Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Glad to hear Elizabeth is comfortably settled at Florence; hopes she and Bob are enjoying their time with the Berensons; supposes they will reach Ravello around Christmas. Charles and Mary are back from 'ten days in their constituency with meetings every night'. There was a Women's Liberal Association meeting at Cambo on Wednesday; Charles chaired and Miss [Florence?] Balgarnie spoke, and it was an excellent meeting. Charles is now 'first rate' at public speaking, and Mary also can speak 'quite nicely'. Had a letter from Miss Somerville about the Westminster bazaar, which made forty pounds; she said the 'very nice things' which Elizabeth had sent sold quickly. Good to hear that Elizabeth and Robert's [new] house has got on so well; probably good for her to have a quiet time before she has to start thinking about moving, though it is possible to have so much. Caroline herself sometimes feels that at Wallington if she sees no one but Sir George for a week, though he - and Robert - are the 'best of company'. Hopes Elizabeth will come to Welcombe for Easter, when Robert is with his friends [on George Moore's reading holiday]. George is coming to them next week, and they go to Welcombe on 27 December. There is a 'great fuss' at the Grosvenor Cr[escen]t Club: the proprietress seems 'unsatisfactory', while the food and management have been 'very bad'; Caroline had decided to leave before she hear about the row. Julia seems to be the 'centre of it'; Caroline will send Elizabeth her letter. Julia is not 'very delightful or interesting, but she is perfectly respectable & not at all fast!'. Caroline paid Elizabeth's subscription on 17 January, so she had better write a resignation letter before then if she does not want to carry on; it is a great pity, as it 'was really a nice club at one time'. There will be a 'school treat' on Thursday, so she is hoping the mild weather will last. Is reading 'such a pleasant life of Burne Jones by his wife' ["Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones"]. Calls the Pre-Raphaelites 'an innocent high minded set, with all their absurdities'.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Likes to think of Elizabeth in Ravello. Has been very busy since coming to Welcombe on 3 January; has been arranging a room for her own use in the mornings, which is 'quite comfortable' though has 'no view' and, currently, a 'hideous paper'. The Arthur Sidgwicks and their daughter [Ethel] came on Monday, Sidney Lee joined them. On Wednesday the library opened; has sent Elizabeth a Stratford paper with a report. The ceremony was 'nicely arranged' and went well; likes the building, which is in keeping with the surroundings. [Andrew] Carnegie gave the building and fittings, which are 'in good taste', then maintenance of the building will come from rates, and there is a subscription fund for buying books. Hopes it will 'do good': there is 'room for "sweetness & light" in Stratford'. Miss Corelli did not appear but 'must be very angry'; is sure she will 'do something malicious'. Mary Booth says in a letter that Charles will probably bring Meg to Elizabeth; gave a 'cheerful' account of the family. Is going to London on Monday, and will spend the evening with Janet. Pleased to hear Mrs Enticknap has had a little girl [named May]; has sent her a coat and hood. Has never read [Stendhal's] "Le Rouge et le Noir", but knows "La Chartreuse [de Parme]". Has Madame [Juliette] Adam's memoirs, and has been 'delighting in Burne-Jones life [by his wife]'. Hope Robert's work is going well; asks whether they are continuing their translation; whether the road is mended yet, and whether the Capucini Hotel at Amalfi goes on 'as before'. They are taking a trip to Rome next winter. Sir George is well; he took a week's break from his book, 'travelling & doing his speech', and now happily at work on it again. C[harles] and M[ary] are at Cambo; they celebrated their wedding anniversary by catching the train to Woodburn and walking back by Sweethope Lake, and enjoyed this 'immense expedition' very much.
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'.
29 Beaufort St, Chelsea:- Has just returned from Harrow, where he goes to 'get a game [of football] once a week' to keep himself 'very fit in body and mind'. Bowen had got up a 'team of masters and old boys' against the boys of his house, 'which is very good this year'. Robert's team were 'Somehow' beaten 6-0, but Bowen 'covered himself with glory, playing better than he has done for years'; he also told Robert he 'played like a hero'.
Met Charlie in the morning at the B[ritish] M[useum] Library, 'getting up the question of State Railways'; he is 'much interested in a scheme for a progressive periodical [the Progressive Review] which [William] Clarke, late of the Chronicle, and a young Socialist, [Ramsay?] MacDonald, are going to start next year. It is to be to these dregs of times what the Edinburgh Review was to be to those other dark days'. It 'promises to do well', and Robert wishes it 'God-speed', though they say it 'has as yet no Brougham, much less its Sidney Smith'. Bernard Shaw, whom Robert saw recently in a restaurant, told him 'with his usual superb egotism', that if they had wanted the paper to succeed, they ought to have asked him to 'write a series of articles, as he knew the secret of making a splash and drawing the gaze of the public'. However, 'Clarke cant stand G.B.S., calling him an anarchist and a Jacobin', and Shaw is a 'little piqued at being out of it'.
