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Lost Diaries by Maurice Baring · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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  Speaker 1: work in the public domain Lost Diaries by Maurice Baring,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Chapter one from the Diary of Smith Minor as T.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: James's School, September eighteen eighty four, Sunday dot yesterday afternoon
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: was a half holiday. We were playing Prisoner's Base except
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: four boys who were gardening with missus Wickham Peel hit
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Bell by mistake with all his force with the pickaxe
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: on Bell's wrist. Sunday last night there was a total
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: eclipse of the moon. We all stayed up to see it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: It looked very funny. There was a shadow right over
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the moon. We began football yesterday at tea. The head
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: asked if any one had eaten chestnuts in the garden.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Simes Major said yes at once. Then the head said
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: he was sure others had two. Then Wilson stood up,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and after a time seven chaps stood up. Then the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: head said it would be the worse for those who
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: didn't stand up, as he knew who the culprits were.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I hadn't eaten any, but Andersen had given me a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: piece off his knife, so I stood up too. The
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: head said we should all have two hours extra work.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: He was very waxy. He said we were unreliable. Sunday
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: yesterday we were all photographed. Simes laughed and was sent
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to bed for misbehavior. Pork's people came down yesterday. We
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: called Pork hog because he's dirty. He showed them over
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the school and turned on the electric light. The head
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: was looking through the curtain in the library and saw this.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: When his people went away, Hog was sent for and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: he is to be swished tomorrow. We told him he
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: would get it hot and he blubbed Sunday Dot. We
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: went for the choir expedition last Thursday. It was great fun.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: We went to London by the eight point three five train.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: We missed the train, so we went by the eight
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: point five three. We got to London at ten point
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: one five. We then went to the mint. We first
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: saw the silver melted and made into thick tablets. Then
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: we saw it rolled out into thin bits, then cut,
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  Speaker 1: stamped and weighed. Then we had a very good luncheon
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: and went to the tower. We first saw the bloody
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: tower where the little princes were murdered. Then we saw
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the jewels. The warder said the Queen's crown was worth
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: over one million pounds. Then we saw the armory and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the tortures. Then we went to Madame Tussow's. It is
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: quite a large building now with the large stirks than
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: We had tea and went home. Sunday Dot I said
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to Anderson that we might start an aquarium, but he
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: said Ferguson had one last term and that it would
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: be copying. He said he hates copying, so we'll have
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: am anagery instead with lizards. Sunday Dot The lizard is
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: very well indeed, and has eat a lot of worms.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: White cheeked Jones, Ma and Mac said they must fight
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: it out in the play room. In the hour. They
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: fought with gloves. White gave him a bloody nose. We
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: had a very good game of football yesterday. Williams and Pierce,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: which left last term, came from Eton to play. Pierce
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: changed in my room. He says, you don't say squid
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: at Eton, and you say to tutors, not my tutors.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: The fireworks are in a week. Saturday, Dot there was
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: no work this morning as it was all Saints Day.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: There was a football match against another school, Reynolds. We
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: won by three goals and three tries. There was an
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: awful row On Wednesday, Anderson cut off a piece of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: his hair. Mac nabbed it, and he said he hadn't
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: as he was afraid of the consequences. Then a search
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: was made and they found a piece of hair in
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: his drawer. Mack told him he would find himself in
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  Speaker 1: Queer Street, and Collie said when he was riding home
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: on Sunday that he had better add that he was
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: a liar. Nothing hapened till Monday, and Anderson thought it
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: was for go ten, but reading over when the three
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: N D D I V came up, the headset Anderson.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I am astounded at you you are a shuffler. And worse,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: he lost fifty marks and was swished he would get twenty.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: The head said if he did it again, and he
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: would be turned out of the choir. Sunday dot. When
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Colly was out of the room and set three this morning,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Mason said he wouldn't sneak about me talking if I
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: didn't sneak about him. So I talked. When Colly came back,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Mason sneaked. Please, sir, will you ask Smith not to talk.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I had to stand on the stool of penitence. We
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: are going to put Mason in Coventry because he always
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: sneaks just after he has sworn he won't. Last night
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: we all had to play our pieces in the drawing room.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I played a duet with Wilson Michigan. Astley played best.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: When everybody had played their pieces, we had ginger beer
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and biscuits and went to bed. Fish played worst on
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  Speaker 1: the Violin Sunday Dot we had fireworks on the fifth
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: raw man candles, rockets, crackers, squibs and a set piece
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: with God Save the Queen on it. They came from Brokes,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: who makes the fireworks at the Crystal Palace. We burnt
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a man in fig a man with collars and an axe.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: The head said he wouldn't say who it was meant
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: to be, but that all true Englishmen who were not
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: traders could guess. Raleigh said it was meant to be
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: mister Gladstone, but he only said this to get a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: rise out of Pork, who's Pater's a liberal? It was
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: really Guy Fawkes. Then Pork said Anderson's father was a liberal,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to and Anderson hit him in the eye. The head
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: hates liberals. There was another row this week. Christie said
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: something to Broadwood at breakfast that the porridge was mighty good.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: That was copying Anderson, who learned it from his matyr,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: who is a Yankee. Mac asked him what he'd said.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: He said he'd said the porridge was good. Mac asked,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: is that all you've said? Christie got very red and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: looked as if he was going to blub and said
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that was all. Very well, said Mac. Come afterwards, Mack
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: reported him for telling Bungs. He wasn't swished, as it's
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: his first term, but Mac told him he was making
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: himself very unpopular. On Tuesday, Fatty the butler came into
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the third division schoolroom with a message. Some one said
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: in a whisper, hello Fatty. Mac nabbed it and said
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: who said that? Nobody answered. Then Mac said he knew
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it was Middleton, Michigan, as he had recognized his voice.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Middleton swore he hadn't said a word, but he was
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: reported and swished. He still swears he didn't say Fatty,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and I believe it was pork. The other day at
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: French Campbell went up to Collie and asked him what
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: was wrong with less tables. It had a pencil cross
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: on it. Colly said that when he corrected it there
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: was no S there. Campbell swore there was. Colly held
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the paper to the window and said he saw the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: ink of the S was fresh. Then Christie began to
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: blub and said he had done it, and Colly said
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it was a for Jerry and wrote Forger in white
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: chalk on his back, and said he would tell the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: chaps in the first d I V. But he didn't
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: report him to the head, which was awfully decent of him,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: because Christie is a new chap. Sunday Dot trials are
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: nearly over. We had Latin G and Greek G paper
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: yesterday set by the head. There are only two more papers,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: geography and Latin Verse. The concert is on Saturday. Pork's
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: sister is called Jane. Campbell saw it on the seal
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of a letter he got. His people were coming for
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  Speaker 1: the concert, but he's written to tell them not to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: as we told him. The head thought liberals worse than thieves.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Two from the Diary of Assault of Brittany May first Dot.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Mamma sent me up a message early this morning to
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  Speaker 1: say that I was to put on my best white
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  Speaker 1: gown with my coral necklace as guests were expected. She
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: didn't say who nurse was in a fuss and pulled
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  Speaker 1: my hair when she did it, and made my face
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  Speaker 1: very sore by scrubbing it with pumice stone. I can't
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  Speaker 1: think why, as there was no worry. I came down punctually.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: At noon. Mamma and Papa were sitting in the hall waiting.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Fresh rushes were strewn on the floor. I was told
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  Speaker 1: to get out my harp and to sit with my
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: back to the light. I hadn't practiced for weeks, and
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I can only play one song properly, the Mallard, a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Cornish song. When I told Mama that was the only
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  Speaker 1: song I knew, she said I was on no account
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  Speaker 1: to mention it if I was asked to play, but
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I was only to play Breton songs. I said I
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: didn't know any. She said that didn't matter, but that
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I could sing anything I knew and call it a
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  Speaker 1: Breton song. I said nothing, but I thought, and I
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: still think, this was dishonest. Besides, the only songs that
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  Speaker 1: I know are quite new. The stable people whistle them
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and they come from Rome. We waited a long time.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Papa and Mama were both very fidgety and Mamma kept
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  Speaker 1: on pulling me about and telling me that my hair
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  Speaker 1: was badly done, and that she could see daylight between
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the pleats of my frock. I nearly cried, and Papa said,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: leave the dear child alone. She's very good. After we'd
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: been waiting about twenty minutes, the trumpets sounded and Morgan,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the Seneschal, walked in very slowly and announced Sir Tristram
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: of Lioness Rather an oldish man walked in with a
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  Speaker 1: reddish beard and many wrinkles. One of his front teeth
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  Speaker 1: was broken and the other was black. He was dressed
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: in a coat of mail, which was too tight for him.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: He had nice eyes and seemed rather embarrassed. Mamma and
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  Speaker 1: Papa made a great fuss about him and brought me
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: forward and said this is our daughter. Assault and Mamma
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: whispered to me, show your hands. I didn't want to
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: do this, as nurse had scrubbed them so hard that
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: they were red. Sir Tristram bowed deeply and seemed more
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and more embarrassed. After a long pause, he said, it's
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: a very fine day, isn't it. Before I had time
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: to answer, Mamma broke in by saying a sult has
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: been up since six with the falconers. This wasn't true,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and I was surprised that Mamma should be so forgetful.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: I hadn't been out with the hawkers for weeks. Then
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: dinner was served. It lasted for hours, I thought, and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the conversation flagged terribly. Coloneval, Sir Tristram's squire, had twice
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: of everything, drank much more cider than was good for him.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: After dinner, Mamma told me to fetch my harp and
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: to sing a Breton song. I was just going to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: say I didn't know one, when she frowned at me
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: so severely that I didn't dare. So I sang the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Pravascal Orchard song about waking up too early that Karadak
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the groom taught me. Sir Tristram said, charming, charming, that's German,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: isn't it. How well taught she is. I do like
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: good singing. Then he yawned, although he tried not to,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and Papa said he was sure Sir Tristram was tired,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and that he would take him to see the stables.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Sir Tristram then became quite lively and said he would
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: be delighted. When they'd gone, Mamma scolded me and said
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: that I had behaved like a ninny and that she
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: didn't know what our guests would think of me. It
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: seemed to me we only had one guest, but I
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: didn't say so. Then she told me to go and
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: rest so as to be ready for dinner. I forgot
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to say that. Just as Sir Tristram was going out
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: of the room, he said to Papa, your daughter's name
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: is and Papa said, yes, the sult after her aunt,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and Sir Tristram said, oh, what a pretty name. May
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: sixth dot dave been here a week now, and I
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: haven't seen much of them because Sir Tristram has been
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: riding with Papa nearly all day and every day. But
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: every day after dinner, Mamma makes me sing the Pravascol song,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and every time I sing it, Sir Tristram says, charming, charming.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: That's German, isn't it, although I've already told him twice
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: now that it isn't. I like Sir Tristram, only he's
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: very silent, and after dinner he becomes sleepy directly, just
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: like Papa. May seventh dot I've had a most exciting day.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Papa and Mamma sent for me, and when I came
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: into the room, they were both very solemn and said
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: they had something particular to say to me. Then Mamma cried,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and Papa tried to soothe her and said it's all right,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: it's all right, And then he blurted out that I
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: was to marry Sir Tristram next Wednesday. I cried, and
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Papa cried, and Mamma cried, and then they said I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: was a lucky girl, and Mamma said that I must
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: see about my clothes at once. May eighth dot Nurse
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: is in a fearful temper. She says we shall never
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: be ready by Wednesday, and that it's more than flesh
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and blood can stand to worry folks like this, But
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Mamma is in the best of tempers. Sir Tristram has
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: gone away to stay with some friends. He is coming
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: back on Tuesday night. My wedding gown is to be
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: made of silver, with daisies worked on it. The weavers
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: are working day and night, but most of the stuff
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: is old. It belonged to Mamma. I do think they
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: might have given me a new gown. Blanche had a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: new one when she was married May twelfth dot. The
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: wedding went off very well. I had four maidens and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: four pages. After mass, we had a long feast. Papa
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: made a speech and broke down, and Tristram made a
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: speech and got into a muddle about my name, and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: everybody was silent. Then he said I had beautiful hands,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: and everybody cheered. After supper, we were looking out on
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the sea, and just as Tristram was becoming talkative, I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: noticed that he wore another ring besides his wedding ring,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: a green one made of jasper. I said, what a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: pretty ring. Who gave it you? He said, oh, a
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: friend and changed the subject. Then he said he was
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: very tired, and when away May thirteenth dot. It's the thirteenth,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and that's an unlucky number. Nurse said that no child
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of hers should marry in May. So I suppose that's
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: what brought it about. In any case, Tristram, who has
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: been very gloomy ever since he's been here, has got
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to go and fight in a tournament. He says he
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: won't be away long and that there's no danger, not
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: any more than crossing the sea. In an open boat,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: which I do think is dangerous. He starts tomorrow at dawn.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: May fourteenth dot. Nothing particular. May fifteenth dot, no news.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: May sixteenth dot. Kernival arrived this evening. He says that
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Tristram was slightly wounded, but would be all right in
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: a day or two. I am very anxious. May seventeenth dot.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Tristram was brought back on a litter in the middle
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: of the night. He has been wounded in the arm.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: The doctors here say he was bandaged wrong by the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: local doctor. They say he is suffering from slight local pain.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Carnival says the horrid henchman hit his arm as hard
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: as he could with a broad sword. Papa and Mama
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: arrive tomorrow with the doctor. Tristram insists on sleeping out
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: of doors on the beach. The doctor says this is
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: a patient's whim and must be humored. I'm sure it's
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: bad for him, as the nights are very cold. July first, dot.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I've been too busy to write my diary for weeks.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Tristram is still just the same. The doctors say there
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is no fear of immediate change. August tenth dot. Mama
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: says the Queen of Cornwall, whose name is Assult, the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: same as mine, is coming for a few days with
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: her husband and some friends. I do think it's very inconsiderate,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: considering how full the house is already, and what with
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Tristram being so ill and insisting on sleeping on the beach,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: it makes it very difficult for every one. September first, Dot,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Papa went out to shoot birds with his new crossbow,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: but he came back in a bad temper as he'd
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: only shot one and a hen. Tristram is no better.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: He keeps on talking about a ship with a black sail.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: September nineteenth Dot. Today I was on the beach with Tristram,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: and he asked me if I saw a ship. I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: said I did. He asked me if the sail was black,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and as the doctor had told me to humor him,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: I said it was, upon which he got much worse,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: and I had to call the doctors. They said he
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: was suffering from hypertrophy of the sensory nerves. September twentieth
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Dot Tristram unconscious. The Queen of Cornwall just arrived, too
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: busy to write three from the Diary of King Copechua
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Cofetua Castle, May third dot. We had to be married
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: in May, after all, it was a choice between that
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and being married on a Friday, and Jane would not
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: hear of that, so I gave it. Poor dear Mamma
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: relented at the end and came to the wedding. On
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the whole she behaved with great restraint. She could not
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: help saying just a word about rash promises. Jane looked
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: exceedingly beautiful. I felt very proud of her. I regret nothing.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: We start for Italy tomorrow. We are to visit Milan,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Florence and Rome. Jane is looking forward to the change
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Dijon May sixth dot. We decided to break the journey here,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: but we shall probably start again tomorrow, as Jane is
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: extremely dissatisfied with the inn the Lion door, I of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: course chose the best, but she says she found a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: spider in her bedroom. She complained that the silver plates
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: on which dinner was served were not properly cleaned, that
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the veal was tough, and that we had been given
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: graves under the guise of Barsak. All these things seemed
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to me exceedingly trivial, but Jane is particular in a way.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: It is a good thing, but considering her early upbringing
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: in her former circumstances, I confess I am astonished. Lyons
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: May twelfth dot, I shall be glad when we get
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to Italy. Jane becomes more and more fastidious about inns
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: she walked out of forerunning here. I was imprudent enough
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to say that Mamma had a vassal who was a
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: distant connection of the Sieur Johann de Blois, and Jane
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: insisted on my paying him a visit and asking him
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: to lodge us, telling him who we are as we
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: are traveling incognito as the Baron and Baroness of Wessex.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: This put me in a very awkward position, as I
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: don't know him. I did it, however, and Jane came
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: with me. I have seldom felt so awkward. But really
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: he could not have made things easier. He was tact itself,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and while respecting our incognito, he treated us with the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: utmost consideration. He was most kind. Jane made me a
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: little uncomfortable by praising a fine crystal goblet encrusted with emeralds.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Sieur Johann was of course obliged to offer it her,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and to my vexation, she accepted it auvignon May twentieth
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: dot Jane finds our incognito more and more irksome. I
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: was looking forward to a real quiet holiday where we
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: could get away from all fuss and worry and all
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: the impediments of rank and riches. I wanted to pretend
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: we were poor for a while, to send on the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: litters with the oxen, the horses and the baggage, and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to ride on mules as soon as we had reached
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: the south. But Jane would not hear of this. She
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: said she had had enough of poverty without playing at
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: it now. This is, of course quite true, but I
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: wish she wouldn't say such things before people. It makes
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: one so uncomfortable. Here she has insisted on our staying
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: with the Pope, which may put me in a very
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: awkward position with regard to several of our allies in Italy.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: He has, however, most gracious. Jane is very impulsive at times.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: She insisted on our making an expedition to the bridge
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: here by moonlight and dancing on it. She kicked off
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: her shoes and danced barefooted. I asked her not to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: do this, whereupon she said, if the courtiers hadn't praised
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: my ankles, you would never have married me. And what's
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the use of having pretty ankles if nobody can see them.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I shall be glad when we get to Italy. I
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: am determined to preserve a strict incognito once we are
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: across the frontier Turin June tenth dot. It has poured
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: with rain every day since we crossed the frontier, and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Jane won't believe that it is ever fine in Italy.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: It is very cold for the time of year, and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the people here say that there has not been such
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: a summer for thirty years. Every time I mention the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: blue sky of Italy, Jane loses her temper. She spends
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: all her time at the goldsmith's shops and at the weavers.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I am afraid she is extravagant, and her taste in
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: dress is not quite as restrained as I could wish.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Of course, it doesn't matter here, but at home it
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: would shock people. For instance, last night she came down
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to supper dressed as a Turkish sultana in pink trousers
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: and a scimiter, and without even a veil over her face.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: When I remonstrated, she said men did not understand these things. Milan,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: June fifteenth dot. It is still raining. Jane refused to
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: look at the cathedral and spends her whole time at
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the merchant's booths as usual. To day I broached the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: incognito question. I suggested our walking on foot, or perhaps
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: riding on mules to Florence. Jane, to my great surprise,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: said she would be delighted to do this, and asked
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: when we were to start. I said we had better
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: start the day after tomorrow. I am greatly relieved. She
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: is really very sensible, if a little impulsive at times,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: but considering her early life, it might be much worse.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I have much to be thankful for. She is greatly admired.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Only I wish she would not wear such bright colors. Florence,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: June twentieth dot. It has been a great disappointment. Just
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: as we were making preparations to start entirely incognito, Jane
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: had even begged that we should walk on foot the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: whole way and take no clothes with us. A messenger
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: arrived from the Florentine embassy here, saying that the Duke
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: of Florence had heard of our intended visit and had
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: put a cavalcade of six carriages, fifty mules, seven litters,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: and a hundred men at arms at our disposal. How
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: he could have heard of our intention, I don't know.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Jane was bitterly disappointed. She cried and said she had
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: been looking forward to this walking tour more than to
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: anything else. But I managed to soothe her, and she
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: eventually consented to accept the escort of the Duke. It
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: would have been impossible to refuse. As it was, we
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: were very comfortable. We stopped at Bologna on the way,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: and Jane insisted on going to the market and buying
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a sausage. She tried to make me taste it, but
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I cannot endure the taste of garlic. At Florence, we
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: were magnificently received and taken at once to the palace,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: where the rooms are very spacious. Jane complains of the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: drafts and the cold. It is still pouring with rain.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: There is a very fine collection of Greek statues to
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: be seen here, but Jane takes no interest in these things.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: The first thing she did was to go to the
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: new bridge, which is lined with goldsmith's shops on both sides,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and to spend a great deal of money on perfectly
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: useless trinkets. She says, she must have some things to
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: bring back to my sisters. This was thoughtful of her.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: The Duke is going to give a great banquet in
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: our honor on Tuesday, next June twenty third dot bell
