[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
13 July 1948
My Dear,

I have your letter of July 6: and am rather surprised that you had not received my letter written after Oxford. After sending one letter to Andover, I wrote to Commonwealth Avenue. (IPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);i6 have just written to Aunt E. to acknowledge receipt of the dress suit which she has commissioned me to dispose of).1 IMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff)dies following operation;g5 am also puzzled because I was sure that I had told you of the death of Mrs. Mirrlees in May, about a week after I got back from France.2 She had had an operation, and had surprised the doctors by rallying from it remarkably well for a woman of her age; butMirrlees, Hopesuffers 'collapse';d4 sheMirrlees, Maj.-Gen. William Henry Buchanan ('Reay');b4 died a few days later. I went to the funeral service at Woking Crematorium, and have not seen Hope or Reay since. MargotCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees)in Natal for Mappie's death;a8 (Coker) was in Natal at the time, and come [sc. could] not get back; butCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees)Wishful Cooking;b1 I had lunch with her yesterday – sheMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff)Wishful Cooking;g6 is finishing up the cookery book which her mother had compiled and which we are to publish.3 I gather from her that Hope has had a temporary collapse, but is expected to recover now that she has sold the house. I miss Mrs. Mirrlees very much: she was one of the most remarkable personalities I have ever known, temperamental to a degree (when she was young her ambition had been to go on the stage) but most loveable, kind and generous, and of the finest type of Scottish patrician.

I am astonished if I did not write of this: but at this distance of time I cannot swear that I did. HoweverAll Souls College, Oxford;a7, IChrist Church, OxfordGaudy at;a3 am sure that I wrote about Oxford, All Souls, Christ Church, andBlum, Léonand TSE both passengers in minor car accident;a5 driving back the next day with Léon Blum and his wife – and a slight car accident for which I cannot blameMassigli, René;a2 M. Massigli’s chauffeur: to drive a very wide American car, with a left-hand drive, on winding narrow English roads is a great deal to ask of anybody, and then to have to get to a certain place at a certain time. What I think of the Massiglis I do not know; but Blum charmed me completely – and I should say, also a woolly-minded man and I suspect a very indifferent political leader.

IFabers, the1948 Minsted summer stay;h7 hope to have a quiet August, with perhaps a fortnight with the Fabers, on their return from Italy. TheStewart, Walter W.;a1 time of my departure is not far off. AsPrinceton Universityand TSE's Institute for Advanced Study position;e3 for the accommodation at Princeton, a certain Walter Stewart,4 whoOppenheimer, J. Robert;a3 deputises for Oppenheimer, has been very kind. He14 Alexander Street, Princeton, New Jerseyengaged for TSE;a1 has engaged for me aStauffer, Professor Donald;a1 small house, belonging to a Professor Stauffer who will be away. Prof. Stauffer shares it with a friend who is only there at weekends, so during the week I shall have it to myself.5 A charwoman is provided, and apparently I get my own breakfast, thenEinstein, AlbertInstitute for Advanced Study reputedly graced by;a1 lunch and tea at the Institute (I presume chatting with Einstein and other great scientists) and dinner at the Faculty Club, which is said to be near. For the house and service I am to pay $175 a month, which does not seem a large rent – this comes out of the $2000 which they give me as living expenses for two months.6 I shall probably spend a night in New York, get settled in Princeton, and then come to Cambridge for a long weekend as quickly as I can. InRichardses, the;b6 Cambridge, I can stay at the Richards’s if I like (it is a noisy position on Kirkland Street, but as Dorothea is to be over here until the end of October it should otherwise be peaceful) (I mean she is always wanting to have dinner parties); ISpencer, Theodore;c9 amEliot House;c1 sure Ted Spencer would gladly put me up, if he and his new wife are then settled on Brattle Street, or I might have the guest room at Eliot House on one occasion. But when I come up for a week or so on end, at the end, I shall want to get a lodging or hotel. IMilton Academy, BostonTSE's War Memorial Lecture for;a8 have told you that I am to give the War Memorial Lecture at Milton, which brings $500, andFrom Poe to Valéry;a2 with $500 for aLibrary of Congress, Washington;a4 lecture at the Library of Congress,7 I ought to have enough to pay my expenses everywhere and buy a winter overcoat etc.

