| Description | [Diary Transcription]
283
1828
April Thursday 3
7 40/60
1 35/60
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L
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From six and fifty minutes to getting up π [Mariana] came to me and lay talking her cousin preve
nted a kiss she took the gold ring off my right third finger and put it on my left I had asked her to do so ~ Breakfast at 8 3/4 — at 9 1/4 went into M-’s [Mariana] sitting room — read articles fistula and hemorrhoids Rus’s encyclopedia
then sat finshing writing-out the long list of subscribers to Miss Fanny Salmon’s quadrilles Having written π [Mariana] the copy of
a letter on the subject to Mr. Hesketh of Newton Chester and ditto off a note on ditto to Mr. Wilbraham and wrote and sent at
1 1/2 hurried ppages to Marian Shibden to say I should be with all along them at Shibden next Monday evening — at
3 went out with M- [Mariana] Mr. Charles Lawton riding along by our side — Went along the Sandbach road 2 miles — got back and came in at 4 40/60 — one
of Mr. Charles Lawton’s men would wall a common field wall-stone wall 4 foot high at 3/6 per rood, and would get and lead
all the stones from a quarry supposedly 1/4 mile off at 6/. per rood — Mr. Charles Lawton pays £1 for a common gate, deal with
oak head and heel — The making separately might be 3/6 or 5 /. — Sat with M- [Mariana] finished the subscription — dinner at 6 20/60 —
At seven and fifty minutes came upstairs for half hour and had a good kiss on my bed ~ Sat talking with M- [Mariana]
in her sitting room till 9, then the squire being still a little gouty went into the dining room to tea — came to my room at
10 50/60 — Then wrote out all but the 1st 4 lines of Tuesday and the whole of yesterday and today which took me till 11 55/60 —
fine day — no sun — coldish, but pleasant for walking — very fine evening — sat up reading from page 260 to 308
end of volume 1 Italy in the 19th century —
Friday 4
8 25/60
12 10/60
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π [Mariana] came at eight and we had a kiss breakfast at 9 1/4 — came up to my room at 9 3/4 — M- [Mariana] followed and we sat talking till
11 then went to church She sat sewing my clean sleeves into my two gowns Mr. John Lawton preached a curious
tirade of 17 minutes — from Galatians vi. 14 — M- [Mariana] and I went out at 1 3/4 — walked to the Congleton lodge and up and down the approach road
and sat sometime near the water and did not come in till 4 — Then M- [Mariana] came and sat with me in my room talking of old times, and
lastly M- [Mariana] trying on the gowns I sent her from Paris, and some (ill) made by Miss Smith, Regent Street London — In the mean while
Mr. Wilbraham called and left with Charles a note to M- [Mariana] from his wife and £20 for the Salmons — Dinner at 6 20/60 — Left the
dining room at 8 40/60 — Had a kiss on the sofa in the dressing room next the water closet tell π [Mariana] she must come to
me by three April eighteen hundred and thirty while walking this morning advised giving up the thoug
ht of [illegible] persuading L [Charles Lawton] to go to Paris next winter and not to go herself to Scarborough now but to wa
it quietly and come to me in Paris next March and we would have a tour would go to Rome this sseemed
to satisfy π [Mariana] and we settled that a hundred pounds would be enough for her to save for the purpose
tea at 9 1/4 — In the evening read partly aloud to M- [Mariana], the 1st 88 ppages volume 2 Italy in the 19th century — fine day — Coldish —
Came to my room at 10 25/60 M- [Mariana] with me a few minutes then wrote the above of today which took me till 10 50/60 —
Saturday 5
7 3/4
12 5/60
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π [Mariana] came for three quarters hour and we had a kiss breakfast (Mr. Charles Lawton out) with M- [Mariana] in Charles’s room at 8 3/4 — afterwards
wrote and sent off (before 12) to my aunt at 'Place nueve de la Madeline No. [Number] 2, Paris’ 3 ppages to say when I arrived here, that I had found M- [Mariana] far
from well and unfit for a house full of company so had staid longer than I intended but hoped to be at Shibden on Monday —
M- [Mariana] had a long, crossed, rigmarole letter from Miss Pattison — sat talking, and reading partly aloud in the course of the whole day from page 88
to 242 volume 2, Italy in the 19th century — We agreed Miss Pattison would be disappointed in me much as Miss Cumberbatch has
praised for said how I was changed could not sit talking and wasting my time with ladies now that they
had ceased to interest me particularly π [Mariana] quite satisfied with the change ~ Dinner at 6 5/60 —
left the dining room at 8 25/60 Came up to the dressing and on the sofa quarter hour having three or four
kisses Tea at 9 - sleepy, came up to bed at 10 10/60 wrote the above of today — Rainy day — vide Italy 19th century volume 2, 7/352 ‘the inhabitants
‘of Chambery, speak and of other towns of Savoy, speak good French the men of letters write with great elegance and purity of style,
‘one of them, Le Chevalier Maistre, published some time ago a curious little work, under the title of ’Voyage autour de ma
chambre’; — which he has imitated with success the style of Sterne’s Setnimental Journey’ vide ii 127/352 ‘a
284
1828
April
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'patito (such is the modern word substituted for Cicisbeo) is still prevailing among the Genoese ladies . . .
