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

Published in 1888, this work reproduced for the first time in full the letters sent by the English gentlewoman Dorothy Osborne (1627–95) to Sir William Temple (1628–99) during their courtship. Osborne first met Temple on the Isle of Wight in 1648, but both their families opposed the relationship and the couple were not able to marry until 1654. Osborne's letters are highly engaging, especially notable for their political and social commentary as well as for the details they reveal about her daily life and the clandestine courtship. Only one of Temple's letters survives, since Osborne destroyed them as soon as she had read them. While extracts of her letters had appeared in print earlier, the lawyer and author Edward Abbott Parry (1863–1943) was the first person to publish the entire collection of surviving correspondence. His edition is particularly valuable for the explanatory notes that accompany each letter.