[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
MS
Minsted House,
Midhurst, Sussex1
22 August 1947
(462nd anniversary of Bosworth)
My dear

YourFabers, the1947 Minsted summer stay;h4 letter of August 13 reached me here, where I have been making progress, and can now move about rather more easily & further, a little progress I think every day. The weather has been exceptionally hot & fine – it has now become a drought – so that I have been able to spend all my time in the garden, except for an hour on my back after lunch, among rolling pastoral country with a view of a ridge of the South Downs, behind which lies Chichester. TomorrowMirrleeses, thenurse TSE post-operation;b8 afternoon MrsMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff);f8. Mirrlees is to fetch me herself, for a week at Hindhead (not nearly such pleasing country, indeed slightly suburban).

The progress, though satisfactory, is slower than I had been led to expect, and I do not yet feel much mental energy. I can read theology but I don’t want to do any work! ItFaber, Richard ('Dick')fellow convalescent at Minsted;b1 is pleasant having a congenial invalid in the house – his convalescence will be much slower than mine: 6 or 7 months for a badly fractured leg.

If there is a heat wave I am glad that you should have it in Dorset rather than Petersham, or much worse, Boston. I am glad too that you have had pleasant lodgings. IPriestley, J. B.Dangerous Corner;a8 do not know ‘Dangerous Corner’.2 PriestleyPriestley, J. B.as playwright;a7 is good at urban Yorkshire characterisation, but his themes are often pretentious and beyond his very limited mental powers. Not a good influence. I am sorry you have no photographs of you in ‘Kind Lady’ which you would be willing to release.

This must go to Commonwealth Avenue. I am very anxious about your difficulty in finding a satisfactory place to live for the coming winter.

TheEnglandpost-war;b8 prospect in Britain, with an incompetent government and no visible alternative, is far from reassuring. We wouldn’t mind it’s being bleak – that we take for granted – but nothing can be predicted on the other side of bleakness.

Your loving
Tom

IActon, Sir Harolddismissed;a2 know Harold Acton3 slightly (no relation, I believe, to the Actons)4 and never liked him much. His writing of no importance.

1.TSE stayed with the Fabers, 15–19 Aug. 1947.

2.Dangerous Corner (1932): the first play by J. B. Priestley.

3.Sir Harold Acton (1904–94): writer, scholar, aesthete, translator.

4.The hereditary title of Baron Acton, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire, was created in 1869 for Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Bt., historian and Liberal Member of Parliament.

Acton, Sir Harold, totem of expatriate decadence, dismissed,

3.HaroldActon, Sir Harold Acton (1904–94), British historian, writer, poetaster and aesthete; son of a successful British art dealer and an American heiress; was educated at Eton College (where contemporaries included Cyril Connolly, Robert Byron, Ian Fleming, Anthony Powell, Steven Runciman, and Henry York (the novelist Henry Green) and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was a friend of Evelyn Waugh. He lived for some time in Paris and in Beijing, and for many years at his childhood home, ‘La Pietra’ (just outside Florence). His writings include Peonies and Ponies (verse, 1941); Memoirs of an Aesthete (1948); The Bourbons of Naples (1734–1825) (1956); Nancy Mitford: A Memoir (1975); and The Last Medici (F&F, 1932).

