Chapter I: Preface

The effort of the Editor throughout this volume has been to repress fancy rather than to exercise it. There has not been a word added to or taken from the letters of the Duke, even the occasional eccentricities of orthography and punctuation having been preserved.

The editing that was absolutely necessary to render coherent some of Miss J.'s lucubrations has been restricted to the excision of superfluous passages of Scripture that added nothing to the sense of the text, and the correction of the very erratic punctuation both of her diary and of the copies she has left of her own letters.

Miss J.'s copies of the Duke's epistles have been verified by comparison with the originals. In every case where the needful books and journals of reference were attainable, the Duke's statements in the letters of his comings and goings and occupations have been corroborated by contemporary data.

The particulars of Miss J.'s personal history have been derived from private family sources.

CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK.

BROOKLYN, March 18, 1889.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. FIRST INTERVIEWS 10

III. THE FIRST DISCORD 21

IV. SMOOTH WATERS 39

V. FRESH DIFFICULTIES 55

VI. COMPARATIVE CALM 79

VII. ASPIRATIONS AND REBUFFS 98

VIII. A PEACEFUL PERIOD 120

IX. MISUNDERSTANDINGS 149

X. A BREATHING SPACE 166

XI. THE FINAL RUPTURE 183

XII. CONCLUSION 210

APPENDIX 221

THE LETTERS OF WELLINGTON.