LITERARY ENGLAND
Four pages of photographs by BILL BRANDT from his book of the above title to be published this spring by Cassell's
Four pages of photographs by BILL BRANDT from his book of the above title to be published this spring by Cassell's
MATTHEW ARNOLD: Moonlight on Dover Beach
Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves suck back and Ring, At their return, up the high strand, Begin and cease, and then again begin: With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in.
CHARLES DICKENS: The Chalet, Gad's Hill, near London
In 1859 a friend presented Dickens with a Swiss chalet which arrived from Paris in ninety-four pieces, fitting together, as Forster says, like the joints of a puzzle. "I have put five mirrors in the chalet," Dickens wrote, "and they reflect and refract in all kinds of ways." Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Our Mutual Friend were written in the chalet. Dickens was working there on Edwin Drood on the day of his final seizure.
GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON: Newstead Abbey, near Nottingham
The poet's bedroom at his family's Gothic priory in the Robin Hood country. It remains much as he left it when he quitted England in 1816, after his scandalous separation from his wife.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: Greta Hall, Keswick
"Our house stands on a low hill, the whole front of which is one field and an enormous garden. Behind the house is an orchard, and a small wood on a steep slope, at the foot of which flows the River Greta, which winds round and catches the evening lights in the front of the house. In front we have a giant's camp, an encamped army of tent-like mountains. Without going from our grounds we have all that can please a human being. . . ."
(Left)-Letter to Southey, Greta Hall, 13 April, 1801
JANE AUSTEN: Her cottage at Chawton, in Hampshire
In 1809 Jane Austen and her family settled in the cottage at Chawton where she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and some minor pieces. "It was so close to the road that the front door opened upon it; while a very narrow enclosure, paled in on each side, protected the building from danger of collision with any runaway vehicle. I believe it had been originally built for an inn, for which purpose it was certainly well situated. Afterwards it had been occupied by Mr. Knight's steward; but by some additions to the house and some judicious planting and screening, it was made a pleasant and commodious abode." (Left) Memoir of Jane Austen
"Our house stands on a low hill, the whole front of which is one field and an enormous garden. Behind the house is an orchard, and a small wood on a steep slope, at the foot of which flows the River Greta, which winds round and catches the evening lights in the front of the house. In front we have a giant's camp, an encamped army of tent-like mountains. Without going from our grounds we have all that can please a human being. . . ."
(Left)-Letter to Southey, Greta Hall, 13 April, 1801
JANE AUSTEN: Her cottage at Chawton, in Hampshire
In 1809 Jane Austen and her family settled in the cottage at Chawton where she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and some minor pieces. "It was so close to the road that the front door opened upon it; while a very narrow enclosure, paled in on each side, protected the building from danger of collision with any runaway vehicle. I believe it had been originally built for an inn, for which purpose it was certainly well situated. Afterwards it had been occupied by Mr. Knight's steward; but by some additions to the house and some judicious planting and screening, it was made a pleasant and commodious abode." (Left) Memoir of Jane Austen
GEORGE MEREDITH: Flint Cottage, Boxhill, outside Cambridge
In
a letter to John Morley, dated 25 April, 1877, Meredith writes: " All I
can say is, that the nightingale is now in sweet song; there's not a
ghost of a harvester to bite you even in fancy. I want you to see my
study; I want to see you. We have a bedroom and dressing room for you.
You will be here upon the opening of the beeches. Really the sweet o'
the year." (Right)
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