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29 May 1890 — Milton Court, nr. Dorking, Surrey | |
Thursday. 29th [May 1890]. Up late. Finished reading Miss Burney’s early Diary & liked it very much. Lady Horatio & all the party went for a drive after tea. Mrs Rate took us to call upon Mr & Mrs Wylie near Norbury Park. They are charming old people & live in a small house which was originally built by Mme d’Arblay. Mrs Wylie is now blind a charming old lady who lost her sight a year or two ago but being much interested in the Burney family & the fact that her house belonged to Mme d’Arblay, she determined to have a “Burney parlour.” On arriving at the Wylies we found the old lady & her husband at home & were cordially welcome. I sat by her on the sofa & she at once began to explain all abt the B. Parlour & how that she had bought the MSS of Evelina, Cecilia &c in order that she might keep them in the room– She then begged me to lead her & she would take us to see it. I led her upstairs & there we found a small room furnished with a few things of Chippendale make & portraits of the Burney family & of their friends– A book shelf with their writings & the MSS in glass cases– Also Mme d’A’s snuff box. All of wh she explained to me– She was most wonderfully cheerful & even made little jokes about her blindness. She said she had become blind from glaucoma & had to have one eye removed & the other operated with the result that she could only now see a glimmer. The word “Burney Parlour” was engraved on a plate on the door of the room– On leaving we went to the station & dropped the Erskines who returned to London. Mrs Wylie was much pleased to see Henry & to hear that he had known well Letty Payne Mme d’Arblay’s niece. I told her also that I possessed an invitation sent to Henry’s father & mother from Mme Piazzi for a ball she gave at Bath to celebrate her 80th birthday. After depositing the Erskines at the Station Henry, Alice Rate & I drove up to Ranmore & down the hill back to Milton. In the woods we found a lot of helliborine in flower & picked some. In the afternoon little Arthur Erskine had asked to take a bird’s nest to bring up young birds & as I also wanted one—a sparrow’s nest was taken with 4 young in it. The boy finally was not allowed to have a bird & so they fell to my care. Lady H. & I fed them in the forlorn hope of saving them– I took the nest up to my room. I played the game of “Halma” after dinner with Mr Rate till bed time. | |
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