Emily Hale to T. S. Eliot
Andover, Massachusetts
At the close of a very beautiful, truly autumnal day, I write you in late reply to yours of the 27th of September, which was pleasant to receive – you caught up many items of interest hitherto unknown to me – oneMagdalene College, Cambridgehouses Lewis portrait of TSE;b3 of which being that your last portrait went to Magdalene, Cambridge. Was it so ordered beforehand, or bought after completion?1 I hope you have had a chance to see it hung. I did write you a second letter from Manan, a week or so before I left, but perhaps it never reached you, as I failed to put on the required AIR Mail postage thro’ some stupidity – as the letter was not returned when it was self addressed on the back – I trust it reached you tho’ you probably paid the extra postage. On the day before I left G. M. [Grand Manan] two unfortunate incidents occurred – one, a sudden [?sharp] attack of intestinal flu, I recovered from in time (I had to travel all the next day and night) theHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2EH loses sapphire from ring;f4 secondEnglandChichester, West Sussex;d9TSE gives EH ring in;a5 I am unhappy to say was the loss of the beautiful star sapphire you gave me long ago on my birthday in Chichester! The stone fell out of the setting, and tho’ guests were kind and tried to go over the few paths I had covered before I discovered my loss (just after breakfast) I doubt if ever I see it again, as it might have fallen down the toilet, since I was already ill, and had made two or three trips necessarily to the lavatory. I miss the ring, not only for the beauty of it, but for the long and precious association, as intimate to me as almost anything else you gave me, because it was the first gift of such personal character. By a very strange chance, I had, the day before I lost the stone, sentHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2diamond circlet given to EH in 1939;f5 in an order to a jeweller who is making over into a new setting the diamond circlet you gave me in the last summer at Campden. I could never wear it since the change of two years ago, but I did want in some form to have the diamonds in use. The setting I found is rather oldfashioned and lovely, so I look forward eagerly to the completion of the change. Ordering this one day and losing the sapphire the next was indeed like an allegorical illustration of ‘The King is Dead, Long Live the King’.
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's October–November 1949 trip to Germany;g8;a9 am thinking of you preparing for your German trip. I do not know where you go, or to what groups you speak – but assume this is one more Cultural Relations trip, but a very difficult one, especially in the light of the new Russian puppet ‘government’ opposed to Bonn. The outlook looks very dark to me at present. IHale, Emilyreading;w8Hopkins and Roosevelt;a8 have been reading much this week (I was out three days with a heavy cold) anSherwood, RobertHopkins and Roosevelt;a1 absorbing volume by Robert Sherwood ‘Hopkins and Roosevelt’ which is really a documentary, very ‘back stage’ account of F.D.R.’s presidency, especially in relation to the War years.2 TheStalin, Joseph;a3 account of the early conferences with Stalin and all the exchange of good fellowship when Russia was fighting Germany with our assistance, makesHitler, Adolf;b2 theChamberlain, Neville situation to-day doubly bitter and too close to Hitler’s assurances to Chamberlain, which were so soon proven of sawdust.
I shall not expect to hear from you while you are away, but I hope I shall hear before you leave [illegible] the addresses in German? ICocktail Party, TheEH's second opinion on;d8 have re-read ‘The Cocktail Party’ too this week, and find it gains – since you knew my earlier mind – on closer study. I still think it is too long, as you do, and I still think there are bad gaps in our understanding of the relationships between the Chamberlaynes, Celia and Peter – but much is admirable in your technicalities, and as all the reviewers say, the wit is noticeable and much of the dialogue in beautiful phraseology. I don’t like your ‘libation’ scene – seems to be very out of place. As for the personal allusions – I referred to them in my second G. M. letter, and shall not speak of them again, since you so thoroughly denied them.
ByEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife)ticked off indirectly by EH;a3 the way, excuse my speaking of it, in case your new secretary sends clippings to anyone about you or anything/one else – be sure she clips them neatly and correctly. The two sets you sent me last were practically torn out of papers and contained a lot of stuff besides. This will disturb you, but you should know it, I think.
