Biography of Alice Boyd 14th of Penkill 1825-1897

Letters of Christina Rossetti. 56 Euston Square, N.W.

Friday afternoon, 14th. [May 1869]¹

My dear Miss Boyd [aged 44]

Thank you warmly for so exceedingly kind an invitation, concerning which I will only put forward one regret, that Mrs Epps [Note. Not clear who Mrs Epps is since Laura Theresa Epps [aged 17] didn't marry Lawrence Alma-Tadema [aged 33] until 1871] should lose what might so have refreshed her both in mind and in body. And indeed, if I may, I will say that should it after all turn out that she could visit lovely Penkill you will without hesitation let me know your altered plans to which I shall most readily conform mine. On the other hand if I go, it will be a special indulgence to travel with the Scotts [Note. William Bell Scott [aged 58] and Letitia Margery Norquoy] and as you give me so generous a latitude I will even feel housed at the Castle until a companion offers with whom to start south again;-the journey being somewhat formidably lengthy. But this, of course, only in case it brings my visit within not altogether unreasonable dimensions. How very kind you are to me, and how much I should like to make my gratitude obvious to you. Knowing what a Dear Mrs Scott is, I think she will kindly let me know her plans in due course: meanwhile I expect to run down to Gloucester next week on a little visit to my Uncle if he will have me, but to be up again in time for Penkill.

My love, please, to Mrs Scott, and a kindred sentiment to Mr Scott. We saw Gabriel [aged 41] last night, but I know nothing at all about his summer plans.²

My Mother [aged 69] desires her most cordial remembrances to you, and adds her thanks to mine on my behalf.

Always and affectionately yours

Christina G. Rossetti [aged 38].

I expect you will find me quite a different order of being this year as regards walking, and I mean to trim up my old hat for possible croquet.

Note 1. Endorsed: "1867." CGR returned to Penkill in 1869, from 9 June to 22 July, not in 1867.

Note 2. DGR was at Penkill from mid-August to 20 September.

Letters of Christina Rossetti. 56 Euston Square, London, N.W.

Thursday afternoon. [August 1869]

My dear Alice [aged 44]

You who are lady of castle and lands, and deal justice not only to man and maid but likewise to fish and fowl, might be amused to witness the painstaking responsibility and toil with which I keep house for two. This arduous housekeeping added to my habitual labours and enterprises must explain your kind letter's having waited awhile for its answer; its enclosed plume of fluff¹ fans the flame of my grateful remembrance of you and Penkill,-not that this needed fanning.

Please thank Mr Scott [aged 58] for the note which puts my scrap to the blush, and assure him that if a second creative moment unlocks the lips of Sir Bedavere² the golden utterance will reach Maria [aged 42] whether addressed to her in Euston Sq., or at 3 Copt Hall Place-Folkestone.

It is a blameless triumph that a letter reached you on Tuesday morning. I hope the oldest inhabitant continues to thrive, and that if the crabb-dear me! I have turned him into ½ a poet!³-if the crab's position becomes too pitiable he may regain freedom and peace in his native sea. Aunt Eliza was delighted with the weed we picked up together, and cannot have had such a haul I know not when.-Mrs Scott shared with me the enjoyment of your letter last Saturday when I had the pleasure of lunching with her at Notting Hill. She looked and seemed well. Now I am hoping, but not with confidence, that she will say "yes" and meet the Edgcomes⁴ at tea here next Saturday. These mutual friends are migrating to the immediate neighbourhood of Oxford with an eye to retrenchment, and have promised to make two at a peculiarly festive festivity which may call together no more than themselves and Aunt Eliza to honour my teaboard;-for Mrs Scott may say "no", and William [aged 39] may have flitted to Folkestone for a glimpse of our Mother. Gabriel [aged 41] le désiré has asked people to dine with him tomorrow, so presumably he cannot at once be exchanging Chelsea for lovely Penkill;-but I merely infer.-I hope the red lady and her blossoming bower grace and enhance each other;- and that the S.K. windows are progressing to the satisfaction both of blue-eyes and light-(!)-eyes; not to the production of a permanent "Grecian bend".⁵-William has read me his life of Shelley⁶, in which I find matter to interest me and impartiality to admire. Certainly impartiality is not a feminine virtue.-Poor ducklings suggestive of green peas! Perhaps the gentleman who discerned in you a "dear girl" might also view you as a "duck"-and thus make you a cannibal.

Note 1. The enclosure does not remain with the letter.

Note 2. CGR's allusion here is obscure.

Note 3. George Crabbe was one of CGR's favorite poets.

Note 4. Not identified.

