... About my projected Greek book, to comprise Magna Grecia as well, i. e. Hellenic Calabria and Sicily, etc.... I want to make a book out of the material gathered, old and new, and to go freshly all over the ground.... I intend to call it Greek Backgrounds and to deal with the ancient (recreated) and modern backgrounds of some of the greatest of the Greeks—as they were and are—as, for example, of Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Empedocles, Theocritus, etc.—and of famous ancient cities, Sybaris, Corinth, etc.; and deal with the home or chief habitat or famous association. For instance:
| (1) Calabria (Crotan and Metapontum) with Pythagoras. | ||
| (2) Eleusis in Greece, Syracuse and Gela in Sicily | } | with life and death of Æschylus. |
| (3) Colonos | Sophocles. | |
| (4) Athens etc. | with Euripides. | |
| (5) Syracuse and Acragas (Girgente) | } | with Pindar etc. etc. |
The two following letters were acknowledgments of birthday greetings. In the first to Mr. Stedman our plans for that winter are described:
The Grosvenor Club,
Oct. 2, 1903.
My dear E. C. S.,
Two days ago, on Wednesday’s mail, I posted a letter to reach you, I hope, on the morning of your birthday—and today, to my very real joy, I safely received your long and delightful letter. It has been a true medicine—for, as I told you, I’ve been gravely ill. And it came just at the right moment, and warmed my heart with its true affection.
... I know you’ll be truly glad to hear that the tidings about myself can be more and more modified by good news from my physician,—a man in whom I have the utmost confidence and who knows every weakness as well as every resource and reserve of strength in me, and understands my temperament and nature as few doctors do understand complex personalities.
He said to me today “You look as if you were well contented with the world.” I answered “Yes, of course I am. In the first place I’m every day feeling stronger, and in the next, and for this particular day, I’ve just had a letter of eight written pages from a friend whom I have ever dearly loved and whom I admire not less than I love.” He knew you as a poet as well as the subtlest and finest interpreter of modern poetry—and indeed (tho’ I had forgotten) I had given him a favourite volume and also lent your Baltimore addresses.
When I’m once more in the land of Theocritus (and oh how entrancing it is) I’ll be quite strong and well again, he says. Indeed I’m already ‘a live miracle’! We sail by the Orient liner “Orizaba” on the 23rd; reach Naples (via Gibraltar and Marseilles) 9 to 10 days later; and leave by the local mail-boat same evening for Messina—arrive there about 8 on Monday morning—catch the Syracuse mail about 10, change at 12 at Giarre, and ascend Mt. Etna by the little circular line to Maletto about 3,000 ft. high, and thence drive to the wonderful old Castle of Maniace to stay with our dear friend there, the Duke of Bronte—our third or fourth visit now. We’ll be there about a fortnight: then a week with friends at lovely and unique Taormina: and then sail once more, either from Messina or Naples direct to the Piræus, for Athens, where we hope to spend the winter and spring.