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The Shiffolds. - Now back from Edinburgh, where he 'spent a few very interesting days staying with the Professor of Chemistry, [George] Barger, who is half Dutch, an old Cambridge man'. The Toveys do not have enough room in their house for guests, but Robert 'saw plenty of them, which was a great pleasure'. The concert went well: the [Reid] Orchestra is said to have 'played better than it has ever done, and the orchestra seemed to enjoy the extract from the opera [The Bride of Dionysus, and recalled Tovey several times']. If [Thomas] Beecham 'had not gone bankrupt, he would probably have produced the opera this year'; instead they will 'have to wait, for operas are expensive things'.

On returning home, found Julian's [whooping] cough much better; he is 'thin, and gets tired easily' but generally 'fairly well and cheerful'. Robert reads history, poetry, and the Bible with him; they 'don't read the bible at his school, so it is as well he should at home, and he certainly enjoys it a great deal', though Robert sees 'no signs as yet of his having a religious turn of mind'. Bessie is reading [Kipling's] Captains Courageous to Julian, who 'likes it very much'.

Robert will go to Cambridge next month to see the Oresteia performed [in J. T. Sheppard's Greek production; Robert's translation was available for the audience]. A letter from Robert's father to Julian came today; Julian will open it tomorrow on his birthday.

W[est] H[ackhurst]. Monday. - Not important, but if she does 'look in tomorrow', asks if she can lend him the second and third volumes of 'Tovey's Beethoven Sonatas'; will return the first volume, which he found 'very interesting', to her in any case. Tries 'not to upset myself - one is so unpleasant to oneself and to others if one gets fussed' and occasionally, 'through keeping quiet and cheerful, one can help people'. Sometimes of course 'precisely the same conduct irritates them; no reliable recipe exists'.

His mother is 'very depressed'; was taking her to London for three days but she has decided not to go, 'perhaps wisely. Next week. ...?.... I should go to the Bargers'; will stay one night at Wallington on the way home. Adds a postscript saying he will be in all day tomorrow (Tuesday)

11 E[dwardes] S[quare] QE. - Won't return at the weekend: thinks he had better go to the Bargers as it seems the last chance of seeing them before they go. Bob 'perfectly delightful' last night and the atmosphere of the dinner made him very happy. Quotes in German [from Goethe's "Faust"]. Hopes Bob will let him know the results of his examination at once.

Mill House, Westcott, Dorking. - He and Bessie send many thanks to his father for the 'duck and hare': they did not realise until they received his mother's letter [11/109] that he had shot the hare himself. They had it for dinner yesterday: George and Janet were visiting, and have just left, both seemed 'very well and cheerful'. George 'seems relieved to get the history [his England under the Stuarts] off his mind'; has been reading the chapter on Queen Anne and it 'seems very good', though George is dissatisfied and thinks it 'too sketchy'. He can always 'treat the subject more elaborately someday' if he wishes. Thinks the book should be successful.

Last time they were at the [new] house, ten days ago, the roof was being finished, almost a fortnight earlier than expected. They have been making arrangements for some of the work on the garden to be done this winter: a 'trained lady-gardener... is to be responsible for the work'. The house looks good and has been 'well built'; since no alterations to the plans have been needed so far, there ought not to be any extra expense.

The 'Sunday Tramps, led by George' came for tea yesterday: 'young [Thoby] Stephen, and J. Pollock, and [George?] Barger, a Dutchman, and [Sydney] Waterlow, and R. Mayor'. All but Mayor are tall, and in their 'rather low rooms they seemed to Bessie like giants; they have never had 'so many and tall people' in the house together. Encloses two Chinese poems; the 'longer one, by a kind of Chinese Horace' was suggested to Robert by his father shooting ducks, but he sees from 'Professor Giles' translations' that it is actually geese; the rest of that poem 'scarcely applies' to his father, but the shorter, 'on Retirement', may. Understands that the translations are 'fairly literal, though the metres of the originals are quite different'. He and Bessie both send love, and Bessie thanks Caroline for her letter. Robert's book [The Birth of Parsival] has already been printed, though probably will not come out till February.

Separate sheet on which two poems [from Giles' Chinese Poetry in English Verse] are copied out: Discontent by Han Yü [title not copied out] and In Retirement by Li Chia-yu.