This message from Percy (Constance Malleson) appears in the original letter, document .079993, record 46927.

"Percy sends this message 'It is a great thing that Lytton has done in desentimentalising Miss Nightingale. His picture of her is ever so faintly reminiscent of C.E.M. [Catherine Marshall], but with good judgment and something really terrific inside; just that indispensable volcanic quality which seems to me to be absolutely necessary to really great achievement. The way Lytton brings out the gradual demand for expression of Manning's mean ambitious side is a triumph of subtle observation. One can hardly quarrel with the book's deliberate showing up of the mesquin [French for mean, petty] side of these characters when their other side has I suppose been universally proclaimed, nevertheless, it leaves one saturated with ungenerosity. When I was a child Gordon was my great hero and I still have a sneaking admiration for the twisted, knobbly, pigheaded adventure of the man. End Percy."

The above message concerns Eminent Victorians.

The letter contains the following mentions of Colette: "Miss Wrinch had your ms yesterday, and Lady C. had the philosophical work."

"We had an impromptu party on Tuesday, C. came for a picnic meal, and Miles and Dorothy W. [Wrinch] dropped in, and we all became most frivolous."