Thursday. July 28th.

Finished the third book of Marcus Antoninus. I am getting on. Found in the first part of it, the picturesque passage which Sir Uvedale Price in his Dialogue made Mr. Payne Knight quote;[1] & which he probably did quote, either in writing or conversation. Weak & unwell all day; at least feeling actually weak, and as if I could be unwell—a common feeling with me, & not an agreable one. A letter from Annie to me; written in her usual manner, both as to kindness & levity. She has quick perceptions; and it is to be lamented that she has … associated so much more with one of her parents than with the other. But I am glad very glad to hear from her; to know or to guess that I am forgiven. Bummy had a letter from Papa!! Arabel says it was a letter from him. She went into her own room afterwards, & without mentioning having received it, to one person! Something bad!!—

I was relieved by her consenting to call at Colwall with Henrietta. They will bring the carriage back: and then I am, volens or not, to take a drive. My very heart is shaken. I have no heart for driving—but I will go, as they wish it. Ann & I were covering some of my dumb Greeks with cartridge paper. How well they look—and how unwell I am!—

Henrietta Arabel & I drove out—up the rough road to Brand Lodge,[2] round the rough road to the Whyche,—home. Tired—& the stars!!—[3] Met Minny coming out of Bummy’s room. There must be “some thing bad”.

Before Arabel came to bed, I was reverie-ing about Papa coming home immediately, & our going away almost as soon. But after Arabel came to bed, she turned my reverie from black to brown, by telling me that Bummy had mentioned to herself & Henrietta, having received the letter; & had assured them that it related in no way to our business, & was silent as to Papa’s return. So I went to sleep quietly, & dreamt of a unicorn.

1. The passage (commencing: “Id quoque observandum est”) occurs in Section II of Bk. III. Sir Uvedale Price (1747–1829) drew from it in A Dialogue on the Distinct Characters of the Picturesque and the Beautiful (Hereford, 1801), pp. 191–192. Mr. Hamilton (not Mr. Knight, as stated by E.B.B.) said: “you will be surprized to hear what a powerful ally I have met with, … no less a one than Marcus Verus Aurelius Antoninus, Emperor and Philosopher! The passage is in his third book: he there describes such a loaf as this, with a comment not very unlike your’s, and afterwards mentions several other objects, which, together with the circumstances attending them, we should call picturesque; such as the bursting of figs when over-ripe; the appearance of olives when just approaching to decay; the heads of corn bent downwards; the over-hanging brows of a lion; the foam of a wild boar; all of which, he observes (together with many other things of the same kind), though far from beautiful to the eye, yet, if considered distinctly, and as they follow the course of nature, have an ornamental and alluring effect.”

2. The principal route from Hope End to the Wyche was via Colwall Green. A more circuitous drive could be taken by way of the Chances Pitch turnpike, and thence to the road running along the western slope of the hills; this road joined the main road just below the Wyche. Brand Lodge was about ¾ mile from the junction of the turnpike and this secondary road.

3. We believe this to be a slip of the pen. E.B.B. did not often drive after dark, and as her room was at the top of the house, “stairs” seems a more probable word to associate with her tiredness.


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