Showing 44 results

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Looking forward to seeing Robert and Elizabeth at Wallington. Robert must be having a good time with [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson 'in such scenery and circumstances'. Glad about 'the Water-lane'. Charles and Mary will be at Cambo for a good part of their visit. Must read [Aristophanes's] "Thesmophoriazusae" again; remembers [Charles] Vaughan saying 'how much he liked the three female comedies'. Is entering Macaulay's marks in his favourite Cicero speeches in the Dolphin [edition]; has already done this for the Terence. Miss Richardson has again got 'three County Council scholarships... not bad for a school of 60 children'.

Election for the chair of Chemistry, working on Aristophanes' Peace, conduct of Smith the University printer

Pensione Palumbo, Ravello, presso Amalfi:- Sends best Christmas wishes from him and Elizabeth to his parents, as well as his brothers, whom they hear will be at Wallington. Fine but cold weather since their arrival in Italy until today, 'which is as bad as it could be'. Drove from Cava to Pompeii the day before coming to Ravello; Bessie had not seen it before, and 'was enchanted, especially with the new house, and with the Thermae [baths]'. Everything is 'exactly the same' at Ravello, except that 'Mr Kershaw, the old gentleman, seems a good deal older'; he and a friend are the only others here [at the hotel]. Mrs Reid is not well, and they have not yet seen her.

At Florence they 'met Zangwill, the Jew, who is a friend of the Berensons': they 'liked him very much and found him very witty and interesting', though 'his manners, especially at table, are not perfect'. He spilled his salad onto Bessie's best silk dress, which had to be sent to Florence to have the stain removed - but his 'other merits' make up for such things. The Russells are now staying at the Berensons'; the Trevelyans just missed seeing them. Is glad that [Alys] seems to be 'almost quite well again' now; has seen 'a good deal' of [Bertrand] over the last few months in London and at Dorking.

His parents should look at Murray's translation of Euripides' Hippolytus and Bacchae, which 'in many ways is very well done'; does not think the 'effect is very like Euripides' but that as an 'original poem... it has great merits'. Murray's notes also 'throw great light on the plays from a theatrical and dramatic point of view', and his introduction is 'very interesting'. There is also a translation of Aristophanes' Frogs: 'much of it reads very well', but opinions may differ on 'the possibility of putting Aristophanes into English verse'. Thinks Murray's Hippolytus is better than his Bacchae.

They hope Sir George has had 'no more rheumatism' and will keep well all through the winter, and that his book [the next volume of The American Revolution] is 'getting on well'. Their love to Robert's parents, Charles, and George.

Trinity, Cambridge [on Wallington headed notepaper, address crossed through]: - Had a 'very nice time at Oxford, and saw most that is to be seen there'. The play [Aristophanes' Frogs] was 'very good, and quite worth going to see'; the man who played the corpse and Euripides [Arthur Ponsonby] was 'far the best'.

Saw Frank [Dugdale], who was 'not at all well', and will not row in the races next week; Robert thinks it is nothing 'worse than bad neuralgia'; Aunt Alice was going to see him yesterday. They are going to have a game of Harrow football tomorrow, and 'have got footers from Harrow on purpose'. Tom [Macaulay Booth?] 'made a very good speech in the Union tonight against a literary tripos', the 'first he has ever made there'. Charlie is still well.

Asks when the family is going abroad, as he needs to 'settle' when he is going to Welcombe. Sees some of the newspapers 'have mistaken [Arthur?] Balfour's (the Babe's) sister for the sister of the "Heaven-borne"'. Hopes Georgie is well, and does well in the scholarship. There has been snow here this evening: will 'have a nice slush for tomorrow's game'. Hopes his father is well.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Glad that Elizabeth and Robert were at Holly Lodge [for the unveiling of the blue plaque commemorating Lord Macaulay]; envies him that and [his reading of? Aristophanes's] "Birds". Has just read the "Epidicus", and enjoyed it, though thinks Jeremy Collier was 'preposterous' to call it Plautus's masterpiece. Very pleased with Robert's opinion of "The American Revolution" and relieved by what he says about Wesley and the soldiers [see 46/87]. Will be glad when the settlement with the Vaughan Williamses [for the land on which to build Robert and Elizabeth's new house] is concluded. Will enclose a few letters: two from historians which are 'satisfactory testimony' to his accuracy; and three from James, Colonel [John] Hay the Secretary of State, and [Joseph Hodges] Choate, which he asks Robert to show to nobody but Elizabeth. A postscript on a separate sheet says he will send the letters in a few days. Asks if Robert could look at a book in an auction for him which as 'a lover of Horace'. he is thinking of buying.

