[No surviving envelope]
BeforePerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);l2 I had come to answering your letter of January 25 I have had, in quick succession, two letters from Aunt Edith, telling of your getting laryngitis in Northampton, and of your having to go into the school Infirmary for treatment. This sounds rather serious: at least, it means that you will not be out of danger until the winter is over: so I hope that you will be prudent. It is possible that one becomes more susceptible to a particular weakness, as I have found with bronchitis. Beyond these ailments lurks pneumonia. So far this winter, I have been limiting my evenings out to Wednesday and Sunday, when I have to go out anyway because of the housekeeper; I have also been rationing myself in tobacco. I do hope that the Infirmary is well run. IHale, Emilyas director ('producer');v9Twelfth Night;c4 fear that this means, first, that you were more tired after ‘Twelfth Night’ than you let on, and your friends who told you how well you were looking were deceived; secondThorp, Margaret (née Farrand)an unsoothing presence;b7, that the Christmas holidays were not restful enough; third, that Margaret Thorp, who appears to me as strong as a horse and as restless as a monkey, wore you out. CertainlyThorps, theunrelaxing hosts;f1, the one thing I never felt in the Thorps’ hospitable Princeton home, was a feeling of repose.
Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1952 visit to America;h8itinerary;a4 have reserved a passage for April 29th, and expect, as usual, to spend several days at the beginning and end in New York, seeing publishers and authors and the usual people (andYMHA (later 92Y), New YorkTSE gives reading at;a1 incidentally giving another reading for the YMHA, which brings in $500). I should have liked to take a boat leaving four or five days sooner; butUniversity of Rennesawards degree to TSE;a1 Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1952 visit to Rennes and the Riviera;h7;a1 felt obliged to offer some date to the University of Rennes, which wants to give a degree of D.ès L. I would gladly dispense with the degree, having two such French degrees already, but it would seem discourteous. I rather hope that the dates will not suit them, and that it will be referred to the autumn; but I could not offer a date in the earlier period they proposed, asHenriot, Émile;a1 ICentre Universitaire Meditérranéen, NiceTSE's lecture to;a1 shall have to be in Nice lecturing to the Centre Universitaire Mediterrénean [sic] (ValéryValéry, Paul;a8 was the first President of it, andAlliance Française;b2 Henriot, who is now President, is also President of the Alliance Française – I have become friendly with him through that connection, and as he made it clear to me that it was through his intervention, on behalf of the Alliance, thatFrancesubsequently elevated from chevalier to officier;a7 I was elevated from chevalier to officier of the Légion d’Honeur [sc. d’Honneur], the quid pro quo is inevitable.1 BesidesSaurat, Denisat Centre Universitaire Meditérranéen;a7, I like him; and also, my old friend Denis Saurat, who used to be Professor of French in London University, is now the active director of this Centre, there is as additional obligation). I shall stay with the Saurats in Nice for the 24th and 25th March, andBehrens, Margaret Elizabeth (née Davidson)visited in Menton;c9 then go on to spend a few days with other friends, theBussys, theTSE visits in Roquebrune;a7 Bussys in Roquebrune and Margaret Behrens in Menton. ThenSt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Roadvestry goings-on;a2 I must be back before Palm Sunday to have Holy Week at St. Stephen’s. (Such a business we have been having over a temporary curate whom we intend to get rid of!). Then I may have to go to Rennes on the 21st or 22nd April: so I shall perhaps have a breathless time before embarking again on the Ile de France at Southampton. On both these visits, I shall avoid Paris.
IEliot Housenoisy;c2 hear that the ‘new college house’ in which you were lodged at Northampton, was very noisy. I can well believe it, after far from noise-proof Eliot House. I am thankful at least that you will not have a ‘big play’ this term – although the big plays are what make the job more interesting.
