#AnnelisterCodeBreaker

[awhilesince]

Thursday, 19 June 1823

8 3/4

1 1/4

.. Down to breakfast at 10 55/60 – Off from Settle at 11 10/60 – Got out at the George Inn (– Pilling) Gisburn at 1 40/60 – Beautiful drive from Settle to Gisburne 11 miles –

t 5 miles from Settle (turned off to the right at long Preston) on our right very prettily situated on the rising ground above the Ribble, Halton-house (Halton West) Mr Yorke’s – let to a Mr Batty from Huddersfield – about 2 miles from Gisburne, the woods about the Park beautiful – a common white gate about a mile from the village opens into a back way leading to the house –

Gisburne a very neat-looking little market town – the church rather anticipant looking on the outside, but nothing particular within – only one monument, and that put up by one of the Listers to one of the Ashtons (styled his benefaction) in 1709 – Going to be a funeral – the church doors therefore open –

Got the clerk’s son, a boy of 13 or 14, for a guide, and walked to the hall – the Gothic approach lodges, close to the village, very handsome – the approach rather too short (perhaps 1/4 mile), but chiefly wooded on both sides, and pretty enough – the hall door open – went in – then walked round to the back part of the house – went into the kitchen, and got a woman servant to show us over the below stairs rooms – the house shewn when the family was not there – Only mylord at home – riding out in the grounds – very infirm – saw a wheel-chair like my late aunt Lister’s that he is wheeled about in – Mr Lister at York with his Craven legion – Miss Lister daily expected from London – the battle of Marston moor, a good painting by Abraham Cooper – Oliver Cromwell, General Lambert, and Captain Lister, all likenesses – Cromwell, 1/2 length by Sir Peter Lely, very good – Dr. Whitaker (in his Craven) mentions this as perhaps the best likeness ever taken of him – the house wants painting and new-furnishing – asked about the upstairs rooms – the woman said the furniture was old and worn out – they were not shewn – the place altogether indicates that its present possessor does not lay out much money upon it – a great deal wants doing – several pictures in oils by Mr Lister, and a new style in oils or resembling them that he has lately learnt in Bath – heads, landscapes – A large view of Gordale, in oils, just finished, taken by Mr Lister the best likeness of the place I remember to have seen –

walked across the park and thro’ the fields to Westby, 1/2 a mile or more, once a village and the original nest, as it were, of our family and Lord Ribblesdale’s – but the village has been taken away – and nothing remains but 2 modern looking cottages – a barn bearing no trace of antiquity, modern dog-kennels, and a large well-walled kitchen garden now in use for the hall – the wild cattle very gentle – milked night and morning, and as quiet as the rest – Midhope, great and little, 2 farm- houses, not so old looking as Westby – a mile beyond Westby – on the moor – nearer to Pendil hill – then the Midhopes must be modern indeed – perhaps recently rebuilt as farm houses – Set out to walk at 1 50/60 – got back at 4 5/60 –

Off from Gisburne at 4 17/60 – Gisburne 11 miles from Skipton, 9 from Colne, and 7 1/2 from Clitheroe – Turned down from the road to the right, and got to Salley abbey and village (4 miles) at 5 10/60 – went a few yards out of one onto the bridge over the Ribble for a distant view of Bolton hall (Colonel Bolton from Liverpool who fought a  duel with ––) mentioned by Dr. Whitaker as the oldest house bishop Pococke ever saw – It was a white-looking gable-ended house, too far out of our way, and possibly not a very direct road – merely a few bits of old walls remaining of Salley Abbey – the neighbouring cottages have widely been built out of its spoils, – but are very shabby – the surrounding beautiful – the monks knew how to choose situations –

From Salley to Clitheroe beautiful drive – the first view of Clitheroe castle very imposing – this castle-capped mound and town beneath it, reminded at 6 35/60 – most beautiful drive from Gisburne to Clitheroe –

went to the castle immediately after ordering dinner and beds – Except a little of the old wall about midway the mound, the shell of a square Tower at the very top of it, and its surrounding wall at 5 or 6 yards distance is all that remains – From this wall immediately surrounding the Tower a very fine view – Pendil-hill very fine – the valley on all sides very rich – the altogether reminded us of Denbigh and the vale of Clwyd – we called Clitheroe (for it is only a miniature likeness) little Denbigh – From Clitheroe to the top of that part of Pendil over which the road goes to Huntroyde Mr Starkie’s, 2 miles – to the farthest and highest point, I should guess to be about 4 miles, going right across from the Town –

Sat down to dinner at 8 – Roast leg of lamb, mashed potatoes – goos[e]berry tarts and cream – all pretty good –

after dinner wrote out pages 34, 35, of this volume of my journal and went upstairs to bed at 12 1/4 – [E two dots O two dots, marking discharge from venereal complaint] – several drops of dischar ge very slightly tinged so that I fancied my cousin coming –

Very fine day – but the road from Settle to Long Preston so dusty, we were quite covered – after leaving Long Preston, the road was more like a by-road (tho’ good) and it was much less dusty (since any dust at all) and much pleasanter –

left margin:

Gisburne.

Westby.

Midhope.

Bolton hall.

Salley-abbey.

Clitheroe.

Clitheroe castle belongs to the old duchess of Bucleugh [Buccleuch]. the castellated house near the castle inhabited by her steward Mr Kerr.

reference number: SH:7/ML/E/7/0029

[iredreamer]

Anne Lister 1806-1818 journal full transcription available

Hello everyone, I come with wonderful news! Full transcriptions from 1806 to January 1818 of the Anne Lister’s journals are finally online on the West Yorkshire Archive catalogue. It’s amazing to see how the Anne Lister Transcription Project is making progress and I’m so honored to be a part of it.

What has been transcribed till now? Transcript for the following volumes are available online: 

SH:7/ML/E/26/1 – 1806-1814

SH:7/ML/E/26/2 – Aug-Nov 1816

SH:7/ML/E/26/3 – Nov 1816-Mar 1817

SH:7/ML/E/1 – 21 Mar 1817-25 Jan 1818

[note: clicking the links will redirect you to the “volume level entry” in the online catalogue. There you can find all the info on that volume, everything you need to know about how to give credit and the link to a .pdf which is the transcript of that specific volume.]

How to access the transcript? I’m gonna directly quote from the WYAS website: “A full pdf version for these volumes can be found on the volume level entry in our online catalogue (...) Keyword searchable versions of the transcripts are included in each page entry within our online catalogue.”

In each page entry you will find the transcript for that specific diary page in the description box, like this:

You can easily search for words doing cmd+f (I think is ctrl+f in windows) and writing the word you are interested in.

A thing that is worth mentioning is that the .pdf files follow transcription editing rules. This means that they can be quite difficult to read (and search) because there is a heavily use of square brackets since Anne Lister abbreviated almost every word. Just quickly skimming through one of the pdfs will give you an idea of what I’m saying > SH-7-ML-E-1_Anne-Lister-Diary-Transcription.pdf

If you’re interest in following the progress of the Transcription Project you can visit the page dedicated to it: Anne Lister - Diary Transcription Project. There you can find all you need to know about how everything is progressing, who’s participating + info & links if you wanna join the project yourself.

Well, have a wonderful read and let me know what are the most interesting and curious things you find about Anne!

