The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister

by Helena Whitbread

  Friday 9 January [Halifax]

  Got a new watch-glass at Pearson’s & asked him to let me see a clock taken in pieces. I am to call next Tuesday for this purpose. Then went to Furniss’s the gunsmith. The main spring of the pistol was broken. George must have done it by main force of awkwardness, for the metal of the spring & the spring itself were very good. Paid the man 3/6. He always [charges] 9d. each pistol for cleaning. Prefers steel barrelled pistols to brass when the steel is left in its natural state & not polished for then, even if much used, it will be perhaps a 12 month without wanting cleaning. But brass is apt to be verdigrized & should be cleaned after every 4, 5, or 6 times using. He shewed me a very nice pair (would kill point blank at 40 yds’ distance) of his own make, percussion lock, 8 guineas. If the touch hole be at all above the breach the gun or pistol will always rebound, put in what charge you will. A dram of powder & two drams of shot a proper charge for my brass horse-pistol. Prefers a percussion lock for pistols because safer. Throw them about as you will, the powder cannot escape from the pan, which is often the case with common locks. Prefers a secret trigger when he knows that it is made of good steel. If it is made of iron it is apt to wear soon & get out of order. He shewed a brace of nice small pistols, percussion locks but not secret triggers, price 2 guineas, that had carried a ball thro’ a 3-inch deal at 20 yds distance. He will be making a brace of pistols the latter end of next week & will let me see him put them together.

  Saturday 10 January [Halifax]

  Washed & scaled my teeth with my penknife. Letter from M— (Lawton) just before I went out… She is pretty well. Going to the Pattisons’ for a couple of days on Tuesday & to a masquerade at Audsley, Sir John Stanley’s, on Thursday. Means to go as a housemaid or ‘ballad-singer’, but I think the latter. ‘Can you send me some good songs to sing… one of our party goes as a bell-man. If you can rummage up any odd things for him to cry, it would be a kindness to send them to me… If you can give me any hints for the masquerade, do. Let me hear from you as soon as possible.’… I must now… think what I can do for M—. From 3¼ to 5.55, looking over my papers to look for ‘Billy Vite’ & any other old ballads I might have that would do for M—. Thought of writing her something for the occasion & wrote 3 or 4 stanzas of 4 lines each, to the tune of ‘Brighthelmston camp’, that I used to hear & whistle when a child.

  Sunday 11 January [Halifax]

  Rubbed out, or very materially altered, the 3 or 4 stanzas written yesterday afternoon, & wrote 9 new ones. This took me till after 9. At breakfast at 9.25. Left my aunt at the old church & went to the new… I am shocked to say I was asleep all service time… Got home at 1. Made a 10th stanza as I walked back & 2 more directly after coming upstairs & thus finished the ballad.

  Monday 12 January [Halifax]

  From 6.50 to 9¾, wrote a foolscap p. to M— by way of envelope to the sheet containing the ballads & to make some observation on the manner of singing them. Containing also the 3 following for her friend who is to go as the bell-man. 1. ‘This is to give notice that I, Richard (Woodhead or another name), commonly called Cockle Dick, will never more pay any debts whatsoever of Sally, my lawful wife, commonly called Fish Sal, in regard that no law of the land repels a man to ruin by his wife.’ 2. ‘Lost; a new leather woman’s pocket, between the hours of 8 & 9 of the night of the day of the last of this present month, that contained nothing in it only a few brass. Notice is hereby given that whoever will restore the same shall be hamperley rewarded.’ 3. ‘This is to give notice, last time of crying this 3rd market day, I, John Buck, shall lawfully ’liver up & sell Betty Buck at the Market Cross, my wife. No blemish – but we can’t agree. To part we are resolved – so no less bid nor ½ a crown – ’livered in a halter – halter an’all.’… At 12.20, sent off by George my double letter (1½ foolscap sheets) to M—… 1. Cockle Dick is now living at Halifax. His wife used to drink & he sent the bell-man to give notice he would not pay her debts. He turned her out of his house, & being summoned before Dr Coulthurst to take her back, he declared he would not for she would be the ruin of him. 2. This crying a leather woman’s pocket is a story of my uncle’s; it happened in Halifax perhaps ½ a century ago. 3. John Anderson used to tell me long since of wives being cried 3 market days at the market cross & sold the last day & ’livered (delivered) in a halter. He said Phebe Buck, the leech-woman still living, I believe, at Market Weighton, was sold in this way & bought by Buck, the man she lived [with] ever after.

