Originally enclosing three publicity notices for the "Abinger Chronicle" for Julian and Ursula to distribute to possible subscribers, such as Imogen [Gore-Browne?]; they should avoid people likely to be on Oliver [Lodge], Bob, [E.M.] Forster or Sylvia [Sprigge]'s lists. Max [Beerbohm] and Forster are both contributing to the Christmas number; does not think he himself will have anything ready. Bessie has a persistent cold, but he hopes she will soon get away to Hove for a few days. Hopes that Diana [Brinton-Lee?]'s 'expedition' was successful. Is trying to write an 'epistle in Alexandrines' to B.B. [Bernard Berenson], but it is 'rather uphill work'; quotes Pope ["Essay on Criticism"]. Tom S[turge] M[oore] is 'fairly all right', though Marie is still in Paris.
Far Oakridge, Stroud, Gloucestershire. - Praises Trevelyan's 'noble translation of a noble piece of writing' ["Lucretius on Death..."]; 'Nothing has ever impressed [him] more'. When staying with the Lodges recently, he told [Olver?] Lodge that he stopped ;at the threshold of spiritulastic [sic] beliefs' due to 'the fact of our nescience of all past experience'; Lucretius puts this point in 'austere & admirable form'. Thinks Trevelyan's translation gives an 'impression of a Roman weight & gravity'. Asks if he can tell him about a translation of the whole of "De Rerum Natura" as he has been inspired to read more; thanks Trevelyan for sending it.
Cad Hill House, Upton-St-Leonards, Glos. - Thanks Bob for the translations from Latin and Greek [this year's "From the Shiffolds"], particularly the "Moretum", which gives an idea of how good Bob's translation of the "Georgics" must be: asks if he ever finished 'that lovely thing'. Asks whether Bob thinks Virgil wrote the "Moretum". The [Homeric] "Hymn to Pan" is 'most beautiful'. The 'news about the Marlowe fragment' ["The Stream"] is 'sensational': it is 'now said to be by Jervis [Gervase] Markham'; the '24 lines seem much the best of those quoted (in the "Times Lit. Sup.)' [see John Crow. "Marlowe Yields to Jervis Markham."" The Times Literary Supplement", 4 Jan. 1947, p. 12]. Is having difficulty writing as three of his children are 'playing rampageously in the room'. Hopes Bessie, Julian, and Ursula are well. Is renting a small house on the edge of the Cotswolds; wishes Bob was within walking distance. Thanks Bob for the gift of "Gebir" [by Walter Savage Landor], which although uneven is a 'noble poem'; is now re-reading Boswell's life of Johnson. Cold and stormy weather, and the normally good views are affected by fog. Was re-reading Bob's translations of Juvenal recently, which are 'perfectly done'; thinks he should translate the sixth "Satire" if he has not already done so. Adds postscript to say Diana would send love if she were not out.
Cud Hill House, Upton-St-Leonards, Glos. - Has been unable and so was not able to write earlier to thank Bob for his translations ["Translations from Latin Poetry"]. Particularly enjoyed the Leopardi.: does not know the originals, but Bob has made very good poems of them; few people seem to be able to write such 'bell-like musical verse now' as he does, and Lodge misses it. Has been interested to read the new life of Tennyson by his grandson [Sir Charles Tennyson], which 'will do good to his legitimate fame'. Hopes Bob and 'dear Bessy' and their family are well, the 'dear Shiffolds flourishing, & all its woods'.
Cud Hill House, Upton-St-Leonards, Glos. - Thanks Robert for the 'splendid poem' [in this year's "From the Shiffolds"], which is 'noble' and 'the best telling' he knows of 'the great legend' [of Demeter and Persephone's abduction by Hades]. Sends a 'small book of poems' as his own gift, with best Christmas wishes to Robert and Bessie.
