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13A Hanover Terrace, Ladbroke Grove W.11. - Janet was very glad to get Bessie's letter; she was moved back home yesterday; arrangements for her care. May has been over-tired but should now manage. Janet may live months. Will ask Glaisher to send a copy of his father's letters.

c/o J.H. Stone, Warden's Lodge, Chepauk, Madras. - Have been here since 10 January, staying with Dickinson's old Cambridge friend [Joseph Henry Stone] in the educational department. They have lunched with the Pentlands, and he called again on Lady Pentland this morning; they seem to like it here, and have been 'very busy entertaining and seeing people'; their children also seemed well. Lady Pentland sent 'many kind messages' to Robert's parents, and to Molly, Charles and their children. She showed Robert the banquet hall where there was a picture of his grandfather [Sir Charles Trevelyan], though he did not think it very good; there are some 'quite good earlier portraits of Governors', and a 'rather dull Watts'; also an 'ugly one of Grant Duff', and a good one by Dickinson's father of Lord Napier. Robert and Dickinson have been to hear the commission [the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India] and may go again today; it is 'almost impossible to hear anything' due to bad acoustics, but they have met several of the commissioners. Likes R[amsay] Macdonald 'very much'; he and [Gopal Krishna] Gokhale seem the 'ablest men on the commission'. Have also met Sir T[heodore] Morison and Sir V[alentine] Chirol, both seem 'sensible men'. H[erbert] Fisher has not yet arrived; fortunate for him, as 'the commission must be a great bore'. Wishes they did not have to see so much 'second rate Anglo Indian society here'; their host is 'amiable, but rather dull'. Going to see the Seven Pagodas [at Mahabalipuram] tomorrow, before joining 'a Mr Bedford, a civilian, in his camp near Salem'; will stay several days before going on to Trichinopoly and Madura[i?], then to Trivandrum in Travancore and on to Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. They will probably leave Colombo for Java on 14 February, a week later than he had hoped. The post and where to write next. Will finish packing now and go for a 'last look at the sea'; as it is a holiday, 'everyone is strolling about in their most brilliant shawls and dresses; the Madras crowd is 'the most picturesque' he has yet seen. Finishes the letter on the evening of 15 January. Is quite looking forward to a week in camp. Has been to dinner with the Pentlands, who are 'admirable hosts'.

3 Hare Court, Inner Temple:- Is setting off tomorrow morning 'by the train de luxe', and will reach Florence on Friday evening; his address will be c/o B[ernard] Berenson, Via Camerata. Expects he will stay there over Christmas. Went to tea with Mrs [Helen] Fry last Sunday: she was 'still better than last time', and will 'leave Roehampton quite soon, possibly has already'. Will see Roger Fry this afternoon at Fry's lecture. Mrs Russell Barrington and her 'majority on the committee have behave[d] abominably to him in the matter of payment'; his solicitors say he has an 'absolutely safe case' if he choose to fight it but he 'does not want to have a row'.

Is glad his mother 'liked the wood-cuts'; thinks the 'round Shannons were the best on the whole' and bought two of them, the Pegasus and the Diver. Some of Robert's friend [T.S.] Moore's Bacchantes and Centaurs and his Wordworths [illustrations] were 'very charming in quite another way, and of course he is not so accomplished an engraver as the others'.

[Robert] Binyon, who 'should know as well as anyone' recommends Dyer of Mount Street, who 'looks after the National Gallery pictures' to 'varnish the Holl'. Supposes his parents are 'sure it wants varnishing': pictures are 'so often over-varnished now', but Binyon says Dyer 'would be quite certain not to over varnish it'. Will however ask '[G. L.] Dickinson's father' whom he will see later today and 'ought to know best, as he is a good portrait painter of long experience'; Robert also thinks he 'knew Holl himself'. Will let her know in a few days.

Encloses a review [of his book Mallow and Asphodel] from the Speaker, which is 'quite favorable'; is 'still waiting for a real criticism, favorable or the opposite', but supposes he is 'asking too much of Reviewers'. Hopes his parents are well.

Is offering the portrait of Clerk Maxwell by Lowes Dickinson paid for by the subscribers to the Clerk Maxwell Memorial Fund, and asks if a descriptive plate should be attached to the frame, and what the wording should be.

Thanks Trevelyan for the letter of condolence on the death of his father, to whom he pays tribute.