IPerkinses, the;n6 have seen no one to speak to since my return, exceptWhiting, Isabel;a7 the Perkins and Isabel. IHinkley, Eleanor Holmes (TSE's first cousin)passes up EH's invitation;e2 tried to get E.H.H.3 here for a couple of nights, but without success. MyPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt)approaching 80th;j5 aunt’s 80th birthday comes the 18th, but she made me promise to say nothing of it to even her closest friends, so I had to submit. She gave her reason as because people were so kind to them both she couldn’t accept more – but it is more, I believe, that she is very self conscious of her age – and doesn’t admit to herself too much that she is old. Poor dear, she will have such a hard time the rest of her mortal life, I fear.
Yes, she got your letter long ago about the inability to publish her book, but, my uncle having told me confidentially he didn’t want her to work on anything & had told you so, I thought you were skilful tact itself in your feigned regrets. My classes I enjoy as much as ever and all the extra work of machinery for getting the Senior Play started and those new members of the Dramatic Society is in motion too. But there are wide spaces of loneliness, I confess, between the school hours – and a certain consciousness of (to – me) crippling restrictions. Idogs'Rag Doll' (Scottish Terrier);c8EH gives up;a5 have cut one Gordian Knot, in deciding finally against keeping my little ‘Rag-Doll’. Single-handed it is quite a problem, and the expenses, small as they are at the time, do mount in the long run, and I prefer to put my money to other uses. But I shall miss her devotion [passage missing].
Well, God speed you on your next trip, and return you safely, is the wish of yours lovingly
1.TSEMagdalene College, Cambridgewhich TSE pays for;b4n to Wyndham Lewis, 30 June 1949: ‘TheHardy, Thomashis portrait at Magdalene;a2n Master and Fellows want a portrait of me, toKipling, Rudyardhis portrait at Magdalene;a9n go with their portraits of my predecessors Hardy and Kipling. But they say they can’t afford to pay for it. SoRichards, Ivor Armstrong ('I. A.')and Lewis's portrait of TSE;c6n they put [I. A. Richards] on to approach me with the suggestion that, if they could find a portrait painter at a reasonable price, would I sit for him and pay for it myself?
‘My view was that I didn’t see why I should take the time which I can ill afford to sit to a probably second rate painter of their choosing and then pay for it myself; but that there was a perfectly good portrait, absolutely up to date, which I should be prepared to consider buying if it was still for sale. Richards (having just arrived from America) hadn’t heard of your portrait; but he was very much taken with the idea. I told him to go to the Redfern, and if it wasn’t there, they should put him on to seeing it. I assume that the Redfern claim an interest in the matter even though the show is over. The point was that Richards should see it first and then tell the College they ought to accept it as a gift from me.
‘I hope I have taken the proper course. But I don’t want the Redfern (assuming that they have not already sold it) to put up the price on me just because it is for a college […]
‘Of course, this may fall through: but this is the portrait I want the college to take.’
On the eager recommendation of I. A. Richards, Magdalene College accepted the gift of TSE’s portrait. TSE met all the costs, including the price of the portrait and a gilt frame.
2.Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (New York, 1948).
3.Eleanor Holmes Hinkley.
7.EsméEliot, Esmé Valerie (née Fletcher, TSE's second wife) Valerie Fletcher (1926–2012) started work as TSE’s secretary on 12 Sept. 1949, and became his second wife on 10 Jan. 1957; after his death in Jan. 1965, his literary executor and editor: see 'Valerie Eliot' in Biographical Register.
5.EleanorHinkley, Eleanor Holmes (TSE's first cousin) Holmes Hinkley (1891–1971), playwright; TSE’s first cousin; daughter of Susan Heywood Stearns – TSE’s maternal aunt – and Holmes Hinkley: see Biographical Register.
4.I. A. RichardsRichards, Ivor Armstrong ('I. A.') (1893–1979), theorist of literature, education and communication studies: see Biographical Register.
1.AnWhiting, Isabel old, close friend of EH’s, Isabel Whiting lived for some years at 11 Mason Street, Cambridge, MA; later at 9 Phillips Place, Cambridge, MA.