florence after seeing the Cinis at S. Marcello.

383 n.d. (1888) Violet Paget (S. Felice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

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384 June 13, 1888 Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) Had a good journey, but very hot weather.

385 June 15, 1888 Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Is feeling much better due to the cooler weather; spent yesterday at Ravenna.

386 June 22, 1888 Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

388 July 1, 1888 Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

393 July 17, 1888 Violet Paget (Reading, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Finds the Sargents' mill cottage there very quiet and peaceful, "for the first time for months I seem to feel well."

394 July 21, 1888 Violet Paget (Effingham, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

Is quite comfortable there at Miss Mackenzie's cottage; she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson leave for Scotland in a week.

395 July 25, 1888 Violet Paget (Effingham, England) to Henry Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

41

396 July 27, 1888

Violet Paget (N. Finchley, England) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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.

397 July 28, 1888 Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Bagni di Lucca, Italy) written in French

398 August 2, 1888


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."

399 August 6, 1888


Masson, the publisher, "proposes an Anglo-French publication of my 4 stories"; tomorrow she begins her sea baths.

400 August 8, 1888


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.

401 August 12, 1888


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."

402 August 13-14, 1888

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Bagni di Lucca, Italy)

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."

403 August 18, 1888


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.

404 August 26, 1888


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 Anstruther-Thomson's brother and aunt have visited; wants Eugene to send copies of his new book to Mary Robinson and Kit.



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

42

alternative plans all confused.



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.

411 October 2, 1888


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.

412 October 7, 1888

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson have been spending time with the Fergusons, "he a Gladstone M.P."

413 October 9, 1888


Suggests the problem with the new carriage wheels is "due to some defect in balancing"

414 October 15, 1888

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence, Italy)

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.

415 October 20, 1888

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Expects to sail for Tangiers on November 29.

416 October 25, 1888


Is sure she won't be able to travel sooner than in 6 weeks.

417 October 28, 1888


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.

43

418 November 1, 1888


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 Anstruther-Thomson will leave Charleton at the end of the week, going to Edinburgh and Norhtumberland.

420 November 12, 1888

Violet Paget (Charleton, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Will go directly to London in two days.

421 November 16, 1888


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.

422 November 17, 1888

Violet Paget (Kent, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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


If she can't stay in Spain, would rather go to Sicily than Algiers.

425 November 25, 1888

Violet Paget (off the coast of Portugal) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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) Just arrived.

427 November 28-29, 1888

Violet Paget (Gibraltar, UK) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Tangier, Morocco) to Bella Duffy (Florence, Italy?)

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."

431 December 12, 1888


Takes Spanish lessons from a Jew there; will go to see the Spanish theatre with Perdikaris;

44

finds it rather dull there.

432 December 19, 1888


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."

433 December 23, 1888


Is feeling much better, but "this sort of life is wearying me"; may return to Florence in a month.

434 December 26, 1888

Violet Paget ("on the steamer in the Strait") to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

435 December 28, 1888

Violet Paget (Granada, Spain) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Had a smooth journey from Tangiers which didn't hurt her health.

436 January 2, 1889


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.

437 January 5, 1889


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.

438 January 8, 1889


Has a ballad subject for Eugene about a Moorish woman; will stay for two weeks at Naples or Capri with Evelyn Wimbush.

439 January 8, 1889


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.

440 January 12, 1889


Will leave tomorrow for Seville; Kit Anstruther-Thomson is not going to Scotland; Miss Mackenzie wil be in Florence.

441 January 13, 1889

Violet Paget (Seville, Spain) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Arrived there after an 11-hour journey; "this is a very pretty cheerful town and quite picturesque."

442 January 22, 1889

Violet Paget (Gibraltar, UK) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will leave tonight on the S.S. Iberia for Naples.

443 January 26, 1889

Violet Paget (on board the S.S. Iberia) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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

45

ordinary life."

444 January 27, 1889

Violet Paget (Naples, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will stay with Maria Pasoline when she goes to Rome; likes Naples very much, "this place is so cheerful after Spain."

445 January 28, 1889


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.

446 January 29, 1889


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 Anstruther-Thomson 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.

449 July 10, 1889 Violet Paget (S. Marcello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will leave for Coccolia tonight, has enjoyed her stay there.

