ABSTRACT
Prophecy is a dangerous art and, sometimes, events overtake even good guesses. Preserved in private hands and generously made available to the editors, this material gives an opportunity to reconsider the friendships of Jane Carlyle, and more specifically to focus on her often tempestuous relationship with Geraldine Jewsbury, who Froude claimed was Jane's'most intimate and most confidential friend'. But this claim is not easy to assess with two such complex women. Rosemary Ashton reasonably observes, 'Over the years Geraldine adored and quarrelled with and was patronised by Jane, while also throwing herself at a succession of alarmed or indifferent men'. As early as 1855, Jane writes in her Journal that Geraldine has just sent her 'the kindest of letters', and shows how she enjoys her constant company, but also notes how it can put her 'in bad humour' or 'in a huff when she is met by Geraldine's 'little cankered look'.
