BRACERS Record Detail for 52415
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BR TO GILBERT MURRAY, 18 JUNE 1948
BRACERS 52415. ALS. Murray papers, Bodleian
Edited by W. Bruneau. Proofread by K. Blackwell
<letterhead>
Penralltgoch
Llan Ffestiniog
Merioneth
18 June 1948
Dear Gilbert,
I am writing to you about two entirely disconnected matters.
First: With a view to an autobiography I have been looking through old letters, and have found a number of very delightful letters from you. There are some that I should like to keep copies of, as I imagine that you would like the letters returned to you for the benefit of your (I hope still far in the future) biographer. I may wish to ask your permission to use some of your letters myself; publication would be after my death.
If you still have any letters from me, I wonder if you would be willing to let me have them for a time, as they would assist my memory.
Second. The Government proposes to transform Pembroke Lodge into quarters for park-keepers and a tea-shop. I see no objection to the former, but the latter would involve serious vandalism. The eleven acres of garden are very beautiful, and have always been very full of wild birds. In my youth there were large numbers of nightingales, redstarts, woodpeckers, finches of all sorts, and other birds not easily found elsewhere near London. I am tolda this is still the case.
The house is of historic interest as the house of my grandfather. It is to me very painful to think of the destruction of the garden, of which I think with affection almost every day of my life. My wife has written to the Government office concerned, but they profess themselves adamant. Do you think the Pilgrim Trust or any similar body could be induced to move in the matter? Or can you suggest any fruitful move? I hope you will not mind my bothering you with this question.
Yours ever
B.R.
P.S. I enclose a letter to Mr. Key1 with an alternative suggestion.
- 1
letter to Mr. Key Not present. In his reply Murray noted that Russell’s letter to Key “states the case exceedingly well” (29 June, record 61092).
Textual Notes
- a
am told above deleted imagine