I am aghast at the columnar aspect of any account given in satisfactory
detail; and will only gradually, as I have space, illustrate my own
expenditure and its course. That unexplained hundred of last month,
diminished itself, I find, thus:
£ s. d.
Pocket 10 0 0
Klein, (final account on dismissal to Rotterdam,
paying his passage, and a shilling or two over) 30 0 0
Downs, for my London quarterly pensioners 25 0 0
Morley, (Oxford bookbinding) 3 1 6
Easter presents 5 0 0
--------
73 1 6
--------
Leaving a balance of 26 18 6
to be added to the £200 of personal expenses in this month’s accounts.
About a hundred and twenty of this has gone in a fortnight’s posting,
with Mr. and Mrs. Severn, from London to Coniston, stopping to see St.
Albans, Peterborough, Croyland, Stamford and Burleigh, Grantham,
Newark, Lincoln, our new ground at Sheffield, Pomfret, Knaresborough,
Ripon, Fountain’s, Richmond, Mortham Tower, and Brougham Castle. A
pleasant life, you think? Yes,—if I led an unpleasant one, however
dutiful, I could not write any of my books, least of all, Fors. But I
am glad, if you honestly think it a pleasant life; why, if so, my
richer readers, do you drive only round the parks, every day, instead
of from place to place through England, learning a thing or two on the
road? Of the rest of the ‘self’ money, I leave further account till
next month: it is not all gone yet. I give, however, for a typical
example, one of Downs’s weekly bills, reaching the symmetrical total of
£7 7s. 7d., or a guinea and a penny a day, which I think is about the
average. Of the persons named therein as receiving weekly wage, Hersey
is our old under-gardener, now rheumatic, and as little able to earn
his dinner as I am myself; Rusch, my old lapidary, who cuts in the
course of the week what pebbles he can for me; Best, an old coachman,
who used to come to us from livery-stable on occasion, and now can’t
drive any more; Christy, an old woman who used to work for my mother.
1876. £ s. d.
April 22. Cash in hand 30 12 8
--------
29. Men’s Wages 4 1 0
Coachman’s Book 1 16 10
Charities 0 16 0
Sundries 0 13 9
---------
£7 7 7
---------
April 29. Balance in hand £23 5 1
Men’s Wages.
£ s. d.
April 29. David Downs 1 15 0
Thomas Hersey 1 5 0
John Rusch 1 1 0
--------
£4 1 0
Coachman’s Book.
£ s. d.
April 29. Plate Powder, 1s.; Oil, 10d. 0 1 10
Soap and Sand 0 1 0
Wages 1 14 0
--------
£1 16 10
Charities.
£ s. d.
William Best 0 10 0
Mrs. Christy 0 6 0
--------
£0 16 0
Sundries.
£ s. d.
April 22. Postage 0 0 5
24. Rail and ’Bus, British Museum 0 1 0
Cord for Boxes, 1s. 6d.; Postage,
1s. 6½d. 0 3 0½
25. Horse and Cart, Boxes to Station 0 7 6
Carman, 1s.; Booking ditto, 6d. 0 1 6
Postage 0 0 1
26 and 28. Postage 0 0 2½
---------
£0 13 9
After thus much of miniature illustration, I have only to explain of
the broad effects in the account below, that my Oxford secretary, who
has £200 a year, does such work for me connected with my Professorship
as only a trained scholar could do, leaving me free here to study
hyacinths. I wish I could give him the Professorship itself, but must
do as I am bid by Oxford. My younger secretary, who has £100 a year, is
this year put into office, for St. George’s correspondence; and I must
beg my good friends—now, I am thankful to say, gathering a little to
St. George’s work,—not to think themselves slighted in being answered
by his hand, for mine is weary.
1876. £ s. d.
April 16. Balance 1511 10 1
May 1. Half-year’s Stipend of Slade
Professorship 179 0 0
----------
1690 10 1
464 11 0
-----------
Balance, May 16th £1225 19 1
April 20 and 30. Self 200 0 0
20. Downs 50 0 0
22. Photographs (Leucothea and Lippi) 16 5 0
25. Tailor’s Account 33 6 0
May 1. Oxford Secretary 100 0 0
1. Raffaelle for May and June 15 0 0
15. Burgess 50 0 0
----------
£464 11 0