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10 Prinsegracht, The Hague. - They have not yet retired to their 'Retraite Edéniencee [ie, at Ede]', as her cousin calls it; does not think they will go before early June. The Grandmonts are still where she left them at Rocca Bella [Taormina, Sicily] at the end of April; they are travelling back with an English friend, stopping only briefly at Florence and Bâle. Was sorry to leave Italy 'like that' but it could not be helped; made her all the more anxious to return another time. Wrote to her cousin [Bramine Hubrecht] and sent her Trevelyan's messages, but does not know whether she will go to England this summer; he does not seem anxious to go and she supposes 'the husband's opinion has great weight in these matters!'. She herself will not be able to; is currently here alone at home with her uncle and aunt [Paul François Hubrecht and his wife Maria] and would not like to leave them when she would have to go 'to fit in with Senior's week at St. Andrews'. Thanks Trevelyan for his letter and the trouble he took with the list of books, though she has not yet got all those he suggested, in part because the library is currently closed. Fortunately the director is a friend of the family and can be persuaded to break the rule forbidding books to be taken or sent into the country, so they sometimes get a good selection sent to Ede; however spring-cleaning is 'a holy business' in this country so she must wait. Asks if Trevelyan could possibly send some of the books he listed: something by Henry James; his father's book; [Robert] Browning's letters; she will get [William?] Morris's "Life" [by J. W. MacKail and his brother's book from the library. Has been reading [Elizabeth Barrett Browning's] "Aurora Leigh" for the first time; asks whether Trevelyan likes it. Will be curious to see Trevelyan's friend [Thomas Sturge Moore]'s poems which he sent to her cousin; wonders whether they will appreciate it; does not think Mrs Grandmont has 'specially classical tastes'. Would be very nice if Trevelyan could come to Ede this summer; unsure still of when exactly would be the best time as she knows nothing of the Grandmonts' plans; thinks probably late August or early September. Is longing to get to fresh air in the country; town seems oppressive after Taormina.

They all feel 'greatly honoured... with all these noble peace delegates' being at the Hague; the Congress was opened yesterday; one of the Dutch members told them 'what a feeble old president Baron de Staal seemed to be' and that 'the first meeting did not promise much'. Is sending some Taormina photographs; the one with Mrs C [Florence Cacciola Trevelyan?] is 'funny but too indistinct'; [Giuseppe] Bruno took the same view which better shows Mrs C. 'like some curious prehistoric Juliet on her balcony'; she has it and will show it to you, or Trevelyan could write to Bruno and ask to see the several pictures he took in her garden of her 'constructions'. Glad Trevelyan has heard some good music in London; she feels out of practice and is looking forward to playing with her sister [Abrahamina Röntgen] again. Knows her aunt is giving her the biography of Joachim by Moser for her birthday. Will also have to 'make special Vondel studies this summer'; feels she knows very little about him.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Thanks Bessie for her letter, and for enclosing Madame [Irene] Zocco's; very glad to hear 'how well and splendid Julian is ', which makes up for their sadness about the nurse's illness. Glad Julian has curls; Humphry is also 'very curly' but this is 'more out of the family line' for them. He and Mary 'play Lake Regillus and Horatius on the Museum floor' with some soldiers and some 'ancient Romans' he once got in Switzerland; she is 'very clever and sharp at the uptake'. Meanwhile Theo usually rides the rocking horse, though he looks on a little, 'and spouts the poems' [by Macaulay]. He is 'very much interested' ('much' is an insertion as 'concession to Jan's hereditary ideas of grammar') about [Donald] Tovey; takes it that his progress [on the opera "The Bride of Dionysus", to Robert's libretto] is 'slow but sure'. Must be very interesting to watch him at work. Can easily believe what she says about Forster's book ["Howard's End"], which would make it 'like all his others'; he is 'just one half of a great writer' and could do with being boiled down by 'Peer Gynt's button moulder' with 'some ordinary mechanic writer who can spin him a common likely plot'. Sends love to Bob and wishes 'success to his Solomon, and the Sage' [a reference to Bob's "Foolishness of Solomon"?].

