Item 87 - Letter from Judith Masefield to R. C. Trevelyan

Boar's Hill. - Thanks Trevelyan for the cheque: has been rather short of money due to her trip to Italy. She 'thoroughly enjoyed Melleager" [sic: Trevelyan's play "Meleager"], and is sorry it did not have a larger audience. Glad to feel well after 'having a cough all through autumn'. Is sorry about her 'stupid slips': she has a 'bad habit... of learning poetry incorrectly' and will deal with it at once. Very sorry about the 'stupid slips', due to a 'bad habit... of learning poetry inaccurately'; will put it right at once. Italy was a 'joy': they stayed in a fifteenth century villa next to San Domenico [in Fiesole] where Fra Angelico was a novice; felt closer to him there even than in San Marco [Florence]. Is reading Lorenzo the Magnificent's mystery plays; there was 'such an orgy of flames' in "The Descent of the Holy Spirit" that the church [Santo Spirito, Florence] was 'burned to the ground'; comments that this would have been considered 'just vengeance' if this had happened 'when we did our play at Canterbury'. They also saw the paschal dove which lights a fire on Saturday in Holy Week.