Had the same trouble with Beethoven again to-day, so I felt rather ‘ratty’ in the morning. The cold forbidding weather put off our intended trip in a boat up the river, so if to-morrow is fine with God’s help we will have it. After dinner Mám and I went for a walk through Charnley’s estate again and I had a chase after some rabbits. The only drawback is that the whole district is swarming with ‘blind doctors’ ut aiunt [as they say], which swarm on our clothes, and if the material is thin, bite right through it. I got a few pimples from them to-day. The story of the Charnleys is also full of scandal and tragedy, and this seems to be the case with a lot of the big and powerful families, all over Ireland. Went for a nice but solitary swim before tea. Mám went sticking photos in her new album, and I read my history after tea. Grant, the author, is evidently a bigoted old Protestant, as he continues hitting at the Papacy the whole time, leading up probably to a justification of Protestant no-Popery. Mám is reading a book too with bigoted tales of the ‘bad’ Pope Alexander VI. Played tennis despite damp and mist.