Note from Janet offering condolences for 'poor Nurse Catt's departure'; asks to be remembered to her before she leaves.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Is reading the "Nation" through, a 'particularly excellent number'; found Robert's poem in its 'proper place' and thought it very good. Has just read [Ibsen's] "Peer Gynt"; expects the original is often very effective; supposes Peer Gynt was a 'mythical character' much written about before Ibsen, like Faust and perhaps Hamlet. Caroline has just showed him a 'delightful carte [de visite photograph]' of Julian

30 Bruton Street, Berkeley Square, W. - Hopes Bob is still at Naples; his letter [15/270] made him 'extremely dissatisfied with London'. Has seen [Wilde's] "Ideal Husband" acted mostly by understudies, which 'showed it up rather'. Has also seen '"the 3rd Mrs Tanqueray twice' ["The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith", Pinero's follow up to "The Second Mrs Tanqueray"?]; thinks it 'really superior to the 2nd' though 'not nearly so thrilling'; Mrs P[atrick] C[ampbell] is 'splendid', as is [John] Hare. Next week the Independent Theatre is putting on 'a wonderful French company (bossed by a descendant of Edgar Poe [Aurélien Lugné-Poë]' performing [Ibsen's] "Rosmersholm" and "Master Builder", and two plays by Maeterlinck, whom Marsh will see at an At Home he is attending on Monday. Hopes Bob will 'find some relics of the orgies of Tiberius [on Capri]'; tells him to write 'a lost book of Tacitus'. Asks if he knows of the theory that what is known as Tacitus's work was in fact 'the work of Poggio Bracciolini'. Bob should '[r]oll Messalina & Agrippina & Lollia Paulina into one for the heroine, and invent some entirely new form of vice'; should be easy as 'there don't seem to be so very many'. Is reading Thomas de Quincey's autobiography ["Autobiographic Sketches"?], 'one of the most entertaining books [he has] come across'. Will write again when he has a permanent address for Bob. Has just been invited by Shipley to dinner with a 'Scotch novelist' [John Watson, pen name Ian Maclaren] so must spend the afternoon reading his novel '"[Beside] the Bonnie Briarbush' it's foolishly called'.

Grimsby Farm, Long Lane, Coldash, Newbury. - Hopes Trevy has received the letter he wrote to Naples, otherwise he will think Marsh 'rather a beast'. Glad Corpo di Cava was not snowed under, since it has turned out to be 'so delightful'; he himself would have 'preferred Capri for the sake of Tiberius' [see 15/318]. Has just got away from London and finished his first day of work here; his 'flesh crept to such a degree' when he woke on Monday night and started to think about his tripos [examinations] that it 'must have moved on about an inch all round'. Stayed in London a little longer than he should have done because of a 'superior French company' who performed [Ibsen's] "Rosmersholm" and "Master Builder" and a play by Maeterlinck under the direction of M. [Aurélien-François-Marie] Lugné -Poé who 'seems to be a descendant of Edgar Poe'. He is 'a very beautiful man with a pale face & black hair', and reminds Marsh of a 'portrait of some poet', perhaps Poe himself; he 'acts very respectably' and played the Master Builder as 'an American with a straggling beard & a drunken complexion' and 'quite revolutionized' Marsh's idea of the part, since 'the rather vulgar arrogant manner he put on in certain parts' made the character seem more consistent than 'the suavity of Lewis Waller'. Asks if Trevy has ever read Maeterlinck, as it is 'useless to try and explain what he's like' if not; in the 'mixture of great simplicity with an entire rejection of realism' he thinks it goes back to 'the Burne Jones & Morris kind of thing'. Sat next to William Archer, who was 'very nice' to him. Saw many friends at the Ibsen plays: [Erskine] Childers, Crompton [Llewelyn Davies], Gerald Duckworth, J[ohn] Waldegrave, 'the Babe' [William Haynes Smith?] etc. Thinks the Independent Theatre must be 'the worst managed concern in the world': the performances usually begin late 'after the curtain has gone up two or three times, to encourage the audience. You're never safe from the irruption of a cat in the most moving scenes', the actors miss their cues, or the curtain does not go down at the end of the act. The man who is called the Acting Manager [Charles Hoppe] is 'the greatest crook [he] ever met with in a responsible position', who seems unable to sell tickets without asking for assistance and did not even know how many acts there were in "Rosmersholm". Marsh took the Verralls to that play; comments on Arthur Verrall's reaction to theatre: 'he never is, or lays himself out to be, in the least moved by a play' but responds to 'the cleverness or stupidity with which it is written'.

