Dargwen, Kings Road, Lancing, Sussex. - Very kind of Trevelyan to send him a copy of "From the Shiffolds" for 1948; is 'delighted by the fluency of diction & hopefulness of thought' in the poem to [Goldsworthy] Lowes Dickinson, in which Trevelyan seems to have 'broken through the iron bands that sometimes restrain' him 'under stress of strong emotion'. Knows exactly what Trevelyan means in his "To Know And Not To Feel", but can also trace the opposite tendency in himself: the 'magic [emphasised] of things has declined', but he gains increased enjoyment from his eyes, and he now 'especially rejoice[s] in stereoscopic [emphasised] vision': he may perhaps say that his 'attitude has advanced from the savage to the infantile'. Sends best wishes for the New Year.
National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.1. - Was 'delighted and flattered' to receive a copy of "From the Shiffolds": fears that it would be 'an impertinence' to say he likes the poems, though he does; instead tells Trevelyan of an idea suggested to him by the second poem about the 'infinite divisibility of natural beauty': from a whole field of dandelions, to an individual flower, down to the beauty 'to me unsuspected, & at first breath-taking' of a 'single floret when seen through a powerful magnifier', and another when the 'unfolding & development of the flowers is seen speeded up on the cinematograph, & their intelligence is perceived.' There is as much truth 'in the field as in the floret - they are all equally Illusion'. Visited van Stuwe [?]today and 'found him flourishing', though regrets that he was 'drinking heavily', since a member of the club had 'rather rashly' given him a bottle of wine. His other guest and Burston tried their best to 'remove excessive temptation from him by continually toasting his health'; he asked to be remembered to Trevelyan. Wishes Trevelyan 'every philosophic contentment in 1948'.