William Allingham’s diary, 1867

Walk with T. to Brook Bay, ship ashore, the Fannie Larabee of Bath, large, three masts, good model. There are people on the shore, but T, doesn't seem to mind. We…

Mist. Steamer to Yarmouth. Flags flying. The Queen expected from Osborne, coming to take a look at this part of the island. I to Farringford. I say to T., ' Perhaps…

Ride to Hurst. Returning, I rode by the edge of the sea, till in one place the horse suddenly sank to his belly in the muddy sand. I had a real fright for half a…

Farringford. Tennyson and I busied ourselves in the shrubberies, transplanting primroses with spade, knife, and wheelbarrow. After dinner T. concocts an…

Lymington. By train to Brocken- hurst and walk to Queen's Bower. The brook be- starred with white flowers (water crowfoot), little fishes gliding. Sit under the Big…

To Winchester, St. Giles's Hill, Cathedral, St. Cross, etc.

Farnham (see Rambles by Patricius Walker), Cobbett's Birthplace *The Jolly Farmer.' Bishop's Park, fine old walls, great elms, deer. Moor Park and Waverley, river,…

Guildford — Hog's Back, Liphook — Gray- shot, and find the Tennyson house (they occupy the best part of a large farmhouse). Lionel shows me the piece of land which…

Morris's Jason, 'from his friend the Author.' Medea oiFwith the Fleece — admirable.

Find with joy a book on my table, by post, May-Day — gift from Emerson.

Fine, warm. To Brockenhurst by invitation to the Bowden Smiths, croquet, roses, hot sun. Field-path to station, red campions and kingcups. Down train comes in with…

Very line. Picnic in Forest, School- girls and grown folk, youths and maidens. A Club Day also — children in waggons^ — noise and laughter — wood walks. We dine on…

Queen Square. — Morris and I to West- minster Abbey. Deanery, Cloisters — pleasant.

Lymington. Fine ; hurry to steamer. Excursion to visit the French Fleet at Spithead. At Yarmouth a large Tennyson party comes on board — ^A. T., his brother Charles…

Writing Rambles. Walk, riverside, honeysuckle, scabious, bluebell, ferns, more contented.

Farringford, Bradley, etc. I continue to like B. more and more.

After dinner a thunderstorm with rain. Night grows pitch dark. Tremendous thunder and lightning for a long time. I put out my candle and sit at window watching. The…

Hearing that the lightning did mischief out eastwards, I cross Ferry, walk to Baddesley, and find a two-story cottage burned, only the blackened walls left ; the…

Very fine. Steamer 11.40 to Yarmouth. Tennyson on the quay, also his brother Frederick and two daughters. A. T. is going to Lyme Regis alone. ' 1 have wanted to see…

Lyme Regis. Very fine. T. up first and at my door. He has been on the Cobb, and eats a hearty breakfast. We go down to the Cobb, enjoying the sea, the breeze, the…

Yacht Mirella. Faraday is gone.

Very fine. Pay pensioners — Train 2.30 brings Conway, but not his Tribune friend. Secure him a bed at the ' Nag's Head,' then we walk out by Pennington. Talk much…

Very fine. D. G. Rossetti coming to-morrow. Read his Early Italian Poets. Mem. — Use him nobly while your guest.

Rainy. By 8.40 even- ing train behold D. G. R. ! he wears a ventilating hat, something like a policeman's helmet, in which he looks short and broad, having grown…

Very fine. My landlady grumpy — ' didn't tell me of the gentleman,' etc. I explain. We walk by the river-side to Roydon Farm, path to Brockenhurst Church. Crown…

D. G. R. and I walk out to Rope Hill, and Captain Barton shows us beautiful roses and offers us some for the picture — a very kind man. R. and I to Shirley Holmes…

Call D. G. R. He has not yet opened his Picture case, so I undo the fastenings. He finds that none of Captain B.'s roses are exactly of the kind for him ; he wants…

Call D. G. R. Registered letter with bank notes, etc., ^\^^ : los. — for 'copy' of Lilith. We write letters. Howell has proposed to come here, R. writes to him, '…

Fine — D. G. R. and I walk, to Boldre Church, Gilpin's tomb and its inscription ; we talk of ' immortality,' but nothing new, and of ' suicide,' which R. thinks '…

R. and I look round the furniture brokers, he buys an old mirror and several other things ' for a song,' but they will have to be done up, ' otherwise you fill your…

D. G. R. and I take a short walk to Pennington, then early dinner, and he departs by the 5.45 train, I going with him to Brocken- hurst. He did up his picture again…

Custom -House accounts. French lesson from M. Meurzet.

Steamer to Yarmouth. To Mrs. Cameron's, Henry Taylor, and his daughter Emily. Luncheon. To Farringford, and walk with A. T. to near Alum Bay. He thinks ' England is…

To London — Waterloo at 3. Cab to Chelsea, being invited to stay with D. G. R. Well received ; Dinner in lower room, Fanny, Howell, Madox Brown — Howell's stories,…

Studio — Sibyl (with roses), Iseult, etc. ; D. G. R., F. Call at Ned's and walk with him in the Park : soppy and foggy.

Garden ; fierce Virginian owls which dash against the bars of their cage to get at you as you turn away : other creatures. Taylor's estimate of Household Expenses…

Call on Ned ; Italian Model, a peasant woman — at Mr. Simon's. Call on Froude. Back to Chelsea, then D. G. R. "^and I to the Cafe de I'Europe, Haymarket, where we…

Cheyne Walk, pack up, R. lolling on the bed ; cab to Waterloo — train to Lymington. N.B. — Very kind letter from Carlyle — did not know me that day I called ; '…

Lymington. Evening, reading Rousseau with M. Meurzet. Newsroom, Waterside.

Gloomy day. Carlyle's 'Shooting Niagara' — object to parts. Carlylus Tyrannus.

Fine. Poetry again — in spite of T. C. Walk, Walhampton Hill, Portmore firs, hedges, ferns, yellow oakleaves, harebells, children sweeping up fallen leaves. Ferry.

My last visit to London was an unhappy one. In art, and still more in life, R. and I have discords not to be resolved. Should we ever have been or supposed…

Steamer ; Parry ^ meets me, we walk by muddy path and copse to Hook Hill : his wife and baby (3 days old), both well ; luncheon. Take up my quarters with Mrs, Curry…

Parry's ; walk with him to sea-side, black rocks, breakers ghostly white, light at sea. Back with him, tea. His childhood, etc. We walk along the dark road to…

Myrtle Cottage, cold, hoar- frost, misty. Farringford, Lionel and his fiddle. Henry Cameron comes, for rabbit-hunting. I walk to Yarmouth, pretty byroad to shore,…

Dine at Farringford. T. discourses on ' Maud ' : I make him laugh by misquoting lines about the shell, thus — ' Did he stand at his own front-door With a diamond…