Pen Rose, Berkhamsted. - Calls Bessie a 'jolly wicked old thing' and says her letter made her laugh aloud. She was indeed 'movin' in the very 'ighest circles on Wednesday, velvet 'at and all' [at an event for the Evening Play Centres Fund]; says her attempt to curtsey to H.R.H. [Mary, Princess Royal] was a 'lamentable failure', as was her attempt to keep calling her 'Y.R.H'. The 'children's part of the show was really jolly', and as Bessie says these things have to be done 'to keep one's nose in front''; the 'City paid up like anything' after last year's show, when Janet 'only had a President of the B[oard] of E[ducation: Edward Wood]' but have not been so eager to contribute this time; they claim they fear 'the watchful eye of Mr Snowden [Chancellor of the Exchequer]' though 'all the knowing ones know' there is nothing to fear yet. Has had a 'Marconigram' from George; he is staying with President [Abbott Lawrence] Lovell at Harvard instead of at a club; '[j]olly for him to arrive in the middle of the oil [Teapot Dome] scandals!'; he is giving seven lectures and will earn 'quite a handsome sum', which will be useful with Mary at Somerville. She is 'radiantly happy there' and discovering 'all kinds of things, not [emphasised] all connected with Political Economy; she is working harder this term for her 'Pass Mods'; her first term was a 'mere whirl of delight'; they will then take a fortnight's holidays near Woody Bay in Devon. Humphry has a motor-bike, and sometimes takes 'rapturous rides on it on Sundays', but he does not ride it to school. Glad Julian is 'really happy at Bedale's'; hopes he will stop growing soon. Would love to lunch with Bessie in London at some point.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Bessie went to see Julian [at school] last week and 'found him quite happy, and getting on well with his work'. They will send him to Bedales next January; they visited it last week, received a 'quite satisfactory impression on the whole', and 'think it will suit Julian better than one of the bigger public schools'. Julian is 'now learning Latin, and seems to like it. Everywhere now they begin to teach Latin and Greek at a later age than they used to in my time or yours'. They are 'much looking forward' to seeing Robert's parents in September.
The weather is 'cold and rainy', and they 'have a fire all day in the drawing room'. A 'petrol-driven tractor is ploughing up the field below [the] house. It makes a great noise, but gets the whole field done in two days or so'. Glad that Charles 'made such a great recovery. He seemed in fine training at the Lake Hunt'. There was an 'interesting article in yesterday's Manchester Guardian by Bose, the Calcutta professor, on the way the sap rises in trees'. Saw Bose's 'laboratories and experiments years ago in Calcutta, and was a good deal impressed by them'. Sends love to his mother.
Casa Boccaccio, Settignano, Firenze, Italy. - Is 'comfortably settled in lodgings two minutes away from the Casa Boccaccio, where the Waterfields live', and where he has all his meals. The weather is 'very fine, bright and fairly warm'; though the last couple of days have been cloudy there has been no rain. Has been able to start work already, and has 'written a great deal'. Gave his father's message to the Berensons, who ask to be remembered kindly to him. Sees 'a good deal of [Bernard] Berenson, whose villa is just on the other side of the valley'.
Bessie has sent him 'two very cheerful letters from Julian', showing he is 'settling down quite happily at his new school [Bedales]'. Bessie will be going to London again this week; expects she will soon arrange to visit his parents. Asks his father to let his mother know that she need not send him the Times Literary Supplement here, as the Waterfields take it; when he returns home he will be 'very glad to have it again'. Will write to her soon. Sends love to his parents, and to Aunt Annie if she is with them.
Casa Boccaccio, Settignano, Florence [on headed notepaper for I Tatti]. - Will start on Monday, and reach London on Wednesday. Bessie will also come home that week; she 'seems to have had a very enjoyable time in Holland, and seen a lot of people'. Will go to Edinburgh that weekend, as '[Donald] Tovey is doing a scene from his opera [The Bride of Dionysus, libretto by Robert] at one of his concerts'. Had a 'very pleasant glimpse of George and Janet last week'; they have now gone to Vicenza. Mary Caroline [Trevelyan] comes to the de Filippis' today; hopes to see her before he leaves.
The weather has been 'very cold and wet' recently, but at least it is 'really Spring-like' today, just before he leaves. The 'lizards and butterflies are beginning to come out in the garden'. Julian 'seems very well and happy'; there is German measles at Bedales, but he has had it already so is unlikely to catch it. Had a 'very good review' of his Aeschylus [his translation of the Oresteia] in the TImes [Literary] Supplement. Has done 'a fair amount of work here, in spite of the weather'. Sends love to his father.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for his 'kindness' in paying the fifty pounds into his account. He and Bessie returned together last night, and are glad to be home again; they seem to have arrived 'together with the Spring, or rather just a day after it had come'. Bessie has much enjoyed her month in the Netherlands, and 'seems very well and cheerful'. Robert had an 'interesting three days in Edinburgh': the scene from his and Donald Tovey's opera 'went very well, and people seemed to like it'.
