Thursday, 5 December 1861
A bitterly cold day ― all through. The west room is so windy I give it up, & breakfast in the studio or middle room. Made Tracings of 3 views ― 2 of the Ascension Corfu ― & 1 from Gasturi: ― & afterwards “whited” the skies & mountains of Turin & Florence. Then, at 2.30 ― went out, with my sketch book in Jannis “Coliseo Nuovo” as George calls it ― & drew below Ascension, ― walking afterwards to One Gun. ― Dined at 6.30. ― & penned out (!) my sketch afterwards. Heard George read ―― & made a fuss about the stench in the kitchen from the drain ―― which is serious.
The amount of bore here is formidable, but I have gone in [for] withstanding it & fighting it out.
[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.]