The Post Office, Painswick, Glos. - Has been 'delighted by the reception' given to Bob's book [his "Collected Works"]; the review in the "Sunday Times" was good. As 'so sane, so wise... with such a hold on the past - bridging from it to the future', Bob is a most 'valuable & necessary' poet. Encloses his cheque [for the book?].
11 Walton Str[eet], Oxford. - Thanks Bob for his book of poems ["From the Shiffolds"]; read it in the Christmas 'rush', then lost it; has found again and enjoyed re-reading 'so much'; apologises for his delay in thanks. Enjoys the "Moretum" especially, which is a 'wonderful picture of the Dutch school'. Very kind of Bob to remember him. Clara [his wife] is well; four of the children are at home with whooping cough. Saw 'Aunt Molly McCarthy' recently when she was staying with the Cecils, and saw something of Betty [Muntz] when he was in Dorset in August, but otherwise has not heard news of Bob; looks out for him at the London Library, where they last met. Had a letter at Christmas from Oliver Lodge, now living in Gloucestershire; would like very much to visit him but it is difficult to leave home. Expecting David from Athens later in the year. Goes to London to teach each week; hopes he may see Bob there one day.
11 Walton Street, Oxford. - Thanks from himself and Clare for Bob's poems ["From the Shiffolds"]; they congratulate him on the birth of a grandson. Lists his favourite poems; also has Bob's epistle to Lady Allen, which he 'reread with pleasure'. Asks whether he ever hears from the Lodges; has had no news from them since they left the country, though received a copy of Oliver's "The Candle". They have had 'a Christening and a Christmas', and all the children but the baby have 'gone to stay with Hester in the country'. Clare recovered well [after the birth] and is 'back in her kitchen'; they find that 'just looking after ourselves takes up almost all our time', though he still works a little in his studio, and has Bob's Ward's "Anthology" [of English verse] and other books 'for recreation'. Tells him to let them know if he is ever in Oxford. Uncle Desmond and Aunt Molly [MacCarthy] are here staying with the Cecils, and Belloc came down early in the year.
W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Thought of Bessie and Bob when he read the news [of the death of Donald Tovey?]; knows 'how distressed you both are, and yet how thankful since he had already so much to bear'. This is a 'strange age to live on into'; agrees with her that 'waking up in the morning is worst', since one finds things to do in the day, 'or even amuses oneself'. Wishes he could 'do more or see further' than he does. He 'cannot help being rooted in the past', and is 'bound to be unhappy' when it is destroyed: it would be a 'sort of disloyalty' not to be.
His mother is well; she was 'cleaning the drawing room all yesterday', and today sixty schoolchildren should have been 'having their sports in the field'. However, the weather is too wet 'for the skirts of their parents, who were coming to look on'. Is glad the Lodges [Oliver, Diana and family] 'are safe in Canada. How they will litter the prairies!'. Quite understands that she misses them, 'mess and all'. Was in Wiltshire the other weekend, near Sir Oliver Lodge. Hope she has some pleasure in her London stay; he may go there tomorrow to the Queen's Hall, 'where Priestley and others are trying to preserve the London Philharmonic [the 'Musical Manifesto' concert, at which J B. Priestley gave a speech]'. Hopes to see her next week.
Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Bessie's letter of Wednesday arrived this morning. Suggests she catches an earlier train to avoid crowding. Glad Bessie 'got a better impression of Litty [?] and had some interesting talk with her'; afraid he 'did not succeed in getting on easy terms with her'. Bessie can now have a rest before Wallington, though the house is not noisy despite the 'swarms of children'. Marjorie has just come with her family; Kitty is away for a few days from Monday, but will be back soon and see Bessie. The radio is working again, but he does not think it is much good for the [BBC] third programme. [Christopher] Hassall has sent him his script [for a programme on Catullus], typed by the BBC, and wants Bob to read both script and translations. Went to see John Dower a couple of days ago, and is going again today by bus; will walk back. John wants to show him some new poems; he is in bed, but likes company though it makes him tired. Pauline is 'very admirable'. Thinks Philip would get on well with Oliver and Diana [Lodge]; luckily he is too young 'for Oliver to indoctrinate him with his aesthetics'. Is trying to arrange to dine with Irene [Cooper Willis] on Tuesday night; has booked a room at the National Liberal Club.
