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Pension Palumbo, Ravello, presso Amalfi. - Filthy weather, as it has generally been since he arrived; has sent off his 'interminable commentary' on [Thomas Sturge Moore's] "Danaë", and has been reading Byron's play "Cain"; finds it 'surprisingly fine', though there are great faults, as in all of Byron; does not agree with Goethe's claim that Byron 'is a child the moment he begins to think'. Always pleased when he finds good things in Byron, as he is much criticised nowadays; people do not really read him, or 'only his inferior early things, e.g. Childe Harold'. Teases Bessie, pretending that 'an unconscionable young lady' keeps 'tormenting him with a stupid school-girl correspondence' and there is no telling where her reading of Plato may lead her. Is sorry that Bessie is having so bad a time with the dentist; best to go through with it in the end. Dined at Mrs Reid's last night, hearing 'local tales about brigands etc' and drinking good wine. They have 'some wonderful cats, the most beautiful [he] has ever seen'; would like to get 'one of the family some day'. Delighted to hear about [the birth of Bessie's niece] Amanda Röntgen; Bessie's aunt told him first, sends thanks for her letter. Copies out poems by Vaughn [sic: Henry Vaughan, "The Retreat"], and Blake ["Infant Joy"]. Will finish this letter and 'per-haps, as Grandmont says' send it by the early post. Is glad to have Bessie's photograph but wants the bigger one when she gets them.

Finishes the letter next day. Bad weather again; is not in good spirits as his host Palumbo is dangerously ill; Palumbo has suffered from the same paralysis before and may recover; he is a 'very good fellow' and Bob will be sorry if he dies; pities his wife and daughter. Has just read the news of the great British losses at Ladysmith; does not know whether this means the town has fallen, but it looks as though Methuen was not strong enough to relieve it; if Redvers Buller does not do better than Methuen, expects Ladysmith will fall in a few weeks and would wish that if it would lead to the reopening of peace negotiations, but this seems unlikely. Says Bessie 'deserve[s] a whipping' for interpreting his jealousy of the lovers in his carriage as a desire to hug his female fellow-travellers. Is very glad she likes the "Symposium" so much; discusses it briefly and suggests other dialogues by Plato she could read. Copies out Blake's "Infant Sorrow" and "Cradle Song". [His brother] Charlie's letter was very nice; is sure she will like him, and he 'evidently means to like [her]'. Reminds her that the new century does not begin until 1901. Glad her practising is going well.

1 folded sheet.

8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Glad to hear that Bessie is 'driving about' and safe. Interested by what Robert tells him from Miss Forster's letters. The review in the "Times" on [Georg] Brandes was very good; praises Brandes's judgement of poetry; thinks it was he who observed that 'Wordsworth might have been a parson, or Shelley an agitator, but that Keats could not have been any thing but a poet'. He himself tends to take the favourable 'Continental view' of Byron. Liked the "Times" article on Robert very much. Countess [Elizabeth von] Arnim took tea with them yesterday: a 'plump, merry, rather common ladylike woman'; her husband is the son of the 'celebrated Count [Harry von] Arnheim whom Bismarck ruined'. She and Miss [Ethel] Sidgwick are his 'favourite contemporary novelists'.

Grand Hotel de la Cloche, Dijon. - Glad to hear from Robert about [Henry] Jackson and Vernon Lushington, and about the reading at Harrow; good that it 'is so much out of Macaulay'. Has just finished Cicero's "Tusculan Disputations", and likes him increasingly; he 'supplies a need' which, at Sir George's current age, no-one else does. Liked Robert's article in the "Review'. Had a very interesting evening at Geneva: always thinks that the 'most wonderful combination of young genius... without an atom of pretention' was when Byron, Shelley, Mary Godwin, and [Claire Clairemont] were living on Lake Geneva [in 1816]; mentions 'amusing' letters from Byron to Hobhouse; he and Caroline were allowed to see all over the Villa Diodati since the occupants were away; Caroline has sketched both the Villa and Shelley's house nearby. It was as interesting as Keats's and the Brawnes' villa at Hampstead, but much more beautiful. Will be home on Saturday.