Farncombe Lodge, Farncombe, Godalming. - Thanks Trevelyan for his note; glad he does not think Clutton-Brock's review [of "The New Parsifal": "An Operatic Fable," The "Times Literary Supplement", 12 Mar. 1914, p. 127] was 'very inadequate': has been 'entreated to write rather lightly' as well as 'copiously' to 'keep the Lit. Sup alive', and fears he did not think he made it plain how much he enjoyed the book, though thinks Trevelyan could have done even better with a 'more crude & simple subject', and that the Aristophanic play got 'too obscure in places'.

Trinity Cambridge: - Has received her letters about the concerts, and does not know which is best to go; perhaps it would be best for him to come next Saturday. Asks her to tell him what train he should come up by. Election time 'will be very exciting in London'; asks if his father is going to speak there again. Hears Boz [? - possibly Reginald Bosworth Smith] is 'better, and is going away soon'.

Is going to Oxford, he thinks on the 27th, for the Greek play, [Aristophanes'] Frogs. Hubert Weston is going to get tickets and rooms. Robert and Charlie are going to dinner on Thursday with the [Henry?] Sidgwicks. He can 'cycle now to a certain extent, if the roads are not too muddy or hilly'. Charlie has also been learning. Supposes Georgie is 'going in for the scholarships this term'. Napier, 'whose watch chain [Robert] lost' is staying here for a few days, 'after passing first out of Sandhurst'. Robert thinks he is 'doing better in [his] work now'. Hopes everyone at Tunbridge [Anna Maria Philips and Sophie Wicksteed?] are well.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Thanks Robert for the 'article about Queen Mary and Queen Anne', which is better than he expected 'in manner', but 'in substance it more than justifies George's letter"; he would have made a fine journalist. Much looking forward to Robert's [translation of] Theocritus, who was to Robert in his 'earliest stages' what Juvenal and Aristophanes were to Sir George. Julian is lucky to learn to love "Richard II" and "Martin Chuzzlewit" 'by parental introduction'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - An interesting letter came from Elizabeth last night about house staff arrangements at the Shiffolds, and about Julian. Is reading Sophocles, Manin [and the Venetian Revolution of 1848, by G. M. Trevelyan], and Harold Frederic's "Illumination" [The Damnation of Theron Ware"] for the third or fourth time; it is a 'book of wonderful power, and unfailing readableness throughout'. As Bacchus, would have chosen Euripides if the contest [in Aristophanes's "Frogs"] had been between him and Sophocles, but the guard in "Antigone" is a 'very Euripidean, or even fourth rate Shakespearean, character'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - He and Caroline are both 'fairly well, and heartedly contented'. Glad that Robert and Elizabeth are 'deep in Chaucer'; read him aloud to Caroline over two years in which they 'cared for no other poetry'. Is currently reading the four last books of Thucydides; intends then to alternate Terence with [Sophocles's] three Theban plays and four plays by Aristophanes; then to read two Plato dialogues and the four first books of Herodotus: that 'is far enough to look forward to, and (most probably) too far'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Interested in the Basil Williams dinner [see 46/278], and views his departure [to take up a professorship at McGill University] 'with regret' and hopes he will benefit from it. Would not have believed it if anyone had told him a generation ago that 'Canada would be a very great country with a future like that of Australia...' He too loves the Plutus; read it at the age of sixteen during one summer holiday with Uncle Tom [Macaulay]: 'I construing, and he enjoying'; Macaulay chose it as his introduction to Aristophanes, as he then chose the Meidi [Against Meidias] of Demosthenes and Gorgias of Plato. Is now reading the last five books of Herodotus, interspersed with [Demonsthenes's] Olynthiacs and first three Philippics.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Will be going off to the Lake Hunt next Thursday; hopes the fine weather which has returned today will 'last over Whitsuntide'. The Lake Hunt is 'a serious matter to one who will be fifty-three in a month from now', so he has 'to go into a mild form of training'; has already lost several pounds of weight 'so as to have less to carry up to the Haystacks and the Gable'. Fears that George Lothian [sic: George Lowthian Trevelyan]. Believes he went to Welcombe last Sunday with Charles; hopes they 'found Mama fairly well and enjoying the warmer weather'. Expects the cowslips and narcissuses will be almost over by now.

He and Bessie had a 'very pleasant surprise visit on Saturday and Sunday' from Molly and Florence; they came 'by motor bus' to Wotton, walked four or five miles from there over Leith Hill, and stayed the night on Sunday, When he finishes this letter, Bessie will read him a 'chapter or two from [Trollope's] The Small House at Allington. John Eames has just given Crosbie his cold eye'. Robert is 'just finishing' Aristophanes' Frogs and beginning to write a new comedy of his own.