The Saracen's Head, Bath. - Has been in bed ill today but hope to be up tomorrow and go on to Torquay; the Fletchers will stay in Bath and rejoin them on their return journey. There have been air raid warnings every night, but the bombs fell at least thirty miles to the west. Riette's scenery was excellent, 'but of course made out of nothing'; the play was better than he expected though too close to the book; the heroine Anne was played by a 'young Canadian actress' with great 'beauty and dignity'; the author is very career-minded. Marie is working too hard, his indisposition makes things more difficult for her. Encloses a letter to be sent to the Oliver Lodges: does not know their Toronto address. All the trains over-full: a porter told Marie that 'People rush about more than ever'. Could not go to Mrs Lambert's yesterday but Marie did and was 'delighted with everything she saw there'. Love to the Trevelyans, and 'friendliest greetings to Miss Simpkins'
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.
Normanton House, Lake, near Salisbury. - Hops Bob 'will not mind receiving some light verse - distractions are wanted even in times like these, perhaps more so'. Since "Vagrant Cheer" was lost for twenty years and only found by chance, he thought it would be 'tempting providence' not to have it printed; wishes he could 'make a better return for the great and continuing pleasure' given him by Bob's poetry. Sends love to Bessie.
Contains a poem, "To Bernhard Berenson", by R. C. Trevelyan; "Luncheon at Pretoria" by E. M. Forster; 'Stories' ["The Universal Substance" and "The Burglar"] by Oliver Lodge, and a poem, "The Old" by 'S.S.' [Sylvia Sprigge]. 'R.C.T.' written at the top of the cover in pencil.
Loose flyer with subscription form for the "Abinger Chronicle".
Normanton House, Lake, Salisbury. - Bob's 'fine volume' [the second of his "Collected Works"] has arrived safely; it seems to have been held up in the post, and perhaps opened; it is 'very attractive - to hand & to eye'. Has read Bob's 'admirable "Custom of Thrace"' again: sees it is dated 1939, so 'these bad times have not driven away the Muse'. Is half-way through "Sulla" and enjoying it very much; 'wonderful' how much Bob has made from the passages of Plutarch and Herodotus. Notes that Bob does use ellipses (...), then remembers him saying they were 'right in dialogue'. "Sulla" would work very well if staged, and 'would suit a grove on the side of Leith Hill'. Adds a postscript to say his father has 'seized' Bob's book and 'is reading it, apparently with great pleasure'.
Cud Hill House, Upton Saint Leonards, Glos. - Bob has given him great pleasure [by sending him his book "Windfalls"]: finds himself drawn first to the essays with personal names: Browning, Virginia Woolf, Meredith; these are all '[d]elightful', with '[s]uch sensitive discrimination in the literary criticism', combined with 'personal pictures - so vivid', such as 'Meredith's thumps with his stick in honour of the lovely Lucy Duff Gordon'; asks which of Meinhold's works Duff Gordon translated. Praises Bob's literary criticism: calls his defence of rhetoric 'timely needed & excelled'; might not have had Marlowe and the University poets 'without the Schools of Rhetoric of Oxford & Cambridge', and without Marlowe, there might have been no Shakespeare. Comments on 'how neatly' Bob 'refute[s] Edgar Poe's heresy!'. Likes what Bob says about Shelley's "Music when soft voices die": has sometimes read the last stanza as 'addressed by Shelley to himself'; cites 'Less oft is peace in Shelley's mind...' [from "To Jane: The Recollection"] as another instance of self-address. Diana [his wife] and the children are going to Sennen at Land's End on Monday; he himself is not, since he always finds South Cornwall 'too damp'; will go instead to the 'Brit[ish] Ass[ociation for the Advancement of Science]' in Broghton from 7-14 September. His eldest son [Oliver] is engaged to be married to Rosemary Phipps, a 'charming girl' living at Fairford on the upper Thames; she and Oliver have been to visit. Tom [his other son] is staying with Lodge's sister [Barbara Godlee?] near Manchester, but will join the rest of the family in Cornwall. He is 'very musical-studying'. Bob's grandson Philip is here, playing in the garden with Colin; he is a 'dear little boy'. Sends love to both Trevelyans; hope Bob's has a 'good holiday & enjoy[s] Italy'. Asks if 'the cause of Virginia Woolf's death [was] ever known'. Adds a postscript to say her heard a 'marvellous Beethoven piece' on the radio last night, the String Quartet in B flat, Op. 18 no. 6.
