Pièce 259 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Sir George Trevelyan

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c/o B[ernard] Berenson Esq., I Tatti, Settignano, Florence. - Thanks his father for his letter, with his mother's, which reached him quickly; thinks 'the posts are working better'. Hears 'quite regularly from Bessie and Julian' who seem to be greatly enjoying themselves in the Netherlands; Julian seems to have 'made great friends with his young cousins', who are a little older.

Has had 'very bad weather' since he came, except for a few days, but 'Italy is delightful in all weathers' if, as now, it is not too cold. Heard a cuckoo this morning for the 'first time [this spring]', and expects he would have heard nightingales by now were it not for the rain. Is glad his father finds 'the Tchekof stories interesting [see 12/317]'; has six other volumes he could lend him when he returns home. Chekhov is 'certainly not at his best in those short sordid stories, though he tells them skilfully enough'; he needed to 'write to make money for his family, and so did quite a good many pot-boilers'. Likes him best when he 'gets hold of a character that really interests him, and gives himself room to develop it a little'. Has a volume of Chekhov, 'all stories about peasants and country priests, which are perhaps more moving than any others of his' he knows, which he could lend to his father; also suggests that if his father wants 'another good Russian book' he should 'get Aksakof's memoirs, in three volumes, perfectly translated by Duff the classical Trinity don'. The London Library has them, but they are 'often out'.

The Berensons send their 'kindest remembrances'; Robert sends his love to his mother, to whom he will write soon. The Uffizi 'has all been rearranged, and the best pictures, such as the Primavera of Botticelli, have been brought from the Ac[c]ademia'; this is 'on the whole... an improvement'.