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Montepulciano (Prov. di Siena). - Has had news from Elsa Dallolio of I Tatti, who paid her first visit there on B.B. [Berenson]'s seventieth birthday: Mary [Berenson] dined and seemed well; his own opinion is that she is getting better but also grows intolerant of everything going 'against either her hopes or her prejudices'. Elizabeth is amazed at her fluctuations in health. However there is something 'big' in her so that those with her must 'feel the benefit of her greatness' even when sharing her life has inconveniences. B.B. was very healthy, but a month of life at I Tatti at the height of the season in Florence has tired him. Mary is due to go to Vienna soon, then B.B. and Nicky [Mariano] leave for Venice; he is tempted to join them there but put off by the heat. The music at Florence has been mixed: began with hearing [Adolf] Busch's rehearsals of the Brandenburg concerto and was very taken buy the performance, though he regretted the choice of the 'modern' piano over the clavichord despite Serkin's beautiful performance). The Weingartner performance of [Beethoven's] ninth symphony was uneven. Was sorry not to hear "Norma"; found Serafin's conducting of some other Italian vocal pieces lacking delicacy; Bruno Walter gave a good performance of [Mozart's] "Seraglio", an uneven one of Mozart's "Requiem", and a difficult Mozart concerto at Palazzo Vecchio. Saw Gluck's "Alceste" on an immense scale in the Boboli gardens. [John] Walker is here again and settled in Rome: B.B. is worried that he will be distracted by 'too many girls and women'. Hopes he will see Trevelyan at the Consuma in August, where he will go to allow Nicky to take her holiday in Sorrento. Hopes Bessie Trevelyan is doing well after her operation.

Metelliano. - Thanks Trevelyan for his "Collected Poems". Has been invited to translate his brother George's "British History in the Nineteenth Century" into Italian, though it is currently a secret as negotiations are still in progress; is reading the book now and feels the job will be enjoyable, if long and maybe hard. Has also been offered the chance of translating "Pericles", but does not feel prepared to cope with Shakespeare. Hears Mary [Berenson] is preparing herself for a journey to England and taking motor-rides; thinks this is only a psychological improvement, but that is a great deal. Does not yet know whether B.B. [Berenson] is going to Yugoslavia.

Metelliano. - Thanks Trevelyan for sending his "Plays": likes receiving this present 'from you and from England in such a moment of anguish'. Has finished translating G. M. Trevelyan's "British History in the Nineteenth Century" for Einaudi [see 5/88] and now must go over it; it will be with the publisher around the end of February. Has found work on it 'a relief'; likes the first part of the book better than the second and thinks the picture of 'old England' and the transistion due to the Industrial Revolution is 'masterful'. Discusses the notes he must add, particularly the quotations; asks if he could submit queries to Trevelyan, or directly to his brother, and outlines his thoughts on whether quotations should be translated [this section is marked with blue]. Saw Mary [Berenson] at I Tatti just after her return, cheerful though frail; B.B. [Berenson] and Nicky [Mariano] are now in Rome. Hopes Trevelyan is not anxious about Julian.

I Tatti, Settignano, Florence. - Encloses a sheet with his responses to Trevelyan's queries about his translation [of Leopardi], with a few points of his own; finds the translation 'quite excellent'. Thanks Trevelyan and his brother once more [re Morra's translation of G.M. Trevelyan's "British History in the Nineteenth Century, 1782-1901"]. Has almost finished copying out the translation; his publisher [Einaudi] is willing to give him another job of the same kind, and asks Trevelyan for some suggestions of books from last five years which he might suggest if necessary. These might be history, biography (Duff Cooper's "Talleyrand" has done well in Italy), travel or memoirs, not fiction. All fairly well at I Tatti; Mary [Berenson] is recovering from bronchitis and Nicky [Mariano] from flu; they all think of Trevelyan often.

I Tatti, Settignano, Florence. - Has spent most of his time at I Tatti with flu and unable to enjoy the company. Was pleased to see Aubrey and Lina [Waterfield] last night. Mary [Berenson] is suffering from rheumatism and feeble, but getting on fairly well; B.B. is well on the whole. Has written to Trevelyan's brother George again with his publisher Einaudi's decision about the title of the translation [by Morra of G.M. Trevelyan's "British History in the Nineteenth Century, 1782-1901"]. Einaudi is grateful for Trevelyan's suggestion of Buchan's "[Oliver] Cromwell" as another translation project. [H.A.L.] Fisher's "History [of Europe]", however, has been translated, and the edition confiscated some months after publication; efforts to get it released even in bowdlerised form have been unsuccessful.