Tuesday 13th January 1835

No entry today.

[up at] 8 20/..

[to bed at] 4 1/4 a.m.

no kiss thaw – Fahrenheit 39° at 9 20/.. – breakfast at 9 1/2 to 10 10/.. – Adney had Mrs. Draper about child’s frocks – Greenwood’s man came to look at bookcase doors – Had Hinscliffe from 11 1/4 to 3 1/4 – politics – long talk about the Leeds and Whitehall road – Hipperholme Cum Brighouse including Lightcliffe, and Scholes and Driglington unanimous not to have the road thrown upon them till it is thoroughly made – this not likely to be done soon – may not be thrown upon the towns for some years to come – then the business Hinscliffe came about – Difficult to get Samuel Holdsworth to join the Keighleys in paying anything for the Spiggs loose – would I take £10 a year for it (which Hinscliffe advised) – yes! Said I for what remains to be got in Spiggs land – or better £10 per acre for however many beds of coal there may be for I do not like the plan of so much a year – but I will not include any fresh purchases of coal at this rate – I do not want to be hard upon the Keighleys; but they should buy their coal accordingly – I think I should have £20 per acre for each bed upper and lower; for the loose is worth 1/2 as much as the coal and I take this out of the pocket of seller, not of the buyer of the coal-beds – Hinscliffe did not say much to this but thought we had better settle as soon as we could merely the business respecting the Loose at present, and leave the loose for new purchase of coal for a fresh agreement – Agreed therefore that Hinscliffe should try to settle it that Keighleys and company pay £10 per acre for the remainder of Spiggs coal, both beds included – Keighleys and company to give no loose to anybody – I to have power to go myself or send my agents into all or any of their works at any time – a separate agreement to be made for all new purchases of coal – Hinscliffe thought that if we could not agree the sooner the Loose was stopped the better lest it should become what is called an old Loose, and the parties interested gained a right to it – but they knew that by stopping them I should stop myself also – well! said I, I know this – but I don’t care about it – if Keighleys and company and I cannot agree, I have said I will stop the Loose, and so will – I am not now anxious about getting my own coal; and if I should be hereafter I can loose myself another way – then talked about what should be done to set the Walker pit colliery properly going – told him to consider about it and give me a sort of plan – he thought it would not be done (taking in Walker pit sinking and everything) for £1,000 but that it would be under £1,500 – including water wheel at Tilly holme stile, just within the wood, and 2 hurrying gates which should be 3 feet 6 inches high and well done – these would do for wind and water and one for going and one for returning corves (to be driven from the water wheel up to Walker pit) – thinks Holt has sadly neglected his job – perhaps does not properly understand it said I should not say much to him about it – but he (Hinscliffe) must come and help me to look after it – asked what it would cost me to measure at Keighleys and company to see what they were about – Hinscliffe said it would be 10/. could not be done under – should be done about once a year – shewed Hinscliffe the written agreement for Walker pit sinking – he said it was not clearly expressed – it was well I had a steady set of men, or I might have nothing but pother – He is right the agreement is very clumsily drawn up – said he must help me to right all this – then concluded with a long talk (uninteresting to me) about town’s and church matters – but it seems Hinscliffe does not approve his friend Mr. William Priestley’s conduct in leaving the church and returning to it as he has done when his reasons given for leaving it remain in as full force as ever – Hinscliffe observed, too, that Mr. William Priestley and the vicar did not seem to be such good friends as they used to be – many people offended with Mr. William Priestley for his conduct in the vicar’s tithe business – it might be forgiven but would never be forgotten – on Hinscliffe going at 3 1/4 some time with Adney – she had sent to Messrs. Briggs in the morning and gave me £100 to pay my father – both of us glad to settle with him – he is timorous (said Marian yesterday) when the money is out of his own hands – some time with him and Marian – then from 4 10/.. to 4 35/.. at my desk (writing to Lady Stuart) then one interruption or other – Had Pickels – asked how many hares he had killed – proposed giving 2/. for each one killed – he said he was obliged to take a man with him – and thought 2/. per hare would not pay – however said I would think about – I certainly meant him to be paid for his time – he had killed 10 hares in Holcans wood – 2 the other day in Yew trees wood, one in my walk near the hut and several others in my property – gave him a sovereign on account for 10 hares and said I would consider about the rest – some time with my aunt and wished her good