England, TSE as transatlantic cultural conduit for, discomforts of its larger houses, and Henry James, at times unreal, TSE's patriotic homesickness for, which is not a repudiation of America, TSE's want of relations in, encourages superiority in Americans familiar with, reposeful, natural ally of France, compared to Wales, much more intimate with Europe than America, TSE on his 'exile' in, undone by 'Dividend morality', in wartime, war binds TSE to, post-war, post-war privations, the English, initially strange to TSE, contortions of upward mobility, comparatively rooted as a people, TSE more comfortable distinguishing, the two kinds of duke, TSE's vision of wealthy provincials, its Tories, more blunt than Americans, as congregants, considered racially superior, a relief from the Scottish, don't talk in poetry, compared to the Irish, English countryside, around Hindhead, distinguished, the West Country, compared to New England's, fen country, in primrose season, the English weather, cursed by Joyce, suits mistiness, preferred to America's, distinguished for America's by repose, relaxes TSE, not rainy enough, English traditions, Derby Day, Order of Merit, shooting, Varsity Cricket Match, TSE's dislike of talking cricket, rugby match enthralls, the death of George V, knighthood, the English language, Adlestrop, Gloucestershire, visited by EH and TSE, Amberley, West Sussex, ruined castle at, Arundel, West Sussex, TSE's guide to, Bath, Somerset, TSE 'ravished' by, EH visits, Bemerton, Wiltshire, visited on Herbert pilgrimage, Blockley, Gloucestershire, tea at the Crown, Bosham, West Sussex, EH introduced to, Bridport, Dorset, Tandys settled near, Burford, Oxfordshire, EH staying in, too hallowed to revisit, Burnt Norton, Gloucestershire, TSE remembers visiting, and the Cotswolds, its imagined fate, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, less oppressive than Oxford, TSE's vision of life in, possible refuge during Blitz, Charlbury, Oxfordshire, visited by EH and TSE, Chester, Cheshire, TSE's plans in, TSE on, Chichester, West Sussex, the Perkinses encouraged to visit, EH celebrates birthday in, TSE's guide to, 'The Church and the Artist', TSE gives EH ring in, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, Perkinses take house at, shockingly remote, TSE's first weekend at, likened to Florence, TSE jealous of memories associated with, its Arts & Crafts associations, its attractions to Dr Perkins, forever associated with TSE and EH, sound of the Angelus, without EH, treasured in TSE's memory, excursions from, EH on 'our' garden at, Stamford House passes into new hands, EH's fleeting return to, Cornwall, TSE's visit to, compared to North Devon, Cotswolds, sacred in TSE's memory, Derbyshire, as seen from Swanwick, Devon ('Devonshire'), likened to American South, the Eliots pre-Somerset home, its scenery, Dorset, highly civilised, TSE feels at home in, TSE's Tandy weekend in, Durham, TSE's visit to, East Anglia, its churches, TSE now feels at home in, East Coker, Somerset, visited by Uncle Chris and Abby, TSE conceives desire to visit, reasons for visiting, described, visited again, and the Shamley Cokers, now within Father Underhill's diocese, photographs of, Finchampstead, Berkshire, visited by TSE and EH, specifically the Queen's Head, Framlingham, Suffolk, visited, Garsington, Oxfordshire, recalled, Glastonbury, Somerset, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, highly civilised, its beautiful edge, its countryside associated with EH, TSE at home in, its domestic architecture, Hadsleigh, Suffolk, visited, Hampshire, journey through, TSE's New Forest holiday, Hereford, highly civilised, Hull, Yorkshire, and 'Literature and the Modern World', Ilfracombe, Devon, and the Field Marshal, hideous, Knole Park, Kent, Lavenham, Suffolk, visited, Leeds, Yorkshire, TSE lectures in, touring Murder opens in, the Dobrées visited in, home to EVE's family, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, TSE's visit to, especially the Bishop's Palace, Lincolnshire, arouses TSE's curiosity, unknown to EH, Lingfield, Surrey, Little Gidding, Cambridgeshire, TSE's long-intended expedition to, London, in TSE's experience, TSE's isolation within, affords solitude and anonymity, contrasted to country life, its fogs, socially freer than Boston and Paris, eternally misty, its lionhunters, rain preferable in, more 'home' to TSE than America, socially more legible than Boston, its society compared to Boston's, TSE's desire to live among cockneys, South Kensington too respectable, Clerkenwell, Camberwell, Blackheath, Greenwich scouted for lodging, its comparatively vigorous religious life, Camberwell lodging sought, Clerkenwell lodging sought, and music-hall nostalgia, abandoned by society in August, the varieties of cockney, TSE's East End sojourn, South Kensington grows on TSE, prepares for Silver Jubilee, South Kensington street names, Dulwich hallowed in memory, so too Greenwich, during 1937 Coronation, preparing for war, Dulwich revisited with family, in wartime, TSE as air-raid warden in, Long Melford, Suffolk, Lowestoft, Suffolk, Lyme Regis, Dorset, with the Morleys, Marlborough, Wiltshire, scene of a happy drink, Needham Market, Suffolk, Newcastle, Northumberland, TSE's visit to, Norfolk, appeals to TSE, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, dreary, Nottinghamshire, described