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All these items relate personally to R. B. McKerrow, except those described as printed. Most of the rest are printed forms filled up by hand.

Bills from traders: Crossley and Clarke (booksellers), Blake and Son,drapers, mercers, hosiers, haberdashers and hatters; H. Chatham Shaw, hat maker; E Goshawk, for hair cutting; E. W. Graham; James Woodbridge, tailor, hosier and hatter; E. W. Craker [?], perhaps a cobbler; Bowller & Fuller (butchers?).

Bills from Harrow School itself, for tuition, school charges and repairs etc, the school concert, and the bathing place, as well as paper, pens, ink and so on bought from the school.

Accounts with H. Montagu Butler (headmaster), for Christmas Term 1872, Easter and Christmas Terms 1873, and Easter Term 1874. With stamps and notes by Butler acknowledging payment.

8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. Lord's exeat. - Harrow were 'licked yesterday' [in the cricket match against Eton]. Spirits kept up by a 'very good lunch' with the Yates Thompsons; 'impossible to be depressed in the company of Dolly'. Went to the Royal Academy after the match, then went to see 'the Bastille taken' at Earl's Court; there were plenty of very pretty women, but he did not 'see any Turks'; he then took a 'water-toboggan' ride and went home. Wants to sends his pictures to Cambridge at the end of the term; asks what address at Trinity he should use; asks if Bob could put him up in Cambridge at the beginning of August to 'arrange business'; will go on 4 August to see Aunt Annie at Tunbridge Wells, and then to Wallington on Monday.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland; addressed to Bob at 29 Beaufort Street, Chelsea, and forwarded to the National Liberal Club. - Is glad the show [an art exhibition organised by Roger Fry] is coming to Cambridge; has only even seen prints and engravings; has written to [Arthur] Shipley. Bob won the battle [of toy soldiers]. Had 'two splendid days' stalking and driving grouse with Howey and Shade.

Wixenford, Eversley. - They returned home last night after a 'delightful week at Niton' [on the Isle of Wight]. Has now unwrapped the paper-case and blotting book which are 'pretty' and useful, and which he will greatly value as Bobbie's gifts. Will hope to receive few lines from Bobbie at the end of his first fortnight [at Harrow]; thinks he will be placed 'without further exam[inatio]n in Lower Remove', where the work will not be easy, with some of it familiar, so he need only keep from making 'avoidable blunders'. Hopes Bobbie will show them he has 'some idea of Latin Prose'. Asks him to tell George he will keep the same bed-room: Arnold will try to find someone George will like to share it with. Expects that after Midsummer he will share it with Booth's brother, who will join the school then. Is returning [James?] Welldon's letter, which Bobbie's mother 'kindly' let him read; thanks her for writing; he will reply to her when he has news about George. Hopes Bobbie's elder brother [Charles] has recovered, and that he will not 'lose his promotion': it would be 'very hard lines' if it did. Adds a postscript to say he is reading [John Robert] Seeley's "Expansion of England", and thinks Bobbie would like it: it is certainly 'more interesting than the dry-as-dust' he read for the Bowen prize; he can probably find it in his House library.

Seatoller. - Expects Bob is enjoying himself abroad. Is having a good time at Seatoller with [Maurice?] Amos, [Ralph] Wedgwood and [George] Moore; Vaughan Williams left a few days ago; he and Wedgwood 'bathe in Cambridge pool every morning'; Amos and Wedgwood work hard for their triposes, while Moore chiefly reads "Jane Eyre" and other novels, and George 'all sorts of jolly books', none for his tripos. They are all getting on well, even better than at Stye since there is not the 'slight distance between Moore and Wedgwood'. They go up the mountains in the afternoon; he and Moore, as 'the Wordsworthians of the party' went over to Grasmere and Rydal; describes Dove Cottage, de Quincey's extension to it, and S.T.C. [Samuel Taylor Coleridge]'s house. Declares that there were 'men in England then', also naming Scott, Shelley, Byron and Keats. George got his scholarship; does not seem fair that Wedgwood has not, while they give one to someone like Charlie Buxton 'of very ordinary ability' in their first year; thinks this is 'bolstering up classics'. It is however a sign that the college is doing 'their duty to history' that there is now an entrance scholarship for it. Is glad at a personal level that Buxton has a scholarship: he and George will have plenty of money to go abroad in the long vacation now. Elliott has not got a scholarship, but is spoken of as 'certain' next year. Had a nice letter from Bowen; German measles is active in [Grove] house. Asks Bob to write to him about the novel if he needs someone to discuss it with: he knows the plan and beginning, and will keep it secret. Wedgwood is a really good rock climber. Notes in postscript that he will be seeing Moore's brother [Thomas] in London again next week, so Bob should write there.

