120 Maida Vale, W. - Asks whether Trevelyan thought he had 'forgotten all about the Centaurs and the Amazons', or had no mannners because he did not write with thanks for "[The Bride of] Dionysus". Was much 'preoccupied', but has now 'broken the back of [Samuel] Butler's notebooks' and is reading through the typescript of the book ["The Note-Books of Samuel Butler"]. Feels 'rather exhausted' as the editing has been so 'long and troublesome', and he does not know how much he will have to redo. Has however read Sturge Moore's two poems and returns them; they 'contain many fine things' but are not really in 'his line' and he finds them 'a little dull'. The piece Desmond [MacCarthy] showed him and sent to the "New Quarterly", about 'a man in the Bible who got into difficulties with his dramatic gods' was 'duller'. "Dionysus" is his next job, but he may be distracted by organisation for the fifth Erewhon Dinner: Edmund Gosse has fixed the date for 12 July, and cards are being printed. Hopes that Trevelyan will come. Turned sixty-one the other day and cannot do as much as he used to, so the quantity of correspondence associated with the dinner will be tiring. Looking forward to going to Sicily the day afterwards. Went to Paris at Easter; then to Scotland at Whitsun, where he went fishing for the first time and thinks he hooked a fish though 'he wriggled off before I could get him into the boat'. Thanks Trevelyan for sending the book; hopes [Donald Tovey's] music will please him, and that the opera will 'be a great success & cause a furore'. His sister has gone to Norway for a month's holiday. Asks whether Trevelyan has sent the names of people who want to 'become Erewhonians'.
98 Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, Berks. - Thanks Trevelyan for the 'kind letter' and poems ["From the Shiffolds"]; mentions the 'fortunate little dear boy' [Trevelyan's grandson Philip, addressee of a poem']. Wonders whether he knows Lord de Tabley's poetry; thinks de Tabley would have liked some of the poems. Her father's first wife was Meriel Leicester Warren, de Tabley's sister. De Tabley's poetry has not sufficiently appreciated, either in his lifetime or afterwards; quotes descriptions of him by Tennyson and Sir Edmund Gosse. Describes the 'very drab & dusty grey little interior' of the house with no heating, electric, gas or hot water where she lives; a 'real little cottage of despair' where she and her companion Mrs Hill needed to 'take refuge, from far worse'. The small back yard holds a 'dread ful little party of evil looking, grinning deformed, gnomes' who resemble the 'little jailors' of [George du Maurier's] "Peter Ibbotson"
Contains "Local Musicians", by Ralph Vaughan Williams; "A Plea for Thomas" by Max Beerbohm, "Mr Gosse & Professor Collins" by Oliver Lodge, and two poems, "Friends" and "Littlehampton, January 1939" by 'S.S.' [Sylvia Sprigge]. 'Elizabeth Trevelyan' written at the top of the cover in pencil.
95 Gower Street - Spoke to A. C. Bradley at the Royal Academy about electing [Edmund] Gosse, but are not sure of success, asks Frazer to support his candidacy; would like to have the Addison book, and discusses why he doesn't like him much.
29 Delamere Terrace, W.—Is coming down on Friday, as he wants to do some work in the library. Hopes he will be lodged near Wright again.
(On the back is a list by Wright of notable words in the Life of the Duke of Newcastle (1667).)
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29 Delamere Terrace | W.
May 5. 1885.
Dear Aldis Wright
I am coming down on Friday evening, in time for dinner, as I want to do some work in the library on Saturday morn[in]g.
Do you know where I am to be lodged? I wish it might again be near you.
Sincerely yours
Edmund Gosse
[Notes by Wright on the back:]
Life of the Duke of Newcastle. 1667.
resent 77
Butts (a game) 80)
play the Rook 80
invective 145
rant 149
which before they came to be marriageable, she married a third husband. 154
ensnarled 171.
pottering 194
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Letter-head of the Board of Trade, W. The missing letters of a word abbreviated by a superscript letter have been supplied in square brackets.
{1} By Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. Wright probably consulted the copy in Trinity College Library (IV.13.2), which was presented to the College by the author. Pepys criticized the book as ‘the ridiculous history of my Lord Newcastle writ by his wife, which shows her to be a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman, and he an ass to suffer her to write what she writes to him and of him,’ yet Charles Lamb eulogized it as a work for which ‘no casket is rich enough, no case sufficiently durable to honour and keep soft such a jewel’. An edition by C. H. Firth was published in 1886.
Xerox photocopies of over 240 letters, many of them of originals housed in other institutions. The letters are written by Frazer to multiple recipients with a few exceptions: eight are written by Lilly Frazer (to Miss Buckley, Sir Edmund Gosse, Bronisław Malinowski, and W. H. D. Rouse); one is from Henry Jackson to Frazer and five more are from others to others (two from Macmillan & Co. to Hermann Diels, one from Sir Francis Galton to Sir Clements Markham forwarding a letter from Frazer, one unrelated letter from John Sampson to Francis Jenkinson, and one memo from Otto Stapf to Sir David Prain). Five letters include covering letters from the institutions providing the copies. In addition, there are copies of a typescript draft of Frazer's article 'Our Debt to France', the draft of an address on the founding of the Frazer lectureships, and a translation of an article.
Recipients, with the number of letters present if more than five: Aksel Andersson, Terence Armstrong, Spencer Baird, Andrew Bennett, Arthur Bigge (Lord Stamfordham), Miss Buckley (of the Loeb Classical Library), Sir Ernest Budge, John Bullbrook, Francis Burkitt, Edward Clodd, Francis Cornford (16 letters), Otto Crusius, Sir Edwin Deller (6 letters), Hermann Diels (10 letters), Samson Eitrem, S. J. Evis, Jesse Fewkes, Douglas Freshfield, Sir Francis Galton (14 letters), Ernest Gardner, Charles-Marie Garnier (6 letters), Sir Edmund Gosse (42 letters), A. C. Haddon, Sir William Hardy (6 letters), Carl Lehmann-Haupt, C. W. Hobley, A. W. Howitt (7 letters), Mary Howitt, Henry Jackson, Francis Jenkinson (8 letters), Oskar Kallas, Sir Arthur Keith, William F. J. Knight, John Mackay, Bronisław Malinowski (9 letters), William Maxwell, A. G. W. Murray, G. G. A. Murray, Sir John Myres, Theodor Nöldeke, Karl Pearson, Sir David Prain (8 letters), Edward Rapson, A. G. Ross, Sir William Rothenstein, W. H. D. Rouse, Gustave Rudler, Charles Edward Sayle, Solomon Schechter (7 letters), Douglas Sladen, William Thalbitzer, Sir J. J. Thomson (21 letters), Sir D'Arcy Thompson, Hermann Usener, Sir Emery Walker, and Alfred Rayney Waller (6 letters).
Ackerman, Robert (b 1935), biographer17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W.1. - Congratulates Frazer 'from my very lowly position on the Honours List'; saw him first at Trinity more than forty years before, wishes he could visit, but doesn't suppose he'll ever get to Cambridge again.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Thanks him for his charming letter; is very pleased with the Index to the GB.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Admires 'The Essays of Joseph Addison'.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Admires 'The Letters of William Cowper', particularly the preface.
Chilswell, Oxford. - Has not yet read "Sisyphus", as he has been 'dreadfully busy', but his wife has found it 'very entertaining'. Has just sent his "Memoir" of R. W. Dixon to the publishers; this has taken him a long time and involved much correspondence. Thanks Trevelyan for the book and the letter; is answering the latter at once to say he is 'not Edmund Gosse' so Trevelyan should not imagine he sits 'in a seat [of judgment?]'. Thinks 'any experiment in quantitative verse shd do good in calling attention to the fact that accent & quantity are different'; recently had a conversation with a university professor of Latin who was unaware of rules about accents in that language. Lent his essay on Virgilian rhythm to Desmond MacCarthy a couple of months ago, who wanted to see whether it could be printed in the "New Quarterly"; has not heard from him further and will ask for it to be returned. Hopes "Sisyphus" will be successful.
Toft Hall, Knutsford - Is pleased for him [on learning of the Civil List pension], a burden has been lifted, but it won't make her reckless; it is nice that the King should be made to encourage literature; he deserves it by his devotion to it; will be back next week; will bring back Mr Gosse's letter and will write himself tonight; they are hunting tomorrow and Mrs L. [Minna Edith Elizabeth Leycester?] hates the idea and is going into Manchester. Accompanied by the envelope with note in J. G. Frazer's hand, 'L.F. 30 Dec. 1904 on hearing of pension'.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Explains the reasons behind the Nobel Prize Committee resigning en masse, that the Swedish Academy ignored their recommendations, including the recommendation that Frazer be given the prize.
Postmarked London W. C. - Thanks Bob for his letter; will tell Gordon [Bottomley] he is sure E[dmund] G[osse] would only be pleased to hear from him [15/284]. Wilfrid [Gibson] expects to hear from Lascelles [Abercrombie] about the "Annual [of New Poetry]", but nothing had come when Eddie left yesterday.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Thanks him for the two volumes just received [3rd ed. of GB].
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Does not understand how a wealthy university can 'found' a chair and yet not endow it in any way, thinks him generous to take up the post in Liverpool; tells him he is the author of 'Father and Son'.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Invites Frazer to dinner at the Annual Dinner of the Philosophical Society and explains that 'one mad afternoon, they went and elected Aldis Wright & myself, the only two non-scientific members the Society has ever had'.
Grand Hôtel Brun, Bologna - The dedication is perfect, as to the K--- [King Edward VII] he will enquire [about accepting a copy of 'The Early History of the Kingship'] when he returns.