ItCold War, Thethe Berlin Airlift;a4 is a dismal, cold cloudy summer here: and the nightmare exasperation of Berlin …8

You seem to have been very active, considering that you just ended a busy term by producing a play: so with these recitations in Concord and Fernside I hope that your report of your being considered to be looking well (you don’t say how you feel) is not misleading. And I am sorry that you do not go to Manan until August 9, as that seems to give you a month there at the most. Do make the most of it, as I want to see you looking well in October. From your account, your rooms at Andover make a large house!

IBrocklebank, Charlotte Carissima ('Cara')suffers further family heartbreak;a9 have just heard from Mrs. Brocklebank, who has been having a bad time – her mother has just died, after a long illness – at an advanced age of course;9 what is more dreadful is that her son-in-law has become mentally deranged. But she wants me to come down there and go to one of the plays at Stratford: IWavell, General Archibaldpossible theatre-trip with;a8 should like to go, as she is going to try to get Wavell to come too, and I like the Field Marshal very much (hisWavell, Archibald John Arthur (later 2nd Earl Wavell);a1 son is very nice too); but it looks as if she wanted me at some time during the period when I expect to be at the Fabers. (They have a couple of servants at present, so it ought to be comfortable – the Fabers, I mean). I cannot remember whether this daughter is her only surviving child or not.

Yes, I think I am pretty well, though I ate too many strawberries at Oxford, and they never agree with me. All I want is a little heat and sun, which I failed to get in Provence.

IElsmith, Dorothy Olcott;c1 hope you will give my affectionate good wishes to Dorothy Elsmith. She seems to have married off her children very successfully so far, so I trust the medical missionary will be a success also.

With much love
Tom.

1.TSE to Edith Perkins, 11 July 1948: ‘I suppose that Emily is with you now, as according to her last letter she expected to be in Boston in July. I hope that Grand Manan will do her all the good it has in the past, as she will no doubt have an arduous winter in her new, and, as it seems, most interesting post at Andover’ (Beinecke).

2.Emily Lina Mirrlees died on 8 May 1948, aged 86.

3.Emily Lina Mirrlees and Margaret Rosalys Coker, Wishful Cooking (F&F, 1949). The blurb was almost certainly written by TSE:

In this collection of well-established dishes, gathered from many homes and countries, the late Mrs Mirrlees and her daughter have not attempted to compromise with the times. The recipes are as simple as their proper excellence permits; but the compilers’ first aim has been to record and preserve from a family recipe book of the old style, the best traditions of English country-house cooking.

After so many years of shortages and improvisation, it is very necessary to revive the true tradition of cultivated cookery before it is lost entirely to the new generation; and we are fortunate to have been given access to such a rich store of experience, dating back through many generations. The recipes given have been selected to form a representative picture, but with careful reference also, so far as is possible, to present conditions.

4.WalterStewart, Walter W. W. Stewart (1885–1958), economist and expert on banking, and government adviser, had joined the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University in 1938. TSE to Elizabeth Horton, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, 27 Jan. 1960: ‘I was terribly sorry to hear of Professor Stewart’s death. He was very kind to me when I was in Princeton, and also I liked him immensely and enjoyed his company.’

5.TSE rented Prof. Donald Stauffer’s white frame house at 14 Alexander Street for the first term of the academic year 1948–9. StaufferStauffer, Professor Donald (1902–52) was Professor of English at Princeton; his works included English Biography Before 1700 (1930). TSE worked at composing The Cocktail Party for the most part in his third floor office (room 307) in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study. (At14 Alexander Street, Princeton, New Jerseylater inhabited by Randall Jarrell;a2n aJarrell, Randallsubsequent inhabitant of 14 Alexander Street;a1n later date, the poet Randall Jarrell lived at 14 Alexander Street.)

6.TSE’s ‘Member’ stipend of $2,000 was supplied by the Rockefeller Foundation, along with $1,000 from the Institute for travelling expenses.