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Feast is to night. The gardens have been hum with lanterns.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: A banquet has been prepared on a gigantic scale. Five
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: hundred guests have been bidden. Jane was greatly looking forward
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to it, and low and behold by the most evil mischance.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: A terrible vexation has befallen us. A courier arrived this
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: morning bearing letters for me, and among them was one
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: announcing the death of the Duke of Burgundy, who is
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: my uncle by marriage. I told Jane that, of course
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: we could not possibly be present at the banquet. Jane
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: said that I knew best, but that the Duke would
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: be mortally offended by our absence, since he had arranged
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the banquet entirely for us, and spent a sum of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: ten thousand ducats on it. It would be she pointed out,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and I am obliged to admit she is right most
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: in politic to annoy the Duke. After an hour's reflection,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I hit on what seemed to me an excellent solution,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: that we should be present, but dressed in mourning. Jane
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: said this was impossible as she had no black clothes.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Then she suggested that I should keep back the news
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: until to morrow, and if the news were received in
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: other quarters, deny its authenticity and say we had a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: later bulletin. This on the whole seemed to be the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: wisest course, as the etiquette here is very strict, and
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the Dowager Duchess is most particular. I pray that Jane
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: may be careful and guarded in her expressions. June twenty
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: fifth dot. My poor dear mother was right. After all,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I should have listened, and now it is too late.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: The dinner went off very well. We sat at a
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: small table on a raised dais. Jane sat between the
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Duke and the Prime Minister, and opposite the Dowager Duchess.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: There was no one at the table except myself under
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: sixty years of age, and only the greatest magnates were present.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Jane was silent and demure and becomingly dressed. I congratulated
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: myself on everything. After the banquet came to dance, and
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Jane took part with its exquisite grace. In the saraband,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: she observed all the rules of etiquette. The dowager Duchess
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: seemed charmed with her. Then later came supper, which was
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: served in a tent, and which was perhaps more solemn
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: than everything. When the time came to lead Jane to supper,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: she was nowhere to be found. Outside in the garden,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the minor nobles were dancing in masks, and some mimes
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: were singing. We waited, and then a message came that
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the Queen had had a touch of ague and had retired.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: The supper went off gloomily. At the close, and enormous
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: pie was brought in the sight of which caused a
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: ripple of well bred applause. Viva I l reek efetua
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: was written on it in letters of pink sugar. It
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: was truly a triumph of culinary art. The mime announced
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: that the moment had come for it to be cut,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and as the Grand Duke rose to do this, the
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: thin crust burst of itself and outstepped Jane with no
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: garments beside her glorious dark hair. She tripped on to
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the table, and then, with a peal of laughter, leapt
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: from it and ran into the garden. Since when she
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: has not been heard of. My anguish and shame are
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: too great for words, but the Duke and the Dowager
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: have been most sympathetic. June twenty sixth dot. Jane has fled,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and my jewels, as well as hers, are missing. It
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: is suspected that the attache at the Florentine Embassy at
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Milan is at the bottom of the conspiracy. For Jane
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: herself had a good heart. For From the diary of
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Froissart Wore correspondent Parry's The Feast of the Epiphany dot.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: The astrologers say there will be plenty full trouble in
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Normandy in the spring. June tenth dot. To dinner with
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the Cardenol of Pyrgourt, to meet the gentle King of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Behaine and the Lord Charles his son. The Cardenol said,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: neither the kinge of England nor the French kinged desire war,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: but the honor of them and of their people saved.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: They woe to gladly fall to any reasonable way, But
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the King of Behain shook his heed and said, I
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: am fear. I am a pessimist, which is almaine for
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: a man who beholds the future with no glad share.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: June twentieth dot. Thell great merchant of Araby Modifier, says
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: there will be no war. He has received ward from
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the city of London and his friends great merchants all
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: and notably Salmony and Gluxton said likewise that there will
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: be no war. June thirtieth dot. The carewers have brought
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: ward home. The kinge of England was on the sea
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: with a great army, and is now a land in Normandy.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Have received fair offers for chronicles of the war from London,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Pere's and Rome. They offer three thousand crowns monthly, paying
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Curtsey for all my expenses. Have said, I will gladly
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: fall to their wish. July first dot. Trust bag and
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: baggage in great hast and departed toward Normandy, the seat
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: of war. July second dot. Ride but small journeys, and
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: due purpose being no oh, great horsemen, every time I
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: have to ride a horse to add three crowns to
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the expenses which my patrons Curtsey pay, take lodginges every
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: day bite weeen noon and thchr e of the clock.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Find the contry fruitful and reasonably sufficant of wine. July third,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Caine dot a great and rish town with many burgesses
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: crafty men. They sold wine so dear that there were
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: no buyers save myself, who bought sufficant and added to
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the list which my patrons curtsy pay. July fourth, Amience
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Dot left. Cain and the Englishmen have taken the town
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and clean robbed it. Write pensive as to putting my
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: life in adventure. Sir godmar Da Fay is to keep
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: note of the chroniclers, and he has ordained them to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: bring him their chronicles. He has Curtsey made these rules
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: for the chroniclers. Chroniclers may only chronicle the truth. Chroniclers
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: may not chronicle the names of places, bridges, castles where
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: betaales happen, nor the names of any lords, knights, marshals, earls,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: or others who take part in the btale, nor the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: names of any weapons or artillery used, nor the names
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: or numbers of any prisoners taken in betail. Thanks to
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Sir godmar Da Fay, the chronicler's task has been made lighter.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: July sixth, Collis dot. The chroniclers have been ordained by
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Sir godmar Da Fay to go to Collis. There are
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: nine chroniclers. One is an alley Main who has learned
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: in the art of war, one is a Genoese, and
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: one an Englishman. The rest are French. The city of
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Collis is full of drapery and other merchanties, noble ladies
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: and damosels. The chroniclers have good will to stay in
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the city. July seventh Dot. Sir godmar Da Fay has
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: ordained all the chroniclers to leave the city of Collis
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: and to ride to a lightoult town called Noli, where
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: there are no merchanties and no damosels, nor so effic
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of wine. The chroniclers are not so merry as in
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the city of Collis. July ninth Dot. Played chess with
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: the Genowes and was checkmate with a bishop. August sixth dot.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: The chroniclers are all pensive. They are lodged in the felds.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: There has fallen a great rain that pours down on
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: our tents. There is no wine, nor pasties, nor sufficant
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: of flesh, no books for to read nor any company.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Last night I wrote a ballade on war, which ends.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: But Johnny Freusart wisheth he were dead? It is too
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: indiscreet to publish. I wish I were at Collis. I
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: wish I were at Perry's. I wish I were anywhere
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: but at Noli. August twenty third dot. At the Kinge's commandment,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the chroniclers are to go to the Fronte August twenty
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: fifth Friday dot. The Kinge of England and the French
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: kinch have ordained all the business of a bataille. I
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: shall watch it and chronicle it from a hill which
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: shall not be too far ay away to see, and
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: not too near to adventure my life. August twenty sixth dot.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I rode to a windmill, but mistooked the way as
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a great rain fell. Then the air waxed clear, and
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I saw a great many English earls and French knights
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: riding in contrary directions in hast Then many Genoways went by,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: and the Englishmen began to shoate fiercely with their crossbows.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: And there a rose fell so hotly that I rode
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: to a light el hut, and finding shelter. There I
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: wait till the snow of a rose should have passed.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Then I climbed to the top of the hill. But
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: I could see light el but divers men riding here
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and there. When I went out again, a but evensong,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I could see no one a but divers, knights and
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: squires rode by looking for their masters. And then it
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: was said the kinch had fought a battail and had
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: rowed to the castell of broy and thence to Amience.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: August thirtieth dot. The chroniclers have been ordained to go
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to Calis whereat they are well pleased, save for a
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: fear of a siege. The chroniclers have writ the chronicle
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: of the day of Saturday, August twenty sixth It was
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: a great betale ryg h t cruel, and it is
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: named the Betale of Cresse. Some of the chroniclers say
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the Englishmen discomfited the French, others that the king discomfited
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the English. But the Englishmen repute themselves to have the victory.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: But all this shall be told in my chronicle, which
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I shall write when I am once more in the
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: fair city of Pires. It was a great Betale, and
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the French and the English lords are both well pleased
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: at the feats of arms. And the French KINGE, though
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: the day was not as he wolde have had it
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: as one h ygh renowned, and is r y g
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: h t pleased. Likewise the English Kine and his son.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: But both kings have ordained the chroniclers to make no
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: boast of their good adventure. August thirtieth dought. The KINGE
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: of England has laid siege to Kalis, and has said
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: he will take the town by famishing. When word of
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: this was brought to the chroniclers, they were displeased. It
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: is well that I have hide in a safe place
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: some wine and other things necessary. Later dot All things
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: to eat are sold at a great price. A mouse
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: costs a crown. August thirty first dot All the poor
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: and mean people were constrained by the capture of colleagues
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to issue out of the town men, women and children,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and to pass through the English host, and with them
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: the poor chroniclers. And the Kine of England gave them
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: and the chroniclers meat and drink to dinner, and every
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: person too deep stirling in alms and the chroniclers have
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: added to the lst of their costs which their patrons
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: curtsey pay to loss of honor at receiving alms from
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: an English kine a thousand crowns the from the diary
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: of George Washington, written When a Schoolboy bridges Creek, seventeen
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: forty four September twentieth dot. My mother has at last
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: con in sented to let me go to school. I
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: had repeatedly made it quite plain to her that the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: private tuition hitherto accorded to me was inadequate, that I
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: would be in danger of being outstripped in the race
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: owing to insufficient groundwork. My mother, although very shrewd in
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: some matters, was curiously obstinate on this point. She positively
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: declined to let me attend the day school, saying that
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: she thought I knew quite enough for a boy of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: my age, and that it would be time enough for
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: me to go to school when I was older. I
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: quoted to her tacitus powerful phrase about the insidious danger
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: of indolence, how there is a charm in indolence. But
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: let me taste the full pleasure of transcribing the noble
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: original sub equip idiam ipsius, inertia, dolcido yti and visa
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: primo decity of post remo amateur. But she only said
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: that she did not understand Latin. This was scarcely an argument,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: as I translated it for her. I cannot help thinking
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: that there was sometimes an element of Poe's intacitus much
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: vaunted terseness. September twenty ninth, dot I went to school
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: for the first time. To day, I confess I was disappointed.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: We are reading in the fourth division, in which I
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: was placed at my mother's express request. Eutropius and Avid
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: both very insipid writers. The boys are lamentably backward and
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: show a deplorable lack of interest in the classics. The
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: French master has an accent that leaves much to be desired,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: and he seems rather shaky about his past participles. However,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: all these things are but trifles. What I really resent
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: is the gross injustice, which seems to be the leading
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: principle at this school, if school it can be called.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: For instance, when the master asks a question, those boys
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: who know the answer are told to hold up their hands.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: During the history lesson Henry the eighth was mentioned in
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: connection with the religious quarrels of the sixteenth century, a
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: question which I confess can but have small interest for
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: any educated person at the present day. The master asked
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: what British poet had written a play on the subject
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: of Henry the Eighth, I, of course held up my hand,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: and so did a boy called Jonas Pike. I was
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: told to answer first, and I said that the play
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: was in the main by Fletcher, with possible later interpolations.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: The usher, it is scarcely credible, said go to the
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: bottom of the form, And when Jonas Pike was asked,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: he replied Shakespeare and was told to go up one.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: This was I consider a monstrous piece of injustice. During
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: one of the intervals which are only too frequent between
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: the lessons, the boys play a foolish game called it,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: in which even those who have no aptitude and still
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: less inclination for this tedious form of horse play are
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: compelled to take part. The game consists in one boy
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: being named it. Though why the neuter is used in
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: this case instead of the obviously necessary masculine it is
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: hard to see. He has to endeavor to touch one
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: of the other boys, who in their turn do their
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: best to evade him by running, and should he succeed
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: in touching one of them, the boy who is touched
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: becomes it ipso facto. It is all very tedious and silly.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: I was touched almost immediately, And when I said that
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: I would willingly transfer the privilege of being touched to
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: one of the other boys, who were obviously eager to
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: obtain it, one of the bigger boys again, Jonas Pike,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: gave me a sharp kick on the shin. I confess
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I was ruffled. I was perhaps to blame in what followed.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I am perhaps inclined to forget at times that Providence
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: has made me physically strong. I retaliated with more insistence
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: than I intended, and in the undignified scuffle which ensued,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: Jonas Pike twisted his ankle. He had to be supported home.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: When questioned as to the cause of the accident, I
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: regret to say he told a deliberate falsehood. He said
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: he had slipped on the ladder in the gymnasium. I
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: felt it my duty to inform the head master of
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: the indirect and unwilling part one had played in the matter.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: The head master, who is positively unable to perceive the
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: importance of plain speaking, said I suppose you mean you
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: did it. I answered no, sir, I was the resisting,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: but not the passive agent in an unwarrantable assault. The
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: result was I was told to stay in during the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: afternoon and copy out the first eclog of Virgil. It
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: is characteristic of the head master to choose a feeble
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: eclog of Virgil instead of one of the admirable Georgics.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Jonas Pike is to be flogged as soon as his
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: foot is well for his untruthfulness. This, my first experience
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: of school life, is not very hopeful. October tenth dot.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: The routine of the life here seems to me more
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: and more meaningless. The work is to meet child's play,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: and indeed chiefly consists in checking the inaccuracies of the ushers.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: They show no gratitude to me, indeed sometimes the reverse
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: of gratitude. One day in the English class, one of
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the usher's grossly misquoted Pope. He said, a little knowledge
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: is a dangerous thing. I held up my hand and
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: asked if the line was not rather, a little learning
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: is a dangerous thing, adding that Pope would scarcely have
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: thought a little knowledge to be dangerous, since all knowledge
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: is valuable. The usher tried to evade the point by
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: a joke which betrayed gross theological ignorance. He said, all
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: popes are not infallible. One of the boys brought into
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: school a foolish toy, a guta purchase snake that contracts
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: under pressure and expands when released with a whistling screech.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Jonas Pike, who is the most ignorant as well as
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: the most ill mannered of all the boys, suggested that
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the snake should be put into the French master's locker,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: in which he keeps the exercises for the week. The
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: key of the locker is left in charge of the
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: top boy of the class. I say it in all modesty,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: is myself. Presently another boy, Hudson by name, asked me
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: for the key. I gave it to him, and he
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: handed it to Pike, who inserted the snake in the locker.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: When the French Master opened the locker, the snake flew
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: in his face. He asked me if I had had
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: any hand in the matter. I answered that I had
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: not touched the snake. He asked me if I had
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: opened the locker. Of course, said no questioned further as
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: to how the snake could have got there, I admitted
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: having lent the key to Hudson, ignorant of any ulterior purpose.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: In spite of this, I was obliged, in company with
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Pike and Hudson to copy out some entirely old fashioned
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: and meaningless exercises in syntax. October thirteenth dot, A pretty
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: little episode happened at home to day. The gardener's boy
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: asked me if he might try his new axe on
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: the old cherry tree, which I have often vainly urged
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: mother to cut down. I said, by all means, it
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: appears that he misunderstood me and cut down the tree.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: My mother was about to send him away, but I
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: went straight to her and said I would take the
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: entire responsibility for the loss of the tree on myself,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: as I had always openly advocated its removal, and that
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: the gardener's boy was well aware of my views on
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: the subject. My mother was so much touched at my
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: straightforwardness that she gave me some candy, a refreshment to
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: which I am still partial. Would that the ushers at
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: school could share her fine discrimination, her sound judgment, and
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: her appreciation of character six from the Diary of Marcus
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Aurelius Rome the IDEs of March Dot. It is curious
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: that Julius Caesar should have considered this date to be unlucky.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: It was on that for him auspicious date that he
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: was forever prevented from committing the egregious folly of accepting
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: the crown of Rome. A king of Rome is an
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: unthinkable thing. An emperor of the rome An Empire is
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: of course, a very different matter. April first Dot, Faustina,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: in accordance with some ridiculous tradition, committed a grossly undignified act.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: She came into my study the third hour, my busiest time,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: and asked me to lend her the Memoirs of Remus
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: in the Wolf's Lair. I spent a fruitless half hour
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: in search of the book. It then occurred to me
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: that the whole matter was a jest in the very
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: worst taste, since both my secretaries were present, and I
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: regret to say they smiled. April sixth Dot went to
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the games in company with Faustina and commedists. Commodats, as usual,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: too exuberant in the manner of his applause. I am
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: all in favor of his applauding. The games are not
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: what they used to be. The modern lions consumed the
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Christians without the slightest discrimination. All this modern hurry and
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: hustle is very distressing. April tenth Dot stayed at Tivoli
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: with V and Nay from Saturday to Monday. Even in
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: a country house, a day may be well spent much
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: interesting talk on the fiscal question. V deprecates Terra for
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: form in all its shapes. A, while remaining as he
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: ever was, a staunch free trader, considers that in some cases,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: and given certain conditions, retaliation is admissible, possibly in the
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: matter of the fringes of litters and the axles of
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: chariot wheels, objects which exclusively concern the very rich. April
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: twentieth Dot, and exhilarating day walked to the Tiber and
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: back read the preface of the new Persian Grammar. Faustina
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: interrupted me three times over purely trivial matters of domestic detail.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: April twentieth Dot commetus is impossible. He grows more and
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: more extravagant every day. He persists in spending his pocket
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: money in buying absurd pets and the gods know that
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Faustina has enough pets in the house already. But I
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: am thankful to say I have drawn the line at
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: Badger's I put my foot down. I was dignified but firm.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: I endure Faustina's peacocks because I think it is good
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: for my better nature, Besides which they are ornamental, and,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: if properly dressed, not unpleasant to the palate. But badgers.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: April twentieth dot. A painful episode occurred when I returned
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: for my morning stroll. I was aware that an altercation
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: was taking place in the atrium. I entered and found
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: myself face to face with two Persian merchants of the
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: lowest type, who were exhibiting to Faustina several ropes of pearls. Faustina,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: of course, had had no hand in the matter. The
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: merchants had forced themselves on her presence on some ridiculous pretext. Faustina,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: in spite of her faults, values jewels at their true price.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: She has a soul above such things. She abhors trinkets,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: she sees their futility. April twenty third dot. Reary the
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Iliad find it too long. The character of Helen shows
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: defective psychology. Homer did not understand women. April twenty seventh,
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: Dot games again very tame, lions lethargic as usual, how
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: dissatisfied Nero would have been. Nero, although a bad poet,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: was an excellent organizer. He understood the psychology of the crowd.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: He was essentially an altruist. Faustina insisted on making a
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: foolish bet. Women's bets are the last word of silliness.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: They bet because the name of a gladiator reminds them
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: of a pet dog, or for some such reason. They
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: have no inkling of logic, no power of deduction. I
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: found no difficulty in anticipating the victories of the successful candidates,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: but I refrain from making a wager. May first dot
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: absurd processions in the streets. Faustina painted her face black
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: and walked round the garden in a movable bower of greenery.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: I could see no kind of point or sense in
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: the episode. Under cross examination, she confessed that the idea
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: had been suggested to her by her nurse. All this
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: is very trying. It sets commodists the worst possible example.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: But I suppose I must endure this. The ways of
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: fate are inscrutable, and after all, things might have been worse.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Faustina might have been a loose woman, a profligate. May
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: sixth Dot read out the first conto of my epoch,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: on the Origins of Species to Faustina and Commodus. Commodas
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: I regret to say, yawned and finally dozed. Faustina enjoyed
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: it immensely. She said she always thought that I was
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: a real poet, and that now she knew it. She says,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: she thinks it is far better than Homer or Virgil,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: that there is so much more in it. Faustina is
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: a very good judge of literature. There is no one
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: whose opinion on matters of art and literature I value more.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: For instance, she thinks Sappho's lyrics are not only trivial
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: but coarse. She also thinks Eschylus much overrated, which, of
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: course he is. How far we have got beyond all that?
