1. This ‘me’ refers to Theo.

2. Meaning: business affair, transaction (not ‘love affair’).

3. Possibly a quotation; the phrase also occurs in letter 184.

4. Exod. 6:8 (in KJ Exod. 6:9).

5. Tincture of opium, a sleep-inducing pain-killer.

6. Taken from Michelet’s L’amour; see letter 180, n. 5. The phrase ‘Love on’, later in the letter, is from Michelet’s La femme; see letter 180, n. 2.

7. Presumably Van Gogh is speaking of his earlier infatuation with Caroline Haanebeek, who eventually married Willem van Stockum (cf. letter 182, n. 15).

8. Biblical; see, for instance, Num. 20:17 and Deut. 5:32.

9. Mark 12:31.

10. Van Gogh wanted to go on writing here: after the word ‘ontdooien’ (thaw, which comes at the end of the Dutch sentence), he wrote the word ‘en’ (and), but stopped writing and started a new sentence on another sheet of paper.

11. Ironical reference to a remark made by Uncle Stricker; see letter 180.

12. For this metaphorical comparison, see also letter 182.

13. This example is repeated in letter 187.

14. Van Gogh later added ‘Am I as short-sighted as that???’

15. Ps. 130:4 (Van Gogh wrote ‘genade’ (mercy) instead of ‘vergeving’ (forgiveness).

16. The English proverb goes ‘It’s never too late to mend’; the rest was added by Van Gogh. Cf. Charles Reade, “It is never too late to mend.” A matter of fact romance. 2 vols. Leipzig 1856 (Collection of British authors, vol. 374).

a. Lees ‘fond’ (bottom).

17. This is repeated in letters 187 and 189.

18. The 40th anniversary of the Strickers, Kee’s parents; see letter 179, n. 7.