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Trin[ity] Coll[ege] Cambridge: - Asks her to tell his father that 'everything is ready' on his side for him to 'come up and be put down [for the Inns of Court?]. Must go 'with both the two societies before 4 P.M.'. Most of his friends 'get some of their contemporaries to come with them', which he could do 'easily if required'; they need not be barristers, only members of the Inner Temple. If Mr [Robert?] Reid will go with him he would be 'only too proud'; if so, he needs his father to tell him which of them must 'procure the second society'. Could come any day; if his father is too busy, he could manage everything himself; there is 'no special hurry'. Is sorry his father is tired; hopes 'the elections and the divisions have revived him'. Hopes everything will go well on Monday. 'Muggins comes here next Friday as judge's Marshall'.

Does not think he ought to spend another night in London this term. Will 'propose something absolutely definite about [Robert?] Kitson next week'. Asks her to thank his father for 'his approval of the scheme', and to tell him that 'politics are running very high here'. Last night he 'actually had to listen to the reading of a formal curse against some Gladstonian MP', from Lancashire if he remembers correctly, against whom 'they had some special grudge'. Asks 'Could bigotry possibly go further?'.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Invites Marsh to come here if he has any spare days between now and 'next Saturday week', the 15th. There will be no-one here but [Walter Morley?] Fletcher and [Robert Hawthorn?] Kitson, who come on Saturday and leave on Monday; much to see and do here 'but the not-doing is the best part of it'. Tells Marsh to 'imagine paradise, only with a big modern red-brick imitation Elizabethan-house in it, and two Eves, both over forty, instead of one [perhaps Bob's mother and governess?]' and he will 'have the place'. The journey there by train is easy. Bob will have to work in the mornings.

Mons Martius, Corpo di Cava. - Starts this letter on top of 'an extinct volcano' he has named 'Mons Martius' in Marsh's honour; had meant to finish it here, but the mountain is 'at such an unclimable angle' and there are 'such interesting insects' in the trees that he will have to finish it in the valley. Has given the mountain Marsh's name as some consolation for him 'being unable to come to a place which is without exaggeration the most perfect place in the world'. Describes a local monastery [La Trinità della Cava] with 'a very valuable library', a school for young Italian aristocrats, a 'fair picture gallery' and a church with an organ 'said to be one of the best in Italy'. Bob goes to the abbey, takes out a 'huge Dante' from the library, and is given a cell 'overlooking a precipice, with a waterfall' in which to work, though he usually employs the Dante as a 'mask' to do his own work. Some days he works or reads outdoors; the hills, all volcanic craters, take 'about half an hours easy climbing', and give 'splendid' views from the top. He finds the monks 'very pleasant' though conversation 'in the hash of Italian Latin and French' which they have to use is 'rather difficult'. The pension where he currently the only guest is 'enormous'; the people are nice, but cannot speak French, except for the waiter Celafino. Fortunate that he is 'a good sort, and quite well educated', as he is 'the only person' with whom Bob can have anything like a conversation; he is a protestant, 'converted by an evangelical English household at Naples', so Bob 'pretend[s] to be a zealous churchman' and they both 'laugh at the priests and their fooleries'.

Supposes Marsh is in London now; asks him to write and say if there is anything new 'in the way of theatres, books etc'. When he left, everyone was reading Max Nordau's "Degeneracy", though 'swearing at him' as they read it; they 'recognise most of the moods and symptoms as parts of their own personality and like to see their minds disected [sic] and analysed though they quarrel with him when he tells them that they are hopeless cases'. He himself thinks the book is 'supremely absurd, though fascinatingly interesting, and cleverly written'. 'Poor Roger Fry has been quite conquered by it' and is persuaded he is 'a mattoid and a circulair and a hundred other things'; Marsh should go to see Fry's latest portraits, especially the one of 'Miss [Sybil] Palgrave which is in a new and more ambitious style'. Has heard that [Robert?] Kitson was in Rome, and has written to invite him for a few days, but does not know if he is still there and only has poste restante to write to. Asks Marsh, if he knows Kitson's address, to drop him a line. Feels that he should 'not be living alone in such an Eden without someone else to share'; would end up praying to God 'as Adam di, for a help meet, and would willingly sacrifice a rib or two' to have a 'sufficiently charming Eve' to talk English to. Hopes Marsh and family are well. Postscript with address: Hotel Scapolatielli, Corpo di Cava, Italia.

Trinity:- Addresses his mother first as 'Mama', then crosses this through and puts 'Matutchka'. Has 'spent a very uneventful week' and has 'nothing to report', except that he has bought a new suit which he hopes she will like. Muggins was in Cambridge yesterday 'to attend a dinner of some Conservative association, formed in imitation of the Eighty Club'; he said it was 'very dull and long', and that he left at 12, and it is said to have gone on for some time 'until the Hotel servant turned off the gas to make them go, and... to get to bed'. Muggins made Robert 'go and bathe at 9 in the morning today': Robert considers this to 'have been both a rash and a virtuous act'.

McTaggart is also up for the day; he has to be at home this term as 'his people have returned from New Zealand for the summer and he has to attend them, much to his annoyance - for he is not a dutyful [sic] son'. Kitson [Sydney or Robert?] is also here. Hopes C[harles] and G[eorge] will enjoy their play.

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'.

Trinity:- Not sure when he is coming up to London; probably on Friday. Expects he will go to the theatre in the evening and stay with his parents next morning. Was 'very glad to see Charlie'; expects he will be in Scotland next Friday so Robert will not see him then. The government 'seems to have had a great victory on Thursday and... succeeded in putting the Lords in a very awkward dilemma. The best thing they can do to educate the electorate is to throw out the clause'.

He, George, and two others read Othello this morning, and decided 'it was the best play all round [they] had ever read'. George 'acted Desdemona with great pathos, and the Iago was splendidly done by [Maurice] Amos'. Kitson [Robert or Sydney?] is here today; says that Charlie visited him last Friday, when he was 'looking after a very deaf old aunt' and so not able to see him properly. Has been reading a story by F[red] Benson in the English Illustrated [Story of a Mazurka?], which was 'very poor'. Hopes Dodo will be better; they are 'all waiting' for the six shilling edition, due to come out in the winter.

Hopes his father is well and 'not too busy'; supposes he does not have much time for reading, and has not come across any new interesting books. Sees there is a 'new French book about Napoleon', but has not had time to read it.

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'.

Cambo (on headed notepaper for the Board of Education, Whitehall, London, S.W.) - Enjoyed reading Bob's "Sisyphus" during Christmas week, and congratulates him; found some of the metres difficult. Expects Bob will be feeling little 'enthusiasm for becoming a Taormina landlord just now [he had been left property in the will of Florence Cacciola Trevelyan'. Hopes [Salvatore] Cacciola has not 'perished in the general wreck' [the huge Messina earthquake of 28 December 1908]; asks if Bob has heard how much damage Taormina has suffered, and whether it is true that Sydney Kitson has built himself a villa there; only sees a reference to a relation of Kitson [Robert?] being there. The family have just got home and all are 'very flourishing'; sends love to Bessie and Paul.