Great Lady's Diary - The Historical Fiction

8 th September 1820   Dear diary, I have been reading books all day indeed. The painter brought few interesting books yesterday. The title which seemed the most surprising to me is Eulogy of Baldness by Synesius of Cyrene, so it had to be the first book to read for me. It was such a funny one that I would never imagine that Neo-Platonic philosopher could have written something like this. Few words about the author – Synesius (370-413) was not only a Greek philosopher. He was also educated in Christian philosophy; he was active publicly and last years of his life were spent in Cyrene where he became a bishop. Let me go further. Next books to read were written by… Hell no. Let me try again. Early Greek Christian Literature. In the second and third centuries, works were apologetic or theological and philosophical. One of the most important, educated Athenians who converted to Christianity is St. Clement of Alexandria. Considered to be the founder of scholarly Christian lite...

7 th September 1820   And then Amor flew away through the window… Yes, I have just finished writing new poem… And it feels so fresh! I saw in one of museums all that art that present this story, so I wanted to do the same one day. The only difference is that my tool is this quill pen. This one I hold in my hand right now. The one that looks at me too now. Ah, what shall I write about today? Ah, right! I have also just written a letter to my brother. I inform him that I met Canaletto here, I mention few places I saw recently and hope to see him soon, blah blah, nothing special. That is almost a formal letter because my brother is not only my brother – he is a king! You lady must always remember who you talk to! Well, maybe I will recall few English-Scottish adventures right now and I will go to see how my husband is doing. I am pretty bored tonight. I have done a lot, but I see it is not too dark yet. Ah, are you sleeping, Willy? Ah, my shoe wants to dance… Cirencester....

6 th September 1820   Today I must spend a moment to relax and reflect. I am in a state of soul that constantly reminds me of where I am. A city like Rome leaves a glow on minds and weave a long thread of the past and tradition until now... Today we were visited by an unusual guest in our villa - the famous Canaletto, an Italian painter, and a smart man. I have already seen his works at the Royal Castle. My brother appreciates him very much. Now he is passing through Rome, he rushes to Venice, to his family. He stays with us and it is genuinely nice. My brother's court painter is almost a family! I will spend some time talking with him, and that is great. Artist and such a smart human! Today we talked about the Greek texts of the early Christians. He was reading it some time ago. He said he would bring me some translations. Unfortunately, I do not know Ancient Greek... But I would like to know these texts. I heard that these texts are pretty. Almost like love stories, some...