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Gwalior Hotel. Gwalior. - Arrived here yesterday and leave tomorrow, probably for Ch[h]atarpur as guests of the Rajah, a 'great reader of Marie Corelli and Herbert Spencer'; hope to see a city near the capital where there are 'some fine Hindu temples' [Khajuraho?]. They are waiting from a letter from the Rajah and may not go at all; will go straight to Benares if so, then on to Gaya and Calcutta. They went up to the Fort this morning on an elephant; it is 'best to take a sea-sick remedy before starting', and he walked most of the way back. They saw some fine temples and a palace; the 'rock is rather like Orvieto, only larger' and the surrounding countryside is 'more beautiful' than North India usually seems to be. Tomorrow, they will be given a tour of the Maharaja's palace by his finance minister Sultan Ahmed Khan, a Muslim alumnus of Christ's Cambridge, who is married to an English lady. They have just heard from the Rajah of Chatarpur that he can be their host, so expects to reach Benares about Monday or Tuesday next week. Had a 'cheerful letter from Bessie' in the Netherlands by the last mail; the Bottomleys are 'comfortably settled in the Shiffolds'. Does not know when Bessie will go north again, but supposes she will fetch Julian back before long. Has been reading the [Robert Louis] Stevenson letters which his mother gave him; glad he kept them till now; thinks he likes the letters better than any of Stevenson's books. They make him want to be in England or on the Mediterranean 'a little too much', though he is having a 'splendid time' and is glad he came, since he 'certainly shall never come here again'. Still possible he may have a few weeks in Japan before his return, in which case they [he and Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson] would only stop a few days in China, at Hong Kong then Shanghai. Hopes the food at the Rajah's will be good, as they 'have not had very pleasant experience of Indian dinners so far'; he was quite ill after a dinner in Delhi. Sends love to his father and Julian; will write next mail from Benares.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Likes to think of Elizabeth in Ravello. Has been very busy since coming to Welcombe on 3 January; has been arranging a room for her own use in the mornings, which is 'quite comfortable' though has 'no view' and, currently, a 'hideous paper'. The Arthur Sidgwicks and their daughter [Ethel] came on Monday, Sidney Lee joined them. On Wednesday the library opened; has sent Elizabeth a Stratford paper with a report. The ceremony was 'nicely arranged' and went well; likes the building, which is in keeping with the surroundings. [Andrew] Carnegie gave the building and fittings, which are 'in good taste', then maintenance of the building will come from rates, and there is a subscription fund for buying books. Hopes it will 'do good': there is 'room for "sweetness & light" in Stratford'. Miss Corelli did not appear but 'must be very angry'; is sure she will 'do something malicious'. Mary Booth says in a letter that Charles will probably bring Meg to Elizabeth; gave a 'cheerful' account of the family. Is going to London on Monday, and will spend the evening with Janet. Pleased to hear Mrs Enticknap has had a little girl [named May]; has sent her a coat and hood. Has never read [Stendhal's] "Le Rouge et le Noir", but knows "La Chartreuse [de Parme]". Has Madame [Juliette] Adam's memoirs, and has been 'delighting in Burne-Jones life [by his wife]'. Hope Robert's work is going well; asks whether they are continuing their translation; whether the road is mended yet, and whether the Capucini Hotel at Amalfi goes on 'as before'. They are taking a trip to Rome next winter. Sir George is well; he took a week's break from his book, 'travelling & doing his speech', and now happily at work on it again. C[harles] and M[ary] are at Cambo; they celebrated their wedding anniversary by catching the train to Woodburn and walking back by Sweethope Lake, and enjoyed this 'immense expedition' very much.

Harkstead Hall, near Ipswich, Suffolk. - Levington, near Ipswich, Suffolk. - Glad to hear again from Trevelyan, even though he needed a corkscrew to extract the letter. Likes to think of 'the small company of the resolutely civilised' near Dorking; has recently read a thriller in which England was destroyed in a war and 'a stout-hearted simple-minded sergeant major', backed by 'a Sturge Moore and a Bob Trevelyan' ended up buying the Bodleian Library 'for a bull and a small herd of heifers' to preserve civilisation. Says that no-one in his own part of the country would give a rabbit for the Bodleian. Tells a story about 'the literary barmaid' at the Wheatsheaf, Dorking, where he stayed at the time of Edward VII's coronation: she knew Marie Corelli's works almost by heart and believed they were written by George Meredith. Will be glad to subscribe to the "Abinger Chronicle", but has lost the form; has bought a bicycle, and spent some time fishing nearby. Tells Trevelyan not to look at his new book ["Secret Water"] which is 'all about mud and maps'; asks for a subject for another. Continues to read Trevelyan's poem "Pusska" aloud 'with great success, even among the uncivilised'. Sends thanks to Sturge Moore for his letter; is sorry to hear about the results of his 'gallopping [sic] up Leith Hill' and hopes he gets properly well soon; wishes he would write a "Nursery Sequence" to put beside the "Little School".

C/o Herr Geheimratt Strecker, Kaiserstrasse 32, Mainz. - Thinks a letter of his has gone missing, so will repeat the contents. Trevelyan's criticism of his own work in Act V of "The Bride of Dionysus" is 'very strong': he himself had thought of some of it but would not have felt sure until Trevelyan put it so strongly. Doesn't feel that Trevelyan's new proposals quite remove 'the appendix-like effect of Dionysus'. If it is clear that Ariadne does destroy herself, the Dionysus finale will be 'a mere Gounod's-Faust-resurrection'. Asks if Dionysus could be got into the action of the play earlier, and sketches out a proposal for this, outlining advantages. Cannot face the pause Trevelyan suggests between Ariadne's disappearance and the finale: he sat through [Wagner's] "Lohengrin" the other day (an excellent performance except that Elsa was just like '[Henry Gabriel?]Pelissier in one of his feminine rôles') and noticed how 'every stoppage on the stage becomes increasingly annoying' though there are not many and they are theoretically very dramatic. Question of the visibility of Dionysus now re-opened.

Thinks he will get on well now. Has been struggling with the Theseus-Phaedra duet, which he hopes to finish tomorrow; for the last couple of months has 'been suffering from a most disgusting inability to tackle anything', a feeling he is used to, but it has been very bad this last year, and coincides with depression about music in general. Feels that it is 'about the worst period in musical history since the 17th century' though admits this might be affected by his own low spirits. Thinks he should be over the worst now, and hopes in the summer they will be able to get the last act done together. Doesn't see how he can get back before the Classical Concert on the 25th as he wants to stop at Cologne and especially Amsterdam on the way home. Begs Trevelyan to 'put in an occasional week-end at Northlands': he will not be able to get about next term, as he needs to practice. Needs to make Northlands his base, as there aren't any academic posts which would give him such good chances for work: English music has no official openings for anyone not 'a cross between Marie Corelli, [John Philip?] Sousa, and Bernard Shaw'. Something which has been 'out of order' with him over the last year is coming right again. Is more sure than ever that the opera will be a 'big thing' if they can 'pull it through'.

Has been looking at [Trevelyan's] "Sisyphus" again; feels it will make 'a splendid modern Zauberflöte' and will certainly take it on when 'let out of Hanwell [Asylum] for finishing Ariadne. Is going to play the prison scene to Herr Geheimrat [Strecker] tomorrow, and will tell Trevelyan how it goes.