  Wednesday 14 January [Halifax]

  Went upstairs again at 10.40. From then to 11¾, copied the remaining 2pp. & the ends of my letter… At 12 had closed & directed my letter. To my surprise & great sorrow found, on taking my watch out of my pocket for my favourite seal (a pelican feeding her young with the blood from her breast), & which seal I have constantly used ever since I used a seal at all, that it had broken off from my seal-ring & was lost for ever. My mother gave me this seal when I was a child. The carnelian was picked up in Prussia by Count de Obzendorf & cut in Paris. I am very sorry to have lost this seal. Looked all round the room for it in vain.

  Thursday 15 January [Halifax]

  On making the bed this morning, they found my pelican seal… Letter from Isabella… to say she would be here by the afternoon mail. Game basket from Lawton containing a fine hare, a large spare-rib of pork, my aunt’s cherry-coloured cloth winter gown from Birmingham, a very neat muslin habit-shirt of M—’s own making for me & a few lines for me to say, in a great hurry, she got my letter on Tuesday & that she thought the songs excellent. ‘You are only too good to me, Fred.’ They were going to ride to Westhouse, the Pattisons’… Came upstairs at 2¾. Putting things in their places ready for Isabella. Sent off George to meet her at Halifax & a little after 4, drove my father to Northgate (had Percy in the gig) & brought back Isabella. Looking very well, rather larger, I think, than when I saw her last in October. She & I dined at 6… Poor Tib! My heart aches & is indeed remorse-struck. She never expects to be well of this complaint & it inconveniences her very much. I said I would write to Mr Duffin for a syringe. I have not yet told M—. It is a bad business. Poor Tib. I will, at any time, make up for it all I can by double attention & kindness. If she knew the truth, what would she think?

  Tuesday 20 January [Halifax]

  Called Isabella. Left her to breakfast without me & went down at 9.40… Went out & staid with Jackman & his 2 sons & Mark Hepworth (one of the road-men, of Yew Trees Cottage) walling till 1… The 4 men that are dressing the sets at Northowram quarry have long wanted something to drink. William told my uncle some time ago & he said they were paid for their work, & gave them nothing. I, however, gave William ½ crown for them today, & they promise that the sets shall be capital. Nothing like something to drink. One seldom loses by giving them a shilling or 2 now & then.

  Thursday 22 January [Halifax]

  At 2¾, set off to walk with Isabella to Halifax. Went to Whitley’s & the library. Left Isabella to return to Whitley’s while I called & sat 6 minutes with Mr & Mrs C. Saltmarshe. The baby quite well again. They were very civil but I don’t like going there. She does not seem quite at home with me & is vulgar.

  Friday 23 January [Halifax]

  Read my letter (by this morning’s post) from M— (Lawton)… There was some mistake about the tickets to the masquerade at Sir John Stanley’s (Alderley Hall) & after all, M— & her friend, Miss Helen Pattison did not go. A great disappointment. M— hears it went off very well. My notices for her friend, the bell-man, were useful. C—, fancying the ballad for the occasion her own, ‘declared they were the best verses he had ever read. By George, he would have one & sing it himself… he tells everybody of what a capital song I wrote… I can’t help smiling to think how prejudice carries us away. If I had told him they came from you, he would have thrown them away as trash, & rather rejoiced in the circumstance that had prevented their being sung.’ Tho’ M— had observed before, ‘I verily believe his disappointment that I could not go was even greater than m
y own.’

  Sunday 25 January [Halifax]

  Isabella & I down at breakfast at 9.40. She & my aunt & I went to church… Mr Warburton did all the duty… I was asleep all the while… From 2¾ to near 4, began my book catalogue – to be a catalogue of all the books worth buying & by all means to be read, referred to by the different authors I read.

  Saturday 31 January [Halifax]

  Letter from M— (Lawton)… going to have the house full of company again. Has given up all thought of having a masquerade; that at Alderley ‘does not seem to have given general satisfaction. Much party spirit appears to have prevailed, & the opportunity was taken to say many ill-natured things.’

  Wednesday 4 February [Halifax]

  The inquest that sat till 10p.m. yesterday on the young man found murdered at the top of Winding Lane on Saturday night, is adjourned to 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, the people examined gave such contradictory evidence. We have had a great many highway robberies this winter & some houses & several warehouses robbed, & seem to have a sad set about us.