West Yorkshire Archive Service useful links:

• Instagram • Twitter • Facebook

[magnesiaandlemonjuice]

Sunday 31 December 1826

7 10/60

11 3/4

In my room at 8 10/60 - my bowels quite right now, and have been ever since I had the sense to loosen my stays - the fact is I am fatter than I was I began to perceive - my life is too easy - I must have more exercise, and less bed - I am always afraid of getting fat - I know it is so difficult to do so without laying the foundation for ‘divers diseases and death’ - It is by superabundence [sic] of nourishment that we compel ourselves to become fat - nature makes use of it by converting it into fat, till we clog her up that she can do so no longer, and then it must gradually derange the machine in one way or other, till at last the parts can play no longer, and we die of over feeding - from 8 20/60 to 8 3/4 wrote the latter 1/2 page 2 my letter to Mrs Lynn, and about page 3 and thus finished my letter - a kind letter beginning

‘my dear Mrs Lynn (dated last night ‘Saturday evening 30 December’) I was going to begin with, It seems odd that I should trouble you by writing….. but my eye glances on your concluding sentence, ‘I shall always have pleasure to hear from you’; and it is enough - It is not my xxxx intention to weary you, or to intrude upon your thoughts in any way that can be irksome - we are very sincerely anxious for your daughter’s recovery, - very sincerely anxious to have good accounts of you both, - and, beyond this have only to add, that, be the will of providence what it may, we trust you will neither be found unprepared, nor unresigned, and that you will not fail to remember that, if there be any comfort, - any consolation which you can possibly derive from us, it will be gladly offered with all the cordiality of real interest in your welfare’

rejoice that she has stayed where she is - mention the loss of our tab silver spoons - the peace of Europe seems to rest on a better foundation than ever

‘there may be a few complaints of Mr Canning’s ‘worse than haughty speech’; but England and Mr Canning, too, are hailed by the vast majority as the sheet anchor of all that is great and liberal; and Charles the 10th does not, in his heart, respect, or trust us less, because we wrap up the mantle of our importance round us - my aunt still continues ‘well of herself’, but suffers more in her limbs, than she did 10 days ago - of course, we attribute this to the weather - we have had a great deal of rain, tho’ it has chiefly fallen in the night - we have as yet no appearance of winter, but the leafless trees - a few mornings rather frosty, but the air, in general, soft and mild, on bad days being damp, and hazy with small rain - Fahrenheit was at 47o at 8 this morning north aspect’ (I had forgotten I had dated yesterday Fahrenheit only 46o yesterday) - ‘I hope you have good accounts from Mrs Sherand - my aunt joins me in best regards to Mrs and Miss Lynn - Sincerely anxious for her recovery, and for their own enjoyment of better health and happiness, I am, my dear Mrs Lynn, very truly yours A Lister’

to Steph, after copying Mariana’s account of herself (burning heat in her stomach succeeded by sickness which keeps her ‘awake for hours together’ in the night - tongue swelled and as if scalded - appetite good ‘in imagination’ but the moment she beginsto eat, she is satisfied) add,

‘Steph! I need not say, that this account, preceded by none any better, makes me uneasy; nor shall I be otherwise, till I have heard from you - I do not ask for a long letter - it is quite unnecessary - You have better things to do - but you must really find time to tell me, I trust, that you and yours are going on well, and what you think of Mariana - she came to spend a few weeks with us here principally, as you know, to learn the better to forget much that had recently happened at Leamington I fear, the success was not abundant - the following passage in her last letter strikes me exceedingly, tho’ I did not notice it to her in any way - I had complained of a sentence respecting myself, which seemed xxxx unlike her usual manner - she says in excuse, “a feverish impulse now and then got the better of me ….. my heart has been at times so heavily sorrowful, that, had I not had pen, ink and paper to carry off a little of its burthen, the load would verily, I believe, have been too much to bear - I always felt relieved after writing to you” - One subject is, however, as far as possible prohibited - I have begged, and entreated, that, on this subject, I may neither be informed, nor consulted - I neither can, nor will interfere again to reason, or advise - I only ask to be left in ignorance, satisfied that, come what may, Mariana will find all she ought to find, and all she wants, in you - I am certainly anxious that things should bear a smooth surface to the world - God grant thy may! But keep a watchful eye upon your sister’s health - Do not let the burthen bear it down; - do not let it sink too low, to rise again - I told her, I should send you a copy of the account she gave of herself, and beg you to prescribe; yet tho’ I begged her to always apply to you in every case, I studiously avoided giving her reason to imagine, I should say a syllable to you respecting the state of her mind - So long as her health does not materially suffer, I am contented - but on this point, I am painff painfully anxious at present - …… You will be kindly interested to hear a much better account of my aunt, than, 2 or 3 months ago, I should have expected it possible to give - the climate has certainly had a good effect upon her - we have not called in any physician - She will not hear of it - says her bowels are well - nothing beyond this can be accomplished; and she will have no medical man, till fruit can no longer do instead of medicine - we have grapes, figs nearly as good as fresh in small boxes, pomegranates, excellent apples and pears, and oranges, and all kinds of nuts one ever heard of - dates capital - pressed fruits good beyond compare - in short, all sorts of confections as good and beautiful as art can make them - … Paris not so full as usual - La commerce ne vas pas bien - reports of robberies frighten some of the country families from coming - mention our loss of Table spoons I began to think we shall not move farther south - the journey would not suit my aunt - Paris the best town on the continent for a fixed residence - excellent markets - to the full as good butcher’s meat as anywhere in England, at 7d [pence] a lb [pound], except for that particular part under the ribs of a surloin [sic] of beef, which is always taken out here, unless by particular order, and sold at double that price we have - English medicines of all kinds, and English everything, down to windsor soap, and Warren’s blacking - Depend upon it, we shall have no war - Charles and his ministers have too much sense to send our people and their money home again - Paris is scarce like itself even since I first knew it, 7 1/2 years ago - ……. the chamber of commerce petitioned Monsieur de Villèle to petition the king to hold fast the blessings of peace; and the king, who I verily believe is sincere, says he has peace as much at heart as any one can have - we never were quieter - It seems there are apostolicals, congregationists, ultramontanists, or call them what you will, perhaps too many of them, about court; and the chamber of deputies, after meeting 3 days in

numbers too small to do business, is probably a little like a bean-garden now and then - But what of all this? we shall have no war - there maybe a few complaints of Mr Cannings “worse than haughty speech”; but England and Mr Canning, too, are hailed by the vast majority as the short anchor of all that is great and liberal; and Charles the 10th does not, in his heart, respect, or trust us less, because we wrap the mantle of our importance round us - Of course, you have heard in England of Memoires le Comte de Montlosier’s 2 volumes against the Jesuit - and - congregationist influence - they are well, and thoroughly written - too convincing not to be proscribed - But who is in fault? However, I do not trouble my head much about politics - As a stranger and sojourner in the land, it is enough to wish it well; and this I do with all my heart' -

mention the weather the comfort of the Tuileries gardens where one can read (ditto in the Luxembourg and palais royal gardens) the papers at 1 sol each -

'my aunt bids me give her best remembrances - As to walking, she is much as when we left Parkgate - Her extremities swell a little towards night, and are more swelled when she gets up - She says, her face, too, and eyes are swelled, on getting up in a morning - The cutaneous complaint on the top of her head, is more spreading and disagreeable, and shews itself in more frequent patches over the body - Her nerves are weak, but her spirits good - Doctor Lefevre, an English physician with a French name, says, he has known several such cases, and, from what he hears of my aunt, she may live this dozen years, and that Paris is the very place for her - Her appetite is certainly very good; and she eats as much has I should fancy good for her - Yet I cannot help fearing, it is not unlikely she should be dropsical by and by' -

will write to the Duffins when I have heard from Steph, ‘that I may take that opportunity of thanking you for your letter’ - From 8 3/4 to 10 1/2. wrote the whole of the above of today - Folded and directed my letters added to Steph (under the seal),

‘wafer the answer, if you please; and do not make a point of choosing your thickest paper’ -

