#augustseptember1824

[awhilesince]

Monday, 13 September 1824

7 50/60

1 35/60

Breakfast at 9 – Mrs Mackenzie came and sat with me 1/2 hour she is in doubt whether to stay here or not seemed to ask my advice and be inclined to stay if her father is pretty well I would not speak decidedly but was evidently in favour of her staying she has had much unhappiness married against her choice from convenience a man thirty years older than herself who made her unhappy tho she always tried to do her duty her daughter cleverer than she is and rather the upper hand it seems Mrs Mackenzies being so communicative struck me – Mrs Mackenzie gave me a ticket given to her by Mr Brande that will always admit me to the Jardin des Plantes – Miss Mackenzie, too, came in and sat with me a few minutes – 

on this account, it was 12 before I had read over my 3 letters finished last night, and had no time to make any extract from them – they must be in the general post office Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau before 2, or could not be taken in today, and then there being no English post tomorrow, must have waited till Wednesday my letter to my aunt (begun on Wednesday, 3 pages, the ends, and under the turn-down) giving an account of my journey, my being very comfortable here, of Madame de B–‘s (Boyve’s) being handsome – of our sitting in the Tuileries gardens, and of the Champs Elysées, and of the fête at St. Germain gave an account of the shawls worn and their prices – excerpt this – 

My letter to M– (Mariana) on the same subjects only giving a more regular account, rather journalwise, and adding short answers to M–‘s (Mariana’s) last letter – Merely said on the subject of Mrs Henry Stephen B–‘s (Belcombe’s) management of the going-to-York business, I did not understand it, but she and Steph had my best wishes – Entreated M– (Mariana) not to pother herself about Petergate money matters – Mrs B– (Belcombe) knew what she was, and would take care of the girls – I did not think Dr. B–‘s (Belcombe’s) practice could now be sold for much – he was not likely to be well enough to introduce anyone – but Steph’s name and kinship would serve him – affectionate to π (Mariana) kind about Miss Pattison but much more the former to Miss Maclean very much so to her tho anybody might see it perhaps she herself may muse over a line or two in the first page – Told both my aunt and M– (Mariana) and Miss Maclean of my having Madame Galvani, that she alone was worth coming to Paris for; and all my time – would be taken up in endeavoring to gain the French language – 

my letter to Miss Maclean begun at Shibden Wednesday 18 August, resumed and finished yesterday – foolscap sheet 3 pages, long ends, and under the turn-down – very small and short – Treated of my journey being comfortable here, the Tuileries Champs Elysées fête of St. Germain etc etc very briefly – all the rest bavardage amical – 

went out at 12 1/4 (took Cordingley with me) direct to the general post-office in the rue Jean Jacques Rousseau – put in my letter to my aunt (Shibden) 22 sols. and to ‘Mrs Lawton Lawton hall etc 22 sols. and to ‘Miss Maclean of Coll Tobermory North Britain (Ecosse)’ 28 sols because letters here are paid for according to their weight, and I had sealed this letter and wafered the 2 others – wafers always used here because lighter than sealing wax, and for the same reason the French choose thin writing paper – saw the man who took my letters, and those of the crowd standing round the wire grating of his bureau, weigh each letter in a pair of scales hanging close to him – 

from the Post Office walked thro’ the halle au bles, and the church of St. Eustache for Cordingley to see them – then along the rue de Grenelle direct thro’ the palais of the Louvre to the Pont des Arts – crossed the Pont neuf, and returned over the Pont royal thro’ the Tuileries gardens and got home at 2 –

the porter gave me a letter charged only 5 sols (brought by some private conveyance –sent thro’ our ambassador) from Miss Maclean (Tobermory) – Oh! that I had had it before I went out – 

on coming upstairs to Mrs Mackenzie to ask what they were going to do, found them going to the Louvre to try to see the exhibition there of the new (modern) pictures – done by living and I believe all French artists; for the King’s death was hourly expected, and all public places would be closed for 6 weeks – his majesty had taken leave of his family, and received extreme unction – the garde du corps to be changed – Monsieur the next King will go to St. Cloud, and there will be no fête there – what a stupid place, says everyone with one accord, will Paris be! Away we went to the Louvre – shut already, sans aucune exception, till further orders – Sauntered in the Tuileries gardens –

Got back at 4 – read my letter from Miss Maclean – very kind and affectionate – I know not any of her letters that has given me more pleasure – perhaps the receiving it here, might add to my delight – I shall keep and read it by way of stimulus for see the end of the crossing Breadalbane thought me ‘almost quite handsome at Esholt’ and Miss Maclean evidently likes and admires me  visited by an old admirer ‘you once said you thought I would have been happier in the married state no no you are mistaken unless with a mind and he art like your own the married state would have been misery to me  far happier as I am ‘ – see the bottom of page one – and the last end for the following  after desiring continuation of the extracts from my journal ‘you know not how I was tormented at home about you Miss Bs (Belcombe’s) manner of speaking half did this  she only poor soul jested but very little difference of manner in you would have made me dislike you at that time I believe it was mostly occasioned by a little tincture of jealousy at home’..... thought I to myself this lets me into much the Belcombes are no advantage to me I now really dislike Anne not tho on her own hearts account for she is good but for the disagreeableness of her manners I would not for worlds be thought a friend of her poor soul she too was jealous I guess the style in which she would mention me – Breadalbane by thinking me almost handsome at Esholt has perhaps got over her prejudices and and I may conciliate her perhaps entirely with a little care – she must have some idea of Miss Macls (Maclean’s) partiality for on the arrival of my letter she threw it into the room with ‘there be happy’ see the first page at the bottom of the second is the more than permission to write Sibbella  Mrs Grieves would have been most happy to see me –

Miss Maclean inclosed me a letter from her niece Miss Hobart – I should fancy her a nice good hearted fashionable girl the superior cleverness I have somehow expected would not strike one from her letter she is in first rate nobility society evidently – I am to burn the letter at the end of the envelope is the following ‘I certainly do spend a good deal on dress but if I had all to buy I think I could manage very well surely a single woman can live very comfortably on nine hundred a year which I under stand I have at my disposal uncle Sullivan told me before I went to Paris as worth eighteen thousand pounds and rather more’ – 

At the 4th page of Miss Hobart’s letter (dated ‘13th’ August) 

‘Now as to your dear picture, your friend whose name I forgot is perfectly welcome to it now, I will with pleasure lend it for a short time, but you may tell her she is much more welcome now than at the horrible time you mention, for if I survive you, I shall not then spare it.’ – 

Reading and musing over my letter till near 5, then came the Irish girl and another young person from Madame Romatier to try on my new gown – not only my stays, but my petticoats ill made (true enough) – French stays would cost 30 francs and upwards – such calico as my petticoats are made of, so strong and good, not to be got in Paris – the best I could get would be thinner and finer 5 francs an aune an aune wide tho’ this of mine was 1/3 in England this and 1/2 wide – it would take 3 or 4 aunes for a petticoat; and the making (at Madame R–‘s (Romatier’s)) would be 5 francs – 