for EH, Oxford, Oxfordshire, as recollected by TSE, past and present, EH takes lodgings in, haunted for TSE, in July, compared to Cambridge, Peacehaven, Sussex, amazing sermon preached in, Penrith, TSE's visit to, Rochester, as Dickens described, Salisbury, Wiltshire, in the Richmonds' company, Shamley Green, Surrey, TSE's ARP work in, its post office, Pilgrim Players due at, Somerset, highly civilised, TSE at home in, Southwold, Suffolk, TSE visits with family, Stanton, Gloucestershire, on TSE and EH's walk, Stanway, Gloucestershire, on EH and TSE's walk, Suffolk, TSE visits with family, Surrey, Morley finds TSE lodging in, evening bitter at the Royal Oak, TSE misses, as it must have been, Sussex, commended to EH, TSE walking Stane Street and downs, EH remembers, Walberswick, Suffolk, Wells, Somerset, TSE on visiting, Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, EH and TSE visit, Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset, delightful name, Wiltshire, highly civilised, TSE at home in, Winchelsea, East Sussex, visited, Winchester, TSE on, Wisbech, Lincolnshire, TSE on visiting, Worcestershire, TSE feels at home in, Yeovil, Somerset, visited en route to East Coker, York, TSE's glimpse of, Yorkshire,
see also British General Election
Faber, Richard ('Dick'), bought roller-skates, takes TSE to Madame Tussaud's, the more religious Faber son, taken to Distant Point, entering Naval Cadet school, serving on cruiser, in hospital with broken leg, fellow convalescent at Minsted, TSE speaks at Chatham Club to oblige,
see also Fabers, the
Fabers, the, model of happiness and respectability, their domestic situation, Faber children to tea chez Eliot, visit TSE at Pike's Farm, compared to the Morleys, closer to TSE than to VHE, 1933 summer holiday with, Ty Glyn Aeron described, request TSE to write play, too absorbed in their children, at the Morleys' party, give anti-Nazi party for author, host poker party, 1934 summer holiday with, take TSE to lunch in Oxford, 1935 summer holiday with, for which the children are bought tent, give party, 1936 summer holiday with, at Morleys' Thanksgiving Day party, sail model boats with TSE, and TSE's foggy adventure, cinema-going with TSE, take TSE to Witch of Edmonton, and Morleys take TSE to pantomime, and TSE attend opening of Ascent of F6, 1937 summer holiday with, and the Bradfield Greek play, School for Scandal with, take TSE to pantomime again, 1938 summer holiday with, 1939 summer holiday with, offer possible wartime refuge, 1940 summer holiday with, host TSE in Hampstead during war, TSE makes bread sauce for, brought vegetables from Shamley, move to Minsted, and TSE attend musical revue, 1941 summer holiday with, Minsted as substitute for nursing-home, trying to sell Welsh home, take TSE to International Squadron, invite TSE to Wales for Christmas, host TSE at Minsted, away fishing in Scotland, mourn TSE's post-war independence, 1947 Minsted summer stay, 1948 Minsted summer stay, host TSE for weekend, on 1950 South Africa trip, on TSE's 1951 Spain trip, 1951 Minsted summer stay, 1952 Minsted summer stay, 1953 Minsted summer stay, on 1953–4 South Africa trip, 35th wedding anniversary weekend,
Mirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff), taken round the Tower, invites TSE to Shamley, described for EH, offers to house TSE gratis, her religion, as horticulturalist, concerns TSE, her distress on animals' behalf, not an irritant, secures better gardener for Shamley, circumstances in which she offered TSE refuge, indifferent to enlarging acquaintance, engineers solitude at Shamley, surprises TSE with lobster and cigars, reduces TSE's rent, celebrates 80th birthday, abed and anxious, anxious about North African campaign, going deaf, boosted by son's promotion, receives offer for Shamley, theatrical by nature, TSE prefers being alone with, TSE's sense of responsibility to, spoils TSE on his birthday, aflutter over Christmas turkey, delighted by recording at Shamley, takes in hopeless cases, collector of recipes, pleased by TSE's lawnmowing, hankers after life in Menton, dreams of leaving Shamley, pulls out of selling Shamley, as landlady, frustrations with gardener, her aura, summons TSE to Shamley, during TSE's final Shamley Christmas, dying, still just living, dies following operation, Wishful Cooking,
see also Mirrleeses, the

3.HopeMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff) Mirrlees’s mother was Emily Lina Mirrlees, née Moncrieff (1862–1948) – known as ‘Mappie’ or ‘Mappy’ – see Biographical Register.

Mirrleeses, the, pre-war weekend in Surrey with, host TSE during Blitz, subsequently issue standing invitation, six days a week with, set their hearts on the Riviera, mourn prospect of TSE's departure, invite TSE for Christmas, nurse TSE post-operation, their family estate in South Africa,
Priestley, J. B., meets TSE as theatre proprietor, and Family Reunion's unsuccess, invites TSE to dinner, speaks at Purchase Tax meeting, as radio broadcaster, as playwright, Dangerous Corner, I Have Been Here Before, Time and the Conways,

1.J. B. PriestleyPriestley, J. B. (1894–1984), novelist, playwright, social commentator, broadcaster; author of bestselling novels including The Good Companions (1929) and Angel Pavement (1930); and plays including Time and the Conways (1937) and An Inspector Calls (1945).