Showing 17 results

Contains: poems, "Autumn, 1941" and "Gossamer", by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge]; "Simple Pleasures (continued)" by R. C. Trevelyan; "Children of the House" by Olive Heseltine (on her childhood in the House of Commons when her father, Sir Courtenay Ilbert, was Clerk of the House); "Poem" by Nicholas Moore; poem in German, "Milton", by Ludwig Marx; poem, "The Prophet Answered, 'Courage Is Patience", by Marjorie Scott Johnston; poem, "Home-coming", by Carla Lanyon Lanyon.

Contains: "Poem (for Priscilla)" by Nicholas Moore; "Bibliophiles" by Olive Heseltine; poem, "Kingfisher in the Snow", by Eiluned Lewis; poems, "Landscape" and "We Have Cast Out Our Souls", by John Griffin; "P. R." and "Letters" by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge]; poem, "Orchard Company", by D. Eardley Wilmot.

Contains: "The Surrey Practitioner", by Olive Heseltine; poem, "To A Skylark Over An Aerodrome", by Douglas Gibson; poem, "Death", by R. D. Bosanquet [an error for R. G. Bosanquet?]; "5. Visitors" by Sarah Shorey Gill, for her granddaughter Polly.

Contains "The Ancients in Abinger" by Olive Heseltine; "Children's Party" by Eiluned Lewis; "The Death of Ben Jonson" by Oliver Lodge; "Robert Browning" by R. C. Trevelyan; a sketch of Oliver Lodge by Max Beerbohm; a poem, "Memory of Spring", by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge], and "At the Abinger Well", perhaps also by Sylvia Sprigge.

Lemon Corner. - Thanks Bob for his 'beautiful gift' [this year's "From the Shiffolds"]; loves the 'autumn-leaf colouring' of the cover; means to read a poem each morning to put her into a 'good temper for the day', but finds that 'one is not enough' and has already almost read them all. "Dream Truth" is 'very, very lovely and touching'; the "Simple Pleasure" is as 'beautiful as any by Po Chui". Hopes Ursula Wood 'feels pround to have inspired such a true poem'.

Thanks Bob for lending her his 'wholly delightful book' ["Windfalls"]: she has read every essay with 'exquisite pleasure', and re-read many of them. Wishes he could bring out a larger edition so she could give it to all her friends for Christmas; it is a 'calamity' there are so few copies. Much enjoyed reading Desmond MacCarthy's piece on Robert, and heard a 'most appreciative eulogy from Max' [Beerbohm?] whom she saw at the Lynds recently; he 'particularly admired the essay on Poetry and Prose'. Hopes Bob does not mind her lending the book to [Gerd?] Wohlgemuth, who 'also enjoyed every word'; he would have liked to take it on his honeymoon but she would not let him as she was sure Bob would want it back; returns it now. Does indeed like Mrs Wohlgemuth, as she is now, and thinks it is an 'admirable union'; they were both pleased Bob came here to meet them the other day.

Lemon Corner. - It is 'delightful' to get Bob's "Windfalls" [the new edition?]: knows many of the pieces 'so well', as Bob has read them aloud to her, but it is good to read them again; 'just a sip of nectar at a time' since she can only read for a few minutes; glad the print is good. Hopes Bob will not mind if she lends the book to one of his 'most ardent admirers', the lady to whom he sent the Vaughan Williams concert tickets; Olive always lends her the Christmas presents from Bob [his "From the Shiffolds"]. Wonders if Bob is keeping warm, and trusts he is not 'like all the inhabitants of this Infirmary, afflicted with rheumatics, arthritis, neuritis and what Milton calls Fierce Catarrh'; also that the 'domestic situation' is easier.

Lemon Corner. - Is reading and re-reading Bob's poems [in the collected "From the Shiffolds", published by Hogarth Press]; lists some which she remembers well, others seem new to her. Was particularly 'touched' by "Sometimes in Happy Dreams" and the 'sad austerity' of "Dirge". Is taking them 'slowly, as good wine should be sipped, and [is] revived by one or two every morning'. Asks how one can 'envy writers who have work set for them': works of criticism like those by Desmond MacCarthy are 'enjoyed and forgotten', but Bob's poems are 'enjoyed, remembered, and read again and again'. Sends 'fond love' to Bessie, and asks him to tell her Olive is 'so much better' that she hopes to walk over to see her soon.

Lemon Corner, Abinger Common. - Has received Bob's 'most welcome Christmas card' [this year's "From the Shiffolds"], and already read most of the poems in 'this dim December light'. Remembers the 'fine' poem to Lowes Dickinson, which Bob read to her one afternoon at the Shiffolds; "To know and not to feel" has 'haunted' her ever since Bob read it to her here. The lines to Marjory Allen and some of the translations, however, are new to her; hopes he will visit and read them to her.

5 Keats Grove, Hampstead, N.W.3. - Thanks Bob for his Leopardi poems [in this year's "From the Shiffolds"]: this is '[j]ust the weather to think of the coldness of having to die'. Hopes to see another spring, and that Bob also feels that way. Regrets that 'dear Olive [Heseltine]' has died; glad that she bought her last book and kept her last letters. Is 'pretending, if not actually hoping' to go and stay with Florence and Max [Beerbohm, in Rapallo] in May, and may be 'game for anything' if she gets through the winter. Is hoping to meet Walter de la Mare at the Rostrevor Hamilton's house tomorrow at tea. Adds a post-script saying that since Bob sent her two copies of his book, she will give one to de la Mare tomorrow: 'poets are the best audience, poets can find'. The Rostrevor Hamiltons are now at Swan House, Chiswick, which was once the Squires'. Very 'silly' of Julian and Ursula to 'sever [divorce] instead of accumulating memories'; these may 'make one sadder but they stretch ones range of feeling'.