Grimsby Farm, Long Lane, Coldash, Newbury. - Since, 'like Alice [in Wonderland]' he always takes 'a great interest in questions of eating and drinking', he is worried that Trevy is under-eating, unless risotto is 'very comprehensive and satisfying', like the dish described [in Aristophanes' "Ecclesiazusae/Assemblywomen" in a long compound word of which he quotes the beginning. Other than that Trevy seems to be having a 'perfect time', much better than he is himself. Wants very much to see Trevy's work; tells him to 'leave Paul as he is' [see 15/274] or just change the name so he will not recognise him; expects the book will be 'uncommon good'. Oswald [Sickert] nearly finished his book at Christmas, but did nothing more between then and Easter, as he was too busy with "Beautiful B[retain": published by the Werner Company]; he says a great deal work needs still to be done on it. [Stanley] Makower's book ["The Mirror of Music"] should be out soon after Easter. The 'great literary event' has been [Arthur] Verrall's "Euripides the Rationalist"; does not think he has ever read 'anything so clever'; will not say anything about it as it would spoil it, and it seems 'perfectly convincing'. Has been 'getting on very well with [Robert] Bridges': went with him to Oxford for a day last week; he seems 'the biggest man I've ever known anything of, perhaps equal with [William Gunion?] Rutherford'; cannot think of anyone else so 'thoroughly serious, thoroughly humorous, and thoroughly consistent', except perhaps Sickert who does not seem to be 'exactly "great" at present', though may be at forty. Bridges is bringing out an edition of Keats soon which will, for example see 'plain "Endymion" as an allegory". They went to the Bodleian, which is 'a delightful place'; Lady Shelley has recently given them 'a fine collection of Shelley MSS etc'. Roger [Fry] is coming to Yattendon soon after Easter, but unfortunately Marsh will have left by then. The 'great thing about Maeterlinck is the sound'; "L'Intruse" was a 'complete failure on the stage'; "Pelléas et Mélisande" 'delightful to listen to'; afraid the 'beautiful M. Lugné Poë' 'is gone for good, and won't come back, the theatre was so dreadfully empty' though the 'decent critics' were all in favour has not seen [William] Archer's articles, but Shaw 'praised the company highly' who has been in Fiesole, will soon go 'for a sail down the Adriatic', and return to England at the end of April. Asks if Trevy has seen the reports of Russell's brother [Frank]'s case; believes it will be settled on Tuesday week; thinks [Russell's wife] 'the Countess and her mother exposed themselves pretty fully'.

Heard from 'dear [Arthur] Shipley this morning, he's in solitary splendour at Cambridge'. Asks if Shipley is Trevy's 'idea of Horace', as he is Marsh's own, both physically and in character. Has also had a 'very gay letter from T. T. [Phelps?], furious' with Trevy for writing twice to Marsh and not to him. Has heard from 'the Seatollerites': George [Trevelyan] and [George] Moore both wrote last Sunday and the party seems to have been a success up to then. Has been 'working very hard' himself, but does not think he is getting on and worries about his Tripos [examinations]; the only reading he is doing apart from revision is de Quincey, of whom he is becoming 'very fond'. Thought the murder Trevy told him about at Wallington, '[William] Winter's murder [i.e., that committed by Winter]' was in "Murder as a Fine Art [de Quincey's "Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts"]', but read that this morning and there is nothing about it there; asks where Trevy 'got all the details'.

