Victorian Women Writers Project

Ill health and terrors. Fragments of recollection. Early piety. Early politics. Early social morals. Love of money and management of it. Sewing.

Journey to Newcastle. A sun‐dial. A falling star. Religious progress.

Tabulating Bible morals. Unitarianism and Christianity. Milton. Opening speculation. Vain‐glorious visions. Training in self‐denial. Absence from home. Birth and infancy of a sister. Schooling at home. Fear. Laziness. Notions of death. Seeing the sea. Not seeing objects.

School life. Home life. Reading. Deafness. Politics and foreigners.

Faults and misery. Going to Bristol.

Family relations. Studies. Fundamental conviction. Effect on religious belief.

First appearance in print. Method of composition.

Calamities. Deafness. Death of brother and his child. Of father. Of betrothed. Bad health. More authorship. The Houlstons. Mr. Fox. Diffusion Society. Loss of property. Efforts. Disappointment. Prize essays. Close of my Unitarian period.

Scheme of the Political Economy Series. Unsuccessful negotiations. Arrangements. Success. Removal to London.

London lodgings. Life there. Amount of work. Times of work. Methods of work. Materials. Anecdote of Mr. Cropper. The Population question and the Quarterly Review. Mr. Malthus. The Edinburgh Review. Mr. Empson. Poor‐law Series. Lord Brougham. Poor‐law reform and the Times. Collins and Wilkie. Miss Berry. Mrs. Fry. Robert Owen. Mrs. Marcet. My political disgraces abroad. Plot in fiction. Dutch detail. Beachy Head. Protection doctrine. Sir Alexander Johnstone. Mother and Aunt come to me. Publisher’s encroachment. “Briery Creek.” “The Three Ages.” “The Farrers of Budge Row.” Illness. Co‐operation with government. Conclusion of the work. Money matters. Why I went to America.

Mr. Mill on national character. My objects in travelling. My companion. Anti‐slavery experience. Dr. Julius. Our pilot. New York riots. Three parties. Alarms at Philadelphia and elsewhere. Establishing an understanding. Hearing all sides. Crisis at Boston. Invitation to an Anti‐slavery meeting. Consequences to myself. Other results. Last trial for Blasphemy. Censure from friends. Virtual treachery from friends. Personal danger. The journey. The Texas question. Scepticism and apathy of the citizen majority. Change in the times. The English in America. Americans of note. The Emersons. Mr. Everett. The Sedgwicks. Statesmen. Calhoun. Clay. Webster. Deterioration in public men. Margaret Fuller. Mad people. N.P. Willis. Curious incident. Parable. Depth of American impression. Safety of travel. Judge Marshall’s letter. Mysterious valediction. Voyage home.

Booksellers’ proffers and methods. “Society in America.” “Retrospect of Western Travel.” Proposed Scheme of a new periodical. First novel. “Deerbrook.” Remarkable suggestion. “How to Observe,” and smaller pieces. The Princess Victoria. The Queen. Her Coronation. Lord Durham and his family. Topographical notes to Shakspere’s Scotch and Italian plays. British Association meeting at Newcastle. The Lakes and Scotland. Mrs. Crowe and Dr. Samuel Brown. Ailsie. Continental journey. Illness.

Morbid conditions as a matter of study. Causes of illness. Retreat to Tynemouth. “The Hour and the Man.” “The Playfellow.” Taking advice in authorship. “Life in the Sick‐room.” Refusal of a pension. Charity fund. Testimonial.

Anti‐theological progression.

Recovery. “Letters on Mesmerism.” Persecution of convalescents restored by Mesmerism. Leaving Tynemouth.

Relish of life at last. No dislike of death. Medical criticism. First seeing Mr. Atkinson. Lodging at Waterhead. Country visiting declined. Reasons for settling at Ambleside. Buying field and planning house.

Long credit system. Building house. Mysterious present. Wordsworth’s tree. First acquaintance with Wordsworth. The poet and the man. Hartley Coleridge. Exploration of the District. Mesmerising the sick. Liabilities. Margaret Fuller. Jane’s arrival. “Forrest and Game‐law Tales.” Correspondence with Sir Robert Peel. Garden and sun‐dial. Tourists. Leaving home.

“The Billow and the Rock.” Going to the East. Dention in the Mediterranean. Politics in Egypt. Profit of travel. Conception of book. Preparation of book. Correspondence with Mr. Atkinson. Emerson. “Household Education.” “Eastern Life.”