Rose at 7.30. Warmer ― but darker. Letters from S.W.C. Lady Reid, Mrs. Hunt, James Hornby ― & Mrs. Parkyns.

Painted pretty hard from 9.30 to 4 ― interrupted by C. Fortescue, F. Lushington, & S.W. Clowes calling ―― all welcome stoppages. The Bethlehem tocca a finire.1

At 5 went out, & had hair cut. Then waited at J.B. Edwards’s till 6.30. Ἔπειτα2 ― to C. Fortescue’s, & with him to the St. James’s Hall, where we dined. (Dickey Doyle there when we went in.)

At 8.15 C.F. cabbed away νά ὑπάγῃ εἰς τὴν Ἰζλανδίαν, καὶ ἐγῶ εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν μου.3

XX

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

  1. I suppose Lear meant “I have to finish the Bethlehem” (Mi tocca finire il B.) or, more probably, “It is the Bethlehem’s turn to get finished” (Tocca al B. essere finito). [↩]
  2. Then. [↩]
  3. To go to Iceland (Ισλανδία), and me to my home (NB). Lear, always suffering from cold, might mean that Fortescue goes to his icy rooms, or perhaps Iceland is metaphorical for a life of cold relationships. [↩]