| Description | [Diary Transcription]
268
1839
March Wednesday 13
7
12 1/4
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soft rainy morning a regular thaw — Fahrenheit 38 inside and 35 outside at 9 a.m. and breakfast at
9 5/.. in about 3/4 hour — sat hearing A- [Ann] repeat Italian vocabulary as yesterday morning and began this way on
Monday morning — then with Robert the joiner, and look about in the hall and upstairs till came to my room
at 10 35/.. — Before breakfast read and made notes from page 394. to 408. and from 10 3/4 to 12 1/2 read and made
notes from page 408 to page 446 end of volume 2 Wilkinson’s manners and customs of the Ancient Egyptians
very interesting — from 12 1/2 to 1 35/.. had A- [Ann] read aloud to her the author’s preface and 5 introductory
ppages of Sismondi’s Italian Republics in 1 volume for Lardner’s Cyclopædia — then sat till 2 1/4
skimming over the volume after A- [Ann] left me — Sismondi writes admirably — then till 3 3/4
making notes from Murray’s summer in the Pyrenees volume 2 ascent of Mont Perdu — went
out at 3 55/.. — in front of the house with Robert Mann and Jack Green and William Lord who finished
out the temporary flagging up to the terrace wall — repaired drains bruised in by being carted over
and spread as a substratum for the soil yet to come some earthy rubble — staid with them
till they went away at 6 — then walked 1/2 hour in front of the house — then 1/4 hour in the farm yard
planning with John Booth about cess-pool for dunghill and stable drains — dressed — dinner at
7 5/.. — A- [Ann] read French — Coffee — read the double paper till after 10 — then read aloud to A- [Ann] the 1st 10 ppages
of Lardner’s Antiquities of the Greeks and Romans volume 1 — till 10 40/.. — Note tonight from Mr. Adam
proposing memorandum to be added to Shaw’s lease of the Hopwood lane fields — I must see Mr.
Mitchell’s valuation of the tenant right in the land as it stands before I give any answer about
this long-winded memorandum — Mrs Ann Walker asked A [Ann] this afternoon if she did not think she would have been better at her own house at Lidgate than
at Shibden hall answer no well but had she never regretted it
answer no she wondered at being asked such a question and her the subject
ended how strongly this savours of priestlyism! — Soft rainy day till
noon — afterwards fair but thick fog from between 4 and 5 p.m. and damp for the rest of the
afternoon and evening — stood talking down stairs till 11 1/4 at which hour Fahrenheit 40 1/2 inside and 38 outside
Thursday 14
6 50/..
12 35/..
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damp thick foggy morning Fahrenheit 40 1/2 inside and 39 ½° outside at 8 35/.. a.m. had had A- [Ann] 10 minutes or 1/4 hour —
breakfast at 8 35/.. A- [Ann] had Mr. Horner at 9 — I sat reading till about 9 1/2 Lardner’s Grecian and Roman Antiquities
volume i. then a little while with the joiners — then reading again till Booth came soon after 10, about
rubbling the road in St Anne’s Street Northgate — 204 1/2 yards already brought away and 100 yards more
ought to come to make the rise regular — agreed — ordered — Booth thought 2d. per square yard super-for
laying on spreading and breaking rubble (H-x [Halifax] sandstone) 6 inches thick = 4/2 per rood of 4 yards wide
road — I thought 1 1/2d. per yard enough = 3/0 1/2 per rood — but thought 3/6 per rood enough — then talk about
the boiler house etc. etc. Washington’s worse than folly — till A- [Ann] came at 11 for me to speak to
Mr. Horner — told him to settle about his son’s coming to take A-’s [Ann] likeness and mine — and
begged Mr. Horner to get A- [Ann] as fast forward in colouring as he possibly could — then with A- [Ann] and Booth till 11 1/2 —
[margin text:] Northgate — road rubbling. price
269
1839
March
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then had Mark Hepworth — he asked 2d. per yard for rubbling — said I thought that a very good price — he said he
included ashes (2 inches thick) laying on — I came away leaving him and Booth to settle it — Mark to
to tell Wood the mole catcher of Norwood Green to come — Smith who has lately caught the moles
wanting more price — said he had agreed with Frank, and had his own price — he ought to have known
at first what to ask — I paid the same as others — would therefore charge, whatever I paid — A- [Ann] had ordered Booth
to reset Dentons (Hipperholme lane ends Travellers Inn cottages) grate and oven, having consented to it
before (vide 11 February) — but this not to be made a precedent — Came upstairs again about 11 3/4 — read
a few ppages — then till 12 1/2 wrote so far of today — wrote and sent by Mr. Booth (before 12) note
to ‘Messrs. Parker and Adam Solicitors H-x [Halifax]’ to say that before giving any answer respecting the memorandum
to Mr. Shaw’s lease, I wished to see Mr. Mitchell’s valuation — from 12 1/2 to about 1 1/2 read forward
to page 51 Lardner’s Grecian and Roman antiquities volume 1. then had A- [Ann] till very near 2 when she rode off to Cliff hill —
from then to 4 1/2 with Robert Norton ordering about ceiled off entrance from gallery into North chamber — pulling down
old doorway into the room — moving things out of library passage ready for taking the floor up, and looking about
till now 4 1/2 — so thick a fog can hardly see a dozen yards out into the flower garden — out
at 4 3/4 no! A- [Ann] came to me and staid with me or I with her downstairs 1/2 hour — from about 5 1/2 to 7 making
extracts from Murray’s Summer in the Pyrenees, volume 2, respecting his ascent of Mont Perdu — dinner at
7 5/.. — A- [Ann] read French — coffee — books from Crowder this evening the librarian — volume 3 Wilkinson’s manners and customs of the
ancient Egyptians for me — and Knightley’s Outlines of history Lardner’s cabinet Cycopedia and volume 1. Mitford’s Greece, and volume 1 Thirlwall’s Greece (cabinet Cyclopedia) for
A- [Ann] of the last named volume I read chapters 2 and 3 from page 32 to 79 on the earliest inhabitants of Greece and on the foreign settlers in Greece — the Pelassians
perhaps the principal inhabitants, very anciently, of Greece and Italy vide page 56/448 — ‘the portion or element which the
‘Latin language has in common with the Greek, was immediately derived from the Pelassians. It will then
‘follow that their language was at least the basis of the Greek itself, and that it may be far more correctly considered
‘either as a dialect of it, than as totally foreign to it. This general result seems to be well
‘establishe’ .... ‘the most ancient architectural monuments in Europe .... clearly appear to have been
‘the works of their hands’ ... ‘in Epirus, Italy, and the western coast of Asia minor’ called ‘Cyclopean,
‘because according to the Greek legend, the Cyclopes built the walls of Tiryns and Mycenæ’ 61/448
‘It has been suspected, not without great appearance of probability, that the Phœnicians are often described in the
‘legends of the Greek seas under different names’ e.g. Telchines etc. 76/448 — reading the above 2nd and 3rd
chapters and writing the last 14 1/2 lines till 11 — Damp thick-fog regular thaw day — so thick
this afternoon could scarce a dozen yards before one — then read aloud to A- [Ann] the 1st chapter volume
1. 4to. [quarto] of Mitford’s Greece — the style a relief after the heavy style the cabinet cyclopedia history of Greece —
came upstairs at 11 1/2 at which hour Fahrenheit 43 1/2 inside and 45 1/2 outside warm muggy rainy night —
[margin text:] Mole catcher
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