Contains "The Ancients in Abinger" by Olive Heseltine; "Children's Party" by Eiluned Lewis; "The Death of Ben Jonson" by Oliver Lodge; "Robert Browning" by R. C. Trevelyan; a sketch of Oliver Lodge by Max Beerbohm; a poem, "Memory of Spring", by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge], and "At the Abinger Well", perhaps also by Sylvia Sprigge.
Contains: "Blind Oak Gate" by E. M. Forster; poem, " The Hill", by Oliver Lodge; poems, "Why Should We Die, Being Young?" and "From Plato's 'Τήν ψυχήν...' [the soul]", by R. G. Bosanquet; "3. 'Uptown' and 'Downtown'" by Sarah Shorey Gill, with a note at the head addressed to her grand-daughter Polly; "Prayer", by J. L. Mortimer; "The Stone Rut" by Sylvia Sprigge.
Contains: "Einstein's Advent", by Oliver Lodge, remembering his father and the impact of the new developments in physics; portrait sketch of Max Beerbohm by William Rothenstein; portrait sketch of William Rothenstein by Max Beerbohm; poem, "To Gordon Bottomley", by R. C. Trevelyan; poem, "War Sky 1940", by Sylvia Sprigge"; "4. Sunday", by Sarah Shorey Gill, with introductory note to her granddaughter Polly; poem, "To Seville: Siesta", by Carla Lanyon Lanyon.
Is going to Italy on 6 January; if Julian is in Paris that week he might stay there for a couple of nights before travelling on. Betty Muntz is arriving from [Le] Havre on the morning of the 6th; she will spend the day in Paris then travel on to Florence, Cortona and Assisi with Bob; she will have two or three weeks in Italy, he will stay on until the end of February. Bessie has just had two teeth out, but otherwise is well; she is reading [Robin] Fedden's book, which Bob has not done yet. The [Oliver] Lodges and their baby [Rosalie Belinda] are well, as is C.A. [Clifford Allen] who is starting a debate in the House of Lords today 'more or less attacking the Government about aeroplanes'. Bob thinks he rather agrees with Mussolini that the League of Nations should be detached from the Versailles Treaty. Hopes Julian will be able to sell his film; supposes his engravings will soon be at the Leicester G[alleries]. Hopes to see [Maria] Germanova in Paris; saw Nijinsky's daughter [Kyra?] at Lady Ottoline [Morrell]'s, who pronounced Germanova's name with an accent on the second syllable instead of the third. Must write to [Hasan Shahid] Suhrawardy. Asks if Julian would like him to bring any books, such as Virginia [Woolf]'s "Flush", which is 'quite good'.
Contains: poem, "Love Matched With Time", by Kenneth Hopkins; "The Purple Jar", by Mildred E. Bosanquet; poem, "Invitation to Write" by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge]; piece in Italian, "Esuli d'Italia" by Z.Z., with a translation of an included poem by [Sylvia Sprigge]; "Dreams" by R. C. Trevelyan; "A Dog Lover" by Hsiao Ch'ien; poem, "The Rose", by Oliver Lodge