7.TSE delivered his lecture From Poe to Valéry at the Library of Congress on 19 Nov. 1948; collected in To Criticize the Critic (1965): CProse 8, 290–308.

8.In accordance with the terms of the Potsdam Agreement negotiated between 27 July and 2 Aug. 1945, Germany had been divided after the war into four temporary occupation zones; but Berlin was split between a western sector controlled by the USA, UK and France, and an eastern sector under Soviet control. In due course, in an effort to force their erstwhile western allies to relinquish the western sector, the USSR moved on 24 June 1948 to blockade all routes from the west into the capital city – by air, rail, road and canal – since all access had to pass over Soviet-controlled territory. To overcome this aggressive move by the Communists, the Allies organised the so-called Berlin Airlift – Berlin Luftbrücke – flying many thousands of sorties over Soviet airspace in order to feed the people of West Berlin. The operation was sustained for nearly a year, ending only when the USSR lifted its blockade on 12 May 1949.

9.Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Blood died at Rogate, Sussex, on 19 May 1948, aged 84.

14 Alexander Street, Princeton, New Jersey, engaged for TSE, later inhabited by Randall Jarrell, TSE's first impressions of,
All Souls College, Oxford, and Isaiah Berlin's election to, evening with GCF at, over-represented in the Literary Society, lodges TSE, and the Fabers' property dealings, festivities at,
Blum, Léon, voices TSE's feelings about Munich, on Munich Agreement, and TSE both passengers in minor car accident,

3.LéonBlum, Léon Blum (1872–1950): French socialist politician – Prime Minister in a Popular Front government, 1936–7, 1938. During the war, as a Jew and stout antagonist of Vichy France, he had been incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp. TSE to Elena Richmond, 27 June 1948, of Blum: ‘a most charming man, who recites poetry with learning, taste and expressiveness, but who struck me as, like other socialists, a mediocre political philosopher’.

Brocklebank, Charlotte Carissima ('Cara'), Cheetham introduces to TSE, invites TSE to Nativity play, son killed in action, shares ancestors with TSE, suffers further family heartbreak, visited in Stratford-upon-Avon, news of her death, her death and inquest, provides inspiration for 'Celia',
see also Brocklebanks, the

2.CharlotteBrocklebank, Charlotte Carissima ('Cara') Carissima (‘Cara’) Brocklebank (1885–1948), only surviving daughter of Gen. Sir Bindon and Lady Blood, married in 1910 Lt.-Col. Richard Hugh Royds Brocklebank, DSO (1881–1965). They lived at 18 Hyde Park Square, London W.2, and at Alveston House, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire: see Biographical Register.

Christ Church, Oxford, hosts TSE as guest, 'Chatham Club' addressed at, Gaudy at,
Coker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees), described for EH, at Mappie's 80th-birthday celebrations, in Natal for Mappie's death, Wishful Cooking,
see also Cokers, the

5.MargaretCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees) Rosalys Mirrlees – ‘Margot’ (b. 1898) – wasCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo') married in 1920 to Lewis Aubrey Coker, OBE (1883–1953), nicknamed ‘Bolo’, a major in the Royal Field Artillery. T. S. Matthews, Great Tom: Notes towards the definition of T. S. Eliot (1974), 126: ‘The married daughter, Margot Coker, had a large country house near Bicester …’

Cold War, The, and atomic war, EH on nuclear proliferation, TSE on the threat of, the Berlin Airlift,
Einstein, Albert, Institute for Advanced Study reputedly graced by, at Princeton degree ceremony,

6.AlbertEinstein, Albert Einstein (1879–1955): German-born American theoretical physicist, renowned for the theory of relativity, and for developing the theory of quantum mechanics. He quit Germany in 1933, and was attached to the Institute for Advanced Study from 1935 to 1955.