AllGeorge VIdies;a4 news and events this week have been quenched by the King’s death.2 He was a very nice chap, and a good king. Even the football players on Saturday (Chelsea Mariners vs. Abingdon)3 had a minute’s silence on the field before beginning the game; and wore black brassards. The death of a President in office cannot mean so much: it is only an accident that he died in office instead of afterwards, when nobody would take notice of the event: but a king is king until he dies. This morning we sang in church ‘God save the Queen’: and I realised that I had never in my life sung that before. To everybody he was my King: and a President is only my President if one happens to vote for the same Party. MrChurchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencerbroadcast on King's death;b3. Churchill’s broadcast was worthy: it is the sort of thing he does well and likes doing.4 MrAttlee, Clementcompared to Churchill as orator;a2. Atlee [sc. Attlee] would have done it competently, but would have lacked passion.
I'Le Dilemme poétique';a1 have written my lecture for Nice.5 PerhapsConfidential Clerk, Thebeing written;a4 I can now have a little time to give to the last scene of my play (first rough draft).
1.The Centre Universitaire Meditérranéen: a university centre set up in Nice in 1933 by the University of Aix-Marseille. The Mayor of Nice nominated Paul Valéry of the Académie française as administrator and Maurice Mignon as Director. The academician ÉmileHenriot, Émile Henriot (1889–1961), who succeeded Valéry, called the CUM, with its premises at 65 Promenade des Anglais, the ‘Mediterranean equivalent of a small College of France”. (It is now a municipal centre for conferences, &c.) TSE was promoted to Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1951.
2.King George VI had died at Sandringham House, Norfolk, on 6 Jan. 1952, aged 56.
3.TSE is letting his imagination run away with him: he seems to have made up these teams.
4.Winston Churchill commemorated King George in a broadcast of 7 Feb. 1952; his talk was published in The Listener a week later.
5.TSE gave his talk in Nice on 25 Mar. 1952: ‘Le Dilemme poétique’, CProse 7, 677–710.
11.ClementAttlee, Clement Attlee (1883–1967), distinguished British politician, served as Leader of the Labour Party from 1935, and took part in Winston Churchill’s wartime coalition government, 1940–5, serving in Cabinet first as Lord Privy Seal and from 1942 as Deputy Prime Minister. After winning a landslide victory for Labour in July 1945, Attlee was Prime Minister until 1951. With the British economy being virtually bankrupt in the postwar era, he set about trying to generate a massive recovery of the economy, as well as introducing social and public services reforms. His major achievements included the passing of the National Insurance Act (1946), the introduction of the National Health Service (1948), and the nationalisation of public utilities including coal and electricity: his vision of the state supporting people from cradle to grave came to be realised, along with significant steps towards decolonisation of countries including India and Pakistan.
4.MargaretBehrens, Margaret Elizabeth (née Davidson) Elizabeth Behrens, née Davidson (1885–1968), author of novels including In Masquerade (1930); Puck in Petticoats (1931); Miss Mackay (1932); Half a Loaf (1933).
1.The Centre Universitaire Meditérranéen: a university centre set up in Nice in 1933 by the University of Aix-Marseille. The Mayor of Nice nominated Paul Valéry of the Académie française as administrator and Maurice Mignon as Director. The academician ÉmileHenriot, Émile Henriot (1889–1961), who succeeded Valéry, called the CUM, with its premises at 65 Promenade des Anglais, the ‘Mediterranean equivalent of a small College of France”. (It is now a municipal centre for conferences, &c.) TSE was promoted to Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1951.
3.DenisSaurat, Denis Saurat (1890–1958), Anglo-French scholar, writer, broadcaster; Professor of French Language and Literature, King’s College London, 1926–50; Director of the Institut français du Royaume Uni, 1924–45; author of La Pensée de Milton (1920: Milton: Man and Thinker, 1925).
16.MargaretThorp, Margaret (née Farrand) Farrand (1891–1970), author and journalist – see Margaret Thorp in Biographical Register.
4.Paul ValéryValéry, Paul (1871–1945), poet, essayist and literary theorist: see Biographical Register.