Library

FR to StoR 5-9-83

EDITOR'S NOTE

THE "Book of Golden Deeds" first appeared in 1864. In 1862 Charlotte Yonge and her mother had removed to 'Elderfield,' Otterbourne, Hampshire-the house which was to be the home of the author until her death. It is described as "a pretty cottage in the midst of a large, oldfashioned garden." Miss Yonge had then for many years been a favourite writer, her "Heir of Redclyffe" and Daisy Chain" having been published respectively nine and six years before her migration from the house where she had spent her childhood. Her mother lived for six years longer, and during this period, marked by the studious retirement that she preferred, her indefatigable pen added, besides the "Book of Golden Deeds," many original works to her list. They included "The Dove in the Eagle's Nest," which has just been reprinted also in this series, and "The Clever Woman of the Family." In the year following her mother's death, Charlotte took her only tour abroad, for she was not fond of travelling, not even to the extent of going to London or paying visits to her friends. She was often closely tied to her home by the illness of those of her own circle; and her comparative outward inactivity helps no doubt to account for her literary dispatch and the amount of work she got through. In all, it has been computed that she wrote over one hundred and fifty books; and at the beginning, when she cannot have been much more than eighteen, she produced in one year as many as four novels and story-books for the young. She was born at Otterbourne on the 11th August, 1823, and she died there on 8th April, 1891. Miss Yonge seems to have been an irrepressible story-teller, and a sincere and moral story-teller, from the very first. She began in the nursery, and with her the taste and faculty for it were inborn. The "Book of Golden Deeds" is characteristic of her feeling for the child-audience that she loved, since it teaches that the consideration of something nobler than ourselves is better than the contemplation of our own sins, which used

vii

to be impressed even upon the smallest child. She taught her children to turn to spiritual heroes like Vincent St. Paul, the whole tenor of whose life was golden: "And if we told all his golden deeds they would fill an entire book."

Miss Yonge's first book was Abbeychurch, or Self-control and Selfconceit, 1844. Her long literary career closed in 1901. Among her chief works are: The Heir of Redclyffe, 1853; Heart'sease, or the Brother's Wife, 1854; The Lances of Lynwood, 1855; The Daisy Chain, 1856; Dynevor Terrace, 1857; Hopes and Fears, 1860; The Young Stepmother, 1861; The Trial: More Links of the Daisy Chain, 1864; The Clever Woman of the Family, 1865; The Dove in the Eagle's Nest, 1866; The Chaplet of Pearls, 1868; The Caged Lion, 1870; The Pillars of the House, 1873; Lady Hester, or Ursula's Narrative, 1873; My Young Alcides, 1875; The Three Brides, 1876. Apart from fiction Miss Yonge published several works dealing with English and foreign history; among them are: Landmarks of History, four series, from ancient to recent times, 1852, 1853, 1857, 1883; Aunt Charlotte's Stories of English, of Bible, of Greek, of Roman, of German, of American, of French, 1873-1893; Cameos of English History, 1868; Eighteen Centuries of Beginnings of Church History, 1876.

Her numerous and miscellaneous writings include, A Book of Golden Deeds of all Times and all Lands, 1864.

Miss Yonge was editor of The Monthly Packet, 1851-1899; Monthly Paper of Sunday Teaching, 1860-75; Mothers in Council, 1890.

LIFE.-Charlotte Mary Yonge: Her Life and Letters (including her Autobiography of Childhood and Early Youth), by Christabel Coleridge, 1903.

PREFACE

As the most striking lines of poetry are the most hackneyed, because they have grown to be the common inheritance of all the world, so many of the most noble deeds that earth can show have become the best known, and enjoyed their full meed of fame. Therefore it may be feared that many of the events here detailed, or alluded to, may seem trite to those in search of novelty; but it is not for such that the collection has been made. It is rather intended as a treasury for young people, where they may find minuter particulars than their abridged histories usually afford of the soul-stirring deeds that give life and glory to the record of events; and where also other like actions, out of their ordinary course of reading, may be placed before them, in the trust that example may inspire the spirit of heroism and self-devotion. For surely it must be a wholesome contemplation to look on actions, the very essence of which is such entire absorption in others that self is not so much renounced as forgotten; the object of which is not to win promotion, wealth, or success, but simple duty, mercy, and loving-kindness. These are the actions wrought, "hoping for nothing again," but which most surely have their reward. The authorities have not been given, as for the most part the narratives lie on the surface of history. For the description of the Coliseum, I have, however, been indebted to the Abbé Gerbet's Rome Chrétienne; for the Housewives of Löwenburg, and St. Stephen's Crown, to Freytag's Sketches of German Life; and for the story of George the Triller, to Mr. Mayhew's Germany. The Escape of Attalus is narrated (from Gregory of Tours) in Thierry's "Lettres sur l'Histoire de France;" the Russian officer's adventures, and those of Prascovia Lopouloff, the true Elisabeth of Siberia, are from M. le Maistre; the shipwrecks chiefly from Gilly's "Shipwrecks of the British Navy;" the Jersey Powder Magazine from the Annual Register, and that at Ciudad Rodrigo, from the traditions of the 52d Regiment. There is a cloud of doubt resting on a few of the tales,

which it may be honest to mention, though they were far too beautiful not to tell. These are the details of the Gallic occupation of Rome, the Legend of St. Geneviève, the Letter of Gertrude von der Wart, the stories of the Keys of Calais, of the Dragon of Rhodes, and we fear we must add, both Nelson's plan of the battle of the Nile, and likewise the exact form of the heroism of young Casabianca, of which no two accounts agree. But it was not possible to give up such stories as these, and the thread of truth there must be in them has developed into such a beautiful tissue, that even if unsubstantial when tested, it is surely delightful to contemplate.

Some stories have been passed over as too devoid of foundation, in especial that of young Henri, Duke of Nemours, who, at ten years old, was said to have been hung up with his little brother of eight in one of Louis XI.'s cages at Loches, with orders that two of the children's teeth should daily be pulled out and brought to the king. The elder child was said to have insisted on giving the whole supply of teeth, so as to save his brother; but though they were certainly imprisoned after their father's execution, they were released after Louis's death in a condition which disproves this atrocity.

The Indian mutiny might likewise have supplied glorious instances of Christian self-devotion, but want of materials has compelled us to stop short of recording those noble deeds by which delicate women and light-hearted young soldiers showed, that in the hour of need there was not wanting to them the highest and deepest "spirit of selfsacrifice."

At some risk of prolixity, enough of the surrounding events have in general been given to make the situation comprehensible, even without knowledge of the general history. This has been done in the hope that these extracts may serve as a mother's storehouse for reading aloud to her boys, or that they may be found useful for short readings to the intelligent, though uneducated classes.

NOVEMBER 17th, 1864,