Shulbrede Priory, Lynchmere, Haslemere. - Thanks Trevelyan for his 'most useful letter', particularly since he is compiling a second volume of English [diaries] as well as the 'Scotch and Irish' [both books were published in 1927; Ponsonby's first volume on "English Diaries" in 1923]. Would be grateful if Trevelyan could lend him Zachary Macaulay's book; has got [George] Crabbe now, as well as Dorothy Wordsworth, his 'only really bad miss'; will look up [William?] Allingham and Thelwall. Think 'slightyness' certainly ought to be 'flightyness'; would have liked to have it corrected for the second edition but is too late; is happy with the other reading for which Trevelyan suggests a correction. Asks Trevelyan to let him know if he thinks of any more diaries; has found many good ones he missed before, and 'some quite amusing MSS are coming in'. They [he and his wife Dolly?] have just been to visit Logan [Pearsall Smith] at Chilling, which is a 'perfectly delightful place'; Logan seemed very well.
c/o Mrs Wilson, Myers Farm, Silverdale. near Carnforth. - Is staying quite near to the station, and is sometimes woken by the trains at night; thinks then that it would be a good thing if he and Julian had 'flying beds and could... change places for a few hours'; saw a train with sixty trucks the other day. Is about ten minutes walk from Mr and Mrs [Gordon and Emily] Bottomley's house, and visits in the morning and after supper, when he reads aloud, usually from Shakespeare. Mr Bottomley has a book of [William] Allingham's poems which they do not have; copies out "Four ducks on a pond". There are about thirty turkeys in the fields round the house, and the cock has such a red face that 'there are no paints in [Julian's] box with which you could paint it redder'. Julian's mother has sent his last poem, ending 'the silly brooding cow', which is 'quite a good one'; Mr Bottomley agrees. Sends love to Elizabeth and to Booa [Mary Prestwich], and asks him to tell her he is enjoying her parkin very much; so did Mrs Bottomley when she tried some.
The Shiffolds. - He and Bessie have just heard from Aunt Annie that his parents are both well. They are having 'very wet weather again, and the last of the snow has gone'. The Abercrombies leave on Friday; it has been a 'very pleasant visit', and it has been 'very good for Julian to be with the other children, in spite of occasional squabbles'. Robert now reads to him in bed for a while every evening; they 'get through a good deal, mostly poetry'. Julian 'listens to all with equal interest, but says he likes difficult poems best'; he certainly 'cannot understand all he hears', such as the Ancient Mariner. He likes Lucy Gray [by Wordsworth] and [Browning's] Pied Piper 'better still', as well as 'any poem about storms at sea, and people being drowned. His 'special poem', though, is Allingham's Up the airy mountain...[The Faeries], which 'is indeed a perfect bit of literature'. Julian almost knows it by heart now.
Bessie and Robert are now reading Great Expectations; it is a 'far better book than Our Mutual Friend, though the comic parts are hardly as good'. Bessie is very well. Robert saw Molly in London last week, who was 'cheerful, despite a cold'. George [her son, rather than her brother-in-law] 'seemed well, and had just had his first game of football at school'.