Aldeburgh - Has been to Rome with his wife, went to the Mithraic Temple at San Clemente, had many talks with Father Delaney; writes of the state of religion: thinks the church is stagnating; thinks politicians should take a course in the study of anthropology, adding the study of heredity; thinks Dean Inge in his 'Outspoken Essays' understands the times, and admires his 'Idea of Progress'; Bury's book of the same name claims that 'the number of civilizations which have reached a given stage and gone under, is beyond compute'; agrees that Germany should pay for her 'brigandage' but thinks money should be advanced to pay the miners to dig the coal that France needs; Frazer writes of [Oliver] Lodge and [Arthur Conan] Doyle, and Clodd quotes Sir Bryan Donkin that he classes Doyle among the 'mentally defective'; he is publishing a book 'Magic in Names'; wonders if Frazer is going to supplement 'Folk-Lore in the Old Testament' as Frazer has said that it hung on the issue of a book by a French scholar on the early history of Christianity; asks if Frazer has examined the evidence advanced by Prof. Elliot Smith on the origin of Pre-Columbian civilization, backed by [W. H. R.] Rivers in [A. H.] Keane's Man Past and Present' and quotes [A.C.] Haddon; finds as he gets older the more he values an open mind; the servant problem not helped by the promising house maid who hid her pregnancy and gave birth in the middle of the night.
Aldeburgh - Thanks him for 'Selected Passages from his Works'; reminisces about Frazer meeting [Sir Alfred] Lyall, Ray Lankester, [Sir Frederick] Pollock and [James Allanson] Picton in 1905 when they rowed to Oxford; and a visit the Frazers paid in 1910 in company with [Thomas] Hardy 'and his present wife' [Florence], [John Bagnell] Bury, and Sutherland Black, and when he was summoned to town on Holman Hunt's death; the 'Literary Review' has a review of Paul Couchoud's book ['L'Énigme de Jésus'?] by Thomas Whittaker; quotes the Einstein limerick starting, 'There was a young lady named Bright'.
Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 14/7/12 - Thanks him again for a volume from the third edition of 'The Golden Bough'; [John Bagnell?] Bury was to visit when Sir Edwin Pears was there but was too unwell to come.
Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 28/9/13 - Thanks him again for the book, picks up on the significance of questioning the authority of Jesus in demonology; [John Bagnell] Bury's health is bad, recommends his 'History of the Freedom of Thought', particularly the sentence 'the Greeks, fortunately, had no Bible.'
Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Dated 27/6/15 - Thanks him for his good wishes on his retirement; is planning a book on 'Magic in Names'; Bury and his wife visited, turned out of their house at Southwold by the military; sees the consequence of war being a change in the economic direction, sees a large number of women clerks now, and that they must increase.
Card [incomplete?] dated 9 November thanks Frazer for his 'Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship' and is giving a lecture on the Ogam alphabet at [J. B.] Bury's suggestion. In the letter of 11 November, he writes about the Celtic festival on the 13th August, a date discussed in the book as it is Diana of Nemi's festival. The letter of 15th August he has read the book further and apologises that some of his remarks in the previous letter were 'worse than useless'; does not see how etymologically 'Rivos' could be connected with 'Virbius'; is sorry not to be at the Folklore Society meeting, would be happy to read [A.B.] Cook's MS; revisits the Coligny calendar and whether the calendar god Rivos can be connected with Diana Egeria.
Aldeburgh. Dated 20.12.18 - Apologises, is happy to take Frazer's criticism of his reading [of 'Folk-Lore in the Old Testament']; there has been a lot of controversy over his book; gives details on the business activities of [Oliver Lodge?]; agrees that the Germans are what they were, tells a story from Sir Hugh Clifford about German missionaries preventing the Catholics on the Gold Coast from celebrating the mass; agrees about Lloyd George's trickery as well; tells the story of a soldier in the trench, his serving of rum, and a mouse; [John Bagnell] Bury's son [Edward Basil] has suffered from shell shock, a bad case. At the bottom of the letter is a manuscript note, 'On the outside of the envelope Frazer has written, in describing the contents of this letter, "Oliver Lodge etc."'
The Elms, Adams Rd, Cambridge - Due to the strong anti-German bias in the county, he feels obliged to leave, has given his resignation, but finds a passport cannot be granted; [Thomas] Allbutt and [John] Bury had promised to support him, but he thinks they have not, and he asks Frazer for help.