An Interesting Victorian

[MrBarnett]

In ‘Marit’ the girl says ‘The dear grey town, so queer, and old, it haunts me like a song!’

That sounds like it might be Peterborough.

I’ll wait until I get the book in my hands, but it seems quite plausible that the sisters of the poem were Alice and Martha Pitts and that ‘Marit’ was one or other of them, or perhaps an amalgam of the two.

[eclectic browser]

One last extract from Ashe’s poetical works (thanks again, eb):

You are very welcome.

[drstrange169]

William Morris's legendary Kelmscott Press printed a clump of his poems in 1888. Seems like he had a definite thing for young girls. Here's two, perhaps, related to the two discussed here.

[drstrange169]

[MrBarnett]

William Morris's legendary Kelmscott Press printed a clump of his poems in 1888. Seems like he had a definite thing for young girls. Here's two, perhaps, related to the two discussed here.

Great find, Dusty.

I wonder when that was written.

In ‘The Pleiads’ he writes of leaving his chamber in Minster Close and passing through the Minster gate into the market where he encounters ‘wicked women, Two by two, who whisper low;’ and describes their ‘soft good nights, that shame’.

The photo above shows the Minster Gate and the market place. Interestingly, the building to the right of the gate with the ‘PRINTING OFFICE’ sign was where the Peterborough Advertiser, the paper that made the connection between Alice Pitts and Alice McKenzie, was located.

[MrBarnett]

I can’t make this one out.

[eclectic browser]

William Morris's legendary Kelmscott Press printed a clump of his poems in 1888. Seems like he had a definite thing for young girls. Here's two, perhaps, related to the two discussed here.

Well, there is a "Kelmscott Bookshop" which sells a copy inscribed by the author

https://www.kelmscottbookshop.com/pa...ongs-of-a-year

but it seems that "Songs of a Year" was "privately printed at the Chiswick Press"

https://books.google.it/books?id=Mzd...sec=frontcover

I suppose they aren't relevant, but through

https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

I found Ashe's mentions of an "Alice Bann"

https://tinyurl.com/fkurfhk3

and of an "Alice Dean"

https://tinyurl.com/9ev6kdtx

[MrBarnett]

Well, there is a "Kelmscott Bookshop" which sells a copy inscribed by the author

https://www.kelmscottbookshop.com/pa...ongs-of-a-year

but it seems that "Songs of a Year" was "privately printed at the Chiswick Press"

https://books.google.it/books?id=Mzd...sec=frontcover

I suppose they aren't relevant, but through

https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

I found Ashe's mentions of an "Alice Bann"

https://tinyurl.com/fkurfhk3

and of an "Alice Dean"

https://tinyurl.com/9ev6kdtx

‘Songs of a Year’ (1888) was his last volume of poetry. It contains a number of ‘London Lyrics’ which might be interesting to read. They won’t be in the collected poems I have on order.

In his last year at Cambridge (1859) Ashe started a magazine ‘The Eagle’ and an article on him was printed in its Lent 1890 edition.

I had seen the Alice Bann poem, but not the Alice Dean one. Thanks for that.

[Joshua Rogan]

When I googled this chap's name, I was quite intrigued when the website
"Thomas Ashe, the Lusk connection" popped up.

Turns out there's more than one Thomas Ashe....and more than one Lusk.