Charlotte Mary Yonge

As the most striking lines of poetry are the most hackneyed, because they have grown to be the common inheritance of all the world, so many of the most noble deeds that earth can show have become the best known, and enjoyed their full meed of fame. Therefore it may be feared that many of the events here detailed, or alluded to, may seem trite to those in search of novelty; but it is not for such that... more...

CHAPTER IThe Model And Her Copies There is sure another Flood toward, that so many couples are coming to the Ark.—As You Like It “Ah! it is a pitiable case!” “What case, boys?” “Yours, mother, with such an influx of daughters-in-law.” “I suspect the daughters-in-law think themselves more to be pitied.” “As too many suns in one sphere.” “As daughters-in-law at all.”... more...

CHAPTER I. A SYLLABUB PARTY. Oft had I shadowed such a groupOf beauties that were bornIn teacup times of hood and hoop,And when the patch was worn;And legs and arms with love-knots gay.About me leaped and laughedThe modish Cupid of the day,And shrilled his tinselled shaft.—Tennyson. If times differ, human nature and national character vary but little; and thus, in looking back on former times, we are... more...

It is the fashion to call every story controversial that deals with times when controversy or a war of religion was raging; but it should be remembered that there are some which only attempt to portray human feelings as affected by the events that such warfare occasioned. 'Old Mortality' and 'Woodstock' are not controversial tales, and the 'Chaplet of Pearls' is so quite... more...

CHAPTER I THE BIRTHDAY GIFT 'O I've got a plum-cake, and a feast let us make, Come, school-fellows, come at my call; I assure you 'tis nice, and we'll all have a slice, Here's more than enough for us all.'                               JANE TAYLOR. 'It is come! Felix, it is come!' So cried, shouted, shrieked a chorus, as a street... more...

CHAPTER IThe Experiences Of Goody Madge “Dear Madam, think me not to blame;Invisible the fairy came.Your precious babe is hence conveyed,And in its place a changeling laid.Where are the father’s mouth and nose,The mother’s eyes as black as sloes?See here, a shocking awkward creature,That speaks a fool in every feature.” GAY. “He is an ugly ill-favoured boy—just like Riquet Гѓ  la... more...

CHAPTER I. Farewell rewards and fairies,Good housewives now may say,For now foul sluts in dairiesMay fare as well as they.             BP. CORBET. An ancient leafless stump of a horse-chesnut stood in the middle of a dusty field, bordered on the south side by a row of houses of some pretension. Against this stump, a pretty delicate fair girl of seventeen, whose short lilac sleeves revealed... more...

CHAPTER I. One single flash of glad surpriseJust glanced from Isabel's dark eyes,Then vanished in the blush of shameThat as its penance instant came—'O thought unworthy of my race!'                 The Lord of the Isles. As little recked Fitzjocelyn of the murmurs which he had provoked, as he guessed the true secret of his victory. In his eyes, it was the triumph of... more...

CHAP. I.—OLYMPUS. am going to tell you the history of the most wonderful people who ever lived.  But I have to begin with a good deal that is not true; for the people who descended from Japhet’s son Javan, and lived in the beautiful islands and peninsulas called Greece, were not trained in the knowledge of God like the Israelites, but had to guess for themselves.  They made strange stories,... more...

CHAPTER I. One summer afternoon, Helen Woodbourne returned from her daily walk with her sisters, and immediately repaired to the school-room, in order to put the finishing touches to a drawing, with which she had been engaged during the greater part of the morning. She had not been long established there, before her sister Katherine came in, and, taking her favourite station, leaning against the window... more...