Saturday, October 17, 1835

1835

October

Saturday 17

6 50/..

11

No kiss.

Fine but dullish, hazyish morning; F 55° at 7 50/.. Ready in 1/2 hour – Then at the Cascade bridge till drinking time at 10, then 1/2 hour at the glen bridge alias Adney bridge – Then at the Cascade bridge again till the men went to dinner at 12 10/.. –

Had Holt – Stood talking to him near 1/2 hour at the entrance gates –

Explained about the Spiggs Loose business and having had Messers Critchley Holt and company, and what instructions I had given to Mr. Parker – would wait quietly their action against me and then be ready to defend it –

All safe about Mrs. Machin’s coal, but cannot be settled yet – Holt thinks it best to go on with the drift – Getting water every yard we do further – A great deal lost at present, but the drift cannot be puddled till all is finished – Thinks that we shall have a 2 inch bore pipe full at last – i.e. we have got 1/2 that quantity already and may get as much more – Very well, said I, then the drift shall go to the boundary of my ground that is about 300 yards farther, being now in the line of water level – 200 yards to the gall (comes up with it in the barrel gin field behind the Conery wood) and 53 or 57 yards beyond it to the Southeast in the water level –

Holt thinks the 1st drift up to Walker pit, when properly puddled up, will furnish a good supply of water – Says that if Mr. Rawson has trespassed at the top of the hill, that will give us a good bit of loose and we can get coal at Walker Pit for some time to come –

They have very near got to the bottom of the stone (all this stone has had to be blasted) and then a fortnight more will bottom the pit – If Holt lives, all their water will be thrown on Mr. Rawson in 2 years from this time –

Thinks Listerwick pit (at Pump have not yet published my intention of so naming the pit) may be working in 18 months from this time – All depends upon the goit – Said I had determined to drive a drift from the great dam to the engine pit – Had now given up all idea of an open goit – Washington’s levelling for it had quite convinced me it would be best to drive as was originally intended –

Holt has no pity for Messers Critchley Holt, Keighley, and Holdsworth – Could loose them for £20 or £30 but will not – They have abused him so, he will do nothing for them – ‘They deserve to feel themselves a little’ – I expressed my wish for him to help them and prevent a law-suit – but I saw I could not prevail, so merely said he must do as he thought best –  Samuel Holdsworth can manage for himself by getting the privilege from me or Mr. Emmett to drive the galloway gate – Holt says, the Spiggs Company cannot prove a right to the loose I have just stopt, and they cannot prove that I have dammed up the water beyond the level it was at before this loose was made – for the water then ran out at Greenwood’s engine pit in the Godley field and runs out there now, so that I have done them no damage in raising the water beyond its old level –

Came in at 12 1/2 to see Mr. Jubb – Found him with my aunt – Saw him for a few minutes afterwards – Said I thought my aunt very poorly – Breaking fast – He owned she had lost much ground since he began to attend her, but avoided saying anything about the nearness of her danger –

I begged he would say if he thought her requiring further advice – He behaved very handsomely in saying he should be glad to call in Dr. Kenny any time, but allowed that he could do no good – I explained that it would be no particular satisfaction to me to call him in – I merely thought of it as a matter of ‘professional etiquette’.  Dr. Kenny had never attended me, and I should have just as much confidence in him (Mr. Jubb) – (He would think from my manner Dr. Kenny was no favorite with me) – Mr. Jubb seemed much pleased, and said he certainly name it if he saw anything particular in my aunt –

Mr. Nelson junior and his mason came up this morning to look at the library stove place but thought the smoke did not come in that way, so did nothing –

Mr. Nelson said he should be obliged to me for a little money – I saw he meant on the great account as well as the little, but I merely said that the stove place and alteration in the Chimney was Mr. Harper’s concern, and therefore it must pass through him – That he had best send me the account for his teagles and men, and that this being my own concern I would pay it immediately – Said that, in fact, I was not prepared for any extra payment today not expecting it –

It would never do to let Nelson have money on account for Northgate – No! No! thought I, Mr. Harper shall settle this matter –

Came up to my study and wrote all the above of today till 1 20/.. –

Then out, and about four had Joseph Mann and Mr. Nelson junior and paid the latter his bill for the teagles and 4 men –

Then out again at the Cascade bridge as before till 5, when the men, having had hard lifting and it being Saturday, gave up work – Have set 5 great stones today – 2, one on each side the corner of the great bank on the north side of the upper pool – one as a through on this end of the 5-ton stone, one as a spur against the far end of it and one at the back of the chair stone – No horses today –

Came in at 6 10/.., just after Ann returned from Cliff hill where she had been all the day since being off before 9 this morning –

William Keighley called here in passing at 9, and began his work of felling at Cliff hill at 10 –

Ann not at all tired – much pleased with her day’s work – She had her tenant Roberts and his wife this evening – They must either quit their farm or pay the rent paid to Ann’s father £28.12.0 for the land and stable and 5 guineas for the cottage – and must, if they stay, be under lease and bound not to sell off –

Dinner at 6 1/2 – Coffee – I with my father and Marian while Ann had Roberts – Skimmed over the newspapers upstairs till 9 – Then near an hour with my aunt – Wrote the last 11 lines till 10 p.m., at which hour, F 57°.  Fine day –

WYAS Finding Numbers SH:7/ML/E/18/0113 and SH:7/ML/E/18/0113