Durbins. - Has not sent [Bob's translation of Aristophanes's] "Lysistrata" yet as he wanted Goldie [Lowes Dickinson's] criticisms; Goldie came on Sunday and Fry will read it to Madame Donnay [sic: Vera Donnet] tomorrow. Will try two days in town. Has read Bob's "Lucretius [On Death]" 'with very great delight; would like to bring out a second book, called "Lucretius On Origins" or similar. They should 'stir up Desmond [MacCarthy] to the point of writing' and perhaps advertise 'in educational places - girls' colleges & such like'; Margery [his sister] tells him about 'yearning intellectual appetites among the lower middle classes of Birmingham' though he is unsure 'whether they'd rise to' Lucretius. Is much better for his 'long rest', though managed to 'paint a good lot'; expects to be in town a little now, if he keeps well, but will be back at Durbins after 23 Mar when Pamela returns, so Bob could come over again then.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Glad to hear Robert is recovering; eager to hear he is quite well. '[V]ery pretty about the theatricals, and about Bessy "not knowing"'. Has begun to re-read Plato, starting with the "Meno" which was particularly recommended to him by Jackson in the 'wonderful letter' he has pasted into the Bekker Uncle Tom [Macaulay] gave him. Thinks Plato is the Greek author he reads most easily; has an 'extraordinary ideal, elevating, effect' on him. Will read the "Euthyphro" at Wallington this summer, for the fourth time, then the "Apology", "Crito", and "Phaedo"; will read the "Republic" if he lives another year. Has now finished reading Aristophanes"; liked the "Ecclesiazusae' less than the other plays. Glad Robert has the pigs [?] since he has someone to look after them.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Very interested in Julian's Latin: Sir George believes Latin and Greek 'are the best of all legacies'. Has just finished the twentieth book of the "Odyssey", the end of which is a 'marvellous masterpiece'. Agrees with Robert about translations of Aristophanes, and about Frere having 'gone nearest to the impossible'. Envies Elizabeth's stay at 14 Great College Street [Charles and Molly's house]. Greatly curious about Jan [?, i.e. Jan Bastiaan Hubrecht; possibly Jon or Joris], as 'the development of an interesting, and most remarkable, sire'. Caroline is taking better care of herself and is well; he himself must 'act [his] time of life'. George leaves tomorrow; the children will be able to see him off.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - He and Caroline send best Christmas wishes to Robert and family. Appreciates Robert's treatment of his points 'in the Chorus of [Aristophanes's] "Lysistrata"'; discussion of Athenian familiarity with the Doric dialect, including comparison with the intelligibility of 'broad Aberdeenshire' to English people; [Benjamin?] Rogers seems to be 'very thorough'. Thinks Geoffrey [Winthrop Young] is arriving later than George.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury, St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for the fifty pounds which Bessie says he has paid into Robert's account; it is 'very kind... to go on paying it'. Julian returned to school last Friday; Robert thinks now he will be 'quite happy there'.

Went to the dinner in honour of Basil Williams last Tuesday, which was a 'great success': George, as chair, 'made a very good speech' including reading out 'a letter dated from Westminster Abbey, from Chatham [Pitt the Elder, subject of a biography by Williams, buried in the Abbey], regretting he could not be present, and saying many nice and true things about Basil in his best eighteenth Century grand style'; George also 'read a telegram from Rhodes [Cecil Rhodes, also the subject of Williams biography], very characteristic, I should think'. [J. L.?] Hammond also made a 'very good speech, and so too did Basil himself. The whole thing was a very genuine and spontaneous tribute, without a false note from any side'.

Bessie asks him to thank his father for his letter. Robert has finished reading the Plutus [of Aristophanes] and is beginning the Pax. Sends love to his mother, and to Aunt Annie.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury, St. Mary, Dorking. - They are 'all assembled here again', though Julian returns to school on Friday; he 'seems all the better for his time in the North', as does Bessie. Mrs Holroyd-Reece is staying here, 'finishing her holiday", as her husband has gone to the Netherlands 'on Media Society business, in spite of his collar bone', which is better but 'not right yet'.

Robert is going to London today 'to attend the dinner in honour of Basil Williams, of which George takes the chair'; Charles will also be there, as well as 'many of the [Lake] Hunt'. Robert's old friend Edward Hodgkin, 'Thomas Hodgkin's son', has died, the first of Robert's 'contemporary friends (excepting Theodore [Llewelyn Davies]) who has died' with whom he was 'really intimate'. Robert 'cared for him almost more than any one else' when at Cambridge, 'and for some years afterwards, but had rather lost sight of him of late years'.

Is reading Aristophanes' Ploutos again, which he 'read with Bowen in sixth form pupil room', and has liked since then 'almost as much as his more famous plays. The Chorus isn't much; but the incidents and the dialogue and the ideas' always seem to him 'as good as they can be'. Sends love to his mother.

