Bessie has been reading ‘La Religieuse’ [? Diderot 1796] but finds it distasteful. She discusses the ‘war’ between church and school with particular reference to the Catholic church in France and England, commenting on the influence of Dr Manning on English Catholics. She intends to be in London the first fortnight of October but does not know when she will be at the ‘Cottage’ [Slindon? Scalands Gate?] as she is now dependent on the condition of her parents. She is enjoying a week in Dublin. She hopes Barbara thinks well of the Alexandra [Magazine] in spite of the misprints. She is going to the Queen’s Institute (the Dublin Society for the Employment of Women). She comments on Henry Fawcett and his marriage [to Millicent Garrett, 1867] and doesn’t think she and he ‘would ever had done together’. She asks Barbara to let her know if she hears of AMH [Anna Mary Howitt].
Two page letter [incomplete]; together with a transcript of most of the letter and a note by Kate Perry, Archivist, concerning discrepancies over the dating of the letter. Four pages.