Item 1 - Letter from Will Arnold-Forster to R. C. Trevelyan

Basset Down, Wroughton, Wilts. - Thanks Bob for the book ["The Bride of Dionysus"], and wishes he could have stayed in London to do so in person; thinks it 'so fine'. The 'operatic convention' has made it very concentrated - 'every line tells' - and the 'long delay' in preparation has given it 'that last "trade-finish"', so as George was saying recently it is the only libretto ever 'that was moving by itself'. Comments on 'what stuff Vernon Lee did talk about the Dionysus business'. Thinks it will be a 'tremendous climax', with the audience so excited that they 'forget to fuss about opera cloaks and all that'. Asks how everyone is, and how Bob's new book is going; hopes the British public will 'play up'. Is going back to Monte Fiano for a year from 1 June, so has been 'having a rampage and seeing lots of people before retiring to [his] wonderful hermitage'. Asks whether Bob will be in London on 20 or 23 May. Wonders if Bob got his last letter and call at 2 Cheyne Gardens; left a parcel for him there.