Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54

1914. Dorothy Osborne's sole literary remains consist of a slim book of 77 letters written to her husband-to-be, Sir William Temple, during their courtship, plus 9 letters written after their marriage. The letters are brilliantly written and show a flair for self-examination. They form almost a novel in themselves, and subsequent readers have found them both fascinating and stylistically charming. It has won its place among readers as a beautiful autograph portrait of a virtuous, amiable, and sensible woman, who, by the natural charm of her literary-style, is as much alive today as she was to the squires and shepherds and carriers of the English countryside which was her beloved home.