450 July 18, 1889 Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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'

453 July 27, 1889 Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

454 July 28, 1889 Violet Paget (Pershore, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

46

456 August 10, 1889


At the end of the week will go with Evelyn Pickering to Yorkshire.

457 August 16, 1889


Will leave for Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire, Aug. 20; Kit Anstruther-Thomson has been ill, "very weak and worn out generally."

458 August 21, 1889

Violet Paget (Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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!"

459 August 23, 1889

Violet Paget (Ben Rhydding, Yorkshire) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is changing lodgings to Ilkley; began sea baths; Kit Anstruther-Thomson will join her and Evelyn Pickering next week.

460 August 24, 1889

Violet Paget (Ilkley, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Evelyn Pickering "insisted on Kit Anstruther-Thomson 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."

461 August 28, 1889


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."

462 August 30, 1889


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!!!"



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 Anstruther-Thomson there.



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."



Fears Masson may be giving up his magazine, "a great loss for me"; Emily Ford has visited.

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.



475 October 1, 1889


Wants the size of the coachman's glove; "much of my time and money this winter will have to go at the Dentist's!"

476 October 2, 1889


Is willing to see the doctor in Paris about Eugene; Miss Mackenzie will go to Florence with her.

477 October 5, 1889

Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

478 October 8, 1889


Will see Dr. Luys about "his machine," as Eugene shouldn't try hypnosis without a doctor; will arrive in Florence on the 21st.

479 October 12, 1889

Violet Paget (Fladbury, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Explains itinerary; will arrive in Florence on 21st.

480 October 14, 1889


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.

481 October 16, 1889


Doctor says Miss Mackenzie will be well enough to travel by next week.

482 October 18, 1889


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.

483 October 22, 1889


Is at the Paters' until the 24th, when she leaves for Florence with Miss Mackenzie.

484 October 25, 1889


Has seen Dr. Luys with his hypnotism machine; Mary (Robinson) Darmsteter will arrive in Florence on the 27th.

48

485 January 18, 1890


Had a good journey; "M. P. (Maria Pasolini) met me in evening clothes between two parties!"

486 January 21, 1890


Olive Thomson will return to Florence with her; is enjoying herself very much there.

487 January 22, 1890


Spends her time with Maria Pasolini and the Stillmans; took a drive in the Campagna; met Boughe at Princess Venosa's.

488 January 27, 1890


Has been driving with Duckworth in the Campagna; went to the French Academy; R. Ferguson and Lady Helen called.

489 January 31, 1890


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."

492 February 10, 1890


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.

493 July 22, 1890 Violet Paget (Panzano, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson are very comfortable there, in a "delightful farmhouse, with such kind people."

494 July 23, 1890 Violet Paget (Siena, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Arrived there safely with Kit Anstruther-Thomson from Panzano; the people at Panzano were very kind.


Kit Anstruther-Thomson's health is better; weather has been unseasonably cold.


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)

"I am so vexed about Cecconi and wrote off to him at once."

498 August 7, 1890


Bourget has married a "Catholic jeune personne"; Lord Wolseley is given a command in Ireland.

499 August 10, 1890


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.

49

500 August 12, 1890


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.

501 August 13, 1890


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."

502 August 14, 1890


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.

503 August 17, 1890


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.

504 August 19, 1890

Violet Paget (S. Ginugnano, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, 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)

Will stay here "in this manufacturing hole" overnight before going on to Lucca.

507 August 23, 1890

Violet Paget (Lucca, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

508 August 24, 1890

Violet Paget (Lucca, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will arrive at S. Marcello tomorrow morning, where they will have rooms; Bunting (ed. Of "Contemporary Review") has sent her 20 pounds.

509 August 28, 1890

Violet Paget (S. Marcello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Elena French has taken a house for her and Kit Anstruther-Thomson 2 hours from S. Marcello.

510 August 30, 1890

Violet Paget (Prataccio, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson are comfortable there, but it is quite cold; will leave Thursday (Sept. 4th) for Bologna or Modena.


Violet Paget (Prataccio, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Wonders if she should return to Florence, as Eugene's health is so bad.

50


Violet Paget (Piteglio, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Asks her mother to send tea and soup tablets, "we find them a great resource in this wilderness."


Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Venice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) 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.'"

522 October 3, 1890

Violent Paget (Venice, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Thinks Miss Black would be "immensely grateful" to be able to stay with them in Florence.

523 October 6, 1890


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.

524 October 8, 1890


51

525 October 9, 1890

Violent 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.

