| CHAPTER I |
| CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, 1741-1759 |
| | PAGE |
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| Ancestry—Anecdotes—Childhood—School life—Inoculation—The paternal character—Mrs. Kennon—Letters to a schoolboy—A mercantile apprenticeship—A youthful love affair—Family troubles—A gloomy outlook | [1] |
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| CHAPTER II |
| FARMING AND MARRIAGE, 1759-1766 |
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| The gay world—A call on Dr. Johnson—A venture—Offer of a career—Farming decided upon—Garrick—Marriage—Mr. Harte—Lord Chesterfield on farming—Literary work—Correspondence—Birth of a daughter | [26] |
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| CHAPTER III |
| IN SEARCH OF A LIVING, 1767-1775 |
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| Home travels—A move—Anecdote of a cat—Disillusion—‘A Farmer’s Letters’—Another move—‘In the full blaze of her beauty’—Hetty Burney and her harpsichord—‘Scant in servants’—Maternal solicitude—Money difficulties—More tours—Lord Sheffield—Howard the philanthropist—Correspondence | [44] |
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| CHAPTER IV |
| IRELAND, 1776-1778 |
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| The journey to Ireland—Characteristics—Residence at Mitchelstown—Intrigues—A strange bargain—Departure—Letter to his wife—A terrible journey | [66] |
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| CHAPTER V |
| FARMING AND EXPERIMENTS, 1779-1782 |
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| Corn bounties—A grievance—Reading—Hugh Boyd—Bishop Watson—Howlett on population—Irish Linen Board—Experiments—Correspondence | [83] |
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| CHAPTER VI |
| FIRST GLIMPSE OF FRANCE, 1783-1785 |
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| Birth of Bobbin—Ice baths—‘The Annals of Agriculture’—A group of friends—Lazowski—First glimpse of France—Death of my mother—The Bishop of Derry—Fishing parties—Rainham | [110] |
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| CHAPTER VII |
| FIRST FRENCH JOURNEY, 1786-1787 |
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| Death of my brother—Anecdotes of his character—Dr. Burney on farming—Greenwich versus Eton—Blenheim—Correspondence with Dr. Priestley—County toasts—French projects—First French journey | [138] |
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| CHAPTER VIII |
| TRAVEL AND INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS, 1788-89-1790 |
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| The Wool Bill—Sheridan’s speech—Count Berchtold—Experiments—Second French journey—Potato-fed sheep—Cost of housekeeping—Chicory—Burnt in effigy—Correspondence—Third French journey—With Italian agriculturists—Bishop Watson and Mr. Luther—Correspondence—Literary work—Illness—The state of France | [163] |
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| CHAPTER IX |
| PATRIOTIC PROPOSALS, 1791-92 |
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| Illness—Correspondence with Washington—The King’s gift of a ram—Anecdotes—Revising MSS.—Patriotic proposals—Death of the Earl of Orford—Agricultural schemes—Correspondence | [189] |
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| CHAPTER X |
| THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1793 |
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| The Board of Agriculture—Secretaryship—Residence in London—Twenty-five dinners a month—The King’s bull—The Marquis de Castries—‘The Example of France’—Encomiums thereof—Correspondence | [219] |
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| CHAPTER XI |
| THE SECRETARYSHIP, 1794-95-1796 |
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| The Secretaryship and its drawbacks—Social compensations—Illness and death of Elizabeth Hoole—Letters of Jeremy Bentham and others—A visit to Burke—Home travels—Enclosures | [241] |
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| CHAPTER XII |
| ILLNESS AND DEATH OF BOBBIN, 1797 |
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| Illness of Bobbin—Letters of Bobbin and her father’s replies—Dress minutes at the opera—Hoping against hope—Bobbin’s death—Seeking for consolation—Retrospection—Beginning of diary—Correspondence | [263] |
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| CHAPTER XIII |
| DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1798, 1799, 1800 |
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| Assessed taxes—Society—Mr. Pitt and the Board of Agriculture—A foolish joke—Dinners to poor children—Interview with the King—Royal farming—Correspondence—Bradfield—Incidents of home travel—Portrait of a great lady—Correspondence | [312] |
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| CHAPTER XIV |
| DIARY CONTINUED, 1801-1803 |
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| Public affairs and prophecy—The divining rod—The appropriation of waste lands—The word ‘meanness’ defined—South’s sermons—Projected theological compendia—Correspondence—Journalising to ‘my friend’—Anecdote of Dean Milner and Pitt—Death of the Duke of Bedford—Napoleon and Protestantism | [347] |
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| CHAPTER XV |
| APPROACHING BLINDNESS, 1804-1807 |
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| A great preacher—Arthur Young the younger goes to Russia—Cowper’s letters—Mrs. Young’s illness—Dr. Symonds—Novel reading—Skinner’s ‘State of Peru’—Death of Pitt—Burke’s publishing accounts—Literary projects—Approaching blindness | [391] |
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| CHAPTER XVI |
| LAST YEARS, 1808-1820 |
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| Gradual loss of sight—Illness and death of Mrs. Oakes—Daily routine—A disappointment—Riots—Death of Mrs. Young—Anecdotes of Napoleon—A story of the Terror—National distress—Close of diary—The end | [441] |
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| INDEX | [475] |