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La Croix. - Thanks his mother for her letter; is 'very glad to hear' that Paul is 'rather better since he came to London'; is sure it was wise to consult Dr Eustace Smith too, and is 'glad he was on the whole reassuring'. Expects Bessie and Paul are at Broadstairs by now. Will start back to England on either Monday or Tuesday, arriving in London around 5 pm the next day; expects he will go straight to the Shiffolds that night, before going to Broadstairs via London the next day. Will try to see his mother in London then, which will either be Wednesday or Thursday. Bessie 'writes quite cheerfully now': Robert thinks she 'must be less anxious'.

Is 'sorry the Cacciola will is such a trouble to everyone': would 'gladly give the whole thing up and let whoever came next settle it as best they could', if it only depended on him, but thinks this would make it necessary for George to give up Hallington, which Robert 'would be very sorry for'. Is sure his father will 'decide for the best'.

Sees that Barran is candidate 'for the Border Boroughs [Hawick Burghs]' and hopes he gets in: thinks he would 'make a fairly good conscientious sort of MP', though does not believe he is a 'really able man'. Has not yet heard 'whether Bowles is in'. There was a snow-storm here a week ago and there is still some snow on the ground; last night there was a thunderstorm, but today the weather is fine and not as cold. Was 'very pleased with the Times review [of his new book Sisyphus: An Operative Fable?]'; hears it was not by [John Cann] Bailey, as he had thought, so is not sure of the author - perhaps Bruce Richmond, as it 'did not read like Clutton-Brock'.
Is glad his father is well; fears they have been having 'even worse weather' than he has here.

Version of Trevelyan's "Maya" on inside cover and following pages; a verse version of "Spectacles" followed by a prose one. Notes toward an autobiography by Trevelyan, starting with a description of his first visit to Seatoller in Borrowdale in 1892 with his university friends Eddie Marsh, Bertrand Russell, Robin Mayor, and John Barran; describes visits there with Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, quoting a poem written on the hills by Dickinson; mentions spending time there with G. E. Moore, which becomes a general discussion of philosophers and philosophy; the Lake Hunt; early reading and the library at Wallington; his father's friends, particularly Henry Sidgwick. Translation of Montaigne III.7, crossed through.

Notebook also used from the other end in: notes on Virgil's sixth "Eclogue"; notes on Chinese poetry; verse; translation of Montaigne II.8; conversation between Adam and Satan, in both verse and prose versions; translation from Sophocles's "Oedipus at Colonus"

8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Does not think he will be able to stay with [John] Barran on his way to the Lakes: is going up to Northumberland early, and straight on to Seatoller from there. Asks for Barran's address; either Barran or Marsh will have to tell him 'the way to the Pepper box [Inn?]'. Is 'reading Thycker, bk II', and is 'more virtuous than I have ever been'. Trinity has done well in the classical trip[os]. Is presuming Marsh is in London. Saw 'two Tennysonians at [Bulwer Lytton's play] "Richelieu": Halbert [possibly Hallam Tennyson?] and someone whose name he can never remember

Trin[ity] Coll[ege], Camb[ridge]. - Hopes Marsh is 'flourishing'; envies any one who is 'out of this dirty hole'. Can do what Marsh likes on Friday, although he thinks 'there is a dentist-fly somewhere hidden in the pot of oin[t]ment, as John Morley would say'. They have begun exams: he has done 'hopelessly in the Greek Trans[lation] but fairly in the Latin Prose'. [John] Barran 'seems satisfield'; [Robert?] Kitson was 'remarkably lively at Commons'. Bob thought of giving everything up and 'running to hide in the North' after the paper this morning, but 'public opinion was too strong'; the 'Rochester Pet quite beats the Hexham Slasher'.

Dun Bull Hotel, Mardale, Via Penrith. (printed notepaper with photograph of the inn). - Meant to write to Trevy last Sunday, but since Barran and Childers 'forestalled' him he waited. They were all glad to hear 'how happy everyone is at Cambridge' . Childers and Malim are at church. They are 'mourning the departure of Cony [William Conybeare?]' whom Trevy will see before he gets this letter, but Barran will return tomorrow; he has 'been revelling at Winchester, and turned aside to go to a garden party at home'. Childers has 'turned us all into fisherman'; Marsh himself 'became perfectly brutal when I'd seen 3 trout knocked on the head'; he got a fish out of the water, but was unable to land it. Has not yet finished [Meredith's] "Vittoria"; has been reading "Harry Richmond" [also by Meredith], 'one of the liveliest & most delightful books' he knows. Is now reading [Zola's] 'Débâcle', as Trevy should; wishes he had a map of Sedan. Childers has 'gone perfectly wild over Balzac. They went to Seatoller and Mrs Pepper was 'very affable'; the Miss Peppers have 'become goddesses... divinely tall etc'; Trevy 'should have been there for the treacle pudding, which surpassed all its previous manifestations'. Their landlady and cook here, Mrs Hudson, also 'has real genius, besides being like a picture by Romney'.

