Cotmania. Vol. IV. 1929-30

18 Cheyne Gardens,
Chelsea, S.W.
10th Feb. 1930

My dear Sydney,
It was a dull weekend and very cold but I didn't get the chance that I expected of writing to you about your 'Cotman'. Impossible before that, while I was accumulating ideas about the Raphael Cartoons with the result that I didn't get halfway through them & therefore failed to make the central points of the lecture. But that's no matter. The Cotman has given me much joy. Not being my copy I have not had to refrain from looking at it, so to speak, in the month. Yet I like it very much. The new material is most valuable & you have set it out entertainingly. I almost wish that you hadn't been forced to cover the whole ground, but had restricted yourself to the novelties. They would have gained more force & writing as you do without reference to anything that has been done before, you would have been able to emphasise your own extensive contribution. But that's only a look into the horse's mouth.
I have of course pencilled some details of queries. How do you know that Cotman left London in a fit of depression (p. 9)? It might surely have been equally well in a fit of ex-