Hopes Julian has reached Taormina by now and is enjoying Sicily, though fears the almond blossom may be over. Has just heard from Nicky [Mariano] that she and B.B. [Bernard Berenson] may go to Zürich at the end of March to see the Lombard exhibition, but will definitely be back by 15 April. Sure they would like to see Julian, and would probably ask him to stay at I Tatti if he wrote to Nicky. All well here: Bessie likes Mrs Alexieff and gets on quite well with her secretary. He himself is 'fairly all right, though sometimes a little out of sorts'. Hopes Julian will like Sicily as much as Goethe did; he was afraid to go to Greece because of brigands, so went to Sicily and 'made up his mind' it must be just like Greece. Tells Julian to ask his friend [Daphne Phelps] whether she is related to his own old friend T[homas] T[ettrell] Phelps, whom he has not seen for years. Expects Julian has been to the Isola Bella, which used to belong to Mrs Cacciola [Florence Trevelyan]; he used to go and bathe there with Roger and Helen Fry. Roger painted a picture of Mount Etna seen through the Greek theatre, which Goldie [Lowes Dickinson] had in his rooms. Hopes Julian's car is 'behaving itself'. Bessie will write soon.
The Mill House, Westcott, Dorking. - Has received the conditions of marriage from Bessie's uncle, which seem all right and which he will discuss with his father at the end of the week. Is not sure about coming over early in April [sic: May], as her uncle seems to expect; in his 'last month of freedom' he would like to have a few friends such as Phelps, Sickert, and MacCarthy to stay, and to go with the Frys to Roundhurst to see the bluebells. Also wants to get more work done. Appreciates that these reasons 'look a bit selfish', and that her uncle and aunt want to see them together; there will also be business to complete. Will certainly be there for her birthday, and if Tuttie [Maria Hubrecht] is coming on the 17th or 18th would come a few days before that. Bessie must say if she does not think this early enough. Asks whether the catalogue for the beds is at Grosvenor Crescent; asks what else must be bought, and whether the pillows will fit their pillow cases. Has written to Thuring [sic: Henry Turing] and Sir Henry [Howard]. Asks about the tie and footwear he should wear for the wedding; has a pair he wore for Roger [Fry]'s wedding he thinks are all right. The Frys are away for a holiday; when they return soon he will settle on colours for the bedroom and send them. Asks if she has thought about their return crossing. His mother does not think his father will want to see him for a few days.
Pegasus Club, 9 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, WC. - Very nice of Trevy to send him a copy of his "New Parsifal": it reached him a while ago but he had to write to the Chiswick Press to get Trevy's current address. Has read the book and was much 'interested & amused' by it; thinks it 'contains certain truths' which the majority have forgotten but should remember. Thinks the 'chase of the Phoenix by the aeroplane' is 'great'. Tells Trevy to 'come and pull [him] out for tea' if he is ever in the area, and hopes his wife is well.
3, Hare Court, Inner Temple. - His flowers could not be sent on Sunday; fears they will be all withered. Has written to her uncle. His father thinks Bob will be able to sign the papers on Wednesday afternoon and travel in the evening. Will try and see the Dutch consul tomorrow about the birth certificate, though will not be able to show him the copy till his father returns from Welcombe. Will leave things such as the books he has brought for their honeymoon in London; asks again whether he should bring his poems over. Sorry that he 'dare[s] not trust a Dutch hatter' and will buy one in London; ' does 'not consider any "foreigner" has a proper idea of a top hat, except one or two Parisians'. She should settle about the wedding luncheon with her uncle if she feels strongly [about not having it in the hotel]; it would certainly not be 'so homely and nice'; expects Bessie's aunt would be on her side. His mother's cousin Harry [Henry Yates] Thompson has sent them a seventeenth century book on Cambridge 'with prints of all the colleges', a marble paperweight and a silver apostle fork. Has Booa [Mary Prestwich]'s parcel; will bring [Ambro Hubrecht's] spectacles with him. Is going to spend his 'last real Bachelor evening' tomorrow with Tommy Phelps; they are going to see "Tannhäuser"; not a perfect production, but [Milka] Ternina, 'the finest opera actress [Bob] has yet seen', is singing.