526 October 11, 1890

Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

They are very comfortable in the Pasolini's house there, and are living cheaply.

527 October 14, 1890


"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.

528 October 18, 1890


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


Is trying to find a different pony; may go to the Spallettis'.

531 October 24, 1890


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.

532 October 26, 1890


Goes tomorrow to Spallettis'; will be at Coccolia on the 30th; will try to see Dr. Murri at Bologna about her diet.

533 October 28, 1890

Violet Paget (Bologna, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

On their way to the Spallettis'; is trying to sell her pony.


Violet Paget (Rubbiera, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Was sick with a "very bad chill," but hopes to travel to Coccolia tomorrow; is expecting a check from the "Contemporary."


Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."


Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) May have a buyer for her horse.


Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Is taking quinine for her cold and chills.

52



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.

539 November 12, 1890


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.

540 Novembe 17, 1890

Violet Paget (Coccolia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Wants to leave by the 21st.

541 November 18, 1890


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.

542 November 21, 1890


Will return to Florence soon, after spending a few days with Mrs. French at Pistoia.

543 November 23, 1890


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.

544 November 24, 1890


Will not be able to see Mrs. French, as she is still at S. Marcello; she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson 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 Anstruther-Thomson leaves in the afternoon.

546 March 5, 1891


Alice "accepts with joy and gratitude"; Kit Anstruther-Thomson has just left.

547 March 10, 1891


Had lunch with Maria Pasolini's sister-in-law; yesterday drove into Genoa; will return to Florence on 14th.

548 June 24, 1891 Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

549 June 25, 1891 Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will go to the Spallettis' tomorrow; visited Modena.

550 June 27, 1891 Violet Paget (Rubbiera, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will stay here one day before moving on to Milan where she will be met by Donna Laura Gropallo; didn't see Dr. Murri.

53

551 June 28, 1891 Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Was met at the station by Laura Gropallo; will lunch with a friend of Placci tomorrow; received a letter from Mary Darmsteter.

552 July 2, 1891 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

557 July 14, 1891 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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 Anstruther-Thomson'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.

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.

564 August 1, 1891


Is dissatisfied with her book sales, "I am decidedly an unsuccessful author, well known but not read."

565 August 7, 1891

Violet Paget (Ashford, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is staying with the Austins until the 10th; "have been very low in health and spirits"; will visit Hamilton Aïdé at Ascot.

566 August 8, 1891


Asks her mother to get a copy of "Fantasia" for Alfred Austin.

567 August 11, 1891


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.

568 August 13, 1891

Violet Paget (Ascot, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

569 August 15, 1891

Violet Paget (Ascot, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Has had a pleasant stay with Aïdé; her last book of stories was a loss to Heinemann.

570 August 18, 1891


Will stay with Lady Campbell from the 4th to the 11th of September; with Kit Anstruther-Thomson will visit various friends in England; requests fruit, flowers, and wine be sent to the Paters from Florence.

571 August 22, 1891


Will visit some of Kit Anstruther-Thomson's relatives; Emily Ford called; went to the Museum with Eugénie Sellers, "like her so much."

572 August 25, 1891

Violet Paget (Guildford, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Has been staying there for 2 days; will go to Maidenhead, then London, then Chelmsford, before leaving Scotland.

573 August 28, 1891


Leaves today to stay in Chelmsford until September 1, visiting Kit Anstruther-Thomson's brother.


Violet Paget (Crarae, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)


Violet Paget (Inverary, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

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."


Violet Paget ("Steamer on Caledonian Canal," Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Stayed last night at Oban with Kit Anstruther-Thomson; will arrive at Inverness, then take train to the Fergusons'; will meet Kit at the Fords' on 21st.


Violet Paget (Assynt, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Corstophine, Scotland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is staying with Miss Tod outside Edinburgh; will meet Kit Anstruther-Thomson in Leeds in 2 days.


Violet Paget (Chipchase Castle, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."


Violet Paget (Leeds, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

586 October 2, 1891


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.

587 October 4, 1891


Went to see the Daly Company "considered the best comedians in English. So vulgar and lachrymose."

588 Octobert 6, 1891


"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."

56

589 October 8, 1891


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.

590 October 9, 1891


Her health is much better; "Half the edition of 'Hauntings' was burnt accidentally. A new cheap one will come out."

