Few have written more beautifully about the British countryside than Francis Kilvert. A country clergyman born in 1840, Kilvert spent much of his time visiting parishioners, walking the lanes and fields of Herefordshire and writing in his diary. Full of passionate delight in the natural world and the glory of the changing seasons, his diaries are as generous, spontaneous and vivacious as Kilvert himself. He is an irresistible companion. This new edition of William Plomer’s original selection contains new archival material as well as a fascinating introduction illuminating Kilvert’s world and the history of the diaries. ‘One of the best books in English’ Sunday Times 'Kilvert has touched and delighted (and mildly shocked) readers of his diaries ever since they were first published. New readers are in for a treat' Alan Bennett
Kilverts Diary 1870-1879 Selections from the Diary of The Rev. Francis Kilvert Chosen, Edited Introduced by WILLIAM PLOMER JONATHAN CAPE THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON Selections from the Diary of the Rev. Francis Kilvert FIRST PUBLISHED IN THREE VOLUMES Volume I 1870-1871, in 1938 Volume II 1871-1874, in 1939 Volume III 1874-1879, in 1940 THIS ONE VOLUME SELECTION FIRST PUBLISHED IQ44 PAPERBACK EDITION FIRST PUBLISHED 1964 Condition of Sale For copyright reasons, this book may not be issued on loan or otherwise except in its original soft cover Printed in Great Britain by Fletcher Son Ltd, Norwich and bound by Richard Clay and Company Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk INTRODUCTION ROBERT FRANCIS KILVERT was born at Hardenhuish, or Harnish, near Chippenham in Wiltshire, on die 3rd December, 1840. He was the second child of the rector of the parish, the Rev. Robert Kilvert, and of Thermuthis, daughter of Walter Coleman of Langley Ktzurse and Thermuthis Ashe of Langley Burrell. The Kilverts, originally a Shropshire family, had migrated to Bath in the eighteenth century the Colemans and Ashes had been long settled in Wiltshire. Francis Kilvert spent his early years at Harden huish, was educated privately, went in due course to Wadham College, Oxford, and entered the Church. Here is a brief outline of his brief career. His first curacy was at Langley Burrell 1863-64, of which place his father had become rector. In 1865 he went to Clyro in Radnorshire, and was curate there for seven years. From 1872 to 1876 he was back at Langley Burrell, again as curate to his father. In the latter year he was presented to the living of St. Harmons in Radnorshire, and in November, 1877, became vicar of Bredwardine, on theWye in Herefordshire. On the 20th August, 1879, he married Elizabeth Anne 1846-1911, daughter of John Rowland, of Holly Bank, Wootton, near Woodstock he had met her during a visit to Paris. They spent their honeymoon in Scotland, and on tie 23rd Septem ber he died suddenly of peritonitis. He was buried at Bredwardine. Ttere were no children of the marriage, and Mrs. Kilvert, who returned to Wootton and devoted herself to good works, did not marry again. The Diary, which paints a unique picture of country life in mid-Victorian times, has come to be recognized as a minor classic its author has been compared to Dorothy Wordsworth, whom he admired, and even to Pepys. It was kept no doubt continuously, from January, 1870, until March, 1879, but two portions are missing - the first covering the period between September, 1875, and March, 1876, and the second that between June, 1876, and December, 1877. It is closely written in 22 notebooks, from which a selection, made by the present editor, was published by Jonathan Cape in three volumes in 193 8, 1939 and 1940. Had the whole Diary 5 been printed, it would have filled nine printed volumes. Since the present selection amounts to such a small part of the whole it cannot be said to give more than a partial view of Kilverts life, character and environment it does not, for example, do justice to his assiduity as a parish priest, but it does include many of the best entries in the Diary and it gives much detail about Clyro and Langley Burrell, the two places now chiefly associated with his name. A few notes on some of the persons mentioned in the Diary may be of interest to the reader. Francis Kilvert familiarly known as Frank had one brother, Edward Newton Teddy or Perch, and four sisters Thermuthis Thersie, who married the Rev. W. R. Smith of Monnington-on-Wye Emily Emmie, who married Samuel Wyndowe and went to India Frances Fanny 7, who became a Clewer Sister and Sarah Dorothea Anne Dora, who married James Pitcaim. Mr. Venables was Richard Lister Venables, the vicar of Clyro. Henry Dew 1819-1901 was rector of Whitney from 1843 until his death. He married Mary Monkhouse, Wordsworths niece. His sister Louisa married William Latham Bevan 1821-1908, vicar of Hay, canon of St...
The twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes is a major figure in European literature. His courtly romances fathered the Arthurian tradition and influenced countless other poets in England as well as on the continent. Yet because of the difficulty of capturing his swift-moving style in translation, English-speaking audiences are largely unfamiliar with the pleasures of reading his poems. Now, for the first time, an experienced translator of medieval verse who is himself a poet provides a translation of Chrétien’s major poem, Yvain, in verse that fully and satisfyingly captures the movement, the sense, and the spirit of the Old French original. Yvain is a courtly romance with a moral tenor; it is ironic and sometimes bawdy; the poetry is crisp and vivid. In addition, the psychological and the socio-historical perceptions of the poem are of profound literary and historical importance, for it evokes the emotions and the values of a flourishing, vibrant medieval past.
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