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: Some day I mean to write a play on the
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: subject of love. It has never yet been properly treated
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: on the stage. Sophocles and Seneca knew nothing of women,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: and Euripides women are far too complicated. May twelfth Dot
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: meditated on religion but was again interrupted by Faustina, just
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: as I was making a really illuminating note on the
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: subject of isis much distressed by modern free thought. Commodus
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: pays much too much attention to the minor goddesses, but this,
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: at his age is excusable. He is, thank goodness, entirely
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: untainted by the detestable Jewish or so called Christian superstition,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: which I fear is spreading. May thirteenth dot V and
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: nay Dined also a Greek philosopher whose name escapes me.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: The Greek was most indiscreet. He discussed the Christian question
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: before everybody. He must have been aware by my expression
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: that the topic is one which I consider unfit for
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: public discussion. He not only discussed, but he actually defended
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: this hysterical, obstinate, unpatriotic, and fundamentally criminal sect. I do, not,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: of course, entirely credit the story's current with regard to
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: their orgies and their human sacrifices. The evidence is not
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: so far sufficiently sound. But whatever their practices and their
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: rights may be, the Christians are a pernicious and dangerous sect.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: They will prove unless they are extirpated the ruin of
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: the Empire. They have no notion of civic duty, no reverence,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: no respect for custom or tradition. They are unfilial, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: they are the enemies of the human race. They are
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: a cancer in the state. Faustina agrees with me. I
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: am glad to say May fourteenth dot Commodus is suspected
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: of having made friends with a Christian slave. The rumor is,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: no doubt a calumny. I cannot bring myself to believe
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: that a son of mine, with the education which he
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: has enjoyed, and the example which has ever been before
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: his eyes of his father's unswerving and unremitting devotion to
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: duty in the state, can have degraded himself by dabbling
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: in this degrading, wicked superstition. Nevertheless, it is as well
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: to be on the safe side. And after prolonged reflect
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: I have decided to make a great sacrifice. I am
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: going to allow him to take part professionally in the
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: Games under another name. Of course, I think it may
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: distract him. The Games are a Roman institution. They are
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: the expression of the Empire. They breathe the spirit of Romulus,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: of Brutus, of Regulus, of Fabius, Cunctator of Cincinnatus of
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: the Grachai. Faustina said only yesterday that she felt she
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: was the mother of at least one Gracchus. That was
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: well said. I was much touched. May twentieth, Dot. Commodus
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: has appeared with great success, but the lions still show apathy.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: Seven from the Diary of maur S James Lee's husband,
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: October first, dot. At last, the heat wave is over.
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: It's the first day we have been able to breathe
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: for months. Just as I was coming back from my
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: morning walk, Hilda lent out of the window and suggested
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: I could climb up into her room like Romeo. I said,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: I preferred the door. Hilda shut the window with a
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: bang and was crossed all through luncheon rissouls again. I
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: said to Hilda, you know I hate hashed meat. She said,
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: I know. I can't give you the food you get
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: at the Grand Hotel. That's because I went to Douville
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: last week. October fifth, dot. We lit a fire for
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: the first time last night. Hilda said she felt cold.
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: I thought it was rather stuffy. She said, do light
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: the fire and went out of the room. I lit
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: it and it smoked. This chimney always does smoke. At first.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: When she came back, she said, what have you done?
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: I said, I've lit the fire you asked me to,
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: she said, but not all that would at once, and
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: you ought to have pushed the wood back for the
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: rest of the evening. She complained of the heat and
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: the smoke, although we had the window open in the
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: dining room and the smoke had all disappeared after a
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: few moments. October seventh, Dot, it's very windy. Went for
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: a walk on the cliffs back through the fields, saw
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: a rabbit and a magpie. Wish I had had a gun.
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: I said to Hilda that the sea was striped to
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: leeward like a snake, and olive colored, but on the
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: weather side it was spotted with wind. Hilda said, you
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: are very observant about the weather. This was a hit
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: at me, and the fire. Little things rankle in her mind. Afterwards,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: she was sorry she had said this, and she said,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: what fun we shall have here in winter. I don't
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: think it's a winter place myself, but I want to
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: stay here till I've finished my poem. I'm getting on
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: with it. October eighth, Dot I read out to Hilda
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: a lyric I had just finished It's to Come. In
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: the second canto, when Launcelot says goodbye to Princess Azra,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: the situation is roughly that the princess bullies him and
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: he gets sick of it and goes, and then of
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: course she's sorry when it's too late. He sings the
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: song as he's going. She overhears it. I was rather
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: pleased with it, Hilda said, oh, of course, I know.
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: I worry you with my attentions. What this had got
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: to do with the poem, I can't think it was
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: all because last night, when I was working, Hilda came
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: into my room and said are you warm enough? And
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: I said yes, rather absent mindedly, as I was in
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: the middle of my work. Ten minutes later, she looked
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: in again and asked me if I wanted some beer,
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: and I said no, without looking up. Then very soon
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: afterwards she came in a third time and asked me
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: if I was sure I wasn't cold, and whether I
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have the fire lit, rather snappishly, because it is
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: a bore to be interrupted just when one's on the
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: verge of getting an idea fixed, I said no, I'm
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: afraid this hurt her feelings. October ninth dot. Since Hilda
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: has given up her sketching, she has nothing to do.
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: I was very busy this afternoon, finishing my weekly article
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: in time for the post. She rushed into the room
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: and said, didn't I think a butterfly settling on a
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: jock was the ultimate symbol of love and the mind
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: of man? I said, I thought she was very probably right.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Heavens knows what she meant. Women's minds moved by jerks.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: One never knows what they'll say next. They're so irrelevant.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: October tenth dot. It's blowing a gale. Stuck in the poem.
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: Hilda says it's cynical. I don't know what she means.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: She says she didn't know. I was so bitter. I said,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: it's only a kind of fairy tale. She said, yes,
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: but that makes it worse. But it's only an ordinary
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: love story, I said. She said, of course, I know
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: nothing can go on being the same. It can, no
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: doubt be better, but not the same as it was before.
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: But Princess Ezra is only an incident in my poem,
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: I said. Hilda said nothing, But after a time she
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: asked me whether I thought there was the meaning of
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: the moan of the wind. I have no idea what
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: she meant by that. She is very cryptic sometimes. October eleventh, dot.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Lovely day. The sun came out, and I suggested that
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: I should take a holiday and that we should go
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: and have a picnic on the rocks. I was afraid
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Hilda might have something against the plan. One never knows,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: but she didn't. On the contrary, she seemed delighted. She
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: made a hamper and I carried it down to the rocks.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: We caught shrimps and threw stones into the sea, just
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: like children. I think Hilda enjoyed herself. On the way home,
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: I asked her why she didn't go on with her drawing.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: I really think it's a great pity she has given
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: it up. He has real talent, she said, I will
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: if you wish it. I said, of course, I don't
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: want you to do it if you don't like. But
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: I do think it's a pity to waste such a
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: very real talent. She said, I quite understand, and sighed,
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: I wonder what she was thinking of. Hilda is absurdly modest.
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: She draws extremely well, especially figures. October twelfth dot. Hilda
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: has begun drawing again. I am delighted. She began copying
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: the cast of a hand, but I suggested to her
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: that it would be far more interesting for her to
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: draw a real hand from nature. So she got a
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: little girl from the village to sit for her. I
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: am delighted. It gives her an occupation. And I really
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: am very busy just now. After all, we came here
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: so as not to be disturbed, to be away from
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: people and interruptions. And I find that in the last
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: two months I have got through less work than I
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: did in life London in June, I must make up
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: for lost time. I can't get on with the poem.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: I think I shall leave it for a time. I
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: should immensely like Hilda's opinion on what ought to happen next.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: She can be of the greatest help in use when
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: she chooses. Unfortunately, she has taken one of those unreasonable
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: and entirely unaccountable dislikes to this poem, and no argument
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: is of the slightest use. It's no good even mentioning it.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: I shall leave it for a time and go on
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: with my other work. It is most unfortunate that Hilda
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: should look upon it in this light, especially as she
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: doesn't even know what the subject is. But she has
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: taken an episode in fact one little song as symbolic
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: of the whole. But then logic never was Hilda's strong point.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: October thirteenth, dot. Hilda is getting on very well with
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: the hand. She seems to enjoy it, which is the
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: great thing. October twenty fourth, dot. Have been too busy
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: all these last days, thinking even to write my diary.
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: Believe I have at last really got an idea for
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: the poem, shall begin tomorrow. Have not dared mention it
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: to Hilda. Fortunately she is still utterly absorbed in her drawing.
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: October twenty seventh, dot. Great disappointment. Last night Hilda said
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: it was no good concealing things any longer, and that
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: one must look facts in the face. I had no
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: idea what she meant. Then she said she had noticed
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: for some time past how bored I was here, and
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: how I was longing to get rid of her. Nothing
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: I could say would persuade her. Of the contrary, I
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: tried to explain that I had been searching for a
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: new idea, and that this had no doubt made me
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: appear more absent minded than usual, She said, I am
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: not going to worry you any longer. I am going
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: to set you free, and to my intense surprise, she
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: announced that she had booked a berth on the steamer
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: for the day. After time, I knew that argument wouldn't
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: be of any use, so I gave in at once.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: It is most disappointing, just as I had got an
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: idea I wanted to consult her about October twenty ninth,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: Dot on board the steamer, Queen Marguerite saw Hilda off.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: She insisted on going and refused to argue. Deeply regret
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: she is leaving. Hilda is the only woman I ever
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: met who remains tidy, even on a steamer. The sea
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: air suits her. It has done her a world of good,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: and it's a great pity she is leaving so soon.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: She says it's for good, but that, of course is ridiculous.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: Eight From the Diary of Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street, January first, Dot.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: Starting a diary in order to jot down a few
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: useful incidents which will be of no use to Watson.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: Watson very often fails to see that an unsuccessful case
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: is more interesting from a professional point of view. Than
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: a successful case. He means well. January sixth dot, Watson
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: has gone to Brighton for a few days for change
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: of air. This morning, quite an interesting little incident happened,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: which I note as a useful example of how sometimes
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: people who have no powers of deduction nevertheless stumble on
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: the truth for the wrong reason. This never happens to Watson, fortunately.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Lestrade called from Scotland Yard with reference to the theft
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: of a diamond and ruby ring from Lady Dorothy Smith's
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: wedding presents. The facts of the case were briefly these
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: on Thursday evening. Such of the presents as where jewels
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: had been brought down from Lady Dorothy's bedroom to the
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: drawing room to be shown to an admiring group of friends.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: The ring was amongst them. After they had been shown,
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: the jewels were taken upstairs once more and locked in
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: the safe. The next morning the ring was missing. Lestrade,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: after investigating the matter, came to the conclusion that the
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: ring had not been stolen, but had either been dropped
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: in the drawing room room or replaced in one of
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: the other cases. But since he had searched the room
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: and the remaining cases, his theory so far received no support.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: I accompanied him to Eton Square, to the residence of
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: Lady Middlesex, Lady Dorothy's mother. While we were engaged in
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: searching the drawing room, Lestrade uttered a cry of triumph
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: and produced the ring from the lining of the arm chair.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: I told him he might enjoy the triumph, but that
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: the matter was not quite so simple as he seemed
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: to think. A glance at the ring had shown me
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: not only that the stones were false, but that the
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: false ring had been made in a hurry to deduce
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: the name of its maker was, of course child's play.
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: Lestrade or any pupil of Scotland Yard would have taken
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: for granted it was the same jeweler who had made
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: the real ring. I asked for the bridegrooms present, and
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: in a short time I was interviewing the jeweler who
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: had provided it. As I thought, he had made a
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: ring with imitation stones made of the dust of real
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: stones a week ago for a young lady. She had
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: given no name, and had fetched and paid for it herself.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: I deduced the obvious fact that Lady Dorothy had lost
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: the real ring her uncle's gift, and not daring to
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: say so had had an imitation ring made. I returned
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: to the house, where I found Lestrade, who had called
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: to make arrangements for watching the presence during their exhibition.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: I asked for lady Dorothy, who at once said to
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: me the ring was found yesterday by mister Lestrade. I know,
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: I answered, but which ring? She could not repress a
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: slight twitch of the eyelids, as she said there was
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: only one ring. I told her of my discovery and
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: of my investigations. This is a very odd coincidence, mister Holmes,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: she said, some one else must have ordered an imitation,
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: but you shall examine my ring for yourself. Whereupon she
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: fetched the ring and I saw it was no imitation.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: She had, of course, in the meantime found the real ring,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: but to my intense annoyance, she took it to Lestrade
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: and said to him, isn't this the ring you found yesterday,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: mister Lestrade. Lestrade examined it and said, of course, it
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: is absolutely identical in every respect. And do you think
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: it is an imitation? Asked this most provoking young lady.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: Certainly not, said Lestrade, and turning to me, he added, ah, Holmes,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: that is where theory leads one at the yard we
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: go in for facts. I could say nothing, but as
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: I said good bye to Lady Dorothy, I congratulated her
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: on having found the real ring. The incident, although it
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: proved the correctness of my reasoning, was vexing, as it
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: gave that ignorant blunderer an opportunity of crowing over me.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: January tenth dot a man called just as Watson and
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: I were having breakfast. He didn't give his name. He
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: asked me if I knew who he was. I said,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: beyond seeing that you are unmarried, that you have traveled
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: up this morning from Sussex, that you have served in
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: the French Army, that you write for reviews and are
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: especially interested in the battles of the Middle Ages, that
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: you give lectures, that you are a Roman Catholic, and
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: that you have once been to Japan. I don't know
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: who you are. The man replied that he was unmarried,
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: but that he lived in Manchester, that he had never
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: been to Sussex or Japan, that he had never written
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: a line in his life, that he had never served
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: in any army save the English Territorial Force. That so
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: far from being a Roman Catholic, he was a freemason,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: and that he was by trade an electrical engineer. I
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: suspected him of lying, and I asked him why his
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: boots were covered with the clay in chalk mixture peculiar
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: to Horsham. Why his boots were French Army service boots
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: the last excited and bought probably at Valmy. Why the
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: second half of a return ticket from Southwater was emerging
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: from his ticket pocket. Why he wore the medal of
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Saint Anthony on his watch chain. Why he smoked caprial cigarettes.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: Why the proofs of an article on the Battle of
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: Iiloh were protruding from his breast pocket, together with a
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: copy of the tablet. Why he carried in his hand
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: a parcel which, owing to the untidy way in which
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: it had been made, an untidiness which in harmony with
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: the rest of his clothes, showed that he could not
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: be married, revealed the fact that it contained photographic magic
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: lantern slides, and why he was tattooed on the left
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: wrist with a Japanese fish. The reason I have come
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: to consult you will explain some of these things, he answered.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: I was staying last night at the Windsor Hotel, and
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: this morning, when I woke up, I found an entirely
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: different set of clothes from my own. I called the
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: waiter and pointed this out, But neither the waiter nor
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: any of the other servants, after making full inquiries, were
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: able to account for the change. None of the other
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: occupants of the hotel had complained of anything being wrong
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: with their own clothes. Two gentlemen had gone out early
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: from the hotel at seven point three zero. One of
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: them had left for good, the other was expected to
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: return All the belongings I am wearing, including this parcel,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: which contained slides, belonged to someone else. My own things
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: contained nothing valuable and consisted of clothes and boots very
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: similar to these. My coat was also stuffed with papers.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: As to the tattoo, it was done at a Turkish
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: bath by a shampoor who learned the trick in the navy.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: The case did not present any features of the slightest interest.
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: I merely advised the man to return to the hotel
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: and await the real owner of the clothes, who was
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: evidently the man who had gone out at seven point
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: three zero. This is a case of my reasoning being
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: with one partial exception, perfectly correct. Everything I had deduced
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: would no doubt have fitted the real owner of the clothes.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: Watson asked, rather irrelevantly, why I had not noticed that
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: the clothes were not the man's own clothes, A stupid question,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: as the clothes were reached me down, which fitted him
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: as well as such clothes ever do fit, and he
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: was probably of the same build as their rightful owner.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: January twelfth, DOT found the carbuncle of unusual size in
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: the plum pudding. Suspected the makings of an interesting case.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: But luckily, before I had stated any hypothesis to Watson,
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: who was greatly excited, Missus Turner came in and noticed
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: it and said her naughty nephew Bill had been at
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: his tricks again, and that the red stone had come
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: from a Christmas tree. Of course, I had not examined
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: the stone with my lens. Nine from the Diary of
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: the Emperor Titus Titus reginam barennisum c u i idium
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: nuptious pelicitus ferbituur statum of herb demicit invitis in vitem
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: dot Tacitus Rome Monday Dot. The eruption at Vesuvius does not,
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: after all, appear to have been greatly exaggerated, as I
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: at first had thought on receiving Pliny's graphic letter. One
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: never can quite trust literary men when facts are in question.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: It is clear that I missed a very fine and
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: interesting spectacle. In fact, I have lost a day good phrase.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: That must try and bring it in some time or other. Tuesday,
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: I fear there is no doubt of Bereonice's growing unpopularity.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: It is tiresome, as I was hoping that the marriage
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: might take place soon. Quietly, she insists on wearing a diadem,
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: which is unnecessary, and her earrings, made of emeralds and
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: gold cupids, are too large. She asked me to day
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: if I didn't think she resembled the Rose of Charon.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: I said, I supposed she meant the rose of Pistom.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: She said, ah, you've never read the Song of Songs.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: I said, I had read all Sappho. She said, it's
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: not by Sappho, it's by Solomon. I had no idea
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: King Solomon wrote Wednesday Dot Bereonice has asked some of
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: her relations to stay with her. They arrived this morning,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: her mother, her sister, her younger brother, and her cousin.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: They are very conversational. They chatter together like parrots or cockatoos.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: They are also insatiably inquisitive. Talked finance with Polinas. He
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: says that the treasury is practically empty. Nobody in the
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: palace appears to have any ready money. When the usual
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: crowd of beggars came to the palace this evening for
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: their daily allowance, I had to send them away. It
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: was the first time Polinus remarked that I had let
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: a day go by without making a gift. Yes, I answered,
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: I have lost a day. The phrase I am glad
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: to say was heard by everybody. I afterwards borrowed a
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: little money from Bereonice's brother, who made no difficulties. He
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: is a nice, generous lad, if a little talkative, but
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: then we all of us have our faults. Bearonice's mother
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: loses no no opportunity of asking when the wedding day
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: is to be most awkward, I temporized Thursday dot Bereonica's
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: relations have spread the news in the court by telling
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: it to one of the matrons in strict confidence that
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: I am about to marry Bereonice almost immediately. This is
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: most unfortunate. The news has created a sensation, and they
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: all say that such a match would be more than
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: unpopular amongst the people. Bereonice has not mentioned it. Herself
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: lost heavily at Dice. Yesterday accepted the offer of Bereonice's
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: brother to lend me a lump sum instead of constantly
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: borrowing small coins. I have no doubt that is the
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: wiser course. Thursday, a week later, dot the strain on
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: my purse is terrible, had of course to subscribe largely
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: to the Pompeii and Herculaneum fund, also to the Pestilence Relief,
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: also to the Flavian Amphitheater Fund. I rowed another lump
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: sum from Bereonice's brother. He is certainly very good natured.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: Bereonice's mother again referred to the marriage question. I said
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: this was an unlucky month for marriages. Not if you
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: are born in December, she answered, unfortunately, I was born
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: in December Friday. That do not know where to turn
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: for money, do not always want to be borrowing from
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: Bereonice's brother. Somehow or other. It makes them all so familiar,
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: given the circumstances and the extreme unpopularity of their presence here.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: It is awkward. Besides, it is a shame to trade
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: on the good nature of a youth. Have sold all
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the decorations of the imperial residence and devoted a portion
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: of the proceeds to the relief fund. Some one spread
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: the rumor among the dear people that I had devoted
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: the whole of the money to the relief fund. I
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: cannot think how these rumors get about Saturday a week later, dot.