591 October 11, 1891


Would like to ask Mrs. Ward's sister to come to Florence; "on better acquaintance I like Miss Sellers very much."

592 October 14, 1891


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.

593 October 15, 1891

Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Dined with Mrs. Barstow.

594 October 17, 1891


Mlle. De Bury called, "very much Melegan type, sentimental, elderly, but slatternly!!!"; dined with the Dunhams.

595 October 22, 1891


Mrs. Mahomed took them to see some schools in the East End; "Contemporary" took her article which "Nineteenth Century" rejected.

596 October 23, 1891

Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Will stay overnight with Miss Mackenzie.

597 October 25, 1891


Visited the Stephens and Mrs. Clifford; would like to invite Miss Sellers to come to Florence in May.

598 October 28, 1891


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.

599 October 31, 1891


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 Anstruther-Thomson 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."



Is considering lecturing as "a mode of influence and money making"; went to a dull

57

dinner at Raffalovich's.

604 November 11, 1891

Violet Paget (Thetford, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will stop at Cambridge on her way back to London on the 13th; Miss Gladstone and Fred Myers are both out of town.

605 November 14, 1891


Visited Sir Charles Newton; will lecture the "Toynbees" on the 20th.

606 November 16, 1891


The University Extension wants her to begin lecturing at once; may lecture on "Greek art as a standard of all art."

607 November 18, 1891


Will give her "Toynbee lecture" on the 20th; will return to Florence immediately, "if you want me."

608 November 21, 1891

Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Her lecture at Toynbee went well.

609 November 22, 1891


Will come to Florence very soon; found that the lecturing season is 20 October to Easter, which would be hard for her to arrange.

610 November 29, 1891


Will leave for Florence Dec. 2, stopping at Paris and Nervi; will try lecturing in Rome at Easter.

611 n.d. (1891) Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Has been Bella Duffy only twice; will go with Kit Anstruther-Thomson to the Ranee at Wimbleton.


Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) 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.


Violet Paget (Nervi, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Will arrive in Florence on 9th.

616 January 15, 1892

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson

"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."

617 April 12, 1892

Violet Paget (Orvieto, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Has enjoyed seeing things there; leaves for Rome today.

618 April 14, 1892


She and Kit Anstruther-Thomson were met at the station there by Maria Pasolini.

58

619 April 28, 1892


Spent 1/2 day at Frascati; dined with the Bourgets; will return to Florence May 7.

620 April 28, 1892

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) 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.

59


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.

638 July 19, 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.


Has resumed writing; may stay with some Americans at Losely Hall for the weekend


Will return to Kit Anstruther-Thomson in London as she is very ill.


Returns to London today; may stay with Aide for a few days.

643 August 1, 1892


Kit Anstruther-Thomson very ill, but "insists on going to Psychological Congress today!"; will begin study of Greek sculpture; visited St. Paul's.

644 August 2, 1892


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


Saw experiments of hypnotic suggestion at the Psychological Congress.

646 August 7, 1892


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.

647 August 10, 1892


Will stay alone in London while Kit Anstruther-Thomson goes to her cousin's near Epsom.

60

648 August 12, 1892


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


Will go with Kit Anstruther-Thomson to St. Moritz to stay with Miss Dunham.

651 August 18, 1892


Will leave for St. Moritz with Kit Anstruther-Thomson next week.

652 August 20, 1892


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


Is staying with Miss Moffat until tomorrow when she leaves for Bale.

654 August 27, 1892

Violet Paget (St. Moritz, Switzerland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

"Very wonderful and beautiful scenery here…brilliant sun and delightful air."

655 August 29, 1892


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.

656 August 31, 1892


Countryside there is "delightfully stimulating and full of strange beauty"; they take many drives.

656.1 September 1, 1892


Met another of Maria Pasolini's sister, Mme. Esengrini, who invited her and Kit Anstruther-Thomson for a visit.

656.2 September 4, 1892


Will stay with Miss Dunham until the 12th or 13th; will go to Venice, then to see Maria Pasolini.

656.3 September 6, 1892


Met the "charming local magnates, Von Planta, sort of feudal sovereign."

656.4 September 8, 1892


Will leave on the 15th, stopping at Promontogno.

656.5 September 10, 1892


Gives itinerary of her trip with Kit Anstruther-Thomson from St. Moritz to Venice.

656.6 September 12, 1892


Has seen Mrs. Penn Browning several times; is reading about French literature.