Breakfast at 10 40/60 - took my aunt my letter to Mrs Lynn to read, and sent of this ‘A madame madame Lynn, Rue Royale Numero 17, Tours’ and my letter to ‘H S Belcombe Esquire MD Minster Yard, York, Angleterre’ at 11 1/4 - while at breakfast this morning musing over writing to Miss Yorke! Perhaps I shall write - At this moment I almost think I shall - at 11 20/60 begin to finish dressing - which took me till very near 12 - then wrote out a little of my literary index - from 12 20/60 to 1 20/60, read aloud the morning service and sermon 8 bishop Sandford - then talked 1/2 hour to my aunt, and went out at 2 - walked to the barriere de l’Etoile - thro’ it and along the outer boulevard to the 3me [troisième], of 12 pièces, in the 1st large house in the row, the next house (of this row) to the barriere - 2000/. a year - musing about it - rather too far - In returning went up the rue des Champs Elysées and rue de la Madeleine looking to see what apartments there might be to let - a few affiches, but nothing tempting - turned down the rue de Surèsne [Surène] to the Place de la Madeleine - walked leisurely along all the new buildings, then thinking I would try the nearest house 1st went in at a handsome porte cochère - the apartment au premier rather too small - one lodging room too little - another just the same au 3me [troisième] - could have one room more - saw the proprietaire - a gentlemanly sort of man, living au 3me [troisième] and keeping his livery servant and cabriolet - 1600/. a year - with the additional room 2000/. - asked if he had any objection to furnish for us - no! - went into his salon while he considered about it - his wife a nice looking, young person - he has a house in the country where he always goes in May, and could spare us furniture very well - he calculated - could not say quite exactly - would have me make a proposition - said I was about an apartment a premier, large as his with the additional room well furnished - they only asked 400/. a month - I had offered 350/. - perhaps they would take it - thought they would but not quite certain - suppose I said 250/. a month for his apartment - furnished with every thing but plate linen and porcelain - 2 caves and remise - and one or 2 servants rooms upstairs - He said he had refused several locataires because he wished to have quiet people as he had daughters - the house all let but the premier I had seen, and the 3me [troisième] - let to his friends - not an English person in the house - I would take it for a year certain - afterwards from 6 months to 6 months - Should probably stay in Paris as long as my aunt lived - here on account of her health - she could not bear the climate of country house in England - ætatis [aged] 62 - saw the cellars, coach house every thing - really very comfortable - west aspect towards the Eglise de la Madeleine - capital air, and plenty of free space - Monsieur seems anxious to do all he can to agree - Said I would consult my friends - promised to give him an answer at 12 on Tuesday - at this moment (5 25/60 p.m.) I cannot see how we can do better - good situation - just across the boulevard - very nearly opposite the rue neuve de Luxembourg where there is a stand of fiacres every thing convenient - got home at 4 3/4 - wrote the last 25 1/2 lines, and had just done them at 5 1/2 - If we had taken the apartment at 2000/. per annum he would have paid all taxes, and asked 100/. a year extra for éclairàge and the porter - (4/. a month for éclairàge) - making some little calculations - If we can get the apartment for 3000/. per annum, xxxx including porter, éclairage et every thing, i.e. would be 3000/. ÷ 52 = 57 francs 69 12/52 cents per week - George came at 5 50/60 to say dinner was ready - Dinner at 6 precisely - Came to the drawing room at 8, - having told my aunt all about the apartment - she is exceedingly pleased at the idea of our having to pay so much less rent and likes account of the apartment - made out the washing bills - wrote the last 4 lines all which took me till 9 - George has just brought me in the card of

‘Monsieur and Madame Charles Droz’ and ‘Mademoiselle Julie Droz’ - came to my room at 10 5/60 - very fine day -

Marginal Notes

[sideways] we must have carpets?

very fine, rather frosty Fahrenheit 47 at 8 10/60 a.m. 50 1/2 - 12 at noon 48 - 10 5/60 p.m.

SH:7/ML/E/10/0038 & SH:7/ML/E/10/0039 & SH:7/ML/E/10/0040

[timehasbeenbusy]

France with Lady Stuart and Vere Hobart (continued)

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  ~

WYAS Ref Code SH:7/ML/TR/4/0013

[winteringinrome]

Continuing my series of showing the real entries from Anne Lister’s journals that inspired the chapters of my Past Scrapes story and we’re onto Paris and Mrs. Barlow. It was fairly easy to come up with a theme for this chapter…

Past Scrapes – Chapter 3:

“What she liked most,” Anne pauses delicately and licks her lips, “was for me to kiss her between her legs.”

A flash of heat jolts through Ann, she stares at Anne wide-eyed.

“Between her legs?” Her voice comes out hoarse.

“Yes.” Anne leans forward, her eyes not leaving Ann’s face. “I would sit before her and put up her skirts and put my mouth to her queer.”

Ann feels almost faint with the idea. She has never heard of such an act. The thought of it makes her breath come out quick and shallow in the stillness of the room and she cannot seem to slow it.

“Mrs. Barlow was very fond of that,” Anne continues. “She used to beg me to come to her at all hours of the day. I would be there in broad daylight, in the middle of the afternoon, terrified that Cordingley would walk in to find my head buried in her petticoats.”

And all at once it is as though Ann’s mind has lost the ability to finish a full thought, it keeps looping feverishly back to Anne with her head buried... her mouth buried...

“Just kissing?” she asks faintly.

Anne’s teeth flash in the dim light.

“No,” she says, “it is not just kissing.

Aaand that is 100% was Anne was up to in Paris.

7 Jan 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0113: I soon found she was becoming gradually excited and had soon my right middle finger up her and grubbled her well. Then, during a little cessation, she said I knew anatomy well or could not know how to create such great excitement…and I may say and do as I like, tho’, on offering to kiss her queer just before she left me, she prevented me. ‘May I not?’ said I. She answered, ‘No, not now.’

18 Jan 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0117: Just before getting up finally she let me put my head under the clothes, kiss the top of her queer and look at her.

20 Jan 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0118: I began grubbling and did it pretty well for her. Put my head under the clothes and kissed the top of her queer, she putting herself in whatever position I liked. She got up twenty minutes before me, during which time I lay and incurred a cross.

21 Jan 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0118: She let me, just before we got up (both jumped out of bed at the same moment), throw down the clothes and look at her in the full light. I told her I had no idea she was so pretty there, it was the prettiest part about her. It really is very pretty, quite black and round and fat and very nicely formed. I have told her since that the prettiest part of her is quite hid.

24 Feb 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0130: Got to grubbling again - what led me to it was her telling me not to give her any more kisses, she had not strength for them, however she bore it well, saying afterwards how astonished she was to have given me the kiss so soon again. I had put my face to her and saw her all the time and she had a very good one... I put my face to her and twice got queer into my mouth and just sucked the tip of it.

25 Feb 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0130: This morning just before getting up, put my face to her, took a little bit in my mouth, sucked and licked it and let a little slaver fall into her.

26 Feb 1825 - SH:7/ML/E/8/0130: I began to handle her and look at her. Licked a little bit of her queer, opened her with my finger and slavered into her, then grubbled looking all the while and gave her a good excitement. Before all this she herself had awakened me, lain on me and tried to see how I could get myself near her. I played sometime with only my shift parting me from her lying just as I should do for a kiss – afterwards washed and half dressed went to her and, finding her inclined, looked at her while grubbling and gave her one or two more excitements.

😅😅

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Wednesday 28 January 1835: SH:7/ML/E/17/0155