[Roger] Fry has a cold today and has taken to his bed 'as he always does at the slightest alarm'; this is sensible as 'his colds are both more sudden and more formidable than other people's'. He is doing well otherwise, and has 'just finished some theatrical scenery for a friend [a pencil note suggests this is 'Badley - [at] Bedales']' - the wood in Midsummer Night's Dream] - which is as good as anything Robert has seen by him, 'though you can't get very rich colour effects in tempera'. Their next door neighbours, Ricket[t]s and Shannon, have 'just brought out a magazine... a single Christmas number [The Pageant]' for which they have obtained contributions from 'all the great names in the literary and artistic word' such as Swinburne, Bridges, Maeterlinck, Verlaine, Burne Jones and Watts. There is 'some fine work in it, and some very queer'; Robert's friend [Thomas Sturge] Moore has two short poems included, though Robert does not think them his best. Will show his parents the magazine when they return. Shannon and Ricketts are 'taking to publishing poetry'; he believes they 'make a great success', and hopes that knowing them 'might be useful in the future'.
Is putting this letter into an envelope he finds 'on C[harles]'s table' with his parents' name on it but not yet their address. Expects they will soon be in Rome. Is going to see Aunt Annie [Philips] next week' does not plan to go abroad as he is 'very well, and do not feel the cold'. He will go to Welcombe for a few days, but otherwise stay in London unless 'the frost gives [him] colds'. Is glad their travelling is going so well, and that they like Gregorovius: it is 'always pleasant work welcoming a new historical star', though he doubts this one is 'of the first magnitude'.
A letter from Edward Burne-Jones dated 17 Aug. 1894, a letter from Georgiana Burne-Jones dated 17 Nov. 1909, and a letter from W. M. Rossetti dated 17 Oct. 1916.
Cockerell, Sir Sydney Carlyle (1867-1962), knight, museum director and book collectorWallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Very cold, and the 'warmest thing to do' is to write to Robert at Ravello. Must have been delightful living 'in sight of Florence' [staying with Bernard Berenson at Settignano]. Sends love to Elizabeth; hopes she will be well on the journey to Ravello and have good weather. George is here for Christmas, and will then join Janet at Stocks; Charles and Mary return this evening from Mary's grandfather [Lowthian Bell]'s funeral. He was eighty nine, and 'very active in business' almost up to his death; awful weather for a funeral; considers the number of people who 'have caught their deaths at funerals'. [John] Morley has made a 'fine address enough' at the opening of a free library [in Plumstead], though this is now 'a most hackneyed occasion' thanks to [Andrew] Carnegie. Sir George himself is to open 'the [underlined, due to controversy] library' at Stratford on Avon; they have done well to choose someone 'accustomed to steer amidst quicksands'. They are going to Welcombe on Tuesday next 'in patriarchal fashion, with a through carriage for [their] whole establishment'. They like their Burne-Jones ["Idleness and the Pilgrim of Love"?] more and more, and will bring it to London; Sir George likes it best of their pictures apart from the Francia. He and Caroline are 'rather proud' of having got such 'sweet pictures' for a third of what a 'Road Magnate pays for a doubtful Romney'.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - He and Caroline have enjoyed Elizabeth's accounts of life at Ravello, where 'the very changes of weather are romantic'; fears they are 'frankly beastly' here. Went to the British Museum on Saturday and sat next to Jebb, who wrote him 'a very pretty Iambic line' commenting on 'the current business' [the coming vote on compulsory Greek at Cambridge?]; it reminded him of the days when they sat together in the Senate-house [at Cambridge]. Jebb has 'plenty of go in him', and is pushing Bacchylides. Has been reading Bergk [his edition of the Greek lyric poet], but not enjoying the Anacreontics; has bought [Herbert] Weir Smyths edition of the Melic poets on Jebb's recommendation. Is 'charmed' with [Georgiana] Burne-Jones's life of her husband; Edward Burne-Jones was a 'wonderful writer' though he only ever wrote 'familiar epistles'.
Cutting of an announcement of the forthcoming publication of Robert's "The Birth of Parsival" from the "Daily Chronicle", 23 November 1904 and sent to Sir George by Roemike & Curtice Ltd, a press cutting agency, found with this letter.
Windermere. - Travelled here yesterday via Birmingham, where they saw 'the beautiful Burne Jones windows [at the Cathedral]'; they will drive on to Ullswater over the Kirkstone Pass. Booa [Mary Prestwich] is very happy and 'got up to Orrest Head' to enjoy the view. Most important is that Elizabeth and Robert do what is best for Julian, and follow the doctor's advice; she and Sir George will be sorry not to see him, but it is a long journey up to Wallington, which is 'far from a doctor'. Does think Elizabeth should get away as soon as she can; Julian can come north later, or go to the sea, as he may need a change later in the summer heat. Hopes Mrs Catt will return recovered and ready to take responsibility when Elizabeth is away. Thinks Elizabeth is doing well to get fourteen people at her meetings [of the Women's Liberal Association?]; asks if she is going to the Council meetings, which she herself is not sorry to miss as she dislikes 'these disputes so much', and whether she sees Mrs [Millicent] Fawcett and Mrs Ward. Mrs Ward 'deserves a good setting down [for her opposition to women's suffrage]; wonders if she minds it. Thinks 'the [Conciliation?] Bill agreed upon was a good one': though adult suffrage is the right thing it is impossible to pass it, so it is good if anything [on a lesser scale] can be arranged; nothing however can be done this year.