Trinity College, Cambridge. - Has been 'distracted all day' by Trevy's letter [15/269]; is afraid his mind is 'made up against his wishes', since there are many reasons against him going to Italy with Trevy and for it only that he 'should like it so enormously'. His tripos exams are in May and he must work for them; knows he would not be able to work at Paestum; he has already refused to go to with [Nathaniel] Wedd to Greece, with [Charles] Sanger and [Arthur] Shipley to the Netherlands, and with [Maurice?] Baring to Florence. Has also asked James to come to London in Easter week, and wants to see lots of other people there. Will pass over what Trevy says in his letter about [his theories on] the English language, but hopes that both of them have 'improved since that fearful day at Mottarone'. Barran has come in 'in all his customary magnificence' they had great fun at the Verralls' last night. Has got to take tea with 'the little Miss Conybeare's [sisters of his college contemporary William Conybeare?] now'.

Admiralty, Whitehall. - Thanks Bob for writing out his poem 'so neatly' ["For a Fan", see 15/280]. Bob will 'never' be forgiven for not coming to Trinity last night; he himself had 'great fun, chiefly with Moore and Barran'. He then stayed for Verrall's funeral; glad he was able to be there as Verrall is a 'great loss'. Hears Mrs Verrall and Helen are 'wonderfully well'. Has to speak at the [Apostles] dinner and can't sleep 'for thinking of the shame and misery of it'.

Hôtel Floresta, Taormina [headed notepaper]:- Will return to England at the end of the month: would like to join some friends - Marsh, Barran, and Childers - and possibly Charlie, who are going for a few days’ walking tour in Yorkshire. May stop a day or two at Rome, but does not mean to stay anywhere long. Was ‘very glad to learn that C[harlie] had been coopted’ - understands that he has not been elected ‘by a constituency. It shows that they must think a lot of him’. Met an ‘acquaintance’ of Charlie’s the other day, a Miss [Lena] Milman, who writes and translates Dostoevsky; she met Charlie at Lord Crewe’s, and ‘chiefly remembers him as an enthusiast for Jane Austen’. Supposes Georgie will be back [from Madeira] around the same time he returns, having been ‘further afield in this “grand terraqueous spectacle” [Wordsworth] than any of the family than Papa’, since he does not remember their mother having ‘ever ventured beyond Naples or Vienna’.

The Italians ‘have had a terrible disaster [the great defeat by the Ethiopians at Adwa] and there is some talk of the throne having received a dangerous jar’: it is too soon to tell, but certainly many Italians ‘especially in the North are republicans at heart’; Crispi [the Prime Minister] has resigned. Hopes ‘Uncle Sam will stick to his guns about Cuba. That will be so much better than having a senseless shindy with us’. Is ‘anxious’ to hear how the news sounds to her in England: ‘out here they are mere shadows of events, for it is only when history can be talked about and over hauled in conversation that it becomes real’.

The weather has not always been brilliant, though they ‘have not been siroccoed for a week on end again’; is finding it ‘very easy to catch a chill’, as nights can be cold and ‘there are no such things as fires’; still, it is easy to get rid of chills, and he is ‘keeping quite well’. Has discovered something ‘about Papist priests. They dispense with fasting when at an hotel, because table d’hôte does not provide them with a sufficiency of good fish and vegetables’. Also, they are ‘passing fond of Madeira’. Is ‘quite priest-ridden’, though the two in his hotel are ‘the only two of any intelligence and conversation’, and he is ‘deadly sick of watching “The fat and greasy citizens sweep in / To sate their sordid souls at table-d’hôte”’. This is a quotation from ‘a sonnet built out of quotations’ which he and Bertram ‘architected for the Westminster two years ago on the Wengen (?) Alp’.