Item 74 - Letter from Donald Mackay, 11th Lord Reay, to Sir George Trevelyan

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6, Great Stanhope Street, Mayfair, W. - Has received Robert and Elizabeth's cards; asks if he is to congratulate Sir George on 'an Anglo-Dutch alliance'. Knows that Elizabeth is 'very gifted', belongs to 'a very talented stock', and very much shows 'the reserve of a boer!'. Presumes the engagement is the result of the 'Sicilian tour'. Speculates about Charles marrying 'a Huguenot lady' and George 'a Bohemian Hussite girl', which would delight him by preserving 'the sturdy Puritan element in the family'. Is himself 'in a fog', appropriate for November; the [Second Boer] war is 'terrible in every respect' and he believes people are starting to 'realise at what cost victories are won and paramountcy is established', but criticism of the Government is 'hopeless since the London press boycotts all adverse comment'. Goes to Cannes [?] on 18 Dec.