Item 169 - Letter from G. M. Trevelyan to Henry Sidgwick

1 doc

Writes that Sidgwick's letter gave him great encouragement and pleasure. Reports that he is in 'a cold fit' about his book [England in the Age of Wycliffe], which he refers to as 'a second-rate' history book. Declares how much he values the opinions of Sidgwick and others. Agrees with Sidgwick 'about the faulty construction of the first part', and that the story of the Peasant's Rising 'could have followed straight after the last paragraph of Chap III'. Paragraph crossed out in pencil: Expresses how much he enjoyed, and profited from, the Methods of Ethics; reports that he read [Plato's] Republic again that summer. Refers to the 'struggle across the Channel', which, he claims, 'is now neither more nor less than God v the Devil with the odds on the Devil.' Refers to the Dreyfus Affair. Quotes a stanza from Heine.