Forthcoming marriage of Edward Bickersteth: The Priory
Southend, Essex - AHB's attempt to inscribe a regular heptagon in a given circle.
Keynes has been advised to write to the Home Office about Wittgenstein's case. Wittgenstein's sister was pleased to have met Sraffa in Vienna.
Cad Hill House, Upton-St-Leonards, Glos. - Thanks Bob for the translations from Latin and Greek [this year's "From the Shiffolds"], particularly the "Moretum", which gives an idea of how good Bob's translation of the "Georgics" must be: asks if he ever finished 'that lovely thing'. Asks whether Bob thinks Virgil wrote the "Moretum". The [Homeric] "Hymn to Pan" is 'most beautiful'. The 'news about the Marlowe fragment' ["The Stream"] is 'sensational': it is 'now said to be by Jervis [Gervase] Markham'; the '24 lines seem much the best of those quoted (in the "Times Lit. Sup.)' [see John Crow. "Marlowe Yields to Jervis Markham."" The Times Literary Supplement", 4 Jan. 1947, p. 12]. Is having difficulty writing as three of his children are 'playing rampageously in the room'. Hopes Bessie, Julian, and Ursula are well. Is renting a small house on the edge of the Cotswolds; wishes Bob was within walking distance. Thanks Bob for the gift of "Gebir" [by Walter Savage Landor], which although uneven is a 'noble poem'; is now re-reading Boswell's life of Johnson. Cold and stormy weather, and the normally good views are affected by fog. Was re-reading Bob's translations of Juvenal recently, which are 'perfectly done'; thinks he should translate the sixth "Satire" if he has not already done so. Adds postscript to say Diana would send love if she were not out.
Hopedene, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking. - Sends 'Congratulations from an ignoramus': thinks it [Trevelyan's translation of Lucretius's "De Rerum Natura"?] deserves a better format, with the text on facing page and larger print. Has only read Book 1 so far. Not sure he likes 'farded' line 645, but Trevelyan probably knows best; the dictionary gave a quotation from Scott's "Old M[ortality]" as illustration of the word, which he confesses he did not know. The work is a great 'labour'; hopes Trevelyan will have some 'jolly reviews'.
8, Grosvenor Crescent, S.W. - Glad to have good news of Bessie and Paul; they look forward to seeing them all soon. Caroline has sent for [E. M. Forster's] "The Longest Journey", and Sir George will read it after his current novel. What Robert says about the Apostles inspires him to send some 'scraps... unearthed' when sifting old letters; Cowell was an 'ideal personage... a man who carried camaraderie to the highest point in [their] set and generation'. [Henry] Jackson persuaded Sir George to 'take over my MA' since the University may someday want a Liberal representative. Has nothing to do, and is very tired after sixteen consecutive months of work, including two of illness; the proofs [of the last volume of "The American Revolution"] will be a pleasure. Sends best wishes to Bertie Russell.
Northlands, Englefield Green, Surrey. - Glad of a communication from Bessie, as she has long been fond of her and her children; asks if she has been 'decently fair' towards her; Bessie has allowed Donald, whom no-one else apart from Miss Weisse's 'best friend... a dying man' knows as well and to whom she has been 'far more than a mother', to abuse her and has criticised her to him behind her back. Says it does not matter for her sake as her life is 'drawing to its close', but it does that her influence with Donald is therefore 'undermined'; Bessie has 'increased the danger in which he lives as no one else has'. Best to be frank: she is 'German all over in that'. Asks when Bessie expects Donald and his wife [Grettie] and for how long. Wishes them to go and stay with the Trevelyans very much; would be a 'service' to her to keep them as long as they can. Has only really seen Donald's wife once, and 'noticed her so little that [she] would not recognise her in the street'. Has not been in Edinburgh since Donald went to Holland [in January]. The engagement was very short.
Typed copy. Lindsay Sap Use of telescopic devices.