Description of photograph of a marble bust of Byron taken from life, in the possession of Mary Pell; she inherited it from her father G. W. Bruen who met Byron in Italy. The bust is marked 'Firenze 1824', the sculptor's name Buonarotti.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re photograph of bust of Byron by Buonarotti.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

5 Jeffery Square - JB will try and give DK the replies to the queries contained in WW's letter. JB is in no doubt that the independence of Greece over Turkey has been established. The subscriptions obtained from the London Greek Committee have been exhausted. Weapons, skilled people and relevant literature have been sent over. Everything goes via Lord Byron or Col. Stanhope. The greatest assistance we can give is via subscriptions.

Photocopies of letters by and relating to Lord Byron, particularly his relationship with Elizabeth Pigot, and her later contact with John Murray and others, with copies of Byron's will, poem fragments, and some printed material.

Re memorial to Lord Byron.

70 Monument Lane, Edgbaston, Birm[ingha]m [paper embossed with dragon's head crest and the motto Ut Tibi Sic Alteri]. - Thanks for courteous reply; anticipated resistance, but believes Byron should lie in Hucknall Church with some tokens of veneration for his poetic genius; did not wish to place Houghton in a difficult position by asking him to support letter to the Times on the subject.

15 Jermyn St. St. James' - Concerning the Byron statue.

Printed at Harrow. Contains an original Greek verse composition on Byron, Oct. 1872; a rendering of of Revelation chapter xviii in Greek hexameters, Feb. 1873; two verses from Keats' Endymion rendered into Latin lyric verse; English passage (perhaps a translation from Beowulf?)rendered into Latin hexameter. The two last are labelled as work for the Balliol scholarship examination, Nov. 1872.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Elizabeth seems to have had more snow than they have at Welcombe. Will be very good to see her and Robert again; asks if they will stop a night on the way through London, or prefer to get home then come after they are settled. Is thinking of hosting 'a weekly dinner on Tuesdays in March, & a "small & early for MP's & young people afterwards'; Elizabeth and Robert must come to one. Henry James arrived last night and is 'most amusing & delightful on his American experiences'. Audrey T[revelyan] and the Bells are coming today. She and Sir George go to London on 23 February. Will give Elizabeth her club subscription when she returns; she will then have to make enquiries about which is the best club and change next year; Caroline thinks the Gr[osvenor] Cr[escent] club has 'become very common & inferior'. Is glad Elizabeth saw Shelley's villa; the coast where Byron burnt his body is 'wierd [sic] & beautiful too'. Asks if she has read Mrs Shelley's "Life" of her husband, which Caroline thinks is better than [Edward] Dowden's. Mary has had to give up nursing Pauline, having done too much over the election and got run down. Charlie has accepted the position of Parliamentary Charity Commissioner, which is unpaid and not much work, but 'keeps him "in the running"'.

16 Harrington Square, Hampstead Road, N. W. - Has a remarkable [unspecified] relic of Lord Byron for disposal, as described in the accompanying book [no longer present].

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Delighted to hear of what Robert, Elizabeth, and Julian are reading [something by Byron?]; 'curious' how 'such trifles' are only written by people of the calibre of Byron, Scott, Burns and Macaulay; gives several quotations. Gratified by what Robert says about the letter to Lady Desborough [11/199 probably also refers to this]. Robert seems to be confusing separate incidents from Garibaldi's life. Best Christmas wishes to Robert and family. Caroline much 'appreciates and cherishes' Elizabeth's letters.

[Beginning of letter missing]. - About an unknown individual, says 'The detail of reform floors him. It brings out his distrust of any judgment but that of himself & his class'. A bonfire was lit for St. John's Eve [23 Jun] 'on the Kippel [?]... seen no doubt by chill spirits of the mountain perched on the Jung Frau'. So far they have met only one acquaintance, 'an insipid feeble Trinity man', going up the Kippel today 'in boots that may have been patent leathern', with two ladies 'in their Sunday best, who shrieked' when Charles told them they might have to go through over ankle-height snow; did not mention the risk of the reflected sun to their 'pretty untanned skin'.