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: This has been a most expensive fortnight. HAVE had to
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: do a lot of entertaining, and I regret to say
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: I have been once more obliged to borrow a lump
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: sum from Beeronice's brother. How I shall ever be able
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: to pay him back? The gods alone know. Had the
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: news of my marriage unofficially announced, followed immediately by a
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: semi official and ambiguous denial made to see what effect
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: the news would have among the public, Paulinus says the
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: impression produced was deplorable. The Romans cannot, he says, forget
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: that Baronice is a queen. Of course they can't. If
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: she will wear a crown, people say. He says that
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: even Nero and Caligula avoided offending public opinion. On this point,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: they refer also to Julius Caesar's action on the luprical.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: There is no doubt that such a course will insure
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: me a lasting unpopularity. But what is to be done?
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: Bereonice's relations talk of the marriage as a matter of course,
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: I I have practically promised marriage. Bereonice herself says nothing,
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: but her silence is eloquent. Her brother becomes more and
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: more familiar and presses me to accept further loans. I
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: do my best to refuse, and I have made a
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: vow that the lump sum which he lent me to
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: day shall be positively the last one. Monday, dot Polinas
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: tells me that the Senate have decided to present me
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: with a monster petition against my marriage. Since it is
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: obviously impossible, owing to the strong feeling raised and the
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: present excited state of popular opinion, I have resolved to
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: anticipate events, and I have given leave to Polinas to
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: contradict officially the rumors of my impending marriage. He is
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: to add unofficially that Breonice is shortly leaving Rome for
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: change of air, and that she will probably spend the
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: summer months in her charming villa on the Dead Sea.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, I have got to break the news
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: to Breonice before tomorrow morning, and Ti, the King of Commagene,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: arrived here this morning more expense, Monday night later. Dot
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: the crisis is partially over. It has been extremely painful.
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: Bereonice at first was incredulous. Then she was upset and
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: left me, threatening to kill herself. I sent Politus to
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: try and calm her. She then said she would leave
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: Rome without setting eyes on me again and state her
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: reasons in an open letter, which she would issue for
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: private circulation only. This, of course, would have been most undesirable.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: Her mother and sister backed her up and threw up
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: at me. The example of Antony taunting me with cowardice,
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: of being afraid of the Senate, and of outraging the
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: dignity of a family royal in rank and of immemorial lineage.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: Bearonice is directly descended from King Solomon on her mother's side. Finally,
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: Benonice's brother came to me and said that as he
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: would shortly be leaving Rome, he would be obliged if
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: I could pay him back the trifling loans he had
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: favored me with He brought a list of them. He
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 1: charges interest. It is a tradition, he says, in his family,
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: to charge ninety percent interest on royal loans. He said
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: that he was quite willing to apply to the Senate
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: if the reimbursement in any way incommoded me. This was
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: a great shock to me. Immediate repayment was and is impossible.
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: The marriage is equally impossible. I told Beronice frankly that
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: I could not remain in Rome as emperor and the
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: husband of a foreign queen. She said, but why shouldn't
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: I be empress woman like? She missed the point. I said,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: I was willing to follow her to her villa and
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: renounce all claim to the empire. Having offered her this alternative,
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: I summoned Antiochus, who is an old friend of hers,
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: to be the arbiter. As soon as the facts were
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: put before him, I left them, and Antiochus had a
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: lengthy interview with Bereonice in private. I was convinced this
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: was the best course. At the end of it, Bereonice
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: generously refused to accept my sacrifice, and while renouncing all
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: idea of self slaughter or retaliation, announced her intention of
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: leaving Rome, but those loans and their terrible interest, that
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: matter is still unsettled. Tuesday, all has been settled. Antiochus
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: has lent me the whole sum due to Beeronice's brother,
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: and a handsome margin for my personal use. I restored
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: the interest and capital of the loan to Beeronice's brother,
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: said farewell to the family before the whole court, and
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: handed Beeronice's brother a fine gold chain as a slight
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: token of my esteem. This, he said, is too much.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: No man, I answered, should leave his Prince's presence dissatisfied.
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: Here upon, the whole court murmured applause, and by a
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: slight gesture I indicated that the audience was at an end.
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: Berenice Alas left Rome at noon, escorted by Antiochus, who
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: is to spend the summer with her in Palestine. Today
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: I can say in all conscientiousness that I have not
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: lost a day, But it seems to me that I
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: have lost everything else that there is to lose in
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: this life. X from the Diary of Harriet Shelley, George Street, Edinburgh,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: September sixth, eighteen eleven dot. Mister Hogg arrived this morning.
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: He seemed at first to be quite oblivious of the
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: fact that he was in the city of the unfortunate
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Queen Mary Bish and I conducted him to the Palace
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: of Holyrood immediately, where we inspected the instructive and elegant
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: series of portraits of the Scottish Kings. I was much
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: affected by the sight of the unfortunate Queen's bedroom. Mister
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: Hogg has not been well grounded in history, and he was,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: on more than one occasion inaccurate. He had never heard
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: of Fergus the just. Bish was much moved and in
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: chanted by the objects of interest. He ran through the
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: rooms at a great pace, now and then, pointing back
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: at an object of interest and exclaiming that is good.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: I regretted the absence of Eliza, but perhaps it is
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: as well that she was not with us on this occasion.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: She would not have permitted me to contemplate the tragic
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: stain of Rizzio's wound, for fear of the effect the
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: site might have on my nerves. Mister Hogg was strangely
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: insensible to the sorrowful associations of the spot. After we
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: had inspected the rooms and the relics, Bish with intent
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: with renewed awe, and mister Hogg with a somewhat inopportune levity.
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: Bish was obliged to go home and write letters, and
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: so I suggested that mister Hogg should conduct me to
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: Arthur's seat in order to enjoy the sublime prospect which
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: that eminence commands. So sublime, so grand, so inspiring was
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: the view that even mister Hogg was impressed. As for myself,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: words failed to express the manifold and conflictting emotions which
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: were stirred in my breast. The weather was fine, clear
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: and tranquil, but alas, no sooner had we started on
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: our descent than the wind began to blow with great violence.
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: It was, of course impossible for me in such circumstances
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: to risk the impropriety which might be occasioned had the wind,
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: as was only too probable, so disturbed my dress as
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: to reveal to my companion the indelicate spectacle of my
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: decently concealed ankles. So I seated myself on a rock,
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: resolving to wait until the violence of the wind should subside.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: Mister Hogg, who laid unnecessary stress on the fact that
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: he had not dined on either of the preceding days, and,
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: being deficient in a proper sense of delicacy and seemliness,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: vowed he would desert me and proceed home by himself.
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: To my dismay, he began to carry his threat into execution,
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: and it was with the utmost difficulty that I succeeded
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: in accomplishing the descent without affording him any unseemly exhibition.
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: Sunday Dot, the manner in which the Sabbath is observed
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: in this city is repellent to my principles. Bish and
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: mister Hogg have gone to the Kirk. I pleaded the
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: wearisome performance would be certain in my case, to bring
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: on a headache, and so I remained at home. They returned,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: much exhausted by the wrestlings of an eminent divine with Satan.
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: I am engaged in translating Madame Cotton's immortal Claire Dalby
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: into English prose. This occupies my mourning. Bish is translating
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: a treatise of Buffon with which we were both of
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: us charmed in the evenings I read out Telemachus. I
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: regret to say that Bish fell asleep while I was
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: but half way through an instructive discourse of Ideminius relating
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: to the wise laws of Crete. Mister Hogg is an
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: attentive listener, and it is a pleasure to read to him. York,
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: October tenth, eighteen eleven, Dot traveled by post chaise from
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: Darlington read Anna Saint ives by Holcroft in the chaise.
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: Throughout the ch Ernie Bish was restless and suggested my
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: skipping certain portions of the narrative. I of course declined,
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: knowing that it was the intention of the authoress that
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: her work should be read without omissions. Bish is obliged
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: to go to London. In the evenings I read out
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: doctor Robertson's historical works to mister Hogg. We are on
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: the eve of a great event. My dear sister Eliza
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: has consented to visit us and is about to arrive.
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: What a privilege for mister Hogg. What a source of
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: pleasure for Bish. I ardently regret that he should not
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: be present to welcome her. October twenty fifth, Dot. Eliza
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: has arrived. I am deeply touched by her kindness in coming,
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: and overcome when I think what a joyful surprise her
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: presence will be for Bish, and how it will illuminate
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: our household. October twenty sixth dot. Bish arrived from London.
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: Eliza spent the day brushing her hair. In the evening,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: I suggested reading a lie out from Holcroft, but Eliza,
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: such as her kind heartedness, feared that it might upset
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: my nerves. She felt certain, too that her esteemed friend,
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: Miss Warn, whom she regards as a pattern and model
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: in all things, would not approve of Holcroft. October twenty
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: sixth dot. Eliza is certain that Miss Warn would find
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: nothing to admire in york Minster changed our lodgings. Eliza
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: thinks that the pure mountain air of the lakes would
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: be salutary to my nerves. Bish and mister Hogg miss
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: our evening readings. I sometimes, however, continue to read to
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: them in an undertone when Eliza is brushing her hair,
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: but the pleasure is marred by the trepidation I am
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: unless I should disturb her. Eliza objects to the name Bish.
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: She is certain Miss Warn could not endure such a name.
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: So in future my husband shall be called Percy. It
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: is certainly prettier and more romantic. Keswick, November sixteenth dot.
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: We have made the acquaintance of the Soues. Mister Southee
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: is a great reader and devotes two hours daily to
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: the study of the Portuguese and Spanish languages. Missus Souvie
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: is an adept at book binding and binds her husband's
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: books with elegance and neatness. Bish I mean Percy has
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: a last three times narrowly risk offending the poet, the
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: first time by inadvertently taking a book down from one
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: of his bookshelves, the second time by falling asleep when
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: mister Southe, after having locked him into his study, was
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: reading aloud to him his epic The Curse of Kehama,
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: And the third time by sharply criticizing his action in
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: eating tea cakes and by subsequently devouring a whole plate
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: of them himself. Bish I mean Percy has implored me
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: to beg Missus Southee to instruct me in the art
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: of making tea cakes. I wish Eliza could begin to
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: realize the existence of bish I mean Percy. She seems
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: altogether rather unaware of his presence in the house. But
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: then Eliza is so much occupied in considering what will
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: be best for me that she has no time to
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: bestow any attention to anything else. Percy is contemplating the
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: composition of a poem which is to be called Queen Mab.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: Eliza said that Miss Warren had a horror of Queen Mab.
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: Bish explained to her that his poem was to be
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: didactic and philosophical and had nothing to do with fairies. That, said, Eliza,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: makes it worse. Bish ran out of the room with
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: shrill exclamation of impatience. Hush, hush, said Eliza, think of
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: poor Harriet's nerves. November twentieth thought, Bish confessed to me
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: that he could see neither beauty nor charm in Eliza.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: This is curious, since her black hair has always been
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: an object of universal admiration. I am afraid that Eliza
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: does not understand him. I need hardly say what a
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: disappointment this is to me. Bish and I were thinking
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: of writing Ane in collaboration, but Eliza said that Miss
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: Warren considered that it was not seemly for a woman
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: to dabble in fiction. Bish, I mean Percy in writing.
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: I find it difficult to accustom myself to the new name,
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: but I am fortunately successful in the presence of Eliza
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: in always saying Percy Percy and I are thinking of
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: studying Hebrew. I have not yet told Eliza of this project.
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: She is opposed to my reading Latin authors in their
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: original tongue. November thirtieth dot, we were walking this afternoon
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: in the neighborhood of the Lake Percy, Eliza, and myself.
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: Percy was talking of Plato's Republic when Eliza interrupted him
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: by recalling to his mind something which she had indeed
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: often mentioned before, namely Miss Warren's positive dislike of all
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: the Greek authors, and especially Plato. Scarcely had she uttered
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: these words. When we looked round and found that Bish
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: had vanished in silence, like a ghost in the trees.
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: We called and searched for him in Vain, but when
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: we returned to the house we found him awaiting us,
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: buried in a book. The incident greatly displeased Eliza, and
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: she insisted upon my taking to my bed as soon
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: as we got home. Although I confess I felt no
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: suspicion of any ailment, nor would she hear of my
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: reading either aloud or to myself. She sat by my bedside,
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: brushing her hair. She grieved me by saying that she
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: could not conceive what mis warn would think of bish
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: I mean Percy eleven from the Journal in Time of
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: the Emperor Tiberius. February first dot. Disquieting news from Parthia.
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: Our Tabonus is giving trouble again. Shall probably have to
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: send an expedition. The military party in Rome say that
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: there will probably be unrest in Thrace in the spring.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: I remember they said the same thing last year. Slept
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: wretchedly last night. Clerical's medicine is worse than useless. Wrote
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: three despatches and one private life. Fed Hannibal the tortoise
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: went for a stroll in the afternoon, picked the first
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: windflower and put it in water. The gardener says, we
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: shall have some rain shortly, Please the gods. This may
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: be true, as the country needs it badly. Dined alone,
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: played spillikens after dinner with Fufius, but found it a strain.
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: February second dot. Woke at four and remained awake until seven,
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: then went asleep again and overslept myself. Scolded Bulbus for
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: not calling me. He said he did not dare call
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: me more emphatically told him it must not occur again.
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 1: February third dot. Nothing particular. February fourth dot. Letter from
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: my mother begging me to come and see her, says
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: she is suffering from lung trouble. Women are so unreasonable.
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: She must realize that it is impossible for me to
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: get away. Just at present, Hannibal would not touch his
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: lettuce to day. This is the third day running. It
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: has happened. Clericals has given him some medicine. Strolled along
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: to cliffs in the morning, much vexed by a fisherman
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: who pushed a lobster under my very nose. I have
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: a horror of shellfish. Verius and Afidius dined, found their
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: conversation astrain, so retired early. Read the seventh book of
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: the Eneid, but found it insipid. Virgil will certainly not live.
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: He was a sycophant. February tenth dot, anniversary of poor
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: julius death. Began to write short poem on the subject,
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: but was interrupted by the arrival of the courier from Rome.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: Much vexed as it altogether interrupted my train of thought
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: and spoilt what would have been a fine elegy. News
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: from Rome unsatisfactory. It rained in the afternoon, so I
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: did not go out sordid. My specimens of dried herbs,
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: which are in a sad state of confusion. Dined alone
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: dictated a despatch to Sejanus, read some of the Alcestis
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: Euripides before going to bed. Alcestis reminds me of Juliet
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: in many ways. She had the same fervid altruism and
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: the same knack of saying really disagreeable things, but they
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: both meant well. March first, dot a lovely spring day,
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: went for a stroll and jotted down a few ideas
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: for a poem. On spring the birds were singing. Listen
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: for some time to the babbling of the brook. Think
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: of alluding to this in the poem Dissilientus Aqui would
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: make a good ending to a Pentameter. Mentioned it to
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: Eupheus when I came in casually. He said he did
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: not think it was very original. Fupheus is hypercritical. He
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: does not feel poetry finish the memorial lines on Julia
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: ending ave at Vale. Shall not show them. To Fupheus,
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: he would be certain to say something disparaging. Positively haunted
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: by the sight of the wild tulips in the hills,
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: fluttering in the breeze, Sights like this live in the
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: memory disturbed early in the morning by a noise of hammering.
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: It is strange that wherever I go this happens. Made
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: inquiries and ascertained that the stable roof is being repaired.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: If it is not the stable roof, it is sure
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: to be something else. Last week it was a strayed
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: cow which woke me at five. Find it very difficult
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: to get sleep in the early morning. Whatever precautions I take.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: In a month's time, the nightingales will begin, and then
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: sleep will be out of the question. Thinking of writing
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: a poem called to Sleep March tenth dot clerical says,
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: I am overworked and need a change. Have decided to
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: go for a short walking tour, quite by myself. Thought
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: of taking Fupheus, but knowing how self willed he is,
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: decided not to. Packed my knapsack. Took an extra pair
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: of sandals, a worsted scarf, an ivory comb, two gold
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: tooth picks, and a volume of Sappho's songs. Find this light,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: feminine verse suitable for outdoor life, shall start early tomorrow.
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: Had my hair cut. The slave was clumsy when cutting
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: round the ears. They still smart. Find this fault to
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: be universal among hair cutters. Shall take tablets with me
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: in order to jot down any ideas for future poems,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: although clericals advises me to give up writing for two
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: or three weeks. March thirteenth, Dot returned earlier than I expected.
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: Walking tour successful on the whole. Visited Sorrentum, an idyllic spot.
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: Not sure I don't prefer it to Capri. It is
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: a curious thing that man is always discontented with what
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: he has and hankers after what he has not got.
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: Walked leisurely the first day, stopping every now and then
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: for light refreshment. Found the country people very civil and
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: anxious to please. Nobody knew who I was, and I
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: was intensely gratified by many spontaneous and frank experiences of
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: loyalty and devotion to the Emperor. This is refreshing in
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: this skeptical age. It is a comfort to think that
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: although I may not go down to posterity as a
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: great military genius like Julius Caesar, I shall at least
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: leave a blameless name as far as my domestic life
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: is concerned, and an untarnished reputation for benevolence, kindness, and
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: unswerving devotion to duty without being conceited. I think that
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: some of my verse will live. I think I shall
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: be among the Roman poets when I die. But this
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: is not saying much when one considers the absurd praise
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: given to poet asters such as Virgil and Ponticus. Strolling
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: along the sea shore near Surrentum, a very pretty little
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: episode occurred. A woman, one of the fishermen's wives, was
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: sitting by her cottage door, spinning her child. A little
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: girl about six years old, was playing with a dull
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: hard by. I said good day to the fisherman's wife,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: and she offered me a glass of wine. I declined,
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: as Clericals has forbidden me red wine, but I said
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: I would gladly accept a bowl of milk. She immediately
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: went to fetch it, and the child went with her.
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: When they returned, the child offered me the bowl, lisping
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: in a charming manner. I drank the milk, and the
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: mother then said to the child, tell the kind gentleman
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: whom you love best in the world. Papa and Mamma
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: lisped the child, and after that asked the mother. After
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: that the divine Emperor Tiberius, who is the father and
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: the mother of us all, she said, I gave the
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: mother a gold piece Eupheus says it is a mistake
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: to give money to the poor, and that it pauperuses them.
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: He says one does more harm than good by indiscriminate charity.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: But I think it cannot be a bad thing to
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: follow the impulses of the heart. I should like this
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: to be said of me. Although he had many faults,
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: such as discontent and want of boldness, his heart was
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: in the right place. It is little incidents like the
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: one I noted above which make up for the many
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: disappointments and trials of a monarch's life. The second day
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: of my tour was marred by a thunder shower, but
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: I found a thrush's nest and three eggs in it.
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: There are few things which move me so inexpressibly as
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: the sight of a thrush's nest with the eggs lying
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: in it. It is curious that the nightingale's egg should
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: be so ugly. Owing to the bad weather and the
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: rheumatism in my joints which it brought on, I was
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: obliged to cut short my tour. This extract probably belongs
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: to a later period June dot. Acinius Gallus has again
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: sent in a petition about the prison fare. It appears
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: he has a conscientious objection to eating veal. The officials
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: say they can do nothing. If they make an exception
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: in his favor, they will be obliged to do so
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: in many less deserving cases. I confess these little things
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: worry me. Our prison system seems to me lacking in elasticity,
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: but it is dreadfully difficult to bring into effect any
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: sweeping reform, because if the prison disciplinary system is modified
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: to meet the requirements of the more cultivated prisoners, the
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: prisons would be crowded with ruffians who would get themselves
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: arrested on purpose. At least this is the official view,
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: and it is shared by Sejanus, who has gone into
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: the matter thoroughly. I confess it leaves me unconvinced. I
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: am glad to say we are ahead of the Persians
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: in the matter. In Persia, they think nothing of shutting
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: up a prisoner of whatever rank in a cell and
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: keeping him isolated from the world, sometimes for as long
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: as three months at a time. This seems to me barbarous.
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: July sixth dot. The heat is overpowering Agripina threatens to
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: come home and to bring her daughter. I wrote, saying
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: I thought it is very unwise to bring children here
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: at this time of year, owing to the prevalence of fever.
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: She answered that her daughter was looking forward to the
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: sea bathing. If they come, it will mean that my
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: summer will be ruined. July seventh dot. I went to
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 1: the home farm this afternoon. The farmer's wife is very ill.
