Wednesday, December 26th., Comarques, Thorpe-le-Soken.
Only seven sat down to dinner last night, owing to difficulties of transport and engagements of officers for mess dinners. This is the smallest Xmas dinner we have had in this house.
Soldiers were noisy outside during the day. Mason came for lunch and stayed till after nightfall. He rode off in falling snow, having made Richard a present of all the chemical reagents which he had ordered for him.
I read a lot, all I shall read, of Saintsbury's "History of the French Novel". Very prolix, and bursting with subordinate clauses and clauses, but containing plenty of useful information; also it shows that he does understand something of the craft of novel-writing. His tracing of the development of the technique of the novel in the 17th cent. is interesting, and, to me, quite new. The amount of this old man's reading is staggering.
Much bad music after dinner.
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