Wallington. - Likes Julian's poems: he 'evidently has a good ear, & can Rhyme very prettily'. Had a 'great party to tea yesterday from Cambo' which 'looked like a school treat'; does not know how they all fit in the house. Glad Elizabeth has had friends; is very interested about Mrs Tovey; thinks [Donald Tovey's] decision to 'have a sensible person to look after him' was very wise. Glad that Miss B[arthorp, the new governess] and Julian are getting on. Mrs Sidgwick and the Bryces are coming next week, then Dr Hadow. They can only have two or three people staying as they have 'few servants & one sitting room', and Sir George gets too tired when 'there is anyone to talk to'. Sorry Elizabeth has had to change her 'girl'; they have trouble getting them. Sir George is reading her "These Twain", the last of Arnold Bennet's "Clayhanger" series.
13, Hanover Terrace, W. - Has ordered a couple of copies of the poem, which sounds delightful from Goldie [Dickinson]'s account. The latest news of Stanley [Makower] 'astonishing and splendid': he is gaining weight and his temperature back to normal; his brother-in-law, visiting from Switzerland, agreed that the illness was the 'fatal one' [tuberculosis?] diagnosed by the English doctors, but thought more should be done, so he is being treated from Zurich. Going to Dieppe tomorrow with his mother, Leonhard and Robert to Dieppe. Lengthy postscript: has read and much enjoyed [Forster's] "Howard's End", but was a little disappointed with [Bennett's] "Clayhanger" and "Old Wives' Tale"; had previously much enjoyed Bennett's short story ["The Death of Simon Fuge"]. Is reading a 'charming' book given to him by Michel Bréal, his "Pour Mieux Connaître Homère".
Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Asks Robert if he knows the whereabouts of a copy of [Dickens's] "Barnaby Rudge", and the "Harrow Atlas of Ancient Geography" which he very much misses; has found an entry in the list of lent books indicating that Robert had these, but the initials have been crossed out. Has just finished Conrad's "Rescue"; seems a 'strange delusion' that people consider him out of the ordinary, and rank him with writers such as 'Arnold Bennett, Wells, Mrs Sidgwick, Shaw, Kipling, and Stevenson'; he is of course clever, 'but he does not know how to tell a plain, or an impassioned story'; read "Chance" aloud to Caroline, which amused him despite 'the upside down of the narrative', but can read nothing else of his with pleasure. Sends birthday wishes.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Glad to hear about the Slingsbys [the family of Geoffrey Winthrop Young's wife to be, Eleanor]; true there is an age difference 'but Geoffrey is ever young' and he is sure the marriage will go well. Plenty of marriages which go wrong in Arnold Bennett's early books, which he has been reading or re-reading; all 'very carefully constructed... fresh, and vigorously thought out'. Sees there are two more he has not read, "Leonora" and "The Glimpse" and wonders if they are good. Asquith has just sent Sir George his book; cannot remember if he sent Robert Asquith's letters, and does so now; he has 'caught Macaulay [?]tripping'.
F. W. V. R. C. [Friends War Victims Relief Committee], A. P. O., S. 5, B. E. F., France. - Thanks his mother for her letter; fears she is having 'a cold time'. It is cold here too, but he does not much mind it; he and Francis Birrell are anyway going to Nice for a week on Friday, where it may be warmer. Hopes to return to England towards the end of March. Julian 'writes cheerfully, and seems to be getting on well so far [at school']; Bessie also 'writes cheerfully', and seems to have been staying with Charles and Molly in London.
The [FRCVS] library 'goes on the same as usual', but soon it will all have to move to the Verdun area. Is currently looking for a successor, and has just written to 'one of our men', whom he thinks 'will probably do'. Has never read The Roll Call; indeed, has not read several of [Arnold Bennett's] earlier books. Admire him 'a good deal' in some ways, but does 'not really find him sympathetic, even in the Old Wives' Tale, which he likes best so far. Also likes The Card, 'slight though it is'.
