He compares modern painting unfavourably with old works which show greater "ripeness". He has blocked in all the colour on his large picture, which measures 7 feet by 3 feet six inches, it will be ready for the R.A. Discusses his intense reponse to the landscape around him, with particular reference to the challenge it poses for a good painterly representation. The English are organising horse trails, in which he will particpate on his bright "little nag". Ramandan has been fun, he had twelve celebrants in his studio, where he could study their expressions and colour. He provides contrasting sketches of profiles, arguing that it proves
Darwin "at once". Also provides one of the view from their windows, a standing Sudanese man seen from the rear. He was taken recently to Busaria (Bouzareah), where there is a burial ground.
Talks at length of his respose to events in Rome and the first Vatican Council. He regards the
Pope as "audacious" and "swindling" and suspects that the "dogma on dogma" may bring the whole ediface down.