Pièce 269 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Sir George Trevelyan

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The Shiffolds. - Reached home yesterday morning after a 'somewhat tiring journey straight through' from Pisa, where he stopped for a day [after his stay at Casa Boccaccio in Settingnano]. Does not 'much admire the tower, but the view from the top was wonderful'. The weather in April was bad at Florence, 'with thunderstorms every two or three days, and cold in between'; nevertheless, he still had a good time and got some work done.

At the Shiffolds, he found that Julian had just returned to school, and that Bessie was here with Professor [Donald] Tovey and 'her young Röntgen nephew [Johannes], who is Tovey's pupil'. Bessie seems well; she is 'relieved that Julian has gone back to school in a contented mood, and writes happily now he is there'.

Does not think he will go to the Lake Hunt this week, though he 'might be able to get through without great difficulty [due to the coal-miners' strikes]'; would be 'different if we lived in the North'. Is beginning [Lytton] Strachey's Queen Victoria, which 'at any rate has the merit of terseness, as well as being well written'. The weather here is 'perfect, and the woods are full of bluebells'. Sends love to his mother.