Julian comes home on the tenth, and Robert hopes 'to do some Latin with him again'; he 'seems to get on very well at Bedales'. Robert has been translating some of his 'favourite Theocritus Idylls'; also intends to translate 'XXI, 'The Fisherman', which they say is not by Theocritus', but which he has always liked since doing it 'in sixth form pupil-room [at Harrow] with Bowen'. Might make a book of these with some Latin translations.
National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.1. - Is in London for the day, 'staying at the N.L.C.'. Saw Charles and his family yesterday, 'all seem very flourishing' except that Charles needed to wear a 'sandal on his left foot' since he had 'just had a cyst (or is it cist?) cut out of his sole, a minor, indeed minimus, operation'. They walked together to the House of Commons, where Charles went in to 'hear the budget-speech'; he will be 'right again quite soon, in plenty of time for the Lake Hunt at any rate'.
Bessie had a 'strenuous week playing in the Orchestra of the Dorking Music Festival'; thinks she greatly enjoyed it. Julian 'looks in very good health, and evidently has had a very happy term [at Bedales]'. He is continuing reading Latin with Robert, and they also read the Bible together: currently Samuel and Kings. 'That part of his education seems to be entirely left out the Bedales curriculum'. Does not doubt that 'too little scripture lessons is better than too much, and at least he is spared those terrible Sunday Bible repetitions. But it would be a pity for him not to read it at all, especia;;y as he enjoys it a great deal'. Last year they read 'the first part of Pilgrim's Progress.
Robert is doing a 'good deal of work, such as translating Theocritus, including 'The Fisherman', [Idyll*] XXI, which though it is said to be by Leonidas of Tarentum rather than Theocritus, seems to him 'a wonderful poem'.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - He and Bessie 'spent a very interesting three days at Bedales'. Julian 'seems to be doing very well, and to [be] very happy'; he has 'made several good friends, with whom he goes walks'. Robert went to the swimming-bath when he was learning to swim, and took a bathe himself; Julian can 'already swim a few strokes'. On Monday afternoon there was an 'open-air performance of Twelfth Night given by some of the staff, and several present and old Bedalians. It was excellent, and we all enjoyed it very much'. 'The Headmaster [John Haden Badley] seems to think he will do well in his work, and will probably arrange to begin Greek some time next year'; presently Julian seems to enjoy history lessons best. They were 'allowed to be present at one lesson, and certainly it was very well taught'.
He and Bessie are 'reading Hickey's memoirs aloud with great pleasure. There is an interesting account of Suffren'.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary. - Thanks his father for the fifty pounds paid into Robert's account. Julian returned to school yesterday, and Bessie is on a brief visit to a friend near Marlborough. Robert is 'just starting for Berkhamsted, for a weekend with George and Janet. Julian 'seemed quite cheerful at going back to school, more so than in old days'.
They are very glad Sir George is 'so much better, and are able to go about as usual, and also to start on Thucydides again'. Diogenes Laertius 'has a certain interest, but there is a lot of legendary gossip in it'. Has got Meineke's Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum from the London Library, and finds 'a great deal that is worth reading from Philemon, Alexis and others'. There is 'too much about cooks and guzzling, but that is because Athenaeus... quoted everything anybody ever wrote about cooks'. But Stobaeus chooses 'many really fine passages'.
The Shiffolds. - Glad to hear his parents are well, and hope soon to travel to Welcombe, before the cold weather begins. Here the weather is damp, but still quite warm. Spent a 'pleasant weekend' with George and Janet at Berkhamsted; they all paid a call to Matthew Arnold's daughter [], who lives near Tring. George has since sent his Manin [and the Venetian Revolution of 1848], which Robert and Bessie 'are reading aloud in the evening with great pleasure'.
Sees that Oscar Browning is dead; people will probably 'remember his faults rather than his merits, but King's [students] and dons often speak of him with a certain affection, especially the more liberal-minded ones'; he was generally 'in alliance' with these in University and College affairs, though Robert imagines he 'was apt to be a troublesome ally'. Julian 'writes cheerfully from Bedales, and seems to have begun the term well'.
The Shiffolds. - Apologises for not writing lately; is 'only just settled down at home'. Had to go to London on Tuesday and Wednesday. Julian returned to Bedales on Monday, seeming 'very well and cheerful'; Robert was glad to see him for a few days before he went back. Bessie seems well, and enjoyed her trip to the Netherlands, 'though it was a bit tiring seeing so many people in so short a time'.
