Lady Flora Hastings

Recording by Leonard Wilson.

The Ballad of Dead Ladies by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Tell me now, in what hidden way is Lady Flora, the lovely Roman? Where's Hipparchia, and where is Theis, neither of them the fairer woman? Where is Echo, beheld of no man, only heard on river and mere, she whose beauty was more than human? But where are the snows of yesteryear? Where's Heloise, the learned nun, for whose sake Abelard, I ween, lost manhood and put priesthood on? From love he won such duel and teen.

and where i pray you is the queen who willed that bouridon should steer sewed in a sack's mouth down the seine but where are the snows of yesteryear white queen blanche like a queen of lilies with a voice like broadfoot beatrice alice and ermengarde the lady of maine and that good joan whom englishmen at rouen doomed and burned her there mother of god where are they then but where are the snows of yester-year nay never ask this week fair lord where they are gone nor yet this year except with this for an overword, But where are the snows of yesteryear?

If you're a therapist listening, you already know your work doesn't magically end when the session does.

chapter four of memoirs of a london doll by richard henry horn the little milliners my life at the pastrycook's passed in a very pleasant manner but not because of the cakes or pastry for in the first place every night was not like twelfth night and as for the pastry though i was delighted to see it for some time and to notice how much it was admired and longed for yet in the course of a few weeks i had seen so many little girls and boys make themselves unwell by eating too many raspberry tarts and cheese-cakes that i almost ceased to take any further interest in those things my eyes were constantly employed in observing the different people who came in and out or passed by the door and window my ears were constantly attentive to all that was said and my mind was busily engaged in thinking over all i had seen and all i had heard both spoken and read from books ever since i was a doll by these means i advanced my education very much because my memory became stronger by practice and my understanding was improved by this habit of thinking over everything to myself i believe no doll ever lived who was more anxious to learn and know about all sorts of things good pretty or wonderful than i was i soon had the opportunity of seeing a very different set of things from the cakes and tarts and buns and sugar-plums we left our abode at the pastry cook's ellen plummey was sent to be a milliner to her aunt who employed a great number of girls in making ladies dresses ellen was only seven years old and she cried at leaving her kind grandfathers but he kissed her and told her he knew it would be best for her so she dried her eyes and tried to look cheerful and her brother thomas carried her little gray box she carried me herself in her arms her aunt sharpshins was a very tall thin pale-faced woman who was always dressed in a long gown made close up to the throat and the color of old nankeen with a faded bed-furniture pattern round the hem at the bottom she had a nose like a parrot's beak and always spoke through it she kept fifteen little milliner girls in the house who were her apprentices and obliged to work as long as she pleased the youngest was about ten years of age her name was nannie bell and she and my mamma ellen became great friends directly now this tall aunt sharpshins with the parrot's nose made her fifteen little milliners all work together in the same room all seated upon small chairs without backs so they could not lean backwards to rest themselves and she made them work the whole day from six o'clock in the morning till eight o'clock at night with only about half an hour's rest at one o'clock when they were all called downstairs to dinner in the back parlor of the house some of the poor girls often cried or fell asleep and tumbled off their chairs they were so tired if this misfortune happened to them mrs sharpshins used to give them only bread and water for dinner and sometimes she was so cruel as even to give them a loud slap on the shoulders one day my mamma ellen and nannie bell were sitting alone together in the back parlor after dinner to talk a little as aunt sharpshins had gone out to take some dresses home ah said ellen i do so wish to go back to my grandfather's he was such a kind pastry cook and my brother tom was so very fond of me always i am so sorry to be a milliner and although my aunt says i am to be her partner perhaps when i grow up yet i do not like it but then said nanny bell you would be much kinder to all of us than your aunt is you would not make us work so long every day would you and have so little rest would you ellen such poor cold dinners with not enough either now would you that i would not exclaimed ellen giving me a toss in the air with both hands that i would not you should only work as long as i worked myself and when i was tired then i should know that all of you must be tired and i should say now let's go downstairs and have each a large slice of cake then in the evening as soon as it was dark and we began to feel our eyes sore with looking at our work we would again go downstairs and all have tea together and after that a dance and we would dance reels and jigs and hornpipes and quadrilles but mostly reels hark aunt sharption's is ringing at the door and away the two little girls ran scampering upstairs and in her haste and terror ellen gave my head such a knock against the banisters but she was so sorry and kissed me so often to make it well up to this time i had never been properly dressed for excepting a strip of bright blue ribbon around my waist and a small cap of purple silk stuck on the back of my head i was in the very same long white nightgown which ellen had made for me when i first went to the pastrycook's house and in which i made my first appearance in the shop among all the gaslights and cakes of twelfth night so my dear mamma and nanny bell determined to make me a proper dress chapter five of memoirs of a london doll by richard henry horne my first frock and trousers there were plenty of little odds and ends of silks and stuffs and velvets and muslins which ellen had already collected and which her aunt told her she might have and with these they knew they could make me a beautiful dress they finished their dinner as fast as possible and ran upstairs again in order to be alone for this pleasant work they accordingly began by carefully measuring me round the waist and round the shoulders and then across the back down to the waist measuring from the right shoulder crossing down to the middle of the left side and from the left shoulder across to the middle of the right side their little fingers were busy about me in all directions they did so tickle me then they measured my arms first from the top of the shoulder to the elbow when bent and next from the tip of the elbow to the wrist lastly they measured me from the back of my neck down to the middle of the waist just where there is or ought to be the most bend in a doll's back and from this they measured for the skirt right down below my knees and for the trousers they measured down as low as my ankles but how were these two little girls to find time to do all this work for me the whole day they were engaged from six o'clock in the morning till bedtime so as it was now summer and quite light at five o'clock ellen and nannie both determined to get up at that time and thus have an hour every morning to themselves in order to make me a frock and trousers and they calculated that by doing this for a week they could easily finish the task they had set themselves.

