Impossible Life of Mary Benson, The
Page 30
p.146 a renowned champion of the cause Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.510
p.146 Nurse Beth’s postcard Benson, A. C., Hugh, Memoirs of a Brother, p.21
p.147 she and Beth sat miserably at home Diary 1882, Ben. MS Benson 1/74 fol 56
p.147 intimate conversations with Mary Benson, A. C., Unpublished Memoir of Mary Benson, Ben. MS Benson adds 12/3 pp.6–7
p.147 ‘attach herself with indissoluble bonds’ Benson, A. C., Unpublished Memoir of Mary Benson, Ben. MS Benson adds 12/3 p.7
p.148 the grandest houses in Cornwall Description of Tehidy and its occupants from Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.242, and Tangye, Michael, Tehidy and the Bassets: the Rise and Fall of a Great Cornish Family, p.45
p.149 ‘a certain aversion to life’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.240
p.149 ‘In some ways letters of this kind’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 1
p.149 ‘In the greatest friendship of my life’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 3
p.149 ‘I want to know more about you’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 3
p.149 ‘I feel as if I am in a dream’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 9
p.149 ‘restlessly dreaming’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 21
p.150 she wished she were doing so with Chat Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 7
p.150 began to shoulder much of the domestic responsibility Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.41
p.150 ‘Did you possess me, or I you’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 37
p.150 the potential sinfulness of physical love Mary Benson’s difficulties here are argued in Vicinus, Martha, Intimate Friends, p.94–5, and mentioned by Mary in letters to Chat, Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 49ff
p.151 ‘I love you so, dear’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 9
p.151 ‘none could give two souls to each other’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 21
p.151 ‘Besides this new welling of water’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 55
p.151 ‘Love is God’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 37
p.151 ‘My Dear Bishop of Truro’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.548
p.151 Edward replied to the Prime Minister Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.548
p.152 ‘asked the most unworthy of your young brothers’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.549–50
p.152 ‘Heard that the Bishop of Truro felt’ cited in Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson, p.67
p.152 The Queen’s letter Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.552
p.152 ‘Don’t mention this till after 8 o’clock’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38–39 fol 64
Chapter Eleven
p.155 ‘Physically worn, spiritually empty’ Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 72
p.155 ‘lowering down from chimney-pots’ Dickens, Charles, Bleak House, p.49
p.155 fingers smudged black Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.580
p.155 London fog Details of London fogs from Ackroyd, Peter, London: The Biography, p.434, and Flanders, Judith, The Victorian House, pp.370 ff
p.156 the old Archbishop’s last confidences Davidson, Randall, Life of Archibald Campbell Tait, Vol. II, p.592
p.157 the strong personal link Davidson, Randall, Life of Archibald Campbell Tait, Vol. II, p.592
p.157 ‘the man who will be seated in the Chair of Augustine’ Palmer and Lloyd, Father of the Bensons, p.99
p.160 ‘shy and inadequate’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.164
p.160 ‘and how frail a prop’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.276
p.160 ‘a natural and effortless instinct’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.164
p.160 ‘woe be to the carriage-cleaner’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.164
p.161 ‘ramp round the household’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter Lambeth 1895
p.161 ‘My mind is in a whirl’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter Lambeth 1895
p.161 ‘Such military blokes’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter Farnham Castle 1895
p.161 ‘Our party of which I told you’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter 23 Jan 1896
p.161 ‘nobly filled and fitted the new sphere’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.164
p.161 ‘comic side-show of the streets’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.166
p.162 ‘so indifferent to the grandeurs and pomps’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.276
p.162 ‘she has no precedence’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.189
p.162 ‘the infinite comicalities of life’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.188
p.162 ‘ecclesiastical machine’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.275
p.162 ‘It was the human being beneath’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.276
p.162 ‘really brilliant’; ‘so fanciful’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.128
p.163 ‘Stupendous though my father had become’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.164
p.163 ‘in a wild war-dance all over the drawing-room’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.166
p.163 ‘I did not grow up’ Diary 1896–98, Ben. MS Benson 1/77 fol 62
p.163 Edward could tell a good story The Archbishop’s social skills are revealed in Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, pp.589ff
p.163–4 ‘intoxication is the best word’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 94
p.164 Fancy, my Beloved Ben. MS Benson 3/28–29 fol 47
p.164 ‘This morning I am a Proud Woman’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter 19 April 1884
p.164 ‘wonderful – so clear and soft, and steady’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, Letter 19 April 1884
p.165 over 20,000 books Newsome, David, The Victorian World Picture, p.150
p.165 ‘It is not a Life at all’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.111
p.165 ‘the cleverest woman in Europe’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.166
p.165 ‘an infinity of rapturous trouble’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.166
p.166 ‘Keep thy Foot’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. I, p.610
p.166 ‘We had a Queen at our last garden-party’ Asquith, Betty, The Bensons, p.70
p.166 ‘my excuse is my great loneliness’ cited in Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson p.67
p.166 Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1887 Newsome, David, The Victorian World Picture, pp.244–5; Benson, E. F., As We Were, pp.119–20
p.167 ‘such a friend of ours’ Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson, p.119
p.167 wrote to Edward using ‘I’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.221
p.167 her beautiful voice and prominent blue eyes Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.9; Benson, E. F., Mother, p.154
p.167 From Queen Victoria to the Archbishop cited in Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.221
p.168 ‘antique and imperishable’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.115
p.168 ‘After this long devotional interlude’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.238
p.169 ‘wasn’t so very bad after all’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.118
p.169 ‘ate and drank and talked with a juvenile pleasure’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.144
p.169 ‘Lyrics? I’ve got deskfuls of them’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.144
p.169 ‘armies of new readers’ Benson, E. F., Mother, p.104
p.169 ‘he thinks his writing now much better’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14 Letter Addington 1896
p.169 ‘talking a little, in the spirit of recreation’ Letter to Arthur Benson, in Lubbock, Percy (ed.), The Letters of Henry James, Vol. I, p.286. In his preface to The Turn of the Screw James says the conversation took place around a hall fire and with group of people, but in the letter to Arthur Benson he implies that he was alone with the Archbishop. At this stage in James’s relations with the Bensons, it is unlikely that he would have been a guest at Addington without Arthur also being there, and so also most likely part of any group gathering around the hall fire – but that James has to send him an explanatory letter does s
eem to indicate that his conversation with the Archbishop was private, and Arthur and others were not party to the story.