656.7 September 13, 1892


Will leave in 2 days for Promontogno, accompanied by Kit Anstruther-Thomson and Miss Dunham.

656.8 September 15, 1892

Violet Paget (Promontogno, Switzerland) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will stay here overnight before going to Cernobbio tomorrow.

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656.9 September 17, 1892

Violet Paget (Cernobbio, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Was met upon arrival there by Laura Gropallo.

656.10. September 19, 1892

Violet Paget (Monza, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

656.1 September 20, 1892


Will remain here for 1 or 2 days, then go to Contessa Suardi at Bergamo.

656.1 September 21, 1892


Will remain there until the 23rd; Kit Anstruther-Thomson's health much improved.

656.1 September 22, 1892


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


Will stay there until 27th, then may go to stay with Countess Marcello.

656.2 September 27, 1892


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)

"This is the most beautiful place in the world;" will go to Venice tomorrow.

656.20. October 6, 1892


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.

656.2 October 9, 1892


Wants Eugene to order flowers and bushes at once; will be in Florence on the 16th.

656.2 October 12, 1892

Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence, Italy)

Will take Kit Anstruther-Thomson to see nurse in Bologna on 14th; hopes to be in Florence on the 16th.

656.2 October 14, 1892

Violet Paget (Montericco, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Will return to Florence on Monday, the 17th; Dr. Murri says Kit Anstruther-Thomson's ear problem is "only influenza effects hanging about."

657 January 31, 1893


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.



Went to Genoa for a day; will stay at Mme. Heurano's house at Tuscana until the 11th.

62



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


Miss Anstruther-Thomson, Kit's aunt, is very ill.

662 February 29, 1893


Miss Anstruther-Thomson, Kit's aunt, died yesterday; Kit "very busy, sad, and fagged."

663 March 3, 1893


Attended Miss Anstruther-Thomson's (Kit's aunt's) funeral; has called on Maria Gamba.

664 March 6, 1893


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.

665 March 7, 1893


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.

666 March 8, 1893


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."

667 March 9, 1893


Dined with the Stillmans and Aïdé; attended a dinner for the Russian Ambassador, Martini, the Venosas, Primoli; will dine with Maria Gamba.

668 March 10, 1893


Will return to Florence with Kit Anstruther-Thomson on the 20th.

669 March 12, 1893


Maria Gamba wants to take Kit Anstruther-Thomson riding.

670 March 13, 1893


Will return to Florence on the 20th, with Kit Anstruther-Thomson following on the next day.

671 March 16, 1893


"The Queen seems to wish to see me, but… I have no clothes, among other difficulties"; met Countess Glerchen, "a sculptor, nice."

672 March 18, 1893


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


Will arrive in Florence with Kit Anstruther-Thomson tomorrow.

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674 June 8, 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.


Received a letter from Pratesi, saying he'd received the post of Provvidetore at Belluno.


Is upset about Eugene's health; Kit Anstruther-Thomson is at Charleton, Scotland.


Is staying in London with Miss Moffatt; Kit Anstruther-Thomson will visit tomorrow; will go to Oxford on 19th.

679 June 19, 1893 Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

682 June/July, 1893

Violet Paget (London, England) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (Florence, Italy)

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.

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.

689 July 22, 1893

Violet Paget (Windsor Castle, England) to Henry Paget (Florence, Italy)

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 Anstruther-Thomson, 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."

691 July 29, 1893 Violet Paget (Paddington, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

65

692 July 30, 1893


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".

693 August 1, 1893

Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, England)

Will go tomorrow with Kit Anstruther-Thomson to Bushey where Miss Price and Flora Priestly will join them.

694 August 4, 1893

Violet Paget (Bushey, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is glad to be there "as the air of London was beginning to tire me"; "Althea" is finished and going to press.

695 August 7, 1893


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."

696 August 11, 1893


Spends all day outdoors there; will return to London on 13th with Kit Anstruther-Thomson; on 18th gives a lecture at Cambridge; her travel plans for September are uncertain.

697 August 15, 1893


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.

698 August 17, 1893


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.

699 August 20, 1893

Violet Paget (Cambridge, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

700 August 21, 1893


Is trying to arrange for a friend of Miss Price (Miss Cruttwell) to serve as Eugene's secretary.

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701 August 24, 1893


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.

702 August 26, 1893


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.