but the poor little girls had to work so hard for more than thirteen hours every day that neither of them could awake in time after several mornings however ellen did manage to wake up enough to speak and call nannie and nannie woke up enough just to answer after which down sunk their cheeks upon the pillow and they were fast asleep in a moment the next morning nanny bell called ellen at about half-past five o'clock and ellen made a great effort and sat up in bed with her eyes shut at last she half opened one eye and then she saw poor nanny as fast asleep again as if she had never called her so back fell ellen upon her pillow now for several nights they both made great resolutions before they went to sleep but when the morning came they could not keep them though they tried very much to do so and one morning ellen directly nannie called her rolled herself out of bed upon the floor but there she lay and when the other girls were going past the door to their work at six o'clock and came in to see if ellen and nannie were dressed there they found ellen fast asleep upon the floor in her nightgown something however happened in consequence of this ellen had caught a bad cold and sore throat with sleeping on the floor and the doctor said she must remain in bed for two days to get rid of it ellen was therefore sent to bed again soon after dinner and it was necessary that somebody should be with her to give her medicine or barley water to drink nannie bell was chosen by her own request here was the chance now was the time to work on my frock and trousers but there was something to be done first there was a physic to be taken it was brought by aunt sharpshins in a teacup and it had a dark red and yellow color and oh such a strong smell poor ellen looked at her aunt so pitifully as much as to say must i really take this nasty physic then she looked into the tea-cup and made a face then she looked round the room making the same face only sadder then she gave a little frown as much as to say why should i be afraid i know it is good for me i am determined to take it then she shut her eyes put the tea-cup to her lips and down went the physic as soon as mrs sharpshins left them nannie produced some sugar-plums out of a little paper for ellen to take after her medicine and as they ate the sugar-plums nannie laughed at the horrid faces my mamma had made before she took her physic and just after it was down and then they both laughed very much ellen now sat up in bed and nannie helped her to prop herself up with pillows at her back and covered her shoulders with a large shawl nannie then bought all the bits of muslin and silk and stuffs and velvet together with a pair of scissors and needles and thread and spread them out upon the quilt before ellen i was placed on the bed beside her with my head raised high so that i might see them working when all was ready nannie got upon the bed and sat down opposite to ellen and to work they both went the measurements had already been made and the slips of paper with the marks were laid upon the quilt then they began cutting out first they cut out my underclothes and these were all of cambric muslin which they said was necessary in order to be soft to the skin of such a little creature as i was i could not help laughing to myself when i heard them say this because i was made all of wood and my skin was only the fine hard polished varnish of the celebrated mr i was not quite so tender as they fancied they next cut me out a small under bodice of white jean instead of stays then came the trousers which were cut long and full and were of soft white muslin trimmed with open work they then cut out a petticoat of fine cambric muslin the body quite tight and the skirt very full all round my frock was made to fit nicely to the shape but not too tight it was a fine lemon-colored merino with a sash of violet-colored velvet and very full in the skirt and they said it must have some stiff muslin inside the hem to make it set out and not hang too loosely in the folds when all was cut out and arranged my mamma and nannie both went to work with their needles and they worked all the day as long as they could see the underclothes and the trousers were all quite finished and the body in one sleeve of the frock was begun the next morning after my mamma had taken her medicine and made the same horrid face as before only not quite so bad this time they went to work again but the second morning the weather was not so warm as the day before so nannie went to the bed of one of the other girls and took off the top sheet and tied up a bit of it in the middle with a long and strong tape in a strong knot and then with a chair upon the bed she managed to tie the other end to a nail in the wall just over the head of the bed she then spread out all the sheet that hung down so as to cover them both in like a little tent and in this pleasant manner they worked all the second day by which time my frock was quite finished beside this they made me a pair of silk stockings which were sewed upon my legs to make them fit better and as i was naturally from my birth rather stiff in the ankles and instep they made the stockings without feet but sewed black satin over both my feet in the shape of the prettiest boots possible with stitches of cross-work in front when all was done and everything put upon me nothing would do but they must take me out for a walk round the room out we all got from the tent my mamma in her nightgown and shawl with a bit of flannel round her throat and list shoes and i walking between the two little girls each holding me by the hand but we had hardly walked twice around the room talking like ladies who are out in the park when suddenly we heard aunt sharpshins coming upstairs in a moment we were all upon the bed down came the tent underneath the bed it was thrown into the bed we all three got as quickly as possible and when mrs sharpshins came