Thursday June 30.
Met Billy Trehern in my dressing gown. Had a fright & a run in consequence!—
Wrote to Mrs. Boyd & sent the letter. Wrote to Annie & did not send the letter. I shall send it tomorrow. I told Mrs. B. to tell Mr. Boyd of Papa’s message; but it will not affect him. Oh no!--
No letters today. What can be the reason? Bummy says she looks on the bright side. I look for it, but cannot do more. What miserable suspence we have suffered on this subject,—& no out-let from it, even now! My lord & My God! Unto Thee do I commit my earthly as my eternal happiness!—
Mrs. Martin called here just before dinner. I should think from her manner that her mind had a great deal of repose about it— I do not mean insensibility—not a smooth sea, not a rough sea, but an undulating sea. I wish I resembled her.
But some circumstances & some people make my mind & feelings foam all over. Can I throw chains upon them, as Xerxes did upon the ocean.[1] Yes! as Xerxes did—ineffectually!---
Bro & Sam are engaged in the Colwall green cricket match this evening; & the minor boys are to accompany them. Good fun to them!— Now I must go & read Pindar.
As Bummy A & I were sitting on the pillar, up the road came an Irishwoman in distress. Her daughter was lying at the gate apparently dying.
We went down (I on the poney) to investigate the case. The poor girl very ill—allowed to sleep in the schoolroom. Much controversy pro & con imposture. No imposture, in my opinion.
I cantered up the road & up the hill, without holding the pummel. The poney carried me swiftly; but more swiftly did my memory carry me back to the far days when I used to ride, with the halo of happy reveries about my mind & heart. I enjoyed this riding today, in spite of everything. Tired. Bro & Sam did not return until I was in bed.
1. Herodotus, in Bk. VII, 34–35 of The Histories, described the destruction of Xerxes’ bridge across the Hellespont, during his invasion of Greece in 480 B.C.: “no sooner had the strait been bridged than a great storm swept down and brake and scattered all that work. When Xerxes heard of that, he was very angry, and gave command that the Hellespont be scourged with three hundred lashes, and a pair of fetters be thrown into the sea” (LCL-HE, III, 346–349).
