13 Hanover Terrace, Ladbroke Grove, W. - Sends the "Poems" which he prepared for printing 'very hurriedly', thinking that he was going soon to the War Office or 'somewhere similar'; however, he is still at the [British] Museum for the moment. Afraid the 'metre is very hard to make out'; has not put in stress marks; each line can be 'made to go' like that of the original, but he fears many 'scan more obviously as blank verse'. There was too little to be published in the 'ordinary way', but it seemed 'convenient' to have a few copies to give to interested people. Was going to send [Logan] Pearsall Smith one anyway; has met him, he thinks at Graham Wallas's. Did not have his J[udith] Gautier or [Launcelot Cranmer-] Byng with him, or he might have avoided repeating several poems, but he deliberately included Tu Fu's "Recruiter" even though 'everyone' has translated it, as it is 'so superb'. Will be at the Shalford Park Hotel, near Guildford, for the Easter weekend; will be with a 'Chinaman who sings the poems' [Mr Cheng, see 17/5; perhaps Cheng Yao Lu, attaché at the Chinese embassy?].
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon [on headed notepaper]:- Has arranged for a copy of the Pageant to be sent to her: thinks it will arrive before his parents leave Rome, though he forgot to have it sent 'till rather late'. Would have written before, but was waiting to receive her letter to answer it. They are 'all at Welcombe now': Miss Martin [his old governess] has just left, and [Maurice?] Amos arrives today. He himself came on Saturday and leaves on Friday. Crompton Ll[ewelyn] Davies and his sister [Margaret] have been; now staying are [G. L.] Dickinson, [G. E.] Moore and 'Gr Wallace [Graham Wallas?]'. They have had two fine warm days, but wintry weather is now returning; there is a 'fire in the drawing room, and Moore and Dickinson play the piano or sing'. The piano is a 'marvel[l]ously beautiful one'. There is currently general conversation about 'Bobbie Philimore's sudden marriage': wonders if his mother knows Philimore's new wife, 'who was Miss Fitz-Patrick, alias Sister Lucy'; it is 'a regular Shelley business, though in this case the parents have been brought round to approve'.
Intends to go abroad immediately after Welcombe, as he has a cold which he 'can't quite get rid of, and which would probably become bad in a frost'. Thought of going to the South of France, though 'Several friends have strongly advised Tangiers' for the greater likelihood of warmth and cheapness, though he does not think it much matters; wants only 'to be warm, and alone so that [he] may write'.
Had a few days at Failand 'keeping Xmas in the bosom of the Fry family': they 'read Hamlet aloud in the evening, each taking the Prince for an act. George [Trevelyan] makes a most excellent garrulous Polonius, while [Robert? - 'I?' supplied in pencil] shine as ghost and the ranting player'. They all concluded that 'Hamlet's character has no mystery', except for doubting 'how far, if at all, he loved Ophelia'.
The company at Welcombe are 'just off to Chalcote [Charlecote], to walk off a New Year's day plum pudding and Turkey'.
Hôtel Floresta, Taormina [headed notepaper]:- Since he last wrote, has been to Syracuse for two days, and visited ‘the chief sites with the Hodgkins’: was good to travel in their carriages, since ‘the distances are great’. Escaped ‘the malaria, of which there is none now except in the Autumn’, and only then on the Anapo [river], as they have ‘drained the whole district’ recently, leaving little ‘either for the malaria or snipe-hunter’. Found Syracuse ‘the most enchanting place’ he has ever visited, but admits that since he ‘only stayed two days, and departed unsatisfied’ he perhaps cannot ‘judge dispassionately’. The ‘view of the harbour and the Anapus’ valley from Epipolae is one of the most fascinating [struck-through] beyond words’. Did not have time to see ‘the best of the quarries’, but saw one of them. The ‘Syracusan Epipolae is not so abrupt and sheer as the Northumbrian [Greenleighton: see 46/41] and is not so much a quarry as a kind of steep staircase shattered into ruins’. His parents should come next time they visit Italy: there is an ‘excellent hotel’.
Is glad she likes G[raham] Wallas: made ‘great friends with him at Welcombe’. They [Graham and his wife Ada?] have sent him a ‘choice of seats for the Philharmonic Concerts’: if his mother has not yet bought tickets and wishes to have seats, encourages her to choose, as she is ‘on the spot’; he will miss the first concert, but hopes to go to the second with her; advises her to choose the couple in the Grand Circle. Asks her to tell ‘the people at Chappells’ that he is not corresponding with them; Roger [Fry] must have forgotten to send it out to him, since ‘it seems to have been waiting more than a month’. Is well and enjoying the weather.
He and Roger have ‘entered into a partnership - he paints fans, chiefly on classical subjects’, and Robert supplies ‘sonnets to inscribe on them, treating the myth more or less frivolously’. Their ‘first venture is Jupiter and Io’; Robert’s sonnet pleased Roger, so he hopes that they will ‘continue [their] trade’. Tells his mother that ‘A fan… is to a painter, what a sonnet is to a writer… short and not a great undertaking, and yet… a finished piece of work, and not turned out slovenly’, therefore ‘useful for keeping one’s hand in’. Cannot find his rough copy, or would send it to her. Has been ‘indulging in a debauch of Balzac. Whatever his position among writers may be, he is certainly the most stimulating’. Hopes his father is ‘prospering with his [Charles James] Fox’, and ‘not troubling too much about our miserable fin-de-siecle politics’.
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!'