Hotel de Paris, Benares. - Found his father's letter here when they arrived yesterday, after almost two weeks at Chhatapur as the guests of the Maharajah, a 'very charming and cultivated man'. Stayed longer than planned since [Goldsworthy Lowes] Dickinson was unwell for a few days due to 'indifferent food'. Has been very interesting to observe the governance of a 'native state' which the Maharajah left entirely to the Diwan or chief minister, a Brahmin and a 'very enlightened and able man' who is engaged in reform; they befriended him and the rajah's private secretary who was also chief judge, 'a Moslem and a very fine type, from the Punjab' [M. Fazal i Haq?]. Unlike the Punjabi Muslims he had met, he wishes there could be friendship between Muslims and Hindus and believes it would be possible if both sides made 'certain concessions'.
They made several expeditions to see temples and palaces while there, and found the countryside more beautiful than anything else they have seen since leaving Bombay, so it perhaps does not matter that they did not as first planned go to Jaipur and Udaipur. Tomorrow they will 'go to see the pilgrims bathing and praying on the Ghats'; [originally] enclosing a photograph of one of the main ghats; the ruined palace in the foreground collapsed about twenty years ago; thinks the other photograph looks 'Italian'. Expects his father saw Benares when he was in India. They will probably go to Goya for two nights on 18 December, then on to Calcutta for a couple of weeks or more before going south to Madras; they may pay a short visit to Darjeeling. They have now given up the plan of going to Burma, for which there is not sufficient time. Bessie seems to have been happy in the Netherlands; expects she will have fetched Julian from Wallington by now; very glad to have had 'such good accounts of him' from her and his parents. Is writing with a champak [flower] bud on his table, whose 'odour perfades [sic] the room, and is worthy of its lyrical fame'.
Downside Abbey, Stratton-on-the-Fosse, near Bath.—Has recovered from his sinus trouble. Asks Smith’s opinion of the [Downing] Review and discusses some of the contents. Reiterates his approval of Maxwell’s article, with its ‘daring strictures’ on Leavis’s style. Urges Smith to contribute something. Leavis has written thanking him for La Vie intellectuelle and criticising the eclecticism of the Criterion. Agrees that Leavis is no nearer the Church. Is sorry Smith was disappointed by the ‘Gilbey lectures’ [probably lectures by Thomas Gilby], but maintains that there are some genuinely learned English Dominicans, including his friend Kenelm Foster. As the personnel of St Michael’s have changed, except for Gerard Meath, he supposes the lectures will not continue. Agrees that the ‘aridly polemical tone’ of English sixteenth-century controversial literature compares poorly with the breadth of devotional and theological life of the Cloud of Unknowing. Asks whether he should start compiling a prose anthology of the recusants or continue working towards a book by writing occasional articles.
Election memoranda nos 1, 3, 4, 8 and 9. Information on election campaign procedure, questions of policy, broadcasts etc
Dalny Veed, Barley, Royston, Herts. - Is grieved to hear she is ill, and that Mr. G. Macfarlane has died, is sorry Sir James Macfarlane has had such a flood of bereavements recently, arranges to meet.
Società Italiana per la Organizzazione Internazionale, Roma, Palazzetto di Venezia, Via S. Marco, 5. - It is all right for the Deuchars to come in spring; Trevelyan just has to let him know what they will need. Is almost certain to come to England around 15 May for the Executive Committee of PEN, to attend to business relating to the PEN Congress in Venice this September; would be pleased also to see Trevelyan in Italy, as this would indicate his health was getting better. Is permanently attached now to WFUNA, 'the old League of Nations Union'; their headquarters were once the beautiful private home of Mussolini's chauffeur.
Taormina. - Is delighted that Wolfram [von Eschenbach's] Perceval is appreciated by Trevelyan and his friends: he thinks it one of the best medieval chivalric poems, admiring its depiction of character and unity of action, as well as its philosophical and moral scope; encourages Trevelyan to compare the beginning of the first song with the Epistle of St James. He had thought his translation [published 1892] would be read by the French, but thanks to Trevelyan it is the English who buy it. The heavy rains in Sicily, reported in the newspapers, have damaged his houses and spoiled his vegetable, tomato and olive crops, while his grapes have been carried off by rats, lizards and insects since all the neighbouring vineyards have been destroyed by phylloxera. Attempted murder of a young man from Taormina, Ciccia Fallone, by his deserted lover Saredda Bugra: Trevelyan and Bessie will remember them both. Rumour that the end of the world will come tomorrow, so he and Bramine jokingly send all their love.