No . 136
The Trusty Servant profoundly , preparing her for confirmation , ‘ correcting ’ her books , and teaching her the church principles ( and reserve about them ) that permeated all her writing . More than anyone else Keble was responsible for her favourite motto , Pro Ecclesia Dei .
Keble ’ s influence was reinforced by his close friend George Moberly . Destined for a bishopric like so many Winchester headmasters in those clerical times , Moberly was deeply concerned for the spiritual health of his pupils ( their physical wellbeing would have to wait for the reforms of his son-in-law George Ridding ). He rejoiced in a tone of ‘ quiet manly intelligent churchmanship ’ and made confirmation an epoch in the boys ’ lives . And to know him in private was to come into contact with a family life described by Budge Firth , historian and observer of the College , as ‘ perhaps the very highest life , spiritually and culturally , that has ever been seen within our walls ’.
Charlotte had other acquaintance at the College , including ‘ grand old ’ Warden Barter , and the writer Mary Bramston who kept house for her brother Trant . But her strongest tie was with the Moberlys . The years before 1866 , when they left Winchester , and John Keble died , were the richest of her creative life .
She had been taken , aged twelve , to visit the Moberlys shortly after they arrived in College Street in November 1835 . She remembered thinking that the beautiful Italian-educated Mrs Moberly was ‘ like a Madonna in a picture ’, and the fastidious Mrs Moberly remembered Charlotte for her ‘ very shrill voice ’. The Moberlys ’ first baby was then six weeks old . By 1854 seven sons and eight daughters had been born , to whom Charlotte became almost an older sister . Having grown up as a solitary child , with just one much younger brother ( the solitariness relieved by occasional visits to a crowd
Charlotte Mary Yonge by George Richmond , 1844 copyright National Portrait Gallery
of Devon cousins ), she delighted in large families , in fiction and in fact . The Moberlys were clearly a lifeline for her : lively , affectionate , intelligent and pious . ( Unlike Charlotte they were also very musical , and could field two vocal quartets with a chorus to spare .) She was in constant touch with what one Moberly daughter called ‘ the merry multitude in College Street ’; the Christmas plays she wrote for them , and in which she acted , were a high point of their habitual fun and games . She joined them for College functions , including Domum which she always found magical :
beautiful it was in the green meads , and grey quadrangles , the Chapel tower rising against the blue sky and Wykehamists young and old singing with all their hearts in or out of tune , at last , and hurrahing with the feeling of home and holidays among them all .
5