8 20

12

No kiss. fine morning tho’ rather hazy and dull - F43 ½° at 9 ½ am - Looked over from p. 25 to 69 end of De La Beche’s geological notes – breakfast at 9 ¾ - to 10 ¾ - then out with Charles H- doing top cornice for north passage – then with Pickels at the dry-bridge - Holt at the drift – came in with him at 11 50 and he staid till 1 ¾ - the deed made by Stansfield and Thompson ready for signing Mrs Machin’s coal 14DW to Mr Rawson for £200 - but 7 people concerned mother and children and......  the sadler at Northgate bridge having married the oldest daughter and not being consulted would not let his wife sign and promised to bring all the rest over to sell to Holt – valued at £40 per DW but Holt thinks he can get them to agree for £300 down – said I should be glad if he could – but he must give £350 rather than miss the bargain – in short he must buy the coal – then speaking of Spiggs he had told William what I had said about the deed from Wilkinson and said he (Holt) should be here this morning and expected William K- to come here and meet him and bring the deed  - said I should now 1st see about settling this matter about the deed - and that I did not care about agreeing with the Spiggs company for that I understood the K-s were indemnified by the 2 Clarkes (Tommy and his brother) of whom they bought their share - asked what Holt valued the Spiggs colliery at as it stood - £1000 - very well, said I - we shall see - if I open this Shibden colliery it will be my interest to stop Spiggs altogether - why! yes! said H- it would - his cousins Holt had agreed to sell their ½ share to Stocks; but when I bought Staups, Stocks would have nothing more to do with Spiggs - he would have loosed Northowram coal (Swain’s coal) Spiggs thro’ by Staups - Stocks has only ½ of Swaine’s coal and the two Clarkes have the other ½ - and Stocks will not care much about loosing it till he has it all - Wilson quite fast - cannot stand many months longer - I could loose Stocks (Swaine’s coal) and 2 few acres of upper brea top land by my water wheel at Tilly holm still if I liked - but I loose neither him nor anybody else unless I like - said I had made up my mind to loose my coal and set up the water wheel at Tilly holme style and wished to begin of this job - the sooner the better - the 1st thing to do is to begin at Mytholm dam stones, and drive up a drift to Tilly holm still - this at a rough guess, might be from 600 to 700 yards - say at 4/. a yard if advertised might be done for less - might be done in about 8 months - then would have a walled and arched culvert (3x2ft) from Tilly holm still to the end of my library into the brook - say (said I) about 600 yards all labour done at 5/. per yard and stones (field wall stones for sides and parpoints for arching) and carting = 7/. per yard - .:. culvert total cost of per yard = 12/. then put down the water wheel - wheel to be 6ft. broad - put the wheel and engine pit just above the gall (that runs thro’ wellroyde land etc) so that there would only be 14 or 15 yards to pump -suppose the wheel and engine pit cost from £300 to £400.  the 2 coal-heads or drifts (large enough for hurrying gates - going corves along one and returning corves along the other) will pay for themselves by the coal got out of them - that is, will pay for driving but there will be rails to find - those Hinscliffe has just got me from Farrer are to be £8 per ton, 4ft. long rails, of which one ton will reach 80 yards - told Holt my plan of sinking another pit 50 or 60 yards on this side of Walker pit - not necessary to sink another pit - Even if I stopt Spiggs colliery and kept it stopt (for which I should have to raise the water 3 yards) so that Walker pit should be 3 yards deep in water this would not signify - I could chamber the pit just above the water, or fill it up to that height, if I liked, and cut a gallery or drift from Walker pit thro’ the coal to communicate with the drifts (leaving between the pit and drift a yards’ breadth of coal as a landing or fence to keep the water from the drift) - Holt quite sure I cannot stop Spiggs without letting the water 3 yards deep into Walker pit bottom - the dead water stands - that is the water rises as it is, as high up on the coal as the wall at the head of the clough in Trough of Bolland wood - I smiled and said I thought Hinscliffe would have no objection to my stopping Spiggs colliery - which Holt seemed to agree in - I think Hinscliffe is afraid of his trespass being discovered when Walker pit is bottomed - we shall have the phey about 180 yards along the face of the coal in the old works at 3/. a yard for this gate will be good and then about 50 yards forward thro’ coal and then Holt thinks we shall come at the trespass - but the coal will pay when we get to it -

SH:7/ML/E/17/0156

Holt staid till 1 ¾ - then had Washington upstairs in the blue room, Dr Kenny being below at the same time – told W- to look after the tumbled down wall at Staups – A- agreed to excuse him £40 of the £140 he was to pay her for the Lidgate hay, so that there is only a hundred to deduct from the £500 to be paid for his field adjoining Hardcatsle’s -  Glad to avoid Dr K-  so kept out of the way (in my study) – A- and I off at 2 ¾ along the walk and the Leeds and Whitehall road to her fields in Bramley Lane where Robert Scholefield is walling – sometime there and while A- went in to Mrs Draper’s I stood talking to Flather – would not tell me exactly what he sold his farm for to Joshua Keighley but said he had altogether made what I bade him, or rather, the sum I named to him i.e. £800 for he had cut down the wood .:.  wood = £200 for William K- told me his brother gave £600 – Flather would not tell me what he sold the farm for fear Joshua K- should be vexed at him for perhaps I was about making a bargain with JK- no! said I, I am not - In returning A- and I went into the Cliff Hill land to set out holes to be made for thorns to mark the pump and well trough - home all along by the old Wakefield road at 5 10 - some while with my father and Marian Letter left by someone from Mr. W. Brown surveyor of taxes asking if I had not a gamekeeper (Joseph Pickells) and a pointer dog - Dinner at 6 ½ - coffee – with my father and Marian ½ hour till 8 – I then had Eliza Howarth, my sister gauche housemaid aetatis 17 into the little dining room for a little good advice for near ½ hour – mercy upon us, what a girl for housemaid here! then talked to A- and wrote the journal of today – ¼ hour with my aunt till 10 ¼ - she had Mr Jubb ½ hour this evening between 6 and 7 - fine day F43 ½° at 10 20 pm.

[the-deeds-to-shibden]

Saturday 27 July 1839

Continuing on the way to the Norwegian border, Anne and Ann admire lake Vänern and breakfast on strawberries and cream. Ann loses her pencil, while Anne gets fed up with how slowly they are travelling and takes the reins herself!

[up at] 3 ¼

[to bed at] 12

Slept well – off at 4 7/” – very foggy – found our cloaks on, not too much – pretty drive leaving the canal far left, but could see the white sails – At the river at 5 1/2 – broad, wooded and very pretty – at 5 3/4 cross wooden bridge over beautiful (rapidy under the bridge) arm of the lake, and drive thro’ fir-wood – at Wennersborg at 6 11/” – no horses – must wait 1 1/2 hour – Ann and I strolled about the town for 1 1/4 hour – long wood bridge (a couple of draw parts) over the neck of the lake – several new buildings in progress – wood on stone footings – the lake really looks like a sea – from 7 25/” to 8 25/” breakfast at a ‘Restauration’ strawberries and cream and bread and butter – good –Wennersborg a nice town – burnt down all but the church in 1834 – but marvellously built up again – Ann lost her pencil – off again at 8 55/” – picturesque drive to Almo – 1/2 hour to wait there – same sort of drive to Raknĕbo but no waiting there – off directly – and prettier than the last stage – I drove (1st time) the last and this stage (tired of the slowness last stage) till about 11 when Ann feeling faint we had a little of Mrs. Tod’s Rice panăcacka – I drove thro’ Uddevalla good town situated on very pretty fiord – at a farm house some little way from Herrestad (single house) engaged horses which were to to follow us immediately so that we were off again in 8 minutes at 1 27/” with our, as John1 called him, our gentleman driver – he drove very well – the most hilly stage we have had – I slept several times but awake enough to see that from Herrestad to Quistrum is the most picturesque stage we have come – long and steep ascents and descents – another fiord – Quistrum at 3 24/” 3 or 4 scattered wood-built houses – alighted at 3 35/” and went into the garden of the post-station apparently the best house in the place – good 3 arch-stone bridge at the far end of the town – higher mountains valley narrow very picturesque our road improves in mountain hight and narrowings of valley and fiord as we go along – Alighted 1 4/” hour at Quistrum waiting for horses – terrible – after being in the garden sat in the carriage writing inking over2 Friday (yesterday) – a drop or 2 of rain before starting and afterward a good deal of rain – stop in a shower at 7 25/” at a little distance from the stage house to change horses and this man drove us thro’ the post station of Svarteberg a farm house to near Rabalshede, also a farm house, and we changed horses in the road – the owner of the horses being in his field our driver called him and drove us to Hede where we stopt at 9 3/4  the rain having continued the whole way – single house – the landlord in bed – supper till 11 10/” bread and butter and milk and pancakes – Fahrenheit 64 1/2 at 11 40/” p.m. very rainy from about 4 3/4 p.m. for the rest of the day – rainy night –

 Marginal notes:

so far written over Sunday 28 July at Hogdal

Quistrum

Hede

 Notes:

1 The guide they engaged in Gothenburg.

2 Anne tended to write her travel notes first in pencil, and later go over them in ink.

Pages in WYAS Catalogue:  SH:7/ML/TR/12/0009    SH:7/ML/TR/12/0010

The three-arch bridge in Kvistrum, also the location of a battle in 1788:

The town of Uddevalla, through which Anne drove:

[decodingannelister]

Tuesday 29 December 1818

8 1/2

11 1/2

B[efore] B[reakfast] finish[e]d Fri[day] 18 Dec wr[ote] a sh[ee]t ( all but the end of the 3[r]d p[age] left for Miss V[allance])and cross[e]d the 2 first p[ages] to Tib[Isabella] .A lit[tle] aft[er] 3 d[o]wn the o[ld]b[ank]. Sp[oke] to Turner ab[ou]t clean[in]g the large pist[o]l and w[e]nt to the library,thence to KingX [Cross]. Met Messrs George and Henry Priestley who told me their sist[er] Mrs Edw[ar]ds(Pye Nest) h[a]d been safe[l]y deliv[ere]d of a fine boy (h[e]r 8th child) at one in the morn[in]g. Ret[urned]d d[o]wn Callista Lane and well-head lane and call[e]d at Well-head saw on[l]y the gov[erne]s Mrs Green and young John at his Fr[ench] less[ons] w[i]th Mr Parry. Mrs W_ w[i]th 3 sick child[re]n upst[ai]rs and c[oul]d n[o]t leave them. D[i]d not sit d[o]wn st[aye]d 20 min[ute]s at N[orth]gate and g[o]t ho[me] ab[ou]t 5. In the ev[ening] cop[ie]d out fr[om] Sat[urday] 19 to Wed[nesday] 23[r]d inst.[instante mense]. Ver[y] fine frosty day. B [arometer] 1 1/2 ab[ov]e fair – F[ahrenheit] 32 ½  at 9p.m.(no fire in the hall).