703 August 31, 1893

Violet Paget (Kensington, England) to Eugene-Lee Hamilton (Florence, Italy)

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."


Violet Paget (Weybridge, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Wimbledon, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

706 September 13-14, 1893

Violet Paget (Farnborough, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, England)

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.


Violet Paget (Grantham, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Has given up plans to go to Scotland; may return to Florence on 21st or 22nd.



Has taken a room close to Kit Anstruther-Thomson; will leave England on the 30th, arriving in Florence on Oct. 4th or 5th.

67


Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.



Will leave tomorrow for Calais and spend a day in Paris before going to Italy.

712 October 3, 1893


Had a good journey from Paris; will stay tomorrow at Elena French's, then go to Florence.

713 October 26, 1893

Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is staying with Elena French, who is not well; will go to the Rossegliosis on 29th.

714 November 26, 1893


Has arrived at Maria Pasolini's, having travelled with a priest on the train.

715 November 29, 1893


Is enjoying herself there; will return to Florence December 2.

716 April 15, 1894


Hasn't written because "holding the paper is so very tiring and troublesome."

717 May 31, 1894 Violet Paget (Milan, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

719 June 3, 1894 Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) 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."

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.

724 June 28, 1894 Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

726 July 3-4, 1894 Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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."

727 July 6, 1894 Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

729 July 16, 1894

Violet Paget (Windsor Castle, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

731 July 24, 1894 Violet Paget (Chelsea, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Has been learning to ride a tricycle.

732 July 24, 1894 Violet Paget (Richmond, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

"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

69

week.

733 July 24, 1894 Violet Paget (Richmond, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Her health is still not good; Helen Dubham has invited her to go to Whitby in Yorkshire.

734 July 28, 1894 Violet Paget (Haslemere, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Her health has improved because of the air there; will spend next weekend with the Wards in Hertfordshire.

735 July 30, 1894 Violet Paget (Haslemere, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

736 August 8, 1894

Violet Paget (Buckinghamshire, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

737 August 13, 1894


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."

738 August 16, 1894


"With the help of the publisher Heinemann I have recovered my long lost 'Virgin of the 7 Daggers'"; will go visit Mrs. Scott.

739 August 25, 1894


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.

740 August 28, 1894

Violet Paget (Farnboro, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.

70


Violet Paget (Wimbledon, 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.



Will go to Asti on 17th; Laura Gropallo wants to visit in October.


Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (San Martino, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place unknown)

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."


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) 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.

750 November 9-10, 1894

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place unknown)

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.

751 November 17, 1894


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."

752 January 26, 1895

Violet Paget (San Remo, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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.


Violet Paget (Genoa, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is detained here while waiting for a train to Nervi.

71





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)

Will remain there until the 22nd, then go to Cittadi Castello.

760 March 23, 1895

Violet Paget (Castello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Arrived "in this beastly little hole"; will stay tomorrow night at Cerezzo, then return to Florence on the 25th.

761 May 3, 1895 Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

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)

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.


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.



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 Anstruther-Thomson

774 June 19, 1895 Violet Paget (Oxford) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Second lecture was successful, but the audience so small that "economically, it is a dead failure."

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."

781 July 16, 1895


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.

782 July 20, 1895 Violet Paget (London, England) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Will arrive in Florence August 1

783 July 28, 1895 Violet Paget (Beaufresne, France) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Found Dieppe "after England…so pretty and picturesque"; will go to Beauvais to see the cathedral; will arrive tomorrow at Mary Darmsteter's.

784 July 28, 1895

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

Likes France, as it seems "no island or semi-island 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?"


Is glad Eugene has decided to go to Andorno to see the Venostas.

786 August 6, 1895


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,

73

"seemed very cheerful…I feel dazed and utterly idiotic."

787 August 14, 1895

Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Is enjoying her stay there at the Cinis' house.

788 August 15, 1895

Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Mme. Spalletti has invited her to visit, but it is impossible, as Amy Turton and Miss Price are coming to Florence.

789 August 18, 1895

Violet Paget (San Marcello, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Will return to Florence on Tuesday.

790 August 20, 1895

Violet Paget (Foligno, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

On Saturday will go to Citta de Castello; visited Spello, "one of those curious little hill towns."

791 August 26, 1895

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

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.

792 September 10-12, 1895


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.


Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy) Is staying with the Frenches there.



Will travel to Seravezza, stopping overnight at Lucca.


