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24 Bryanston Street, W.—Discusses the Cliffords’ health and movements. The doctors do not think that Willi should return to England yet. She and Fred think of coming to join them, perhaps with the children. Gives news of their present activities and engagements.

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Transcript

24 Bryanston Street W
June 13./78

Dearest Lucy

A great many thanks for 2 letters from Malta & Genoa w[hic]h I got the day before yesterday, & for the others from Malta w[hic]h I could not acknowledge as we had no address. We were thankful that Malta seemed to suit Willi & that you fell in with pleasant friends. It was a great pity that you had an accident & were laid up; how did it happen? I do hope you are quite right again. I hope you took your journey to Lugano very very quietly and that you will soon establish yourselves comfortably at Monte Generoso. Fred wrote to you yesterday to tell you of his interview with Dr Clark. He said that nothing he sh[oul]d like better than to order you home in August or so, it would be so good for Willi morally, but that unless he really improves in the next month it would be most imprudent. Both he & Dr Beatty agree that in his present state nothing wd be worse for Willi than an English climate. You know Fred & I have set our hearts upon joining you wherever you are when the time comes for our holiday, at the Rieder Alp or in Yorkshire or Scotland & I sometimes think that we might easily manage to bring out both our kids so as to enjoy them altogether—I mean Ethel & Alice & perhaps C. Alice too. We shd not bring Alice if we cd not bring Ethel too. Don’t you think it would make Willi happier to stay abroad if he were to see his little girl & have her for about 4 weeks? Everybody goes abroad in August & if you were to come home you would find all your friends scattered. We have been staying with Mrs Ritchie near Windsor for Whitsuntide, & they & the Douglas Freshfields are all thinking of going to the Rieder Alp with great enthusiasm. The Tyndalls would be close by at the Bel Alp. So that on the whole I cannot help thinking you would enjoy yourselves more in Switzerland in August than in Great Britain, & that I suspect would be the only month Willi would be allowed home.

The W. Colliers are in London for a week & ask after you. Also we have some Dutch people over here to entertain. We did so enjoy our holiday in the country & London feels most dreadfully stuffy & stale on coming back. It is a joy to breathe in the country. Fred will have told you about Walter’s lecture at the R.I. They went to St Julians for their holiday & the parents are in Paris. I am a great deal better, in fact quite well. We are to take our Dutchman & woman to the R.I. tomorrow to hear Prof. Dewar on the Liquefaction of Gases. An interesting article in Mind next month will be “An infant’s Progress in Language”—i.e. Alice’s, done by her dada. I do hope you will be happy at Monte Generoso & meet friends. Best love to yr old man & you. Ever dear Lucy yr affectionate

GHP.

Enclosing cuttings on the Tira Campaign from the Manchester Guardian, 4 Jan. 1898, and Daily News, 5 Jan. 1898.

India Office.—Refers to a long controversy which ended with a letter from the Secretary of the Advisory Committee to the India Office on the 8th, pointing out that the Committee’s reluctance to give advice limits their usefulness to contracting Departments. It is generally unsafe to rely on an agreement between masters and men in one firm, and the fact that this existed would not make it unnecessary for them to refer to the Committee for advice. On the 7th Sir Richmond Ritchie wrote to the Secretary of the Committee suggesting that, subject to any remarks by Sir George Askwith, the Secretary of State [Lord Crewe] believed that it would be unnecessary for the Committee to consider the case further. As the delay in obtaining a reply had been so long, they [the India Office] were anxious to see if the Advisory Committee could advise whether, in view of the present situation at Dowlais, they should be safe in accepting tenders from the firm. The Secretary replied conveying what amounts to a refusal of the Chairman to advise on this question, and asking if they still required an answer to the question of 23 August. Montagu was drafting a reply to the effect that he must require an answer, as he could obtain no advice from the Committee as to whether such answers could safely be dispensed with; but before he could send it Mr [J. M.] Robertson gave an answer in the House yesterday which he believes should not have been given before his own reply had been received. He understands that the Committee is aggrieved that the India Office has already permitted the firm to tender to them. He regrets this, and has reprimanded his Stores Department. The question is now likely to die, and he intends to inform Hardie that, as an arrangement has been made at Dowlais satisfactory to all parties, he has instructed that orders may again be placed with Guest, Keen, & Nettlefold at their Dowlais Works.

(This draft was made on the 11th, but the fair-copy was not sent till the following day.)

Has only just finished reading Henry Sidgwick: a Memoir; explains that they [she and her husband?] went abroad in March. States that as a biography it is 'vividly interesting from the first page to the last....' Remarks on the strong sense the letters 'unconsciously give of the expansion and development of [Henry's] life'. Refers to his attainment of a fellowship and the establishment of Newnham College, and describes his marriage as 'the crown to the perfecting of his life.' Refers also to how nobly he met his fate. Relates that they used to call him Socrates. Invites Nora to come to spend a day with them at Wych Cross during the holidays. Speaks of Henry's conversational gifts, and declares that she liked Leslie Stephens' and Mr Bryce's accounts of 'his talk'. States, however, that she and her sisters feel that the 'irrecoverableness' of the charm of Henry's conversation 'is not ever guessed in the letters.' Refers also to his recitation of poetry, and claims that his talk 'was the expression of his whole being....' Claims that she can think of six men - including her brother [Richmond] Ritchie - 'who can none of them at all tolerate each other, who all lay down their arms and speak with unqualified and enthusiastic admiration of [Henry]'. Hopes that they may meet before long.

Congratulations on engagement.