Is 'very glad' he went to Greece, since he greatly enjoyed his walks in the countryside. Read 'Nicholson's book about Byron [Harold Nicolson's Byron: The Last Journey] and thought it very good'; it made him like Byron more. He 'took care to be out of the way of the Celebrations [of the centenary of Byron's death] and was walking in the Peloponnese at the time'.
Will write to his father soon. Will try to visit before his parents go North: will know in a few days when he can come, and write to fix dates then. Is sorry Pauline 'did not get through [to university?]: but the standard seems very high now, owing to the number of girls who want to get in. Three clever Bedales girls also failed'. Charles and Molly 'seemed very cheerful' when he saw them in London.
The Shiffolds. - Very kind of his mother to send him the [birthday] present of three pounds; will 'spend it chiefly on books' and tell her what he gets. May 'spend part on trouser-stretchers, which Bessie is very anxious [he] should have'. His hand is getting better [after a fall on the Lake Hunt, see 46/316], but 'still bandaged, so writing is a little difficult'. They have several guests: Mrs and Mrs Sanger; their daughter, who 'has just left Bedales; and Dickinson, 'who is here still'.
Also here is Rodker, who will publish Robert's Theocritus translation this autumn. This autumn, or next spring, the Hogarth Press will publish 'a small book of new poems' by Robert [Poems and Fables]. Knows little as yet about the performance of his Aeschylus translation by Oxford undergraduates [the Balliol Players]; they performed it 'much in the same way last year', but he never himself saw it. Will try to see a performance this time, maybe the Winchester one; doubts they do it well, from what he hears, 'still it may be an interesting experiment'. Has had nothing to do with it beyond letting them use the translation. Met 'the young man who plays Agamemnon at Athens this year. He seemed a nice fellow', but Robert does not know whether he can act. They use his '1922 edition... not the condensed version... for the Cambridge performance'. Will write to his father when he returns from London; goes there on Thursday for the [Apostles] Dinner. Sends thanks to him for his letter [12/365].
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for his letter. Bessie's shoulder is now recovering, and she can 'use her arm fairly well'. They are going to Bedales at the weekend; Julian 'seems to be enjoying his summer term'. They have been reading Carlyle's Cromwell in the evenings, 'a serious undertaking'; it is the 'only important book of Carlyle' which he has never read before. Julian will 'soon be old enough to read The French Revolution; when Robert was about fifteen or sixteen, he 'used to read it over and over again, especially the last books'.
Hopes Booa [Mary Prestwich] is 'keeping fairly well'; she wrote him 'a very nice letter, and quite a long one', last week. The weather is quite chilly; today is 'dark and threatening' though there has not been any rain yet. Will perhaps manage to get to Winchester from Bedales on Monday, where [the Balliol Players] are doing the last performance of his Aeschylus translation [The Curse of the House of Atrueus, using Robert's translation of the Oresteia]. Thinks they are acting in in Old Sarum today.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his parents for their 'great kindness' in making Robert and Bessie a present [of fifty pounds, see 11/197] on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Would like to thank them even more for 'the never-failing affection and kindness' they have always shown her. Believes Bessie has written already.
Saw Charles and George at the Lake Hunt; 'Young George [Charles's son] was once again more ποδάρκης [swift-footed; Homeric epithet for Achilles] than most or all of us, and Saturday may be said to have been his ἀριστεία [the hero's finest moment], he being uncaught when the day closed'.
Bessie has gone to London for the night, having been given a ticket for tonight's opera [Wagner's Meistersinger, see 15/36]. Julian 'writes cheerfully' from Bedales.
The Shiffolds. - Thanks his mother for her last letter. Bessie is in London for today, returning this evening. Last Saturday a friend drove them to Bedales for a '"Merry Evening"... several short plays acted by the boys and girls, and a few of the staff, and some music. The acting was really very good'. Julian had a small part, he 'is not naturally an actor, though he did what he had to do quite well'; he 'also helped in arranging and producing the plays'. He seemed well and happy.
Has had a good review of his Thamyris in the New Statesman, which he will send with some others. Hopes to visit, probably some time in January before he goes abroad. Will write to his father soon. Sends love to him and Aunt Annie.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - He and Bessie went to Bedales recently and saw Julian act the part of Fag in The Rivals; 'he is not a good actor, but his elocution is good and sensitive'. He 'is said to speak verse better than anyone else at the school', and will therefore play the part of the Chorus, Time, in The Winter's Tale, in the next Bedales performance. He also 'did the scenery for The Rivals, on the whole very successfully', especially the two indoor scenes 'with windows opening on views of Bath'; perhaps his scenery for the duel, though 'delightful', was 'almost too pictorial for a scene painting'. He is going up for his entrance examination at Kings next March, specialising in mathematics at least for his first year 'which is rather a new thing in our family'.
Hopes the current 'relatively fine and warm weather' here will last, and that his mother can 'get out into the garden every day'. Expects Aunt Annie is with them at the moment.