62, Onslow Gardens, S.W. - Expects this letter will not reach Trevy, but 'be used to light some fat Italian's cigar'. Trevy's news [of his engagement] 'fairly bowled [Phelps's] middle stump' and he has not quite 'recovered from the shock'. Trevy is a 'sly dog', and Phelps's 'shaft of jest shot at random found a great bullseye in [his] heart'. Had always thought Trevy would support him in his 'old batchelorhood' and 'appreciate the charms of a single existence to the end'. Greatly congratulates him and envies him for finding someone he knows he wants to be his wife; thinks she is 'a very lucky person too' as Trevy has 'about as big a heart as any one' he knows. Looks forward to meeting her, and hopes they will be friends, as he and Trevy have 'a good many memories of "auld lang syne"' which he would be 'sorry to forget'. Vondel [of whose poetry Trevy and Elizabeth have been working on an English translation] must be a 'dangerous person', with 'sweet poison' in his words. Says in a postscript that he withdraws his 'previous remarks about Hollanders' completely, 'the logic of ignorance'.
19 Prinsegracht, the Hague; addressed to Bob at Pension Palumbo, Ravello, presso Amalfi, Italia. - They have heard from Tuttie [Maria Hubrecht] that she had caught a bad cold, could not work, and decided to go now to Taormina as Bramine [Hubrecht] had proposed she should come and spend a month with them; thinks this is a good thing since she thinks it was parting from Maud [Howard] which upset Tuttie more than the cold; it 'really is a most morbid friendship'; discusses Tuttie's character, and the tension when she and her sister Mien came to live with their uncle and aunt after their mother's death and Tuttie had much of the responsibility of looking after them since 'she was far too young and domineering'. Reflections on the time that children grow up and do not take their relatives for granted, along with the varied nature of her own experience so far. Has to go and prepare as she is going with her uncle and aunt to a dinner party with the vice president of the State Council, a friend of her uncle's. Dreamt last night that she and her sister arranged to share husbands, though she herself was rather reluctant; later she had a still worse dream in which there was no Bob and a man 'like a young Dane I met last summer, a cousin of the Hartmann's' was kissing her 'and I even enjoyed it!!'.
Writes next day that she has received Bob's letter, and the enclosure from his friend [Thomas Tettrell?] Phelps which is charming; remembers what he said about Phelps' 'prophetic jokes' and hopes the one about the Hollanders does not come true; promises she will not get fat as she is 'too bony' and anyway has no figure to lose. Describes the dinner party last night: one of her neighbours at table was from Zeeland and told her stories about the customs of the peasantry there; the host was also from Zeeland and they usually have a very strong feeling for their province. There was some talk of Bob; a 'fat gentleman, the secretary of the Council' seemed to have read nearly all of the Trevelyan family's literature and asked many questions; their host proposed a tost to their engagement. Looks forward to reading 'the Paolo and Francesca play which is so much the rage' [by Ste[hen Phillips]; wonders if she will feel as critical about it as Bob does; will also read "The Merchant of Venice" and re-read "Romeo and Juliet", though she has a lot to read and the Hague is not as quiet as Ravello. Laetita Ede has sent her "The Golden Age" by Kenneth Grahame; asks if Bob knows it. Is glad the weather is better and he has got some work done; the Germans call a bad poet a 'Wasserpoet' or waterpoet; she could call him a 'weather-poet' as he 'can only do good work W[eather] P[ermitting'; apologises for teasing him. Asks what play he is working on; knows it is not the one he showed her a scene of. Now Bob has read Ambro [Hubrecht's] article he is 'clever & scientific again' and can let her go to lectures in peace. Gives a satirical sketch of his character, then says she is cross today, firstly for spilling tea down her new dress and secondly as she had bad dreams again last night.
