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The Pillars of the House
The Pillars of the House, Vol. II (of 2) or, Under Wode, Under Rode
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
806 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1889
About the author
Charlotte Mary Yonge
953 books79 followersCharlotte Mary Yonge was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print.
She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 160 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. Yonge was also a founder and editor for forty years of The Monthly Packet, a magazine (founded in 1851) with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls (in later years it was addressed to a somewhat wider readership).
Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More. Her History of Christian Names was described as "the first serious attempt at tackling the subject" and as the standard work on names in the preface to the first edition of Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 1944.
Her personal example and influence on her god-daughter, Alice Mary Coleridge, played a formative role in Coleridge's zeal for women's education and thus, indirectly, led to the foundation of Abbots Bromley School for Girls.
After her death, her friend, assistant and collaborator, Christabel Coleridge, published the biographical Charlotte Mary Yonge: her Life and Letters (1903).
-Wikipedia
The Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship, a website with lots of information.
See Charlotte's character page for books about her.
She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 160 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. Yonge was also a founder and editor for forty years of The Monthly Packet, a magazine (founded in 1851) with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls (in later years it was addressed to a somewhat wider readership).
Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More. Her History of Christian Names was described as "the first serious attempt at tackling the subject" and as the standard work on names in the preface to the first edition of Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 1944.
Her personal example and influence on her god-daughter, Alice Mary Coleridge, played a formative role in Coleridge's zeal for women's education and thus, indirectly, led to the foundation of Abbots Bromley School for Girls.
After her death, her friend, assistant and collaborator, Christabel Coleridge, published the biographical Charlotte Mary Yonge: her Life and Letters (1903).
-Wikipedia
The Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship, a website with lots of information.
See Charlotte's character page for books about her.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 23, 2021
This was such a beautiful book. Long (very) but good.
now for the characters:
Felix, I loved Felix very much. Just everything about him.
Wilmet, I can't say I ever really liked her, maybe at the beggining. But no, she is just a bit too hard and strict for me to like her.
Alda, well at the and middle I hated her, but then I started to feel sorry for her.
Edgar, ugh Edgar. I guess at the end I didn't hate him as much but still I don't like him.
Geraldine, Well this is interesting, at the beggining I did not like her, though I started to later on. At the end I liked her quite a bit. It was interesting how at first Edgar was her idol and she loved him best of all, but later she really came to rely on Felix and I think then she loved him best. Though she never forgot Edgar.
Fulbert, I never liked him at the beggining and I didn't at the end either really.
Robina, She was fine, but she was just a bit too cold and practical. she wasn't exactly unfeeling, but she was a little.
Lancelot, I quite liked Lancelot, not as much as Felix but I still liked him. he was so sweet when he was little.
Angela, Um... I never really liked her that much, not even at the end. But... She wasn't my last favorite girl.
Bernard, I can't say I really liked him... though he was better in the end.
Theodore, poor Theodore. It was so sweet with him and Felix.
Stella, sweet Stella. I liked her quite a bit, probably my favorite girl. Her ernest manner was so cute. Theodore and Stella were so sweet together.
I really liked the inclusion of characters from the daisy chain.
2nd read
I like this just as much as ever, if not more. It is one of those books that I will keep on reading and reading again and again, and treasure.
now for the characters:
Felix, I loved Felix very much. Just everything about him.
Wilmet, I can't say I ever really liked her, maybe at the beggining. But no, she is just a bit too hard and strict for me to like her.
Alda, well at the and middle I hated her, but then I started to feel sorry for her.
Edgar, ugh Edgar. I guess at the end I didn't hate him as much but still I don't like him.
Geraldine, Well this is interesting, at the beggining I did not like her, though I started to later on. At the end I liked her quite a bit. It was interesting how at first Edgar was her idol and she loved him best of all, but later she really came to rely on Felix and I think then she loved him best. Though she never forgot Edgar.
Fulbert, I never liked him at the beggining and I didn't at the end either really.