Had 'a good look at [Woodrow] Wilson on the day of his arrival' on the Champs-Élysée, and also when he passed under the FWVRC windows on his way to the Hôtel de Ville. Paris 'gave him a far warmer welcome than it did to the kings'. Will write to his father soon; hopes he is 'not feeling the cold too much'.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - They are very interested in Robert's 'statistics of the Library'; he got 'a wonderful lot for the money' though it sounds expensive in francs. Asks if Robert remembers a story about an eighteenth century private tutor in Geneva writing to tell a London banker that his son was '10000 livres in debt'. Thinks of Robert 'constantly nowadays'. They have an 'extraordinary fortnight' ahead; will never forget the 'excitement' of reading the results of the London County Council election out to Caroline 'one Sunday morning'; will be something 'to open the newspaper on tomorrow'
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Quotes Macaulay ["Lays of Ancient Rome: The Battle of the Lake Regillus]" and Horace [Odes 3.18: in Latin] since a letter from George this morning, about 'a very different scene in Italy" reminded him that it was the Nones of December. George is very well, which is a relief since they had seen a notice in the paper about his ambulance carrying away '400 cholera patients'; two of his Italian ambulance orderlies died of it in forty eight hours, but none of the Englishmen have it and it seems to be 'yielding to the cold'. Quotes George's description of the eviction, under Austrian shell-fire, of the hill-station hospitals beyond Quisca [Kojsko], at length; he gives a 'most curious account of men's behaviour under fire' illustrating 'the sort of courage required in this... novel form of war'. They get each other's 'Sunday letter' quite regularly on the following Sunday, by official bag. Caroline did not need to leave the train carriage from Scot's Gap to Stratford, so is no worse, though the 'fog was as bad as bad'; is greatly relieved to have her here. They have begun to read [Sir Walter] Scott's "Life" aloud, after having read "Illumination" and "All's Well That Ends Well", which must have been 'a rattling play to act'. Agrees with Robert that the 'arrangement' of The Old Wives' [Tale]" [Arnold Bennett] is 'strange but very masterly'. Very much enjoyed their long time with Elizabeth and Julian; glad it did them both good. Has been reading the very good article on Chaucer in the 'Biographical Dictionary' by [John Wesley] Hales, of whom he has 'never consciously heard', though he was '4th Classic in Henry Sidgwick's year and Sidgwick was always so interested in other college men of his time'.
Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Happy to be expecting Elizabeth and Julian today. Interested to hear about the castle [at Aulla, owned by Aubrey and Lina Waterfield?], and envies Robert's chance of 'a fine fortnight near Florence' [with the Berensons]. Caroline has just finished reading Colonel Young's book on the Medicis, which pleased her greatly, and Sir George intends to try it. Young appears to be 'an old Indian officer', and his work to be 'free from that sort of canting way in which people think it is necessary to write about Italy... like Symonds, Hare, and in some sort Ruskin' and 'hundreds' of other lesser writers. There was a 'glorious eclipse of the moon' last night, and 'much distress of politicians for it to portend'. They are going to read Forster's novel ["Howards End"] aloud, having finished [Arnold Bennett's] "Clayhanger" which was 'admirable'. Adds in a postscript that Major Dobbin [in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair"] might have written Colonel Young's book, 'instead of his history of the Sikhs'; it has 'the honesty and thoroughness of [Sir George's] Colonel Gerald Boyle" [who composed a manuscript "Notes on the War of the American Revolution"?].
Kensington Palace Gardens, W.8. - Thinks he is returning to Edinburgh on Friday, after getting a fortnight's leave. Grettie is making 'a splendid recovery, hampered only by her abominable relations': after seeing Aunt Jane, she is going to Edinbugh and 'meeting another aunt whose daughter has gone violently off her head'. Tovey can do nothing; [Grettie's sister?] Jessie Hanson, whom Bessie met in Edinburgh and whom Tovey calls 'a bad cheap copy of Grettie', is with them all the time and encourages 'that morbid vein of insolence' which the doctors recognise as the commonest symptom. Grettie is all right after a day or two alone with him, but she cannot get that. They have been seeing things in London: [Arnold Bennett's] "The Title", which was very good, the National Gallery, and Hubert Cornish. She is 'first-rate' with his friends, as she is with her family; it is just that with her family she is 'simply horrible' to Tovey, and writes 'dangerous letters to doctors etc'.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Glad to give good news of Caroline, who has 'really taken care of herself this time' and is now quite comfortable and getting stronger, taking a walk each day. Good to have news of Julian; their family is 'not given to crawling in after life' but they tended to take to it early as children when it was 'the only honourable method of getting about'. Shares Robert's admiration of [Arnold Bennett's] "Clayhanger"; they too plan to re-read "The Old Wives' Tale" aloud. Discusses Cornelius Nepos's "Life of Atticus".
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking. - Hopes his father is 'comfortably settled' at Welcombe; he and Bessie were sorry to hear from his mother that she had a cold, and hopes she has by now recovered. Julian 'continues splendidly well and is getting on in every way except locomotively, for he does not even try to move from one place to another'.
Finished Clayhanger, a 'wonderfully good novel': hopes Bennett can 'keep the next two parts up to the level of the first'. Will now have to read the Old Wives Tale. They are still reading aloud Frederick the Great, and are now coming to the 'quarrel with Voltaire'; Bessie usually takes 'no interest in accounts of battles, but admits that Carlyle's battles are different', as are George's accounts of those of Garibaldi.
Hopes to see George in London next week, at least 'at the Cambridge dinner on the 16th': these dinners are 'a very good institution, as one meets Cambridge people of all ages, whom one has little chance of meeting otherwise'. Will write to his mother soon.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Encloses letters he would like returned; is still sure that Cacciola is 'looking for the death duty' [on Florence Trevelyan's will to be paid by the Trevelyans]; has directed Withers to draft a letter to Philipson. Cannot undertake to go further in the matter if Robert wishes to take the property, and will stop after paying legal expenses incurred so far, but expects he will keep to his resolution not to take it. Looks forward to the "English Review"; tells Robert to read [Arnold] Bennett's "[A] Great Man", which he himself currently has out from the London Library.