17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - Encloses the letters he received in response to his enquiry if King Edward VII would care to accept a copy of Frazer's 'The Early History of the Kingship': one from [Malcolm Graham] Ramsay dated 30.X.1905 enclosing a letter from [Frederick Edward] Ponsonby dated 30.X.05, stating that that the King will be pleased to accept the gift but that this does not imply permission to dedicate the book to him.
[Blind embossed stamp of House of Lords] - Is happy to have Frazer's next book dedicated to him.
[Blind embossed stamp of House of Lords] - Is happy to have succeeded [in obtaining the Civil List Pension for Frazer]; how happy Robertson Smith would have been.
Aix-les-Thermes, Ariège and 17 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park, N.W. - In the first letter dated 17 Sept. 1904 he tells Frazer he is writing A. Ll. Roberts, secretary of the Royal Literary Fund; is sorry to hear of his financial difficulty, is sorry Cambridge has not done more for him. In the letter of 18 Oct. 1904 he assures Frazer he is working on a solution.
29 Delamere Terrace, Westbourne Square, W. [on mourning stationery] - Thanks him for the gift of 'The Golden Bough'.
29 Delamere Terrace, Westbourne Square, W. - The first letter dated 1 Dec. 1899 lets Frazer know the Royal Literary Fund would like to support his work, and the letter of 16 Dec. identifies his 'fellow-conspirator' in putting forward his name is George Darwin.
Grimsby Farm, Long Lane, Coldash, Newbury. - Hopes Trevy has received the letter he wrote to Naples, otherwise he will think Marsh 'rather a beast'. Glad Corpo di Cava was not snowed under, since it has turned out to be 'so delightful'; he himself would have 'preferred Capri for the sake of Tiberius' [see 15/318]. Has just got away from London and finished his first day of work here; his 'flesh crept to such a degree' when he woke on Monday night and started to think about his tripos [examinations] that it 'must have moved on about an inch all round'. Stayed in London a little longer than he should have done because of a 'superior French company' who performed [Ibsen's] "Rosmersholm" and "Master Builder" and a play by Maeterlinck under the direction of M. [Aurélien-François-Marie] Lugné -Poé who 'seems to be a descendant of Edgar Poe'. He is 'a very beautiful man with a pale face & black hair', and reminds Marsh of a 'portrait of some poet', perhaps Poe himself; he 'acts very respectably' and played the Master Builder as 'an American with a straggling beard & a drunken complexion' and 'quite revolutionized' Marsh's idea of the part, since 'the rather vulgar arrogant manner he put on in certain parts' made the character seem more consistent than 'the suavity of Lewis Waller'. Asks if Trevy has ever read Maeterlinck, as it is 'useless to try and explain what he's like' if not; in the 'mixture of great simplicity with an entire rejection of realism' he thinks it goes back to 'the Burne Jones & Morris kind of thing'. Sat next to William Archer, who was 'very nice' to him. Saw many friends at the Ibsen plays: [Erskine] Childers, Crompton [Llewelyn Davies], Gerald Duckworth, J[ohn] Waldegrave, 'the Babe' [William Haynes Smith?] etc. Thinks the Independent Theatre must be 'the worst managed concern in the world': the performances usually begin late 'after the curtain has gone up two or three times, to encourage the audience. You're never safe from the irruption of a cat in the most moving scenes', the actors miss their cues, or the curtain does not go down at the end of the act. The man who is called the Acting Manager [Charles Hoppe] is 'the greatest crook [he] ever met with in a responsible position', who seems unable to sell tickets without asking for assistance and did not even know how many acts there were in "Rosmersholm". Marsh took the Verralls to that play; comments on Arthur Verrall's reaction to theatre: 'he never is, or lays himself out to be, in the least moved by a play' but responds to 'the cleverness or stupidity with which it is written'.
Very glad that George [Trevelyan] got his scholarship, though there was no doubt he and Buxton would; 'very hard luck on [Ralph] Wedgwood. Went to see [Charles] Sanger yesterday in his new rooms at Hare Court. No-one has heard 'anything of [Bertrand] Russell for some time'. Only saw Oswald [Sickert], who had influenza, not serious, once; he has just got 'free from the Werner Company, which has used up the Beauties of Britain, & gone on to Paris [ie, finished publishing "Beautiful Britain]'; hopes he will have time for his novel now. [Maurice] Baring took Marsh to supper with Edmund Gosse on Sunday: a 'most amusing man', whose conversation is 'described in Stevenson's essay on conversation ["Talk and Talkers"] under the name of Purcell. He was in the teakettle mood'. Met [Henry] Harland, the editor of the "Yellow Book" there; thought him 'an awful little man', but 'on getting accustomed to his manner' next day he thought him 'like-able on the whole'. Hopes to go to supper next Sunday with 'the even more distinguished [Robert] Bridges', though he has not read his recent works so 'feels rather ill-equipped'. Met John Davidson briefly recently; he 'seemed a genial and light hearted little man, with a nice Scotch accent'.