[John Baptist Cashel Hoey, Irish journalist, and his wife the novelist Frances Sarah Cashel Hoey.] Five Autograph Letters (four signed) by him, including an original poem, and one Autograph Letter Signed by her, all to Minna Hope-Scott [O'Conor].

The six items are all in good condition, with light age and wear. Each letter is docketted. Items One to Five below are by John Baptist Cashel Hoey, and Item Six is by his wife. An intimate, affectionate and entertaining correspondence, the background to which is given at the end of this entry. ONE: Signed 'Cashel'. From Campden Hill Road, on cancelled letterhead of 8 Victoria Chambers; 9 April 1887. 2pp., 8vo. The letter is on the first page, and begins: 'I told you last night I knew you had stolen that line, of course unconsciously. I found the vessicle to which it belongs in an old note book this morning and have copied it on the next page. Though the title is like Browning, the lines are rather in the style of one of the minor poets of the Elizabethan period.' The second page carries a sixteen-line poem, apparently unpublished and presumably by Hoey, entitled 'His account of it'. It begins: 'Brow to brow and breast to breast, | In my arms she made a nest'. TWO: On Victoria Office letterhead; 12 April 1887. 4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Incomplete: the first four pages of the letter only, and hence without a signature. Writing on the eve of her wedding, he begins: 'My dear Minna | I felt a presentiment that I was really saying farewell to you on Friday night, and so it was, and so be it. In the most sad circumstances which darken your wedding day, which cannot be lightened or soothed by aught that those who love you can say or do, it is something to spare you emotion - and I know what a pang you must feel in saying good bye to us under such circumstances. I hope it may be the only dark day of your married life.' He continues in the most affectionate terms, and expresses regret that 'in all the trouble and pressure of these fast flying hours I see no way of making myself known to Mr O'Conor'. He is sending her 'the Missale Parvum and De Imitatione', but the 'Irish book' will not arrive in time. Regarding the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk he writes: 'Lady Mary telephoned early this morning saying the Duke particularly wished Fan to go to Arundel early today. She started by the next train.' The letter breaks off during a reference to 'L. O.' and 'Fan'. THREE: Signed 'J. Cashel Hoey'. On Victoria Office letterhead; 12 May 1887. 4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Another affectionate letter ('God bless you. We miss you dreadfully. We talk of you every hour in the day.'). On receiving her letter, written out by 'His Excellency your amanuensis [i.e. her new husband]', Hoey 'walked upstairs straightway [...] to read it to my wife, with whom, as it happened, was Lady Edmund Talbot'. He hopes that 'Lord Dundesmol will like the way his arms are emblazoned. Sir B. Burke tells me that the sketch, which I also enclose [not present] is, from a register of arms of Sir Hugh O'Conor of Dundesmol in the Book of Knights temp. Elizabeth now in Ulster's office.' He ends by stating that (his poem) 'Endymion's Ode' is being bound (for sending to her). FOUR: Signed 'J. Cashel Hoey'. On Victoria Office letterhead; 11 June 1887. 4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. It is nearly a month since he sent her book to 'Mr Somers Cocks' and he wonders what has become of it: 'He told my messenger it should go in the next F[oreign]. O[ffice]. bag.' After further discussion of the matter he states that he has been 'in dreadful trouble since. One of my oldest and dearest friends John Blake M.P. for Carlow dropped stone dead, in apparently perfect health, on the 22d of May. His poor wife sent for me at once, and I had to take charge of her and all her affairs. I am one of his Executors, and the only one living here, or who can really act.' The letter ends with references to Lady O'Hagan and an 'expedition to Oxford [...] to see Father Humphry'. FIVE: Signed 'J. Cashel Hoey'. From 17 Campden Hill Road; 31 August 1887. 10pp., 8vo. On three bifoliums. He begins by stating that his 'heart bleeds' for her 'domestic difficulties'. Writing with a light touch, and making several playful references to Bulgaria, he proceeds to recount an anecdote regarding the travels of his friend 'Canon MacColl' in Eastern Europe with 'Canon Liddon'. On the fifth page he exclaims: 'This wont do. It is philosophy you want, and I am only sending you chaff. Well to begin. Dont make mountains out of mole-hills. By the way does the air of the Balkans agree with your moles? You promised me a photograph in which they should be shown as large as Oliver Cromwell's'. He concludes with a paragraph concerning her manuscript, which 'that reprobate Baillie Hamilton' says he has written to her about, and with a reference to 'Lady Edmund and family news'. SIX: From Mrs Cashel Hoey. Signed 'F C H'. From Campden Hill Road; 23 August 1887. 11pp., 8vo. On three bifoliums. Closely written. Adopting a somewhat melodramatic tone, she begins: 'It is more than four months since our hurried parting on that April day which must always stand out in my memory as one of the most mixed in my life, for it was very full to me of both joy and sorrow. Every day from that one to this I have thought of you many times, with affection which will never "alteration find," and with great peace and satisfaction in the knowledge that you are happy in your chosen lot, and conferring happiness; these two are, according to my belief, synonymous.' She describes the strain which Blake's death has placed her husband under. After discussing 'Bulgarian affairs' she turns to 'the subject which is of so deep an interest to you' (Lady Edmund Talbot?), regarding whom she writes at great length. 'She has taken to me as you hoped she would, and I like her, & pity her very very much. Of course I do not flatter myself that my influence would be very strong with her, especially with the other women friends whom she has, to whom my ideas would be indeed "foolishness," [...] As you know, they have been at Wetton, are now at Cardiff, and are going to Derwent! The Duke has given them the place for the shooting. [...] She will not allow her children to go where she is ignored. Her own state of mind is simply that of disgust and weariness of live. She wrote to me on her birthday, "I wish I could be sure that I should be dead this day year." - And I answered by appealing to her on behalf of her children and pointing out that if she were gone, all she most deprecates with respect to the children would inevitably happen. [...] I dread the companionship of such a woman as Lady L - but she will not see much of her for some time.' After discussing another friend who has gone to Switzerland, she turns to the manuscript sent to Baillie Hamilton, which has been lost. 'I strongly suspect two things - first, that Mr Baillie Hamilton is - well, not a wise man, and secondly, that he never read "A piece of broad cloth"'. The letter continues with references to 'Major Clarke', 'Prince Ferdinand' and 'Lord D', the last of whom considers himself 'one of the leading politicians of the age' and 'does not like people who are not prepared to take him seriously in that character, and so disdains all but the very limited circle of true believers - outside that he is ignored, for he is not amusing enough to be laughed at, like Lord Wemyss.' Mrs Cashel Byron was the author of eleven novels. John Baptist Cashel Bryon was her second husband. The couple were both fervent Irish nationalists, and she converted to Roman Catholicism on their marriage in 1858. Minna Hope-Scott's father the barrister James Robert Hope-Scott (1812-1873) was a college friend of both Gladstone and John Henry Newman, and was also a Catholic convert. His wife was the daughter of the Catholic peer the Duke of Norfolk. Minna Hope-Scott married the diplomat Nicholas Roderick O'Conor (1843-1908) on 13 April 1887, at which time he was consul-general in Bulgaria. The papers of Sir Nicholas and Lady O'Conor are in the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.