  Friday 6 February [Halifax]

  Wrote 2 & two-third pp. to M—. Nothing particular. Ask how her finances go on & say I particularly wish her to be beforehand by midsummer. The fact is, but I shall not tell her so, I begin to think I may get off to Paris in the autumn & then I shall want money… At 1¼, went to Turner, the gunsmith’s. We went into a field just above the gibbet2 to try the gun. He fired the 1st time, & only once. Filled a brown paper about a foot square with shot at about 37 yds distance. Then I fired 3 times, but never hit the paper once. Yes! The last fire sent one shot completely thro’ it. The gun recoils scarcely at all. When the touch-hole is not bored quite at the bottom of the pan, or if the barrel of a little larger bore near the back, be not a regularly cylindrical bore of equal calibre all throughout, the gun will recoil. 2 drams of powder & 1¾ oz. of shot no. 5, the proper charge. Went back to Turner’s shop, took the gun in pieces myself & saw it cleaned, washed with cold water. Staid till 3. The gun itself, £2 15s. Powder & shot, cleaning apparatus, spring-screw, screw-driver, etc., came to £1.6. He shewed me a new handsome double-barrelled gun with percussion locks, weight 7lbs, he had just made for Mr (Rawdon, I suppose) Briggs, £24. The double barrel cost 8 guineas. The mahogany gun-case would be 2 guineas additional.

  Obviously, in view of the robberies and the recent murder, people who could afford it were taking the precaution of carrying firearms, or at least having them available on the premises. The following extract from a letter to a family friend gives some indication of how Anne was spending her days in the early months of 1824.

  Saturday 7 February [Halifax]

  Nothing particular in my letter to Mrs James Dalton but the following account of my time; ‘You ask me to tell you what I am doing & think about, & I ought not to talk about being so busy without giving some reason for it. My average hour of getting up in a morning is half-past five. Dressing & (keep the secret & do not laugh) going to look at my horse, takes me an hour and a half. From 7 to 9, I read a little Greek & a little French. From 9 to 10, looking after the workmen. From 10 to 11, breakfast. From 11 to 2, out of doors looking at 1 thing or other, workmen, etc. From 2 to 3¾, walk out Isabella. Should drive her out but our gig-horse is laid up for the present & I have turned out my own horse for a winter’s run. From 4½ to 6, at dinner & sitting afterwards. From 6 to 6½, dawdle, trifle, call it what you please, with Isabella. From 6½ to 8, write letters or notes, or “the book”, or take a little miscellaneous reading, & indeed, it is a little, for some days I never open an English book. At 8, go downstairs to coffee & we all spend a sociable evening together till 10. Isabella retires about ½ hour after me, & my uncle & aunt sit up till 11. Such is the model of my present day; such it must continue till we have done with workmen; & then I shall have about 4 hours a day more time; only just enough to keep one’s mind in proper order.’

  Wednesday 18 February [Halifax]

  At 8½, set off to Lightcliffe. Walked there in just ½ hour. Spoke to Mr W. Priestley about Jonathan Mallinson’s nephew wanting to take Yew Trees. Mr Priestley would not let him a farm; for he did not believe he was worth £15 besides the poor horse & the poor cart he had to lead coals with – and it was always reckoned in farming counties that a farm would require £10 an acre to stock it with. That at this rate, a tenant taking Yew Trees (48 days work, or about 32 acres) should have £320. As breakfast was just over at Lightcliffe, I would not take any. Sat talking a good while to Mrs Priestley. She shewed me their offices & about all her store-room. It seems she keeps all herself. Gives out everything for consumption weekly or some trifles, eggs, etc., daily. Her method seems excellently adapted to the gentlewomanly management of their present income, five hundred a year. She does not like her own clothes to cost more than forty guineas a year, & these & her whims & everything, don’t exceed one hundred. Mr Priestley does not spend so much, & her hundred is made up by a sort of secret purse of thirty pounds a year.

  Saturday 21 February [Halifax]

  Called Isabella at 9, which took me 5 minutes… [She] poisons me with her snuff. I can hardly bear [being] in the room. How heartily I wish she was gone. I already begin to count the days to the twenty-fourth of next month.

  Monday 23 February [Halifax]

  Gave Hotspur oatmeal & water… From 8 to 10¼ wrote 3pp. & the ends to Miss Maclean3… told her I had written by candle-light before breakfast. In fact, I did do so. I kept the candle burning (my dressing-room, or the corner of it where I sit, is so dark) till 10. Went down to breakfast at 10.25.

