Boulogne s/ Seine. - Does not know whether he can come to Italy yet as his quarterly allowance from Hyderabad is late - '[p]eople in the Nation States are so slack and unmindful' - and he has debts to pay off; in addition, Professor Kalitinsky is trying to defer a recall to Prague so that he can look after the dog. If Trevelyan has to leave at the beginning of February, as he wrote from Berlin, Suhrawardy had better wait for him in Paris. Julian has been for lunch and met Kalitinsky, his son Andrei, and Reksusha [the dog]; Suhrawardy then saw him again with two Cambridge friends in a café in town. Has had great news from Madame Germanova whose performance at her theatre as Masha, in [Chekhov's] "Three Sisters" in English, went very well. Was looking forward to hearing the new version of [Trevelyan's] Sulla. Trevelyan is the kindest of his friends; very much hopes to get to Italy to see him. A postscript on a separate sheet describes a meeting with a friend of Cheng Sheng, Lung Wo; he looks very young but is apparently an admiral of the Chinese fleet and is travelling with his wife and children on behalf of the Nankin government. He is anxious to meet people sympathetic to the Chinese nationalists, and Suhrawardy wonders if Trevelyan could see him and introduce him to meet Waley and Lowes Dickinson, or perhaps a Labour Party member who likes China. He talks English better than Cheng Sheng, though he has a very soft voice; seems a nice, kind man, though who knows what he might have done during the revolution.
British Museum, W.C.1. - Sorry he missed Trevelyan, who must stay with them next time he comes to London. Has done some 'miscellaneous T'ang poems', mainly by contemporaries of Po Chu-I, and encloses one [no longer present]. Is going to Tidmarsh [home of Lytton Strachey] on Sunday and is most excited: wants to see 'the education of those patient females' with his own eyes. Is attending a meeting of the Philological Society to hear a paper on 'the Ergonics [sic] of the Japanese Language'; does not know 'in the least what that means'. Asks if Trevelyan heard James Strachey's 'address to the 1917 Club on the Sex Question" on Tuesday evening. Can see 'the unmistakeable figure of [Harry] Norton] from the window, perhaps going from Gordon Square to 'tea with his sister Betty in Grays Inn'. Asks if Trevelyan has read the "Poet's Pilgrimage" by W. H. Davies, which he almost liked better than 'the tramp book' ["The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp"]
Thanks Bessie for her letter. They had a 'full account' of Dr [Frédéric] Bauer's death from Alice Boner: he was with Alice and her sister Georgette at Bangalore, went up to his room after dinner to fetch a book and did not come down; they found him unconscious and he died in hospital a few days later. Mitra, an Indian friend, also wrote to Beryl [de Zoete], calling it a heart attack. Beryl left for China yesterday and will stay there a month; he is going to Norway tomorrow until 20 May. They look forward to seeing Bessie later.
K[ing's] C[ollege] C[ambridge]. - Thanks Trevelyan for his Christmas greeting: Shepherd admires it greatly too. The [Apostles] Society is going strong: it meets in Forster's room and the papers are excellent, though sometimes overly 'concerned with the Communist interpretation of history'; the brethren are keen on tradition. Has most in common with [P.N.] Furbank of Emmanuel. Is going to give a talk on criticism at a musical conference at Harvard in May. Has been much affected by the loss of West Hackhurst, and finds it painful to visit Abinger Hammer: a few lines are scribbled over, as 'unnecessarily peevish'. Is very touched by the kindness of Patrick Wilkinson and his wife, with whom he lodges. Is on friendly terms with the undergraduates; has done some supervision but no regular teaching. If Trevelyan is visiting Cambridge and wishes to come to an Apostles meeting, Forster can let him know dates; [Eric] Hobsbawm has a job at Birkbeck so will no longer be secretary.
West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Dorking. - Very sorry to hear of Logan [Pearsall Smith's] death, and sends sympathy. Went to Cambridge on Thursday: King's are being very kind and giving Forster one of [Nathaniel] Wedd's former rooms, which will enable him to house his furniture instead of storing or selling it, and two small rooms in Trumpington Street. Arthur Waley is taking a 'lofty line' over his fellowship and not making a good impression. Originally enclosing a letter which has been his first intimation of who will succeed him at West Hackhurst [Frances Farrer, sister of the owner, Lady Bridges]: would like to know what Trevelyan and Bessie think, and how they would have replied.