night – dinner at 6 1/4 – coffee – from 7 3/4 to 10 3/4 writing   then with A- [Adney]  till twelve lastly rubbing the back of her neck with camphorated spirit of wine    long piece of work to reconcile her    she had read over my letter to Lady Harriet and I found her in tears    long before I could make out what for    I had told her I should mention her and she made no o[b]jection but seemed rather pleased that I never dreampt of her being annoyed   at last told her I should have made just the same sort of mention of Lady Vere   and I thought  satisfied her   and by great tenderness of manner and attention she got back into good spirits  and her tears seemed forgotten – then from 12 to 3 55/.. finished my letters – In the course of the afternoon and evening I had written 1 page of 1/2 sheet to Lady Stuart de Rothesay and 3 pages and under the seal of 1/2 sheet very small and close to Lady Harriet de Hagemann – now tonight finished my letter to Lady Stuart de Rothesay 3 pages and under the seal of 1/2 sheet, and wrote 3 pages and under the seal (1/2 sheet) small and close to Lady Vere in answer to her letter received 15 December and in answer to her note received tonight – wrote also 4 pages of 1/2 sheet and 1 page and both ends of envelope to Lady Stuart in answer to her letter (3 pages common sized letter paper) received tonight – from Whitehall, franked by Lord Stuart De Rothesay and enclosing a civil note of thanks from Miss Tate, dated Langdown November 16  apologizing for not having thanked me sooner for the barrel of ‘the very best little fish’ she ever tasted – sent from Copenhagen just before I left there – while I wrote to Lady H. de Harriet de Hagemann Adney had made out Lady Stuart’s pages and written out each line in pencil – poor dear Lady Stuart wondered I had not written – afraid I had been annoyed at her being long in writing – gives a very indifferent account of herself – spends half her time in bed with the worst cough she ever had – nothing known about Lord Stuart de Rothesay’s being employed – Mr. Cameron not much better of the disagreeable affection of his eyes from some fulness on the brain – but Vere not alarmed – what I wrote yesterday to Lady Stuart but dated today was about the election and in answer to her letter received 20 December, and I mean it to go with the shawls – what I wrote tonight dated this evening to go tomorrow under cover to Lord Stuart de Rothesay very affectionately written, and I think Lady Stuart will be pleased with this and her 2 shawls – wrote over again the 2nd 1/2 sheet of what I wrote to her yesterday because I had mentioned one shawl to be for Miss Berry and one for Lady Gordon, and tonight I changed all this and and made no mention of Miss Berry or Lady Gordon (except to ask if Miss Berry was returned   I begin to be uneasy about the watch – and if no tidings of it, I would write immediately to Perrelet) but simply begged Lady Stuart to accept 2 shawls, one for herself to wear and the other to dispose of as she thought best – and said I had sent 2 in the same way to Lady Stuart de Rothesay and there was one for Vere – wrote also 1 page of envelope to Lady Stuart to enclose my 2 half sheets written yesterday but still dated today – all this writing took me till 3 55/.. then hurried into bed – Adney asleep – thaw all the day with some rain – damp, or wet, slappy disagreeable day – Fahrenheit 44 1/2° at 4 a.m. just before getting into bed at 4 1/4 tonight or rather this morning – Vere’s letter or note received this evening was kind – thanks for my letter of Thursday ‘written at the close of the poll, which being later and different from the newspaper account of the election, was particularly welcome’ – said in answer it might be different but it not be later than the newspaper account as bought /both/ ought to have travelled in the same mail bag – said the house at Gisbourne was comfortable enough but the roads said to be bad in winter but not caring for society they might like the place in summer – said the rent asked had been, I knew, £300 a year – mentioned an in-town out-of-town furnished house in Coughton belonging to Mr. Pattison the bank or India director I knew not clearly which, that I thought they might really have cheap – 36 miles from Liverpool with the Rode Wilbrahams about 7 miles off, and Lawton about 6 – had not been in the house but heard it was very comfortable when inhabited a few years ago – nice garden and bit of pleasure ground and a field or 2, I supposed, if required – Vere told me Charles Stuart was gone down at Lord Bute’s request to propose Sir William Rae at Rothesay – ‘It seems etiquette for one of the family to be there for that duty’ – Captain Stuart (Charles Stuart) to be at Glasgow on Sunday evening – 

[In margin:]

Spiggs colliery price of loose.
Proposed agreement for the loose.
Estimate of setting up Walker pit colliery.
Mr. W. Priestley. 
Pickels. what to pay him per hare. 

Extract from letter to Vere

Courtesy of West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale & SH:7/ML/E/17/0143 & SH:7/ML/E/17/0144