A Private History of Happiness (35 page)

Patrick Kenny, “Diary of Rev. Patrick Kenny,”
Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia
1898 p. 249ff

The Urge to Linger in a Warm Bed
• Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius,
Meditations
, translated by Richard Graves (London, Robinson) 1792

Winter Dawn in the Cathedral Close
• Anna Seward

Anna Seward, “Sonnet XL. December Morning” from
The Poetical Works
(Edinburgh, Ballantyne and Co) 1810

FRIENDSHIP

Time Together with an Ancient Book
• Willem de Clercq

Dagboek van Willem de Clerq 1811
–1830. Passage translated from the original French by George Myerson

Original French at
http://www.inghist.nl/retroboeken/declercq/

A Climb to the Top of the Hill
• Kamo no Chomei

Passage translated from the original Japanese by Alex Dudoq de Wit An edition of the whole text: Kamo no Chomei,
Ho-jo-ki
, translated by F. Victor Dickins (London, Gowans and Grey) 1907

A Breakfast Served with Stories and Laughter
• George Cutler

Emily Vanderpoel,
Chronicles of a Pioneer School from 1792 to 1833
(Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press) 1903

The Freedom of Dancing through the Night
• Robert Burns

Robert Burns,
The Works of Robert Burns
, edited by James Currie (London, Cadell and Davies) 1806

In Anticipation of a Gentleman’s Visit
• Mary Russell Mitford

Mary Russell Mitford,
The Life of Mary Russell Mitford Related in a Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends
, edited by Alfred L’Estrange (London, R. Bentley) 1870

The Familiar Delight of Chitchat
• Sarah Connell

Sarah Connell Ayer,
Diary of Sarah Connell Ayer
(Andover and Newburyport, Lefavor-Tower Company) 1910

A Casual Dinner Party
• Horace

Horace,
Odes, Satires and Epistles
, translated by Thomas Creech (London, Tonson) 1730

A Free Piano Concert
• Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann,
Early Letters of Robert Schumann
, translated by May Herbert (London, George Bell and Sons) 1888

GARDEN

A Glad Return to the Old Pine Tree
• Tao Yuanming

Selection of Tao Yuanming’s work in
Gems of Chinese Literature
, translated and edited by
Herbert A. Giles (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh) 1922

A Touch of Spring
• Thomas Gray

Thomas Gray, “Gardening,” January 1755
–March 1756, in
Gentleman’s Magazine
, 24 September 1845

Floral Abundance
• Mary Dawson-Damer

Mary Damer,
Diary of a Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and the Holy Land
(London, H. Colburn) 1841

The Hours before Dawn at the Imperial Court
• Murasaki Shikibu

Passage translated from the original Japanese by Alex Dudoq de Wit An edition of the whole text: Murasaki Shikibu,
The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu
, in
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan
, translated by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company) 1920

Perfect Fragrance
• Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq

Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq,
The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq
, translated and edited by Charles Thornton Forster and F. H. Blackburn Daniell (London, C. K. Paul) 1881

The Pleasant Distraction of a Blooming Greenhouse
• William Cowper

William Cowper, “A Letter to Unwin, June 8, 1783” from
The Unpublished and Uncollected Poems
, edited by T. Wright (London, T. F. Unwin) 1900

The Manmade Rainbow
• Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne,
The Journal of Montaigne’s Travels in Italy by Way of Switzerland and Germany in 1580 and 1581
, translated and edited by W. G. Waters (London, John Murray) 1903

Flowers and Fruits Blaze for a Birthday
• Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes
, edited by John Torrey Morse (Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co.) 1896

FAMILY

The Sweet Thought of the Children
• Yamanoue no Okura

Passage translated from the original Japanese by Alex Dudoq de Wit Selection of the work available in
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East with an Historical Survey and Descriptions, Vol. 13
, edited by Charles F. Horne (New York, Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb) 1917

An Outing to the Park
• Charlotte Bousfield

Charlotte Bousfield,
The Bousfield Diaries
, edited by Richard Smart (Bedfordshire Historical Record Society/Boydell Press) 2007

Pride in an Unfinished New Home
• Tryphena White

Tryphena Ely White,
Tryphena Ely White’s Journal; Being a Record, Written One Hundred Years Ago, of the Daily Life of a Young Lady of Puritan Heritage
(New York, The Grafton Press) 1904

Together Again, At Last
• Du Fu

Du Fu, in
Gems of Chinese Verse
, translated and edited by W. J. B. Fletcher (Shanghai, Commercial Press) 1919

Deep Gratitude for Health
• John Hull

John Hull, “Notebook,” edited by Thomas Lechford in
Archæologia Americana. Transactions and Collections, Vol. 3
(Worcester, American Antiquarian Society) 1857

A Father’s Gift of Fruit and Sugar
• Edmund Verney

Lady Frances Parthenope Verney and Lady Margaret Maria Williams-Hay Verney,
Memoirs of the Verney Family, Vol. 4
(London and New York, Longmans, Green & Co.) 1892