Robina, She was fine, but she was just a bit too cold and practical. she wasn't exactly unfeeling, but she was a little.
Lancelot, I quite liked Lancelot, not as much as Felix but I still liked him. he was so sweet when he was little.
Angela, Um... I never really liked her that much, not even at the end. But... She wasn't my last favorite girl.
Bernard, I can't say I really liked him... though he was better in the end.
Theodore, poor Theodore. It was so sweet with him and Felix.
Stella, sweet Stella. I liked her quite a bit, probably my favorite girl. Her ernest manner was so cute. Theodore and Stella were so sweet together.
I really liked the inclusion of characters from the daisy chain.
2nd read
I like this just as much as ever, if not more. It is one of those books that I will keep on reading and reading again and again, and treasure.
May 7, 2015
Charlotte M. Yonge was a prejudiced member of the Oxford Movement, convinced that the One True Church was the Church of England and that its choral worship was the worship most pleasing to God. Nothing was worth doing that was not done for God, which meant, for example, that schools must be under church government rather than any secular supervision. Women could work, and earn money, but never for their own development, only for the church or for their families. From my dissenting, 21st-century feminist, perspective her books are painfully biased - and yet I love them.
Maybe it's because Yonge understands so well what it is to be 'the family maiden aunt'. There are very few of us around nowadays, but we were much more prevalent in Yonge's time, and as an old maid herself Yonge was able to write from the inside of what it's like:
The unmarried woman seldom escapes a widowhood of the spirit. There is sure to be some one, parent, brother, sister, friend, more comfortable to her than the day, with whom her life is so entwined that the wrench of parting leaves a torn void never entirely healed or filled, and this is above all the case when the separation is untimely, and the desolation is where lifelong hopes and dependence have been gathered up. (p. 498)
Then there are her families. I adore Yonge's families! In this book we have the thirteen Underwoods, orphaned early in life and raised by the two 'pillars' of the title - eldest son, Felix, and eldest daughter, Wilmet. Each of the thirteen is perfectly described and I am deeply in love with Felix, Lance, Cherry, and Robina. The Underwoods intermingle and inter-marry with the Mays of Yonge's most famous book, The Daisy Chain - Lance Underwood marries Gertrude 'Daisy' May. That provides the happy ending, but before we get there we have to survive Felix's death. Despite having read the book before, and knowing exactly how it ends, I still found myself crying at his death and Cherry's desolation.
Despite all that my head knows about Yonge's beliefs, my heart insists that I must spend some time, every couples of years or so, with her Mays and Underwoods and Harwoods and Audleys and Countess Kate Caergwent.
Maybe it's because Yonge understands so well what it is to be 'the family maiden aunt'. There are very few of us around nowadays, but we were much more prevalent in Yonge's time, and as an old maid herself Yonge was able to write from the inside of what it's like:
The unmarried woman seldom escapes a widowhood of the spirit. There is sure to be some one, parent, brother, sister, friend, more comfortable to her than the day, with whom her life is so entwined that the wrench of parting leaves a torn void never entirely healed or filled, and this is above all the case when the separation is untimely, and the desolation is where lifelong hopes and dependence have been gathered up. (p. 498)
Then there are her families. I adore Yonge's families! In this book we have the thirteen Underwoods, orphaned early in life and raised by the two 'pillars' of the title - eldest son, Felix, and eldest daughter, Wilmet. Each of the thirteen is perfectly described and I am deeply in love with Felix, Lance, Cherry, and Robina. The Underwoods intermingle and inter-marry with the Mays of Yonge's most famous book, The Daisy Chain - Lance Underwood marries Gertrude 'Daisy' May. That provides the happy ending, but before we get there we have to survive Felix's death. Despite having read the book before, and knowing exactly how it ends, I still found myself crying at his death and Cherry's desolation.
Despite all that my head knows about Yonge's beliefs, my heart insists that I must spend some time, every couples of years or so, with her Mays and Underwoods and Harwoods and Audleys and Countess Kate Caergwent.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews