Hermione Lee Quote

She had an absurd meeting, arranged by Violet Trefusis and Raymond Mortimer, with Violet’s mother Mrs Keppel, the ex-mistress of Edward VII. Both had anticipated having nothing to say to each other, but (Violet remembered) they did find one congenial subject: ‘Personally I’ve always been in favour of six cylinders though I know some people think four are less trouble.’ ‘My dear Mrs Keppel, you wouldn’t hesitate if you saw the new Lanchester with the fluid fly-wheel!’ Neither (Violet Trefusis commented) knew a thing about motors, but both thought ‘they were on safe ground’.20 It was just the sort of anecdote Lytton would have enjoyed.

Hermione Lee

She had an absurd meeting, arranged by Violet Trefusis and Raymond Mortimer, with Violet’s mother Mrs Keppel, the ex-mistress of Edward VII. Both had anticipated having nothing to say to each other, but (Violet remembered) they did find one congenial subject: ‘Personally I’ve always been in favour of six cylinders though I know some people think four are less trouble.’ ‘My dear Mrs Keppel, you wouldn’t hesitate if you saw the new Lanchester with the fluid fly-wheel!’ Neither (Violet Trefusis commented) knew a thing about motors, but both thought ‘they were on safe ground’.20 It was just the sort of anecdote Lytton would have enjoyed.

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About Hermione Lee

Dame Hermione Lee, (born 29 February 1948) is a British biographer, literary critic and academic. She is a former President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a former Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of New College. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature.