Anne Lister Journals

Wednesday 29 April 1818

From 40 minutes past 12 till going downstairs mending my gloves and and the trimming of my black bombazine petticoat etc etc in readiness for this afternoon.

In the afternoon read a few pages of the Quarterly Review and at 1/2 past 5 went to the Greenwoods (Cross Hills) - Miss Brown and her two friends the Miss Kelly’s from Glasgow arrived in about an hour - Mr Sharpe and Mr Greenwood came in in the course of the evening  - we all left a little after 9.

Considering her situation in life, Miss Brown is wonderful - handsome or rather, interesting, gentle in her manners, entirely free of any affectation, and much more lady-like than any girl I have seen hereabouts -

From conversation I made out she is 23 and her sister 17. I wonder what she thinks of me, my attention to her is sufficiently marked to attract her notice, is she flattered, I think she is.

I have thought of her all the way home, of writing to her anonymously and (as she said when I asked her if she liked Lord Byron’s poetry, yes perhaps too well) of sending her a cornelian heart with a copy of his lines on this subject - I could soon be in love with the girl. It had struck 10 by our clock when I got home - we have had a very fine day.

Barometer at Changeable and Fahrenheit 51 degrees at 10 p.m. 

Shibden

Saturday 18 April 1818 Walked with my aunt to call on Mrs Priestley (Lightcliffe) – finding her not at home (she is in Craven) we sat above 1/2 hour at Cliff-hill, and about the same time at Crow-nest – Promised Mrs Walker to mention Miss Bramley to my friends as being in want of a situation as governess – 

In the afternoon added a post script to my letter to Isabella Norcliffe mentioning Miss Bramley - Walked to Halifax – sat 1/2 hour with my aunt Lister - called at the library - took a little walk round the town, put my letter to Isabella Norcliffe (no. 138 Rue de l’Empereur  Brussels) into the post, and meant to have drank tea with Emma Saltmarshe, but she was engaged to her Aunt Catherine Rawson’s, and I therefore sat 1/2 hour with her and left her at 6 – 

1826

Friday 27 January

5 55/60

11 ½

Did not sleep at all last night till after 3 – awoke before 5 and never slept afterwards – made my own fire – sat down at my writing desk at 8 ¼ - Sent my aunt my note to Marian and that to Mr Rayner, to read – then sent them to their destination, and sent them (post paid)  My letter written last night to ‘Mr Briggs Livery Stables Tadcaster’ –

Then crossed out some of what I wrote to Mrs Barlow on Monday and Wednesday and then wrote out the remainder which filled to the bottom of the third page ~ it was irksome to me to write this it shocked me to be thus writing as if nothing had happened –

My aunt down at 9 40/60, so I went down to breakfast at 9 ¾ - Mr Butler’s man brought bombazines etc, and Mr Rayner’s man stuffs for the servants – went upstairs about 11 – wrote a few lines to announce my uncle’s death to Mrs Farrer, Mrs Veitch, and John Lister concluding my letter to the latter with that I should be happy to manage for him as my 2 uncles had done before, and that, if I heard nothing to the contrary, I should hope he would find no difference in the regularity of his receiving his remittances – Said when I had time to look over my uncle’s papers, I would write again before the next rent day, if he wished it, respecting the number of his policy for Sutcliffe wood farm, insured in the Globe fire office –

Sent off my letters to Mrs Farrer ‘to 7 Johnstone Street Laura Place Bath’ to ‘Mrs Veitch, Mrs Gorst’s, Chapel Street Preston, Lancashire’ and to ‘Mr John Lister Castle Street, Swansea, South Wales’ –

My aunt and I then went into my uncle’s room – she to see him for the first time since his death – she bore it much more composedly than I expected – we looked into each of his drawers  and we took out all the money which we afterwards counted  to one hundred and fifty nine pounds and sixpence

Stayed talking till 2 ½ - went out at 2 35/60 to James Sykes and John Booth banking up and sinking (they began yesterday) on Charles Holmes side of the wall between the Calf Croft and Pea fields – Jackman’s sons John and William walling there – walked up and down the fields and did not come in till 4 ¾ -

talked a while to my aunt – dressed – came down stairs at 5 40/60  Rayner’s tailor came to measure William Green and James and Joseph Smith for mourning – my aunt and I always to dine together at 6 sat down to dinner at 8 ¼ - afterwards wrote all the above of today – these out of doors improvements must be completed  I only fear the money will be scanty we should have nine hundred a year after letting Northgate ~

Fine day – very hard frost – rather thickish - very cold Barometer 2 1/2° above changeable Fahrenheit 30° at 9 ¾ pm at which hour came up to bed – very kind note of inquiry and offering to do anything she could for us from Mrs William Priestley (Lightcliffe) about 2 today – sent our compliments and thanks, and would write by and by, another day wrote the copy of and then wrote a few lines on the first end of my paper to Mrs Barlow briefly mentioning my uncle’s death and the manner of it, then simply concluding with ‘God Bless you Maria!’ -

Yorkshire Gazette Saturday January 28th 1826 

DEATHS

On Thursday 26th inst., at his house Shibden Hall, in this county, James Lister Esq., aged 77.  His death awfully sudden at the last, was instantaneously occasioned by the rupture of some large blood vessel near the heart.

1826

Thursday January 26 1826

8.40/60

1 5/60

Made my fire – letter from Miss Marsh (York) 3 pages and the ends - chit-chat – stood reading my letter – was then cleaning my teeth when (at 9 ½ by the kitchen clock) Cordingley rapt at my door, bade me go down directly – my uncle was laid on the floor – ran to his room – (my aunt almost in an hysteric of grief supported by Cordingley in the hall) – saw him fallen at the foot of his bed -he had evidently not hurt himself in the fall – the countenance calm, placid and unruffled as if nothing had happened – the spark of life quite extinct, tho’ Cordingley had heard stirring in her room not 10 minutes before, getting up as usual – he had got his smalls and stockings on – nothing to be done – Alas! – it was too late – all was over – ran down to my aunt – did all I could to compose her and she gradually became even better than I expected – 

George out with the horse – sent John Booth for Mr Sunderland – he came as soon as possible – said there had been an aneurism of some great blood-vessel near the heart – It had burst and death was instantaneous – nothing could have been done – he did not apprehend danger – had thought my Uncle would rally again – had he his attendance to begin over again and he could do no more – he had the consolation to think he had omitted nothing – did not – could not foresee this - the pulse was so good – It was a case in which medicine could have done no good –

There could have been no suffering at the last – it was a very large vessel that was ruptured – death occasioned instantaneously by the [inner] bleeding – I had noticed a swelling – almost as big as my two fists on the pit of the stomach – and my poor uncle complained of a little pain – tightness and heaviness yesterday evening, and said he had it during the night before but it had gone off – 

Asked Mr Sunderland (thanked him for the brace of partridges he had sent my uncle yesterday) to call at Northgate break the thing as well as he could to my father and Marian and ask them to come immediately – My aunt and I breakfasted –

Sent for Matty Pollard – she and the servants did the last offices for my poor uncle – my father and Marian arrived at 11 ¾ - we none of us spoke for some minutes – It was a melancholy meeting, but my father bore it more – much more calmly  then I expected – Marian after a burst of tears at first, was also calm – both she and my father had wretched colds – 

About one, the corpse was ready for us to see and I took my father into the room – he lifted back the napkin for a moment - death was then stamped on the countenance – my father shed a tear or two and after I had opened my poor uncle’s drawer and taken out his will (he told us where it was a day or two ago) we expected came down stairs –

After waiting a little while I read aloud the will – no-one uttered a word – as soon as I was done I hastened up to my own room – wrote to the editions of the Yorkshire Gazette York – Leeds Intelligencer Leeds Courier, and Gentleman’s Magazine London,  and to Miss Harvey 17 Albemarle Street Piccadilly London to order mourning for myself to be down as soon as possible – 

On sitting down to dine my aunt obliged to leave the room for a violent burst of grief – I went down to her in the drawing room – by and by left her tolerably composed, and came upstairs again – wrote a few hurried lines to Mr Duffin (York) to Isabella Norcliffe (Langton Hall) to Mariana (Lawton Hall) and toMiss MacClean  (15 Hill Street Edinburgh) to inform them of the melancholy event – 

Rayner the undertaker came about 4 – my father and I gave the necessary orders – sent off all my letters to the post office – dressed – went down stairs at 5 ½ - a little while with my aunt in the drawing room with my father and Marian who had tea in the dining room – my aunt just came in to wish them good evening, and they went away a little after 6 in the chaise that brought them – 

My aunt had tea and I dined at 6 ¾ - we were best left to ourselves and talked of things as calmly as we could – the funeral to be tomorrow week – 8 tenants to be bearers, etc etc my aunt is as well as can be – every thing reminds us of my uncle – How suddenly he has been snatched away at the last!  It seems a frightful dream!

On coming upstairs to my room, to dress after seeing my poor uncle, looked into my heart and said, Lord I am a sinner, there is not that sorrow there ought to be - I felt frightened to think that I could think, at such a moment, of temporal gain that I was now sure of the estate  - are others said I thus wicked? And I knelt down and said my prayers - Oh the heart is indeed deceitful - above all things he was the best of uncles to me - Oh that my heart were more right within me  - I shed a tear or two when my father and Marion came and stopt once in reading the will - I am grave and feel anxious to do and seem all that is decorous but there is not that deep grief at my heart I think there ought to be - Oh that I were better Lord - have mercy on me and forsake me not - Oh clense my heart and forsake me not for mine iniquity ~

Fine day but thick my poor uncle complained all yesterday he could not keep himself warm when close to the fire – cold too today – Barometer 3 1/8 degrees above changeable Fahrenheit 31 ½º at 9 40/60 at which hour came up to my room to bed  had my hair curled wrote all the above of today – my letter to the editor of Yorkshire Gazette was ‘Sir – I shall be much obliged to you to insert the following paragraph in your next paper anuary 7 1826, at his house, Shibden Hall in this County, James Lister Esquire, aged 77  His death, awfully sudden at the last, was instantaneously occasioned by the rupture of some large blood-vessel near the heart – I shall be much obliged to you to transmit the above paragraph to the editors of the the other York papers  I am Sir, your honorable servant  A Lister’ – the same paragraph to the editor of the Leeds Intelligencer – to the editors of the Courier, of the Gentleman’s magazine merely the last part of it, leaving out the cause of my uncle’s death –

Had just done the above of today at 11 ¼ ξ ~ then wrote a letter to Mr Briggs to say I had some thought of selling my horse if I can get my price for him, and begging him to let me know what he thinks he is worth and what he thinks he can sell him for – to let me hear from in the day – He shall, at all rates, have the horse 2 or 3 weeks longer – the account of him was good as I expected – do not like him the worse for riding rather heavy in hand then Mr Briggs seems to wish -then wrote a note to Mr Rayner mentioning the bearers etc - then wrote another to Marion about the servants mourning etc and to inquire after my father and herself - all which and writing the last 6 lines took me till 12 1/2 -

WYAS Ref Code SH:7/ML/E/9/0052

WYAS Ref Code SH:7/ML/E/9/0053

1829

October Thursday 22

Wrote 2nd and 2/3 the 3rd  page and finished my letter to my aunt – may be at home (sometime) Monday if not Monday then expect me on Tuesday and had done it at 9 ½ -  

Out with Miss Hobart at 9 ¾ walked along the canal – fine locks – good town enough – back at10 ¾ breakfast immediately – Off at 12 ¾ flat uninteresting country – could never see the sea tho’ near (right) the road so low and a line of sand hill (low) shutting out the sea – pass the fortifications into Gravelines – stopped to have passports examined at 2 22/60 – detained 81 minutes and stop at the post at 2 ½ - 

Off again at 2 3/4 low houses – not good town – not of very good houses – pass thro curious old gothic gateway thereover 3 bridges and go alongside the canal and its sort of port – low flat country as before – willows and poplars –and lime and the a few elms near Gravelines – 

At Dessin’s at 4 55/60 went to the shop opposite about [secretaires] – one agreed for at 180 – packaged in mat 10/. a caisse would be 25/. table ronde de nuit 36/- Dinner at 6 – afterwards coffee and wrote note to Cosmo  with the buttons and ½ sheet note to Miss MacLean would no write again till I had had her answer to this note – hoped to be at home in good time on Sunday – Should sleep tomorrow when Vere  and I slept the 1st night from here on our way to Paris – Then scenery would be somewhat changed – never liked solitude – like it now less and less – She ‘seems to me your child and some timeslook at her with a pensive sentiment I can scarce describe’ – 

Gave Miss Hobart my notes and the buttons – busy over 1 thing or other – Lady S-[Stuart] went to her room at 11 5/60 – Miss Hobart staid about 10 minutes afterwards – I sat In the salon writing the last 11 lines – my room upstairs far away from theirs – began to rain soon after leaving Gravelines and rained more or less all the way and almost all the evening afterwards.  Then calculated the worth of 17 napoleons for Lady S-[Stuart] at 25/65 per pound sterling = £13 + 6/55 –And came to my room at 12

1829

October 21 (continued)

unlike yours and something between both would suit you best  ‘yes it would’  come said I  never mind  I do not blame you it was my fault      she was much attendrie said she should now be more sorry at my going than  she would have been yesterday  

and we came upstairs and parted in my room (Cameron there) at twelve and a half   explained how I should like to have her about me   how I should coax her and be dotingly fond of her as if she was my child etc but yet find she would rather have the coaxing modified     

poor girl the fact is she feels in spite of herself within herself what she does not quite understand and now that she fancies all explained away she has an excuse to herself for liking me and she is lulled into being satisfied ~ 

she likes me    tis well for her we shall be separated or this parental affection might take her by surprise      but now I am out of my scrape I will take care     be affectionate for she now likes it too well to be satisfied without it   but I will do nothing to alarm her     

tomorrow I shall probably begin to call her Vere and henceforth nous voila the best friends in the world   what but her own feelings alarmed her?  perhaps she herself knows not quite how well she likes me   strange enough we shall be better friends than ever or than if I had alarmed her at all   for now there will be more tenderness and different interest from what there could have been had I got into no scrape at all   in fact she cannot bear my coldness tho’ she scarce knows why – 

Had Cameron –then stood musing till 1 – then wrote all but the 1st 8 lines of the last page and all of this which took me till 1 40/60     

I see she has already written the crypt I gave her in her journal and she will use it more and by  ~

1829

21 October (continued)

I felt out of patience ordered the man to go as fast as he could and gave him fifty sols swearing at her in my heart and sinking all sensibility in dislike I shall be glad to be off said I to myself  - 

The box of my near front wheel so loose, would only just get to Dunkerque – on arriving ordered dinner and Miss Hobart and I walked about from 4 40/60 to 5 55/60 – first went into the church at St Eloi – handsome double aisled plain gothic white-washed interior – handsome Corinthian peristyle (10 colours) west entrance opposite to which large old square brick gothic belfry – Then walked along the docks and stood a moment on 2 on the platforms, and home at 5 55/60 – dinner at 6 5/60 – 

I went out feeling cross and out of patience for she said if it had not been for you aunt would have now gone forwards to Calais - I said I had unfortunately neither eloquence nor influence to persuade her of the necessity of not hurrying - Lady S not able to travel faster    I never offered my arm she would see I was not quite pleased by my manner I had no earthly reason to with unnecessary delay I was here merely on Lady S’s account because Doctor Drever and I agreed it was not fit to leave her with Miss Hobart who might hurry her too much 

Miss Hobart suspected me of other motives for delay (meaning the wish to be with her) but I had none now    As we walked on regretting it was not lighter I said we can come again in the morning she looked a little attendrie   I saw this but said I see that you inquire whether I really will come or not    Oh no you never told me you would do a thing without doing and I never do anything to please you in return    This led to my saying she certainly fidgetted aunt and me too very foolishly    She burst in to tears saying well she was always sorry for it afterwards said well never mind there is truth in whether I have spoilt Lady Stuart or not I have certainly spoilt you I see the folly of it I ought to have known better the fault is mine and I blame you but lie if at all -

Nothing more was said than that she knew it and she was to blame and she has been rather nervous all the evening since in fact I think she likes me after all and my change of manner and being rather more severe has a little brought her to herself and done no harm  ~ Wrote the whole of the crypt and inked over the penciling after dinner in the salon – coffee at 7 ½ - tea at 9 – bottle of wine hermitage at 6/. very good – wrote one page to my aunt –

Lady Stuart went to bed at 11 ¼ - before beginning shewed her (Vere) what she had written at Brussels on my paper that I have to write on - her eyes filled with tears Lady Stuart gone I shewed her the paper again she took a pen and dashed across liebe Vere saying it is not so now - 

I rubbed out the dash saying no don’t do that and this led to a long conversation in which I told her how wrong she was about and in her manner to Lady Stuart that it arose from temper not sufficiently well regulated and I had been out of patience today there was a point beyond which nobody could last out but for Lady Stuart I should have been off long ago only came here on Lady Stuart’s account 

Then an explanation about her having so mistaken me -  did away all idea of my feeling any other than affection I should feel towards the child of the friend I loved and that if Miss MacLean had been with us I should have been just as affectionate but should not have been mistaken  - explained away several ambiguous odd manners and words and she owned how much she had misunderstood me and said but I could not like her so well now after being so naughty -  

I said she had owned she was wrong and said she was sorry for it and that was quite enough for me   my manner had only changed of her own request and in fact liked her not one iota less and I asking if I might have my own way kissed her and bade her be happy I then said she had better let me have my own way  - but your way is too much unlike mine and is too much -

Tuesday 11 October 1825

6

11 5/60

Went into the stable, went out again at 7 1/2 and walked almost to Mytholm.

Met James and George Sykes and set them to work to back up what we weared at the brook, and to finish the east end of the South Bank of our raised causeway across the sown holm.

Got home a little before 11, breakfast at 11 then went to the men again at 11 3/4 and staid with them till 5 1/2. Had Jackman to look about and measure for this cabinet d’aisance I thought of yesterday - to be entered thro’ the ale parlour, Jackman’s estimate of his work is about under £10.

Today Jackman and John Booth weared up a hole for Thomas Pearson, and pulled up the same of the stones, the wearing that was in the old bed of that part of the brook that we have diverted.

My uncle as usual an objection and despair about this new necessary but behaves well considering and I am determined to begin it directly -

Dinner at 6 35/60 - Very fine day - Barometer 3 1/3 degrees above changeable Fahrenheit 57 degrees at 9 35/60 pm at which hour came up to bed  ~ E..O. ~ Read from page 218 to 233 Nouvelle Heloise.

Wednesday 12 October 1825

6 1/4

11

Went into the stable, then went out again at 7 1/2. Staid with the men till their drinking time at 11.  Breakfast at 11, met my aunt going in the gig to call at to Cliff Hill and Crow Nest.

Find a letter on my desk from Mrs Barlow (Paris) - durst not open it - felt agitated - hurried over my breakfast and went to the men again at 11 3/4.  Went to the Lower brea to see about the piece of ground to be planted in the Daisy Bank.

Came home and went upstairs at 1 3/4 and read my letter from Mrs Barlow, 3 pages and the ends widely written - kind but calm, written I think under restraint, very little but on common subjects as I stood at my writing desk write the rough draft of a good deal in answer, shed tears over it, felt deeply moved.  What would Mariana say to what I have written, which took me till 4 ~

At 4 went again to the men, and did not get home till 6 20/60. Dressed, dinner at 6 3/4 and afterwards wrote the above of today.  

The gardens sodded up the top of the south bank of the terrace end of the Dolt which had sunk.  Jackman raised the walling above the wearing of the brook next to the bridge.  The other men stubbing tree roots in the piece of ground we are going to plant, corner of George Robinson’s garden.  

Very fine day - very warm Barometer 3/4 degree above changeable Fahrenheit 61 degrees at 9 35/60 pm at which hour came up to bed ~ E..O. ~ Read from page 233 to 247 i Nouvelle Helloise ~

WYAS Catalogue Ref  SH:7/ML/E/9/0025

Tuesday 1 July 1834

5 10/..

11 35/..

No kiss see entry above – very fine morning Fahrenheit 70½º at 5¼ am - write copy letter to SW – dressed – then had Adny till 7½ - she tired with talking so before breakfast and lay down for a couple of hours – 

Wrote out yesterday till  9¾ then wrote 1½ pages to my aunt – with Miss Walker breakfast dawdling over from 11 till 12 – dressed then till 5 20/.. finished my letter 3 pages and ends and under the seal, and at the top of page 1, besides writing in 1¾ lines very small quite at the top of page 1 as follows (for my aunt to enclose to Mr Parker)  ‘Geneva Wednesday 2 July 1884  Sir - I shall be very much obliged to you ‘to make the necessary arrangements for my not being at home till the end instead of the begining of next ‘month – I will pay all but the £2000, immediately on my return – I am, Sir, etc etc etc A Lister’ –

Glad to have a better account of my aunt and hear my father is pretty well – to hurry Charles Howarth to finish the north parlour that my aunt may get into it as soon as possible – account of the journey from Paris – quite well now – delighted with the Jura and the fine opening upon the Lake of Geneva and the Savoy mountai]ns – to be off for Chamouni[x] on Thursday – from there to Montigny, Great St Bernard, Aosta, Little St Bernard and return by Cormayeur – all this may take 8 or 10 days – 

Post Office more conveniently situated than the bank, so to direct them next to me ‘post restante, à Genève, en Swisse’ – will write again in a week, or on our return – if my aunt waits ten days before writing to direct ‘aux soins de Messrs Heutsch and Co Banquires, Genève, en Swisse - 

Wrote in Adny’s letter to Washington as follows – ‘Geneva Tuesday 1 July 1834 ‘Sir – Pickels is quite right – I have given no leave to anybody to cut grass  in the ‘plantation you mention, if I had, I should have told him – He will proceed against ‘as he (Pickels) thinks will answer best –I am, Sir etc etc etc A Lister  Be so good ‘as hurry Chares Howarth to finish the north parlour (the low room next the ‘drawing room) that it may be ready for my aunt as soon as possible’ 

A declines the terms proposed by Mr Lamplugh Hird for Lidgate (buildings and 17 Days Work for £60 a year and furniture on a valuation at 5 p.c for 3 years wanting several alterations) had he offered 40/- per Days Work for the land and £30 for the buildings and a lease of 8 or 10 years, would have agreed – for the furniture would not ask more or take less than £20 a year unless taking more away than thinking of at present – Several applications for Lidgate if divided – will settle nothing about it till her return – Washington offers £20 per annum for it – we suppose there will be about 17 Days Work for this – 

Had just written the above at 6 pm – dinner at 6 20/.. in 1 5/.. hours - Adny and I (took George) out from 7 55/.. to 9 sauntering in the town – very fine day – Fahrenheit 70º at 9 50/.. – bought little Chamouni[x] Guide this evening  - read almost the whole of it – 

Lay quietly by her twenty five minutes and then to my own bed (In bed) at 11 35/.. -

Monday 30 june 1834 (continued)

 4¾

 10 ¾

Off again at 3 – fine rich plain – very good road, but so flat, could see nothing but the trees and hedges and yellow corn (only observed 3 or 4 patches of vine) close alongside, except the mountains and Mont Blanc ½ way up the horizon – pine wheat dead ripe – 

Voltaire   Source en.wikipedia,org

Voltaire’s Chateau  Fernéy    Source en.wikipedia.org

At Fernéy (Voltaires chateau) at 3 50/.. – one of the women servants shewed his chamber – nothing particular except a sort of mausalie to his memory in the fireplace – a brick-floored, 2 windowed, nice enough, not large room opening into the hall or salle à manger where Voltaire used to entertain his friends – 3 or 4 minutes sufficed for seeing this – 

Mont Blanc    Source  en.wikipedia.org

Then saw the gardens – the fine view of Mont Blanc finer said the man (quite 71 but looking much younger the son of Voltaire’s gardener) then the view that people go for to the little height above this ville of the great Sacconnex – and saw the hornbeam  avenue (the trees planted quite close, 6 or 8 inches distant and meeting at the top – from 3 to 4 yards wide?) Voltaire used to walk in, and where his cabinet d’etude was (in the garden, when he to be out of the way, and the elm (fine tall, straight, large elm) he planted –

Ferney a neat good ville French - the Swiss boundary is somewhere just out of Ferney – stopt at 5 10/.. at the police at great Sacconnex a good ville or little town? and shewed our English Foreign Office passports determined to put the other two away – Shewed passport again on entering Geneva – left it and they gave me a ticket to be signed by me before receiving back my passport – all this particularly in consequence of the late affair at Lyons – 

Hotel des Bergues    Source fr.wikipedia.org

Alighted at the large, new, handsome hotel de Bergues at 5 40/..bargained for apartment an 1em little salon and 3 single bedded rooms all looking on to the Rhone and room for George for 12/- a day – dinner and vin order for 2 selves 8/- and breakfast for some (not including strawberries) 2/- servants at 8/- a day for the two – 

Much better off than I expected, but the man (just come here from Thun), saw that I knew what I was about – very handsome < bridge (angle a strong abutment against the current), just opposite us finished only 6 weeks ago – the buildings along the quai all new and arcaded and handsome -

The town quite changed in this quarter – new and very handsome – beautiful view over the water this and to the mountains from our windows – dinner at 7 ¾ - very good – sat talking over dessert and a bottle of Lunel of which however I only took ½ wine glass, better pleased with very weak vin ordinaire and water – 

Before dinner we had been to the Post Office and got our letters (3 for Adny) and 1 for me dated the 19 June, 3 pages and ends directed from Paris, ‘Geneve’ and written on the back, ‘Nanti à Geneve en Swiss Poste restante’ from my aunt Shibden – better account of herself ends, – begs us not to hurry home – all going on well in and out of doors – my father pretty well ditto Marion –Miss Walker of Cliff Hill takes it ill we never told her of coming abroad tho’ it had been publicly talked of so long – what nonsense!  

2 of Adny’s letters from her sister, her eyes still bad – to be confined the beginning of  October – one from Washington – Mr Lamplugh Hird will for 3 years give £60 for Lidgate and 17 Days Work– and Samuel Washington £20 a year for the remainder of the land – Mr Hird likely to be a permanent tenant – wants alterations for which Samuel Washington would allow £40 – advises the agreeing – thinks the place would be well let – to pay 5 pc  for furniture on the value of an appraising - Adny and I do not want the Hird’s, do not accept the terms offered -

Ten minutes with her tonight she was tired said I was long about it that I gave her no dinky that is seminal flow - I excused myself and came away to my own bed  -

Very fine day Fahrenheit 70º at 10¾ p m

Monday 30 June 1834

4¾

10¾

Two kisses last night before getting into my own bed – fine morning Fahrenheit 62º at 5 ¾

Asked for the book of maître de poste and in spite of his telling me it was not worth while wrote as follows ‘le 29 Juin, 1834  Madame Lister, dame Anglais, allant de Paris à Génève, se plaint de l’insolence du postillon Michel, allemande, qui l’a conduite de St  Laurent jus qu’a Morey’   

Off from Morey at 6 18/.. – very fine ascent from Morey along the narrow beautiful gorge – Cheval de veufort fr[om] Poligny to Montrond, Champignole to St Laurent, St L–[Laurent] to Morey or Morez, but only had it from Morey to Rousses – from 6 40/.. to 7 walked up the mountain – very fine green, wooded rocky gorge – 

Rousses     Source en.wikipedia.org

At Rousses at 7 47/.. nice little poste house and Inn (might sleep there verywell) opposite the Douane – Shewed the 3 passports but nothing said about our baggage - Care not what we take out – woud be particular enough about what we brought in – Breakfast at 9 – before and after wrote out yesterday – 

Rousses a small but good ville off at 10 7/.. at 10 20/.. got out and walked 10 minutes up the hill – then in 5 or 6minutes more pass the road (left) leading to the new Swiss road along the lake to Geneva – the postboy said the distance was the same as the road we were going and many travelers now went that way – But why hurry down to Swirzerland and the flat road along its lake, in preference to lingering along the Jura, enjoying the matchless 1st view of the Leman waters?  

Lake Geneva   Source  Wikitravel.org

At 11¼ enter the fine winding deep valley which leads to La Vattaye at (11 57/..) a single house (La poste) very nice bedrooms, good house – might have slept and eaten there very comfortably – 24 minutes here Miss W all the while on the pot has very often two motions a day she was sickish and pee wee as usual  but noyau afterwards in the carriage did her good

 La Vattaye beautifully situated in little high-situated plain embossed in fir forest and high hoary fir-sprinkled rocks – still winding along the same fine valley (vide line 6 above) till 12¾ when, on reaching the top of the pass, the rich plain, the lake (or rather the Rhone from soon after its quitting the Lake) with its magnifyicent screen of mountains, and Mont Blanc, burst upon our view – the celebrity of this view is well deserved –

Mont Blanc   Source en.wikipedia.org

I do not remember having ever seen a finer – in 5 minutes the drag was put on, and the postboy had also tied fast the wheel with ropes, and we began the descent which lasted till 2 26/.. when having passed thro’ the main part of the town of Gex, we had one steepish street and then disencumbered the wheel, 4 minutes

Afterwards stopt at la Poste (at the far end of the town) a nice little Inn where, so nice was the garden at the back, and so fine the air, and the view, and so comfortable the bedroom we were in, we thought we could spend a few quiet days very well – Adny, being ready for something to eat, had a nice (cold) pickled trout and lay down all the while (for ½ hour) – Gex a goodish little country town – no inquiry about passports –

Sunday 29 June 1834

4 38/..

11¼

With her an hour and 5 minutes and two kisses  very fine morning Fahrenheit 68º at 5¼ - Off from Mont Sous Vaudré at 5 38/.. just an hour from the time of my getting out of bed – slept comfortably – good beds as everywhere – charming morning – nice rich corn country – the country from Dôle here, bare of wood,and not so pretty as before – from here (Mont Sous Vaudré) to Poligny rich corn country finer as it nears the mountains – 

Poligny    Source   juratourism.com

Just out of Mont Sous Vaudré a leagues drive then the forest of Rahon and all the way good road – easy descent upon Poligny seated amid vines that creep up some distance on the high mountain sides – the town the shabby streets on entering a pretty good one and very narrow and very tolerable Hotel au Grand Chef where we have just breakfasted – excellent milk and good alpine strawberries - the houses are at the very foot of the mountains – bare rock shingle sparingly covered with herbage rise almost perpendicular above the houses – but some of the Craven hills look as considerable – 

At Poligny at 7 35/.. and off at 9 48/.. Miss Walker lay down for ½ hour before and as long after breakfast and having eaten biscuits in the carriage going a stage before breakfast seems to have suited her very well – I have not enjoyed my breakfast so much since leaving home – for on breakfasting immediately after getting up I never eat with relish – narrow shabby streets on sortie Poligny as well as on entrer Poligny – 

Seminaire Vaux-sur-Poligny  Source  commons.wikipedia.com

Rocky hills terraced almost to the top with vines – pass the old convent, now a séminaire with 400 jeunes gens, in the fine beautiful Vallon de Vaux, and nearly at the end of end turn (left) and traverse to the top of the mountain to the little café and restaurant du Vallon de Vaux at 10 50/.. 

Walked up nearly the whole of the ascent and a little beyond the café in 50 minutes – very fine view over the rich wooded extensive plain of Dôle – Poligny very picturesque situated at the very foot of the mountains – had the day been very clear I daresay could have seen Dijon plain enough – the intervening towns and villes with their cloches scattered over the wide plain for ever peeping up from the wood – 

Montrond   Source  fr.wikipedia.org

Tolerably even and rich pretty drive along the mountain top (the 1st  mountain plain) to Montrond, a nice little scattered ville with old ruined round tower on top of round hill (the mont rond?) – Cheval de veufort to mont rond, but not from there the next stage (Champagnole) – 

Champagnole   Source fr.wikipedia.org

Pretty drive to Champagnole – 1 good start and then down steep descent to the other part of the town where is la poste , a good looking hotel where we might have slept very well – cheval de veufort again – the town surrounded by fir and beech wooded mountains – got out of the carriage just out of the town and walked ¼ hour up the hill – and from 2 23/.. to 3 the last 5 minutes downhill, Adny and I walked up the hill, and then down the steep tho’ shortish descent to Maison Neuve in a pretty little basin at the foot of pine covered mountains – 

The poste and hotel (a poor looking  place) a lone house – a few good-looking houses scattered about at a little distance – At 3½ (in ¼ hours slow trotting had gone about a mile English? from Maison Neuve) pass le Lion roux a nice, clean, good-looking auberge (‘en loge à pied et à cheval’) – where we might have slept well enough – not very possible to have slept at la poste (at Maison Neuve) – 

At St Laurent at 4 ¾ very good, clean, well-built ville – Good-looking Hotel de l’Eau de France, probably la poste, for the horses were there ready – 

Morey [Morez]   Source fr.wikipedia.org

I walked up the hill from 5¼ to 5 35/.. ,the road along this narrow gorge cut out of the rock with wood above and below – very fine descent upon Morey [Morez] from 4 ¾ for 57 minutes only seven of which about the middle of the descent without sabot, tho’, except at last down upon the deep gorge at the end of which is Morey. 

The road was very good and did not fall more than about 3 inches at a yard – the postboy grumbled at my insisting on his not trotting with the sabot on, looked as cross as the old gentleman and declared he would make me for the retard – 

Making a new road a little above the old one along the last point of this long descent just down upon the mountain torrent (dry now) that runs along the bottom of the valley – seem intending to cross the stream and carry the road on the other side of it –

The valley of Morey a deep very narrow gorge little more than room for the vice chain, good little town – reminded me of the Pyrenees – the perpendicular limestone hoary rocks (200 toises, about 1200 English feet high very fine – At Morey at 7 47/.., la poste, good enough looking hotel but the dirtiest people we have met with and the scantiest dinner we have had – however good beds (3 bedded room), large lofty room, and comfortable enough

Row with the postillion – very impertinent – so would only give him at the rate of 15 sols per poste – because 1½ came to 22½ sols, he would not take the 23 sols, would have liards, because he thought and I said I had none would not take the money at 1st – had up the maître de poste, very civil but got out of the way – threatened to send for me of the police (one of the women of the house said a gendarme) so got rid of the man – Adny laughing, George trembling (like an aspen leaf) she said – 

Dinner at 7¾ - the postillion business had prevented my writing – very fine day – Fahrenheit 63º at 11 p m much cooler here on the Jura – three quarters hour with Miss W before getting in to my own bed at eleven and a quarter

Saturday 28 June 1834

5 50/..

10 55/..

With her from ten to eleven and a quarter and a long very good kiss to her and tolerable to me  Fine morning Fahrenheit 57½ at 6 10/.. breakfast at 7¼ wrote the last 15 lines till 8¾ - 

Hotel de la Cloche very comfortable – good eating – attentive civil people – Miss Walker and I out at 9¼ - cathedral – good old gothic church but not so handsome as Notre Dame we saw last night – 

Botanic Garden Dijon   Source fr.wikipedia.org

At the botanic garden called Jardin des plantes at 9 40/.. the old one given up and this new one not quite finished – approached thro’ a piece of nicely laid out, wooded (with large trees) piece of ground in which boys were playing, and seeming to belong to a good pile of brick building adjoining the garden – perhaps (from the nº of beds in a room) a school – much pleased with the garden – only wish it were larger – (a square of about 3 or 4 acres?) 

All the trees, shrubs and flowers planted quite recently – a winding stream all thro’ (across from corner to corner) the garden with a little basin and boat on it – 2 or 3 pieces of prêtty rock-made mount, and a gothic seat hide the end wall, too little distant as one faces it on entering – small but picturesque serres near the top of the garden, nicely placed the right side wall on entering flower beds (as at the Jardin des plantes Paris) laid out in narrow stripes but looking more soignés from being all box-edged and having 2 foot gravel walks between – 

Sambucus Nigra  Source Gardening Express

All the plants ticketed (Linnaean System?) Sambucus nigra  com[mon] Elder – Fedia, (forget-me-not?)  Dipsacus, teazle – Cineraria Maritima (white velvety stalks and leaves [?] ragged, like senecio, dogs tander) – 

Off from the hotel de la Cloche (very comfortable – good eating) Dijon at 10 47/.. – Dijon a very nice good provincial town, in a fine country – Genlis (1st relais) very neat little ville – 

Auxonne    Source en.wikipedia.org

Auxonne fortified goodish town – stopt on entering the poste de ville to shew passports and at the café opposite for café au lait for Ann had it in 22 minutes – walked forwards to the poste, and off in two minutes more at 2 18/.. 

Soon after Dijon on getting to the top of the 1st rising ground 1st view of a saddlebacked mountain of the Jura range – wide, fertile plain corn India around Dijon going 1st we have seen potatoes Incema grapes etc and all the way to the wooded hills en face gradually closing upon us on nearing Dôle till at 3 40/.. from the top of the hill (or mountain?) just above Dôle, very fine rich view large vine-covered sufficiently wooded plain to our right, 

Mont Dore   Source en.wikipedia.org

Auxonne behind us, and the good-looking town of Dôle with it’s church steeples en face backed by the long line of Jura mountains – not like alps or Pyrenees, but very fine – views for the last hour (from about 2 40/..) and all about Dôle in the rich plain, little else – 

Dôle   Source en.wikipedia.org

At Dôle at 4 11/.. no postillion – obliged to wait – so drove to the hotel de Paris close by – dined (very good dinner) at 5 in an hour –before and after till 6¼ wrote the above of today – Off from Dôle at 6 22/.. – no vines much beyond Dijon corn India ditto, hemp etc as before – the Jura not more than the Wolds ½ way between York and Market Weighton now at 8¼ - picturesque ville’s all today 

– At la poste Mont Sous Vaudré at 8 35/.. – a mere auberge –but a nice enough double bedded room and wanting no dinner nor breakfast in the morning (but which by the way would I daresay have been very fair) we do very well – some little more than usual difficulty in bargaining for the 4 beds for 6/- fine morning, tho’ blackish clouds about soon after 12, and showers in the afternoon, but fair and fine from between 4 and 5 for the rest of the evening – Fahrenheit 68º at 9pm -

Friday 27 June 1834

5¼

11 20/..

Fine morning Fahrenheit 68½º at 5½ - no kiss she asleep so got quietly into my own bed in the same room had dressing room – breakfast at 6½  

Off from la poste Rouvray comfortable tho’ a mere auberge in appearance  at 7 33/.. the hotel du Léopard no longer exists – what we passed last night is the hotel du L’Aucienne poste, in appearance quite as good as where we are – Pretty country about Rouvray – here begins the district of the Cote d’or , so called from the fertility of the hills – Fine country from Rouvray to Maison neuve – the hills tho’ granitic not âpres, but cultivated, rich and well wooded – Maison neuve seems a shabby little town –

Vitteaux   Source wikiwand.com

At Vittaux [Vitteaux] at 11 10/.. and off from there at 11 18/.. the part we drove thro’ (did not see the hotel – hotel des Diligences, said to be good) old, ill paved, and shabby looking – fine country – the hills close more in upon us – Chiefly covered with vines – within corn, or wood, or rock above them, and corn and grass etc along the bottom of the valley – 

Black clouds and wind and thunder as we slowly arced in ¾ hour the Montagne du Vittaux just on leaving the town – then rain came on but not very heavy – the storm was at some distance before 12 and continued more or less till within 2 or 3 miles of Dijon and then fine and sunny - Very hilly road from Vittaux to la Chalum [Chalon], merely the poste and a few houses  – 

Canal Pont Pany    Source commons.wikipedia.org.

Fine drive to Pont Pany, only but more so from Pont Pany to Dijou – just out of Pont Pany the valley narrows to about a mile? and is very fine – the nice little river a few houses besides the poste an hotel where one could sleep Ouche and the canal de Bourgignon close along side of us (left) till we crossed the bridge into Plombiers at 4 (about a poste from Dijon) and left there at some distance right – 

Plombières   Source en.wikipedia.org

Plombières a picturesque ville with steeple covered with various coloured tiles 6 or 7 minutes from Plombières the valley opens to a considerable width and we have vines again which we had not observed since passing the Montagne de Vittaux – quite a garden from Plombières, and beautiful drive to Dijon – beautiful drive all the way from Pont Pany –

Alight opposite the poste, at the hotel de la Cloche at 4 28/.. 2 single bedded rooms as last night – tidied mine, and then wrote out the above of today till dinner at 5 40/.. – 

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon   Source en.wikipedia.org.

Miss Walker and I out at 7 10/.. took George went to the Musée in 5 or 6 salles of the old ducal palace – a few pictures of the old masters 2 or 3 pretty good ones – the rest modern – the walls well covered with them – one salle of statuary but all modern – copies by the young men of the school of Dijon studying at Rome – 

Tomb of Philip the Bold    Source en.wikipedia.org

in the first salle, the tomb of Philip sans peur (Philip the bold) and his wife Margaret de Bavière, and that of Philip le Hardi), (dukes of Burgundy) taken from the Chartreuse here (destroyed in the 1st revolution) very handsome – all in marble – the sculpture beautiful – tombs very large – the figures on the tableaux part are good likenesses – 

The antiquity found in the rue des Sincas in 1819 are put down stairs close to the grand staircase by which you go up to the musée – there are pieces of columns capitals observed one Roman cippres etc  - 

Notre Dame Dijon   Source en.wikipedia.org

From the musée went to the large handsome old gothic church of Notre Dame with fine painted glass windows – then to the handsome but less handsome church of St Michel a sort of middle age gothic exterior looking better at a distance than quite near – handsome vestibule leading into the nave – very handsome exterior with large Corinthian portico of theatre– a concert of the great musicians from Paris held five this evening – Drouet the great flute player, the leader – 

Then walked about the town, and in the park and home at 8 55/.. – very fine from about 4 pm Fahrenheit 69º at 9 40/.. Went to her bed at ten -

Thursday 26 June 1834

5

10 55/..