The Shiffolds. - Is sending the Prime Minister a report of a speech given by his father at the Whitefriars Club dinner, about forty years ago, which he recently found amongst his papers. If Churchill has not seen it before, thinks he will be interested in what Sir George Trevelyan said about his father Randolph, for whom Trevelyan thinks his father 'had a real affection as well as admiration'. Sir George once told him how, just after Gladstone brought in his first Home-Rule Bill, he walked away from the House with Lord Randolph; they had to part ways at the bottom of St James's Street but stood there for some time while Lord Randolph gave him a forecast of what would happen. Robert supposes 'his prophecy did not include the Parnell divorce case', but Sir George said practically everything else came true. The Prime Minister knows Robert's brothers, but he expects he will not remember him, though they must have been at Harrow together for some years.

Harrow School. - Congratulates Trevelyan on his son [Robert]'s election to a Classical Scholarship: much of his work 'impressed the examiners, and especially Bowen, very much'. His brief viva voce examination suggests he 'must have wider interests than many boys who win scholarships'. Will 'watch his school career with great pleasure'.

Trinity [on college notepaper]:- Sees that his father is going to Edinburgh 'to be sworn into something'. Hopes 'all is going well with him in his office'; does not think 'the last election will have much effect, though of course it is bad'. Asks if she is coming South soon, as there is something he would like to ask her to do if she can: Charlie 'has left the books of the C[ambridge] Liberal Club', a list of members and a minute book, in London among his other books, and Robert does not think Anne would be able to find them if he asked since there are only two notebooks. If his mother is not to be in London soon, Robert will wait until he himself next comes up.

Is doing 'a good deal of work now, and getting ahead'. [H.W.?] O'Rorke is visiting for a day, before he 'starts on a journey round the world'. Robert has been to Harrow for Founder's Day, and 'had a good time'; G[eorgie] was well and 'playing footer remarkably well'. Robert 'sent off the plate' to London a while ago; supposes it arrived safely. Charlie seems to be 'enjoying himself', but is 'anxious to hear something about Cambridge'. Robert met G. [W. E.?] Russell at the [Trinity Master's] Lodge last Saturday.

Trinity, Cambridge [on college notepaper]:- Hopes his mother finds everything all right at Welcombe and is enjoying herself. Aaks how Bathgate and Fairweather are. Supposes 'they will be shooting the home woods about now'. Is very glad she is going to stay with the Verralls; he will dine there on the night she is staying with them.

