Pièce 38 - Letter from Henry Sidgwick to Mary "Minnie" Benson

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Asks her for some of her news, and whether it would be convenient for him to visit her 'about the 23rd of July.' Explains that he is in Margate because of his hay fever, but intends to return 'to the Bosom of Civilization about the middle of the month.' Presumes that 'the solemn and official part of [her] leave-taking [of Wellington College] is over', and claims that he missed her speeches in the Times. Reports that he has been in London conducting 'the Examination of Women, and indulging in other amusements.'

Says he is attempting to write a book, 'as far as Christy Minstrels and other barbaric phenomena allow'. Reports that he subsists chiefly on 'a kind of fish called Margate Dabs...and on Miss Braddon's novels.' Has decided that the latter 'really are more improving to the mind than Mrs Henry Wood's.' Recommends May by Mrs Oliphant, and states that he considers her 'in the very first rank of novelists.' Reports that a friend of his, Mrs Cornish, has just published a novel [Alcestis], which has been quite successful. Asks how she stands the fatigues of the term, and how she likes the new, incoming Party. Claims that he hears nothing from Rugby, 'except that Kitchener meditates a flight'. Asks after Edward, and whether he has yet managed 'to arrange existence at the Chancery.'

Part transcription in Sidgwick, Arthur, and Sidgwick, E. M, 'Henry Sidgwick'. London: Macmillan, 1906, p 281