Dorothy Osborne Temple

I am at present reading a book which you would enjoy, 'The letters [from] Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple'. In case you have forgotten who they were, you can turn to Macaulay's essay on the latter. They lived in Cromwell's time, and the letters are very quaint. In the notes the editor also quotes an account of the 'remove these baubles' scene by an eye-witness, who was apparently a member of the old aristocracy and tells us indignantly how the Lord Protector came into the House in 'grey worsted stockings'. They had their own way of writing love letters in those days: Mistress Osborne begins hers 'Sir' like a letter to a newspaper, and ends up 'your humble servant' or 'your faithful friend'. Almost a la Gordon.
- from a 19 October 1916 letter to his father, in The collected letters of C.S. Lewis, volume I

It is very interesting to read the ordinary everyday life of a girl in those days, and tho' of course they are often dull there is a lot in them you would like: especially a description of how she spends the day and another of a summer evening in the garden. It is funny too, to notice that, just like us, she says that she never wished very hard for anything in her life without being dissapointed [sic]. But then I suppose everyone in the world has said that sometime or other. It is perhaps not a book to read straight through but well worth having.
- from a 25 October 1916 letter to Arthur Greeves, in The collected letters of C.S. Lewis, volume I… (lisätietoja)