Thursday 31st July 1834

Dearest up at four, but rain having continued all night relinquished intention of going in open carriage & set out about 3 oclock in our own – country very pretty, 3 postes to Les Echelles, derived its name from a torrent having anciently mad worn a hole thro’ the rock, which was the only road from Chambery, till Charles Emanuel made another, or improved the old one in 1670 – this road being dangerous being liable to pieces of rock & rubbish falling, in winter & during strong rains – Buonaparte issued an order to all Engineers to produce plans for its improvement, after mature deliberation it was thought best to make another by piercing the rock higher up, & the present road, was begun, stopped & resumed by the french, & finally completed by [gap] King of Sardinia – At 6 oclock in morning Partner from Monsieur Barin – Gardiner [gardener], came with plants for herbary for us to look at, declined taking them, but we ordered one to contain all the Plants of the Alps, on white paper, for 1000 francs, dearest offered to advance person money if he required it, he declined, but about 2 o’clock just before we set off came again to ask for 200 francs. of course dearest advanced it, but we thought it very odd, that he did not take it when she first offered it, & upon telling him so & talking to him he seemed very much ashamed of himself & would have left the money if dearest would have allowed him – At Les Echelles at 6 oclock – dinner at 7. went to bed early –

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale WYC:1525/7/1/5/1/21

[up at] 9 1/4

[to bed at] 10 35/..

good kiss vide last night It rained all the night and this morning till after 9 or till 10 – no going to the grande Chartreuse – sent George to the Poste at 6 to say so – one of the firm of gardeners Monsieur Burnier brought me some dried plants to look at, and left them – looked them over and got into bed again at 7 to warm myself – Miss Walker came to me at eight and ten minutes had shewed me her bosom and on my asking her took off her night things and stood naked so then got into bed and we had a kiss – breakfast at 10 or beginning when Monsieur Burnier came for the plantes seches – would not take those but he staid about an hour, and ended by giving him an order for a complete collection of Alpine plants to be sewed on white paper and bound and classed and ticketed in orders families and species according to the system of Linnaeus at 200/. per thousand to be 5000 or thereabouts – none but alpine plants – to have no plantes de serre – to be ready about this time next year – gave him my address at Shibden – but if I left home in the mean would write to him what to do – would not have transport to pay – not on account of the cost, but la peine et les désagrémen[t]s and les risques with the douaniers etc. Monsieur Burdin will probably be in England about this time 12 month if so to bring the herbarium with him – or I may pick it up myself – the collection to be très soignée and complète des alpes – then breakfast – finished dressing – wrote all but the 3 first lines of this page etc. till 1 3/4 – then just going out (Adney rather sickish) when Monsieur Frédéric Burnier came again, awkwardly excusing himself for wanting an advance of 200 francs on the herbarium – if I should die he would have been at all the expense of courses to the mountains and binding the volumes and have the thing on his hands – he saw my astonishment hoped I was not blessée – no! said I but astonished at his coming now when he said nothing about it in the morning – he said I had mentioned I would rather advance money than have the collection manquée in anything – yes! said I, and as you did not ask for an advance then it is the more surprising you should come now – he blundered out something about their thinking it very odd I offer to be at so great expense for a servants son that in fact I think they talked him into being afraid I was not to be trusted – he however tried his utmost to fight off this, and seemed sorry for himself and his errand – it ended in my paying him 200 francs and his giving me a receipt for the money after his having staid talking and explaining and excusing himself about an hour – this delayed us – not off until 3 5/.. (from Chambery) – at 3 50/.. at the very pretty cascade de Choux /Couz/, in 2 streams one considerably greater than the other – went almost up to it thro’ a close almost grown up brush-wood path – the spray like a shower – beautiful road all along the bottom of the wooded rock-ravine – the little river Yere /Hyère/ tumbling over its precipitous bed, seldom seen – much prettier road than to Aix – At 4 8/.. La poste (single house) and change horses, of Saint Thiebault de Coux /Couz/, the neat picturesque little village and nice new church a little beyond – the postillion wanted 1/50 for 4 horses instead of that for the 3 we had and 1/. for the other – the maitre de poste they could compel me to pay it, but as I had not paid it elsewhere, they wished to encourage travellers and he would not demand it – so I got off – the fact is, it is conventional, and I ought always to make the agreement – fine, green-striped (with brush wood – much beech amongst it) white calcareous rock-ravine – At 5 35/.. sent the 3rd horse back – all the rest of the way descent so came down with 2 horses – at 5 52/.. at La Grotte, and the fine tunnel thro’ the rock – close by on the left, is the old road – it would have taken us 20 minutes to walk down it and return to the carriage; and, the clouds being very black, and drop or 2 of rain having already fallen, we durst not venture – well we did not heavyish rain came on before we could have been back – the valley hid in mist – alighted at Les Echelles at the Auberge de la poste (not the poste itself) at 6 23/.. – poorish looking place, but good honest people – dinner at 7 3/4 – good potage 1 trout (trout 3/. a pound) chicken, roast mutton, riz au lait, and plenty of strawberries, and dined very well – afterwards wrote the last 25 lines of today till 9 3/4 – very rainy morning till about 10 – then fine but heavy rain with thunder and lightning a few minutes before 6 for above 1/2 hour – then tolerably fine evening – Fahrenheit 72° at 9 50/.. – the opening of the tunnel into the valley upon Les Echelles is very fine – the immense wall of rock separating this valley from that of Chambery is magnificent – besides the old road thro’ a natural fissure in the rock, there seems to be another winding fissure to the South of it (left, as we came down) –

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale SH:7/ML/E/17/0066