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: There is little or no hope of her recovery. Spent
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: two hours there reading out passages of the Odyssey. She
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: does not understand Greek, but it seemed to soothe her.
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: Her husband told her that he felt confident that she
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: could not get worse after this. The faith of these
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: simple folk is most touching. How unlike Feupheus and all
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: his friends. August first dot. There is no news except that,
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: as always occurred at this time of year, the phoenix
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: is reported to have been seen in Egypt. August third Dot.
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: One of those distressing little incidents happened to day, which
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: entirely spoil one's comfort and peace of mind for the moment,
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: just like a piece of dust getting into one's eye.
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: My old friend Lucius and Nusius came all the way
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: from Rhodes to see me. By some mistake, he was
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: shown into the chamber where prisoners are examined, and before
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: the error was rectified, he was rather rudely interrogated. It
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: turned out afterwards that Balbus mistook him for Titus Nusius,
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: the informer. Balbus is growing more and more stupid. He
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: forgets everything. I ought to send him away. On the
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: other hand, he knows my habits, and I should feel
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 1: lost without him as it is. Clerical says that Lucius
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: is likely to feel it for several days. He is
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: so sensitive, and the slightest thing upsets his nerves. All
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: his family are touchy, and I am afraid he will
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: look upon the matter as a delay liberate slight. If
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: it had happened to anyone else, it would not have mattered.
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: They would have understood at once. This has quite put
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: me out. But as Feuphius says, how little I shall
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: think of this in a year's time. August seventh dot,
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: Lucius and Nugius left the island in a huff. It
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: is most regrettable. August twelfth dot. Agripina arrives tomorrow. There
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: is nothing to be done. How pleasant life would be
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: were it not for one's relations. Twelve from the Diary
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: of Diapis Rex Corinth, The Feast of the Minotaur dot
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: My birthday and coming of age all went off very successfully.
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: Papa gave me a chariot, and Mama a pocket toothpick
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: set in gold with an Egyptian inscription on it, two flamingoes,
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: and a water at which means an Egyptian be merry
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: and wise. Nausicaa, my nurse, gave me a styluss wiper
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 1: with a present from Corinth, beautifully worked in to it
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: in silk. Paulophemus, our faithful old messenger, who has only
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: one eye, gave me a pair of sandal strings, very useful,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: as I'm always losing mine in the morning. After I
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: had received all the family congratulations and tokens at the
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: first meal, there was a public presentation of gifts in
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: the palace. The town of Corinth sent a deputation, headed
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: by the priest of the Temple of Castor and Pollux,
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: which presented me on behalf of the city with a
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: silver vase symbolic of the freedom of the city, beautifully
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: embossed and engraved with a suitable inscription. The priest made
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: a long speech, and Papa, who never cared for oratory,
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: kept on muttering by demeanor be brief. But the priest
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: wasn't brief. He spoke for nearly an hour. Then I
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: had to respond. I said, I would earnestly endeavor to
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: follow in my father's footsteps, and to deserve the good
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: will and esteem of my future subjects, which was being
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: manifested in so touching and patriotic a fashion. My speech
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: had all been written out for me beforehand by Zoroaster,
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: my Persian tutor. But I flatter myself. I added a
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: few unexpected in telling touches. For instance, I began by saying,
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: unaccustomed as I am to speaking in public. They cheered
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: this to the echo. I also managed to bring in
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: rather an amusing anecdote about how a foreign merchant called
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: Abraham tried to get the better of a Corinthian merchant
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: in a bargain, and how the Corinthian got the best
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: of him by guile. This provoked loud laughter. My peroration,
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: ending with the words, what do they know of Corinth?
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: Who only Corinth know? A quotation from Tertius was loudly cheered,
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 1: but my cousin Thersides almost spoilt the effect by adding
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: audibly quite enough. In the afternoon there were games and
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: an ox was roasted whole for the Iota pyamicron Landeland.
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: Iota Papa says, now I am of age, I must
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: go and pay my respects to the oracle at Delphi.
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: It is a family tradition. Delphi dot what is the date?
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: Arrived at last after a tedious journey. The inn is
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: very uncomfortable. This is too bad, As in the guide
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: book Odysseus, it is marked with a constellation of the Pleiades,
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: which means very good. The wine tastes of tar, and
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: the salt is a chemical compound called Sigma epsilon rohepsilon
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: beta omicron. I made a scene and asked for ordinary
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: slave salt, and they hadn't got any. Shall not stay
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: at this in again, and I shall warn others not to.
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: It is called zyepsila new omegaalambdo amicron caiepsil and Iota
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: amicron knew beta alpha gamma amicron new Lambieta. Disappointed in
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: the temple, very late architecture, and still more in the oracle.
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: I suppose it thought I didn't pay enough. But because
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: one happens to be a prince, I don't see why
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: one should be robbed. Besides which, I am traveling incognito
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: as Curio's rally. But the priests bowed, and they all
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: called me your shiningness. The oracle was quite absurd, and
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: evidently in a very bad temper. It said I would
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: kill my father and marry my mother. It only shows
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 1: how absurd the whole thing is. I hate superstition, and
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: oracles ought to be stopped by law. Gypsies on the
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: roadside are put in jail. Why should oracles be supported
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: by the state. I shall write to the false witness
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: about it. In the afternoon, went to the theater. Saw
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: the Tragedy of Adam and Eve historical drama translated from
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: the Hebrew. Very long. The part of the archangel danced
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: by thepsis was very bad, and the man who danced
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: Eve was too old. But the snake was good. Scenery fine,
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: especially the tree which which had real leaves. Dawlis Tuesday
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 1: Dot arrived this morning, very disappointing. The famous Dollian nightingale
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: is not singing this spring just my luck, rather an
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: amazing incident happened yesterday on the way. My chariot was
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: run into by a stranger. He was on the wrong
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: side of the road, and of course entirely in the wrong. Also,
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: his charioteer was not sober. We shouted and we gave
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: them ample room and time, but he ran straight into us,
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: and his chariot was upset. The owner and charioteer were
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: both taken to the Esculapian Home, which is under the
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: management of the Red Serpent. The doctor said it was serious.
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: We did all we could, but had to go on
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: as I was due at Dallas to day thebes. A
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: year later, Dot staying with Queen Jocosta, a charming widow,
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: all very comfortable. Everybody is concerned about the Sphinx, who
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: is really causing great annoyance, asking impertinent riddles and playing
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: dangerous practical jokes on people who can't answer. They want
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: me to go very tiresome, as I never could answer
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: a riddle, but it's difficult to refuse. Wednesday, Dot saw
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: the sphinx guess the riddle. First shot, it asked, what
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: was that which runs on two legs, has feathers and
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: a beak and barks like a dog, I said, pheasant,
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: and I added, you put that in about the barking
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: to make it more difficult. The Sphinx was very angry
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: and went off in a huff for good. Thursday Dot,
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: as a reward for getting rid of the Sphinx, I
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: am allowed to marry the Queen. We are engaged. Everybody
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: thinks it an excellent thing. She is a little older
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: than I am, but I don't think that matters. Ten
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: years later, Thebes DOT rather a severe epidemic of plague.
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: They say it is not dubonic. However, in fact it
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: is what they call plagein Still, there are a great
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: many deaths Thebes. A week later, Dot, the plague increasing
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: have sent for Tyresius to find out what it comes from.
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: Tuesday DOT. Tyresius arrived very cross and guarded. Don't believe
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: he knows anything about it. Doesn't want to commit himself.
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: He loves making mysteries. Saturday Dot insisted on Tyresius speaking out,
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: regret having done so now, he flew into a passion
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: and threatened the whole court with exposure and revelations. That's
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: the last thing we want now. Monday that had it
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: all out with Tyresius he told the most absurd cock
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: and bull story, utterly preposterous, but very disagreeable even to
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: have such things hinted. Said nothing to Jocosta. As yet,
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: Luckily there are no proofs Tyresius has raked up an
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: old shepherd who is ready to swear I am not
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: the son of the King of Corinth, but the son
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: of Laus, King of Thebes, and of Jocosta, my wife,
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: and that Lais was the man I accidentally killed years
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 1: ago on the road to Daalus. Tyresius says this is
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: the sole cause of the plague, which is getting worse.
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: They now say it is asiatic. Thursday, Dot I interviewed
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 1: and cross examined the shepherd in the presence of Tyresius.
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: There seems to be no doubt whatsoever about the facts.
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: But I cannot see that any good can be done now,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: after all these years, by making a public scandal. It is,
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 1: after all, a family matter. Tyresius says, the plague will
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: not stop unless the whole truth is published. Very awkward,
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: don't know how to break it to Jocosta. Friday, dictated Dot.
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: Jocosta overheard me discussing the matter with Tyreehseus and jumped
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: rashly to conclusions. She had hysterics and losing all self control.
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: Seriously injured both my eyes with a pin. I may
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: very likely be blind for life. She was very sorry
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: afterwards and is now laid up. I and the children
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: leave for Klanis tomorrow, and it is settled that I
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: am to abdicate in favor of Creon on the plea
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: of ill health and overwork. The children have been told
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: nothing but Antigony, who is far too precocious, alluded to
• 1:48:31
  Speaker 1: Jocosta as Grandmamma. The matter will be hushed up as
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: far as possible. Sidy in Klanis two months later. Dot
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: de eir here is delicious must say the change is
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: doing me good. Thirteen from the Diary of William the
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: Conqueror Ruan ten sixty six Dot. Disquieting news from London.
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: My friend, benefactor and relation, my brother Sovereign Edward of
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: England has again had one of his at tax. It comes,
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: I am sure, from not eating meat. Were anything to
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: happen to him, I should be obliged to go over
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: to London at once and settle as to the carrying
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: on of the government with Harold. Nothing could be more
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: inconvenient at the present moment. Have the utmost confidence in Harold,
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: but I fear the influence of the English nobility. I
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: like the English, but they are not to be trusted
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: in foreign politics. They are naturally perfidious, and they don't
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: know it. They think they are more virtuous than other people,
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: or rather that they are exempted from the faults and
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: the vices which are common to us. All the European
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: situation seems unsatisfactory. Among other things, Father Anselm writes that
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: a certain party among the English women want to be
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: admitted to the Whitnigamote. The majority of the women are
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: against it. The agitators sent a deputation to Westminster, but
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: the King said it would not be according to the
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: precedents to receive them. They were so annoyed at this
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: that they made a dastardly attack on the beautiful old
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: Druid temple of Stonehenge, almost completely destroying it. F Anselm
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: says only a few blocks of stone are left, and
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: that the place is unrecognizable. The ringleaders were taken and
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: claimed the ordeal by fire, and the matter was referred
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said that it was
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: not a matter to be dealt with by ordeal. Quite right,
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: He put the case into the hands of a select
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: body of matrons, chosen from all classes. These decided that
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: the offenders should be publicly whipped by women and sent home.
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: This was done much to the satisfaction of everybody. Ruan
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: Dot heard mass and went out hunting excellent sport, shot
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: of fox and six thrushes, had thrush pie for dinner.
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: Find it difficult to get on horse back without aid.
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: Ruan Dot received a letter from the Pope. He says
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: that should anything happen to King Edward, he is of
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: course far from suggesting such a thing, but one must
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: take everything into consideration. I must be very firm about
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: claiming the succession. Itchich says that, although of course it
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: would be indelicate for him to raise the question just now,
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: he knows it is the King's wish that I should
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: succeed him. He seems to think Harold may give trouble,
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: but Harold is bound to me by oath. Also, I
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 1: saved his life. Ruan Dot took William out hunting his
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: red hair frightens. The Ducks have told him over and
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: over again to get a close fitting green cap. The
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: boys are always quarreling. I don't know what is to
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: be done with them. Robert broke his new battle axe
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: yesterday in a fit of passion. My only consolation is
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: that Henry is really making some progress with his tutor.
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: He last learned the alphabet as far as the letter
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 1: f Ruan Dot. A fishermen arrived last night from Southampton
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: with the news that King Edward is dead. The news,
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: he said, was confirmed by the appearance of a strange
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: star with a tale to it in the sky. I
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: have questioned the courier and gathered he had only got
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: the news at second hand. The rumor is probably baseless.
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: Ruan Dot. The regular courier did not arrive this evening.
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: The bag was brought by an Englishman. The official bulletin
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: states that the King is slightly indisposed, owing to a
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: feverish cold, which he caught while inspecting the newly raised
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: body of archers in the New Forest. A private letter
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: from the archbishop tells me in strict confidence, that the
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: king's illness is more dangerous than people think. The children
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: again quarreled to day. Matilda, as usual, took Henry's part
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: and said I was to blame. These domestic worries are
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: very trying at such a critical moment as a man.
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: Matter of fact, Henry teases his elder brothers and boasts
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: to them of his superior scholarship. They retaliate naturally enough
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 1: by cuffing the boy, who complains at once to his mother.
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: Since Henry has mastered the rudiments of the alphabet, his
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: conceit has been quite beyond bounds. Of course, I admit
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: it is clever of him. He is a clever boy,
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: there is no doubt about that. But he shouldn't take
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: advantage of it. Ruan Dot again, the regular courier has
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: not arrived. The bag again brought by an Englishman. According
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: to a bulletin, the King is going on well, received
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: a very friendly note from Harold, putting Pevensey Castle at
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: my disposal, should I visit England in the autumn, and
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: suggesting sport in the New Forest. Ruan Dot messenger arrived
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 1: direct from London via New Heaven. He says the king
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 1: died last week and that Harold has proclaimed himself King.
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: Matilda said this would happen from the first. I think
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: there can be no doubt that the news is authentic.
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: The messenger, who is an old servant of mine, is
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: thoroughly to be trusted. He saw the King's body lying
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: in state. This explains why the regular messengers have not arrived.
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: Harold had them stopped at the coast. This in itself
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: is an unfriendly act. Matilda says, I must invade England
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: at once. Think she is right, but wish war could
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 1: be avoided. Have written to the Pope asking for his
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: moral support. Invasion a risky thing. Discuss the matter with
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: General Bertram, who is an excellent strategist. He says he
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: can devise fifty ways of landing troops in England, but
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: not one way of getting them out again. That is
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: just it. Supposing we are cut off, the English army
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: is said to be very good. Indeed ruan dot invasion
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: of it. England settled, must say, have great misgivings on
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: the subject. If we fail, the King of France is
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: certain to attack us here. Matilda, however, won't hear of
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: any other course being taken. Have privately sent a message
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: to Harold, proposing that we should settle the matter in
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: a friendly fashion. I offer him nearly all Wessex, Wales
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: and Scotland and the North. I taking the rest of
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: the Kingdom, including London and Winchester. His situation is by
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: no means entirely enviable. His brothers are certain to fight
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: him in the North, and the King of Norway may
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 1: also give trouble. Ruan Dot received letter from the Pope
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: entirely approving of invasion. Sends me back Banner blessed. Receive
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: the letter from Harold, also very insulting, answers vaguely and
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: commits himself to nothing. Ignores the past. Seems to forget
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 1: I saved him from shipwreck and that he solemnly swore
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: to support my claims. Seems also to forget that I
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: am the lawful heir to the English throne. The crowning
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: insult is that he addressed the letter to Duke William.
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: The Bastard have ordered mobilization to take place at once.
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: The war is popular. Matilda and I were loudly cheered
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: when we drove through the market place this afternoon. War
• 1:56:23
  Speaker 1: will be a good occupation for the boys. Robert wants
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: to stop here as Regent. Do not think this wise.
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 1: Hastings Dot very disagreeable. Crossing took medicine recommended by Matilda
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: nettle leaves and milk and cinnamon, but did no good.
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: Harold apparently defeated his brother in the north. Expect to
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: fight tomorrow. Temper of the troops good, terrain favorable, but
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: cannot help feeling anxious. London Dot everything sadly in need
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: of thorough reorganization. Have resolved to carry out following an
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: issition reforms at once. One everybody to put out their
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 1: lights by eight bell to ring for the purpose. The
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: people here sit up too late drinking most dangerous. Two.
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: Enroll everybody in a book. Make it compulsory for the
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: leeches to attend the poor and dock serfs of a
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 1: part of their wage in order to create a fund
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: for paying the leeches. Think this rather neat shall tolerate
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: no nonsense from the women. Matilda agrees that their complaints
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: are ridiculous. News from Normandy disquieting. Robert seems to be
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: taking too much upon himself. Something must be done. Going
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: next week to New Forest to hunt very fine wild
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: pony hunting there fourteen from the Diary of Mary mor
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: S John Milton Nay Powell, Aldersgate Street, July first, sixteen
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: forty three, that housekeeping not quite such fun as I
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: thought it would be. John is very particular. He cannot
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: eat mutton or any kind of hashed meat. He compares
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: the cooking here unfavorably with that of Italy. He says
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: the boys in the school are very naughty in that
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: during the Latin lesson this morning, one boy called Jones
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: Miner put a pin on his chair just before he
• 1:58:21
  Speaker 1: sat down on it. I couldn't help laughing, and this
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: made John cross. He is thinking of writing a poem
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: about King Arthur Sick and the burnt cakes. July sixth dot.
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: John has begun his poem. He makes it up during meals,
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: which makes him forget to eat and makes the meal
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: very gloomy. He writes it down afterwards. He read me
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: a long piece of it last night, but as it
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: is in Latin, I did not understand very much of it.
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: July seventh dot. John and I quarreled. It was about
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 1: Jones Miner. John announced the news of a reported rebel
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: success during the boy's Greek life and told the boys
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: to give three cheers for the rebel army, which of
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: course they all did, as they would never dare to disobey,
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: except one brave hero. I call him called Jones Miner,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: the son of a tinker. Bless him who called out
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: as loud as he could, long life King Charles, and
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: death to all traitors. John told him to repeat what
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: he had said, and he did, and John cained him.
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: I think this was very wrong on John's part, because,
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: of course the rebels are traders. I took the part
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: of the boy, and this made John angry. Then I said,
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: of course, if all loyalists are so wicked, why did
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: you marry me. My father is loyal, and I am
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: heart and soul for the King and the church. John
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: said that women's politics didn't count, but that the young
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: must be taught discipline, that he was tolerant of all
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 1: sincere opinion, however much he disagreed with it, but that
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: the boy had merely wished to be insolent by flying
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: in the face of public opinion and the will of
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 1: the school, which was the will of the people and
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: therefore the will of God, merely to gain a cheap notoriety.
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 1: I said that probably all the boys felt the same,
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: but didn't dare say so, as they knew that he
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: John was on the other side. John said, there are
• 2:00:18
  Speaker 1: only seven malignants in the school. He said the boys
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: were very angry with Jones Miner and kicked him. I
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: said they were a set of cowards. John said, did
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: I mean he was a coward and quoted Greek? I
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 1: said I didn't understand Greek and didn't want to. That
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: comes from your false education, said John. Your parents deserve
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: the severest blame. I said that if he said anything
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: against my parents, I would leave the house, and that
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: my father knew Latin as well as he did. John
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: said I was exaggerating. I said that I had often
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: heard Papa say that John's Latin verses were poor. John said,
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: when his epoch on King Alfred and the Lady of
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 1: the Lake would be published, we should see who knew
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 1: how to write Latin. I said who? John said I
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 1: was flighty and ignorant. I said, I might be ignorant,
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: but at least I wasn't a rebel. John said I
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 1: was too young to understand these things, and that considering
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: my bringing up, I was right to hold the opinions
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: I did. When I was older, I would see that
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: they were false. Then, I cried July sixth dot. We
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: made up our quarrel John was ashamed of himself and
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: very dear, and said he regretted that he had used
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: such vehement language I forgave him. At once, July ninth, dot,
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: we had some friends to dinner. Before we sat down,
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: John said, we will not mention politics, as we might
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: not all agree, and that would mar the harmony of
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: the symposium. But towards the end of dinner, I drank
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: the King's health, quite unwittingly and from force of habit forgetting.
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: This made John angry and led to a discussion, some
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: of our guests taking the King's part, and others saying
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: that he was quite wrong. The men became very excited,
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: and a young student called Wyat, whom John had invited
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: because he is very musical and cultivated, through a glass
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: of wine in the face of mister Lay the wine merchant,
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 1: who is a violent rebel, and this broke up the party.