WYAS reference number :  SH:7/ML/E/2/0094

[woollyslisterblog]

1834 August Monday 4th

some days I am nonethewiser as to why she puts some things in code and other in plain hand. Toenail cutting and biscuit eating taboo; contrast with bowel complaint transparency. Also interesting insight into how sometimes she doesn’t write contemporaneously and has to do catch ups.

Not at all with her last night -Ann not well an had a bowel complaint this morning and lay in bed - fine morning and F 68° at 8 - much rain in the night - cutting toenails that not ready till 8:30 then with Ann heating up her coffee etc etc till after 9 - breakfast at 9:30 to 10 in my own room - with Ann backwards and forwards - had George too say his lessons French wrote out Tuesday 8th instant till 12:45 - finished dressing -

took George and Ann and I out at 1:45 for about an hour - she tired, and we came in - she had a biscuit and brandy and water and lay on the sofa and was better wrote out to the first 41 lines of Wednesday the 9th instant till 4:45 – Ann and I out again at 5:10 went to M Fournier and of this street ‘Horologer, Rue Montorge près la place Grenette’- looked over his minerals - some goodish things but all in litter - mounted up to the very top of the house to see his cabinet - all mal-arrangér - then sauntered – M Fournier began minerality 10 years ago when aged 54 and seems very tolerably clever now - went into the church built by Louis 14 - dirty and plain- not handsome -

home and dinner at 6:30 - had the master of the house up - intelligent and civil - showed me 4 coloured views and plans of the grande Chartreuse - 5 lithographs of the views to be had at Leon - sent me up box of minerals left many years ago by an Italian traveller who had not paid his bill - looked them all over - had been turned over often before so tickets lost and nothing left worth much till 10:45 at the minerals - fine at F 68° at 10:45 pm Ann in bed before 10 and asleep when i went in -

[oeillade]

Anne is in the Lake District with Aunt Anne.  She exhausts a local guide, because of course she does, and sits down to a dinner of roasted leg of mutton (good, but too fresh killed).

1824

July Friday 30

5 35/60

10 3/4

Got a towel and water and washed as well as I could — Breakfast at 6 1/4 — a basin of boiled (no bread in it) and a good tea-cake — the woman said the young man (aetatis 22 he told me) confessed I had tired him out — asked the woman what I had to pay — 2/ for the guide — as for myself what I had had was not much, I must give her what I pleased — asked her to calculate — why she thought a sup of gin and water was not much and all I had had was not more than 6d — gave her 4/6 for myself besides the 2/ for the guide, with which she seemed much pleased and told her she had been so civil and so she really was, if I ever went that way again I would call and inquire after her —the guide and I were off (from the lion and Lamb, Moses Sewell, Gosforth) 7 37/60 — walked to Calder bridge and stopt at the Stanley arms, Christopher Birkett, at 8 20/60 — Finding they had horses, sent back my guide (who had offered forwards with me to Scale hill, thinking he could find his way by daylight, and agreed for a couple of horses for 10/ — Had a basin of boiled milk — dozed a little — looked into 1 of the 4 quarto volumes of Hutchinson’s history of Cumberland — Tired of waiting — the horses to bring from the field — a saddle to borrow —at last got from their landlord’s — Mr. Stanley of Ponsonby hall, whose gates we passed on our left just before entering the village of Calder bridge — Off at 10 10/60 — Mr. Birkett said the mare had a bit of a limp — so she had and stumbled desperately — jogged on to Calder abbey — about a mile off, a very little way from the road on our right — went to it — some of the great tower — the nave and what might have been a cloister remaining — beautiful ruin — the house (not a large one) joins upon the abbey — Miss Sevenhouse married about a year ago to her cousin Captain Irwin — her 3 younger sisters live at Calder bridge — detained about 10 minutes or 1/4  hour at the abbey — made the man change the saddles, and mounted his horse which merely stumbled now and then and did not limp, but was only a little broken winded and went on shog trot to the other’s walk pretty easily — both of them cart horses — Fine views of Solway firth — it was rather thick or the Isle of Man might have been very distinctly seen—Looked down upon Egremont — St. Bees stretched in a long white line (all the houses hereabouts white washed) along the side of a hill in a valley winding to the sea, Looked beautiful in the distance — admireed the lake of  Ennerdale in passing — no wood about it not a tree near it — completely embounded in high mountains — a farm of about a hundred acres at the head of it — all the property of ‘Lord Lowther’ (Lord Lonsdale, I suppose he meant) — his lordship had a great deal of property hereabouts — passed thro’ Kirkland, Lamplugh cross, Loweswater (the lake very pretty) the church and village nearer to Crummock lake then Loweswater and got to Scale hill at 2 1/4 — a fine ride of 16 miles — some part of it reminded me a little of the South downs and while the firth was in sight of my ride in 1813 from Stafford near Dorchester to Weymouth — my aunt had been at Scale hill above 2 hours — got there before 12 — had a basin of boiled milk — off to Crummock lake at 2 50/60 — my aunt could only walk slowly — they called it 3/4 mile, but we were 20 minutes walking it — In the boat on Crummock at 3 10/60 and landed at the Buttermere end at 4 5/60 — the lake shut in by fine mountains but my aunt was at first so frightened she could not admire or enjoy it — we had near landed 1/2 way — a dark cloud passing roughened the water and the breeze blew fresh — only a few houses at Buttermere — the lake very pretty small one — Honister (vide Otley’s guide page 81) crag very fine — Mary of Buttermere married to a farmer who had forty pounds a year of estate and lives about 20 miles off, I forget where — 50 minutes in seeing Buttermere and its lake —reimbarked on Crummock at 5 — landed at 5 50/60 and got to our Inn (Scale hill) at 6 1/4 and sat down to dinner at 6 20/60 — roasted leg of mutton (good, but too fresh killed) peas and potatoes and gooseberry tart and cream — off from Scale hill at 7 1/4 returned thro’ the beautiful rich-looking vale of and pretty vilage of Lorton, and 4 miles from Scale hill got into the Cockermouth road, very good but very hilly — 12 miles — my aunt had come a dangerous bye road  in the morning, narrow and no fence from the precipice, only 10 miles but bad that is dangerous — the descent upon Keswick very fine — Fine view of Bassenthwaite water — got to Keswick at 9 1/2 — Very fine day till about nine p.m. — threatening rain while we were at Buttermere, but it held off — a smartish shower as we descended the hill upon Keswick about 9 — Came up to bed at 9 3/4 

[synchronicobject]

Mentioned in Anne Lister’s diary entry for Friday October 5th 1821, a gift from Isabella Norcliffe.

"Letter from Isabella Norcliffe this morning, enclosing a coronation medal of the king - well designed and executed"

Designed by the Italian engraver Benedetto Pistrucci (1783-1855) at The Royal Mint (est. AD 886) the official Coronation Medal of King George IV, 1821 "shows a laureate bust of the king and the reverse features the coronation scene - images of allegorical Britannia, Hibernia and Scotia [England, Ireland, and Scotland] looking on as Victory [sometimes identified as Peace] crowns the new monarch." Struck in gold, silver and bronze.