Is afraid he 'made a sort of promise to go to Oxford on the 13th', since [Nugent] Hicks said he could arrange rooms in Balliol. Is going to Harrow to play football next Saturday, so could come home to see her after that; she might not be in town by then. Is 'playing Rugby football now', though not 'much more than one game a week'; is 'still able to work quite well' and thinks he is 'making progress'. Will see George on Saturday [at Harrow] and 'will report on him'. Had 'a very interesting letter from C[harles]'; he seems in 'good spirits'. Hopes his father is 'well and cheerful about politics': things seem to be 'going remarkable well' as far as Robert can tell.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Has just read 'our dear brother's novel' ["Gerald Eversley's Friendship" by Welldon, their fellow Apostle], which is 'not so bad as [he] expected': the 'commonplaceness of the story and the setting is so bold and unconventionally conventional' that it is not laughable. About half the book is set at Harrow, and this is 'good, that is true to life'; he 'knows more of boys' than George thought. Versions of Van [A. G. Watson, known as 'Vanity'] and [Charles] Searle appear. The two main characters are a 'young barbarian' and a 'swot' who make friends; the swot's 'religious doubt' is the subject of the last half of the book, and must be respected as written by 'one of the last of the old style [emphasised] of Xtian brethren', as he takes Welldon to be. The morals of this part seem to be that 'religion may be false but it is necessary to happiness and conduct', and that a young man should 'go to Trinity, not Baliol [sic]': the swot goes to Balliol, 'finds people making epigrams instead of talking apostolically', suffers religious doubts which are not taken seriously and attempts suicide; clear that Welldon views the swot's 'reversion to Xtianity rather a poor job'; George thinks Balliol people 'will be very angry'.

Glad that Robert is coming back soon; thinks that their mother is inviting 'McT' [Jack McTaggart?], to whom their father is eager to show the Macaulay books, but she will not do so before Bob returns. Is getting 'very fond of the West Wood', and wishes there were such a place to walk in Cambridge: the Backs are 'too academical and not solitary or secluded enough'. Is 'beginning to find imagination of unreal company or circumstances very refreshing for a few minutes each day'. Describes how the battle [involving toy soldiers] is going in detail, with suggestions as to how it should proceed; sketches out a map for this.

The Shiffolds. - Bessie is 'going on very well'; Dr C[ornish] came today and 'seemed quite satisfied'. Molly should be here in about an hour. Nurse Godwin is leaving tomorrow, and Nurse Shepherd arriving.

Asks her to thank his father for his letter [12/189] and the enclosure, the 'old Harrovian's letter'. Bessie has met him: he called here a 'year or two ago' when Robert was out, and had his book with him. Bessie says he was 'a rather mild seedy-looking sort of man, probably a little mad, though excitable'; his letters seem to Robert 'quite mad'. Bessie wishes she had looked at the book more carefully, but it 'seemed to be poor stuff'. Robert thinks the 'poor wretch was probably tramping the country', visiting the Old Harrovians whose addresses he could find 'to try and make them buy a copy'; he sent a letter to them afterwards which was similar to the one to Robert's father, and 'seemed quite mad'. Will write soon to his father and return the enclosure. The old Harrovian was 'much older' than Robert, and 'certainly not at the Grove in Bowen's time'.

The Enticknaps have generally taken things [the dismissal of their son Gussie from the gardens at Wallington] 'more sensibly' than Robert expected. They are angry with Keith, which 'cannot be helped, as they cannot be told the real reasons [for Gussie's dismissal] so naturally they thought he should have written earlier to warn them'. They are though 'anxious to do the right thing with Gussie now; Robert and Bessie think they are right in 'wanting to apprentice him as a carpenter, or possibly a smith, and having him to live with them'. The Enticknaps see that this would mean leaving the Shiffolds and are ready to do this; Robert thinks they are 'right on the whole', and they have been 'perfectly nice' about it. It will of course be difficult to replace them, but with luck Robert and Bessie may be able to find a childless married couple. Meanwhile, perhaps a cottage could be found for the Enticknaps nearby, so that Enticknap could come for the day. In some ways Robert and Bessie are sorry to lose the Enticknaps, as they had 'great merits' and 'in important things were thoroughly trustworthy', but they also sometimes gave them 'a good deal of trouble', and in the long term their leaving is probably for the best. Since the change cannot take place at once, Gussie will need to be here for a while, but Robert thinks he will 'be on his best behaviour'. Bessie has talked everything over with Mrs Enticknap and is not at all worried. They have had a 'reference about a married couple', but expect they will have found a place by now'.

Trinity [on college notepaper]:- Hears [his parents] are visiting the Sidgwicks around the 28th. George says that Charlie is coming to Cambridge tomorrow. Everything is 'very dull here' and there is no news. George made a speech in the Union, which Robert has been told was 'a very good one as a first speech'; he did not hear it himself. Hopes George will go on speaking there. Kitson [Robert or Sydney?] is in Cambridge today, but Robert has not yet seen him.