Dinner at 6 – A Mr Moore who would speak nothing but desperately bad French all the while made his debut at table – to stay for how long, I know not – does not dance now in England – does not like the present style of dancing in England except at Almacks – rather a would-be-prig – nothing great, methinks, ab origine and at home – Madame de B– (Boyve) would teach me Ecarté, and after a game or 2, set me down to play with Mr Moore (not for money) and I played with him (the better of the 2 I think) for surely about an hour – 

In the evening had Monsieur Bellevue; a Swiss count, a handsome young man; Monsieur Denappe, and Monsieur St. Auban – after playing at finding out words and talking to 1 or other (have not sat next Madame de B– (Boyve) these 3 or 4 nights) 

came up to bed (leaving the party) at 11 35/60 making memoranda of my accounts – read and mused over Miss Maclean’s letter – all much kept me up so late – Very fine day – the sun out – very warm – Fahrenheit 69° at 12 3/4 – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0042, SH:7/ML/E/8/0043

[awhilesince]

Friday, 3 September 1824

7

1

at 9 went out – went to number 27 rue de Cléri to see Laloy and his wife – asked him to get me some Fontainbleau grapes – in returning, bought some pretty good pears at 1 sol each, and very good peaches 2 sols each in the rue neuve des petits champs – 

Breakfast at 10 1/4 – Long over it – then went downstairs to consult Mrs Barlow what things (clothes) I should get – Looking at some shawls Madame de B– (Boyve) had sent for, but did not purchase – black, china-crape, figured, pretty large size from 40 to 50 francs – 

Came upstairs at 2 – from then to 5 1/4, settling all my accounts and wrote the last 5 lines of page 65 and the whole of pages 66, 67, and 68, of my journal – this did me good for I had somehow felt low before I have nothing proper to dress in and cannot speak the language at all and feel as if I could not get on did not change my bombasin gown (that Miss Harvey made) either today or yesterday – 

Dinner at 5 3/4 – In the evening went with Monsieur and Madame de B– (Boyve) and a Mr Franks (an Irishman who is in the house) to the Champs Elysées – 1/2 Paris seemed sitting in groups under the trees, – listening some to music, some to singing really very good – we formed a little party joined by a French captain # of the garde du corps, a Monsieur de St. Auban, who returned home with us about 10 1/4, after we had been at least a couple of hours walking about, and sitting under the shade – I enjoyed the music and singing – it was altogether rather a fairy scene – a beautiful evening – tho’ I had not 1/2 the clothing on I should have had at home, the air was so delightful, it seemed but like the gentle freshness of a lady’s fan – 

on our return and sitting round the drawing room table found Captain de St. A– (Auban) a striking Example of the forward foppery of what they say are the manners of the French gentlemen – I was talking to the Misses Mackenzie and Barlow (quite girls in their teens) and observing some forfeit should be paid for speaking English – they knew not what – said Captain de St. A– (Auban) baiser un François; but has afterwards coming to claim the penalty made me at once think how careful I should be in trusting daughters of my own in French society – It was all a joke on his part – but it shewed that he might have been in earnest with giddy girls, and that, when French men marry Englishwomen, they probably pay their addresses tout droit  as we should say in low Yorkshire court by the breeches button hole – In my memorandum made at the moment Monsieur le capitaine is unceremoniously styled ‘an impudent fellow’ – Probably he neither meant to be, near thought of being so – said Miss Mackenzie ‘they are all alike – at least all I have seen – always something about baiser’ – 

came to my room at 11 1/2 – sent Cordingley this evening to Laloy for the fruit – he could not get any – 

Very fine day – very hot – Fahrenheit 87° at 5 p.m. and 80° at 12 50/60 p.m. –

left margin: # Wednesday 27 April 1825. not a captain certainly perhaps only a private (they are all gentlemen) in the garde du corps.

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0039

[awhilesince]

Thursday, 2 September 1824

8 3/4

1

Had Cordingley and had a thorough dusting of all the drawers, cupboards, etc not before they wanted it – Arranged all my things, and not dressed Till 11 3/4 – then had my bed made and room swept – 

Madame de Boyve came up to pay her respects at 12 1/2 – She must have misunderstood I had had no breakfast at all, and wished me to wait and go down with her to what they call the 2nd breakfast at 1, what we should call luncheon – I did so – had a cup of boiled milk, some bread and butter, a little wine, and made out with mashed potatoes done brown, good enough – 

Madame de B– (Boyve) is very handsome – has very good address, and I admire her – introduced to an elderly lady a Mrs Richardson of Chichester, a Mrs Mackenzie and daughter, and a Mrs Barlow and daughter – not much style about any of them I must make out who they are – Mrs Barlow the widow (her daughter ætatis 13) of lieutenant colonel of the (?)? the lady who wrote about me to her friend who knows me is a Mrs Middleton from of or near Liverpool – I am as wise as ever – She is in the country, and I can know no more till she returns here – went into to Madame de B–‘s( Boyve’s) lodging room – asked her to buy me a hat – 

Did not return to my own room Till 2 – settled my accounts from last Saturday up to the end of my English money payments on Tuesday which took me Till near 5 – interrupted, however 1/2 hour for Cordingley to put up my hair the curl of which is destroyed at once by the state of perspiration in which I sit – Mrs Barlow’s maid is an English woman but speaks French well, a great comfort to Cordingley, but makes sad complaints of their servants’ living – they can get breakfast, but seldom anything fit for dinner – Cordingley could not eat the cold mutton today that we had had at 1 – it was very bad – she thought too long kept – It did not look so to me – it looked very nice – the servants dine after us (we are said to dine at 5 1/2 but it is always near 6), but the housekeeper takes everything away as it comes out of the room, and lets the servants have little they can eat – there are 3 of them and she gives them each 1 bottle of wine to last a week – Mrs Barlow’s maid has complained till she is tired, and is very miserable here – her mistress has spoken to Madame de B– (Boyve) who says no servant shall alter the regulations of her house – 

Very hot day – Fahrenheit 80° in the shade when I got up this morning – (Dinner at 5 50/60) – Bought or Madame de B– (Boyve) bought for me a straw hat – very dear at 30 francs – Talked away the evening –, chiefly to Madame de B– Boyve.

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0039

[awhilesince]

Wednesday, 1 September 1824

02 20/60

.. [Anne’s period] Stopt to breakfast at Beauvais at 12 1/4 – Excellent boiled milk – never tasted better – very good bread and butter – Cordingley made no complaint of the coffee – 

Off from Beauvais at 1 5/60 – at Beaumont at 6 10/60 – here we got a very surly coachman (Cocher – always riding the near wheeler and driving 3 or more horses before him) and 5 bad horses, or at least they stopt at 2 hills, and we all got out and walked – the cocher and our conducteur quarrelling all the while – the former declaring he would only pay the latter 1/2 – Detained 1/4 hour where we changed horses at Beaumont while some of our passengers got fruit or brandy and water etc, then detained 10 minutes more before we got out of the town for the cocher to light his pipe, and not absolutely off from Beaumont till 6 1/2 – at St. Denis at 8 3/4 – stopt there 1/4 hour, and off at 9 – 

got out at the bureau at Paris (number 24 Rue de Bouloi) at 10 3/4 – 2 of our Englishmen who had been in Paris before, made a great rowe about getting their luggage – 1/2 hour before I could get off in a fiacre to the Place Vendôme number 24 – arrived and myself and luggage upstairs (117 steps from the ground) in my room at 11 35/60 – the family gone to bed – only servants up – They had expected me earlier – thought I should not arrive tonight –

the room looked dirty and untidy and felt desperately hot – even to one who had been nearly boiled to death in the cabriolet of a diligence – what could be had to eat and drink – not much, and that not in a hurry – at last, I had a teapot of hot water brought (could not get a 2nd there was no fire to heat more water) and some vin du pays, and a little bread and butter and Cordingley got some tea after waiting about an hour – It required some contrivance to arrange that ‘order’ which ‘is space’– Cordingley not fit for anything, sent her off to bed – 

I up till 2 20/60 – a few thoughts of home and my journey passed in my mind – the rain on Monday night had fortunately quite laid the dust for as far as Montreuil, and afterwards we had very little dust comparatively speaking – certainly least in the cabriolet, and most, they said, behind – the hind wheels threw it up, and they could not bear the windows up – no! surely, there was not a breath of air to spare – we had a full sun upon us during both days, and such heat I never felt in my life – I sat in a state of profuse perspiration – our male passengers could not bear their coats and waistcoats on – and all seemed 1/2 dissolved – I felt (particularly from Marquise to Boulogne) the perspiration trickling in big drops down my breast, and pressed every now and then against my flannel waistcoat to hasten absorption and prevent this unpleasant sensation – the horses seemed to go about 4 miles an hour, and the people had the barbarity to take the same 5 all the way from Marquise thro’ Boulogne to Samur, – our cabriolet companion quietly observing they often killed their horses – the poor animals fell down dead from heat and fatigue – 

there were about 20 people in and on the coach, besides luggage for the whole party – 3 in the cabriolet, 6 in the interior, and 6 in the back part, and 5 or more on the outside – a more vulgar set I never beheld, all English – our cabriolet friend a prince among them – once in the navy, left it 14 years ago – now probably a merchant of some sort – said he knew lord Byron intimately well – had been 2 years in his company constantly – on board a ship most probably – had been at Calcutta, and spoke as if in all the pride of superior knowledge – at last speaking of steam packets going to India, he would have it they were to go not by the Cape but by the Mediterranean, down the red sea, and by the sea of Asoph! (I did not press him much) – for they were not to pass the straits of Babel mandel, they could not weather the main sea even from there to Bombay – I think he found he had made a bad hit: as he did not say much afterwards – However he had before said, the reason the French silks exceeded ours was, our climate was too moist, we could not spin the silk thread so well as they could in France – but we were getting French silk weavers to London, and should then rival the French themselves – he seemed to remember the climate, and said we should have the silk thread from France – we send our woollen thread abroad, but ‘tis highly improbably we should allow ourselves to depend on others for our silk thread – Inquire whether there be any truth in this alleged obstacle of climate, or not – 

the country as we came along, seemed altogether improved since I saw it last – everywhere reaping – not much, very little corn got in – Some lucerne hay in little round, pointed stacks, as well as a very little corn? thatched down almost to the ground – some hay in cock, seeming to have lost its colour – forwarder with the harvest near London than anywhere along our road from Calais to Paris – met several English carriages on the road – the duke and duchess of Leinster before we got to Boulogne – more carts and wagons on the 2nd than I had seen before – and more of the country people about – more cattle seen – Everything seems improving – 

found to my surprise on undressing my cousin come eight days too soon this must be the effect of the heat –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0038, SH:7/ML/E/8/0039

[awhilesince]

Tuesday, 31 August 1824

6

0the carriages that rolled past about 3 this morning brought The passengers from on board the Talbot steam packet which could not get into port sooner – 

tho’ up so soon, yet with 1 thing or other rather in a bustle – breakfast at 9 – Found the commissioner very civil and useful and therefore paid him very handsomely for himself (1/2 francs) But what bills they bring in for carrying the luggage backwards and forwards, one’s passport etc! – 

Mr Welch came in a few minutes before 10 – very civil – would be happy to do anything for me – only sorry he had not had the pleasure of seeing more of me etc etc appeared to be much taken with my ‘intelligence’, but named it without offensive flattery – gave me his card – asked when and where (indirectly) I should return to London and begged me to let him know if he could do me the least service – I mentioned Webb’s hotel and about the 1st or 2nd December – he said should make inquiries etc – gave me his card – ‘Mr Welch, 12 Wyndham Place, Bryanston Square’ London – had the misfortune to have (inherited it) west India property – could never be persuaded to part with it, and was now suffering like others, but thro the interest of lord Sidmouth had an office under government – He really talked very rationally and then saw us off in the Diligence from the bureau 22 Rue Neuve (one good of Quillacq’s, is its being in the same street) at 10 10/60 –  we had to wait 5 or 6 minutes of Cordingley whom they had not let know, and Mr W– (Welch) and I had walked down without her – 

got to Boulogne at 3 (Cordingley and myself and an English gentleman speaking French tolerably and frequently going backwards and forwards to Paris, the 3 in the Cabriolet) – dined there – a collection of very indifferent dishes (the soup à la vermicelli tolerable), and very bad wine – several of our passengers a desperately vulgar set had come over in the Talbot from London – the morning so thick, they had run down several small craft in the river, and, for fear of doing further mischief, had been detained there 3 hours – then overtaken by the thunderstorm – feared the lightning would have struck the vessel – were in imminent danger – 5 hours within 5 miles of Calais – could not get into the harbour before 3 in the morning – the sailors had been very quiet – said nothing of danger – but thought themselves in very great danger – 

Off from Boulogne at 3 40/60 the town and country as well as those of Calais seem exceedingly improved – look much neater and cleaner within these 2 years – At Samur at 5 3/4 – at Montreuil at 8 40/60 – stopt to sup at Abbeville at 1 40/60 – 3/4 hour there – neither Cordingley nor myself took anything but bread and butter and water – Luckily the water is everywhere good – Some of them had supper, and then with difficulty, got tea and beat up Eggs (yolks and whites) to put into it – Had given the commissioner at Quillac’s my letter to my aunt Shibden and to M– (Mariana) (Lawton) to put into the post – but on seeing Mr Welch he took charge of them – 8 sols each letter for England to be paid at the Calais post-office –

left margin: Boulogne. Abbeville.

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0038

[awhilesince]

Monday, 30 August 1824

6 10/60

1

went out at 8 1/4 – Took Cordingley and went to see the Castle – missed the proper turn of the Castle gate, and went to the top of the hill to the Deal turnpike – 3/4 hour seeing the Castle, that is, walking round it within the walls with one of the wardens (there are 3 ) – the great square tower a magazine of military stores – never shewn – might be seen with a very particular order from Captain Smart, commanding engineer, who lives at Ashley-fort near Dover – nor, without a particular order from Captain S– (Smart) (which he seldom gives but to military men, but would not refuse to ladies), could one see the underground bomb-proof barracks, communicating by several subterraneous passage with the Castle, and having light from windows cut in the cliff, about midway from the bottom (of the cliff) – the Chimneys come out to the surface in the Castle yard thro’ little round brick-walled inclosures (like little pinfolds) that have a singular appearance – these subterraneous barracks have also a communication with the preventive station where they watch the smugglers – very few smugglers here – the Castle stood upon, or rather the Castle wall enclosed 35 acres – 

saw the old church said to have been built by King Lucius (the 1st Xtian (Christian) King in Britain, now a coal-store – but no soldiers here now – only a corporal and 6 artillery men sent every day from the heights, who stay 24 hours and are then relieved by another party – 2 regiments always in the Castle during the war – saw the old tower said to have been built by Claudius, and cased with flint by Henry 5 – Fine views of sea, the cliff, and country – but too hazy to see far across the channel – the French coast quite shut out from view – Lord Liverpool governor of the castle lives at Warder? Castle 2 miles from Deal, 6 from here (Dover) – a modern place – 

got back to breakfast in about 1/4 hour – easily ran down the steps to the Inn the King’s head kept by a widow a Mrs Podevin – she pays so much to have the coach stop at her every other week, and, when it is her week, the people in London have no right to recommend passengers to Mr Chaplin’s the London hotel, who is proprietor and has the coach the alternate weeks – Till returning from the castle this morning and seeing the name over the door, I knew no other than that I had stopt at the London hotel – agreed Mrs Podevin was ill used – would not say it was Leuliette who recommended me to the London but gave her the card, having written on the back the date of Today and ‘the lady from Webbe’s hotel’ because this Mrs P– (Podevin) said would prove what they always Desired, videlicet the recommending passengers to the London hotel – she wanted to recommend me to her relation of her own name in Calais, but I had determined to go to Quillac’s – the London hotel is a better looking house than this – this is very secondary, but I have been pretty comfortable – and I care not for more at present – 

Breakfasted and on board the Britannia steam packet Captain Busher at 12 – An hour before we were out of the harbour – beautiful day – the sea quite smooth – nobody sick – landed at Calais, on the quay, at 4 – met with a civilised, quiet-looking, mild-mannered, elderly, gentlemanly enough man on board, with whom I got into conversation, and finding he knew French + Calais well, and was going to Quillacq’s, asked to join him – he was very civil – went with me to the custom to get my writing box searched, and desired Quillacq to let me have everything comfortable, saying he would pay his respects in the morning – I found his name was Welch – He had come to take back his son whom he had had here in a French family to learn the language during the holidays of his classical school at home – The boy (ætatis 13) came to meet us – a nice boy enough – 

got to Quillacqs about 4 1/2 § – Dinner at 5 1/4 – potage à la Julienne and fricassee de poulet – un biscuit, 2 peches, and 2 poires pour dessert – everything very good – had it in my bed-room à la François – a very neat room – had a bottle of red hermitage (good) – drank about a 3rd of it, and felt a little idle and sleepy –

Dawdled doing nothing Till 7. from then to 9 1/2 writing finished my letter of 3 pages and the ends pretty Tolerably close to my aunt (vide Friday) and wrote the latter 2 pages and the ends and under the seal, and finished my letter to M– (Mariana) begun on Friday – giving an account of my proceedings – affectionate to π (Mariana) but anyone might see it for they would not understand my express want of her not lessened by my wine – 

From 10 1/4 to 11 3/4 repacked my trunk and basket entirely; for they had turned everything out at the custom house – E two dots O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint little or no discharge – 

Very  fine day – but about 8 p.m. Cordingley came in to say, it ‘lightened so hard’, she really durst not sit in her room by herself – I smiled and bade her sat down in a corner of my room – she did not stay long – the storm began to abate – the lightning was not vivid (at first short lightning then forked) the flashes incessant and the thunder very loud for above 1/2 hour – with very heavy rain the Talbot steam packet ought to have been in by 6, but was not then in sight – my little Fahrenheit 77° at 11 3/4 p.m.

left margin:

§ went immediately to the diligence bureau – thro’ the negligence of Mr Chaplin at the London hotel Dover, he had put me down in the way-bill as having outside places all the way, instead of only from London to Dover, and I had the difference to pay – i.e. 18 francs 16 sols – but got a receipt for the money and a promise of its being returned in Paris –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0037, SH:7/ML/E/8/0038

[awhilesince]

Sunday, 12 September 1824

7 1/2

2 3/4

Dawdling over 1 thing or other – breakfast at 9 – Till 11, read aloud the whole of the introduction to my Paris guide, to try to get the proper pronunciation, and skimmed over several other parts of the volume – From 11 10/60 to 12 5/60, read aloud and slowly the whole of the morning service (except the lesson, I have no bible here) and the evening psalms 41. in reading the psalms the tears trickled down my cheeks I knew not why but our service is beautiful and I tried to read well and feel what I was about see psalm and verse twelve I had read the Courier this morning before breakfast and meant to tell Tib it was I who saw the treadmill for I thought to be above prevarication this verse has confirmed me and I shall confess the truth – 

From 12 1/2 to 5 10/60 reading over Miss Maclean’s last letter and writing pages 2 and 3 (foolscap) very small and close of the letter begun Wednesday 18 August – 

Dinner at 6 – In the evening all sorts of droll games – hunting a thimble or some small thing passed from one to another – blind man’s buff – with a lighted match, Martin vit, vit il toujours, il vit toujours those in whose hands it went out paying a forfeit – are you content with the neighbour – changing seats and the one that stood out trying to get one of the seats left – never laughed more – the tears ran down my cheeks – could not speak for laughing – no stranger only our own family party tonight – 

Rainy morning – a very heavy shower between 7 and 8 – cold today – no sun – Mrs Franks told me seriously tonight I was very clever and not her only but they all thought so –

came up to bed at 9 1/4 – From 10 to 2, wrote the ends and under the turn down and finished my letter to Miss Maclean – wrote the last end and under the turn down and finished my letter to my aunt; and wrote the 2 ends and under the turn down and finished my letter to M– (Mariana) all very small and close – 