  Sunday 29 February [Halifax]

  Isabella went down to read prayers this afternoon. She drinks a bottle a day, all but two glasses that my uncle & aunt take. The latter leave the room at luncheon to let her take three or four glasses, but I am to be sure to take no notice of this. What a shame Tib should do so. She goes into the dining-room about seven in the evening to have a glass of wine & sends for George or Cordingley to get it. She shall not come here again soon if I can possibly help it.

  Tuesday 2 March [Halifax]

  Walked with Mrs Priestley ½ way to Cliff-hill to meet Miss Walker with whom she was going in the carriage to make calls. They took me up & set me down at the top of our lane at 10¾. When walking with Mrs Priestley, said she would believe I should never marry if she knew me better. I had been pretty well tried. I might have had, & perhaps might still have, rank, fortune & talent, a title & several thousand a year with thorough worth & amiability added to great learning. In my own mind alluded to Sir George Stainton. But I refused from principle. There was one feeling – I meant love – properly so-called, that was out of my way, & I did not think it right to marry without. I should have a good fortune & had no occasion. Not that I could live without a companion. I did not mean to say that. She said I should be too fastidious. There would be none I should choose. ‘No,’ said I, ‘I have chosen already.’ Mrs Priestley looked. ‘One can but be happy,’ said I. ‘It is a lady & my mind has been made up these fifteen years.’ I ought to have said a dozen for, of course, I meant M—, but said I never mentioned this to anyone but my uncle & aunt. ‘You will see, in time. I am sure you will like my choice.’ Here Mrs Walker’s carriage came up & stopt our conversation. I wonder what Mrs Priestley thought. She will not forget &, I think, was rather taken by surprise.

  Thursday 4 March [Halifax]

  Went out to the workmen at 9.05. Came in to breakfast at 10. Both Jackman & his 2 sons & the gardener here this morning… Wrote 3pp. to Burnett to thank her for a pot of marmalade & 13 buns she sent me… Told [her] M—’s message to Charlotte Norcliffe about having Miss Wickham’s spinning wheel valued, that M— might buy it if not too dear.

  Thursday 11 March [Halifax]

  Got to Lightcliffe to breakfast at 8.35. About 10, it began to snow & rain & turned out very stormy. This detained me & I sat talking to Mrs W. Priestley till 2. Mutually confidential… Talked over our own individual characters. Her sentiments republican – mine mona
rchical… I talked very gently in a rather sentimental style of feeling, but I declared her less commonplace than I & more singular than Miss Pickford &, in reality, tho’ without appearing so, the most singular person I ever met with. I twirled my watch about, conscious of occasionally bordering on a rather gentlemanly sort of style. She seems to feel but not quite understand this. She would prefer my society to that of any lady, perhaps scarce knowing why. She has pondered over my having chosen a lady for my future companion. A child ill in the measles was given up. The measles were gone in & there was no chance for it. Mrs W. Priestley had the child fomented all over with flannels dipped in hot water, for 1½ hour, then put into a warm bed. The child fell asleep. The measles appeared next morning & the child did well.

  Friday 12 March [Halifax]

  Called at the Saltmarshes’. Mrs Catherine Rawson there. Sat with Mrs Saltmarshe & her about 10 minutes, then took my leave fancying them not sorry. I have long perceived a reserve in Mrs Saltmarshe’s manner to me. It strikes me more & more, & I less & less like calling. There seemed even something of the same in Mrs Catherine Rawson. Called, as I went, at the bank & desired them to make out my account. Called for it on leaving the Saltmarshes’. I have now got a banking book in which my account will be regularly settled ½ yearly. The balance in my favour, including three half-year’s interest, is sixteen pounds, nineteen shillings.

  Saturday 13 March [Halifax]

  At 2.50, set off to Halifax with Isabella. Just called to ask Thomas Greenwood if he could get 2 blue cats from Norway. Yes, he could. A friend of his at Hull would get them. Got home again at 3.50. Dressed & sat down to dinner at 4¼. Went upstairs at 6… & came down to coffee at 8.07. Snowing hard when I got up this morning. The ground covered with snow & several snow showers during the morning… Long argument with Isabella just before coming upstairs. She denied that 6 horses (to a carriage without a box) had ever been driven in England by 3 postilions. I said I believed it, seen it. The equipage of the late Mr Fox of Bramham Park many years ago, driving into Leeds.