Note 5. The first reference is to the paintings illustrative of The King's Quair, in process when CGR was first at Penkill in 1866 and completed by her second visit in June of 1869; the second is to WBS's stained-glass windows for the Ceramic Gallery of the South Kensington Museum (Bornand, p. 145 n. 1). "Blue-eyes and light-(!)-eyes" probably refer to Alice Boyd and Letitia Scott. "Grecian Bend" remains obscure.

Note 6. See letter no. 373, n. 2.

Letters of Christina Rossetti. Thursday 26th [1876].

My dear Alice [aged 51]

William informs us that you are still kindly keeping open to us the road to Penkill; & therefore my Mother [aged 75] desires me to write & tell you with our warmest thanks that we do not feel equal to so ambitious a pleasure, truly as we feel your welcome. Dear Penkill must remain our "Yarrow unvisited";¹ for age gains upon us, & infirmities do not quit hold.

Please thank Mr Scott [aged 65] for me for "Deirdre"² safely received, with a friendly card.

With much love to Mrs Scott

Always you affectionate

Christina G. Rossetti [aged 45]

Note 1. See letter no. 1811, n. 2. CGR had visited Penkill twice, in 1866 and 1869, but never returned.

Note 2. Roberts Brothers published Deirdre, by Robert Buyer Joyce, in 1876.

Letters of Christina Rossetti. [Late November 1876]

My dear Alice [aged 51]

You will not, will you? grudge me the pleasure of answering your note of loving remembrance. Every word of sympathy & of affectionate remembrance of our dear Maria [aged 49] goes to my Mother's [aged 76] & my heart; & such words have poured in upon us, & have assured us that a widening circle has felt the thrill of our loss.

I am so glad you are seeing & hearing from Gabriel [aged 48] again:¹ every dear person gone out of sight brings out the preciousness of those who remain.

My Mother sends you her love, & I send you mine. And recollecting old Penkill² delights & all your kindness to me always, I claim the right to sign myself both

Your grateful & affectionate

Christina G. Rossetti [aged 45].

Note 1. After his collapse and attempted suicide in 1872 DGR became increasingly paranoid, suspicious even of many old friends, including the W. B. Scotts and Alice Boyd.

Note 2. DGR paid long visits to AB's home in Scotland, Penkill Castle, during the summers of 1866 and 1869.

Letters of Christina Rossetti. 30, Torrington Square, London. W.C., October 23. 1882.

My dear Alice [aged 57]

I think you will read my letter with both pleasure and pain. My dearest Mother [aged 82] sends love to you and hopes it will please you to accept from her a trifling remembrance of your dear friend who so truly admired you, our own Gabriel. Among a few things yesterday divided between herself and William [aged 53] is the brass plate of a sundial-perhaps the very one in the old Cheyne Walk garden-about 5 1/2 inches square. It has its 4 corner-screws all ready to work into stone or tree-stump and is (so far as I can perceive) quite perfect in condition. May we send it you down to Penkill?-and think of it as marking time somewhere in the beautiful place where you and Miss Losh² cared for himself and for his health so kindly.

Send me a consenting word, please. Then my Mother will have the major gratification of presenting, and I the minor gratification of packing.

Always

Your affectionate friend

Christina G. Rossetti [aged 51].

Alice Boyd (1825-97) was the companion of William Bell Scott and his wife Letitia until his death. When AB's brother died in February of 1865, she inherited Penkill Castle, which both DGR and CGR visited during the 1860s. AB was introduced to CGR late in 1847 or early in 1848. Their subsequent friendship remained strong until CGR's death.

Note 2. AB's half sister. See letter no. 1299, n. 1.

Letters of Christina Rossetti. 30 Torrington Square-W.C., Saturday 28th [?February 1885]

My dear Alice [aged 60],

My Mother & I pay you affectionate thanks-to you & to Mrs Scott-for offering us this time a friendly pleasure we can accept. With your leave we hope to be with you at 2 o'clock next Thursday, & shall be happy to see the Miss Courtneys again, & to look forward to a late view of Mr Scott. Pray observe that your memoria technica has enabled me to spell your sisters' names correctly.¹ It is happy for me that you did not select Thursday in this week, as I am struggling thro' an amorphous phase thanks to a gathering in my nose! but by next Thursday I trust I may be presentable to indulgent eyes. My dearest Mother's health continues, I am thankful to say, good, & she takes her little walks despite various winds of the compass.

With my Aunt's remembrances

Always your affectionate

Christina G. Rossetti [aged 54]

Note 1. Actually AB's half sisters, born to her mother Margaret Losh Boyd who married Henry Courtney after her first husband's death. AB's brother, Spencer Boyd, thirteenth laird of Penkill Castle, left the property to Alice at his death in 1865 but with the proviso that if she died without an heir it would pass to one of his mother's remaining children. Thus, when AB died on 11 April 1897, Penkill and the title were inherited by Eleanor Margaret Courtney Boyd (fifteenth laird), the eldest of the half sisters mentioned in this letter.