Entries from Anne Lister's Journals

Fine morning Fahrenheit 41 inside and 42 1/2 outside at 9 a.m. Ann had a motion on getting up and seems rather better  Ann got up a little before 8 - backwards and forwards with Ann breakfast at 9 in 1/2 about 1/2 hour - with Ann about Out at 10 3/4 - to Listerwick - all seemed going tolerably - Robert Mann and William Lord and Ben and Thomas Sharp began this morning filling for my own carts and George Naylor (my 3 horses and his 2) stuff from reservoir water drift in John Oates's field down to the meer embankment-breach - Jack Green following after the carts Then to Sunwood - the frost had been so severe they had not been working - one man there dressing wall stone about nearly 2 roods done and about 2 roods to dress Then across the fields from the quarry to Langley's farm (Booth's) at Hipperholme - Booth and his family slept there last night 1st. time - Mrs. shewed me over the house - she takes pride in it; and all will be very nice - told Booth to see about the bit more ...

The roofs covered with white frost almost like snow - lighted the 2 fires - went back to Ann in 1/4 hour for a minute or 2 - then washed and 1/2 dressed and went back to her again and gave her her saline mixture - finished dressing Downstairs at 7 1/2 one of the masons having come at 7 20/60 - some time with them - then with Ann a minute or 2 till 8 and her medicine began to operate  - Fahrenheit 39 inside and 36 outside at 8 a.m. made and gave Ann a cup of tea then out a little about Then with Ann she came down to breakfast at 9 1/4 in about 20 minutes but merely took a cup of tea - sickish and poorly - she then came and sat in the blue room and I was in and out about seeing after bricks to finish out the entrance passage &c. &c. Had Booth between 9 and 10 - sent him to help to flit (moving from Wood Nook to Langley's farm house at Hipperholme) taking down beds &c. Edward waiting for a wheel-barrow of bricks from Listerwick, set him to mend the setting of the upper Kit...

Fine morning - frosty Fahrenheit 40 inside and 38 outside at 8 1/4 a.m. - breakfast at 8 3/4 in about 1/2 hour Then about and looking over tax papers &c. till 11 3/4 then wrote as follows to 'Mr. Jubb, Lord Street' - 'Mrs. Lister will be glad to see Mr. Jubb anytime today after half past four in the afternoon Shibden hall. Monday morning 8 April 1839' - and sent off George the groom with it immediately and with the Waterhouse charity cup, and note to 'Charles Norris Esquire Halifax' Compliments - sorry I did not before know that the cup ought to be returned - it was a Halifax cup descending from one of my great uncles to my uncle late of Northgate house since whose death, upwards of 21 years ago, the cup had never been used except as a sacramental cup - 'Miss Walker begs Mrs Lister to inform Mr. Norris she has no remembrance of having even seen a Waterhouse cup either at Crownest or Cliff hill' Ann and I filled up our Assessed taxes returns to send t...

Fine sunny morning highish wind Fahrenheit 50 inside and 47 outside at 9 a.m. breakfast at 9 1/4 and sat talking then till from 10 10/60 to 11 10/60 Ann and I walked in front of the house talking of our getting off She seems resolved to sign all over to me to go to York and get it done as soon as we can talked this morning and yesterday of going to Saint Petersburg by sea in June or July  - then from 11 10/60 had Ann with me in the blue room reading I wrote letter to go tonight to Hutton with order on Messrs. Hammersley and note to Mr. Charles Norris to go tomorrow with the Waterhouse charity cup - and then Ann and I put away the morning Herald newspapers, last year's to go to be bound Poor Ann we shall be obliged to hurry off - she is getting all low again I shall enough to do to keep her up  Tis now 2 20/60 - have just made rough draft of index for this volume up to the second instant Dressed - off to church at 2 40/60 - the children gone so stopt at the school 2 or 3 minute...

A little of the snow of yesterday left sprinkling over the ground - fair, dull morning Fahrenheit 38 inside and 36 1/2 outside at 9 a.m. breakfast at 9 1/4 to about near 10 Afterwards with Ann and about in the house ordered doorway breaking out from the entrance passage South door into the hall - had Booth who dined here and then went to Halifax, followed Mosey whom we had just had with his estimates of Ann's guards and the walk pallisading - Mosey said William Keighley had done nothing about the 50 larch posts ordered by Ann and it would be better to have them cut out of large stuff - therefore Booth went to see if William Keighley would have no objection to give up the order - (no! none at all, was afterwards the answer) Ann had had before 12 her Lower Crownest tenant Mr Hirst - she said she would repair the barn doors, but thought he ought to pay a little more rent - no! he could not pay more rent - had applied to Mr. Jones to get Sir Joseph Radcliffe to lower the rent, and Mr. ...