p.170 An Entry (of a Most Scrappy Kind). . . James, Henry, The Turn of the Screw (Introduction), p.16
p.171 ‘written in a furious hurry’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.272
p.171 ‘rather overestimated the attention’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.273
p.171 ‘I am such a fanatic myself’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.274
p.171 ‘delighted in their arguments’ Benson, A. C., Unpublished Memoir of Mary Benson, Ben. MS Benson adds 12/3 p.18
p.172 speculated together a little in shares Ben. MS Benson 3/40 fol 185
p.172 ‘clouds of glory from the abodes of light’ Benson, E. F., Final Edition, p.27
p.173 ‘Dire was the wrath of the silent ones’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.91
p.173 ‘Sometimes she tried to shake herself up’ Benson, E. F., Mother, p.164
p.173 Mary’s sitting room at Lambeth Her phrases are reproduced in Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.167
p.173 ‘O what an awful year has been yours’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14, letter 2 April 1918
p.174 ‘physician of souls’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.138
p.174 A great part of her life was consecrated Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, pp.144–5
p.175 ‘I would give anything to be any good to you’ cited in Vicinus, Martha, Intimate Friends, p.131
p.175 Edith had gone up to her room Benson, E. F., Dodo, p.44
p.176 ‘the mainstay of my life’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.144
p.176 ‘so intensely appropriate monosyllable’ Ben. MS Benson 3/40 fol 59
p.176 ‘The reasons for which I love you are unshakeable’ Smyth, Ethel, As Time Went On. . . , p.146
p.176 ‘particular look of devilment’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoir, p.145
p.176 ‘as good as God, and as clever as the Devil’ The explorer Gertrude Bell mentions the remark, as does the writer Maurice Baring. A character in Hugh Benson’s novel, The Sentimentalists, applies the phrase to the mysterious central figure in the book. Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.287; Baring, Maurice, The Puppet Show of Memory, p.138; Benson, R. H., The Sentimentalists, p.216
p.177 Eugénie had admitted to ‘likings’ Ben. MS Benson 3/40 fol 71
p.177 ‘showed me her beautiful leg’ Ben. MS Benson 3/40 fol 73
p.177 a ‘woman of the flesh’ Ben. MS Benson Adds 14. Letter 10 March 1895
p.178 ‘most of us being more or less aggressive and cocksure’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.193
p.178 ‘Contradict while you are thinking’ Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.306
p.178 ‘What made you so awfully clever?’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.191
p.178 ‘instinctive un-liking’ Ben. MS Benson 3/59/2 fol 25
p.178 ‘Thanksgiving to be used irregularly’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 28
p.178 The door was half open Benson, E. F., Dodo, p.36
p.179 ‘infallibly wreck whatever work’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, pp.236 –8
p.180 ‘It repeatedly spurts ahead’ cited in Palmer and Lloyd, Father of the Bensons, p.179
p.180 ‘The sight of his majestic form’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoir, p.145
p.180 ‘raking up scraps of schoolboy slang’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.192
p.180 ‘Are you aware’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.192
p.180 ‘the mouse-like voice’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.145
p.180 ‘We all realise that you and the Head of the Church’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.146
p.181 ‘it was just these human rays’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.195
p.181 ‘the rare and exquisite quality’ Baring, Maurice, The Puppet Show of Memory, p.140
p.181 ‘unpermissibly gifted family’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.144
p.181 ‘the women of that family’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.146
p.181 ‘I don’t like Bach’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.146
p.181 ‘People who only admit one view’ Smyth, Ethel, Memoirs, p.146
p.181 ‘the artist was in abeyance’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.193
p.182 ‘phase of intense belief’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.238
p.182 ‘more or less the same’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.193
p.182 ‘like two trees whose upper branches’ cited in Vicinus, Martha, Intimate Friends, p.133
p.182 the only one at ease with their father Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.193
p.182 Nellie had no awe of Edward Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.116
p.183 Nellie’s favourite question Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson, p.80
p.183 ‘No one could be morbid or haunted’ Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.91
p.183 ‘I am just yearning over you’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 31
p.184 ‘any amount of wear and tear’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 34
p.184 ‘Now as to the “position you assign me”’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 34
p.185 ‘Ethel, I do wish you knew human nature’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 39
p.185 ‘But I realise now that more is developping’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 39
p.185 At times Mary’s resolve crumpled Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 43; Vicinus, Martha, Intimate Friends, p.35; Asquith, Betty, The Bensons, pp.63–4
Chapter Twelve
p.187 caught through contact with children in the village Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.49
p.187 ‘I wonder what it will be like’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.252. Arthur, in Benson, A. C., ‘Maggie Benson, p.114, writes that Nellie said this to her father, but most sources have it that she was too ill to speak.