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.


Violet Paget (Seravezza, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

She and Miss Price will ride up to the quarries on mules.


Violet Paget (Seravezza, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

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.

74

799 October 26, 1895

Violet Paget (Mte. Ricco, Italy) to Matilda Paget (Florence, Italy)

Is with Maria Pasolini who will take her for 2 days to Ravenna; will return to Florence on the 29th.

800 December 31, 1895

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Marie Belloc Lowndes (place unknown)

A letter of recommendation for Violet Garrad, requesting that Marie Belloc Lowndes get her a job as an illustrator.


Violet Paget (Exmouth, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

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.


Violet Paget (Exmouth, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

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 Anstruther-Thomson money in the will; would like to be able to give up writing for money; will go to Oxford on October 7th or 8th.


Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Bernard Berenson (place unknown)

Confronts him with innuendoes he made in a letter to her and suggests that he is accusing her and Kit Anstruther-Thomson of plagiarism.


Violet Paget (Gloucester, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (plalce unknown)

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."

806 November, 1897

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Alfred W. Benn (place unknown)

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.


Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mrs. Costelloe (Mary C. Berenson) (place unknown)

Concerns accusation of plagiarism made against V.P. and Kit Anstruter-Thomson by Bernard Berenson



As a P.S. to a letter from Kit Anstruther-Thomson to Mrs. Costelloe; discusses again the accusation that she and Kit Anstruther-Thomson plagiarized Bernard Berenson.

75

809 November 12, 1897


Discusses the accusation of plagiarism made by Bernard Berenson against her and Kit Anstruther-Thomson.

810 November 17, 1897


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.

811 July 9, 1898 (?)

Violet Paget (Rothenburg, Germany) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place unknown)

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.


Violet Paget (Birmingham, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Northumberland, England)

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.

813 October 16, 1898


Eugene has become "more flat and unprofitable since his marriage"; her sister-in-law, 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.

814 November 10, 1898


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.

816 December 21, 1899


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.

817

n.d. (before March 5, 1899)

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mona Taylor (place unknown)

76

818 March 5, 1899

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mona Taylor (Northumberland, England)

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!"

819 March 6, 1899

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Mona Taylor (Northumberland, England)

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.

820 March 17, 1899

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Mona Taylor (Northumberland, England)

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.

821 March 18, 1899


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."

822 March 19, 1899


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.

823 March 25, 1899


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.

824 April 10, 1899

Violet Paget (place unknown) to Christine H. Head (place unknown)

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.

77

825 June 19, 1899


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.

826 July 27, 1899

Violet Paget (Oxford, England) to Christian H. Head (Inverailot, Scotland)

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.

827 October 28, 1899

Violet Paget (near Padua, Italy) to Mona Taylor (Northumberland, England)

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.


Violet Paget (Ravenna, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

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."

829 January 28-29, 1900


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.


Violet Paget (Florence, Italy (?)) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (unknown place)

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.

831 April 15, 1900

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Lillian Granville-Barker

Fells it will not be possible to arrange for a performance of "Ariadne": "it was intended for reading, not for the stage."

832 August 12, 1900

Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Mona Taylor (Northumberland, England)

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.

78

833 December 13, 1900

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (unknown place)

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."

834 March 23, 1901

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Edinburgh, Scotland)

835 April 4, 1901

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

836 June 23, 1901


837 July 29, 1901

Violet Paget (Hampton Court, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Edinburgh, Scotland)

838 August 27, 1901

Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)


Violet Paget (city not named, France) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Glasgow, Scotland)

840 October 7, 1901


841 October 22, 1901




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




847 March 9, 1902

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Evelyn Wimbush (place not named)

79

848 June 24, 1902


849 August 22, 1902

Violet Paget (place not named) to Annie Lee-Hamilton (place not named)

850 August 22, 1902

Violet Paget (place not named) to Eugene Lee-Hamilton (place not named)

851 October 25, 1902

Violet Paget (Astaffort, France) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Invernesshire, Scotland)

852 December 13, 1902

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Paris, France)

853 February 13, 1903


854 February 15-16, 1903

Violet Paget (place not named) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

855 June 6, 1903 Violet Paget (Pistoia, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Paris, France)

856 August 19, 1903

Violet Paget (Surrey, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Glasgow, Scotland)


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)


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

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort, Scotland)

863 December 12, 1903


80

864 December 25-26, 1903


865 January 7, 1904


866 February 29, 1904

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

867 March 27, 1904


868 April 7, 1904


869 April 17, 1904


870 August 18, 1904

Violet Paget (Pittenweem, Scotland) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

871 October 23, 1904

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Fife, Scotland)

872 October 24, 1904


873 November 28, 1904


874 August 1, 1905

Violet Paget (Middleton-in-Teesdale, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

875 February 11, 1906


876 June 2, 1906 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Alexander Moring (place not named)


[Copy [?] Includes draft of an agreement between Violet Paget and Alexander Moring, publisher.]