Went to Harrow yesterday, and had dinner in the evening; Bowen is well. The 'situation in the House [of Commons, or at Harrow?] seems to be satisfactory'.

Report is for 'Trevelyan jun.', in the 'Lower Sixth', for the 'Month ending Feb 25 1888'. 'Progress' and 'Place in Form' are reported by 'Classical Masters', as well as the 'Mathematical', 'Natural Science' and 'Modern Languages': the classical masters say that Robert has been 'More careful this term, but still inaccurate often'; the mathematical masters that he 'Began badly' but has been better lately; the natural science and modern language masters call his work 'Poor'. There is also a 'Pupil Room Report' on composition and other work, and a 'House Report'. Signed E. E. Bowen [Robert's housemaster].

On headed notepaper for Woodstock Road, Oxford. - Has been examining at Harrow with [Henry] Lee Warner, and thought Trevelyan would like to hear about his two sons there. Charlie is 'no scholar, but differentiates himself from all the other bad scholars' by 'a certain sense and a certain way of putting things' which indicate that he 'has his share of the family literary gift'. He makes numerous mistakes, but not the 'dreary canine bosh which distinguishes the duffer'. Sidgwick sat next to him at dinner at Welldon's, which 'confirmed [the] impression that he is one of the nicest young fellows... if not the nicest' he knows.

Bob is 'a genius', but currently 'suffers from two week points': he 'can't get up the pace requisite for a trying exam' like the Scholarship', and knows much less Greek than Latin. His Greek composition is 'at present somewhat embryonic, at least in verse'. However, he did some 'capital translations', and gave 'far the best answer of the kind sent in' to the question of 'whether Vergil was deficient in originality'; his Latin essay was also the best.

Thinks they would give Bob a scholarship at Balliol 'this year or next', but supposes Trevelyan 'mean[s] him for Trinity'. Sends regards to Lady Trevelyan; hopes this letter will 'catch' Trevelyan before he goes to Brussels. Adds a postscript saying that it was 'so queer' for him and Lee Warner 'to be examining out of 18 boys, two Trevelyans and a Storr [Frank or Charles Lancelot?]- nephew of F[rancis?] S.'

Declares that he believes 'boardinghouses not managed by masters are peculiar to Eton'. Refers to Rugby, Harrow and Shrewsbury, which were all founded in the sixteenth century, and believes that Rugby did not claim to be a public school until the end of the eighteenth century. States that Judge Hughes was a county court judge, but he cannot remember where, and believes that he has now retired. Hopes that Patterson has recovered from his influenza. Reports that he has escaped the illness, but that both his brothers 'have been attacked either by this infernal complaint or something closely akin.' Still hopes to visit Patterson at Easter.

Copse Cottage, Fernhurst (Friday's Mill crossed through), Haslemere. - Was very shocked to hear Edward's news; has lost 'a real friend' in Edward's mother. As Edward says, it is fortunate she knew about his successes, since 'the happiness of [her son's] career was what she had nearest her heart'. Is at Haslemere, but will come to see Edward in either Richmond or London if he names a day; is coming to London on Wednesday for Harrow Founder's Day on Thursday; will probably stay at the National Lib[eral] Club. Would like Marsh to visit him here very much, whenever he would like; there 'are no P. Smiths about the place'.

Copse Cottage, Fernhurst, Haslemere. - Has thought sine he left Edward on Monday that he was 'overheated' in his defence of V[aughan] Williams; though 'every one has the right or rather the duty of defending his friends' just as everyone has the right 'or call it duty too' of criticising those he disapproves of, he thinks he went in his 'heated and clumsy manner of defense' beyond what was justified by Marsh's criticism. He 'got to know [Vaughan Williams] and like him a lot' at Bayreuth, but quite understands that 'if you don't happen to find the likeable part, you are bound to dislike him'. Marsh cannot come next Sunday as Bob Is playing [rugby] at Harrow on Saturday then going to the [Hans] Richter concert on Monday with Tucket [Ivor Lloyd Tuckett?]; hopes it will be better, since the 'program looks more promising', and that he will see Marsh there.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury, St. Mary, Dorking. - They are 'all assembled here again', though Julian returns to school on Friday; he 'seems all the better for his time in the North', as does Bessie. Mrs Holroyd-Reece is staying here, 'finishing her holiday", as her husband has gone to the Netherlands 'on Media Society business, in spite of his collar bone', which is better but 'not right yet'.