Fahrenheit 68° at 2 20/60 tonight – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint]

left margin: vide line 8 of the last page

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0042

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Saturday, 11 September 1824

7 3/4

12 3/4

Breakfast at 9 – from 9 1/2 to 11 172 writing to M– (Mariana) wrote page three – 

At 12, Madame Galvani came – a countess in her own right – her estates confiscated by Napoleon, because her husband being entrusted by him with 3 millions of public money on some particular service, ran off with the money, and has never since been heard of – Madame G–‘s (Galvani’s) manners are good, and I like her manner of teaching French very much – her pronunciation very correct – she was to stay with me an hour, but, instead of this, staid 1 20/60 hour – conversed about 1/2 the time – then having no other book, read aloud a few pages of the Introduction to my nouveau Guide de Paris that I got in 1819 – she, too, read and I endeavoured to pronounce after her – the chief difficulty is in the e with the accent aigu, or short, acute; – and there is a delicacy in this sound difficult to acquire – I am to have Molière – She will bring me an 8vo (octavo) edition – the smaller ones are very incorrect; and it is necessary to me to have one correctly accented – Madame G– (Galvani) has a pretty lady like hand, and very good and beautifully clean nails, and looks like a foreign gentlewoman – I see I have much to learn, much difficulty of pronunciation to surmount; but I shall not despair –

at 2 went out shopping with the Mesdames Mackenzie and Barlow, and their 2 daughters – never got beyond the rue de la Paix and Italian boulevard – tiresome – I shall not go on this errand often again but take my own walk early – asked Miss Mackenzie to accompany me sometimes of which she seemed glad – did not come in till 4 1/4 – then wrote the above of today –

Dinner at 6 – 2 gentlemen dined and spent the evening with us – Monsieur de St. Auban came in the evening – Madame de B– (Boyve) and the gentlemen played Ecarté, I talked almost entirely to Mrs Barlow, and a little to Mrs Mackenzie – Mrs B Barlow tells me I am certainly not plain they all think me a fine woman and I am very sensible and agreeable I rather gently compliment Mrs Barlow – Mrs Mackenzie has five hundred a year will not have so much when her daughter marries they will pro bably settle in Bath – know many Indians there – Mrs Barlow born in Guernsey – her father a colonel at least – perhaps a general – the latter part of the evening Mrs Barlow and Miss Mackenzie and the two gentlemen danced quadrilles – Madame de B– (Boyve) waltzed beautifully with her son (a gentlemanly boy, danses well, and plays prettily on the piano) – and then a little with Monsieur le Comte Denappe? – when we left with Mr Frank his friend and Monsieur and Madame de B– (Boyve) and came up to bed at 10 1/2

Fine day – cool – no sun – Fahrenheit 72° just before dinner and 70° at 11 1/4 – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – about 1 1/4 hour looking over the plan of Paris, and reading in a whisper a little to try to get the proper pronunciation of the e with the acute accent –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0042

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Friday, 10 September 1824

7 3/4

12 1/2

near an hour looking over all my money etc Breakfast at 9 1/4 – at 10, resumed my letter to my aunt just begun yesterday – wrote page 1 all but the 1st 8 lines, pages 2 and 3, and 9 lines on the 1st end, small and close, which took me till 1 1/4 –

about 11 the postwoman (the porter’s wife) brought me 3 pages and almost all the 1st page crossed from IN– (Isabella Norcliffe) ‘Inverness. Thursday September 2nd and 3 pages and the ends from M– (Mariana) Lawton – 

just looked into the former saw that they intended going to the Macleans and that I was to write immediately and direct to Langton – the following caught my eye  did you go to see the treadmill in Coldbath Fields prison  there is a long account in the paper of a Miss Lister going to see it I keep it for you do answer this question – the blood rose towards my face and I felt a little confounded on reading this but in reading πs (Mariana’s) letter I have grown collected and think of answering  I saw the account of a Miss Listers seeing the treadmill in the Times newspaper and laughed and thought you might possibly fancy the adventure like one of mine but on comparing my thorough English manners and speech with the foreign appearance and address of the lady in question I lost all hope of your being taken in – 

I found from M– (Mariana) that Steph is to go to York – H– (Harriet)  seems to have behaved rather oddly about it – Dr. B– (Belcombe) seems not likely to recover entirely – Miss Pattison well again – I shall finish my letter to my aunt tomorrow, and write a little to M– (Mariana) this business about the treadmill annoys me after all – 

wrote the above of today, and from 2 to 5 (interrupted a little while by a visit from Mrs Barlow and Mrs Mackenzie – sent for the former because I could not go downstairs to a woman who had brought Kashmeer shawls to look – I was busy writing and have sat all the morning in my dressing gown) wrote 2 pages very small and close to M– (Mariana) 

Dinner at 6 – Monsieur Le Boyve, le jeune, ætatis 16, arrived at 6 this morning by the diligence from Neuchatel en Suisse, 120 lieues from here – 3 nights up – a fine boy, civilized and well-mannered but very little – Mrs Mackenzie indisposed did not come down to dinner – went to inquire after her, and sat with her, 1/4 hour – it appeared from what she said she is out of her element in society in London not in such good as she has been used to – 

Madame de Boyve retired soon after 8 – A Mr De Glos – very eminent in the law here, spent the evening with us till 9 1/2 – From then to near 11 Mrs Barlow and Miss Mackenzie and I sat up talking, apparently all well satisfied with each other’s company – Miss Mackenzie is a nice girl – Mrs Barlow quiet and ladylike and manages her small income well but is not profound nor after all without vanity which I know how to manage I think I am a favorite in the house – the Mackenzies have apartments in the house of a Mrs Saunders, a clergyman’s widow, who keeps a pension in Sloane Street – Miss Hall (of York) was there from last January to June – tired them to death with genealogies gave herself great airs always making complaints ill tempered much disliked but always clinging to Mrs Mackenzie and tiring her with her never ceasing histories of peoples families – 

Came upstairs at 11 – Fine day – cool and hardly any sun – Fahrenheit 68° at 11 3/4 p.m. just as I had finished writing the last 14 lines – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – cut my toe nails –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0042

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Thursday, 9 September 1824

8

1 1/4

Breakfast at 9 1/4 – went out at 10 1/2 – took Cordingley with me and sauntered along the rue St. Honoré to the boulevard des Madeleines etc the passages des Panorama and Feydeau, and the rue Vivienne into the Palace royal – walked round this, got 2 ten pound and 1 five-pound 6. of English notes changed at Joseph’s Gallerie de Richelieu 29, and got home at 1 – 

At 2 went out again with Madame de B– (Boyve) and Mrs Barlow and Mrs Mackenzie and their 2 daughters – went to the boulevard des Italiens – to a shop for real cachemire India shawls – might have had beautiful ones for £ 40 to £ 50 – then went to the shop we were at yesterday and Mrs Mackenzie and Madame de B– (Boyve) chose me a bourre-de-soie (long) at 145 francs – the rest of the party went to the palais royal – 

Madame de B– (Boyve) and I went to the bazar – seeing Madame sewing with a steel thimble, bought and gave her a silver one at the bazar – she then went with me to Madame Romantier, and ordered the garniture of my gown – we certainly got on very well together – 