Has not yet heard from Bessie, but supposes they got seats on one of the trains. Is going to tea at Leith Hill Place [with Ralph and Iris Wedgwood?] then to lunch and to stay the night at Hurtwood House [with Joan Allen?]. Will listen to [Mozart's "Marriage of] Figaro" tonight on the [BBC] third program'. The [A.W?] Lawrences and 'Mrs Anderson (or Edwards)?' came to tea yesterday, which was 'very pleasant'; they look alder, but he enjoyed seeing them. Is well, but cannot work so will read Ben Jonson's "Alchemist'. Feels 'rather lonely' without Bessie. May go to the Deuchars and bathe on Monday if it is still fine. Ted Lloyd has gone to a conference in Switzerland. May visit Olive [Heseltine?] one day. Asks Bessie to let him know when she is coming back, and whether he should send her the "New Statesman" and 'those white trousers which Kitty said she would mend'.

As from W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Lalla [Vandervelde?] - 'for so I understand her to be styled by her gentleman friends' - is not one of his 'most intimate intimates': has only met her twice, each time for no more than an hour. However, they get on well; 'she makes a nice change after so much British monotone', and she 'sends, or tries to send, the Maurons sardines via Portugal'. Is meeting her at Mrs [Olive?] Heseltine's on Monday, as Bessie may have heard, and hopes something else may be arranged. His mother's 'enthusiasm is a little dazzling: she might find the glitter too dazzling'. Will ring Bessie up, or write again.

Hopes they are all getting on well. Has had an 'out-of-the-way pleasant time lately, culminating in the 8th symphony by accident last night'.

The Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. - Thanks Bessie for Olive Heseltine's 'touching little book' ["Lost Content"], which has brought back many memories. Comments on the 'spate of these "Victorian Childhood" books' at the moment; read Molly MacCarthy's ["A Nineteenth Century Childhood"] recently, which is 'very charming.. more humorous than this and therefore lighter'. Olive always had 'rather a genius for unhappiness'. She once helped Janet to run a School Care Committee in Fulham, and she 'became quite good at it' though it was not really the right job for her; wonders what would have been. Janet has 'yielded to the doctors' and will go into the Evelyn Nursing Home in Cambridge on Friday for three weeks rest; did feel 'rather down' last week, as she has been 'winding up her job at the British Institute of Florence' and her arthritis is getting 'slowly worse'. She and Georgewere hoping to go to Florence in March, and to stay at Poggio [with Lina Waterfield], but she fears now that they will not manage. Originally encloses a Christmas card, and hopes Bessie can see it; 'Molly the Great' [Charles's wife?] took it this summer.

The Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. - Thanks Bessie for the 'nice Christmas note' and for promising Olive Heseltine's book ["Lost Content"]; thinks she would love to read it; hopes Olive is happier than when she knew her in the nineteen-twenties, as 'she seemed to have a sort of genius for unhappiness then', perhaps due to bad health. She herself finds her arthritis 'rather disabling; it increases 'slowly but steadily, and doctors are no good'; she is seeing a London doctor who is 'very nice', but will only refer her back to her local doctor and a masseuse and she is 'getting tired of trying to believe in them'. Wants to see her London osteopath, but even he seems to have 'come to the end of his tether' with her.

Contains: "Ave Atque Vale" by S. S. [Sylvia Sprigge]; "Abinger Notes" by E. M. Forster; poems, "The Giraffe" and "Memory", by N. Gumilev, translated from the Russian by Jacob Hornstein; poem, "Battle Landscape", by Ida Procter; "Leaves from a London Diary" by S. S.; "My Victorian Days" by Sarah Shorey Gill; poem, "Ten Years Ago", by R. C. Trevelyan; poem, "Hymn of Thanksgiving for Old Age", by O[live] Heseltine; "The Painter, the Slave Woman and the Rose", by C. Kerr Lawson; "Patrolling in the Apennines", by Richard Bosanquet [mistakenly called R. D. rather than R. G. Bosanquet on the inside cover], with a note by S. S. that Bosanquet was killed in action this summer; "Pear Tree Cottage" by V. S. Wainwright; poem, "The Poet Otherwise Occupied" by Kenneth Hopkins"; poem, "Penelope in April", by Geoffrey Eley.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Sorry the 'pretty girl' [Hylkia Halbertsma, see 46/100] cannot stay with Elizabeth; wonders if she will have more success elsewhere; wonders whether, when Robert is settled with Madame Palumbo, Elizabeth could visit the Grandmonts at Taormina. Wishes she could have heard the concert [organised by Dolmetsch, see 46/100]; asks whether it was an artistic and financial success. Asks how she got on with the Arnolds; he [Ernest Penrose Arnold] 'had his faults' but both Robert and George owe much to him and his school [Wixenford]. The Arthur Severns have been visiting; she was Ruskin's niece [actually second cousin], and they live at Brantwood. Sir Courtenay Ilbert has also been; his daughters [Olive and Jessie] stayed with C[harles] and M[ary], as did F[rancis Dyke-] Acland and H[ilton] Young. George and Janet return to London on Monday; they want Robert and Elizabeth to dine with them and Caroline on 19 October, with a 'little party afterwards'; they could go to the theatre the night before. Amused by the idea of Elizabeth teaching a class; they are lucky to get her. Hopes [Helen] Fry is recovering; 'wretched for her' to be away from home as well.

Contains: poem, "Faith", by G. H. Luce; "The Formicarium" by Olive Heseltine; "The Wallington Ponds" by R. C. Trevelyan.