Furzen Wood, Abinger Common, near Dorking. - Has been sent some money for Julian's furniture, which he has paid into the account at Drummond's. Elizabeth has had to put off her visit to the Netherlands because of her 'nose-bleeding', which is 'not serious but a nuisance'; expects she will be able to go in a week or two. Is 'fairly right again' now himself, though gets tired if he does too much. They went to London on Wednesday for Donald [Tovey]'s first concert with Adila [Fachiri], who played a Bach sonata with Donald's new Dolmetsch harpsichord - though this could not be heard at all, 'as Adila would not play softly, though she said she did', and the Wigmore Hall 'swallowed up the poor harpsichord's jangling in its unacoustic maw'. The rest of the concert went well. Sorry to hear that Shahid [Suhrawardy] is ill and hopes it is not serious; supposes this may prevent him going to India. Hopes [Aleksandr] Kalitinski is better. Is going to see his [translation of Sophocles'] "Antigone" 'performed, or misperformed, by Terence [Gray]' at Cambridge; has kept away from rehearsals so is 'not responsible'. Has begun work again on an epistle to [Arthur] Waley and 'plugging away at [translating] Lucretius'. Must write to [Hugh?] Sykes soon to see when he can come to talk about it. He and Bessie are 'both quite cheerful, in spite of noses and operations'; the Allens [Clifford and Joan] also seem all right, though they have to take [their daughter] Polly up to London every other day for eye exercises. Hopes Julian's 'frescoe [sic] project will flourish'; warns him not to fall off the scaffold 'like Barna [da Siena] at San Geminiano [San Gimignano]'. Asks to be remembered to [George] Reavey, and hopes he has recovered.
King's College, Cambridge. - Thanks Bob for the 'beautiful poems' ["From the Shiffolds"] and 'kind thoughts'. Morgan Forster and Arthur Waley have been elected Honorary Fellows of King's. Sure the 'most welcome and best beloved by King's' of the guests from other Colleges on Founders day was the 'present Master of Trinity [G. M. Trevelyan]'. Hopes that the New Year will be a happier one.
They [she and Arthur Waley] send best wishes to both Trevelyans, and many thanks for Bob's 'delightful Christmas card' [this year's "From the Shiffolds"]. Hopes they will 'soon meet again'.
50 Gordon Square, W.C.1. - Thanks Bob for his 'beautiful C[hrist]mas card' [this year's "From the Shiffolds"]; particularly likes "A simple pleasure" and the poems around it, as well as the 'very happy translations'. They [she and Arthur Waley] are looking forward to seeing both Trevelyans soon, if 'you will allow us to come', and they 'must fetch [their] things away'. Has been visited by a publisher who, with a 'lecturer in Paris', wants to publish a book of her photographs, so she must find the negatives. Paris was 'delightful'; she was invited on a mission to China, and wishes 'they would stop fighting!'. 'Best love' to Bob and Bessie from her and Waley, and 'all good wishes for 1946'.
50 Gordon Square. - Apologises for the delay; lists the translations which he would like to be included [in Bob's edited volume "From the Chinese"?]; these come from his "Book of Songs", "One Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems" "More Translations" and "Temple"; these are suggestions only, and he will 'gladly accept' whatever Bob thinks suitable.
17, Berners Street, W.1. - Thanks Trevelyan for his letter enclosing one from Roger Fry. Is happy for Oswald's papers to be published; Arthur Waley suggests that the Hogarth Press might take them, especially if Walter [Sickert] were to write a foreword. The papers need revising, and she would be very grateful if Trevelyan could do this; he must say if he is too busy. If he is in town soon they could lunch and discuss the idea.
40 rue de Villejust, Paris. - Apologises for only now replying to Trevelyan's letter of last 14 June. Received the book by [Arthur] Waley with great pleasure, and has read part of it with interest; has been very tired and busy recently. As for 'pauvre [poor]' M. Teste [in Valéry's "La Soirée avec M. Teste"], he continues to bother Miss [Natalie Clifford] Barney. Knows the difficulties: when he wrote that 'fantaisie', he was 'half-living in the eighteenth century', loving the 'tone, the sharpness and the dryness' of the time of Louis XV, though the 'exaggeration' of his character belonged to the nineteenth century. He wrote it in Montpellier, in the fine old house his family then occupied; Auguste Comte had also lived there as a child, and his bedroom was the room in which Valéry wrote. Thanks Mrs Trevelyan for her offer of hospitality; has not been to England since 1896. Unfortunately he has little hope of seeing his English friends out of Paris as he is so busy.
British Museum, W.C. - Lucky that he did not come [to visit Bob, see 17/4], as he developed flu; is alright now, and asks if the weekend of 17 May would work instead. Hopes the Shoves came; has not seen them; sure Francis [Birrell?] arrived. Has been 'deluged' with proofs for "Jap[anese] Poetry", "The Story of Ts'ui Ying-ying ", and "More Translations from Chinese", though the last is not due to be published until September so he need not rush. Asks if Bob would be kind enough to look it over after Miss [Beryl] de Zoete, who is 'fairly good at spotting howlers'. The sum he mentioned as a possible fee from the Art Theatre '[for Bob translating Aeschylus' "Prometheus", see 17/2?] was too large; believes it would be about twenty-five pounds, but this is unofficial. Enjoyed James [Strachey]'s piece about Claudel's "L'Otage" in the "Athenaeum", as well as Lytton [Strachey]'s essay on Lady Hester Stanhope [in the issues of 4 and 11 April]; it 'ought to be rather an entertaining periodical under its new management'.
Received a cheque for a hundred and forty five pounds from Constable; this seemed very little, but it turned out to be for his cousin Adolf Waley for "The Re-making of China". He himself had sold about 1300 copies [of "A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems"] by 31 December. Asks Bob whether he agreed terms with Constable for his [translation of Sophocles'] "Ajax"; heard that he could not do so with Unwin. Yoshio Markino visited him yesterday and 'got very excited trying to write down his favourite Chinese poems'; however, he could not remember the characters and 'sat holding his head in his hands & groaning'; he learned them in Japan as a child, nearly fifty years ago. Heard from [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson 'discovering a "Chinese passage" in Shakespeare'; has 'not quite succeeded in deciphering his letter'. Dickinson also told him that Thomas Hardy prefers Cranmer-Byng to him which is 'hardly surprising'; he was 'astonished' to hear Hardy liked his own versions at all. Ezra Pound is going to settle at Toulouse, where he will 'wake up the sleepy Meridionals'. Wonders if [John] Rodker's [Ovid] Press has begun to print yet; feels he should order some books from it, but knows he would 'hate them so when they came'. Has got a gramophone and 'catalogues of all the exotic music of the Globe' but does not know how to choose. Has lots of 'India, Chinese, Lithuanian, Russian, Arabian, Serbian, Hungarian and Spanish records [to choose from?]'; has only got Mozart and rag-time at present.
c/o Prof. [Herbert] Grierson, 12 Regents Terrace. Edinburgh. - Encloses a cheque for expenses and 'fee as designer and scene-painter' [for a recent production of Robert's "Meleager"]: Julian did 'a great deal of work' and 'the result was very successful'. Will also send a cheque. Has just read his paper on metre, which seemed to go all right with 'a fog-diminished audience'. Bessie is at Welcombe; will join her there next week then go abroad. Has not yet heard from [Umberto] Morra, but will probably visit him first, then go to Aulla [to see the Waterfields] around the time Julian comes out. May get [Hasan] Suhrawardy to come out with him, but is not sure. Sorry that [Arthur?] Waley is 'trying to get out of his heresies [ie, of giving a paper to the Heretics Society]; wonders how Wittgenstein's paper went; asks if 'Francis B.' [possibly Birrell?] is going to read a paper despite an initial refusal.
Postmarked Devizes; addressed to Trevelyan in the Annie Zung Ward, Westminster Hospital, Horseferry Road, London S.W. - Had been looking forward to visiting again, but decided eventually to go straight home to Wiltshire on Friday; hopes Trevelyan will be released from Hospital soon anyway. The 'shortages of current postcards has produced some curious results. [He] found this on sale in a stationers in Pimlico'.
Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, W.C. - Thanks Trevelyan for reading Hubert's essay [see 17/37]; wishes Trevelyan had come in to see him 'that Monday' and tells him to come and 'propose [himself] for a night soon'. Has just finished translating a 'new lot of Po Chu-i poems' and a ghost story by him. Asks if Trevelyan has read 'the Henry James number of the "Egoist"', where there is an article by [T.S.] Eliot and 'a very short, very bad one' by Waley. Has heard at last from [Oswald] Sickert at Shanghai.
Asks if Bob has chosen [for his anthology, "From the Chinese?] any of the poems by Pien Chih-lin in [Harold] Acton's book ["Modern Poetry", with Ch'en Shih-hsiang]
Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, W.C. - Card originally enclosing the Chinese Poems; wants to send them to [Gordon] Luce next, around the end of September; Luce sends him 'such astonishing translations from the Burmese' that he is afraid he must find Waley's own translations 'very tame'; Waley sends them anyway to encourage Luce to translate more Burmese poetry. Trevelyan need not worry about them at all if does not want: he has 'shamelessly thrust them' on him, but 'so few people know anything about the matter'.
Postmarked Ki[tzbühel?]; addressed to Bob c/o Bernard Berenson, Via Tatti, Settignano, Firenze. - Has received Bob's '[c]orrections & supplement' and is very grateful; has 'accepted all suggestions, except for a few commas'.
Postmarked London. - Discussion of the date and authenticity of the 'two Chang Heng poems'; thinks they were 'really Sung [dynasty]'; Bob's anthology ["From the Chinese"] is 'not the place to go into all this"; thinks Bob's sentence is 'all that is needed'.
50 Gordon Square, W.C. - Suggests 21 Aug for a weekend visit: Bob may want to 'talk over the anthology' ["From the Chinese"]. Beryl [de Zoete] could also come then, but if that would be 'too much' he could come along. They are having a 'delightful time' at Dartington; does not return until 17 Aug.
Is 'very culpable and negligent' towards Trevelyan, but he is 'always so indulgent' that Marchand hopes he will be pardoned again; he is obviously an 'almost disgustingly lazy being'. Begins by thanking Trevelyan as well as 'the young artist' [Julian]: asks if Julian still likes Corot, and if so to continue his appreciation of that artist, whom Marchand himself loves more and more. As Trevelyan thought, they are at Vence; he had a hard job 'detaching Sonia [Lewitska] from the hill' where she 'incrusts herself every winter like a crab on a rock'. Hasn't seen Trevelyan for a long time; has a fond memory of the first time he met Madame Trevelyan, for whom he feels much affinity; his regret for not visiting her at 'Gluffolds' [an error for Shiffolds?] is greater, and he regrets that he no longer knows when he will be in London again, since the exchange rate is 'ruinous' and the future 'quite sombre'. Wonders what has become of everyone who was gathered then: has not seen [Francis] Birrell or [Arthur?] Waley since then, though he thinks often of them. Waley sent him a book which he read slowly and has re-read continuously about the works of Lao-tse and other Chinese writers, translated by Vignier: it is both full of old experience and new goodness, and some phrases apply perfectly to the current situation. Is only returning to Paris in the last week of April; Trevelyan will give him great pleasure if they can meet then. Adds a postscript as Sonia sends best regards to both Trevelyans. Marchand asks if Trevelyan is still working on his translation of Aeschylus and Sophocles. Has seen that in the last election 'notre ami' Winston Churchill was beaten again: he can then leave it all for his 'mad passion - that of painting'. Asks Trevelyan to send him Waley's address if he has a chance.
50 Gordon Square, W.C. - Thinks they should 'keep the Christian names. A certain vagueness is intended'.
Postmarked Dorking. - His mother sends her love and much enjoyed the broadcast [of Bob's essay "Simple Pleasures", broadcast on the BBC Home Service on the evening of 10 July] but wished Bob had been reading himself. Arthur [Waley] enjoyed it too, and found it 'a strange and a pleasant change to hear the loudspeaker speaking common-sense'; did not think the readers were bad, apart from 'the woman with the tea-kettle sigh'. Hopes Bob will be able to visit later in the month. was 'so nice' to see Bessy. Is not going to the dinner.
Parsenn Hotel, Davos Dorf, Switzerland. - Asks if he can send Bob proofs of his book on Confucius ["The Analects of Confucius"]; will not return from Switzerland till June; the book will not go to press until about 6 June.
Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum. - Trevelyan's offer [to stay with him at the Shiffolds?] is 'very kind', but Mr Cheng for some reason is 'anxious to anchor himself solidly at Guildford' [see 17/3]; could Trevelyan therefore come to the Shalford Park Hotel on Good Friday. Thinks that Cheng will visit the Wallases on Saturday, since Waley must go to London. Sorry to make Trevelyan travel, but they 'mustn't thwart Cheng or he won't sing to us!'
Postmarked London; addressed to Trevelyan at Furzen Wood, Abinger Common, near Dorking. - Would love to come on 21 May; knows that Francis [Birrell] much regrets that he cannot. Is still 'brooding over the Epistle'; there are parts he likes very much.
Postmarked Palma de Mallorca: - Thanks Bob for his letter; is here in Majorca where 'George Sand & Chopin had such bad colds [Valdemossa] till further notice'. Has asked Unwin to send Bob 'Genji V' ["Murasaki"]; has done a third of Volume 6 ["The Saffron-Flower"]
Postmarked London. - Has decided to send "Blue Trousers" [from his translation of "The Tale of Genji"] to be printed; thinks typescripts 'make so lugubrious an impression'. Will send Bob proofs in about a month.