These days they can fetch upwards of £6,000! Though typically found in the  bronze range for less than $100. Would love to know what Tib shelled out for Anne in 1821, anyone?

Pistrucci, the designer of both St. George Slaying the Dragon on the British Sovereign and the Waterloo Medal was nearly terminated when George IV thought his engraved visage unflattering. 

A notably detailed Pistrucci cameo after the Medusa Rondanini, note the preservation of the snake heads around the wings! A feature typically lost or emitted entirely.

(diary transcription via)

[awhilesince]

Monday, 2 August 1830 (travel journals)

5 25/..

11 1/4

ready in 3 /4 hour – saw them all off at 6 20/.. – then went to the barracks near an hour there 88 in 1 stable 28 young in another – fed every 2 hours – ordinary allowance per day 8 lbs. [pounds] avoine 12 fourrage 15 straw (paille) besides sonde (mashes)? at noon – 1 very strong large norman (gray) 3000/. others 1500/. to 2000/. price – all stalons – some as colts bought at 400/. from 15 to 50 mares allowed them per annum – several crosses between this Country breed and barbes – some English horses – the man said they got thicker in the neck by the climate 8 of the horses aux caux – some sent every year – one a very fine gray sent because he coughed a little and they were afraid of his wind – some Turkish horses some de Limoges and some Norman, and some pure breed of the Pyrennees Gray or dark bay pretty little clean legged animals 1 man to 4 horses – all apparently very gentle all done by kindness – the manège not so fine as I expected –

drizzling rain from 6 25/.. – thick no view – back at 7 1/2 wished to be off in an hour – no horses till 2 – breakfast – went to my banker – all business at a stand – choice whether to take 25/. or not – yes! for £50 circular –

appalling news from Paris paid the bill here for us all – always give 6/. to the servants find Jean gives 2/50 more for the servants – so it seems we give altogether 8/50.! Sat writing journal and to my aunt till 2 –

off at 2 6/.. – Tarbes really a nice little town – 3 churches – the cathedral a small poorish concern, nor much of transepts near side aisles at all – the church I was in this morning (St. Anne’s) a poor little place, but almost as good as the cathedral – the steeple that seems to have belonged to a tolerably good church is merely part of what is left and now filled with forage for the cavallery – neat barracks (saw them this morning) built for them very lately – I have been more comfortable at Tarbes than anywhere – have nowhere had so good a room –

drizzling rain Till from 6 25/.. to after 12 – then began to clear a little and on leaving Tarbes fair and streets dry and atmosphere clear enough to leave the mountains pretty distinct – quite a farce to compare them with the alps – Tarbes seems placed at the foot of a wide Extended circular gently rising rich fertile plain stretching out obliquely on the right into a sort of isthmus or neck

the high pyrennees sweeping about 1/5 of the circle left Towards the front – and below them a low range of hill extending all round to the neck closed in by a low range quite in the distance the low range in front covered with wood – the other parts yellow with corn stubble (harvest everywhere since before Bordeaux got in) or ploughed land; or wooded or green under vine cultivation – the lands here seem no where more than 4 feet English at most – look like filons, threads – great deal of bled de Turquie – just out of Tarbes pass thro’ orchards of peach trees oppressed with vines –

Fahrenheit 74° at 2 40/.. and quite cool and pleasant – the dust just agreeably laid – the church of Ibos high squary mass (left) a fine object – 1 small tower – the houses of the town not seen till one mounts the hill – and seems a large one had been taken down as low as the roof of the nave –

at 2 began to feel a little indigestion pain and now at 2 3/4 feel it more was it the mutton last night – I never by any chance touch meat without feeling it, and have it not when I stick to my vegetables! –

as we reach the wooded range of hill 3 traverses up it, get out – walk to the top of the hill and 1/2 way over the ridge in 20 minutes and got a good heating in spite of the fine cool hair for the man urged his horses up as fast as he could without stopping and it was hardish work to get much before him –

mountain side wooded chesnuts – near the top heather – top brackens which completely subdue the heather and merely a bit here and there to be seen thro’ it – a few black sheep (hill and heather always make good mutton) and a few horses, i.e. mares and foals – a little scattered generally straw thatched? village – small enclosures – hedges full of thorn and sloe and wild roses hedge row trees – chiefly oak – a few chesnuts gravelled road – fine oaks each side the road and straw thatched and some blue slated neat farm houses here and there vines, a few peaches and much maize –

picturesque straw thatched cottages – women with their red capulets bound with black spinning with a distaff under their arm and the bobbin Twirling against their aprons – beautifully green pastures – fine chesnut Timber as well as oak, hiding the picturesque cottages –

how I enjoy this – I might be – could fancy myself in England save for the capulets, and odd little low narrow waggons and bells and clumsy gear of my 3 abreast carriage horses –

another village – fête here too and dancing to a fiddle and clarionet – peaches and nectarines in the hedges – have no where seen hedge cut and laid – always or buckheaded rather short or clipped – great many pollard oaks, particularly in hedge rows – these pollard oaks form capital hedges for shelter – wherever not cultivated the top of this ridge covered with bracken, and right look up pretty little valley – mountain-top valley evidently small green enclosures by hedges –

road mended with pretty well broken boulder of mountain (primitive?) limestone – dark coloured, veined with quartz? have only seen one patch of oats – standing and another in swathe nothing but maize and a few potatoes –

at 3 55/.. neat white washed hotel des voyageurs a few little accacias and platannes round it and shearing (a man and woman) a good plot of oats – a man and woman courting by the roadside he putting his hand into her right pocket hole and another pair walk amorously set me wrong between three and four which ended in incurring cross about four

about 1/4 hour on the top of the hill and at 1 1/4 very fine view descend into the beautifully wooded rich charming vale of Pau? sprinkled in all directions with towns villages and pretty thatched white washed cottages and farms – water would make it lovely quite – ‘route bordée et ombragée de bois touffus (pollard oaks) – de chênes and châtaigniers all along – the at 1st thro’ a forest and very beautiful Itineraire Midi page 70 says ‘ou est Toujours dans les riches et fertiles plaines de Tarbes’ – these ‘bois touffus’ pollard oaks are really beautifully and thickly umbrageous – should not have dreamt they could look so well – pollard from a thick trunk perhaps 10 feet high from the ground – small enclosures – pretty low hedges – small dun cows picturesque straw thatched or blue slated white washed cottages – charming (very small dun oxen dragged the little waggons and carts on the Top, the plateaus of the hill – pigs lying and feeding under the oaks –

at 4 29/.. good post house in the very picturesque scattered one long street (trees and gardens between the neat houses) village of Les Bordes-d’Expoey red-dun cows with bells and regular dun mare with one young mule and a brown mare with ditto – green champs Elysée of oaks at this end of the village under which herds pigs lying and feeding – Lombardy poplars – Charming the women here with white bound with black capulets and black aprons and spinning as they walk – lock under the left arm and spinning with left hand and twirling the spindle with right hand – said George 10 sols de payé – oui – said the postillion ce quelque chosée pagata –

off in 8 minutes – all the walling done with boulder stones in a cement chiefly blue slated cottages – vines creeping high in the trees – wood côteau – low line of hills right – higher range wooded at bottom heather at top (right) – groves, as it were of pollard oaks – why pollard? postillion from here whip slung round his shoulder with a large worsted tassel as the german postillions sling their bugle horn – the men wear Ayrshire caps – white with red tassel at the top – or one postillion as have observed before wellington blue without tassel –