Robert is going to London today 'to attend the dinner in honour of Basil Williams, of which George takes the chair'; Charles will also be there, as well as 'many of the [Lake] Hunt'. Robert's old friend Edward Hodgkin, 'Thomas Hodgkin's son', has died, the first of Robert's 'contemporary friends (excepting Theodore [Llewelyn Davies]) who has died' with whom he was 'really intimate'. Robert 'cared for him almost more than any one else' when at Cambridge, 'and for some years afterwards, but had rather lost sight of him of late years'.

Is reading Aristophanes' Ploutos again, which he 'read with Bowen in sixth form pupil room', and has liked since then 'almost as much as his more famous plays. The Chorus isn't much; but the incidents and the dialogue and the ideas' always seem to him 'as good as they can be'. Sends love to his mother.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for his 'kind letter [12/344]'; though it is his fiftieth birthday, he does 'not yet feel as if [he] were getting old, less indeed perhaps than two or three years ago'. Cannot help his father about the missing books: neither he nor Bessie has ever read Barnaby Rudge, and he is sure he 'never took it away, with or without leave'; has also not taken the 'ancient Atlas', as he still has [Heinrich?] Kiepert's 'ancient Atlas', which they used at Harrow in his own school-days. Wonders whether they 'might have found their way into the museum to be used to make hills for the soldiers'.

Julian 'writes cheerfully [from school]', and begins his letter 'Many happy returns of your birthday' with a series of dots above the 'many': Robert explains that the dots mean 'recurring for ever... From which I infer that he is now doing decimals'. Has not read Conrad's Rescue; does 'not much care for his later novels' and agrees that Conrad 'has been rather over-rated', though 'in spite of his peculiar way of telling them', he much enjoys Lord Jim, Chance, and several of the short stories such as Youth. The Shadow Line is 'the only one of his later books' which Robert has 'cared for, and that perhaps not very greatly'. Think he is 'a case of a man with a great talent who has made for himself an over-elaborate method, developing it during the time that his inspiration was beginning to fail him - rather like Henry James perhaps, though Henry James's later books are more successful in their queer way than Conrad's in his'.

Sends thanks to his mother for her letter: will write to her tomorrow. The weather is 'unpleasant': wishes it would 'rain properly instead of only pretending to'.

Harrow. - Is sure Houghton will have been pleased to hear the Lower School' Shakespeare prize. Mr Holmes the examiner 'speaks of his work as fully deserving it, and singles out for special praise his comparison of the characters of Brutus and Cassius. Perhaps this will be quoted some day as his earliest work of literary criticism!'. Has 'really pleased' Butler that Robert Milnes has won the prize.

The Grove, Harrow. - Statham thinks the [rugby?] balls will 'travel safest unblown'. There has just been a thaw, after some days 'skating on the much vexed pond'. [Edward?] Bowen lost his case last holidays; however, he had consolation recently when 'the son of Belial who has been his chief enemy throughout' entered the Grove to check on the pond, was turned out by Bowen, appealed to a magistrate but was forbidden by him to go there again. [The Grove] will 'only be average at torpids'; 'old Harré [?] 'coming on tremendously'. Welldon caught [Charles?] Crofton, [George] Wilson and some others having a boxing match last Sunday, and was 'most terrible in his righteous wrath'. There is a rumour that Bowen is to stand for as a candidate for Leeds in the next general election, based on a paragraph in the "Harrow Gazette", but it was around 1855 that he intended to do this. Has been 'shewing Bible reps lately' - they have 'relapsed into epistles again' since Robert left - and Welldon makes him write out sixty-three verses every Sunday. [Sydney] Clive has not been 'redeemed from a carreer [sic] of vice' [by failing his Sandhurst examination], instead his 'military ardour' has been heated; he will return to the attack next June and is meanwhile 'busily employed in mobilization'. He goes to Charter's lectures with George and 'appreciates them more than most of the audience'. Studying the constitution from 1689-1760 this term.

