The Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. - Thanks Bob for "Aftermath": glad he has been able to 'salvage' so many poems of which George is so fond [from the fire at the publisher's warehouse which destroyed the stock of Bob's recent "Collected Works"]; they have both suffered from the 'family connection with Longmans, though he does not mind much for himself, as he is 'past caring whether anyone reads one's books... in this night of time' and has 'no more desire for continued existence as a writer than for life after death'. The Geoffrey Youngs are staying in the Lodge for a few days, preparing to move into 'half a house near by'; good to have them back in Cambridge. Tells Bob to visit some time in summer. He and Janet hope to go to Hallington at Easter, staying in the gardener's cottage; the Hall has begun again as a hospital, and they will see 'more of it and its inmates than when it was an RAF affair'. Hopes that they have good news of Julian from Egypt. Notes in a postscript that Aubrey and Lina Waterfield's son John has been killed in Malta.
The Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. - Loves Robert's "Dream", which 'has a smack of Piers Plowman in it'. Admires Max [Beerbohm]'s portrait of Bob the more he looks at it; wonders if there are spare copies he could buy. Hoping to see Bob in Cambridge next term. He and Janet hope to spend a 'Xmas fortnight at Hallington', staying in the gardener's house since the big house is being converted into a hospital, after six months as an RAF centre; they will go to Wallington for Christmas Day.
Hallington Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne. - Is here arranging about the takeover of the house by the [Royal] Air Force for the duration of the war, a 'small thing, in this doomsday', but one he would have 'minded a year ago'; doubts whether Janet will be able to live here again, and he loves the house. Encloses a letter from Gilbert Murray: in response to the appeal to help Mrs [Elena] Vivante, George has written to the Home Office about her husband [Leone] and two sons [Arturo and Paulo], but does not know them personally. Believes that Bob knows Leone Vivante well, so asks if he could write a letter as suggested in the first part of Murray's letter, which Elena can use in her attempts to secure to get her husband and the son now on the Isle of Man [Arturo] released. Bob could either send it to Elena, or to Gilbert Murray, or to George himself, who plans to add a letter of his own about the 'known anti-Fascist fame of the family (Lauro de Bosis' death etc). Notes in a postscript that he 'hardly dare[s] to think about Holland - and Bessie. The world is a worse nightmare than imagination could have devised'.
The Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. - Is 'delighted' to have the other copies of the portrait by Max [Beerbohm of Bob]. Desmond [MacCarthy] is staying this weekend, and is reading H[umphry]'s "Goethe [and the Greeks]" and will review it; he 'admires it', and George is pleased Bob does too. He and Janet are going to Hallington from 19 Dec - 6 Jan, and will stay in the gardener's house: the big house has ceased to be an R.A.F. 'scientific base' and is being turned into a hospital. Looking forward to a visit from Bob next term. Sends Christmas wishes.
Garden Corner, West Road, Cambridge. - Thanks Bob for his "Horace" ["Translations from Horace, Juvenal and Montaigne: with two imaginary conversations"]: liked the two dialogues at the end best; glad that Bob's idea of Horace matches his own. Asks if Bob has read John Buchan's biography of Augustus, which he thinks 'so good if true, and the ancient historians say it is true and accurate'. Is going to Wallington for a week at Christmas, since Hallington is occupied by the R.A.F., while Janet visits Humphry and Mary. Then they have a 'hectic fortnight' moving into the Lodge [at Trinity], where the workmen are currently very busy: 'If Hitler doesn't put in a bomb, it will... look better inside than it has looked for many a long year'.
Garden Corner, West Road, Cambridge. - Marked 'Private'. Wants to tell Bob and Bessie before they see it in the press that he is to be Master of Trinity: the Prime Minister's letter came today and he will reply with his acceptance on Sunday. The Fellows are anxious for him to accept, particularly as it is not clear 'whom Winston would appoint' if George refused and there are some plausible candidates they do not want. 'Everybody concerned has been so kind' that George 'cannot leave them in the lurch'; Janet insists he must accept, though he knows she 'will be the loser'. He 'did not want to be Master', and doubts he would ever have accepted if peace had continued, but he feels that he has 'no other war work... of any real importance', and Hallington has been taken over by the R.A.F.; feels he must try. Finds it a 'tragi-comic irony' that the 'crash of civilization' has put him in the Lodge of 'Montagu Butler and Whewell and Bentley''; though they will not move in until January 'and meanwhile it may be destroyed by a bomb!'.