Wild windy snowy morning the ground white Fahrenheit 34 inside and 31 1/2 outside at 9 a.m. breakfast at 9 1/4 and sat talking till about near 10 Then about in the house - Edward Waddington and another mason at the passage laying it with brick - 3 bricks laid flat one upon another and an air vent all along each side in the middle course - the plaster here as yesterday and finished lathing this afternoon Out about 11 - at Listerwick - nobody for Lowmoor at the drum - then at the water wheel - Robert Mann + 2 filling and carts as yesterday but could not go on in the afternoon the snow made it too soft therefore sent George Naylor's man to Lane ends for stones, and sent George to Wilson's for a load of coals - I waited at Listerwick till Jack Green had got his dinner then sent Joseph Mann to fill in his place (but they soon gave over and Robert and William Lord to help in getting up trees and Ben went to Lane ends) and took David Mann and went to Lower brea wood and shewed them wh...

Ann had a large loose motion on getting up seems rather better? Low last night after getting into bed but I roused her White frost this morning and cold bleak wind, and 1/2 frozen small snow occasionally driving about Fahrenheit 35 1/2 inside and 33 outside now at 8 40/60 a.m. breakfast at 8 3/4 to 9 10/60 when Mr. Horner came then with one workman or other till 11 1/2 Then a few minutes shewing Mr. Horner Mr. Harper's lithographs and 2 beautiful coloured drawings of the Pandroseum at Athens and an Egyptian temple - and last but not least his talented bird's eye view of what I should have liked to have been done at Northgate comprising exchange shops market &c. Shaw's man the plasterer here this morning lathing the bits in and about the hall ready for plastering - Edward Waddington and the young man William (here yesterday and Tuesday) had taken up the entrance passage flags at 8 3/4 - set Sam Booth to help to wheel the clay out - 3 courses of bricks and an air drain to...

Better this morning but far from right - gave Ann salts who has had no motion since her physic on Saturday Very cold white frosty windy morning Fahrenheit 34 1/2 inside and 31 1/2 outside at 9 a.m. and breakfast and sat talking Out between 10 and 11 to Robert Mann at the scale road down Charles Howarth's field - he and Joseph going to their maternal uncles funeral this afternoon - then at Listerwick - the Lowmoor men bodding at the drum - won’t do at all well yet Home about 11 1/2 - a little while with John Booth in the brew house (the pig killed yesterday) then with Ann she had only had one motion  Ann had a basin of mutton broth Had Booth - about 2 - backwards and forwards with him Out with Ann walked in front of the house 35 minutes - she seemed rather better for it Then had Holt at 3 1/2 for minutes - the drum wont do at all - to write and tell the engineer so by the men this afternoon and to see Mr. Hird this evening - up and down with Booth And wrote as follows to Mariana ...

Finish, dullish, cold morning - high wind - Fahrenheit 40 1/2 inside and 38 outside at 9 a.m. bilious brought up sheer bile Went downstairs about 9 1/4 and sat by Ann while she breakfasted, and afterwards sat over the fire in the great chair she sitting by me - had Booth between 11 and 12 about the new blacksmith's shop at Listerwick begun this morning by 2 of his men Ann had had Booth before and had had soon after 10 (and I with her) Sunderland, Rufus's son, about her cottage in Hipperholme part of the Langley's farm building which she let him to enter 1 May next and pay £5 per annum - about 50/- to be laid out extra for his butcher's shop - if he leaves in one year to pay two pounds of this sum, and it in 2 years to pay one pound of it, and if he stays more than 2 years to be rid of this extra payment At 12 had a little boiled milk - and sat over the fire till about 1 1/2 when Booth who had dined here called Edward (he and a new man squaring entrance passage flags) to...

Finish, dullish, windy softish coldish morning Fahrenheit 39 1/2 inside and 38 1/2 outside at 8 25/60 studying how to do the armories in the library passage - till breakfast at 8 50/60 in about 1/2 hour Then had Booth - Edward Waddington come to square the flags for the entrance passage - had Booth up in the blue room while I looked over (turned out) my drawers to see for the mason-working drawings of the stables at Northgate, for Mr. Nelson - Mr. Harper said he had left them with me - no! certainly not - on seeing them from Blythe, I gave them unopened to Booth, and have never had them since Then with Robert the joiner till off with Ann at 11 55/60 to Crow nest to look after William Keighley pruning poplars there and to see about some spouting wanted at the house - could not find William Keighley sauntered in the plantations in the sheep pasture - 4 good larches lately felled - 1/2 the firs or rather all of them want taking down, and the under wood might then get up - 1/2 the wood in ...

Ann low and getting into her old low way we must be off lay talking to her and again mentioned her settling her property safely on me Small snow when Ann got up at 6 to light the fire - and at 7 50/60 small snow driving about - but tho' cold, soft - the snow does not remain on the ground at all - Fahrenheit 38 inside and 35 outside at 9 The horses ordered (Sam went to order them after Ann and I got up) for 10 this morning to go to church - breakfast at 9 in 1/2 hour read a page or 2 of Lardner's Encylopædia Antiquities of Greece and Rome volume 1 Off to church at 10 took Oddy in the carriage with us, and the 2 men behind, all the rest staid at home - from before 9 small snowy, rainy, in part haily wild morning - 8 or 10 minutes longer on the road than usual got out and walk up the hill to the school - the horses would not go - restive - desired the postboy to get us another pair and he did change the horse he rode, and then the other came well enough back Mr. Wilkinson at churc...

Fine, cold morning - hard frost - ice - Fahrenheit 38 inside and 33 1/2 outside at 8 40/60 a.m. Breakfast at 9 - with Ann she had Thomas Riley (I think his name is) about cottage in Hipperholme - signed his agreement as entering to it today at £4.14.0 per annum - to give 12 notice - pay all taxes and keep in repair - rent payable weekly if required - not to keep a beer shop - I witnessed the agreement - it seems the old tenant is still in the house - he will go as soon as he can - when gone the day must be noted on the now-signed agreement Then had Wood John (mason) of Orange Street Halifax to be paid for pulling down and rebuilding boiler house and resetting boiler 6 + 15 = 21 and extra work £2.8.1 1/2 = £23.8.1 1/2 - abating the penny ha’penny in payment he seems a quiet steady man - whig or radical - longish political quiet talk - he said he should think of it afterwards All this and entering accounts and making memoranda took me till now 11 3/4 - then went out to Robert Mann + 3 on...

[Good Friday] Dull morning small snow occasionally driving about Fahrenheit 44 inside and 35 1/2 outside at 8 25/60 Slept with Ann last night the first time for almost ever since our return home she seems all the better for it tho I was perfectly quiet no shew of even playing sleeps very fairly With Robert the joiner ordering about the 3 steps up to the gallery being widened an inch so as to finish up to the great pillar with no boxing between Breakfast at 9 in about 40 minutes then again a little while with Robert the joiner, about the balustrading on the landing - whether to have 7 or 6 balustres - chose 7 the same number as all the other compartments tho' the latter 7 will be rather closer than the others Off to church at 10 10/60 - Mr. Horsfall did all the duty (tho' Mr. Wilkinson was at church) preached 28 minutes from Luke xxiii. 21. Crucify him - crucify him - 20 minutes at Cliff hill Mrs. Ann Walker very well - home at 1 1/2 - changed my dress Somewhile with Robert the ...

Soft rainy morning - Fahrenheit 45 inside and 40 1/2 outside at 8 1/4 Had Ann about half hour all in tears and low we must get off return July and then finish the jobs about the place Breakfast at 8 20/60 and over at 8 55/60 - then making memoranda &c. till now 9 1/4 Then out - had Sam Booth and Robert Mann and his 3 men (Jack Green, William Lord and Ben) taking up and carrying to the embankment (between back Lodge that is to be and rock-bridge) young oaks and beeches which Sam Booth and Jack Green planted after dinner - Robert Mann and two men being at the Lodge road, finishing setting and doing up about oak roots all the afternoon having George and 2 carts carrying their stuff from the is-to-be Landy court entrance road to the house With Ann from 12 to 12 50/60 who had Booth with her - she went to Cliff hill about 1 1/2 and returned about 3 1/2 and came out to me at 4 - went in with her at 4 1/2 for an hour - talked to and cheered her said if she could not rouse herself out of th...

Washing A good deal of rain in the night and damp rainyish (small rain) morning Ann came to me at 7 40/60 for 1/2 hour -  low and out of sorts does not like Miss Rawson to come and see her in this way poor thing she is all good I must get her off as soos [sic] as I possibly can it is high time With the joiners till 8 1/2 then Fahrenheit 45 1/4 inside and 47 1/2 outside at 8 40/60 and breakfast and staid talking to till now 9 3/4 When put on my cloak and went out - Robert Mann and William Lord and Ben with George gone with 3 horses to bring home the 7 ashes (for pick shaft-wood) and one not large oak and some tops at twice and these spent the whole morning! I annoyed about it Had Sam Booth (for in consequence of the rain he could do nothing in the garden) taking up thorns in the Conery brow hedge and young birches (bushes) from out of the Conery wood about the pit hill there Came home at 12 to look for Dr. Belcombe's prescriptions for Ann but could not find them Out again before 1 -...

Cosin [sic] came gently tonight Very fine white frost morning sun out and Fahrenheit 41 inside and 33 1/2 outside at 8 a.m. had Ann 10 minutes till 7 1/4 - afterwards a minute or 2 with her ready at 8 - read a page or 2 of Antiquities of Greece and Rome Breakfast at 8 1/4 in 25 minutes William Keighley having waited 10 minutes - he is to prune the Crows nest poplars next Monday - will take 2 men a day - for boughing and fettling they have a shilling in the pound on the price the wood sold at - out with William Keighley at 9 - took John Booth with us and my new cross cut saw (bought on Friday Robert Mann brought it at 7 a.m. that day) and we cut off the 2 fine oaks 8 feet and 6 feet blown down by the great wind 7 January - then felled 7 fine young ashes for pick shafts - and felling and boughing till 12 having had Sam Booth and Jack Green from 10 - then all went home to dinner, and I came home but stopped by the way by Jonathan Mallinson and afterwards by Robert Mann that it was 12 1/2 ...

A sprinkling of snow just perceptible on the ground - at 6 1/2 and highish wind and small driving snow afterwards Read last night's paper and looked into Grecian and Roman Antiquities Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia volume 1 till breakfast at 8 40/60 in about 1/2 hour And then with Robert the joiner and then stood looking about in the hall and on the gallery till 10 - then went out Ann rode off sometime before to the school to measure the children for their frocks &c. for midsummer Took Sam Booth into the hall-wood to get up fine young oaks and beeches to plant on the embankment in front of the Lodge gates and along the high road between the back Lodge road to opposite the terrace-turret Had Jack Green helping Sam in the afternoon - he came to us at 1 40/60 and I kept him till 6 1/2 - I out all the time from 10 to 6 1/2 in spite of the frequent showers - looking about  while Sam got his dinner (from 12 to 1) George Naylor joiner came down to the hall at 1 1/2 for old oak (2 pi...

Fine morning Fahrenheit 49 inside and 52 outside at 8 55/60 a.m. Highish wind Breakfast at 9 and sat Ann and I reading aloud a page or 2 of Mitford's Greece and looking over Ann's Smith's map of ancient Greece, Italy, Germany Egypt &c. till came upstairs at 11 Then till 11 3/4 read (skimmed) over last night's London Morning Herald - It seems page 5. column 6 near the bottom Messrs. Holland, Thompson and Company of Oxford Street have just made (price above £400) a travelling carriage on an improved plan for the Duke of Lucca, 'containing a desk, cabinet, and bibliotheque' Then had Ann till 1 1/2 - then walked with her 10 minutes and walked alone till 2 20/60 then dressed - off to church at 2 35/60 a few minutes at the school - Mr. Sutcliffe did all the duty - preached 35 minutes from 1 Epistle St. John i. 8 and 9. 22 minutes at Cliff hill - Mrs. Ann Walker as well as last Sunday and very newsy talkative - home at 5 1/2 Wrote and sent to M. E. if she had no ob...

Damp and driving rain and wind Read from 7 3/4 to 9 and made notes from page 263 to 293 - Fahrenheit 45 inside and 47 outside at 9 a.m. and driving rain still - then read and made notes to page 301 and breakfast at 9 20/60 Ann had Benjamin Fletcher of Hill Top about the 2 flashes - she had before asked him £24 (11 Day Work and some perches) - he offered £20 I being with Ann this morning said I should be glad of Ann's agreeing with him - he was tenant already - we should rather have him than any of the applicants - I had prevailed upon Ann to say £22 - Fletcher said he could not go beyond £20 and talked about the land being poor - the water being to draw - I said the fields could not be so very poor - they were always pastured - very well to have water there at all - only 6 yards deep - and both fields opening upon the high road - Could not Fletcher give twenty guineas - no! perhaps Ann would think about it - or after thinking about it for a month might take £20 - no! said I, she ha...

