8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Glad that Elizabeth has got home safely and that Julian is happy. Encloses a cheque from Sir George to settle their account [for the stay at Eastbourne]. Annie [Philips] and Robin [Price] have been here this afternoon; they came to the crematorium at Golders Green [for the cremation of her sister Margaret Price] and have just left for Pen Moel. Annie says it is 'dreadful to have 2 days!' and has promised not to go to Tibberton for the funeral tomorrow. Good of Charles and George to go this morning, as well as Morton [Philips], two of the Gregs, Annie Thompson and Betty Bostock [?]. Sir George is well, and she feels better; they had a 'quiet walk in Kensington Gardens' yesterday and today, and she has started taking a tonic. Looks forward to seeing Elizabeth on Friday.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Glad to hear that Elizabeth is well and that Robert is losing his cold; hopes the Booths [Charles and Meg] arrive safely. Sir George has been troubled by rheumatism for a while; thinks he is recovering but he is 'low & out of sorts'; he has been able to work and take walks everyday, not liking to stay in bed which she thinks may have been best. S[idney] Colvin and Morton Philips are coming on Sunday, alone as both their wives are ill; they have also had neighbours visiting for tea. Has been busy with things in the village; Mr Clarke was here this week. They are expecting news from Cheyne Gardens [of the birth of Janet and George's child]; the preparations were made long ago. The ["Independent] review" is 'in a bad way' but George 'has made up his mind to it'. Meggy [Price] has sent her a very amusing letter from Phil [Morgan Philips Price], who 'led the interruptions' at [Henry] Chaplin's meeting at Cambridge in 'a most intelligent & effective way'. Sir George enjoyed Robert's letter about classics and 'keeps it as a marker!'; sends love from him and Booa [Mary Prestwich], who was 'quite anxious' about Elizabeth.
On headed notepaper for Welcombe, Stratford on Avon:- Arrived safely yesterday after a 'very nice journey', by himself for most of the way. Saw a Harrow boy whom he knew a little at Paddington, who 'had come up for a funeral'. Robert found his grandfather [Philips] 'much better than [he] had expected', and he is also well today; he 'goes out twice a day in his chair'. He, Aunt Annie, and Sophie [Wicksteed] do not 'seem at all low, though of course he is not at all well yet'.
Likes Morton Philips and his wife very much; went out for a drive with them and Aunt Annie this afternoon, and walked back home from Snitterfield with Morton Philips. Aunt Annie said he had better not write yesterday, as he meant to, since she herself was writing. The 'country is very nice and the weather very fine'. Hopes she and his father are well.
On headed notepaper for Welcombe, Stratford on Avon:- Thanks his mother for her letter. Grandpapa is 'still quite well', though 'he does not get up to breakfast and is sometimes a little tired at night'; he goes out in his chair and 'gets about the house very well'. Robert is going to start whist tomorrow, and Sophie is 'going to take [him] in hand'. He is well, doing dumb-bells and the other things he had to remember. Will go to church at 'the small chapel' at three this afternoon. Sophie and Aunt Annie are well. Does not know what he will do if he does 'not get the collars soon', as he only has 'two stick-ups here'; supposes he will 'have to wear the turn-downs'. Hopes Charlie gets one of the prizes, or 'it will be very disappointing for him, after so much hard work'.
Robert is taking his medicine. Grandpapa 'sometimes talks toryism, but not very much'. The Morton Philipses left yesterday; Grandpapa gave Kate Morton Philips a ring 'which delighted her very much'.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Robert's letter has brought 'a breath of Italy'; wishes he could be there; asks to be remembered kindly to Robert's hosts and wishes he could see Berenson's library. Books now his 'medium for everything': foreign countries, past times, 'vanished friends and opponents'. Has now read the elegiac and iambic fragments in Bergk, and will go on to read the '"Melic poets" as one reads Keats and Shelley'. Has also finished Plautus's "Casina"; a great coincidence 'utterly unimportant in itself' like all great coincidences, that the last time he did so, in 1916, Morton and Kate Philips came to stay as they are doing tonight for the first time since then. Is reading Robert's Tchernov [sic: Chekhov] and thinks the stories may give even 'more vivid and real' a picture of Russian life than Turgenev and Tolstoy, while being 'far less repulsive' than Dostoevsky; though he does not approve of the 'sordid little pictures of conjugal infidelity', which is better done in many French novels and he is 'many years too old for it in any language'.
Hotel & Pension Palumbo, Ravello, Golfo di Salerno. - Has had dreadful weather and not been able to work until a couple of days ago, as he was kept inside; began yesterday and is now getting on well. Will return at the end of January as his mother suggests, and thinks it would be convenient for Bessie to visit England early in February; would not stay in Holland long on the way back if so as he wants to keep writing. Will come to Welcombe as he thinks it would be best for her to visit to be there rather than London; the Frys have invited her to stay with them in Dorking for a few days, which would enable her to see [Robert's house at] Westcott. Asks his mother to send George's address again, as he wants to write to him. Old Palumbo has been very ill, and it was thought he would die; he is better now but if he were to worsen again Robert would move pension, though his address could remain the same. Has had nice letters [about his engagement] from almost all his friends. Wrote to [William] Morton Philips. [Frank] Previté has published a book of short stories, "My Great Discovery" with Smithers & Co., under the pseudonym 'Henry Frances' as he does not want his family to know. Gives the book his qualified praise, and suggests his mother try it. Is pleased with what he has written of his own play; thinks it is 'better conceived and better carried out than the last', but knows these feelings can be deceptive. Has read Stephen Philips' play "Paolo and Francesca" which is so popular at the moment: thinks there is 'some decent poetry of a not very high order, and a good deal of theatrical cleverness', but that it is a 'bad play, and pretentious too'. Must not make his mother think he is jealous; hopes it will succeed on the stage, as this will make things easier for [Thomas Sturge] Moore, Binyon, and himself. Bessie says she is sending some photos to his mother, and seems well. Asks if his mother remembers a Countess Bylandt, who says she used to know her and his father: Bessie met her the other day at the Hague.