Got home at 4 3/4 – Dressed for dinner – as usual – Dinner about 6 – In the evening Monsieur Sorteval, and 2 other gentlemen – the game of secretaire, that is writing questions and answers – 

Came upstairs at 11 1/2 – Fine day – cool and very little sun – Fahrenheit 71° at 12 1/2 p.m. – 20 minutes writing the above of today –

[E two dots O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint]

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0041

[awhilesince]

Wednesday, 8 September 1824

8 10/60

12 5/60

Not having got the £ 19.19.6 concern right last night by practise, did it again (and right) by this rule before breakfast – breakfast at 9 50/60 –

Ready to go out shopping with Mrs Barlow and Mrs Mackenzie – at 11 – off at 11 20/60, and came back (upstairs) at 2 1/2 – never went beyond the rue de la Paix and Italian boulevard – in the former bought 11 aunes black gros de naples, very good at the magasin de denil rue de la Paix a long while at the magasin de la petite Jeannette, Nicolas jeune, rue de Richelieu, number 115. at Boulevard des Italiens number 3. a very good shop for shawls, silks, etc etc ordered some of the former to be sent at 1 tomorrow – Shopping would be a bad lounge for me – 

wrote the last 6 lines – and began a letter to my aunt when Madame de Boyve came to me, and I went and sat with her (in the room she is getting ready for her son, till 5 – told her how handsome she was etc etc she certainly likes me –

Dinner at 5 3/4 – came upstairs for 3/4 hour afterwards and settled my accounts – a newly married couple Monsieur and Madame L’Hardy came for an hour or 2 in the evening (the lady scarcely uttered six words), and we had Monsieur de Bellevue who did some good tricks with cards and made himself agreeable – and a Monsieur Dacier, a Swiss – 

a great deal of rain fell during last night Fine day, but much cooler than of late – no sun – Fahrenheit 68° at 11 1/2 p.m. came up to bed at 11 – [E two dots O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – Mr John Baring Short went away very early this morning –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0041

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Tuesday, 7 September 1824

8 40/60

2 1/2

sent Cordingley with my compliments and the five sols Mr Brande paid for me yesterday admittance to the dancing – they sent their compliments very civilly, and Mrs Brande’s card ‘Mrs E. Brande Arlington Street 10’ – 

Sat down to breakfast at 10 – Mrs Barlow called about 11, and sat with me above an hour  came about ordering my gown very civil and very communicative about herself says she has a very affectionate disposition etc etc Lieutenant Colonel Barlow (I suppose he was) commanded the 61st regiment, and was killed at Salamanca – 

At 12 1/4 went down to sit with Madame de B– -(Boyve) 1/2 hour before she came – Virgil on her table which I took up and read – libro 4 – At 1 we went into the luncheon room – then someone called on her – I waited 1 1/4 hour asleep from the heat – then Madame de B– (Boyve) lay down on the sofa to sleep and I came upstairs having been thus led into wasting the whole morning – I was to have read aloud to Madame de B– (Boyve) a little before 4 Mrs Barlow and Mrs Mackenzie took me up in the fiacre they had had on account of the rain and went with me to Madame Romatier about a gown – we are all to go shopping tomorrow –

dinner at 5 3/4 – In the drawing room all the evening – Monsieur St. Auban – he certainly speaks beautiful French – Happening to mention £ 19.19.6 x £ 19.19.6 and dividing 3/4 of a square into 4 equal and similar parts occoupied us almost all the evening – Madame de B– (Boyve) gave a few French verses transposed to put into proper metre and order again – 

came upstairs a little after 11 – a considerable time over this £ 19.19.6 concern, doing it by vulgar and decimal fractions by practise and algebra, ready to shew the party tomorrow – Miss Mackenzie a goodish arithmetician I suppose – she seems a quick clever girl, and a nice girl of 16, 

altogether a little rain in the morning from between 1 and 2, – from about 2 to near 5 – It has just now (1 50/60) been raining very heavily – Fahrenheit was 70°. at about 5 p.m. and is now 74°. – wrote the 1st 12 lines of yesterday before breakfast this morning – having written all the last page and so far of this since coming up to bed – 

[E one dot O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint] used one syring of plain water this morning and one tonight – 

the jaunt yesterday cost me (my share) 6 francs for the carriage – Mr Brande gave for us all 5 francs to the man in the house at Malmaison and 2 francs to the gardener of which I have paid 14 sols. admittance to the quadrille dancing 5 sols. and 3 spectacles 2 sols each – so that the whole thing only cost me 7 francs 5 sols – But we have a better set of spectacles at our fairs in England, at H–x (Halifax) in very particular – 

[E two dots O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint] –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0041

[awhilesince]

Monday, 6 September 1824

7 1/4

2 5/60

Breakfast at 8 3/4 – read a little French – went out at about 10 1/2 for 1/2 hour and took Cordingley with me to see if Madame Romatier had any dresses finished for me to look at – no! but will have tomorrow – at 11 we were all to set off to the fête or fair or rather feast of St. Germain held 2 miles from the Town, in the forest, close To a nunnery or school –

It was 11 1/2 before we were all off – Mr and Mrs Brande, Mrs and Miss Mackenzie, Mrs and Miss Barlow Miss Richardson of Chichester an elderly lady our 2 gentlemen Mr John Baring Short (from Exeter, it seems) Mr Franks (has a place somewhere near Cork, has been his own master ever since 15, and, if not in joke, ætatis now 24) Monsieur and Madame de Boyve, and myself in 2 carriages and a cabriolet – at first very dusty – then a few drops of rain – there being 5 in our carriages, rather too small, I could see nothing – 

Stopt to see Malmaison – the prince (Eugene Beauharnois Beauharnais) did a year ago, and the place is kept very neat by the gardens of his son, quite a boy – Shewn over the house – upstairs too – the bedrooms (we saw 3), low – the state room and bed hung with crimson damask and gold fringe – another room with satin white I should think originally or very light blue or pink – another with white calico, as was also the bath-room where Napoleon used to sit for hours and drank his coffee – strolled about the gardens and hot-houses – 

lastly lost 1/2 our party for 1/4 hour and not off from Malmaison till 3 1/4 – It was very nearly to when we had passed thro’ St. Germain, and got 2 miles into the forest to the site of the fête – Here we found we had lost Mrs Barlow who had come in a fiacre with Monsieur de Boyve – Monsieur de B– (Boyve) had left her with Monsieur St. Auban for a while, and could not find them afterwards – till it was 6 before we squatted down on our carriage-cushions to the cold dinner we had brought with us spread out on the ground under the trees – 

