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From January 1st 1867 to December 31st 1867
Cliveden Thursday January 3rd. 1867. On Tuesday last January 1st Mother had an illumination of lamps on the terrace, with the date of the year as a centrepiece, very pretty & successful. Yesterday 2d. a very heavy snow storm during the night
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the snow 4 feet deep in places. Out with the Stafford boys. A lovely sunset; the effect of the snow lighted up by the red clouds lovely. This morng Thursday Jan. 3rd Constance left with her children, as did Albert & the Stafford children with Mrs Johnson on their way to Trentham. Mother has complained much of fatigue to-day, but this is partly to be accounted for by the way she worked last week, seeing about rooms, etc. She is very sleepy in the afternoons now, wh she minds, & she said à propos of this to-day, that she thought it was a sign of decaying strength.
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How wretched & miserable the beginning of this New Year would be if this really were so; but I think it is owing more to the quantity of opium she has to take at night than anything else. Only another day here, as on Saturday I leave this early & start for Paris with Albert that evening. Sunday. Jun 20th (Nice) On Friday Jan 4th Skated in the morg. in the pond near the dairy. The Malcolms (the General & Georgiana) came in the eveg. I pumped him a good deal about his acquainance with the Duke (whom he seems to have known pretty well during the last years of his life) he told me several
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interesting anecdotes about him. On Saturday 5th Jan. left Cliveden by 10.10. (I had the charge of Albts dog Wasp) The cold was intense, the snow inches deep & brittle all along the road & it took nearby 3/4 of an hour for the fly to get to the station. London was not so bad as the letters in the papers led one to Xpect, as the snow especially in Pall Mall was being carted away. Most of the day spent in shopping for the journey. Towards eveg. a very slight thaw began, but later the frost returned and there were no signs when Albert & I left town (by the 8.30 fr. Charing X) of the thaw that came on so suddenly next day. We had a good passage fr. D. to Calais (here old