into the room we all seemed fast asleep she stood at the foot of the bed looking at us after a minute or two she went down again how you laughed and shook the bed said my mamma to nannie i thought she would have found us out and somehow i wish she had i don't like to have pretended to be asleep but answered nannie she would have been so unkind if she had seen us walking in the park i wish people would not be unkind sighed my mamma and then she added how dear and kind you are nanny and how you have worked for me and nursed me all these two days at this they threw their arms around each other's necks and so we all three went to sleep in reality quite forgetting the tent which had been thrown under the bed but it was the good-natured merry girl that it belonged to and she only gave my mamma and nannie a good tickling when she found it after a long search at bedtime chapter five read by ellen corkran chapter six of memoirs of a london doll by richard henry horn the little lady my mamma got quite well as soon as my frock and trousers were finished and whenever she was allowed to go out with her aunt she took me with her the girl whose sheet had been taken for the tent had made me a scarf of violet-colored satin and a white silk bonnet and these i always had on when we went out in a few weeks however i was destined to lose this kind mamma and become the dear doll of another if i could have foreseen that this would happen i should have fretted very much because i was so fond of ellen but it did happen and in this manner one fine summer's day mrs sharpshins took ellen for a walk in st james's park and after a little time we came to a piece of water and saw several pretty children feeding the swans that lived in that water the children had some bread and small buns which they broke into little pieces and threw into the water where they floated till the swans swam up to the bread and bent their long white necks down to eat ellen begged her aunt to let her stay and look at the swans look maria she said to me what beautiful bright black eyes they have and what lovely snow-white necks and how gracefully the breasts of the swans move upon the water while the necks are in the shape of a beautiful arch while they were looking at the swans a very tall footman in a green and gold livery with a long golden-headed cane and powdered hair came up to mrs sharpshins from a carriage that was waiting near at hand in which sat a grown-up lady with the little lady by her side both of them had also been observing the swans but in doing so the little lady had at the same time fixed her eyes on me the countess of flowerdale wishes to speak with you said the footman to mrs sharpshins now the countess was a great lady who sometimes employed aunt sharptions to make her dresses for the country and to walk in the garden we went with the footman and i could see that mrs sharptions was in a great agitation mrs sharptions said the countess smiling and with a gentle voice this young lady has been looking at your little girl's doll more than at the swan's and she has taken a great fancy to the doll the little girl is your niece i believe will she part with her doll i shall be glad to purchase it or send her another oh anything your ladyship wishes of course said mrs sharpshins with a very low curtsey would you like to part with your doll my dear said the lady to ellen i felt ellen give me such a close hug as much as to say no no no but her aunt stooped down and looked her in the face under her bonnet with such a look the great lady did not see it but i saw it i could not think of taking it from your little niece if she is indisposed to part with it said the great lady in a sweet voice upon this a small lady by her side who seemed to be about eight years of age turned red in the face the corners of her mouth drooped down her eyes grew large and round and out rolled one large proud tear but she did not cry or say a word whether it was this one silent tear of the little lady or the sweet voice of the great lady or the look that her aunt had given her under her bonnet i do not know but ellen first giving me a kiss lifted me up towards the carriage window and gave me into the hands of the little lady with such a sigh thank you my dear said the great lady i will take care to send you another handsome doll and doll's cradle to-morrow morning and something besides and mrs sharpshins you can make me three or four more mourning dresses the same as the last i am in no hurry for them the very tall footman got up to his place behind the carriage the carriage drove off the great lady nodded to ellen the little lady kissed her white glove to her and mrs sharpshins made a low curtsey taking care to step just before ellen in order that they should not see the tears that were just beginning to gush out of her eyes my new mamma the little lady flora was very pretty she had a complexion like the most delicate wax-work large bright eyes a dimple in each cheek and dimples all over her little knuckles she had taken off her gloves to arrange my hair better and began at once to talk to me in a very delightful manner we drove from st james's park to hyde park and on the way we passed a very great doll indeed but looking so cross and black and without any clothes on look there dear said my little lady mamma that is the strongest and largest doll ever seen in london his name is achilles and the ladies of london had him made of iron and brass because the duke of wellington was so lucky in playing at ball on the fields of waterloo the countess seemed much amused with this account we met a great number of elegant carriages on our way and nearly all the ladies inside exchanged salutations with the countess and nodded to my little lady mamma all who were elegant and richly dressed and beautiful and in fine carriages with rich liveries, seemed to know each other and to be upon such delightful terms of affectionate intimacy.

