Item 141 - Letter from Alphonse Grandmont to R. C. Trevelyan

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Utrecht. - What a warm welcome Robert and Elizabeth have given his 'effigy'; if he himself could occupy that privileged place, it would wonder ceaselessly at the spectacle of their joys and the memory that his 'Sicilian roof sheltered their preparation'. Would also amuse him to share in the studies they undertake together in the Encyclopaedia Britannia. Asks whether they have a plan of which articles to read, or whether they choose by the 'inspiration of the moment'. Very interested by Robert's account of the production of "Agamemnon" [at Cambridge, directed in Greek by John Willis Clark]; a shame that the actors cannot 'push on to Taormina to perform on the stage originally built by the Greeks', but wonders how many listeners they would attract; he himself would only understand them if he had the text. A little surprised by Robert's exclusive preference for that play; he prefers "Prometheus", then the "Choephori". The works of Aeschylus produce on him 'the effect of Cyclopean monuments; they are majestic, sublime, but still rough'; thinks there is more 'harmony' in Sophocles, and praises the two "Oedipus" plays and "Antigone" highly; also highly esteems Euripides as a thinker, despite the 'ruthless trial' given him by Aristophanes in the "Frogs". However, he is telling Robert things he knows more about than himself. Thanks Robert for his two letters; is particularly obliged for giving him the address of a lawyer to whom he can entrust the pursuit of his rights regarding Wilhelm Pruijs. Unfortunately, Pruijs had 'already fallen into disrepair and his goods been seized at the time when he borrowed' from Grandmont, who is in the position of 'Maître Corbeau' [in Aesop's fable of the "Crow and the Fox"] who 'swore (but a little late) that he would not take it anymore.

• French