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poliphilo The distant relative I had dealings with a few years back has died and his widow talks of downsizing- and there's a possibility the family thingummies I lodged with him (because he was deeply into family history) may be heading back this way. They consist of the journals of my Great Aunt Enid and an amateurish portrait of my many times great-grandad Samuel Allen.
Enid valued her journals highly and wished them preserved but no-one in succeeding generations wants to give them houseroom. They looked like they might be interesting but I read some and my bro-in-law read- and they turned out to be mainly about the pashes (never quite love affairs) she indulged in over the course of a long life. The absence of self-awareness is breathtaking. "Bonfire" says Ailz but I don't know. I feel a certain tenderness towards the dead. I wonder what Enid herself, now that she is out of the body and has- presumably- gained wisdom- thinks now of her really rather embarrassing effusions....
The portrait of old Sam (I'll bet no-one actually called him Sam to his face) is a different matter. He was brother to the genuinely distinguished William Allen- and an abolitionist whose presence at an important gathering of abolitionists is documented in a group portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. He was a Quaker- and now I'm a Quaker too I feel a deeper kinship. My relative offered the portrait to the Hitchen museum and they said they'd take it but it would go straight into storage and probably never see the light of day (Hitchen was where he did his Quakering) and so it's still hanging on my relative's widow's wall in Castle Acre, Norfolk. If he does come back to me I might try to palm him of on the Quakers here at Eastbourne. As a work of art he's deficient, but he's sort of interesting as an historical footnote. He has a pinched, cadaverous features and is pictured reading a paper called Peace News.
Enid valued her journals highly and wished them preserved but no-one in succeeding generations wants to give them houseroom. They looked like they might be interesting but I read some and my bro-in-law read- and they turned out to be mainly about the pashes (never quite love affairs) she indulged in over the course of a long life. The absence of self-awareness is breathtaking. "Bonfire" says Ailz but I don't know. I feel a certain tenderness towards the dead. I wonder what Enid herself, now that she is out of the body and has- presumably- gained wisdom- thinks now of her really rather embarrassing effusions....
The portrait of old Sam (I'll bet no-one actually called him Sam to his face) is a different matter. He was brother to the genuinely distinguished William Allen- and an abolitionist whose presence at an important gathering of abolitionists is documented in a group portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. He was a Quaker- and now I'm a Quaker too I feel a deeper kinship. My relative offered the portrait to the Hitchen museum and they said they'd take it but it would go straight into storage and probably never see the light of day (Hitchen was where he did his Quakering) and so it's still hanging on my relative's widow's wall in Castle Acre, Norfolk. If he does come back to me I might try to palm him of on the Quakers here at Eastbourne. As a work of art he's deficient, but he's sort of interesting as an historical footnote. He has a pinched, cadaverous features and is pictured reading a paper called Peace News.
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Date: 2025-03-21 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-03-22 02:39 pm (UTC)Also, I have to publish diary of my mother and it’s staff that without my comments should be very ugly and disgusted… and I always postponed it and postponed…
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Date: 2025-03-22 04:24 pm (UTC)Her diaries aren't dirty, just rather silly.
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Date: 2025-03-22 05:05 pm (UTC)