Eliot House, TSE offered suite in, possesses telephone, TSE offered more peaceful suite in, oppressively luxurious compared to Oxbridge, TSE moved to B-11, TSE takes up residence in, its library, conspicuous lack of teapots, TSE suffers company over breakfast, TSE's compeers at, TSE's tea-parties in, obscene limericks over dinner at, TSE reads poetry to, TSE's cello-playing neighbour, repository for Eliotana, its chaotic mealtimes, noisy,
Elsmith, Dorothy Olcott, issues invitation to Woods Hole, TSE and EH to stay with, now living in Boston, invites TSE again to Woods Hole, thanked for hospitality, on TSE as nurse, attends Kind Lady, reports on Kind Lady, in New Zealand, taken to dinner at Garrick, EH in Grand Manan with, EH visits during Christmas holidays, present when EH learns of TSE's death,
see also Elsmiths, the

4.TSEElsmiths, theseminal Woods Hole stay with;a1Elsmith, Dorothy OlcottElsmiths, the andAmericaWoods Hole, Falmouth, Massachusetts;i2TSE and EH's holiday in recalled;a2St. LouisAmericaBostonAmericaCaliforniaAmericaCambridge, MassachusettsAmericaHollywoodAmericaNew EnglandAmericaNew YorkAmerica EHElsmith, Dorothy Olcott were going to visit a friend of EH’s named Dorothy Olcott Elsmith (a graduate of Smith College), who lived with her family in a white clapboard house by the seaside at Woods Hole, Falmouth, Mass.: see Biographical Register.

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,
From Poe to Valéry, revised from Aix lecture,
Jarrell, Randall, subsequent inhabitant of 14 Alexander Street,
Library of Congress, Washington, solicits lecture, for which TSE revamps Poe lecture,
Massigli, René, awards TSE Légion d’honneur,

1.RenéMassigli, René Massigli (1888–1988), diplomat: French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1944–55.

Milton Academy, Boston, TSE on revisiting, TSE's Commencement Address for, stages Murder, TSE's War Memorial Lecture for,
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.

Mirrlees, Hope, sketched for EH, at the Eliots' tea-party, part of Bloomsbury society, VHE complains about TSE to, dinner in company with, and mother taken sightseeing, ordeal of a walk with, dinner and chess with, and her dachshund, exhausting but pitiable, her mother preferable, her religion, to Mappie as Eleanor Hinkley to Aunt Susie, irritates like Eleanor, indifferent to enlarging her acquaintance, at Shamley, researching in Worthing Public Library, bathing daily at Lee, and TSE judge fancy-dress parade, during TSE's final Shamley Christmas, suffers 'collapse', in Stellenbosch, visits London, go-between in TSE's second marriage,
see also Mirrleeses, the

2.HopeMirrlees, Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), British poet, novelist, translator and biographer, was to become a close friend of TSE: see Biographical Register.

Mirrlees, Maj.-Gen. William Henry Buchanan ('Reay'), with brigade in North Africa, source of anxiety in Shamley, promoted to major-general, awarded DSO, homecoming animates Mappie, returns from India, TSE's impression of, returns to regiment, at Shamley for Christmas,

1.MajMirrlees, Maj.-Gen. William Henry Buchanan ('Reay').-Gen. William Henry Buchanan ‘Reay’ Mirrlees, DSO, CB, MC (1892–1964), served in the Royal Artillery. He was the only son of William Julius and Emily Lina Mirrlees, brother of Hope Mirrlees.

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, Institute for Advance Study reputedly graced by, apparently a supporter of Wallace,

7.J. RobertOppenheimer, J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67): American theoretical physicist, known as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ for his wartime work as head of the Los Alamos Laboratory as part of the Manhattan Project which developed the nuclear weapons that were deployed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1947 he became director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton; chair of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, 1947–52.