Rainy windy morning Fahrenheit 44 inside and 41 1/2 outside at 9 a.m. and breakfast And read over and stopped Ann's letter to her sister and she then copied her letter which took her till eleven about one and three quarters hour I stood by cutting my nails till after ten  with Robert the joiner - somewhile in the north chamber Ann had the linen chest moved into the tent room dressing room yesterday afternoon, and I the bed out of the recess this morning to where the linen chest had stood A little while with Ann she not well this morning but still as well perhaps or better? than yesterday - she came upstairs with me at 11 35/60 and sat with me in the blue room - from 11 3/4 to 3 1/4 Ann sat by me sewing and I read her bits from Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians volume iii. and made notes - each had a basin of broth and a biscuit about 1 1/2 - too wild and rainy for Ann to go to Cliffhill Mr. Horner came at 3 1/4 and Ann and he sketched the hall till 5 and ...

Fine but damp rather dullish morning Fahrenheit 44 1/2 inside and 43 outside study window at 8 10/60 a.m. at which hour breakfast in 20 minutes expecting Mr. Horner at 8 1/2 - 1/2 hour earlier than usual in his Thursday's lesson to Ann on account of sketching the hall - brought his camera lucida, and Ann and he sketched till 11 I sometime with Robert the joiner - then from 9 1/4 to 1 35/60 at my desk - writing (part done last night) the remainder of long letter for Ann to her sister respecting the oak view mill and other vouchers &c. &.c and then copy of letter to Mrs Rawson Ann came to me soon after 11 - lighted my fire and sat with me till 1 35/60 She had this morning 2 pieces of bride cake (one piece for Mrs. Sutherland) from Gledholt on the marriage of Miss Emma Rawson to Mr. Rhodes - Ann to write letter of thanks and congratulations tonight to Mrs. Rawson - Persuaded Ann to take a heated jelly and a biscuit at 1, I taking a little of another jelly to induce her to take...

Fine but dullish morning Fahrenheit 41 inside and 36 1/2 outside at 8 a.m. from then to 9 20/60 making notes from Wilkinson volume iii from page 52 to 82 - breakfast at 9 20/60 to 10 hearing Ann as of late Italian vocabulary Then with Robert the joiner and about till 11 - then Ann not seeming quite well, sat with her in the north parlour reading and making notes from Wilkinson volume iii from page 82 to 127 - made many notes - Ann had Mr. Washington from about 11 1/4 to 1 5/60 respecting the Oakview mill business &c. Ann had appointed to be at Landymere at 1 3/4 Driving small rain now at 2 p.m. and came on some while ago - yet we are just setting off - walked leisurely (having my cloak on against the rain) to prevent being heated - Ann arrived a minute or 2 before me having passed me long past Mr. Wilson's - at Landymere at 2 3/4 Messrs. Bentley, Hemingway, Booth and Brown there - the latter said he would take off a foot of soil or rather sod - no! said I - there was to be no m...

Very fine morning Fahrenheit 38 inside and 36 outside at 8 5/60 and sun shining Had Ann she not quite well this morning - walked with her a little while in front of the house - she then while the joiners breakfasted sketched the interior of the hall - I out, about - breakfast at 9 5/60 Some time with Robert the joiner - then took Ann out with me - to Listerwick and Sun wood quarry - Lee seems wishful to try about 30 yards of fresh baring - Ann called to see Alice Rushworth, and we had before called at Hartley's cottage Lane ends to see the alterations, i.e. 3 cottages throu' to his own for his currier's business Home at 12 25/60 but out talking to Robert Mann and Ann came to me again having escaped from a loud rap at the door - Miss S. Ralph left 2 cards for us Ann and I then walked some time in front of the house till about 2 - Ann the better for the fine day and fresh air - then with Robert Norton again - till Ann came to say Joseph Mann had told her Brown had begun the b...

