302 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xxi 



was cold and dry. I am sure I shall be much attached to 

 him. I must own I don't remember Mrs F.'s flattery to 

 him, but it must have been there. 



The following letter relates to a request from Miss Cobbe 

 to include certain correspondence from my father in her 

 Autobiography. He had written to her expressing strong 

 sympathy with the victims of a supposed case of harsh- 

 ness on the part of his colleagues, the magistrates of our 

 division of Kent. The case had been brought forward 

 in the Echo, of which Miss Cobbe was then the editor. 

 Without asking for permission, she changed the opening 

 of this letter from " dear Miss Cobbe ' into " Sir," cut 

 out, without putting marks of omission, all those sen- 

 tences which would show that it was a private letter to a 

 friend, and then published this travesty of it in the Echo 

 above his signature. All readers would suppose that 

 my father had addressed it expressly to that paper for 

 publication. He took no steps in the matter, though on 

 further enquiry he found that there had been no harshness, 

 and that there was no miscarriage of justice. 



THE GROVE, May, 1894. 



Miss Cobbe asks Snow to ask me whether she may publish 

 any letters of P.'s in her Autobiography. If I do consent 

 I think I must forbid any of those about the imprison- 

 ment of Stephen X. which she garbled and published in 

 the Echo. Had I better ask to see them ? I don't want 

 to insult Miss Cobbe. . . . 



After a heavenly night I feel quite set up, with all bothera- 

 tions done away by the good help of all my children, Frank 

 and Horace being moderate and helpful and saving me all 

 decision. 



Aug., 1894. 



You asked me about the Message of Israel. 1 I believe 

 no books now affect me any more than by a transient 

 interest. It did draw my attention to some sublime bits 



1 By her niece Julia Wedgwood. 