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: John said that all malignants were the same, and that
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: they none of them had any manners, that they were
• 2:02:27
  Speaker 1: a set of roistering nose slitting dissolute to Bosha's. When
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: I thought of my dear father and my dear brothers,
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: this made me very angry, But I thought it best
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: to say nothing at the time, as John was already
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: annoyed and excited. July tenth, dot. John says he can't
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: make up his mind whether to write his epic poem
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: in Latin or in Hebrew. I asked him whether he
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 1: couldn't write it in English. He told me not to
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: be irrelevant. The city is very dreary. John disapproved of
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: places of public amusement. He is at the school all day,
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: and in the evening he is busy thinking over his poem.
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: Being married is not such fun as I thought it
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: would be. And John is quite different from what he
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: was when he courted me in the country. Sometimes I
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 1: don't think he notices that I am there at all.
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: I wish I were in the country. July eleventh, dot.
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: John was in good temper today because a scholar came
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: here yesterday who said he wrote Italian very well. He
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: asked me for my advice about his epic poem, which
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: I thought was the best subject for an epic, King
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 1: Arthur and the Cakes, or the story of Adam and Eve.
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 1: This made me feel inclined to laugh very much. Fancy
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: writing a poem on the story of Adam and Eve.
• 2:03:46
  Speaker 1: Everybody knows it, but I didn't laugh out loud so
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: as not to hurt his feelings. And I said Adam
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: and Eve because I felt somehow that he wanted me
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 1: to say that. He was so pleased and said that
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: I had an extraordinarily good judgment when I chose we
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: had some cowslip wine for dinner, which I brought from
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: the country with me. John drank my health in Latin,
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: which was a great favor, as he never says grace
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 1: in Latin because he says it's popish. July fourteenth, dot.
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: John is thinking of not writing an epic poem after all,
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: at least not yet, but a history of the world instead.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: He says it has never been properly written yet. July fifteenth, Dot.
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: John has settled to translating the Bible into Latin verse.
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: I am afraid I annoyed him because when he told
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: me this, I said, I had always heard Papa say
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: that the Bible was written in Latin. He said, I
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 1: oughtn't to talk about things which I didn't understand. July
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, Dot. I am altogether put about. There are
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: two Irish boys in the school. One is called Kelly
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: and comes from the North, and the other is called
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: O'Sullivan and comes from the South. They had a quarrel
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: about politics, and O'Sullivan called Kelly a rebel, a heretic,
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 1: a trader to his country, a renegade, a coward, and
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: a bastard. And Kelly said that O'Sullivan was an idolater
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 1: and a foreigner, and ended up by saying he hoped
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 1: he would go and meet the Pope. Do you mean
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: to insult the pope before me, said O'Sullivan. Yes, said Kelly,
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: to hell with your pope. I could hear and see
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: all this from my window as the boys were talking
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 1: in the yard. Kelly then shouted to hell with the
• 2:05:31
  Speaker 1: Pope as loud as he could, three times, and O'Sullivan
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: turned quite white with rage, but he only laughed and said,
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 1: quite slowly, your father turned trader for money, just like Judas.
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: Then the boys flew at each other and began to fight,
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: and at that moment, John, who was thinking over his
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 1: epic poem in the dining room, rushed out and stopped them.
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: Then he sent for both the boys and asked them
• 2:05:55
  Speaker 1: what it was all about, but they both refused to
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: say a word. Then John said, for the whole school
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 1: and said that unless some boy told him exactly what
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 1: had happened, he would stop all half holidays for a month.
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 1: So Pike, a boy who had been there, told the
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: whole story. John came both O'Sullivan and Kelly for using
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 1: strong language. In the evening, mister Pye came to dinner
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: from Oxford. He teaches the Oxford boy's physic or Greek philosophy.
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: I forget which. But no sooner had we sat down
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 1: to dinner than he began to abuse the rebels. And John,
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 1: who was already cross, said that he did not suppose
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 1: mister Pye meant to defend the king. Mister Pye said
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 1: he had always supposed that that was a duty every
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 1: true born Englishman took for granted, and John became very angry.
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: I never heard anybody use such dreadful language. He said.
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: The King was a double faced, lying monkey, full of
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: popish antics, a wolf disguised as a jackass, a son
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 1: of Belial, a double tongued, double faced, clay footed scarlet,
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 1: a hithaphel. And mister Pye was so shocked that he
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: got up and went away. I said that people who
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: insulted the king were rebels. However, clever they might be,
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: and that it was dreadful to use such language. And
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: when I thought of his beating those two little boys
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: this morning for using not half such strong language, it
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: made me quite mad. John said that I was illogical.
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: I said I wouldn't hear any more bad language, and
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 1: I ran upstairs and locked myself in my room. August first, Oxfordshire, Dot.
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 1: I have come home. I couldn't bear it. John was
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 1: too unjust. Whenever I think of those two Irish boys
• 2:07:39
  Speaker 1: and of John's language at dinner, my blood boils. Went
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: out riding this morning with the boys. Papa says the
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 1: war news is better and that the rebels will soon
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: be brought to heal fifteen from the Diary of Mark
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: Antony Alexandria, undated dot. The reception went off very well.
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 1: The Queen came to meet me by water in her
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 1: state barge. She is different from what I remember her
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: long ago when I caught a glimpse of her in Rome.
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: Then she was rather a colorless young girl who had
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: the reputation of being very well read and rather affected.
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: But now when you look at her face and you
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 1: look away, you see green from the flash, as though
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: you had been staring at the sun. She dazzles and
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: blinds you. I received her in the market place. Her
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: courtesy was a miracle of grace. She was very civil
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 1: and dignified. After I had received her in the market place,
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: I went to her palace. Such is the etiquette. I
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 1: invited her to supper, but she insisted on my being
• 2:08:44
  Speaker 1: her guest. I accepted supper in her palace semi state,
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 1: as the court is in mourning for Arclaus, the King
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: of Cappadocia's eldest son, the Queen's first cousin. The ladies
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 1: in waiting wore gold orn, only one of them charmian pretty.
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 1: The Queen, dropping all formality, was very lively in excellent company.
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: The supper was good, the boar's well roasted and not
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: so stiff as those kind of entertainments are as a rule.
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 1: After supper we had music and some dancing Egyptian bacchanals
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 1: who did a modern thing called ariadme in Naxos. Very
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 1: noisy and not much tune in it, but the dancing good,
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 1: although hardly up to the Scythian standard. Martian who has
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 1: a fine contralto voice. He has been admirably trained sang
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: a piece from a ballet on the Siege of Troy,
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 1: arranged by Eschylus. Very good. I like those old fashioned
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: things much better. They say it's conventional and out of date,
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: but I don't care. The Queen told me in confidence
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: that she quite agreed with me, but that even classical
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: music bored her. So after we had listened to one
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 1: or two odes, she asked Martian to say, sing something light,
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 1: some songs in dialect, which he did very funny, especially
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: the one which begins as I was going to Brindisy
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: upon a summer's day. We made him sing that one twice.
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: The Greeks know how to be witty without even being
• 2:10:16
  Speaker 1: in the least vulgar Alexandria. Three weeks later, Dot time
• 2:10:20
  Speaker 1: has passed very quickly. Everybody is being so kind, and
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 1: the Queen has taken immense pains to make everything a success,
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 1: most amusing improvised banquet in fancy dress. Last night, the
• 2:10:34
  Speaker 1: Queen disguised as a fishwife. She made me dress up too.
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: I put on a Persian private soldier's uniform. After supper,
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: we went into the town in our disguises. Nobody recognized us,
• 2:10:48
  Speaker 1: and we had the greatest fun I threw pieces of
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 1: orange peel on the pavement. It was too comic to
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 1: see the old man trip up over them. Then we
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: went into a tavern on the first floor and eight oysters.
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 1: The Queen heeded some coppers at the fire, and after
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 1: putting them on a plate with a pair of pincers,
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 1: threw them out of the window. It was quite extraordinarily
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: funny to see the beggars pick them up and then
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 1: drop them with a howl. I don't think I ever
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 1: laughed so much. The Queen has a royal sense of humor,
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: and I who thought beforehand she was a blue stocking.
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 1: It shows how mistaken one can be. Alexandria, dat time
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: seems to fly. No news from Rome. Wish the Queen
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 1: would not be quite so ostentatiously lavish. On my account,
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 1: eight wild boars for breakfast is too much. And the
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 1: other night at supper she wasted an immense pearl in
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 1: drinking my health in vinegar. This kind of thing makes
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 1: people talk. She is wonderfully witty. She can mimic exactly
• 2:11:55
  Speaker 1: the noises of a farm yard. Nothing seems to tire
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: her either. She will sit up all night and be
• 2:12:02
  Speaker 1: ready early the next morning to go out fishing, sailing,
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 1: or anything else. She must have a constitution of steel.
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 1: Wonderful woman Alexandria. Later, Dot news from Rome Fulvia is dead.
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: Must go at once Rome. A month later, Dot engaged
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 1: to be married to Octavia, Caesar's sister, a widow, purely
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 1: a political alliance. Cleopatra is sure to understand the necessity
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 1: of this. It is a great comfort to think that
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 1: she is reasonable and has a real grip of the
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 1: political situation Athens. A month later, Dot, political situation grows
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 1: more and more complicated. Octavia is very dutiful and most
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 1: anxious to please. Do not think the climate here agreeable.
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: The wind is very sharp and the nights are bitterly cold.
• 2:12:56
  Speaker 1: Never did care for Athens, think that if I went
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 1: to eat for a few days, I could a benefit
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 1: by change of air be arranged. Matters with the Eastern kings.
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 1: Caesar and Lepidus are trying to do me in the
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: eye Athens. A day later, Dot Octavia has very kindly
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: offered to go to Rome so as to act as
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 1: a go between between myself and Caesar. She says, she
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 1: is quite certain it is all only a misunderstanding and
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 1: that she can arrange matters. Thought it best not to
• 2:13:28
  Speaker 1: mention possibility of Egyptian trip, as I may not go
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: after all. Alexandria dot back here once more. After all,
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: doctors all said change of air was essential and that
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: the climate of Athens was the very worst possible for me.
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 1: Just at this time. They said, I should certainly have
• 2:13:46
  Speaker 1: a nervous breakdown if I stayed on much longer. Besides which,
• 2:13:51
  Speaker 1: it was absolutely necessary for me to be on the
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: spot to settle the Eastern question. It is now fortunately settled.
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: Patra delighted to see me, but most reasonable, quite understood everything.
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 1: She did not say a word about Octavia. Reception in
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 1: Alexandria magnificent, ovation, terrific, shows how right I was to
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 1: come back. Settled to proclaim Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, Lower Syria,
• 2:14:21
  Speaker 1: Cyprus and Lydia. Everybody agrees that this is only fair.
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: Alexandria dot public proclamation in the marketplace. Settled to keep
• 2:14:32
  Speaker 1: media Parthia and Armenia in the family, so divided them
• 2:14:36
  Speaker 1: among the children. Ceremony went off splendidly. Cleopatra appeared as
• 2:14:42
  Speaker 1: the goddess isis. This was much appreciated as It showed
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 1: the people she really is national. The cheering was terrific.
• 2:14:51
  Speaker 1: Staying with us at present are the King of Libya,
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: the King of Cappadocia, the King of Paphlogonia, the King
• 2:14:58
  Speaker 1: of Thrace, the King of Arabia, the King of Pont,
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 1: the King of Jury, the King of Commagena, the King
• 2:15:04
  Speaker 1: of Mead, and the King of Licionia. Question of precedence
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 1: a little awkward, Herod, the King of Jury, claimed precedence
• 2:15:13
  Speaker 1: over all the other kings on the grounds of antiquity
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: in lineage. The King of Mead contested the claim, and
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: the King of Arabia said that he was the oldest
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: in years. There is no doubt about this, as he
• 2:15:25
  Speaker 1: is ninety nine. It was obvious the first place belonged
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 1: to him. Question very neatly settled by Cleopatra that they
• 2:15:34
  Speaker 1: should rank according to the number of years they have reigned.
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: She said this was the immemorial Egyptian custom, established by
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: the Pharaohs, and written out very carefully on a step
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: of the Great Pyramid. Everybody satisfied. King of Arabia takes precedence,
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: but not on account of his age. Herod still a
• 2:15:54
  Speaker 1: little touchy, but had to give in played billiards with
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: Cleopatra gave for twenty one with difficulty. Caesar is certain
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 1: to make war on us. Have written to Octavia explaining
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 1: everything fully. In camp near Actium Dot, nothing doing. One
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 1: wonders whether Caesar means to fight. After all, the mosquitoes
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: are very annoying, impossible to get any milk in camp
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 1: near Actium later Dot Cleopatra has arrived. She is used
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 1: to camp life and does not mind roughing it. Everybody
• 2:16:33
  Speaker 1: advises me to fight on land and not by sea,
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: but Cleopatra and myself think we ought to fight by sea.
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 1: Caesar has taken tourin. We have sixty sail. The thing
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 1: is obvious, but soldiers are always prejudiced. Enobarbus worrying me
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 1: to death to fight on land. Cleopatra won't hear of it,
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 1: and I am quite certain she is right. A woman's
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 1: instinct in matters of strategy and tactics are infallible, and
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: then what a woman Alexandria later Dot, very glad to
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: be home again. Cleopatra was perfectly right to retreat. Played
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: billiards gave Cleopatra twenty five. She beat me. She will
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 1: soon be able to give me something. She is a
• 2:17:21
  Speaker 1: surprising woman. Last night the Greek envoy dined too clever
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 1: for me, but Cleopatra floored him over Anaxagaris, wonderful woman.
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 1: She sang, or rather hummed, in the evening a little
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 1: Greek song, the burden of which is gamma delta minu
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: alpha cap alpha, theta epsilon delto omega. I cannot get
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: the tune out of my head. Sixteen from the Diary
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: of Ivan the Terrible Moscow, September one, fifteen sixty dot.
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 1: I drove to the village of O twenty four versts.
• 2:17:55
  Speaker 1: On one side of the river is the village with
• 2:17:57
  Speaker 1: its church. On the other, a lonely windmill, the landscape
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: flat and brown, the nearer houses and the distant trees
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 1: sharp in the clear autumn air. The windmill is maimed.
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: It has lost one of its wings. It is like
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 1: my soul. My soul is a broken windmill, which is rusty, stiff,
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 1: and maimed. It groans and creaks before the winds of God.
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: But it no longer turns, and no longer cheerfully grumbling
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 1: as of yore. It performs its daily task and grinds
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 1: the useful corn The only spots of color in the
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 1: landscape were the blue cupolas of the church, a blue
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 1: and red shirt hanging up to dry on an apple
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: tree near a wooden hut, and the kerchiefs of the
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 1: women who were washing linen in the river. A soldier
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 1: talked to the women and laughed with them. I would
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 1: that I could laugh like that with men and women.
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 1: I can only laugh alone and bitterly. I had never
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 1: been there before. But when lazily a cock crew and
• 2:18:56
  Speaker 1: a little boy made music on a wooden pipe, and
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 1: a long cart laden with sacks creaked by the driver
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 1: walking by its side, I knew that I had seen
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 1: all this before, not something like unto it, but this
• 2:19:07
  Speaker 1: very thing, that same windmill, that same creaking cart, that
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 1: same little boy, playing that very tune on that very pipe.
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: It was a mournful tune. And it said to my soul,
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: why art thou so dusty and rusty? O my soul,
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: Why art thou sorrowful, crusted with suspicion, uneasy and fearful,
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 1: prompt to wrath and slow to trust inhospitable towards hope,
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 1: and a stranger to gladness. The world is a peep show.
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: And I have satisfied my expectation. I am weary of
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: the sights of the fair, and the mirth of the
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 1: crowd to me is meaningless. The bells and the tambourines,
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 1: and the toy trumpets, the grating of the strings and
• 2:19:49
  Speaker 1: the banging of the drum jar upon me like a
• 2:19:52
  Speaker 1: child who has spent a whole day in frolic, and
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 1: whose little strength is utterly exhausted. I desire to go
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 1: home and to rest rest. Where is there any rest
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 1: for thee ivan ivan, the restless? Everywhere have I sought
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 1: for peace and found it nowhere save in a cell
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: and on my knees before the image September tenth dot.
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: Why was I born to be a king? Why was
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 1: I cast a frail and fearful infant to that herd
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 1: of ravenous wolves, those riotous nobles, that band of greedy,
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 1: brutal and ruthless villains who bled my beloved country and
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: tore my inheritance into shreds. I think I know why
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: I was sent thither. Out of the weakness came forth strength.
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 1: A little boy was sent forth to slay the giant.
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 1: I was sent to deliver the Russian people to break
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: the necks of the nobles, and to cast the tyrants
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 1: from their stronghold. I was sent to take the part
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: of the people, and they will never forget this or
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: me in years to come. Ages after I am dead,
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 1: mothers will sing their children to sleep with songs about
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 1: the great Tsar of Moscow, Ivun, the well beloved, Ivun,
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 1: the People's friend, Ivun, the father of the fatherless, the
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: brother of the needy, the deliverer of the oppressed. But
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 1: the proud and the mighty, the rich and the wicked,
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 1: shall hate me and vilify me and blacken my name.
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: I know you, ye vipers, and all your ways. I
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 1: would that not one of you could escape me. But
• 2:21:18
  Speaker 1: like the hydra, you have a hundred heads that grow
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 1: again as fast as they are cut off. When I
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 1: am gone, O vile and poisonous nobility, you will raise
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 1: your insolent head once more and trample again upon my
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: beloved people. Would that I could utterly aupproud you from
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 1: the holy soil of Russia and cast you to perish
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 1: like weeds into a bottomless pit. October first, dot I
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 1: dreamed last night, a fearful dream. I dreamed that I
• 2:21:45
  Speaker 1: had done an abominable thing, and that I bore stains
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 1: on my hands, that the snows of the mountains and
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: the waves of the sea could not wash out. I
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: dreamed that all mankind shunned me, and that I wandered
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 1: alone across the great plain till I came to the
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 1: end of the world and the gates of heaven. I
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 1: knocked at the gates, but they were shut, and round
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 1: me there was a multitude, and there arose from it
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: a sound of angry voices, crying, he has slain our fathers,
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 1: and our brothers, and our mothers by him. Our houses
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: were burnt, and our homes were laid waste. Let him
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 1: not enter. And I knocked at the gate. And then
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: there came a man with a mark on his brow,
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 1: and he said, this man has killed his son. Let
• 2:22:25
  Speaker 1: him not in. And I knew that man was Cain.
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: And the howling of the voices grew louder, and the
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: cries of hate surging round me deafened me. I knocked
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 1: and prayed, and cried and wept, but the gate remained shut,
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 1: and all at once I was left alone in the
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 1: great plain, deserted even by my enemies. And I shivered
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 1: in the darkness and in the silence. Then along the
• 2:22:49
  Speaker 1: road came a pilgrim, a poor man, begging for alms.
• 2:22:53
  Speaker 1: And when he saw me, he knelt before me. And
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 1: I said, wherefore dost thou kneel to me, who am
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 1: deserted by God in man? And he answered, is not
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: sorrow a holy thing? Thou art the most sorrowful man
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 1: in the whole world, for thou hast killed what was
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 1: dearer to THEE than life. And bitter is thy sorrow,
• 2:23:12
  Speaker 1: and heavy is thy punishment. And the pilgrim kissed my hand,
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 1: and the hot tears that he shed fell upon it.
• 2:23:20
  Speaker 1: And at that moment, far away, I heard a noise
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: as of gates turning on a great hinge, and I
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: knew that the doors of Heaven were open. Then I awoke,
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 1: and I crept up the stairway way to my little
• 2:23:31
  Speaker 1: son's bedroom. He lay sleeping peacefully, and I knelt down
• 2:23:36
  Speaker 1: and thanked Heaven that the dream was but a dream.
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 1: But when the sun rose in the morning, like a
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: wave from out of infinity, apprehension rolled to my soul
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 1: and settled on it. I am afraid, and I know
• 2:23:48
  Speaker 1: not of what I am afraid. February thirteenth, fifteen seventy dot.