Plautus has little of the obscenity of Aristophanes, Niebuhr, preparing for his week in Marlborough.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Would like to see Robert and Julian in the hay. Their own hay-making was 'deplorable' last year, but the crop has been wonderful this year and was 'practically made in the course of a week'; this makes a difference to the household, as a tea has to be sent out each day to the hay-makers. Strange how children 'like young nations' take verse for their first 'natural channel of literary production'. Is beginning to read Aristophanes in chronological order, with Latin between each play; is currently following up the "Acharnians" with [Cicero's] 'marvellously interesting speech on Sextius'. Judges Cicero to be the best 'orator who reads well': Macaulay reads very well, but 'it is primarily literature'; Gladstone is 'so deficient in matter'; Demosthenes and Bright lack 'the volume of historical and literary, and philosophical matter. Plans to read many of Cicero's best speeches, and Suetonius. Sends a letter from Hilton Young, referring to a 'really beautiful poem of his'; the 'Praed blood' seems to be coming out in him and Geoffrey [a reference to Winthrop Mackworth Praed?] as is 'the old naval blood of the builder and namer of Formosa' [Admiral Sir George Young, of Formosa Place, Cookham, Berkshire]. Has had a letter from Sir George Young about his 'own studies in English prosody, which he is making his old age occupation'; will send it to Robert when he finds it.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Not quite well enough to answer Robert's letter properly; envies him his first read of [Aristophanes's] "Lysistrata": 'whatever may be said about it, the plot has a meaning in it'. Is reading about the siege of Syracuse by Marcellus [in Livy]; taken as part of the Second Punic War, it has 'the same sort of interest as Admiral Studdy's victory [sic: Admiral Doveton Sturdee had just defeated a German squadron at the Falkland Islands]' or the capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon; 'these events depend on their surroundings'.

The Shiffolds. - Bessie and Julian arrived on Saturday, 'both in very good health', and 'seemed to have enjoyed their stay at Welcombe very much'. Hopes his parents are both by now fully recovered. The weather here has been 'perfect' since he returned. Had a 'very interesting week at Snowdon, getting to know a quite new country, and a number of new friends, also the rudiments of a new art, that of rock-climbing'. Too late, when over forty, to take to it seriously, but 'under the leadership of [Herbert?] Reade and Geoffrey Young', he managed so 'safe but fairly serious climbs, on Lliwedd, the Parson's Nose, Tryfan, and elsewhere'. Does not remember whether his father knows Snowdon well; thinks the views from the top are 'finer on the whole than from any of the Cumberland hills'.

Julian is now very pleased with the little garden which the gardener has made for him; he has planted fox-gloves, and 'wants to put up a notice up that the foxes must not come into the garden to get new gloves, unless they pay sixpence each for them'. Robert is reading Aristophanes' Peace, which is 'rather a favourite' of his, though it is not usually though of as one of the 'great ones'. Saw Shaw's play [Pygmalion?] in London, and 'laughed a good deal'; does not think it is 'a very satisfactory play perhaps, but few of his are'.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Very sorry about Julian's illness; Caroline will be glad to hear from Elizabeth tomorrow. Glad Robert is seeing some plays. Enjoying a visit from George; he has been interesting about the '[Sunday?] Tramps', so they appreciate Robert joining them; George agrees with him that Robert's "Parsifal" ["The New Parsival"] is 'charmingly poetical below the surface' and sometimes above it. Sir George surprised he did not 'catch' [Well's] "The New Machiavelli", as it is "pure Aristophanes'. Despite being so 'ill and pulled down', he is working almost more pleasurably than ever before, only has 'three more paragraphs to write'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Glad that Bessie has been seeing her sister, and will see Mrs Grandmont [her cousin Bramine Hubrecht]. Robert was 'bold in playing [rugby] on Founders' Day [at Harrow]' and can rightly feel proud of himself; he himself is 'rather proud' of travelling to Rome while older than St Peter. He and Caroline are going to Bologna, via Padua, and will be in Florence for a week from 19 [November] and will be glad to see Robert there. The walk they took together was 'intensely characteristic'; thought that Italian scenery is generally 'much less attractive than English', but the way 'the masses compose is wonderful'; there is nothing like the view from the north bank of the Arno in Florence. Caroline is very sorry to miss "Androcles [and the Lion"], by Bernard Shaw]. They like Robert's account of Julian. Is sending 'a funny old letter' and will send the "Frogs" if Robert wants it.

5 Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge. - Thanks Trevelyan for "Sisyphus": thinks 'the revival of the 'Satyric' drama... seems to be a highly promising experiment; the passages where 'the verse (under stress of hyper-tragic emotion...) is forced beyond content [?]' gave him 'great joy' when he 'caught the trick of them'. Will read the play again as soon as he can; meanwhile he has passed it on to his wife and [daughter] Helen. He and his family hope that next term Trevelyan and his wife will visit them; asks him to let them know when might suit. Has sent Desmond MacCarthy a 'most important application of Aristophanic criticism of Tennyson's "Idylls"' for the "[New] Quarterly" [published in "New Quarterly" 2 (1909), pp 81-89]; aimed not against Tennyson by Aristophanes; thinks it migh interest Trevelyan when it comes out.

Loose pages at front of file B/5/1.