Item 40 - Letter from E. M. Forster to Elizabeth Trevelyan

W[est] H[ackhurst]. - Thanks Bessie for sending on a letter [from an unknown writer], 'how nice and warm-hearted she is'. Has received two copies of the book and sends one to Bessie; asks if she can post it to Sig and Ruth [Waley] when she has finished with it. It is the 'sort of book' he finds 'impossible to read' in his present mood: 'yet another of those "recipe books" which the earnest and uninfluential continue to turn out on both sides of the Atlantic'.

Comments on the 'bitter cold': they have frozen and burst pipes, but since they have 'so little water at any time' the 'results are in no wise tragic'. Has been to London and brought back his aunt Rosalie to stay, so they are 'now a nice quartet'. Florence [Barger] is 'slowly recovering from her cold'. They hope that Bob and Bessie are keeping well.Adds undated postscript: is starting [Flaubert's] L'Education Sentimentale; wonders whether he will ever finish it.

Another postscript, dated 28 Jan: has received her letter, and is very sorry about Bob's cold; 'We must all take care'. Confirms that her 'Tovey Beethovens are safe here and have been much enjoyed and played', though he has not been playing the piano at all recently. Can send them whenever she wants.