The journey from Vevey the day before yesterday went well; they travelled by boat to Villeneuve, passing Clarens and Chillon and 'getting more in love with the Lake [Geneva/Léman] than ever'. The Rhone valley was as 'dull as can be', the only remarkable things being a 'beautiful waterfall', he thinks near St. Maurice, and 'a queer sanctum of some monkish order nestling in an almost inaccessible rock'.

Everything is better than expected - 'Bless the weather for it'. Is 'reading with delight' Meredith's Vittoria, [John?] Morley and Byron. Began Carlyle's Cromwell today: 'Ha! Ha! How about 7 volumes'. Soon there will be 'some difficulty' about Italy, since he is 'so determined to get well' that he will not 'go down and be roasted on Como, even if there are no mosquitoes', but Bob is 'bent on going'' there will have to be a compromise by which he crosses a pass with Bob but does not go much further, and lets Bob travel on for a couple of days by himself if he wants. All is however 'amicable' at the moment.

His parents should write to this place when they get this letter: he and Bob are staying at least until Wednesday. Further plans will follow in the next letter. After that will try and write alternately to his parents and George, so there will not be a need to send letters on to or from Skye [where George is going for a holiday]; asks them to send this on to George.

Hotel Byron, Ravenna:- Has 'become an invader of Italy for a week'; will then return to Switzerland for a while and find Charlie, who will be with Bertram. Robert left him at Brigne [?], and thought him well: he was 'a little tired' for the first few days, but 'Zermatt quite recovered him'. Tried to persuade him to 'go over the Simplon [Pass]' with him and stop a night in the Lakes, and was sorry not to succeed, as the Lakes are not too hot and Charles would have 'enjoyed the view from Motterone and an evening row on Maggiore'.

Has had many 'adventures': 'crossed the Simplon on the diligence in the company of a New South Wales squatter and gold-digger' and family, who had 'once met Starlight [a reference to Captain Starlight, the bushranger?]'; at Domodossola, he met 'a branch of the great Trevelyan family', who almost 'overwhelmed' him with their 'effusive kindness' - Walter Raleigh Trevelyan, his wife, three daughters, and invalid son, 'the same who dined at the Vice Regal on a famous occasion instead of at the Chief Secs' [a reference to the time when G. O. Trevelyan was Chief Secretary for Ireland?]. Walter is a 'very queer creature, and spends his time grumbling at the way grandpapa - Sir Charles - treated him'; he writes for the Irish Times on Italian crimes.

Robert's 'most interesting experience' was going to see Othello, acted by an Italian company. The people of Ravenna largely supported what Macaulay said an Italian audience's opinion of the play would be, in his essay on Machiavelli, by their 'applauding Iago more than Othello'. The actor playing Othello, however, 'roared too much and was unbearable and unnecessarily violent', though he gave the 'lying speech' well, and played 'the most realistic death [Robert has] ever seen on the stage, accompanied by horrible groans and guggles [gurgles]'.

Has seen almost all the monuments in Ravenna, though will go to [the Basilica of] St Vitalis this afternoon. Went to St Apollinare in Classe yesterday, then on to the pineta - 'Ravenna's immemorial wood' [Don Juan] - and 'Byron's Bridge'. Expects George is in Skye by now; is writing to him. Has not been able to see an English paper since coming here: it is 'quite the end of the world, and there are no shops but "Barbieri" [barbers]', and he was unable to get either an English or Italian text of Othello. Has no idea what is happening in England, as the Italian papers have very little English news; will be able to find out when he returns to Switzerland, and will probably leave on Thursday. Hopes his parents are well; will expect a letter at Mürren.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Has asked Aunt Anna [Philips] to pass on this letter as 'in these days of rigid economy' it is good to save on a postage stamp. Agrees with Robert's preference for Bobus Smith's verses over Calverley's [both printed in a letter from Sir George to the editor of the "Times Literary Supplement" [November 25, 1920; pg. 778; Issue 984, see also 12/325]. Has just finished [Euripides's] "Medea" again, and is about to re-read the "Bacchae": has now got 'the old man's love of Euripides'; says the "Medea" is to Greek drama as "Othello" is the Elizabethan. Has also been reading the first book of Tacitus's "Histories". Very glad Bessy appreciates [Byron's] "Don Juan"; when they meet he will tell them 'the circumstances in which he once read it aloud'.