Re: Robert Graves, Siegfried and George Sassoon, Harold Munro

Talk about stirring up a hornets' next!  I was not sure whether Glenye Cain's ancestors has fought with or against the Campells.  Her reply clearly indicates I owe her an apology: "I'm not sure what use of the word "with" you meant in "fought with the Campbells," but, good heavens, I can't imagine my MacGregor ancestors would have fought alongside the Campbells! If I have it correctly, the Campbells stirred up some trouble between the MacGregors and their enemies, the Colquhouns, which ultimately led to some dramatic marching around with bloody shirts on spearpoints (the Colquhouns did this, protesting the MacGregors having killed some of their menfolk), and this in turn led to the MacGregor clan being actually banned. My MacGregor ancestors changed their names to McGeehee and moved to the U.S. But I defer to George Sassoon's far superior knowledge of the clans to tell this story better and more accurately! (My sister has added a new dimension to the family's Scottish history by marrying a Lumsden; there is a town in Scotland named Lumsden as well)

Regarding various Sassoons, I heartily second your recommendation of the two Siegfried Sassoon books. My reintroduction to Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man coincided with my acquisition of a new field hunter, whom I ultimately named Sassoon. I discovered that this name tends to separate the literary from the fashionable in the hunt field; the former get the reference immediately, and the latter, perplexed, invariably ask why I named my horse after a hair stylist. (Incidentally, do I vaguely remember that there was a town named Sassoun or Sasoun, or something similar, that was the scene of some terrible occurrence in the Armenian genocide early in the 20th century?)

Your story about Graves was interesting, and, on reflection, I think it might be quite nice to be buried in my own garden. At any rate, it would mean someone else was having to do the mowing, for once.

Harold Munro was indeed the founder of the Poetry Bookshop; does anyone know how he died? I recommend Officer's Mess  highly, and, while I'm at it, I would suggest that anyone interested in modern English poetry also try Edward Thomas, who died at in World War I at Arras, and, from an earlier time, John Clare. They both wrote extraordinarily beautiful poems about the countryside and rural life, among other things".

RH: To boost the Scottish tourist industry and thus its economy,  I suggest that the clan wars be revived, with all the bloodshed possible. Modern tourists would love it.  Par more exciting than the frozen music of cathedrals.

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