After dinner we walked about among the booths – as it became dark, the lighted lamps among the trees had a pretty effect – yesterday was the vulgar day (being Sunday) all the common people there – today a few many genteel people were said to be among the crowd, this being considered the best and genteelest fête in the neighbourhood of Paris – Mr Brande supposed about 20 000 people there – 2 good bands played quadrilles, one for the higher orders, in an inclosure under the trees for admittance to which we paid 5 sols each, – the other for the peasants – among the former we noticed some genteel looking persons, a few English among them – among the higher orders it is now the fashion (since the English have been so much here), not to dance too well – before, each lady and gentleman danced as well as an opera dancer and thought of and studied little else than this and dress – Mr and Mrs Brande wishing to be off early in the morning on their tour to Germany, they and the rest of

the rest of the party left Madame de B– (Boyve) and Messieurs Short and Frank and myself to see the spectacles (shews) – Madame de B– (Boyve) delights in these things; and I, for her sake and novelty’s, made no objection – there was a Circus, horse-riding balancing etc but this, we thought, would keep us too long – saw the cheval savant a wise horse which told the oldest, youngest, la plus amoureuse etc etc of the party – then we had a little slight of hand and electricity but the people let go before the shock came round, and all this for 2 sols each – then we saw for 2 sols. also each person a sort of puppet-shew (marionette) representation of the life of our Saviour – his birth, being found in the temple with the Jewish doctors, his condemnation, death, resurrection and ascension – the man who shewed it drawled out the explanation as he would have done that of any other puppet-shew; and the people looked, and seemed as interested, as they might have been at the life and adventures of Tom Thumb – To us protestants these things seem blasphemous; to French Roman Catholics they are bien bon – then for 2 sols. also each we saw the marionettes perform – Les brigands – 

we then walked about among the people and tents and booths, ate some grapes at one of the latter and saunered about till 10 – then got into our carriage, and set off home – 3 hours in coming and got back at 1 – 

had a cup of tea and glass of wine and water and then came up to bed – in bed in 3/4 hour – found Cordingley had been ill all the day with severe pain in her bowels, owing, doubtless, as is common enough, to the change of climate – 

A few drops of rain as we went this morning otherwise very fine day cooler than yesterday not much sun, and a fine air – a beautiful evening –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0040, SH:7/ML/E/8/0041

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Sunday, 5 September 1824

7 55/60

12 1/2

at 10 1/2 set off with Miss Mackenzie and Mrs Barlow to our Ambassador’s chapel in the rue St. Honoré – service to begin at 11 1/2 – obliged to go so early to get seats – the room nearly full when we got there – quite different from where my aunt and I went in 1819 – merely a large room in our ambassador’s hotel, full of chairs ranged across it from top to bottom – no regular pulpit – no clerk – we, the congregation muttered the responses – Our ambassador, an insignificant, unimportant, rather shabbyish sort of looking little man, followed his chaplain, Mr Forster, who preached 20 minutes (a moral discourse – well enough) from 1.14. Ecclesiastes, or Ticus – that Solomon had tried all things, and found them vanity and vexation of spirit – Looked round, but saw not one face I knew, till, about 1/2 hour after us, entered Mr Strickland (George junior) of Hildenly, and his wife – they were obliged to sit separately – 

when we had walked 1/2 way back, Mrs Mackenzie (Mrs Barlow staid the sacrament) grew nervous about crossing the street, on account of the carriages, and called a dirty fiacre for which she paid 30 sols and which brought us all home – 

Mrs M– (Mackenzie) had had no coffee this morning – could get none – she and Mrs Barlow had gone to complain to Madame de B– (Boyve) we had no sooner got back, then then we had it all over – I heard the whole; for Madame de B– (Boyve) took me aside and explained – Monsieur came in to us – would have her turn away the cook and housemaid etc etc I slank away here to my room, a little after 2, and here have I been quietly writing the 2 last pages and so far of this which had taken me till 4 1/4 – Thought I to myself I have nothing to do with it – I had my breakfast very comfortably this morning – 2 rolls 2 small pitchers of boiled milk, and plenty of butter – 

Dinner at 5 3/4 – Mrs Mackenzie and Mrs Barlow having each a headache the latter did not come down to dinner the latter went upstairs from table not to appear in the drawing room – Had a good deal of conversation with Mr Brande – He says, he has had little time to attend to anything but his profession – and this appears – speaking of the cabinet d’anatomie at the jardin des plantes, he has not had time to see it, but Mr Green of St. Thomas’s hospital London nephew to Mr Cline, says, our preparations at Surgeon’s hall, are better but the name of Cuvier does everything – and that the subjects at the école de medicine, tho’ done like everything else in France to look well, and take with the public, yet are not well ‘mounted’ I think was the expression – not well put together – and Mr Green is a very rising man in his profession, and a very good judge – Frederic Accum’s father came over (from Germany I suppose) to be an assistant or apprentice to Mr Brande’s father, and Mr B– (Brande) knew a great deal of Frederic A– (Accum) now doing well at Berlin – Mr B– (Brande) not surprised at his conduct in stealing leaves from the Royal Institution books – all had writings superficial – In short, his character was well exprest by the name of Quackem – 

a soirée in the evening – a lady, and her daughter? # and a young man really gentlmanly, tho’ a little priggishly dandyish and Messieurs Sorteval, whom we had last night, Phillip, and Bellevue, a diminutive rather deformed man but gentlemanly speaks French beautifully and I liked him the best of the 4 gents gentlemen – the elderly lady played ecarté the whole evening with Monsieur Sorteval, or Monsieur Bellevue – the rest of us staid round the drawing room table, had a little lottery or 2, and different sorts of games, et les questions – yet there was not much conversation or play made, and such a party would have been called stupid in England – thought I, if I could speak French as well as English, I could improve all this if I chose, and make the thing pleasanter – the English crept away early – 

soon after 10 and I came upstairs at 10 55/60 and left the French to talk us over – Madame de B (Boyve) evidently likes me she praised the questions and answers I write and is very civil I am certainly attentive to her with that something of flattery of manner she is not used to from ladies I could make my way if I could speak better – I could make my way, if I could speak better, and am in better hope about it tonight – In mannerism, I have certainly the advantage of all our English party – the ease I feel 1/2 surprises myself – 

Very fine day – Fahrenheit 74° at 11 p.m. – 1/2 hour writing the last 22 1/2 lines which took me till 12 struck by St. Roch, I suppose it is –

left margin: # Mrs Kidd and her daughter Miss (Beresford and the young lady’s adorateur Monsieur Deisnac.) Wednesday afternoon 27 April 1825.