p.188 ‘No-one will realise how brilliantly she has done’ Palmer and Lloyd, Father of the Bensons, p.133
p.188 ‘with frosts at night and windless days’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.253
p.189 ‘gay, adventurous, brave’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.49
p.189 ‘the closing of the old days of childhood’ Benson, A. C., ‘Maggie Benson, p.118
p.189 ‘some unrecapturable moment was lost’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.254
p.189 ‘as if she had vowed to herself’ Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.115
p.189 ‘young ladyhood’ Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.143
p.189 ‘All is well here’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.248
p.189 ‘form two relations worth having’ Ben. MS Benson 3/38 fol 34
p.190 ‘not only thinks how she may serve her friends’ cited in Asquith, Betty, The Bensons, p.74
p.190 ‘She will come live with us’ Watkins, Gwen, E. F. Benson, p.63
p.190 brought Lucy back with him from London Diary 1882, Ben. MS Benson 1/74 fol 80
p.190 ‘am I boring her?’ Diary 1882, Ben. MS Benson 1/74 fol 82
p.190 ‘Leave Addington. BOTHER’ Diary 1882, Ben. MS Benson 1/74 fol 120
p.190 ‘greatly attached to my mother’ Benson, A. C., The Trefoil, p.279
p.190 ‘If people are going to smile like that’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, pp.233–4
p.191 ‘the places where in thought’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. II, p.413
p.191 ‘The mountains of Moab blue and bright’ Diary 1888, Ben. MS Benson 1/80 fol 54
p.191 ‘very sweet and good’ Diary 1888, Ben. MS Benson 1/80 fol 81
p.191 ‘In Memoriam was inexpressibly dear’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. II, p.413
p.192 Edward was propelling the party Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. II, p.414
p.193 ‘Bride has become his Widow’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. II, p.421
p.193 �
�two large nails into his nose’ Diary 1892, Ben. MS Benson 1/76 fol 40
p.193 ‘A curious contrast, I thought’ Diary 1892, Ben. MS Benson 1/76 fol 40
p.193 Fred Remembers Sunday Afternoons. . . Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, pp.183–4
p.194 One somnolent Sunday afternoon Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.184–5
p.195 ‘How she did it I have no idea’ Benson, E. F., Our Family Affairs, p.186
p.195 ‘you are not the least like the children of Archbishops’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.287
p.195 ‘her children might cause her pain and vexation’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.13
p.196 ‘the curse was on me’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.49
p.196 ‘being seized by faintness’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.49
p.196 ‘the greatest and most sudden blow’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, pp.36–7
p.196 unable to be truly intimate cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.36–43
p.196 ‘I have often thought I was nearly out of my mind’ cited in Newsome, David, On the Edge of Paradise, p.43
p.197 From A. C. Benson’s novel The House of Quiet, Benson, A. C., The House of Quiet, pp.52–7
p.198 From A. C. Benson’s first novel, Memoirs of Arthur Hamilton Benson, A. C., Memoirs of Arthur Hamilton pp.12–15
p.199 when ‘the long-retarded spring burst’ Benson, E. F., As We Were, p.330
p.199 ‘He is the dearest person’ Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson, p.97
p.200 ‘Dodo is out!’ The appearance of Dodo and its reception is described in Masters, Brian, The Life of E. F. Benson, pp.102 –5
p.203 flee the constrictions of home life Tosh, John, ‘Domesticity and Manliness in the Victorian Middle Class’, in Roper, Michael and Tosh, John (ed.), Manful Assertions: Masculinities in Britain since 1800, p.67
p.203 ‘He certainly takes a manly tone’ Benson, A. C., Edward White Benson, Vol. II, p.260
p.203 ‘flit up and down the corridors’ Smyth, Ethel, Impressions that Remained, Vol. II, p.191
p.203 his position on ecclesiastical matters ‘dangerous’ Benson, A. C., Maggie Benson, p.219