1. Taken, with several changes, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem ‘The saga of king Olaf’ in Tales of a Wayside inn. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 4, p. 108.

‘So hearts that are fainting

Grow full to o’erflowing

And they that behold it

Marvel, and know not

That God at their fountains

Far off has been raining!’

This poem is quoted again, with slight differences, in letters 96 and 322. Van Gogh also wrote this passage in the visitor’s book kept by Annie Slade-Jones; see Pabst 1988, p. 63.

2. Theo was suffering from an unspecified illness, the symptoms of which were long periods of debilitation and fever.

3. Although Vincent assumed that Theo knew about his weekly visits to the church at Richmond, no earlier mention of it has been found in the surviving correspondence, which could mean that a letter has been lost. The prayer meetings took place at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Richmond. See Bailey 1990, p. 95.

4. Cf. Hymn 62:2, ‘Och! mogt, all’ mijn levensdagen, / Wat Hem behaagt ook mij behagen’ (Oh, may all my livelong days, / What pleaseth Him please me always).

5. Elisabeth and Louisa van der Burg; the former had fallen and injured herself: ‘From Aunt Louise of Zundert a letter saying that Aunt Beth fell over a piece of wood in the garden and injured her arm very badly indeed, so badly that she cannot manage by herself. Poor, good soul. We feel so sorry for her’ (FR b2770, Mr van Gogh to Theo, 8 September 1876).

6. Syon Park in Isleworth.

7. The earlier visits to which Van Gogh refers will have taken place when he was living at Ivy Cottage, 395 Kennington Road (Lambeth), i.e. from August to October 1874 and from December 1874 to May 1875. Cf. letter 84, n. 3. The nearest church, St Mark’s, at the corner of Kennington Road and Clapham Road, was ‘one of the four Commissioners’ churches in Lambeth known as the Waterloo Churches’. The other churches in the neighbourhood were St Mary’s (Lambeth), St Paul’s (Clapham), Holy Trinity (Clapham) and St Matthew’s (Brixton). See Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, London 2. South. The buildings of England. Middlesex 1984, pp. 332-342.

8. This painting by David Adolph Constant Artz is unknown.

9. Teunis van Iterson was to bring two books, including Elizabeth Wetherell’s The wide, wide world; see letter 91.

10. The first chapters of The wide, wide world tell of the love of the girl Ellen for her sick mother. Ellen is taken away from her parents.

11. Taken from H.W. Longfellow, ‘The day is done’, from the book The belfry of Bruges and other poems. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 1, pp. 221-223. Van Gogh omitted the first, sixth, tenth and eleventh stanzas.

12. The first six lines are based on Rhy. ps. 42:3; the last two lines on Rhy. ps. 42:7. The first four lines of verse 42:3 and 42:7 are identical.

13. Vincent had previously sent Theo two other hymnals; this probably refers to yet another (see letter 91).

14. A prayer written and often recited in the family circle by Mr van Gogh; see letter 113.

15. Vincent Wilhelm van Gogh and Johannes van Gogh, sons of Uncle Jan van Gogh. Uncle Jan visited Theo regularly during his illness and kept Mr and Mrs van Gogh abreast of their son’s condition (FR b2777 and b2778).

17. Cf. Jer. 31:33-34. In l. 191 Van Gogh wrote ‘zonen en dochteren’ (my sons and daughters) instead of ‘een volk’ (my people).

18. Hymn 180:5. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

19. Hymn 160:5. Cf. Pabst 1988, p. 62.

21. Taken from H.W. Longfellow, ‘The light of stars’, from the book Voices of the night. See Longfellow 1886-1891, vol. 1, pp. 23-25.