Item 172 - Letter from Sir George Trevelyan to R. C. Trevelyan

Vernon House, Hartington Place, Eastbourne. - Caroline is at last 'really convalescent' and will stay at Eastbourne for a week; he himself goes to Welcombe tomorrow. Booa [Mary Prestwich] and Pantlin will stay with Caroline. This is a 'spick-and-span watering place', ready for a crowd which has not yet come. Is 'rather overset' by the King's death; reminds him of when he was invited, 'as a sort of typical undergraduate' to dine at Madingley [Hall] on the day of the Prince's coming to Cambridge. Only Sir George, [the Duke of] St Albans, and the Prince 'a pretty, very young boy' were there; Sir George was by some years the oldest, and now is the only survivor. Has had opportunity to observe the new King well; the old King is, politically, 'a terrible loss, with his immense authority and popularity and his tried Liberalism!'. Agrees that much of [Samuel Butler's] "Erewhon" is 'rather pretentious'. Sends love to Elizabeth. Was delighted by the picture of Robert and Julian.