'I have read the greater part of the History of James I and Mrs. Montagues?s essay on Shakespeare, and a great deal of Gibbon'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Babington Macaulay Print: Book
'Yes I know Sudermann ? his play ?Magda? was one of Mrs Pat. Campbell?s great parts ? and I believe he was the author of a book called ?The Song of Songs? that Billie Wood lent me ? and that I was shocked to find you reading. I have just got through Susan Glaspell?s ?Road to the Temple?, and C.E.Montague?s ?Right off the Map?. For lighter reading I?ve had Rose Macauley?s ? Keeping up Appearances?, and I?m reading all sorts of things about Shelley for my possible literature class. The present one is ?Shelley and the Unromantics?. The author lives in Birkenhead.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Winifred Agnes Moore Print: Book
'I?m so glad that ?D?senchantement? pleases you. Apart from the subject Montague writes so beautifully ? and to me it was wonderful to see in print for the first time ? all the wretched facts that were ordinary knowledge to you and me when we returned from the war.'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Winifred Agnes Moore Print: Book
Elizabeth Barrrett to Lady Margaret Cocks, 29 September 1837:
'I confess to you that I utterly dislike Lady Mary! [...] She had a hard shining imagination,
instead of a heart -- and words studied into carelessness, beating up & down, where warm
natural woman pulses ought to have beat. She had too little depth for manhood, -- & too little
softness for womanhood. Take away the corner stone & the top stone from Horace Walpole's
imagination -- or rather, take away what poetry he had -- & dress him up in a hoop -- & there
is Lady Mary Wortley Montague ready for court!! ---- I never could bear her -- or Horace
Walpole either -- and whenever I have looked at her letters, I have felt too much out of
humour to be amused.'
'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Barrett Print: Book
'Meeting held at Frensham. 6th Oct. 1943
Howard R. Smith in the chair.
1. Minutes of the last meeting were read & approved.
[...]
5. Kenneth Nicholson discoursed to us on ‘Style’. He confessed that the more he
had gone into the subject the further he had got out of his depth, but this fact was
not apparent, for what he said was most interesting and illuminating. He gave as
his four essentials for good style: Clarity, Rhythm, Sincerity and the Emergence of
Personality. Kenneth Nicholson illustrated these qualities by quotations from such
varied sources as: The Telephone Directory; an advertisement for Sanitas powder;
the Dean of Harvard; Charles Morgan; Walter Pater; C. E. Montague; G. K
Chesterton; H. G. Wells; T. E. Lawrence; a Leighton Park boy and a Press
reporter. In the discussion which followed, some members thought that good style
could be achieved without sincerity, and reference was made to the regrettable
absence of clarity in legal documents and official forms.
6. F. E. Pollard then read 7 examples of prose writing and we were asked to write
down the authors. It was only to be expected that Kenneth Nicholson, who had
been studying the subject, should come out top with 5 right answers. [...]
[signed as a true record by] A. B. Dilks
8.11.43. [at the club meeting held at 39 Eastern Avenue: see Minute Book, p. 165]'
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Kenneth F. Nicholson Print: Book