Continues the letter on Sunday afternoon. Ambro and his wife are coming tonight or tomorrow to spend the week, with their children who are 'sure to make things very lively'; unfortunately the thaw has set in so they will not get much skating, which they love. Has read of the destruction of the Capuccini hotel at Amalfi by a landslip; asks if this is true and whether there has been anything felt at Ravello. Her uncle has written to Lord Reay to ask about necessary formalities for the marriage and has had a reply giving some but not all the answers he requires; Lord Reay has made inquiries about Mr [William Edward Hartpole] Lecky's marriage, as his wife is a Dutchwoman [Elisabeth van Deden] also with some landed property; they held the civil marriage in the Hague in the Town House and at the English Embassy. Hopes this will be enough for them; an 'English church marriage' would be 'very unpleasant in this case'; hopes he feels the same; would like to leave out as much 'conventionality for the world's sake' as possible. If they want the Grandmonts to be there, it will have to be after May, while it will need to be before August for the Röntgens to be present. Her uncle will write to Bob's father as soon as he knows exactly how things stand. Asks how [Pasquale] Palumbo is doing, and whether Bob had a good Christmas.
On headed notepaper for the Harrow Philathletic Club, with 'The Grove, Harrow' added in Robert Trevelyan's hand:- Thanks his mother for her letter. Is returning her shawl, which he took 'out of the basket', and forgot to put back. Georgie 'probably cannot come up till the ten train', so does not think it 'worth while to go to breakfast'; they will write again if they find it possible. Robert will be in the Harrow stand at eleven, or any time his father means to come; does not know yet where it is, but will tell him before Friday.
Asks if she thinks his father would mind a friend coming to breakfast on Saturday, as Robert proposed; does not know if Stow could come, as he 'lives a long way off', so if not would ask Phelps, who lives nearer. Robert would 'love to go off early with him [Phelps] to Lords, as he is playing, so he would not stay long'. However, his parents must 'not mind saying' if they 'prefer being alone'. Will 'not want the birds or the butterflies': Phil [Price] and the baby will like them.
5 Barton St (on headed notepaper for National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.). - T. T. [Thomas Tettrell Phelps?] says that he is getting tickets for Bob and Marsh to see "His Excellency" [comic opera with libretto by W. S. Gilbert] if he can, otherwise they must trust to the 'tender mercies of his dramatic judgment'. Bob went last night to the Empire with the Sandilands [John and James?], saw 'Ivette' [Yvette Guilbert], and 'was enrolled among her vassals and servitors'. T.T. was 'not quite sufficiently magnetised', claiming 'ignorance of the language', but the rest of them could also 'not understand much of it'. [Oswald?] Sickert talked about 'buying the Empire for his friends next Saturday' for the matinee; advises Marsh to go if he can; he would himself but will have to play [rugby] football that afternoon. Has exams next Monday until Thursday, 'unlike false Sextus' [he quotes Macauley] he is in 'an agony of apprehension' that they should 'fail to be the last'. Saw MacT [Jack McTaggart] last Sunday, who thought Marsh's 'critique splendid'; Bob hopes Marsh has 'not made an enemy of Iphigeneia after all', who was not mentioned in [William?] Archer's piece in the "Pall Mall" at all.
Hotel Bristol, Naples, Corso Vittorio Emanuele [printed notepaper with line drawing of the hotel]. - Marsh must be 'made of very distractable material' if Bob's last letter [15/269] distracted him for a whole day. Never expected that Marsh would be able to come with him to Italy, and is enjoying solitude; calls solitude and 'a plunge in cold water' as 'fundamental instinct[s]' deriving from the evolution of mankind. Is staying at this hotel for two nights before deciding where to go next; it belongs to [George Parker] Bidder, 'grandson of the calculating infant [also George Parker Bidder]'; the younger Bidder is 'known to all his generation at Cambridge, and the Verralls talk of him'. Hopes to see Bidder and get his advice [note that if Bob was actually staying at the Hotel Bristol, this was not in fact owned by Bidder, whose hotel was further along the Corso]; had intended to go to Corpo di Cava, but it would still be cold, as the hills are still covered by snow. Capri is currently the 'most inticing [sic]' possibility, 'certainly the most secluded and remote'. Is going to the Museum when he finishes this letter, which 'T.T.' [Thomas Tettrell Phelps?' calls 'the most fascinating place he has ever seen'; went with 'T.T.' on his last night in Britain 'to see A. Roberts, and found that it was bad'.