‘Strange as it may appear to foreigners, this custom is, in many cases, nothing more than a matter of ceremony,
‘the remains of a chivalrous feeling of gallantry, or the result of mutual convenience . . . . . . It happens, therefore,
‘that if a lady has a real intrigue, she must keep it concealed from her patito as well as from her husband;
‘and the object of her partiality, il favorito, as he is sometimes called, is kept in the background’ Vide ii 163/352 ‘Lord
‘Byron has in his 4th Canto of ‘Childe Harold’, assumed the character of the bard of Italy, devoting the most
considerable part of that beautiful poem to the ‘Niobe of nature' as he pathetically calls the eternal city’ —
vide ii 172/352 Idleness beautifully described by the French poet 'Soupire, étend les bras, ferme l'oeil, et s’endort [To sigh, stretch out your arms, close your eye and fall asleep]'
vide ii 196/352 Kingdom of Naples 1 of the finest regions of Europe — population nearly 5 millions of which the capital
contains above 400,000 and ranks, next to London and Paris, as the 3rd city in Europe — Surface of the Kingdom about 23,000
square miles — Surface of the island of Sicily about 8,000 square miles — population 1 1/2 million of which Palermo contains nearly 200,000
Sat up writing the last 14 1/2 lines —
Sunday 6
8 1/4
12 5/60
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π [Mariana] came at six and a half and we had a kiss breakfast at 9 — wrote a few lines to Marian Shibden to say I should not be at Shibden till Tuesday — Went to church at 11 20/60 — no sermon — staid the sacrament —
Mr. John Lawton came to luncheon — M- [Mariana] and I went to church at 3 — Mr. John Lawton did the duty as in the morning — preached 16
minutes from 1 Corinthians and xv. 12 — I was asleep — Immediately after church M- [Mariana] and I walked to meet Mr. Charles Lawton who had gone to Alsager
church — got nearly there (’Tis 2 miles off) and returne with him — Dinner at 6 20/60 — Mr. John Lawton dined with us — This morning the
1st time I was ever introduced to him — Left the dining room at 8 1/2 — Came up to the sofa in my late dressing room and nearly half
hour having two or three kisses and playing near her all the while without ceasing ~ great deal of rain during last
night — finish, cold day — came to my room at 10 35/60 —10 minutes writing the above of today — sat up reading 1/2 hour from page
242 to 313 volume 2 Italy and the italians in the 19th century by A. Vieusseux, London 1824 vide 155/352 volume 2 causes of the unhealthiness
of the Maremme — page 184/352 the land tax above 20 per cent upon the estimated yearly income and other heavy taxes — page 302/352
recent discovery in the plains of Troas of the tomb of Ilus page 303/352 singular vaults in Sicily ‘where the bodies of the dead are
‘preserved by some particular process, dressed up in the same clothes they used to wear in life, and stated in niches around, where
‘they remain for many years, visited by the relatives who can almost fancy them as still among the living’ —
Monday 7
8 55/60
2 3/4
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π [Mariana] came to me at six and [illegible] fortty minutes a kiss uncomfortable night — disagreable dreams — not well — indigestion — pain
at my chest — I have had much of it ever since being here — Mr. Charles Lawton off to Newcastle horse fair at 7 1/2 — breakfast
at 10 — at 12 went out with M- [Mariana] to see the things made by the Misses Lawton for the bazaar — the 1st time M- [Mariana]
[remainder of page cut off]
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