January 4th

1822

Kensington, Friday, 4 Jan. 1822
... I cannot quit Battle without observing, that the country is very pretty all about it. All hill, or valley. A great deal of wood-land, in which the underwood is generally very fine, though the oaks are not very fine, and a good deal covered with moss. This shows, that the clay ends, before the tap-root of the oak gets as deep as it would go; for, when the clay goes the full depth, the oaks are always fine.—The woods are too large, and too near each other, for hare-hunting; and, as to coursing, it is out of the question here. But, it is a fine country for shooting, and for harbouring, game of all sorts.—It was rainy as I came home; but the woodmen were at work. A great many hop-poles are cut here, which makes the coppices more valuable than in many other parts. The women work in the coppices, shaving the bark of the hop-poles, and, indeed, at various other parts of the business. These poles are shaved to prevent maggots from breeding in the bark, and accelerating the destruction, of the pole.

William Cobbett
William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey.


1869

Jan. 4, '69. We have had wind and rain, so that floods are out, but in temperature the weather mild to an unusual degree.—The other evening after a very bright day, the air rinsed quite clear, there was a slash of glowing yolk-coloured sunset.—On the 1st frost all day (which otherwise I do not remember for a long time), the air shining, but with vapour, the dead leaves frilled, the Park grass white with hoarfrost mixed with purple shadow.—Today—another clear afternoon with tender clouding after rain—one notices the crisp flat darkness of the woods against the sun and the smoky bloom they have opposite it. The trees budded and their sprays curled as if dressed for spring.

Gerard Manley Hopkins
(Gerard Manley Hopkins, (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets.)