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Congratulations on engagement.

Including sketch-map of area near Old Hall.

Headed notepaper for Motcombe House, Shaftesbury. - Very kind of Houghton to have thought of her in the moment of his own 'severe grief' [the death of Lady Houghton]; offers her condolences. Is glad that Mrs Blackburne is with the family.

Concerns Of the Plurality of Worlds.

London - Regrets that WW's paper on crystallography cannot now be communicated till the Royal Society's first meeting in November.

RJ thanks WW for his book ['The Elements of Morality, Including Polity', 2 vols., 1845]. RJ has not had much time to look at it: 'Everyone seems much struck with the stile - the half syllabus tone of it which might have been expected to hurt it has it seems the common opinion been a very felicitous hit'. WW has 'avoided a good deal of hostility by giving it a character of didactic ethics and eschewing metaphysical views as far as you could. This will ensure you a great deal of acquiescence and on most points sympathy as far I can see or hear'. However, there are some points 'which appear to others to turn on expediency which you however demand a control over as within the scope of duties and as these involve most of the questions of which bear on topics at this moment the subjects of dispute you must not expect a general acquiescence on them'.

Beginning of letter missing; text starts mid sentence with Bessie referring in Dutch to financial matters and thanking her uncle. Asks if Bramine will come tomorrow [for Uncle Paul's birthday], which will be very cosy; hopes their own 'little flower' will be delivered tomorrow. Robert wants to say something now so she will let the 'eloquent poet' speak for himself.

Robert adds a note in English, though he first addressed Paul Hubrecht as 'Mijn beste Ooom'; wishes him 'every happiness' for his birthday, and wishes he could be there. Hopes that if there are speeches, 'the oratory may reach as high last year, when the dinner was made so pleasant by brilliant flashes of humour from you and Paul and Ambro' and his own 'brilliant flash of silence', which perhaps should be called his '"break-down"'. He and Bessie hope to be with the Hubrechts before Christmas; also that Jan might be able to pay them a short visit, and perhaps also visit Robert's brother George at Cambridge. Hopes that by the time they come to the Netherlands. Aunt [Maria] and [Alphonse] Grandmont will be 'much better'; they both seem to be improving, though slowly. Must be a 'great relief that Tuttie is quite well again'. Bessie has been well except for a 'nasty cough', but this is nearly gone now. They recently went to Cambridge and saw Aeschylus's "Agamemnon" acted [the Cambridge Greek Play], though they thought it was not done so 'with great success'; Bessie's 'musical conscience was offended by the badness of the chorus music'. Was kind of Uncle Paul to send 'that prophetic Strand Magazine', which Bessie says she got 'as early as '92': her 'unconscious prophetic instinct must have been working even in her schooldays'. They find their "Encyclopaedia Britannica" a 'great recourse': they will be 'very omniscient' by the time they next see Uncle Paul, particularly Bessie, though she says the article on Dutch literature is 'poor'. Perhaps this is because it 'does not do justice to the great 17th century poet [van den Vondel?], whose works form so brilliant an adornment to their bookshelves'. Best wishes to Aunt Maria and Tuttie; hopes that tomorrow [Uncle Paul's birthday?] will be a 'happy day'.

Postmarked Dymock; addressed to The View, Upper Wyche, Malvern. - Apologises for not having written: 'The fiends own was here.' Will be able to put Trevelyan and Bessie up for a couple of nights if they come on Wednesday.

Palace Hotel, Shanghai. - Has just arrived. Note to Shen [?] originally enclosed. Dickinson suspects he is too late to catch Rose; if this is the case, he will stay a while and arrange his Yangtze trip; he has several introductions here. Wishes Trevelyan good luck in Peking, and recommends an address for future communications.

Department of Oriental Antiquities and of Ethnography, British Museum - Is happy to know Frazer's notebooks are at the British Museum.

Nimeguen - Has returned from the Celebes, has been writing a history of the West-toradja group, and has written a chapter on the treatment of the corpse, is willing to send it to Frazer to aid him in his studies on the belief of immortality among primitive peoples.

20 Montpelier Square, Knightsbridge, S.W.7. - Answers Frazer's questions about his informant [of the Matotela tribe, between the Njoko and the Lui rivers]; was told the story in 1911 when he was the Secretary for Native Affairs in Northern Rhodesia. Accompanied by the envelope with a note in Frazer's hand, 'F. Worthington "Origin of Death"'.

Thanks his mother for her letter. Has read [his father's] "Holiday among some old friends" and "Horace at Athens", which are 'very interesting'; does not think he can understand the others yet. Thinks they will have a match with Mortimer next Saturday week. Hopes Grandpapa [Sir Charles Trevelyan or Robert Philips] and Sophie [Wicksteed?] are better, and that Georgie is well now. Thinks that everyone has recovered from the chicken pox now. Glad that Charlie is getting on well. Has given the note to Mrs Bartlett [the school matron].