Oh, I thought, here is a new world.

Everybody seems to respect and admire and love everybody else.

How very delightful! End of Chapter 6 Read by Ellen Corcoran CHAPTER VII.

Our house was in Hanover Square, a few doors from the Queen's concert rooms.

There happened to be a morning concert on the first day of my arrival, and as one of the drawing-room windows, where I sat with my little lady mama, opened out upon the balcony, we could every now and then hear the trumpets and drums and one violin which squeaked so sweetly high above all the rest at four o'clock my new mamma went out for a drive in her carriage with her governess and chiefly to buy several things for me of course i went too first we drove to pay a visit to a young lady in grosvenor square and after this we drove to a toy-shop in oxford street and there the little lady flora bought me a cradle of delicate white basket-work with a mattress and pillow covered with cotton of pale pink and lilac stripes she wanted a feather bed but they had not got one the governess then bought a large handsome doll chosen by lady flora to send to my dear first mamma ellen plumy in exchange for me and also a nice cradle and one or two other things which i did not see we went down regent street and sent the very tall footman with the gold-headed cane and powdered hair into every shop that seemed likely to ask if they had a doll's feather bed but none of them had one young person however dressed in black with a pale face and her hair very nicely plaited came out to the carriage window and said they would be most happy to make a feather bed for the doll if her ladyship would allow them that honor my little lady mamma however said certainly not i thank you we passed the regent's quadrant after sending into two or three shops and then turned up piccadilly and got out at the burlington arcade but no such thing as a doll's feather bed could be found the little lady however brought me a small gold watch and chain which cost a shilling we then returned to the carriage drove down waterloo place and sent into several shops to inquire while we slowly drove toward the duke of york's column my lady mamma explained to me that the black doll on the top was once a great duke who was at the head of all the army when he was alive and in the same way that he was now at the top of that fine column the very tall footman presently returned saying he was very sorry to inform lady flora that he had not been so fortunate as to discover a doll's feather bed at any of the shops so we turned round and drove up bond street and tried at several shops with no better success then we passed again down oxford street and went to the soho bazaar there at the top of a long room on the left-hand side in a corner there at last we did find a doll's feather bed and of a very superior quality no doll in the world and particularly a wooden doll could have wished for anything softer at the same place there were also many articles of furniture such as dolls of the higher class are accustomed to have and some of these were bought for me that which i was most pleased with was a doll's wardrobe made of cedar wood with drawers for clothes in the middle and pegs to hang dresses upon at each side and all enclosed with enfolding doors and smelling so sweet all of these things being carefully packed up in silver paper and then placed one upon the other were given to the very tall footmen with powdered hair who receiving them with a serious face and carrying them balanced on the palm of one hand and holding up his long gold-headed cane in the other slowly walked behind us with his chin raised high out of his white neckcloth to the admiration of everybody in the bazaar as we returned to our carriage we now drove once more into regent street to a pastrycook's and there i was left lying upon the seat of the carriage all alone while lady flora and her governess went to have something nice but i did not care much about this as my mind was occupied with several thoughts in the first place the pastrycook's window though very elegant presented nothing like the brilliant appearance of mr plummey's shop window on twelfth night no that first impression exceeded anything else of the kind and was never to be effaced but there was one other thought that troubled me a little it was this i had been accustomed hitherto to think of myself not only very pretty but one of the very nicest and best dolls that could possibly be i had always understood that the celebrated mr spratte who had made me was one of the very first doll makers in england the master of the doll shop in holborn who had walked to and fro like neapolian bonaparte in a brown paper cocked hat had said so in my herring and i had believed it i naturally considered myself a charming doll but i had seen many other dolls of quite a different make in the soho bazaar dolls which i could not help fancying were superior to any of those made by poor mr spratte and therefore very superior to myself this thought hurt my vanity and humbled me of course i had been very vain and conceited what else could you expect of a doll but now i certainly felt much less vain for i plainly saw that there were other dolls in the world who were far prettier and better made than myself however as i had been already beloved by two mammas i soon became contented and felt no jealousy or envy of the prettiness or fineness of others and I also believed that if I was amiable and could become clever, I should never be without somebody to love me.

My mama and her governess now returned to the carriage, and we drove home.