Marsh 'would like Pisa'; Bob saw a band playing in the market place there for the king's birthday, as he and Marsh once saw at Como, and caught sight of a beautiful woman with a 'face such as you seldom see in England'; he later saw her in a box at the theatre, where he saw two acts of Verdi's "Falstaff" before catching the train for Rome. Only had an hour and a half there; 'smoked a cigarette over the ruins of the forum' and thought of Teufledrock [sic: Teufelsdröckh, in Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus"]. Cannot even 'glance' at the 'wonderful things on the journey to Naples', and should keep a journal. Must get an Italian hat to wear in town, as he only has a straw one, and being the only person wearing one of these in a crowded street means he cannot escape 'intense' interest. Hope that Marsh will lose his 'nausea for Lucretius, or rather for his science' during the vacation; encourages him to go to Holland with 'S. and S.'; asks him to write. Says in a postscript that he can hear an American 'defending New York in the smoker', saying 'the negro really is a silent factor now'.
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'.
The Mill House, Westcott, Dorking, crossed through with London, 3 Hare Court written instead in red pencil. - Expects this is the last letter he will write her for a long time [as they are soon to be married]; very glad though also a little sorry that his 'correspondence with [his] intelligent young friend must come to an end at last'. Outlines his travel plans to the Hague. Went to the Dutch consul today to get his birth certificate authorised; will go with his father to the lawyers before leaving for Holland. Is writing a lot of letters to 'the clavichord people' [the friends who collectively bought Dolmetsch's clavichord, decorated by Helen Fry, as a wedding present]. Is going to [Wagner's] "Tannhauser" tonight with Smythe; unfortunately Tommy Phelps could not join them so he lunched with him in the City today 'hugely' and has scarcely recovered. Went to see [Eleonora] Duse in 'a bad play [La Gioconda] by that wretch D'Annunzio,' she 'was, of course, superb'. Will see [Milka] Ternina tonight, whom he admires as much in another way. Bought a 'swell topper [top hat]' today. Does not think it worth while to bring all his books over, as there will be little time to read at the Hague, but he may have an answer from her about this tomorrow. Wonders what she thinks now their marriage is so near; does not think she has 'any of that old fear of [him]' any more; knows she loves him deeply; she does not understand him 'altogether', though 'more than any other woman would in so short time'; he has much to understand in her also, but loves her very much and has complete faith in her. Will stop writing now as he wants to look at the libretto before going out to dine. Would be much nicer to have the [wedding] luncheon at home, and hopes her uncle will not insist on that point.
Pension Palumbo, Ravello, presso Amalfi. - Has received the "Descent of the Primates" from Professor [Ambrosius] Hubrecht and found it very interesting; a long time since he read Darwin and 'tried to imagine [his] hairy, long-eard, tail-bearing, tree-haunting ancestors' and the paper has 'quite revived' the old fascination; never thought the hedgehog was 'so comparatively near a relation'. He and [Roger] Fry used to have one in London to kill black-beetles, which they called Hochi-Weechi, the Romany for hedgehog. Obviously Hubrecht's work is 'of great importance and value'. Had forgotten to send him the address of his own spectacle shop, and will do so when he writes to thank him. Had also forgotten to tell Mrs Cacciola [Florence Trevelyan; about their engagement]; will write at once. Hopes Gredel [Guije] gets through [her exam].
Continues the letter next day. Has got on 'fairly well' with his play recently; the sirocco is blowing today so he cannot do much except copy out what he has done so far, translate some Sophocles, and deal with correspondence. Old Palumbo is about the same; his wife does not want Bob to go unless absolutely necessary. Has not yet had a letter, or rings from which to choose one for her, from the Frys, but has written to them. Has had a 'charming' letter from Tommy Phelps [17/156], whom he calls 'almost my eldest friend' and had jokingly warned him against Dutch ladies when he would not tell him why he was going to Holland again so soon; it was also Phelps who originated the Vondel / fondle pun. Also returns C [Charles Trevelyan?]'s letter. Copies out some lines from "Troilus and Cressida", which he discusses briefly.