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0040

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Saturday, 4 September 1824

7 3/4

12 1/2

Laloy came about 8 1/2 – brought some peaches 4, and 12 green gages, and 3 or 4 bunches of little black grapes, all only a franc – Too soon for Fontainbleau grapes or Drury pears – it would be a fortnight before there were any – 

at 9 40/60 set off to speak to Madame Romatier (Rue Sainte Anne, numero 29.) – Glad to see the Irish girl still there who was useful to me 2 years ago – they had nothing or little to shew me there, but should have several dresses done on Monday – 

walked round the palais royal – Joseph (Galerie Richelieu, number 27) as a favour it seemed, gave me change for 2 Napoleons could not resist buying some green grapes – the woman declared they were Fontainbleau, and asked 2 francs a livre – then asked take 1 1/2 francs, and I gave it her for a pound or livre – Laloy was right – it is too soon for them; for these are not ripe – 

got home at 10 1/2 and had breakfast immediately – could only have 1 roll of the best bread – It is best for those who breakfast early – and I resolved to be an hour sooner in future – sent my compliments to Mrs Barlow to ask her to allow me to consult her about Madame Romatier, etc Mrs B– (Barlow) came about 11 1/2 and staid with me till 1 – She is quiet and tolerably ladylike, but a very heavy companion – Her spirits seem weak – she appears to have delicate health, talks of thinking much, and looks a look of melancholy – the most good she did me was looking at the gown Madame Romatier made for me two years ago advising me to put in on at dinner with a handkerchief and saying it would do very well and so it did – Mrs B– (Barlow) is a connoisseur in spelling, but, as she herself observed, not very profound, and this was one of our chief subjects of conversation – and that Madame de Boyve was sselfish Mrs B (Barlow) would sooner apply to Monsieur than Madame if she wanted a kindness – 

went down with Mrs B– (Barlow) to luncheon tho’ I never eat anything – about 2 we all set off to the Tuileries gardens, to sit in the shade, some reading, some walking, some talking, Till dinner time a great many in the gardens, sitting and walking – a novel scene to an English person – it was pleasant but, from not being able to speak the language, I was glad of our English part of the party – and we were 6 English including Mrs Baring to Madame de B– (Boyve) and her occasional French beaux – Captain de St. Auban had said last night he should come and shew himself in full uniform – I did not appear to notice him, and did not speak – merely observing afterwards to Mrs Mackenzie, the French uniform of the guards was not to be compared with ours – nor did the Captain look like much like a gentleman of English standard – Madame had brought some wafer and scented chocolate, and gave some to us all – the latter (only a morsel to taste it) made me almost sick – 

I saw the clouds gathering, and, at last, when a few drops came set off by myself and got home at 4, a minute or 2 before the rest, just in time to escape heavy rain – I had run home, and was exceedingly heated – had little more than time to have my hair put up and pinched and dress in my French silk gown – 

Dinner at 5 3/4 – Our Mr and Mrs Brande are from Arlington Street London – he apothecary to the royal family, brother to Brande (William) the professor of chemistry at the royal Institution – they are going on Monday to Germany – have been ill this last day or 2 with eating fruit and seeing too many sights – a Monsieur Sorteval with moustaches, came in the evening – not speaking French so beautifully as Captain St. Auban, but not using the word baiser, and tolerably agreeable – 

Madame de B– (Boyve) has a multiplicity of little games, etc with which and with conversation we amuse ourselves in an evening – tonight we have had a little lottery – and les questions e.g. everybody writes a question – then they are all jumbled together, or given out as Madame de B– (Boyve) chooses for each one to answer – then this done, all are returned and read aloud by Madame – we had also (as we always have at dinner, those little bonbons wrapt up in mottos – Last night we had letters forming different words to make out – If I could speak the language well, I could get on agreeably enough – and I think Cordingley seems more reconciled – Tea is always brought in about 9; and each person has one cup – 

Came upstairs at 11 1/4 – Very fine till about 3 50/60 – then some heavy rain – very heavy rain also about 8 p.m. and a great deal heavy rain again at night – Fahrenheit 78° at 12 5/60 p.m. –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0039, SH:7/ML/E/8/0040

[awhilesince]

Sunday, 29 August 1824

6 1/2

11 40/60

In a hurry and bustle no time to get breakfast – off at 7 50/60 – finding we should not stop to breakfast and that the coachman would be 10 minutes at the Nag’s head at Welling took this opportunity to make a hasty tho’ hearty meal on excellent bread and butter and a couple of tumbler glasses of water and got Cordingley some bread and butter with a little cold beef – 

Stopt to change horses at Ballard’s, the Bull Inn Rochester, at 12 – the 1st hops 2 little grounds about 1 1/4 mile before Rochester – a very good hop season – the crops very promising – the plants 3 years in coming to perfection, but then a ground will last many years – Still admire Rainham, tho’ not, perhaps, so much as before – the finest acacia, not far beyond the church I ever saw in my life – like a forest tree in size – throwing out thick arms from a very large trunk lofty trunk – asked the coach man if there was not a great brewer at Sittingbourne – no! there was Best of Rochester – Is there not, said I, a man of the name of Vallance – oh! yes! but he brews very bad beer – It seems, like Mr Best and other brewers he has several public houses belonging to him and makes the people take his beer, but he ruins them by it, it is so bad – but I could not learn more for the coachman said he did not know him – he inquired the house for me – nearly opposite the church – 2 stories high, 2 windows on each side of the door, whitewashed – I would not go and stay at such a place for more than 2d (pence) Poor Miss V– (Vallance)! I wonder if she will begin to smoke a little – still admire the gothic cottage that was the last house or nearly so (I think) in Sittingbourne in 1819 – but now there are many houses beyond it – 

Beautiful views from Boughton hill – but far the most beautiful towards London  – the country side not very particularly beautiful – Stopt at the Rose and Crown (Clements) a nice comfortable looking Inn, tho’ a coach house, at 3 50/60 – near 1/4 hour washing my hands etc then in 10 or 12 minutes went to the cathedral walked 1/2 round it, went for a moment into the crypt, but the church was shut and had not time to stay for the man to shew me in – 

Off to Dover at 7 1/4 – Stopt to change horses at a single house by the road side (7 miles off) in about 3/4 hour – then (having changed in 4 minutes) off again at 5 10/60 and stopt at the London hotel Dover, at 6 10/60 – a comfortable house – sat down to dinner (mutton broth soup, very good with vegetables and pearl barley – lamb chop, and plum and a cherry tart – a pint of very tolerable port, and some jargonell pears not quite ripe enough – I was particularly pleased with the dinner from Canterbury here – 

the fine air of the downs quite revived one – Mr Fector’s place made very pretty – the village near it (Ewley?) remarkably picturesque – the irregularity of the neat small houses with interspersed gardens very very pretty – I like Dover too – the Castle the cliffs very fine – Beautiful day – but hot and very dusty – 4 coaches immediately before us all the way from town (till we passed 1 or 2 at last) to Canterbury – only 1 before us from Canterbury – 

from 7 10/60 to 8 40/60 wrote all this journal of today – In stopping for parcels a little beyond the obelisk (Westminster) this morning, bought the John Bull of today – anxiously looked for the Hatton garden business, yet persuaded John Bull’s pages were too valuable to be so wasted – most happy to find not a word about it – the folly will die away, and probably few may see, and still trouble their heads to read it – 

Very fine day – very hot – Fahrenheit 76° at 9 10/60 p.m. in my writing desk – went to my room at 9 20/ 60 E one dot O no dot, marking discharge from venereal complaint did not use the zinc last night or this morning I forget to make the lotion yesterday after dinner –

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/8/0037