Perkins, Edith (EH's aunt), her relationship to EH queried, to accompany EH to Scripps, asks TSE to dinner, at first Norton lecture, shares pew with TSE, accompanies TSE to Symphony Concert, in audience at Milton Academy, catches cold in Florence, in TSE's private opinion, TSE's occasional poem for, her relationship with EH analysed, dislikes Jeanette McPherrin, explains EH's breakdown to TSE, on the Harvard Murder, as Campden hostess, and TSE's wartime instructions to EH, gives lunch at American Women's Club, gives TSE balsam pillow, requests English edition of Cats, as horticulturalist, without Campden garden, compared to Irene Hale, gives TSE photograph of EH, attends Ada's funeral, reports on EH's Millbrook situation, pressed for ham and pineapple recipe, sight affected in one eye, gives lecture, sight failing, sight deteriorates in other eye, thanked for 1946 hospitality, gives to Books Across the Sea, according to EH, asks TSE to present slides to RHS, which TSE does, on EH and TSE's relationship, and Hidcote House, friendly with Marion, TSE pitches her book to publishers, depressed by the heat, somewhat recovered, approaching 80th, faced with husband's death, letter of condolence to, sent birthday poem, visited in Boston, has sciatica, reports on EH's dramatic activities, Miss Lavorgna on, in her old-age infirmity, suffers 'shock', sacks nurse, EH preserved from, sends funeral tribute to Cousin Will, and the Hale letters, nursing home sought for, moved into nursing home, where TSE writes to her, suffers stroke, deteriorating, relations with EH, her legacy to EH,
see also Perkinses, the
Princeton University, according to TSE's fantasy, TSE engaged to lecture at, and Ronald Bottrall, TSE on his trip to, its architecture, compared to Harvard and Yale, Alumni Weekly print TSE's More tribute, possible wartime lectures at, and Allen Tate, among American colleges, extends wartime invitation to TSE, invites TSE to conference, Johnson lectures revamped for, confers honorary degree on TSE, and TSE's Institute for Advanced Study position, EH's information on, and Herbert Read, and EH's bequest,
Richardses, the, at the Eliots' tea-party, compared to the Pickthorns, host TSE for Cambridge weekend, on TSE's stay, treat TSE to G. C. Coulton and Shakespeare, TSE rewatches The Rock with, leaving England for Harvard, host TSE before departing Magdalene, wartime dinner with,
Spencer, Theodore, offers TSE suite in Eliot House, looks after TSE, shares whisky and conversation with TSE, talks poetry till late, appears deaf during first Norton lecture, hosts TSE after the first Norton lecture, and English 26, learns to tie tie from TSE, and Matthiessen co-direct Dekker, TSE shares homosexual experiences with, hails Burnt Norton, worth discussing American politics with, speaks with EH, and TSE's honorary Harvard degree, dies of heart attack,
see also Spencers, the

2.TheodoreSpencer, Theodore Spencer (1902–48), writer, poet and critic, taught at Harvard, 1927–49: see Biographical Register.

Stauffer, Professor Donald,

5.TSE rented Prof. Donald Stauffer’s white frame house at 14 Alexander Street for the first term of the academic year 1948–9. StaufferStauffer, Professor Donald (1902–52) was Professor of English at Princeton; his works included English Biography Before 1700 (1930). TSE worked at composing The Cocktail Party for the most part in his third floor office (room 307) in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study. (At14 Alexander Street, Princeton, New Jerseylater inhabited by Randall Jarrell;a2n aJarrell, Randallsubsequent inhabitant of 14 Alexander Street;a1n later date, the poet Randall Jarrell lived at 14 Alexander Street.)

Stewart, Walter W.,

4.WalterStewart, Walter W. W. Stewart (1885–1958), economist and expert on banking, and government adviser, had joined the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University in 1938. TSE to Elizabeth Horton, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, 27 Jan. 1960: ‘I was terribly sorry to hear of Professor Stewart’s death. He was very kind to me when I was in Princeton, and also I liked him immensely and enjoyed his company.’

Wavell, Archibald John Arthur (later 2nd Earl Wavell),
Wavell, General Archibald, met TSE at Winchester College, appointed to ABDA, Lady Colefax dinner for, described for EH, his one eye, dismissed as Viceroy of India, an intellectual, possible theatre-trip with, a 'pet', fond of Kipling, deserts TSE for golf, gossips with actresses, relays Cara Brocklebank's death,

5.GeneralWavell, General Archibald Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883–1950), Commander-in-Chief Middle East in the early phase of WW2. He was later Commander-in-Chief in India and finally Viceroy of India until not long before Partition.