The Loving Presence of Her Children
• Hannah Mary Rathbone

Deborah Reynolds,
The Reynolds-Rathbone Diaries and Letters 1793
–1839
, edited by Mrs. Eustace Greg (Printed for Private Circulation) 1905

A Warm Welcome by the In-Laws
• Ann Warder

Ann Warder, “Extracts from the Diary of Mrs. Ann Warder,” in
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
1893

LEISURE

The Amazing Pelican
• John Evelyn

John Evelyn,
Diary and Correspondence, Vol. 1
(London, Bell and Daldy) 1870

The Count’s Invitation to a Ball
• Mary Wortley Montagu

Mary Wortley Montagu,
Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu:
Written during Her Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa to Persons of Distinction, Men of Letters, &c. in Different Parts of Europe
(London, Cassell and Murray) 1779

The Governor’s Guests
• Ouyang Xiu

Ouyang Xiu, in
Gems of Chinese Literature
, translated and edited by
Herbert A. Giles
(Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh) 1922

On Top of an Active Volcano
• Mary Berry

Mary Berry,
Extracts of the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry: From the Year 1783 to 1852
, edited by Lady Theresa Lewis (London, Longmans Green)
1865

A Visit to a Literary Salon
• Karl August Varnhagen von Ense

Kate Vaughan Jennings,
Rahel: Her Life and Letters
(London, H. S. King) 1876

A Doorway into Antiquity
• Benjamin Silliman

Benjamin Silliman,
A Journal of Travels in England, Holland, and Scotland, and of Two Passages over the Atlantic, in the Years 1805 and 1806
(Boston, printed by T. B. Wait and Co. for Howe and Deforest, and Increase Cook and Co. Newhaven) 1812

The Landscape Painting
• Emma Willard

Emma Willard,
Journal and Letters, from France and Great-Britain
(Troy, N. Tuttle) 1833

Magic Lights and Fireworks under the Moon
• Jane Knox

Memoirs of a Vanished Generation 1813
–1855
, edited by Warenne Blake (London and New York, J. Lane) 1909

NATURE

The Bliss of Skating
•
George Head

George Head,
Forest Scenes and Incidents, in the Wilds of North America: Being a Diary of a Winter’s Route from Halifax to the Canadas
(London, John Murray) 1838

An Amusing Owl
• Gilbert White

Gilbert White,
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
(London, Longman and Co.) 1837

A Vast Sheet of Frozen Water
• William Whewell

Janet Douglas,
The Life and Selections from the Correspondence of William Whewell
(London, C. K. Paul) 1881

The First Sight of the Mountains
• Lucy Larcom

Daniel Dulany Addison,
Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters and Diary
(Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Co.) 1894

The Celebrated Pine Tree
• Matsuo Basho

Passage translated from the original Japanese by Alex Dudoq de Wit An edition of the whole text: Matsuo Basho,
Back Roads to Far Towns
, translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu (Buffalo, White Pine Press) 2004

The Wonderful Mist of the Waterfall
• John Goldie

John Goldie,
Diary of a Journey through Upper Canada and Some of the New England States
, 1819 (Toronto, W. Tyrell) 1897

New Year’s Day in the Heavens and on Earth
• Hattori Ransetsu

Haiku translated from the original Japanese by Alex Dudoq de Wit Selected haikus by Ransetsu, including an earlier version of this poem,
found in
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East with an Historical Survey and Descriptions, Vol. 13
, edited by Charles F. Horne (New York, Parke, Austin, and Lipscomb) 1917

On Top of the World
• Edward Price

Edward Price,
Norway and Its Scenery, Comprising the Journal of a Tour by Edward Price, Esq. with Considerable Additions
, edited and compiled by Thomas Forester (London, Henry G. Bohn) 1853

A Fine White Beach
• Hannah Callender

George Vaux, “Extracts from the Diary of Hannah Callender,” in
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
1888

The Source of the River
• William Turner

William Turner,
Journal of a Tour in the Levant
(London, John Murray) 1820

FOOD AND DRINK

The Peerless Plum
• Ibn Battuta

Sir Henry Yule, Odorico (da Pordenone), Rashid al-Din Habib, Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, Joannes de Marignolis, Ibn Batuta, and Bento de Góis,
Cathay and the Way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, Vol. 2
(Printed for the Hakluyt Society) 1866

Home-Style Cooking on the Wagon Trail
• Lodisa Frizzell

Lodisa Frizzell,
Across the Plains to California in 1852
, edited by Victor Hugo Paltsits (New York, The New York Public Library) 1915

A Philosopher’s Last Taste of Life
• Hermippus

Diogenes Laertes,
The Lives of the Philosophers
, translated by C. D. Yonge (London, Henry Bohn) 1853

The Sea Air Gives a Good Appetite
• Thomas Turner

Thomas Turner, “Extracts from the Diary of Thomas Turner,”
Sussex Archeological Collections
XI 1859

A Handful of Refreshing Well Water
• Lady Sarashina