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Withdraws recommendation of the oculist Alexander (see 2) - he is rough and brutal. On his own cataracts (including a failed operation) and other ailments - all very expensive. Again asks for JB's translation of Horace (see 3). On the sweeping away of tithes in these days of reform, and on the unfair remuneration of senior clerics - their old schoolfriend Hobart (The Hon. Henry Lewis?) as Dean of Windsor received

Xmas and New Year wishes. He and his wife still suffering from flu. Imagines shock of the Marquis of Anglesey (see 6, 7 and 25) on reading in the Times of a £50 reward being offered for the capture of his son Capt William Paget (OW - perennially in debt) for having obtained money under false pretences.

On ways by which JB may combat his depression. Invitation to stay - books (but no novels), walks in London, the diversion offered by current affairs (e.g. a failed rally on Kennington Green - presumably a Chartist demonstration, but clearly not that of 10th April on Kennington Common), the return of British expats from France in the face of the revolution that year (80,000 estimated to be in Paris alone - the family of the Earl of Pembroke occupied 8 carriages).

Has read in The Times of the death of Edward Dowdeswell (see 6) - an excellent and unpretending man, but lazy. Recalls his younger brother John. Details from Visits to Monasteries in the Levant by Robert Curzon (see 57). Cholera still present in London. Death of William Vincent OW (eldest son of the HM) - but much younger than them. Recommends Handbook of London: Past and Present by Peter Cunningham.

Cataract operations best performed in warm weather, when the patient is less likely to catch cold. Only schoolfriends he is aware of as still living are the Marquis of Anglesey (Henry William Paget) and Sir George Murray (sic - unclear who this is, but possibly, according to Hugh Pagan, Sir William Murray, brother of Sir John Murray - see also 6 ). Death last year of Sir Francis Burdett (actually January 1844) because he had given himself up to the 'cold water system'; he was always a dupe of charlatans. On the current heatwave and railroads.

Quote from the Vulgate (Book of Job, re the illnesses of old age). Alarmed by report that the school had been destroyed by fire, but in fact it was confined to Queen Anne's Bounty Office, between the boarding houses Clapham's and Geary's (NW corner of Dean's Yard). Has received 2 letters from Pulteney, who must have inherited immensely from Lady Bath (wife of Sir James Murray-Pultenay, OW). On the recent discovery by a Boston dentist of ether as an anaesthetic. How the pedantic and erudite use of the original meanings of words in book titles may put many people off buying them (A Catholic History of England, An Apology for the Bible).

Recent bad weather has caused many deaths, including his old friend the Duke of Argyll. Remarks on the crisis in Portugal, and civil unrest/disobedience in England.

Spent 7 years on Mont St Michel (see 1), whose balsamic air restored him to health - far superior to regular health resorts such as Nice and towns in the south of Italy.

Cross-written. On the abdication of Louis Philippe, King of France, who departed in such haste that he left behind his pocket book containing £15,000 in bank notes. On unrest in Europe, and demonstrations in Britain whipped up by Charles Cochrane (the Spanish Minstrel). The varying competences of physicians. On the 1798 uprising in Ireland, and the unpleasantness of civil war.

Remedies against cholera. Smith O'Brien condemned to death, but widely thought this will be commuted to banishment for life, under the pretence of royal clemency, but in fact to protect the jury; the foreman has received a threatening letter.