Unaddressed Letters

Anonymous and Frank Athelstane Swettenham (1850 - 1946)

“I had a friend who loved me;” but he has gone, and the “great gulf” is between us. After his death, I received a packet of manuscript with these few words:—“What I have written may appeal to you because of our friendship, and because, when you come to read them, you will seek to grasp, in these apparent confidences, an inner meaning that to the end will elude you. If you think others, not the many but the few, might find here any answer to their unuttered questionings, any fellowship of sympathy in those experiences which are the milestones of our lives, then use the letters as you will, but without my name. I shall have gone, and the knowledge of my name would make no one either wiser or happier.”
The writer was, by trade, a diplomatist; by inclination, a sportsman with literary and artistic tastes; by force of circumstances he was a student of many characters, and in some sense a cynic. He was also a traveler—not a great traveler, but he knew a good deal of Europe, a little of America, much of India and the further East. He spent some time in this neighborhood, and was much interested in the country and its people. There is an Eastern atmosphere about many of the letters, and he made no secret of the fact that he was fascinated by the glamour of the lands of sunshine. He died very suddenly by misadventure, and, even to me, his packet of letters came rather as a revelation.
- Summary by Frank Athelstane Swettenham

Genre(s): Epistolary Fiction, Memoirs

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 PREFACE Eva Davis
00:03:47
Play 01 THE HILL OF SOLITUDE Nemo
00:06:53
Play 02 OF WORSHIP Eva Davis
00:09:31
Play 03 WEST AND EAST Eva Davis
00:10:04
Play 04 A CLEVER MONGOOSE Amy Gramour
00:13:38
Play 05 A BLUE DAY Nemo
00:13:57
Play 06 OF LOVE, IN FICTION Amy Gramour
00:07:55
Play 07 THE JINGLING COIN Nemo
00:19:08
Play 08 A STRANGE SUNSET Amy Gramour
00:09:30
Play 09 OF LETTER-WRITING Eva Davis
00:05:48
Play 10 AT A FUNERAL Eva Davis
00:13:07
Play 11 OF CHANGE AND DECAY Nemo
00:23:02
Play 12 DAUGHTERS AND DESPOTISM Eva Davis
00:14:11
Play 13 HER FIANCÉ Eva Davis
00:11:00
Play 14 BY THE SEA Nemo
00:12:20
Play 15 AN ILLUMINATION Nemo
00:09:44
Play 16 OF DEATH, IN FICTION Amy Gramour
00:11:07
Play 17 A HAND AT ÉCARTÉ Amy Gramour
00:08:17
Play 18 THE GENTLE ART OF VEERING WITH THE WIND Amy Gramour
00:09:36
Play 19 A REJOINDER Nemo
00:10:04
Play 20 OF IMPORTUNITY Eva Davis
00:11:41
Play 21 OF COINCIDENCES Nemo
00:10:08
Play 22 OF A COUNTRY-HOUSE CUSTOM Nemo
00:09:36
Play 23 A MERE LIE Nemo
00:12:24
Play 24 TIGERS AND CROCODILES Amy Gramour
00:15:02
Play 25 A ROSE AND A MOTH Amy Gramour
00:07:35
Play 26 A LOVE-PHILTRE Eva Davis
00:14:00
Play 27 MOONSTRUCK Amy Gramour
00:10:13
Play 28 THE “DEVI” Eva Davis
00:18:13
Play 29 THE DEATH-CHAIN Amy Gramour
00:12:28
Play 30 SCANDAL AND BANGLES Eva Davis
00:07:52
Play 31 THE REPREHENSIBLE HABIT OF MAKING COMPARISONS Amy Gramour
00:07:49
Play 32 A CHALLENGE Eva Davis
00:07:11
Play 33 IN EXILE Nemo
00:20:44
Play 34 OF LOVE—NOT IN FICTION Eva Davis
00:15:24
Play 35 OF OBSESSION Eva Davis
00:11:26
Play 36 OF PARADISE LOST Amy Gramour
00:04:29
Play 37 “TO MARY, IN HEAVEN” Nemo
00:11:28