Very glad that George [Trevelyan] got his scholarship, though there was no doubt he and Buxton would; 'very hard luck on [Ralph] Wedgwood. Went to see [Charles] Sanger yesterday in his new rooms at Hare Court. No-one has heard 'anything of [Bertrand] Russell for some time'. Only saw Oswald [Sickert], who had influenza, not serious, once; he has just got 'free from the Werner Company, which has used up the Beauties of Britain, & gone on to Paris [ie, finished publishing "Beautiful Britain]'; hopes he will have time for his novel now. [Maurice] Baring took Marsh to supper with Edmund Gosse on Sunday: a 'most amusing man', whose conversation is 'described in Stevenson's essay on conversation ["Talk and Talkers"] under the name of Purcell. He was in the teakettle mood'. Met [Henry] Harland, the editor of the "Yellow Book" there; thought him 'an awful little man', but 'on getting accustomed to his manner' next day he thought him 'like-able on the whole'. Hopes to go to supper next Sunday with 'the even more distinguished [Robert] Bridges', though he has not read his recent works so 'feels rather ill-equipped'. Met John Davidson briefly recently; he 'seemed a genial and light hearted little man, with a nice Scotch accent'.

25 Gillespie Road, Colinton, Edinburgh. - Thanks Trevelyan for the Homeric Hymn [in this year's "From the Shiffolds"]. Has no knowledge of Greek, but has always been 'attracted' Greek art and myth; there is a tendency in her family to believe they lived in Greece in a former incarnation. Repeats how much she admires Trevelyan's "Bride of Dionysus" [written with Donald Tovey]; was 'one of the greatest experiences' of her life to study it then see the performances; values above all the 'spiritual significance of Ariadne's translation'. Is currently studying the score of Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos", which will be performed at the Edinburgh Festival next year; it seems 'clever and amusing', and there are some 'charming melodies', but it is a great contrast to Trevelyan's version.

Her Christmas greetings are late as her housekeeper's son has been ill; they had an 'anxious time' but he is well now. Encloses a postcard of herself from the time when she '"created" the part of Solveig' in her sister Isabelle Pagan's translation of Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" in 1908. This, in Edinburgh, was the first production of "Peer Gynt" in Britain; it was later produced at the Little Theatre in London with the 'help of professionals'. Thinks the play can be compared with Goethe's "Faust", as it has 'the same "eternal womanly" theme', though Ibsen 'makes the ethical teaching clearer'. There was a performance of "Faust" here in Edinburgh in September, by a German company [Gründgens]; the diction and acting were very good, but the scenery 'disappointing' and the lighting 'far below' what she has seen in Britain; they 'avoided magical moments' with blackouts, which was 'very tantalising'.

Describes: his studies at Cambridge; brief time as a pupil in the chambers of T. E. Scrutton, which would have been a 'great privilege and opportunity' if he had only had 'any talent for the law'; a long holiday at Corpo di Cava in southern Italy to recover from influenza, where he began to write a 'long, rambling... romantic modern novel' on the theme of incest, inspired by Ibsen's "Little Eyolf; outdoor composition; his turn to writing poetry, in which he was encouraged by Roger Fry.

Pencil notes at the back of the book sketching out further topics for the autobiographical account, such as [Thomas] Sturge Moore; 'Taormina - Bessie - Mrs [Florence] Cacciola - Holland'; writing the libretto [for the "Bride of Dionysus"] for Donald Tovey; his translation of Aeschylus; Welcombe [his inheritance of the house from his mother?]; at the bottom of this page, the other way up, there is the beginning of an account of a gentleman living 'not long since, in one of the northern counties of England'.