I enjoy today’s drive exceedingly –

Long straight road before me from Bordes d’Expoey the hedge row trees generally pollard oaks forming sort of avenue all along – all the women spinning but have only once seen some women heckling short line – woman astride white black bound capulet and white handkerchief and blue coarse linen? small white spotted gown with her long petticoats covering even her toes – I think she had her knees much stuck forming a hump on each side not ungraceful under the petticoat and certainly not looking masculine –

so many people afloat on the road near all the villages must be a general fête? – quite in the basses Pyrenées now – left the high pyrennees on descending the hill into the beautiful valley of Bordes d’Expouey or does mist hide everything (left)? at a little distance (right) a low nicely wooded fertile range which wheels round towards the front of me but soon wears itself out –

a great many of the country waggons on the road – most of them drawn by 2 little dun oxen and 2 little horses wrapped up in linen sheets white first the leaders – the road all along quite gay and in places thronged with waggons and people –

the women that ride have their petticoat slit open fore and aft I see and thus it so covers gracefully will covers the whole leg and foot – get prints of all this and the waggons at Pau – pass malle poste at 5 3/4 – strange to find common sense only among the Pyrennees – where else do the women ride astride! where else do they not torture their horses and themselves by a position equally dangerous to the one leg unnatural and uncomfortable to both? –

at 5 3/4 a little drizzling rain begins – Fahrenheit still 73° – all alive in Pau a fair or fête or what? a fair? enter by long small boulder stone paved street (paved or boulder-stoned as at Tarbes) – desperate to walk on in thin shoes – a sort of gateway (2 posts) spacious street – of splashed dirty white good 3 story houses – full of people carts and business –

at Hotel de France Pau at 6 – heard all the news from Lady Stuart – dinner wrote to my aunt not directed at 7 1/2 – came to my room at 10 20/.. – Fahrenheit 74° at 11

left margin:

Fahrenheit 73° at 4 1/4 p.m.

reference number: SH:7/ML/TR/5/0027 - 0031

[iredreamer]

Anne Lister Diary Transcription Project Update #1

(this is mostly for me so I can go back to this when I’m struggling with something while transcribing and so I don’t forget what I’ve learned. If someone finds this helpful I’ll be happy, but keep in mind that, maybe, some of the things I write – to remind myself about other things – and some associations I make will not make sense to you or apply to you.)

• Things I’m finding useful while transcribing: 1) All the books there are out there about Anne Lister. This especially helps with names of people and places (when she writes she does abbreviate those as well as everything else). 2) Catherine A. Euler’s thesis Moving Between Worlds, it helps mostly with all the coal mining stuff and vocabulary and with some facts that happened in the 1835/36/37, very helpful when transcribing something from those years 3) Reading about what was going on around the period I’m currently transcribing helps with context and with guessing some of the words in the journal. 4) Just googling basically everything: names, places, words that seem weird but that actually make sense when you read their meaning or the whole sentence. 5) Cross checking and reading some of the original journal entries along with the already transcribed passages by Liddington or Whitbread to understand even better AL’s plain hand. 6) Writing a first draft of the whole page leaving behind things that I don’t get, and come back to them later.

Since the period I’m transcribing (first half of December 1836) is basically new territory, I’m finding particularly helpful the theses and papers that analyze Anne’s writing style and give a general idea of what was going on in her life at that time.

• About AL’s plain hand:

1) The “s” sometimes looks like a “l” sometimes like a “d” and other times it looks like an “f” (she writes the “s” differently depending on the word and the position of the “s” in the word).

2) When she writes a double “s”, the first one looks like a “f”:

pass[age] / cellar-pass[age] (I’m not sure “pass.” is “passage” but it’s the only thing that makes sense to me)

3) In general, she tends to not write the vowels of words:

call[e]d / br[eak]f[a]st / pap[e]r

4) When writing a regular verb, she writes the part of the verb that doesn’t change and then abbreviates it writing the last letter which indicates the tense of the verb (talk.g / talk.d / call.d / call.g) – for irregular verbs just take a guess (tak.n).

5) “did” & “said”, “that” & “yet” all look kinda alike to me. 

6) When she writes “I” + something, she doesn’t take her pen off the sheet so it looks like one word but it’s not:

I ha[ve] no th[ou]ght of buy[in]g it.

7) Her capital “r” is shit:

Rob[er]t Mann – Rob[er]t

8) “m”, “u”, “n”…well, good luck with that, Irene.

9) “th” = “y”. As written in the WYAS guidelines for the transcription project, “the” is written as “ye” [using a modernised thorn symbol]. She uses the thorn symbol also when writing “this”, “that”, “them”, “their”, “then” and similar.

It takes me a whole afternoon (more or less 6 hours) to transcribe 1 double page (1st draft transcript + 1st review).

If you’re a transcriber in this project I’d love to read about your process and share helpful tips and stuff like that.

[magnesiaandlemonjuice]

Thursday 28 December 1826

6 3/4

1 3/4

my bowels quite right this morning - I do believe it was the tightness of my stays that disordered them - In my salon at 7 55/60 - from 8 to 10 20/60 writing to Mariana breakfast at 10 20/60 then read the whole of the paper of today and yesterday which took me till 12 - then finished dressing - at my desk again at 12 1/2 - 1/2 hour hour reading over all I have written to Mariana the whole 2 3/4 pp. [pages] very small and close - from 1 to 3 10/60 finished page 3, and wrote the ends of my paper very small and close to Mariana

then washed

&c [etcetera] went to speak to my aunt, and set off (to dine with Mrs Barlow) at 4 - I had before sent George with the remainder of the bonbons of Monday for Jane, and an iced plum cake (of 7/.) for Mrs Barlow on her birthday - she wondered why I had sent it - not obliged to me at all - I had sent a cake to Madame Galvani could not bear to be treated like other people - cared for nothing to eat - explained that it was customary enough to give a plum cake on a birthday - certainly had never dreampt that because I had sent a cake to Madame Galvani I therefore ought or ought not to send one to Mrs Barlow would do so no more - never ever give her anything eatable - Dinner at 5 1/2 or perhaps 5 3/4 - pear soup - vol au vent, filet de boeuf piqué, gateau de rie, and a crême glacé (ice) the four last from a traiteur and respectively 5/. 6/. 4/. and 5 or 6/. - for dessert a plate of raisins and blanched almonds, Saint Germain pears, at 4 sols each, little almondy drop cakes (stale) and rice and savoy biscuits - Beaune rouge at 4/. and claret from Madame Droz’s friend, Monsieur Lambert, at 3/. good of its kind - Madame Alexandre her late porter’s wife (her husband a joiner - ordered a pasteboard and rolling pin) retained to wait - what nonsense! and so I told Mrs Barlow who said she thought I liked a good dinner, and was determined to see what she could do -

it was meant to return the dinner she had with us I saw thro this the feeling was not thoroughly ladylike it had too much of the not bearing to be outdone and after all it was hugger poor madame ci devant porteress being shockingly gauche potter came in at first and set the dishes on wrong Mrs B hugged her and she appeared no more I cannot think Mrs B good tempered thought I all this would never suit me -

Jane had scarce swallowed her soup before she was called off to go to the play with the family below Monsieur and Madame and Madamoiselle Pouciègle - I took a little Beaune and water (very dear at 4/. like ours as well at 2/.) four glasses of the thin claret and we went to the drawing room at 6 3/4 - I had really had too much dinner and felt oppressed by it -

but she sat on my knee and I had soon the right middle finger up as usual and she said she came down better to me and felt more than she had yet done since my return tho she had been poorly all the week and thought she could do nothing for me she said she felt more when sitting on my knee when my thigh was next to her the feel of it went thro her -

we had tea about 8 -

then at her again then rested and at her again having latterly both second and first finger up being too full of dinner it was really an exertion to me and in fact the pleasure to me is no much merely the excitement of exciting her and having a woman to grubble who likes it so well I almost feel as much now at the moment of writing as when with her towards eleven she began to be pathetic and cry a little we must part she felt as a wife but what was she &c [etcetera] &c [etcetera] wanted her letters not safe with me surrounded as I was with friends alluded to π [Mariana] if I died my aunt would give her all my papers to read said I would pledge my existence that what ever might be π [Mariana] s curiosity I could leave one of Mrs Bs [Barlow’s] letters open before her a whole day and she would not read a line of it Mrs B [Barlow] said she was a woman and she would not believe said I come come give the devil his due she said I loved π [Mariana] might praise her as I liked but why should she Mrs B [Barlow] say what she did not think said I would give her her letters by and [by] she must give me mine no mine were quite safe her aunt was too blind could not read them nor would she if she could I thought they ought on both sides to be burnt Mrs B [Barlow] said mine could do no harm people might read and not understand them I protested they were such as only a husband would write but for myself individually I cared not the world would not blame me so much as Mrs B [Barlow] they would commit her much more than me I could not have written such without encouragement she said her aunt would forgive her if she knew what had passed but she would be angry at her going on with it when I was engaged to another but I had said we could not go on as we did and she had rather I sinned with her than with another ‘but if I have not your letters I have nothing three years hence you may say you never loved me you have your journal I could gain nothing by shewing your letters or boasting of you regard r love for me’ I merely answered no certainly not and declared it was impossible I could ever deny my regard for her but these words of hers ssand deep in my heart I mused on them all the way home and determined I never would give her her letters without getting back my own -

