Showing 14 results

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Will be glad of the Menander and Robert's observations; sends a short amusing letter by [William] Everett, who is very clever about the quotation from Herodotus. Also sends some papers about 'a French Who's Who?'. He and Caroline are getting very fond of Paul; sure a long change of air will be good for him; when he fends off attention it is like 'a pretty squirrel scolding'.

Greek text and analysis. Found loose in B/6/2.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Is 'gratified' by Robert's comments on his book ["History of the American Revolution"]. Curious how much literary work is 'improved by print'; remembers Henry Sidgwick criticising his "Life of Macaulay" when he saw it in manuscript, but 'as a book it had no more indulgent partisan'; in this case Sir George made many alterations in response to Robert's 'critical revision'. Pleased by the unanimously good reviews, though 'the historical adepts have something to say', mostly about the forthcoming parts. Wishes they were with Robert [in Florence?] and look forward to being 'ciceronied' next year. Asks if the Cathedral Tower (he thinks) has been re-built and whether there is a subscription fund still open. Is reading the last five books of Herodotus and [written in small letters] 'much prefer[s] him to Thucydides' whom he has also been reading; looks forward to discussing with Robert. Responds to Robert's criticisms of the book: one is a bad misprint; one his uncle [Macaulay] would have likewise corrected. Caroline sends love; they hope he has better weather, and that it will 'persist for George'.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Caroline received a most interesting letter from Bessy this morning; he has ordered Drummond [his banker] to pay thirty five pounds into Robert's account for Julian's 'little affair' [an operation on an umbilical hernia]; 'quod optime eveniat!' [Latin: may this turn out well]. Sends George's account of their 'little ceremony of Boxing Day'; asks for it back. Has been reading Herodotus, 'with a play of Plautus between each book'; has reached the last book and wishes there were nine more; Plautus grows on him more with each reading, as also happened to Macaulay when he read and re-read him in India. Is now going to read Thucydides, again with a Plautus play between each book. Sir John Simon stayed last week, and mentioned that he had shown Thucydides 2.71-74 to Asquith as 'a curious parable to the story of Belgium'. Was glad to find the narrative easy to read.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for the 'interesting speech by McElroy, which he now returns; it is a 'remarkable tribute to the permanent effectiveness' of The American Revolution, and to its continued vitality: a book that is 'so much alive after twenty five years is not likely to grow old for a long time yet'.

He and Bessie are glad to hear that his mother has recovered quickly from her journey. The weather has worsened today, but they have had 'beautiful autumn days' for weeks. Bessie is reading aloud a translation of Herodotus, 'not a bad one, in the Loeb Classics'; since she does not know Greek she has not read it before, 'a pleasure long deferred'. They are just reaching the 'story of the master thief in book two, which might come out of the Arabian Nights'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Interested in the Basil Williams dinner [see 46/278], and views his departure [to take up a professorship at McGill University] 'with regret' and hopes he will benefit from it. Would not have believed it if anyone had told him a generation ago that 'Canada would be a very great country with a future like that of Australia...' He too loves the Plutus; read it at the age of sixteen during one summer holiday with Uncle Tom [Macaulay]: 'I construing, and he enjoying'; Macaulay chose it as his introduction to Aristophanes, as he then chose the Meidi [Against Meidias] of Demosthenes and Gorgias of Plato. Is now reading the last five books of Herodotus, interspersed with [Demonsthenes's] Olynthiacs and first three Philippics.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - He and Caroline are both 'fairly well, and heartedly contented'. Glad that Robert and Elizabeth are 'deep in Chaucer'; read him aloud to Caroline over two years in which they 'cared for no other poetry'. Is currently reading the four last books of Thucydides; intends then to alternate Terence with [Sophocles's] three Theban plays and four plays by Aristophanes; then to read two Plato dialogues and the four first books of Herodotus: that 'is far enough to look forward to, and (most probably) too far'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Thanks Robert for sending [Richard Winn Livingstone's] "The Greek Genius and its Meaning to Us"; Sir George's current reading of Herodotus has brought that home, with 'the description of the barbarous cruelties, and personal bloody despotism, of the Orientals - and the degraded and irrational superstitions and worship of Egypt' emphasising what the Greek victory over Persia 'saved the world from'. Thinks Walter Leaf, who visited last week, is probably right that the last five books of Herodotus were written first. They have had a 'perfectly delightful "Collins"' from Julian, who uses the word 'enjoyment' or enjoying' five times; it is a 'first-rate thing' not to be afraid of repeating a word if it is sincerely meant.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - The 'next generation' are very fortunate: Mary Caroline, George Lowthian, and now Julian can read Macaulay, Carlyle, and [Motley's] "Dutch Republic", and the books he himself had to read 'almost secretly, and as a sin' because he was meant to be writing 'copies of bad Greek Iambics' and puzzling over Demosthenes; now his grandchildren's 'first duties' are to 'read "Clive" and "Chatham" and Ferrero'. Interested to hear that Robert and Elizabeth have been reading Herodotus aloud together; when Elizabeth comes to Wallington he will show her Paul Louis Courier's paper, which is a 'masterpiece'. Begins re-reading the last two books of Herodotus himself on Wednesday; is finishing Tacitus's "Annals" today; discusses the contrasting styles of it and the "Histories". Agrees completely about Horace's "Epistles". Asks for advice on editions of Thucydides.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Hopes Robert has arrived safely. Has read the first article in the ["Times] Literary Supplement" [on Robert's "Thamyris, or Is There a Future for Poetry?"]; wonders whether there will be discussion in the correspondence next week. Had a very pleasant week with Robert's 'dear people', though Sir George has been ill and 'confined to his room'; has finished Herodotus and Tacitus's "Annals" and is now reading Thucydides and [Tacitus's] "Histories"; has bought a new text of Thucydides.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Likes writing to Settignano; sends his regards to Robert's host [Bernard Berenson]. Is grateful for the photograph of Aulla [home of Robert's friends the Waterfields]; has tried to get a sense of it by comparing photograph and letter, but will have to ask Elizabeth for further help when she comes tomorrow; hopes she has recovered from her bad cold. He and Caroline are quite well, but he is 'very perceptibly weaker every month or so', though he can still get household and financial business done, and enjoys his Greek and Latin reading 'at least as much as ever'; has now finished re-reading Tacitus, Herodotus, and the first half of Thucydides, which he intends now to finish alongside Xenophon's "Hellenica" and some Suetonius; praises Suetonius's biographies of Augustus and Julius Caesar.

Normanton House, Lake, Salisbury. - Bob's 'fine volume' [the second of his "Collected Works"] has arrived safely; it seems to have been held up in the post, and perhaps opened; it is 'very attractive - to hand & to eye'. Has read Bob's 'admirable "Custom of Thrace"' again: sees it is dated 1939, so 'these bad times have not driven away the Muse'. Is half-way through "Sulla" and enjoying it very much; 'wonderful' how much Bob has made from the passages of Plutarch and Herodotus. Notes that Bob does use ellipses (...), then remembers him saying they were 'right in dialogue'. "Sulla" would work very well if staged, and 'would suit a grove on the side of Leith Hill'. Adds a postscript to say his father has 'seized' Bob's book and 'is reading it, apparently with great pleasure'.