The snow very nearly gone on Saturday quite gone yesterday a slight sprinkling this morning and hard frost at 7 20/60 then sat reading and making notes 1st. 12 pages volume 3 Wilkinson till 8 50/60 at which hour Fahrenheit 37 1/2 inside and 34 1/2 outside The men from Hemingway came this morning to scour the new flags for the entrance passage Breakfast at 9 - then with Robert Norton taking down the ceiling of the first compartment of the entrance passage up to the north door to level the floor into the old china closet - sweeping and looking about and planning till now 11 3/4 Ann off to Cliff hill at 11 1/4 to 1 3/4 read forwards, and made many notes, to page 53 volume iii Wilkinson - Ann returned at 1 3/4 Had note from Miss Wilkinson with her Sunday schools' accounts book and wrote back to inquire about kitchen record - had Ann till about 2 1/2 - then went out – about Came in about 3 - Mr. Horner come to sketch the interior of the hall - left him and Ann beginning it at 3 1/4 At L...

 Damp small rainy morning Fahrenheit 40 inside and 37 1/2 outside at 9 1/2 and whistling wind Ann came at seven and a half and lay quietly with me three quarters of an hour Breakfast at 9 1/2 in 1/2 hour, and afterwards from about 10 10/60 to 1 3/4 with Ann in the breakfast room looking over the Oakview mill bills Off to church at 2 - Mr. Horsfall did all the duty - preached 1/2 hour from John vi. 43 and part of 44 - stopped a minute or 2 at the school in returning - then 20 minutes at Cliff hill Ann had sent George to Crow nest to ask if Mr. Samuel Washington could call at Shibden hall tomorrow no! - not till 10 a.m. on Wednesday Home at 4 55/60 - Ann and I walked 25 minutes in front of the house and I afterwards walked 1/4 hour longer alone - then looking about in the hall measuring doorways &c Dressed - dinner at 6 1/2 - Ann read French - Coffee - I read skimmed over the London newspapers of last night and tonight - and then wrote copy of note for Ann  Ann wrote note to...

Fine mild morning - at 7 40/60 went to the joiners taking up old gallery from the hall to the red room with them till breakfast at 9 1/4, while they breakfasted from 8 1/2 to 9 stood musing in the hall Breakfast and Ann read aloud a little till 10 - from then to 12 with the joiners - pulled up the flooring over the hall cupboard adjoining the fire place - and all the ceiling down as far as the entrance passage, and gave orders how to put in the new beam (part of the old beam of the old gallery) flush with fire-place across to the floor new of the landing Dressed - wrote the above of today till went down for Ann to Booth at 12 1/2 with her till after 1 - then with Robert Norton again till 2 3/4 - the library passage floor very difficult to manage - must take it all up - and the doorway from the old China-closet will only be 5 feet 11 inches - ought to be 6 feet - think of taking it down again and cutting away the beam an inch at least so as to make the door 6 feet Off to Halifax at 2 50...

Soft damp hazyish morning - had Ann for 10 minutes till 9 1/4 - Fahrenheit 45 1/2 inside and 47 1/2 outside at 9 25/60 a.m. writing till breakfast at 9 3/4 and sat reading to Ann the 1st. 11 pages of her Keightley's Summary of History, that she began last night - from the library, till near 11 Then stood over the joiners till after 11 and mended pens, &c till now 11 1/2 - from then to (except had Ann 1/2 hour till near 2) 3 50/60 read and made notes from page 63 to 312 end of volume 2 Murray's Summer in the Pyrenees vide page 255. Friday 1 March - to go back tonight Crowder sending word last night that it was wanted -  made so many notes on account the ascent of Mont Perdu the least overcharged account (in fact good) of the ascent of Mont Perdu I have ever seen Thick damp fog this morning - rainy afternoon from between 1 and 2 and therefore do not think of going out - not out yesterday - then had Ann a little while - then downstairs with her Dawdled about till at last went ...

Damp thick foggy morning Fahrenheit 40 1/2 inside and 39 1/2 outside at 8 35/60 had had Ann 10 minutes or 1/4 hour - breakfast at 8 35/60 Ann had Mr. Horner at 9 I sat reading till about 9 1/2 Lardner's Grecian and Roman Antiquities volume i. then a little while with the joiners - then reading again till Booth came soon after 10 about rubbling the road in St. Anne's street Northgate 204 1/2 yards already brought away and 100 yards more ought to come to make the rise regular - agreed - ordered - Booth thought tuppence per square yard super for laying on spreading and breaking rubble, Halifax sandstone, 6 inches thick = 4/2 per rood of 4 yards wide road - I thought penny ha'penny per yard enough = 3/0 1/2 per rood - but thought 3/6 per rood enough - then talk about the boiler house &c. &c. Washington's worse than folly - till Ann came at 11 for me to speak to Mr. Horner Told him to settle about his son's coming to take Ann's likeness & mine - and begge...