Thanks Bessie for her 'kind and cheering note'. Cannot do justice to her feelings of trust in and gratitude towards Mollie Grierson, who has acted just as she would expect. The 'great cheap house in Royal Terrace in Edinburgh was the worst possible house for Donald', as she always knew; she wanted him to live opposite her in Professor Nieck's old house, but his first wife [Margaret Kerr Cameron] wanted to live 'more in the country'. Remembers how Grettie 'after a visit to London returned with the baby John [Wellcome Tovey] and two white rabbits', travelling through the night, without having taken 'a drop of milk for the baby'; she was a '[p]oor mad thing' but 'very honest and entirely honourable', and the news that after her suicide 'Minnie Wallace had written to Donald, then in California, and proposed to marry him' appalled Sophie Weisse. Bessie's note brought much more cheering news. Does wish the excellent Swedish nurse who is treating her own sciatica could treat Donald's hands. Thanks Bessie for returning the book, and now her mind is 'relieved of the fear of John's motoring plans [see 8/130]'; hopes ' a change of weather or John's having been called up will make them impossible'. Longs to see John but he has been at Hedenham all summer. Hopes in Donald's absence 'a nice little enemy bomb will fall on that evil little house'. Is sending Donald a few letters at a time to try and 'amuse and interest' Donald: some from Sir Hubert Parry to her, some from Sir George Grove, who 'describes himself as [her] "slave," when Donald was Sir Hubert's pupil'. Has 'some beautiful letters too from the Master of Balliol [Sir Edward Caird]' and his wife: there 'was never a student so much loved'; it may please Donald to read then. A postscript says she has heard Donald does not now have a secretary; the 'one who came here in pursuit of John was an evil little creature'.
146 letters, most of them replies to invitations to dinner, with a few concerning arrangements to stay in rooms in College for the night, sent to the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, or specifically to Henry Montagu Butler, John Walton Capstick, Hugh McLeod Innes, or William Aldis Wright. An original letter of invitation may be found as part of item 65.
Thirteen of the letters concern other matters related to Trinity College business, as described below.
Items 9-11: Blomfield, Sir Arthur William. Asks to use the College Hall for lunch for the Royal Academy Club annual excursion, June 1899
Item 19: Dalzell, Robert Harris Carnwath, 11th Earl of Carnwath. 7 Jan. 1899. Remittance for fees, deducting a fine incurred by his son which should be paid for by the culprit
Item 40: Devonshire, Duke of. Undated. Contribution to the Trinity College, Cambridge Mission Appeal.
Items 61-62: Jebb, Sir Richard Claverhouse. 1896, 1898. Encloses payment for his subscription to the Trinity College Mission and the Cambridge House
Item 84: Parry, Sir Charles Hubert Hastings, 1st Baronet. 1898. Encloses payment for dues
Items 100-101: Sidgwick, Eleanor Mildred. 25 Mar. and 1 May 1899, encloses lists of students and other women from Newnham who would like to attend the Rayleigh lecture
Item 108: Stanton, Vincent Henry. 3 Sept. n.y. Concerning the opening times of the Trinity College Library
Item 123: Webster, Richard Everard, 1st Viscount Alverstone. 19 July 1897. Encloses cheque for subscription.
Item 126: Whitehead, Alfred North. 21 Oct. n.y. To Capstick, asks for questions for the General Question paper
One letter appears to be personal, not Trinity College business: item 90, sent to John William Capstick by Georg Hermann Quincke 15 July 1896, who writes about electric currents, citing articles, and describing his overcrowded laboratory (in German).
On the spine is stamped: ‘MILTON'S ODE AT A SOLEMN MUSIC, SET BY C. HUBERT H. PARRY.’
Knight's Croft, Rustington, Worthing. Dated Sept. 13 1916 - Regrets he does not have the time or vitality to set [Paul Hyacinthe Loyson's poem translated by Frazer, 'For a Scrap of Paper'] to music; asks if he remembers Lord Kitchener and Cecil Rhodes on 'that exciting day at Oxford', now 'both gone!'
Leeds. - Definitely thinks that [Johnson] is acting unfairly over the publication of the book [Trevelyan's "Polyphemus and Other Poems", with illustrations by Roger Fry]. Will go and see him on his return; meanwhile Trevelyan could have the contract seen by the Authors' Society. Glasgow very full [for the Glasgow International Exhibition] - Fry ended up sleeping at a 'coffee room' - but extremely interesting: the Municipal Gallery [Kelvingrove] is fine; Fry does not believe it's a Giorgione. Also saw Newbattle [Abbey] though due to a storm he could only see the Piero di Cosimo ["Vulcan and Aeolus"] by gas light. Goes tomorrow to Liverpool, then to Gloucester to take B.B. [Berenson] to Sir H[ubert] Parry's house before returning to Dorking. Is sorry to have been unsympathetic about Trevelyan's 'Indian play' ["The Pearl-Tree"?].
Northlands, Englefield Green, Surrey. - Donald [Tovey] has just come from London with an invitation for them both to dine with Sir Hubert Parry on Tuesday then hear Donald's [piano] concerto and the rest of a 'lovely Programme'; asks Bessie if she could therefore come on Wednesday instead. Agrees with Bobbie about Donald's 'returned vigour' and knows his work is 'in the grand manner both in conception and finish'; hopes if his pieces are all published now and 'make a splash' they will 'tide over' till the opera ["The Bride of Dionysus"] gets done. The concert is at the Royal College of Music; is not sure whether they sell tickets.
Knight's Croft, Rustington, Worthing - Regrets he does not have the time or vitality to set [Paul Hyacinthe Loyson's poem translated by Frazer, 'For a Scrap of Paper'] to music; asks if he remembers Kitchener and Rhodes on 'that exciting day at Oxford', now 'both gone!'
Handed in at Los Angeles, California. - Is very sorry, but cannot manage enough music [for the production of Trevelyan's translation of Aeschylus's "Oresteia" by the Cambridge Festival Theatre] in time; will send what he can but advises Trevelyan to use Parry and Stanford where Arundel [Dennis Arundell] does not have time to fill in.