Jane returned at 11 40/60 - the poor girl had a wretched cold when she went and it seemed worse - took their fiacre (George had been waiting upstairs with Potter I know not how long perhaps an hour), and got home in 1/4 hour at 12 -

Mrs B [Barlow] forty today -

Dawdling and musing - very fine day -

Marginal Notes

very fine frostyish morning

Fahrenheit 37o at 8 a.m. 41 1/2 at 12 p.m. 41 1/2 at 3 1/2 p.m. 37 1/2 at 12 midnight

SH:7/ML/E/10/0037

[timehasbeenbusy]

PARIS

 Wednesday 4 May 1831

 8 50/..

 12 10/..

 Up at 6 50/.. for ½ hour then lay slumbering on the bed till 8 50/.. – this will never do should have walked but never like it much with a paper napkin on – F 57½º at 7, and 59º at 9 and fine morning – Stood reading preface and the introduction and the first 24 pages vol 1 Deguines Origine des Lois till after 10 – dressed - ½ hour reading Le Temps –

Had Madame Contant about my pocket handkerchiefs a long while (paid her for Mariana’s cambric) till Madame de Hagemann came to me for a few minutes about going to the diorama – said I was just going to send to ask if she would go with me to Lady Stuart – yes – agreed to go to the diorama first – breakfast at 12 10/.. in 20 minutes – off at 1¼ - took Monsieur and Madame de Hagemann to the diorama - view of Paris from a windmill on Montmartre, and the Hotel de Ville on the 28 July 1831, and tomb of Napoleon at Saint Helena beautiful or rather fine scenery –

But this was not what the de Hagemann’s meant - ½ hour – then to the panorama of Navarin nº 40 rue des Marais, very near the diorama – It was this we ought to have gone to – an hour there – most interesting, inveritably well done scene – all of us quite delighted but the vessel (the Scipion of 74) that we were put on board, was so terribly like the reality as to small and witting that I fancied myself sailing, and felt sickish  and got a very bad sea-headache –

The bay of Navarin must be very beautiful – enter by a narrow opening – on the right the modern town, on the left des ilots détachês de sphacterie (curious shaped rocks), and near to there the isle of Spacterie itself, a high conical mountain crowned by two forts – it was on this summit that old Navarin stood and there is the cave of Nestor – n[ea]rer to the head of the bay (on the left) is hidden by the smoke a beautiful valley and a waterfall, the only one said the man, in Greece!

Had promised to write to Madame de Hagemann from St Helena, if I went there –but would not say as much of Navarin, for my going there not unlikely – Madame de Hagemann had said before, I was very changeable -I do not believe she quite knows what to make of me –

 From there, at 3¼, drove to nº 3 rue Taitbout –Mrs Taylor out – Madame de Hagemann and I left our cards – then to Lady Stuart’s – find a gentleman and Madame Juste de Noailles there – Lady Stuart somehow cannot get quite better– looks very ill – shewed her my tortoise shell bracelets, gum elastic garters which last she did not like – not elastic enough - never wears anything but queen’s garters – like skeins of worsted – liked the bracelets very much –gave price and address – sat 40 minutes with Lady Stuart and Lady Mexborough and sorry to have stood so long, for then came their neighbour in the house Madame de Lucet, and poor Lady S-Stuart could not get out –

 Then went to the palace royal Berthellemot’s  - took back the blotting books, looked at necessaires à ouvrage workboxes, at 50/- to 80/- and upwards – home at 6¼ - Had asked Madame de Hagemann to write from Francfort, and promised to write as soon as I saw Vere – Lady Stuart’s account the same as her note – the fatigue of travelling seems out of the question – poor dear girl!  I have little hope – dressed – dinner – read the paper – came to my room at 8 40/..– wrote all but the first 6 lines of today – coffee at 9½ - talking to my aunt of my adventures,  Mount Perdu etc came to my room at 11 10/.. at which hour F 56º and finish night – very fine day till about – afterwards repeated and sometimes heavy showers and sunshine between –

 Reference numbers SH:7/ML/E/14/0055 and part of SH:7/ML/E/14/0056

[winteringinrome]

Warning for a bit of a self-indulgent post ahead, but I recently wrote a Gentleman Jack story where Anne tells Ann about her previous relationships (but in like a sexy, romantic way…? I hope) and the little snippets she gives Ann on each woman were inspired by real entries I’d read in Anne’s diaries (either from the published excepts, or from the amazing #AnneListerCodeBreakers or from stuff I read myself).

If anyone is interested I’m going to go through, over the next few days, and set out which entries inspired which chapters...

Up first is Vere Hobart. 

In Past Scrapes, Anne tells Ann:

"I made a fool of myself for far too long. I used to hang over her as she played the piano and sing – try to sing. Good Lord, you must never let me sing, Ann – but it was worth the humiliation for it meant I could watch her hands...

“Other evenings she would fall asleep with her head in my lap.” Anne laughs. “Can you imagine? It was intolerable. I would sit there, pretending to read the paper and not see a single word. All I could think of was the weight of her in my lap. I would feel her cheek pressed against my upper thigh and her breath hot on my skirts. I would think, if she would just move a little, or if I were to move a little... I never did, of course. I just sat there – in exquisite torment."

The vague theme for that chapter was ~unrequited love in the parlour~. From what I read, Anne did a lot of fruitless sweet-talking by the fire, a lot of sitting too close to Vere on the sofa, a lot of listening longingly to her playing sentimental songs on the piano. And a lot of getting absolutely nowhere.

13 Oct 1829 - SH:7/ML/E/12/0096:

Miss H– playing and singing to me till after 12 – looked pretty and sang prettily … She said while singing [that] my thoughts were far away – I denied it – she asked if I heard the words – I simply, but significantly and gravely, answered, yes, they were pretty love ballads and I felt in love.

28 Dec 1831 - SH:7/ML/E/14/0170:

Hearing Miss Hobart sing, went downstairs for above half an hour…she would have my candle put out. The dim firelight only made the darkness visible. The songs were sentimental. She ceased for a moment and came and kissed me gently, as I sat leaning over my chair and, somehow, I could not stand it – I think she did not perceive this and, not choosing to await the glare of candles, I rather hurried off without lighting my own, just before she had done her song, and came up – my eyes brim-full and more.

10 Feb 1831 - SH:7/ML/E/15/0024:

She had bit her lips till sore – said I, you know the punishment and must submit. I got up to kiss her lips, but she squalled etc. good humouredly, and I desisted. Immediately after dinner, she sat down on the sofa – I asked her to put her feet up – ‘yes, if you will put them up’ – and I did. I stood by her and, after looking for a moment as if I intended the thing, took the kiss, to which she made no resistance, and I pressed her lips thrice – once with mine rather open.

12 Apr 1832 - SH:7/ML/E/15/0051:

Sat by her on the sofa… when I rallied her this morning about not letting me have my kiss last night, she said, at last – she liked me to long for it and not get it. 

-

Also when Anne tells Ann that Vere married some “dolt of a Scotsman. You should have seen him. He had the thinnest arms.” that was based on the following incident which Anne made sure to recount in her diary…

15 Apr 1832 - SH:7/ML/E/15/0052:

Odd enough, we had scarcely gone out of the house this afternoon when we [came] along [a] small man at a distance before us and she said ‘how very far that man's arms are from his sides’ (one saw the light between the upper arm and side) ‘I don’t like that’ – when, who should it be but Captain Cameron.

Oop at Vere accidentally negging her future betrothed.