December – In New Zealand Sam entered in his notebook:

At great intervals they have much snow & very hard winters in the Middle Island; Lady Barker tells of one [Gribben 47; NB 36 TS 3]. Note: Mary Anne Barker’s (Lady Broome) Station Life in New Zealand (1870).

Have begun Children of the Abbey. It begins with this “impromptu” from the sentimental heroine: “Hail, sweet asylum of my infancy! Content and innocence reside beneath your humble roof, & charity unboastful of the good it renders. Here unmolested may I wait, till the rude storm of sorrow is overblown, & my father’s arms are again expanded to receive me.” Has the earmarks of preparation [Gribben 585; NB 36 TS 3, quoted in MTB 1016]. Note: this refers to Mrs. Regina Maria Roche’s The Children of the Abbey. A Tale. (1797).