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks to God, Novgorod is no more. I have utterly
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: destroyed its city and its people for its countumacee. So
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 1: fare all the enemies of Russia and of Moscow. Seventeen
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: From the private log of Christopher Columbus on board the
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 1: Santa Maria. August third, fourteen ninety two, Friday DOT, at
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 1: five in the morning, made the signal to way, but
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 1: in less than half an hour the wind, shifting to
• 2:24:20
  Speaker 1: the southward and blowing fresh I furled the topsails. The
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: wind came in the afternoon to s by w we weighed,
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 1: but did not get far, the flood tide making against us.
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: August fourth dot, little wind or calm all day send
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: off very fine. But now that we have started, wonder
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: whether I have been wise? After all? Wonder whether we
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 1: shall reach western India and China. August fifth Dot took
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 1: the meridian observation at midday, wined northerly with a great
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 1: swell ships company in good spirits. But the doctor says
• 2:24:55
  Speaker 1: we have started on a wild goose chase. August eighth
• 2:24:59
  Speaker 1: DOT stood close in with the land at noon, the
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 1: latitude by observation was twenty eight degrees eighteen minutes. Stood
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: into a small bay to the southward of Teneriffe, anchored
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: with the stream anchor, and sent the boat for water.
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: Went ashore with the astronomer and the instruments. All the
• 2:25:20
  Speaker 1: liberty men came on board, the worse for liquor, which
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 1: is on the whole fortunate, as we shall have no
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 1: trouble in getting them to continue the voyage. August ninth dot.
• 2:25:31
  Speaker 1: Several of the men confined with colds and complain of
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: pains in their bones, but from the careful attendants given
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 1: them dozes of Skulker's mixture, being administered by the doctor
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 1: all round. Few continued in the sick list. The air
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 1: very warm. September ninth dot, thick fog. At five, the
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 1: officer informed me that we were near an iceberg. I
• 2:25:56
  Speaker 1: ordered the ship to be kept in by w and
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: huled farther in. At noon. I steered north, seeing nothing
• 2:26:02
  Speaker 1: of the ice. Soon after I was told that they
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: saw the ice. I went upon deck and perceived something
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: white upon the bow, and heard a noise like the
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 1: booming of surf. I hauled down the studding sails and
• 2:26:14
  Speaker 1: hailed the Nina and the Pinta. I desired that they
• 2:26:17
  Speaker 1: would keep close to us, the fog being so thick,
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: and have everybody up ready to follow our motions instantaneously,
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 1: determining to stand under such sail as should enable us
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: to keep the ships under command and not risk parting company.
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 1: Soon afterwards we saw something on the bow, which, from
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: the appearance we took to the islands, and thought we
• 2:26:36
  Speaker 1: had not stood far enough out. The ship's company raised
• 2:26:40
  Speaker 1: a cheer. I hauled up immediately to the N n W,
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: and was soon undeceived, finding it to be a moderate
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 1: sized sea serpent, which we could not clear upon that tack.
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 1: We tacked immediately, but the wind and sea both setting
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 1: directly upon it. We neared it very fast, and were
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 1: within a little more than a cable's length of the
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 1: the animal. Whilst in stays the doctor, who has always
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 1: scoffed at the idea of the sea serpent, which he
• 2:27:07
  Speaker 1: said was a traveler's tail, adding sarcastically, and I think
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 1: very inconsiderately, like the Western passage to China, was silent
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 1: all the evening, prefer this to his irritating reiteration of
• 2:27:20
  Speaker 1: that silly and illusion song and if we ever get
• 2:27:23
  Speaker 1: back to Spain, we will never, never, never go to
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: sea again, which he is so fond of indulging in
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 1: sea serpent of the ordinary kind with a white ring
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 1: round its neck and a tufted crest not so large
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 1: as the Icelandic specimens. Expect to reach China in ten
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 1: days time, should the weather be favorable. Officers and ship's
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 1: company in decidedly less good spirits since the foggy weather began.
• 2:27:49
  Speaker 1: Sea serpent incident also caused a good deal of disappointment,
• 2:27:53
  Speaker 1: the men being convinced we had reached the coast of China,
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: although I had repeatedly explained that we could not possibly
• 2:27:59
  Speaker 1: make that land. And for some time yet September tenth
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 1: Dot lost the Nina and the Pinta twice in the
• 2:28:05
  Speaker 1: night from the very thick fog. The situation of the
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 1: men from the very fatiguing work, made most minute precautions necessary.
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 1: Double allowance of Manzanea served round to day September eleventh Dot.
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 1: No land in sight, calm all day, with a great
• 2:28:23
  Speaker 1: swell from the s w and the weather remarkably mild.
• 2:28:27
  Speaker 1: Confess Am disappointed, wonder whether there is such a country
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 1: as China, after all, confess I have no satisfactory evidence
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 1: for thinking so, But I am concealing my anxiety, of course,
• 2:28:40
  Speaker 1: from the officers and the doctor, who grow more and
• 2:28:43
  Speaker 1: more sarcastic every day. He said at dinner yesterday that
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 1: we might come home by the Nile, as we should
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 1: certainly encounter its source in China. Want of taste. It
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 1: is only too plain that both officers and ship's company
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 1: are growing skeptical as to the practical result of our voyage.
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 1: Wish the King and Queen of Spain had been a
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: little less sanguine. We shall indeed look very foolish if
• 2:29:07
  Speaker 1: we come back having accomplished nothing. September twelfth, dot Ship's
• 2:29:12
  Speaker 1: company distressingly sulky. If matters continue like this, it will
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 1: end in a mutiny. Have been obliged to fake the
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 1: observations measuring the ship's way, so that the ship's company
• 2:29:23
  Speaker 1: should remain in ignorance of the distances traversed and think
• 2:29:26
  Speaker 1: that they are much less than they are in reality.
• 2:29:30
  Speaker 1: This faking has been an easy task, since the log
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: being only a mean taken every hour and consequently liable
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 1: to error from the variations in the force of the wind.
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 1: During the intervals from which an arbitrary correction is made
• 2:29:42
  Speaker 1: by the officer of the watch. As this allowance must,
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: from its nature be inaccurate, it is very easy to
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 1: make it more inaccurate. Still. Now, that is to say
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 1: that I have squared Rotorigo, September thirteenth dot, have made
• 2:29:56
  Speaker 1: a startling and disagreeable discovery. There is something wrong or
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 1: odd about the compass. The axis of the needle no
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: longer coincides with the geographical meridian it occupies, but makes
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 1: an angle. This matter must be investigated. September seventeenth dot.
• 2:30:14
  Speaker 1: The ship's company discovered at dawn to day the vagaries
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 1: of the compass. Situation alarming. They at once said we
• 2:30:22
  Speaker 1: must go home. Doctor and surgeon both say that they
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 1: are not surprised. Rotor Rigo has constructed an instrument hanging
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 1: by a universal joint on a triangular stand, adjusted so
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 1: as to hang in a plain perpendicular to the horizon,
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 1: by means of a plumb line, which is suspended on
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 1: a pin above a divided circle. The length of the
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 1: magnetic needle is twelve inches, and its axis is made
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 1: of gold and copper. Rotor Rigo says he can now
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 1: observe the variation most ingenious if true. September eighteenth Dot.
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 1: Everybody expects to see land to day? Why I can't
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: think sailors sometimes have strange superstitions. September twenty fifth Dot.
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 1: We are now four hundred and seventy five leagues from
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 1: the Canaries. No sign of land. I am quite convinced
• 2:31:15
  Speaker 1: personally that there is no chance of our ever reaching
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: land this voyage. I knew from the first the affair
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 1: was hopeless. Feel certain we cannot be near China or India. Unfortunately,
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 1: my conviction, which I have never expressed, is shared by
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 1: the ship's company, who showed signs of positive mutiny. Today,
• 2:31:35
  Speaker 1: con them as best I could with soothing words and
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 1: old Sherry steered s to w September twenty sixth Dot.
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 1: Steered w no sign of anything. Wish we had never
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 1: left Spain. The Alguazil disgracefully drunk again last night and
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 1: rude in his cups. Doctor sarcastic surgeon Sea sick ship's
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 1: company Mutinus have a bad headache. Never did like the sea.
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 1: It never agreed with my liver. October seventh Dot. I
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 1: ordered the allowance of liquor to be altered, serving the
• 2:32:13
  Speaker 1: ship's company one fourth of their allowance in Manzania and
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 1: the other three fourths in Brandy. One half of this
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 1: allowance was served before dinner and the other half in
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: the evening. Result satisfactory altered course W to s W.
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 1: October tenth Dot mutiny. Ship's company refused to go on
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 1: insist on returning to Spain. If I refuse, They threatened
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 1: to kill me. But I fear they will kill me
• 2:32:41
  Speaker 1: if I consent. Otherwise the matter would be simple. Have
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 1: asked for three days respite. Rotorigo saw a piece of
• 2:32:50
  Speaker 1: driftwood and a small bird called a red pole. Thinks
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 1: we are not far from land. Too good to be true.
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 1: October eleventh Dot saw a light on starboard bow, but
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 1: am not quite certain that it wasn't a star. October twelfth,
• 2:33:07
  Speaker 1: Dot Rotorigo saw the land at two in the morning.
• 2:33:10
  Speaker 1: The king promised a reward of ten thousand maravedises to
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 1: whoever saw land first. Clearly, this reward is mine, as
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 1: the light I saw on Thursday night was not a star.
• 2:33:22
  Speaker 1: Explain this to roto Rigo, who lost his temper and
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: said that if he didn't get the reward, he would
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 1: turn Mohammedan. The land is, of course the coast of China.
• 2:33:32
  Speaker 1: I always said it was somewhere about here. Stood in
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 1: to make the land anchored with the best bower in
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 1: eleven fathoms, soft clay hoisted Spanish flag. Took possession of
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 1: the country which seems to be India and not China
• 2:33:48
  Speaker 1: after all, call it West India or Hispaniola. Natives talk
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 1: in a drawling sing song, chew tobacco and gum, and
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 1: drink manzania and vermouth mixed icing the drink. This is
• 2:34:01
  Speaker 1: a very gratifying mixture. It is called a cola de gallo.
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 1: They have a round game of cards with counters called chips,
• 2:34:09
  Speaker 1: in which you pretend to hold better cards than you
• 2:34:12
  Speaker 1: do hold in reality. Played and lost Natives very sharp
• 2:34:18
  Speaker 1: eighteen from the Diary of the Man in the Iron
• 2:34:20
  Speaker 1: Masked Pignerol, August twenty first, sixteen sixty nine. That have
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 1: at last, I think attained my heart's desire, arrived last
• 2:34:29
  Speaker 1: night under the pseudonym of Eustache danger found everything fairly satisfactory.
• 2:34:36
  Speaker 1: That is to say, the King's promises to me with
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 1: regard to the absolute solitude I crave have been carried
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 1: out as far as was possible in the time. The
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 1: prison is not finished, and this accounts for a fact
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: which annoyed me not a little. On my arrival, I
• 2:34:51
  Speaker 1: found that the walls of my room were not of
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 1: the thickness promised, so that should any one be lodged
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 1: next door to me, which heaven forfend he might have,
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 1: I have the bad taste to try and communicate with
• 2:35:02
  Speaker 1: me by knocking on the wall. I wear a black
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 1: velvet mask, and the King solemnly promised me that if
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 1: any officer were to dare to ask me who I was,
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 1: he would be instantly dismissed. August twenty second, sixteen sixty
• 2:35:15
  Speaker 1: nine dot. So far so good. Saint Mars, the governor
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 1: of the prison is certainly doing his best. But last night,
• 2:35:24
  Speaker 1: when he brought me my dinner, he forgot himself and said,
• 2:35:27
  Speaker 1: bon soir, monsieur. If he does this again, he will
• 2:35:31
  Speaker 1: have to be removed. I did not come here to
• 2:35:34
  Speaker 1: be bothered with conversation. August twenty fifth, dot. I am
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 1: enjoying myself immensely the relief of waking up in the
• 2:35:42
  Speaker 1: morning and of gradually becoming conscious that it will not
• 2:35:45
  Speaker 1: be necessary A to dress in court clothes. B to
• 2:35:49
  Speaker 1: go out hunting. C To attend the King's lever or
• 2:35:54
  Speaker 1: still worse, his coucher. D to play cards and lose E.
• 2:36:00
  Speaker 1: To listen to a play performed in a private house.
• 2:36:04
  Speaker 1: F To laugh at Madame s chaff G to make
• 2:36:08
  Speaker 1: love to J H to pretend to enjoy the beauties
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 1: of nature. I to hear and give opinions on moliere
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 1: J to sit through the long long dinner K. To
• 2:36:22
  Speaker 1: talk philosophy with Mademoiselle L. To find fault with my
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 1: servant for giving me the wrong stockings. M. To wait
• 2:36:30
  Speaker 1: for hours in the crown of the eudeberth. N. To
• 2:36:34
  Speaker 1: be taken to the window by the English ambassador and
• 2:36:37
  Speaker 1: asked if I think the Spaniards really mean business? O
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 1: to talk internal politics with Louvois P. To listen to
• 2:36:45
  Speaker 1: Lonotra's account of Lord Carlyle's new garden. Q. To listen
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 1: to Bossuet's sermon on Sunday. R not to annoy the
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 1: de Cheesse de la Valier. S. To have to look
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 1: as if I thought the King in amusing conversational T
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: to say that a ball mask is great fun. You
• 2:37:05
  Speaker 1: to go to the opera at the back of a box. V.
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 1: To pretend I like Dutch pictures. W to dance all
• 2:37:13
  Speaker 1: night in a room like a monkey cage. X. To
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 1: read the gazette, why, to be civil to the German
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 1: ambassadoress Z. To change my clothes three times a day.
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 1: That is my alphabet of negation. It is incomplete. Yet
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 1: to write it and read it over and over again
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 1: fills me with ecstasy. March sixteen seventy dot. A most
• 2:37:39
  Speaker 1: annoying incident happened today. The upper tower at the western
• 2:37:44
  Speaker 1: angle of the castle is occupied by Fouquet and Lawson.
• 2:37:48
  Speaker 1: The King promised me solemnly that neither of them should
• 2:37:51
  Speaker 1: be allowed to hold any communication with me. Today, one
• 2:37:55
  Speaker 1: of Fouque's servants entered my room and spoke to me,
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 1: asking me whether I had anything of importance to communicate.
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: I told him very sharply to go to the devil.
• 2:38:05
  Speaker 1: If this happens again, I shall ask to be moved
• 2:38:07
  Speaker 1: to a quieter prison. It is extraordinary that even in
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 1: a place like this one cannot be free from the
• 2:38:13
  Speaker 1: importunity and the impertinence of human curiosity. April third, sixteen
• 2:38:19
  Speaker 1: seventy dot. As the days go on. I enjoy myself
• 2:38:22
  Speaker 1: more and more. A cargo of books arrived yesterday from Paris,
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 1: sent by the King, but Saint Mars had the good
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 1: sense not to bring them to me. He merely notified
• 2:38:33
  Speaker 1: the fact on a slip of paper, which he left
• 2:38:35
  Speaker 1: on my plate. I scribbled a note to the effect
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: that he could throw them to the bottom of the sea,
• 2:38:41
  Speaker 1: or read them himself, or give them to Fouquet's servant. Books. Indeed,
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 1: it is no longer, thank God, necessary for me to
• 2:38:50
  Speaker 1: read books or to have an opinion on them. November first,
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: sixteen seventy one dot. Lawsen has been sent here. The
• 2:38:59
  Speaker 1: prison is getting far too crowded. It will soon be
• 2:39:03
  Speaker 1: as bad as Versailles. November tenth, dot. Lawson is being
• 2:39:07
  Speaker 1: very tiresome. He taps on my ceiling. I wrote a
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 1: short note to Saint Mars that if this annoyance continued,
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 1: I should be constrained to leave his prison. March third,
• 2:39:19
  Speaker 1: sixteen eighty dot. The situation was intolerable. Lawson and Fouquet
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 1: found some means of communication, and they carried on interminable conversations.
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: What they can have to talk about passes my understanding.
• 2:39:32
  Speaker 1: I bore it patiently for some days. At last I
• 2:39:36
  Speaker 1: complained to Saint Mars in writing. He took some steps,
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 1: and it appears that Fouquet has had an attack of
• 2:39:41
  Speaker 1: apoplexy and died. I cannot endure the neighborhood of Lawson,
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 1: and I have written to the King saying that unless
• 2:39:48
  Speaker 1: I am transferred to a quieter dungeon, I shall leave
• 2:39:51
  Speaker 1: the prison. April eighth, sixteen eighty dot. Matters have been
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 1: arranged satisfactorily, and I have been moved into the lower
• 2:39:58
  Speaker 1: chamber of the tour Denbia. But the whole fortress is
• 2:40:02
  Speaker 1: far too crowded. There are at least five prisoners in it. Also,
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 1: I found the same mouse here left I suppose by
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: a former occupant, had the nuisance removed at once. It
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 1: is delicious to be safely in prison, just now that
• 2:40:18
  Speaker 1: the spring is beginning, and to think that I shall
• 2:40:20
  Speaker 1: not have to spend chilly evenings in wet gardens, and
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 1: to speak foolishly of the damp paper weather. January sixteen
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 1: eighty one Dot caused much annoyance by a tiresome Italian
• 2:40:31
  Speaker 1: fellow prisoner called Madioli, who feigning either madness or illness
• 2:40:35
  Speaker 1: or both, caused a commotion in the prison, necessitating the
• 2:40:39
  Speaker 1: arrival of doctors and priests, kept awake by noise of
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 1: bolts being drawn and the opening and shutting of doors.
• 2:40:47
  Speaker 1: Wrote to the King, complaining of this, which is a
• 2:40:49
  Speaker 1: direct infringement of his promise. Asked to be moved to
• 2:40:53
  Speaker 1: a quieter spot. September two, sixteen eighty one, Dot. Moved
• 2:40:58
  Speaker 1: to the fortress of Exiles, prison said to be empty.
• 2:41:03
  Speaker 1: Hope this will prove true. October tenth, sixteen eighty one, Dat,
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: Saint Mars very nearly spoke to me to day. He
• 2:41:11
  Speaker 1: was evidently bursting with something he longed to communicate. However,
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 1: I made such a gesture that I think he felt
• 2:41:18
  Speaker 1: the frown through my velvet mask and withdrew. January fifth,
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 1: sixteen eighty seven, Dot. After months and indeed years of peace,
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 1: perfect peace with loved ones far away, I have again
• 2:41:30
  Speaker 1: been subjected to intolerable annoyance. Fuque's valet fell ill and
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 1: Saint Mars informed me of the fact. I wrote to
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 1: the King at once, saying that either Saint Mars or
• 2:41:41
  Speaker 1: I must go. April thirtieth, sixteen eighty seven, Dot, King
• 2:41:46
  Speaker 1: has granted my request, arrived at Saint Marguerite, in a
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 1: chair with wheels covered with waxcloth. I think I shall
• 2:41:54
  Speaker 1: be quieter here. I have been promised that no other
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 1: prisoner shall be lodged here at all. But the promises
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 1: of kings are as iridescent and as brittle as Venetian glass.
• 2:42:05
  Speaker 1: January sixteen ninety dot alas alas for the vanity of
• 2:42:11
  Speaker 1: human wishes. Here I was perfectly contented, and as I thought,
• 2:42:16
  Speaker 1: quiet at last, day followed day of perfect enjoyment, unmarred
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: by conversation, undisturbed by study, unvexed by the elements. When
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 1: the peace of my solitude is rudely shattered by the
• 2:42:28
  Speaker 1: arrival of two Protestant ministers. It is true I am
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 1: never to see them, but the mere fact of knowing
• 2:42:34
  Speaker 1: that there are two Protestant ministers in the same building
• 2:42:37
  Speaker 1: is enough to poison life. June first, sixteen ninety eight
• 2:42:42
  Speaker 1: more Protestant ministers have arrived, worse than the last. They
• 2:42:46
  Speaker 1: sing hymns. I have written to the King asking him
• 2:42:50
  Speaker 1: to transfer me to the Bastille at once. I always
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: said that the Bastille was the only tolerable dwelling place
• 2:42:57
  Speaker 1: in France. September thirteenth, sixteen ninety eight. Dot arrived at
• 2:43:02
  Speaker 1: the Bastille this afternoon, lodged on the third floor of
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 1: the Burtandier Tower, the thickest tower, really quiet. September nineteenth, Dot.
