Item 130 - Letter from J. H. Whitfield to James Smith

23 Leckford Road, Oxford.—Refers to the interruption in their correspondence. He and his wife spent August working on their new house and garden, and at the same time he was trying to finish his work on Petrarch before war broke out. When war came, however, he had to prepare to take on most of Foligno’s work, as it was uncertain that Foligno would be able to return from Italy. In the event Foligno was a fortnight late and Whitfield had to spend the rest of the term catching up on his own work. Is increasingly hopeful that the war will end, but hopes that it has not upset Smith’s foothold at Cambridge. His wife has been teaching splint-making and painting W’s on wardens’ helmets, while he has translated the place-names of the British Empire into Italian and found the text of the leaflet D’Annunzio dropped on Vienna. Is trying to prevent Woolworths from destroying the Clarendon Hotel.