Tuesday, 5 January 1858

Rose at 5½. Greek till 8. Worked irregularly ― & suddenly came to awful grief

X₁ X₂ X₃[1]

At 5 went to Lady Reid, Mrs. Gage, & Miss Eisenbach; ― dined alone, & to bed early.

 

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[1] Lear marked his epileptic seizures with Xs, sometimes, as here, indicating how many he had in a month by a number. He was not consistent, however; in some cases he did not number the marks or only numbered the days on which he had an attack, even when more than one X appeared.

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[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3. Image.]

Monday, 4 January 1858

Cold as ever ― & snowlike ― with clouds. Greek from 6 to 8 as usual. But I begin the day wearily & sadly. Lushington is 35 years old today. || Somehow I did nothing all this day. Wrote Greek: fidgetted for letters ― had bookshelves put up: ― prepared to paint. At 2½ Lushington called ― but anything sadder or more unsatisfactory than his visit could not be. As for me, I went out at 3, & saw the downfall of the Bastion, & up by the olives to Ascension.[1] The sea was all deep dark green, white flecked: the hills very purple & gold. ― On, to one gun battery:[2] & back to home by 5½. To Sir J. Reid at 6: ― no one there. Very pleasant.

Edward Lear, Corfu from the Village of Ascension, 1862

A letter from Clowes was here when I returned at 6: ― wrote to him. Wind began today ― the first since I am here this winter. East tonight.

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[1] Análipsis.

[2] Kanóni.

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[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3. Image.]