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 1: A man hammered over my head at four o'clock this morning.
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 1: It is intolerable. Shall I ever find a place where
• 2:43:20
  Speaker 1: I can sleep from four to eight a m. Without
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 1: being disturbed? As it is, I might just as well
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 1: be living in a fashionable inn nineteen From the diary
• 2:43:30
  Speaker 1: of an English governess residing in Paris during the French Revolution, Paris,
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 1: October seventh, seventeen eighty nine. That I arrived this afternoon,
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 1: after a rapid and satisfactory journey to my amazement, found
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 1: that neither the count or the Countess were here to
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 1: receive me. The hotel was deserted, save for the presence
• 2:43:48
  Speaker 1: of an old servant and his wife, who appears to
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 1: be the cook of the household. And to combine with
• 2:43:54
  Speaker 1: this office the duties of hall porter. As I have
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 1: no command over even the elementary rudiment of the French language,
• 2:44:01
  Speaker 1: and as the French never troubled to learn any language,
• 2:44:04
  Speaker 1: but their own communication is a sorely difficult task and
• 2:44:07
  Speaker 1: results in perpetual misunderstanding. Nevertheless, I succeeded in apprehending from
• 2:44:13
  Speaker 1: the voluble expostulations and the superfluous gesticulation of the old servant,
• 2:44:17
  Speaker 1: whose name appears to be Pierre, but whom I have
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 1: decided to call Peter, that the family had left Paris,
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 1: that they had departed but recently and in haste. My
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 1: senses were able to inform me. All over the house
• 2:44:30
  Speaker 1: were traces of disorder. Some but half packed boxes had
• 2:44:34
  Speaker 1: been left behind, cupboards were open, clothes were strewn on
• 2:44:38
  Speaker 1: the floor, and everywhere traces of precipitate packing in sudden
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 1: departure were manifest. I made as if I would depart also,
• 2:44:46
  Speaker 1: but Peter made it plain by signs that I was
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: expected to remain, And indeed he conducted me to my room,
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 1: which is airy and commodious enough, and where after partaking
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 1: of a light supper insufficient and badly cooked as all
• 2:44:58
  Speaker 1: French meals, and a companied by the sour wine of
• 2:45:01
  Speaker 1: the country, I fell into a comfortable slumber. October tenth,
• 2:45:07
  Speaker 1: seventeen eighty nine. I have now been here three days,
• 2:45:10
  Speaker 1: and as yet I have received neither message, nor token,
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 1: nor signed from the departed family. Nor can I ascertain
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 1: from Peter or his wife the obtuse menials, who are
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 1: the sole occupants of this, in some respects elegant mansion,
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 1: whether they have gone, whether they are loitering in their
• 2:45:26
  Speaker 1: country seat, or whether they have started on a longer peregrination.
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: Paris is very full. The streets are ill kept and
• 2:45:35
  Speaker 1: ill lit, a strange contrast to the blaze at night
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 1: and tidiness by day of the London streets. It is
• 2:45:43
  Speaker 1: a dingy city, and I think it must certainly be insanitary.
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 1: The French understand no word of English, and if indeed
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 1: one ventures to address them, all they reply is roast
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 1: beef plum pudding, a form of address which they consider facetious.
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 1: The house is spacious, although inconveniently distant from the center
• 2:46:02
  Speaker 1: of the city, but it has the advantage of an
• 2:46:05
  Speaker 1: extensive garden surrounded by high walls. As for myself, I
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 1: am well cared for by Peter and his wife. She
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 1: talks at me with great volubility, but I cannot understand
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 1: a word of what she says. French is an unmusical language,
• 2:46:20
  Speaker 1: very sharp and nasal, but not ill suited to a
• 2:46:23
  Speaker 1: backward people. July fourteenth, seventeen ninety Dot went for a
• 2:46:28
  Speaker 1: long walk in the city, the streets quiet and deserted.
• 2:46:33
  Speaker 1: Peter and his wife went out for the day. She
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: is very handy with her needle. I find altogether that
• 2:46:40
  Speaker 1: the French are quite amenable to reason, if well treated.
• 2:46:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, one cannot expect them to work like English people,
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 1: but they are willing and do their best. It is
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 1: unfortunate they do not speak English. Received last quarter's salary
• 2:46:56
  Speaker 1: through the usual channel. No further views. March fourth, seventeen
• 2:47:01
  Speaker 1: ninety two, Dot went out in the evening with Peter
• 2:47:04
  Speaker 1: and his wife. They took me to the opera house,
• 2:47:07
  Speaker 1: having apparently received tickets from a friend connected with theatrical affairs.
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 1: Castor and Pollax was the name of the opera. The
• 2:47:16
  Speaker 1: scenery was gorgeous and the ballets very skillfully performed. The
• 2:47:21
  Speaker 1: opera was given in French, so that I could not
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 1: follow the words weather, gray and dark. Boulevards as usual
• 2:47:28
  Speaker 1: ill lit, but crowded with people coming from the coffee houses,
• 2:47:32
  Speaker 1: the theaters, and the out of door dining houses, all
• 2:47:35
  Speaker 1: singing at the top of their voices. Returned home. Between
• 2:47:39
  Speaker 1: nine and ten March sixth, seventeen ninety two, Dot again
• 2:47:44
  Speaker 1: to the opera house to hear the Alcestis of Gluk
• 2:47:47
  Speaker 1: and to see the celebrated Vestreus dance in a ballet
• 2:47:49
  Speaker 1: called Psyche Scenery as usual gorgeous, singing, nasal and most unpleasing.
• 2:47:56
  Speaker 1: August thirteenth, seventeen ninety two, Dot nothing worthy recording. Spend
• 2:48:01
  Speaker 1: most of the days in the garden, weather hot, French
• 2:48:06
  Speaker 1: people vulgar and loud in their holiday making partial also
• 2:48:10
  Speaker 1: to fireworks, explosives, firing of guns, et cetera. I now
• 2:48:15
  Speaker 1: make a point of staying at home on feast days
• 2:48:18
  Speaker 1: and holidays, of which there are far too many. Sunday,
• 2:48:22
  Speaker 1: September two, seventeen ninety two, Dot read the morning service
• 2:48:26
  Speaker 1: in the garden, sultry. January twenty first, seventeen ninety three, Dot.
• 2:48:32
  Speaker 1: Shops shut this morning, although it is Monday. No salary
• 2:48:38
  Speaker 1: received for the last two quarters. November tenth, seventeen ninety three,
• 2:48:43
  Speaker 1: Dot Sunday started out to walk along the river in
• 2:48:47
  Speaker 1: spite of the damp weather, streets very muddy. A great
• 2:48:52
  Speaker 1: crowd of people near the cathedral caught in the crowd,
• 2:48:55
  Speaker 1: and obliged to follow with the stream borne by the
• 2:48:59
  Speaker 1: force of the crowd right into the church. Deeply shocked
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 1: and disgusted at the display of Romish superstition, a live
• 2:49:07
  Speaker 1: woman resembling a play actress thrown near the altar, representing
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 1: no doubt the Virgin Mary, most reprehensible, was obliged to
• 2:49:16
  Speaker 1: assist at the mummery until the crowd departed. Think I
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 1: have taken cold November eleventh, seventeen ninety three, dot, have
• 2:49:25
  Speaker 1: indeed taken cold in consequence of yesterday's outing, remained indoors
• 2:49:29
  Speaker 1: all day. Peter and his wife, most obliging, They made
• 2:49:34
  Speaker 1: me some hot negus flavored with black currant, not unpalatable
• 2:49:39
  Speaker 1: November twelfth, seventeen ninety three, dot cold worse, suffering from
• 2:49:44
  Speaker 1: ague in the bones as well, shall not get up tomorrow.
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 1: Peter's wife spent much time in talking and screaming at me.
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 1: Gathered from her rapid and unintelligible jargon that she wished
• 2:49:57
  Speaker 1: me to see a doctor. Shook my head vehement shall
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 1: certainly not put myself in the hands of a French doctor.
• 2:50:05
  Speaker 1: One never knows what foreigners may prescribe. January first, seventeen
• 2:50:10
  Speaker 1: ninety four, Dot came downstairs for the first time since
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 1: I have been laid up. Made many good resolutions for
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 1: the new year, among others, to keep my journal more diligently.
• 2:50:22
  Speaker 1: May thirtieth, seventeen ninety four, Dot walked in the garden
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 1: for the first time since my relapse. Peter's wife has
• 2:50:30
  Speaker 1: nursed me with much care and tenderness. Still very weak.
• 2:50:35
  Speaker 1: July thirtieth, seventeen ninety four, Dot, first walk in the
• 2:50:40
  Speaker 1: city since my long illness. Feel really better. Bought a
• 2:50:45
  Speaker 1: lace kerchief. October first, seventeen ninety four Dot. The family,
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 1: that is to say, the Countess and her two daughters
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 1: arrived unexpectedly in the night. Countess simple and kindly, can
• 2:50:58
  Speaker 1: scarcely speak any incas English. Begin lessons tomorrow October second,
• 2:51:04
  Speaker 1: seventeen ninety four. Dot. The eldest girl, Amelia, aged seven,
• 2:51:10
  Speaker 1: speaks English, but has been shamefully ill taught during her
• 2:51:13
  Speaker 1: stay in England, for it appears the family have been
• 2:51:15
  Speaker 1: in England. She is sadly backward in spelling, but she
• 2:51:19
  Speaker 1: has a fair accent and is evidently an intelligent child. Unfortunately,
• 2:51:25
  Speaker 1: she has picked up many unseemly expressions. The Countess suggested
• 2:51:29
  Speaker 1: my learning French, but I respectfully declined. Reading Pope's essay
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 1: on Man in the evenings, it is improving as well
• 2:51:38
  Speaker 1: as elegant xcex from the diary of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
• 2:51:43
  Speaker 1: during his stay at England, whither he was sent to
• 2:51:45
  Speaker 1: study at the University at Oxford under the special care
• 2:51:48
  Speaker 1: of Polonious Balliol College. Mondated read aloud my essay on
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 1: equality to the master. It began treat all men as
• 2:51:57
  Speaker 1: your equals, especially the rich. The Master commented on this sentence,
• 2:52:03
  Speaker 1: he said, very ribbled, Prince Hamlet, very ribbled. In training
• 2:52:08
  Speaker 1: for the annual fencing match between the Universities of Oxford
• 2:52:11
  Speaker 1: and Cambridge, doing my utmost to reduce my flesh, which
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 1: is far too solid. Tuesday, Dot went to Abingdon for
• 2:52:19
  Speaker 1: the day. When I came back, I found that havoc
• 2:52:23
  Speaker 1: had been made of my rooms, both the virginals broken
• 2:52:25
  Speaker 1: to pieces, all the furniture destroyed, and all my pictures,
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 1: including a signed portrait of Ophelia. Have my suspicions as
• 2:52:33
  Speaker 1: to who has done this, shall first make certain and
• 2:52:37
  Speaker 1: then retaliate terribly. In the meantime, it will be politic
• 2:52:41
  Speaker 1: to conceal my annoyance. Friday Dot. Dined last night with
• 2:52:46
  Speaker 1: a society of undergraduates who meet together in a barn
• 2:52:49
  Speaker 1: to discuss falconry and French verse Rhenish wine, served in
• 2:52:53
  Speaker 1: great quantities feigned drunkenness in order to discover who was
• 2:52:57
  Speaker 1: guilty of taking liberties with my furniture. As I suspected
• 2:53:02
  Speaker 1: Rosencrins and Guildenstern were the culprits, they, as good as
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 1: admitted it in their cups, intend to be revenged some day,
• 2:53:10
  Speaker 1: and that royally Saturday DOT. When we returned home from
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 1: the barn last night, it was of course necessary for
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 1: me to keep up the false semblance of intoxication with
• 2:53:19
  Speaker 1: which I had started the evening. This I did by
• 2:53:23
  Speaker 1: improvising and singing quaint, rhymeless couplets as we strutted across
• 2:53:26
  Speaker 1: the quadrangle of the college. It so chanced that we
• 2:53:30
  Speaker 1: encountered the dean, who addressed me. I answered, keeping up
• 2:53:34
  Speaker 1: the part buzz buzz Monday Dot. A college meeting was
• 2:53:41
  Speaker 1: held this morning, and I was summoned to appear on
• 2:53:43
  Speaker 1: the charges a of having been intoxicated, b of having
• 2:53:48
  Speaker 1: insulted the Dean c of having persuaded and finally compelled
• 2:53:53
  Speaker 1: the younger members of the college to drink more than
• 2:53:55
  Speaker 1: was good for them, to which I replied A that,
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 1: seeing them that I was in strict training, it was
• 2:54:01
  Speaker 1: obvious that the charge of intoxication was unfounded. B that
• 2:54:05
  Speaker 1: so far from insulting the Dean, I had addressed him
• 2:54:08
  Speaker 1: in Danish, and that familiar as I knew him to
• 2:54:10
  Speaker 1: be with all the languages of Europe and especially the
• 2:54:13
  Speaker 1: Scandinavian tongues, he had probably not realized to the full
• 2:54:17
  Speaker 1: the exact shade of deference, respect and awe which the
• 2:54:21
  Speaker 1: expression I used implied. See that, as far as the
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 1: charge of corrupting the young was concerned, I was not
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 1: ashamed to stand in the same dock with Socrates, and
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 1: I would cheerfully if the college authorities and my royal
• 2:54:33
  Speaker 1: parents thought fit share the doom of my august master. Finally,
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 1: I reminded the noble and learned assembly that were I
• 2:54:41
  Speaker 1: to be expelled, even temporarily from the College, I should
• 2:54:45
  Speaker 1: be unable a to represent the alma mater with the
• 2:54:48
  Speaker 1: rapier against the University of Cambridge, who had a powerful
• 2:54:51
  Speaker 1: champion of the noble art in Laertes, a fellow countryman
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 1: of mine, and b I should not be able to
• 2:54:58
  Speaker 1: row in the college boat. I concluded by saying that
• 2:55:01
  Speaker 1: certain as I was, that my royal parents would endorse
• 2:55:04
  Speaker 1: any decision which should be arrived at by the Master
• 2:55:06
  Speaker 1: and his colleagues. I was convinced that were I to
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 1: be sent down from the College, my royal father, in
• 2:55:12
  Speaker 1: order that my studies might not be interrupted, would immediately
• 2:55:16
  Speaker 1: send me to Cambridge. The net result of all this
• 2:55:19
  Speaker 1: is that I am admonished. Later in the day I
• 2:55:22
  Speaker 1: received a note from the Dean asking me to dine
• 2:55:25
  Speaker 1: with him next Thursday. Sunday, Dot breakfasted with the Master
• 2:55:30
  Speaker 1: to meet the Poet Laureate, the Archbishop of York, the
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 1: Lord Chancellor, the French ambassador, and Quatro Valley, a celebrated
• 2:55:38
  Speaker 1: Italian juggler. The Poet Laureate read out an owede he
• 2:55:41
  Speaker 1: had just composed on the King's sixth marriage. Very poor Monday,
• 2:55:47
  Speaker 1: Dot took part in the debate held by the College
• 2:55:49
  Speaker 1: Debating Society, the subject being whether Homer's epics were written
• 2:55:54
  Speaker 1: by Homer or by a committee of Athenian dons. Took
• 2:55:58
  Speaker 1: what seemed to the audience a parent paradoxical view that
• 2:56:01
  Speaker 1: they were written by Homer. Tuesday Dot gave a small
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 1: dinner party in my rooms. Horatio and a few others,
• 2:56:10
  Speaker 1: again compelled to feign intoxication so as not to mar
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 1: the harmony of the evening, burnt a small organ and
• 2:56:17
  Speaker 1: rather a complicated printing press belonging to a German undergraduate
• 2:56:21
  Speaker 1: named Faustus. In the quadrangle. Wednesday Dot. The Master, commenting
• 2:56:26
  Speaker 1: on last night's bonfire, said he thought it was not
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 1: humorous and find us heavily have as yet found no
• 2:56:33
  Speaker 1: opportunity of revenging myself on Rosencrints and Guildenstern. Thursday Dot
• 2:56:39
  Speaker 1: coached by Polonius for two hours in Scottish history, very tedious.
• 2:56:45
  Speaker 1: In the afternoon, went on the river in my boat
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 1: the Ophelia. Faustus has been sent down for trying to
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: raise the devil in the precincts of the college. It
• 2:56:55
  Speaker 1: appears this is strictly against the rules. His excuse was
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 1: that he had always understood that the college authorities disbelieved
• 2:57:02
  Speaker 1: in a personal devil, to which the dean replied, we
• 2:57:06
  Speaker 1: are all bound to believe in the devil in a
• 2:57:08
  Speaker 1: spiritual sense, mister Faustus, and Faustus imprudently asked in what
• 2:57:13
  Speaker 1: other sense you could believe in him? Friday Dot must
• 2:57:18
  Speaker 1: really settle this business of Rosencrints and Guildenstern soon. It
• 2:57:23
  Speaker 1: is beginning to prey upon my mind. They are quite insufferable,
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 1: have lost one stone since the term began, which is satisfactory.
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 1: Fencing match is to take place next week here, Saturday Dot.
• 2:57:38
  Speaker 1: The man who has the room's opposite mind is a Spaniard,
• 2:57:42
  Speaker 1: a nobleman, very cultivated and amiable. His name is Quixote.
• 2:57:47
  Speaker 1: Consulted him last night as to what to do about
• 2:57:50
  Speaker 1: Rosencrins and Guildenstern. Quixote said, it was entirely a point
• 2:57:54
  Speaker 1: of honor that if I were certain they were guilty,
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 1: and certain likewise that they have purposely insulted me, I
• 2:58:01
  Speaker 1: should challenge them each separately to personal combat with sword
• 2:58:06
  Speaker 1: and rapier. I pointed out, however, that whereas I was
• 2:58:10
  Speaker 1: a champion swordsman, and indeed had been chosen to represent
• 2:58:13
  Speaker 1: the university, they had no skill at all. Moreover, I
• 2:58:18
  Speaker 1: considered that to challenge them to fight would be doing
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 1: them too much honor. Quixote said, I must indubitably take
• 2:58:25
  Speaker 1: action of some kind, or else I would incur the
• 2:58:27
  Speaker 1: suspicion of cowardice. At that moment we were talking by
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 1: the open casement. I saw in the darkness walking stealthily
• 2:58:35
  Speaker 1: along the wall a man whom I took to be Guildenstern.
• 2:58:39
  Speaker 1: Seizing a bottle of white wine from sherries with which
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 1: Quixote had entertained me, I flung it out of the
• 2:58:44
  Speaker 1: window on to the head of the skulker, But alas
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 1: it was not Guildenstern, but the dean himself. Mondaeda again
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 1: appeared before a college meeting, accused of having wantonly wounded
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 1: and almost murdered. The Dean protested my innocence in vain.
• 2:59:03
  Speaker 1: It was further suggested I was intoxicated, lost my temper,
• 2:59:07
  Speaker 1: which was a mistake, and called the dena villain, losing
• 2:59:10
  Speaker 1: control over my epithets. Sent down for the rest of
• 2:59:14
  Speaker 1: the term. Polonius is very angry. He has written to
• 2:59:19
  Speaker 1: my father suggesting that I should not go back to
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 1: Oxford nor seek to enter Cambridge either, but go to
• 2:59:24
  Speaker 1: Wittenberg instead. Owing to my abrupt departure. The fencing match
• 2:59:29
  Speaker 1: with Laertes will not come oft no matter. A day
• 2:59:33
  Speaker 1: will come when maybe I shall be revenged on Rosencrint's
• 2:59:36
  Speaker 1: and Guildenstern. We go to London to day the end.
• 2:59:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening this audio book