878 June 9, 1906 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to E. Grant Richards (place not named)

81


880 May 6, 1906

Violet Paget (Bern, Switzerland) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Inverailort, Scotland)

881 November 25, 1906


882 n.d. [1907?]

Violet Paget (place not named) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (place not named)


Violet Paget (place not named) to Annie Lee-Hamilton (place not named)

884 October 25, 1907

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Sarah Orne Jewett (South Berwick, Maine)


Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (Inverness, Scotland)

886 November 27, 1907

Violet Paget (Athens, Greece) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (London, England)

887 December 20, 1907

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (place not named)

888 December 22, 1907

Violet Paget (Rome, Italy) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden, Germany)

889 December 25, 1907

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (Baden-Baden, Germany)

890 December 28, 1907


891 n.d. [1908] Violet Paget (place not named) to Carlo Placci (place not named)

892 January 3, 1908


893 January 7, 1908


894 January 8, 1908


895 January 17, 1908


82

896 January 23, 1908


897 February 28, 1908

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (Rome, Italy)

898 April 7, 1908


899 June 10, 1908 Violet Paget (place not named) to Elena French (place not named)

900 June 10, 1908 Violet Paget (place not named) to Eleanor Metcalfe (place not named)

Concerns alleged shooting of Baroness French's dog by Miss Metcalfe.

901 October 31, 1908


902 November 25, 1908

Violet Paget (place not named) to Elena French (place not named)

903 November 26, 1908

Violet Paget (place not named) to Elena French (place not named)

904 December 22, [1909?]

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Herbert G. Wells (place not named)

905 January 5, 1910


906 January 19, 1910


907 February 13, 1911

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Austin Harrison (place not named)

908 November 13, 1911

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Matilda D. Shields (place not named)

909 November 17, 1911

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Irene Forbes-Mosse (Munich, Germany)

910 May 25, 1913 Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Carlo Placci (place not named)

911 April 17, 1915

Violet Paget (London, England) to Union of Democratic Council (place not named)

912 September 26 ?, 1920

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)

Is sending the first copy of a book to Mrs. Berenson in appreciation for "much hospitality and friendliness in the last few years."


Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Bella Duffy (London, England)

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."

83


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

917 August 23, 1898 ?

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named) Envelope to missing letter

918

June 5 "wrong date," 1884

Violet Paget (Paris, France) to Matilda Paget (place not named)

919 n.d. 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) Envelope to missing letter

921 n.d. Violet paget (place not named) to Henry Paget (place not named)

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?


929 March 30, n.d.

Violet Paget (place not named) to Miss Chittenden (place not named)

84

930 n.d.


931 n.d.


932 n.d.


933 n.d.


934 n.d.


935 n.d.


936 n.d.


937 n.d.

Violet Paget (Malmesbury, England) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

938 February 28, n.d.

Violet Paget (Sciarra, Italy?) to Kit Anstruther-Thomson (place not named)

939 July 2, 1888 Violet Paget (place not named) to Matilda Paget (place not named) Envelope, no letter, note on back

940 n.d. (in 1884 letters)

Violet Paget (place not named) to Matilda Paget (place not named)

941 June, 1884

"Euphorion" Clipping

942 n.d.

943 August 9, 1882

Violet Paget (place not named) to Matilda Paget (place not named) Envelope to missing letter

944 n.d. Violet Paget (place not named) to Matilda Paget (place not named)

944.1 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)

85

948 December 29, 1907

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

950 n.d., 1895

Violet Paget (Florence, Italy) to Marie Belloc Lowndes (place not named)

951 July 21, 1895

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"

954

Wrapper labeled: 1881, 1883, 1885; V.P.'s letters home (in considerable disorder)

list of “vernon lee (violet paget) letters home · list of “vernon lee (violet paget) letters...

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