An hour with Miss W last night two kisses  Very fine morning Fahrenheit 70º at 5¾ - breakfast at 6½ - Off from Joigny (comfortable enough) at 7 18/.. – pleasant air in spite of the heat – 

Auxerre  Source en.wikipedia.org

At Auxerre at 9 57/..delayed 22 minutes Miss W on the pot all the time  Had I known I would have gone to see the cathedral (not far off) which they say is a good one – looks a large old gothic pile – 

Vermenton  Source france.voyage.com

Vermenton nice enough little town in a bottom – pretty viny, wooded hills all round – 

Avallon   Source en.wikipedia.org

At Avallon goodish lit]tle] town at 4 32/.. - Miss Walker had wanted café au lait at Vermanton (good looking café there) but I persuaded her to wait and dine at Avallon – the hotel de la Poste (very near the Poste aux chevaux) much frequented by English and praised in the livre des Strangers – dinner to be ready in ½ hour, took above an hour – 

In the mean while wrote out journal of yesterday and Miss Walker lay down – dinner at 5 40/.. she ate a large dinner and drank altogether about two tumblers of vin du pays a good common red burgundy - some without water and the rest with very little - I could not have drank at that rate besides two mouthfuls of noyau at a time - four times before dinner and once afterwards - then on getting in to the carriage again she was heated and had the fidgets - was in all positions and saying how ill and tired she was - Steph was right enough I shall have plague enough but I must manage as well as I can -  

Rouvray   Source  francethisway.com

Off from Avallon at 6 56/.. and at Rouvray Hotel de la Poste (the poste au chevaux) at 9 5/.. Miss Walker lay down immediately – I came to my dressing room and wrote the above of today till 9¾ - 

In the livres des Strangers à Avallon – saw in Vere’s handwriting that 17 April 1833 Mr and Lady Vere Cameron were there ‘caution travellers against the imposition of Hotel du Parc at Châlon sur Saône’ – 

Very fine day – very hot and dusty Fahrenheit 76º now at 9 50/.. p m -

Wednesday 25 June 1834 

8½

11

No kiss crept into my own separate bed without kissing or awakening her   Very fine morning Fahrenheit 78º at 8½ a m breakfast till 9¾  Off from Fontainbleau 10 13/.. –

La pont de Moret - Alfred Sisley   Source commons.wikimedia.org

At Moret at 11 10/.., nice little walled villa with large square tower remaining of old castle – picturesque old porte de ville at each end of the goodside street we passed thro’ – very pretty close round the ville – good old bridge (stone) over broad shallow Loing with its poplared banks, and mills, and washer women – and a little beyond bridge over good navigable canal – 

At Sens at 3 35/.. – sent the carriage to la Poste and Adny and I stopt at cafe, just on entering the ville, and in ¾ hour milk got (sought at 5 or 6 places) and boiled and Adny had café au lait which warmed her and took off her sensation of faintness – The woman had coffee ready made in the morning and kept in a pot-jar pour la fraîcheur – she made it by pouring over at least ¼ litre full of coffee a litre of boiling water (a litre is about an English pint) thro’ a strainer – the café au lait was very good – 

Sens cathedral      Source en.wikipedia.org

Then saw the handsome cathedral – the monument in the choir to the memory of the dauphin and the dauphiness father and mother of Louis 16, very fine –worthy of being the chef d’Quvre d’œvre of Coustou – 

In the carriage again and off at 4 10/.. – Sens is a nice little ville – chiefly one good long street thro’ which we passed terminated  by two belles portes de villeand country around agreeable, closed in by a beautifully shaped range of limestone or chalk hill beautifully covered with corn and vine and pretty well wooded – 

Soon see the Yonne a broad shallow stream (here and there reeds peeping up in the very midst of it) flowing thro a fine valley – the vine clad woody hills with stripes of corn, very pretty – very pretty drive from Sens to Villeneuve Leroy – a little ville, much smaller than Sens, but with two portes de ville, as at Sens – 

Yonne valley     Source pxfuel.com

At Joigny at 7 10/.. – beautiful drive along the fine valley of Yonne all the way from Sens to Joigny – we had a most agreeable shady drive, chiefly thro’ the forest from Chailly to Fontainebleau, and partly thro’ the forest from Fontainebleau to Fossard a nice little town – 

Joigny     Source fr.wikipedia.org

Ordered dinner at Joigny - Hotel des 5 Mineurs in the fauburg on this side the 7 arched handsome street bridge over the Yonne and Miss Walker and I walked back into the town and up the steep narrow streets to the church.  Not very large but remarkable for its very lofty nave – the chateau was destroyed in the 1st revolution – then walked along the pretty elm shaded public promenade along the river – (soldiers at drill on the ground near it) – 

Out 50 minutes and pretty soon dined at 8 35/..

Pouring 2 champagne glasses   Source  en.wikipedia.com

Had our bottle of champagne we brought from my cave at rue St Victor – wants drinking – very fine day - Fahrenheit 72º at 10 35/..p m

Tuesday 24 June 1834

6¼

12 55/..

A long kiss last night  Very fine morning Fahrenheit 71º at 7¼ a m – packing travelling bag – breakfast at 8¾

Off from the Hotel de la Terrasse, Rue de Rivoli, at Paris, at 10 40/.. – At Essone at 2 – nice little town down 1 hill and up another the pretty little river Essone running thro’ it along the bottom – stopt ten minutes George fastening nuts of screws –

Forest of Fontainebleau   Source   Reidsfrance.com

Nice cool pretty drive chiefly thro’ the fine forest, from Chailly to Fontainebleau where alighted at the Hotel de la ville de Lyons at 5¼

At the palace at 5 50/.. – in it ½ hour – all put as it was in Napoleon’s time – great repairs done to the palace – 

Palace of Fontainebleau  Source  en.wikipedia.org

Then in the gardens (à l’ Anglaise) at 6 20/.. for 40 minutes – very picturesque – Adny tired – could walk no farther – dinner at 7 20/.. – Adny lay on the sofa and I sat asleep by her – 

Wanting the carriage springs taking  up – the serrurier carossier came – brought the nail that holds fast the end of the spring –better – must repair it in the morning – How unlucky, but the near hind wheel had rubbed the pannel a little between Paris and here – 

From 9½  to 12½ wrote out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday yesterday and today – very fine day – cooler than of late – no dust – Adny was in bed 

Fahrenheit 69º now at 12 35/..tonight –

Note There was some confusion, on my part, over the image I chose for the hotel Anne and Miss Walker stayed in at Fontainebleau so I’ve exchanged the image for one of Fontainebleau forest which they drove through.