1873, February 13, Thursday
Spent evening with Mr Hall, of Worcester, a nephew of Mr Goschen, Chancellor of Exchequer.
Spent evening with Mr Hall, of Worcester, a nephew of Mr Goschen, Chancellor of Exchequer.
Julius Sankey called to see Harry. Said he would not come again till Monday.
Bell went to Cheltenham.
Bell returned from Cheltenham.
York-Powell, Ashby (of Merton) and Julius Sankey came this evening. Bought my Staunton Chessmen and box of Solomon in “the Corn”, 43/-.
Harry returned to school.
Dined with Dr Sankey at Littlemore Asylum and took service at Sandford afterwards.
Called on Charles Gibson this evening.
Dined with Dr Sankey at Littlemore and took all service at Sandford afterwards.
Went to Sandford. Mr Lee took all the duty this evening.
Paid Richardson Solicitor, of Bristol, 13/4 charged for “Myself v Bessell”. Paid Abbott and Nicholls for Billiard Balls 18/6.
Visited at Sandford. Mr Lee did all duty this evening.
Bell and I went to hear Bach’s Passion Music at Christ Church Cathedral.
Bell went to Cheltenham by 4.10 train, but arrived too late to see her mother alive.
Mr Lee and Mr Robin called this evening.
Drove to Sandford.
Bell returned from Cheltenham.
Mrs Owen called and asked me to take her son as a pupil for the Easter Vacation. I declined.
Drove to Sandford and took all duty this evening.
Mr Richard Ford Heath, B A London, of Elizabeth House called.
Hutton, Chamberlin and de Trafford went down for Easter.
Good Friday. Preached at Sandford this morning.
“iexwyxk fr ptmva tgw uxeel.” House £6.6.0 Key forgotten.
A coded phrase? Perhaps “Key forgotten” refers to the key to the code. See April 17 below for another coded phrase, and a likely explanation.
Went to London. Stayed at Mountain’s East Dulwich.
Edward Mortimer Mountain, my godson, baptized at St John’s Church, East Dulwich.
Went to Footscray with Louie and Lottie in Mountain’s carriage and pair.
Received from Longmans on account of G.L.B. £100.
“Laundress El ptmva, cheque £12.” Key lost.
I think that this and the previous peculiar phrase on April 12 have been encrypted using a simple Caesar shift cipher. If we shift each letter along the alphabet by 7 letters (a to h, b to i, etc), then the April 12 phrase iexwyxk fr ptmva tgw uxeel becomes pledfer my watch and bells.
The word ptmva (watch) is repeated in today’s partially enciphered phrase, with El perhaps being the Latin et (and) with an uncrossed t.
Given yesterday’s entry referring to receipt of a cheque from Longmans, I think a reasonable interpretation of all this is that Stevens had a cash-flow problem: on the 10th, he “pledged my watch and Bell’s” at a pawnbroker in order to pay the rent on his house. After receiving the Longmans payment he was able to write a cheque for £12 to the pawnbroker in order to re-possess the watches and obtain sufficient cash to pay the laundress.
Tim Huckvale
Went to Crystal Palace.
Returned to Oxford.
Dined with Mr Lee at New College.
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Read about the Rev Edward Stevens here.