Trinity Cambridge [on college notepaper]:- Hears Charlie is going to London next Saturday; he is well at the moment, as he has been all term; he 'gave [them] a jaw on Temperance and Local Option last Friday at [their] private Liberal club', which Robert thought very good. Sir George's speech at Rothbury 'seems to have been very successful': hopes it will 'do the Cheviot herdsman good'. He and Charlie are going to 'take a lesson in bicycling' this afternoon, though 'whether [they] shall stick to it is another thing'.

Thinks Lendrum [W. T. Lendrum, later Vesey?] a 'very good coach indeed': is doing some composition with him, and thinks he is 'at last improving in that'; did some 'very bad composition' in the examination. Robert's bills left over from last year came to only 2 pounds 7 shillings. Welldon was in Cambridge at the beginning of the week; Robert saw him at breakfast at Charlie's; he is 'complaining of the growth of theosophy at Harrow', since there are 'three theosophists among the scholars'. Has had a letter from Georgie, who is 'rather indignant at Welldon's precautions against the influenza' [TRER/14/5]. Has heard some 'very startling news about Sir John S' which he supposes must be true. Is going to get a 'writing table of some sort'. Hopes his mother is well.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for his 'kindness' in paying the fifty pounds into his account. He and Bessie returned together last night, and are glad to be home again; they seem to have arrived 'together with the Spring, or rather just a day after it had come'. Bessie has much enjoyed her month in the Netherlands, and 'seems very well and cheerful'. Robert had an 'interesting three days in Edinburgh': the scene from his and Donald Tovey's opera 'went very well, and people seemed to like it'.

Julian comes home on the tenth, and Robert hopes 'to do some Latin with him again'; he 'seems to get on very well at Bedales'. Robert has been translating some of his 'favourite Theocritus Idylls'; also intends to translate 'XXI, 'The Fisherman', which they say is not by Theocritus', but which he has always liked since doing it 'in sixth form pupil-room [at Harrow] with Bowen'. Might make a book of these with some Latin translations.

[Referring to the report of a Syndicate established to inquire into the issue of the allowing of alternatives to one of the classical languages in the Previous Examination], states the he is 'strongly in favour of the general principle embodied in Parts II and [VII]', and that it is 'highly desirable that a certain number of neither dull nor idle boys at school should be subjected to a literary training not involving both Greek and Latin, and also highly desirable that they should carry on this training afterwards at the University.' Believes that Latin should be a required subject in the Previous Examination. Suggests that where a knowledge of the Gospel in Greek is dispensed with, the alternative could be French or German rather than English, and adds that 'Bowen does a good deal of Scripture in French with his "Modern Side" ' [at Harrow]. States also that if the paper were in French or German or English, the marks given should not be equal to those given for the corresponding paper 'in the far harder Greek.'

8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Is not going to Egypt, but will come to Bob; will spend from 25-30 January happily at Pisa 'up to the heart in Shelley', then will come on to Ravello; looking forward to seeing Bob there. Will do an 'expedition' to Sicily, especially Syracuse, from there, and hope Bob will come with him; plans to go to Florence when the weather is warmer. Interested to hear how Bob's play progesses; liked "The Mulberry Tree" and 'dear old "phaselus ille" [a translation from Catullus]' very much: Bob should send it to Bowen 'as an alternative for modern side boys [at Harrow] to learn when they are late for dinner'. His own book ["England in the Age of Wycliffe"] will be out in about a month; their father's [the first volume of his "The American Revolution"] has been 'extremely well received'.