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Steep, Petersfield. - Glad that Julian is well again and enjoying school; looks forward to seeing him when able to visit and thanks Trevelyan for suggesting it. Agrees about [Lascelles] Abercrombie; a friend who knows "The End of the World" (which Thomas remembers Trevelyan discussing) says that it will be a 'triumph' for Abercrombie, and Thomas hopes it will. Asks if he spoke to Trevelyan about [W. H. Hudson's] "The Purple Land [that England Lost]": would be glad to have been the cause of the 'delight' he must have had; he could try "Green Mansions" now. Pleased to hear Trevelyan can agree about [Walter] Pater: people thought he 'sat down deliberately to disparage' Pater when in fact he was an 'old admirer & only found on studying him for the purposes of the book [his "Walter Pater: A Critical Study"] how much' he could not admire. Would like five years free of reading or writing about books. Is going to Carmarthenshire for a couple of weeks after Easter with his two elder children; they will keep him 'free from books'.

Pension Lucarini, 5 Via Gregoriana, Rome. - Glad Bob enjoyed Arezzo and that Piero [della Francesca] 'played up well'; he and Helen have seen very few pictures since Bob left, having been busy with their own work. This has mainly involved copying; feels he would do nothing else if he lived in Italy, as it 'makes one lose ones nerve in the matter of creation to see what has been done'. They go to the [Palazzo] Colonna, where he is copying a Poussin landscape and Helen a boy's head by Giovanni Santi which [Bernard] Berenson will probably know. D.S.M. [Dugald Sutherland Macoll] must never know Fry has copied a Poussin. His pocket book, containing ten pounds in Italian money, has been stolen.

Bob's letter suggests that he thinks Fry 'expressed strong disapproval of Berenson'; in fact he has 'always rather believed in him and what [Bob says] of him; even the 'Superior Maple' is 'right enough if you make the superiority big enough'; would 'willingly be a whole family of Sir Blundells on those terms' [a reference to Sir John Blundell Maple?]. Hopes he will meet Berenson one day. Cites Michelet and [Arthur Henry] Johnson in support of his own view of Savonarola's statesmanship. Has been reading Pater's "Miscellanies"; a pity he makes so many mistakes, and is also 'so very just', particularly disappointing in a 'Morelli-ite'; describes what is needed in criticism now and wonders if Berenson might write it.

He and Helen have been playing piquet, 'a poor substitute for chess', and 'head, body & legs' when they are 'extra happy & frivolous'. He and Helen were in the Borghese gardens this morning looking for white violets; Helen had just got under the barbed wire onto the road 'with some agile anglo saxon attitudinizing' when she was startled by the appearance of the King in a phaeton; her behaviour was 'absurdly like... [that of] the gardeners when the Red Queen came along' [in Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"]; would have been different if she had had Bob's 'Republican soul at hand to back her up'; his own sense that 'a King is different to anyone else', though 'of course' he laughed at Helen 'for her superstition'.

Very glad Logan [Pearsall Smith]'s work is so good; supposes discontent is 'the cause of all creativity''; asks Bob to tell Logan that he wants to see him as soon as possible. Asks to be remembered kindly to [Mary] Costelloe, whom they hope to catch when they come to Florence. 'Hellen', as Bob writes it, is asleep, or would send her own good wishes to Bob.

Pension Palumbo, Ravello. - There is not sufficient paper in the hotel to answer her long letter as it deserves. Strange that he is not inspired to write Bessie love-poetry, but says he is 'not good at putting difficult and elaborate and wonderful thoughts into verse', which would be needed; will try one day. Sorry that Gredel [Guije] failed. Since he sometimes misses out words in his letters, Bessie need never be shocked by his 'wicked opinions' but can add 'nots' when she pleases and 'convert the sense to please [her] fancy'. Glad she is re-reading [Joseph Henry Shorthouse's] "John Inglesant". Sends her kisses "blown through the ether like waves of light or electricity'. Continues the letter next morning, copying out an extract about Shorthouse from a piece of paper in Mrs Reid's book an extract from a letter from Isabel Balfour; this recalls what his brother [George?] has heard about Shorthouse. The book reminds Bob of Pater's "Marius the Epicurean"; thinks one must have influenced the other; also thinks "Marius" the better book on the whole. Asks his waiter to settle their dispute about Italian grammar, which he does in Bob's favour. Returns to the letter in the afternoon: old Palumbo died this morning, and since his wife did not want Bob to leave, he is staying in a separate part of the house where he is 'quite out of the way'. News has just come that the Cappuccini hotel at Amalfi 'has subsided on a great part of it' and some people have been killed. Writes again in the evening having gone to see the landslip, which was as bad as the rumours; seven or eight people died, and 'part of the end of the hotel had gone'. The people say it is St. Francis' doing, "angry because his monastery had been put to base uses". Had never been to Amalfi before, though this is his third visit; not much to see 'except the people and the beggars', and the Cathedral is 'spoilt by restoring'. Palumbo was dying about the same time as the landslip, and the proprietor of the Cappuccini, a friend, was here comforting Madame Palumbo when the news about the hotel came. 'They say he almost fainted... [and] will probably be ruined, as no one will dare come to his hotel now'. Bob exerted himself greatly on the journey down to Amalfi and back and 'sweeted (in Grandmont language' despite the bitter cold.

Originally enclosing a 'charming letter from [Eddie] Marsh'; his 'first Cambridge friend' who works in the Colonial office 'though, like many there, he does not like the war'; gives a brief character sketch. Has also heard from [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson. Has not heard from [Bernard] Berenson, but has from [Mary] Costelloe, whom he just asked Berenson to tell; 'rather annoying', as he 'care[s] for Berenson very much, and dislike Mrs C.', though it was a 'perfectly proper letter'. Is very troubled by [Lina] Duff Gordon's letter: her wish for his happiness is 'unmistakeably sincere', as she always is, but her reply to his wish for them to remain as good friends is that since he told her nothing about this when he saw her 'constantly' in London last October, things can never be quite the same. It would have been very difficult to tell her, but feels that perhaps he should have done, not because she was an 'intimate friend' - the only one of his friends he told, 'for special reasons', was Fry - but because Mrs Costelloe had been spreading rumours that she was in love with him. Perhaps this was true, and he should have realised, although he does not think he gave her reason to believe he was in love with her; it is possible that Mrs Costelloe has stirred up trouble, as 'she has a great influence over Miss D. G.' and he believes her 'really to be a bad woman, though with many good qualities'. Is going to see Palumbo's funeral start for Naples. Writes again in the evening, after writing at 'my cliff, the Cembrone [Cimbrone]'. Quotes from a letter from Tom Moore: Moore thinks he will 'make a good husband' but spoil all his children. Has received Bessie's next letter, but not the photographs. He can skate, but not very well. Does not think Buller's defeat will make much difference to British attitudes to the [Second Boer] war; discussion of the war; does not think it would be good if all of South Africa were governed by the Dutch, would not object to 'an independent Dutch South Africa if it were well governed, and the natives treated properly' which currently happens in the Cape but not in the Transvaal. Methuen and probably Buller are not equal to the people against them, but this does not mean the English have fought badly; however, she need not worry that he is 'becoming Jingo'. Sorry Bessie has missed Tonina [van Riemsdijk]'s violin; when one good enough becomes available, will get it for her. They must visit Ravello together; Madame asked if they would come here on their honeymoon, which they will have to discuss; she intends to keep the hotel for some years at least.