Tuesday, 15 January 1861
Cedars day
Darkish, but colder than ever.
Ἐπιζολὴ ἀπό Ιακώβου Ἒδουαρδι: ― ἡ Κυρία Λίζηρ εἲπε, ὃχι.1
― Poor lad, ― this distresses me. ― καὶ ἐνθημοῦμαι τῶν ἡμέρων ― ὃταν ἢτον οὓτως ἂσχημαι.2
Worked at Cedars ―but cold, & worrying about J.E. So at 3, I went out ― most frightful bitter wind ― & all black frost! ―― Beyond Weybridge, a man, wife & 2 children ˇ[& a 3rd coming] asked me for money ― not as people accustomed to beg: I had none, but said, if he would walk to Chertsey ― I would try & get a loaf. ― So he walked. “Thomas Burke” Waterford County ― but for 24 years working in England. A good woman ― “Moir” trusted me for 2 loaves ― so we walked back & gave them. Just then ― a poor fellow ― evidently also new to begging & half crying ― stopped me ― “John Harris” ― of Wallingford ―― working at Bromley ― but stopped by frost ― wife & 2 children at Chertsey: ― he would be too thankful to walk back to Weybridge, & did so ― where I got trusted for 2 more loaves. I begin to be proud of my “countenance.”
X
[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.]
Lear here is a typical, god-fearing, mid-Victorian, full of sympathy for the poor, or anyway four loaves full. Fatalism rules.
There’s not a hint that “something should be done”. He goes home happier with himself.