[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
19 Carlyle Mansions
27 September 1955
Dearest Emily

I am writing rather hastily to thank you for yours of the 23d. I have many letters I ought to write, includingPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);o1 one in reply to your aunt: I was so angry still at the time when it arrived that I postponed answering until I had cooled. ITalcott, Priscilla Stearns;a3 had my grand-niece Priscilla for five days (not here, of course, but at Basil Street) and had to give her all the time I could spare.1 She is a pathetic child (twenty-one, and in her senior year at an institution called Skidmore College) and very much the product of parents who could not get on, and of a divorce; and now that her father is dead there is no one very near to her. NowGiroux, Robert ('Bob')in London;a9 Robert Giroux is here; and I depend so much upon him when I am in New York that I must show him every hospitality I can here. AndMcKnight Kauffer, EdwardTSE opens Kauffer Memorial Exhibition;a7 Next week I have the unwelcome task of opening an exhibition of the late McKnight Kauffer’s posters, simply because I was more a friend of his than perhaps anyone in England.2 OneFeuillère, Edwigedelights TSE;a1 delightful experience since I last wrote: throughDukes, Ashley;h5 theDumas, Alexandre, filsLa Dame aux camélias;a1 kindness of Ashley Dukes I saw Edwige Feuillère3 in La DAME AUX (I can’t control this machine[)] La Dame aux Camelias. She is a great actress: it was amazing to see what she made of a play which could easily seem ridiculous – especially the last scene. And played very quietly indeed. There is no English actress to equal her, to-day.

Yes, there are insoluble problems: and certainly the problem of your aunt will only end with death. And she seems physically so robust. A child to the end, spoiled by her husband and by her friends. Oh dear I am so sorry.

Lovingly
Tom

MegNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine;c9 writes that Doreen had had to have an operation on her knee.

1.Mary Trevelyan, ‘The Pope of Russell Square’: ‘15 September [1955]: … The niece had arrived yesterday “a little slip of a thing and very thin. I offered to present her with an overcoat – perhaps you could advise her. I sent her some flowers and looked in on her on the way back from the office.”’

2.The E. McKnight Kauffer Memorial Exhibition, organised by the Society of Industrial Artists in association with the Royal Society of Arts, ran at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 6 Oct.–27 Nov. 1955. TSE thought Kauffer ‘an exceptionally lovable man’: see ‘Address at the E. McKnight Kauffer Memorial Exhibition’: CProse 8, 101–3.

3.EdwigeFeuillère, Edwige Feuillère (1907–98): French stage and screen actor.

Dukes, Ashley, described by Yeats to TSE, approaches Doone over Mercury Theatre season, lines up Mercury Murder revival, with which he is pleased, his ambitions for Murder, which Brace upsets, instructed as to Murder New York negotiations, hustling in New York, from where he reports, agrees about Speaight's decline, explains miscarriage of 1936 American production, at 100th performance of Murder, latest plans for Murder, revised plans for New York, dares to call TSE in morning, TSE's royalty arrangement with, policing pirate productions of Murder, discusses Murder's America rights, full of grand desgins, takes Browne into partnership, on Murder's Abdication Crisis resonance, among Family Reunion's first readers, plans for Murder, American Murder tour, against Family Reunion as title, pleased with Family Reunion fragment, sent full Family Reunion draft, lets EH down, consulted over Gielgud contract, on Gielgud and Family Reunion, negotiating with Saint-Denis, less persuaded by Family Reunion, optimistic on Family Reunion transfer, instructed on Family Reunion licensing, fields Orson Welles enquiry, suggests wartime Murder revival, which he mounts without consulting TSE, attempting season of miniature operas, submits theatrical reminiscences to TSE, and Murder film rights, book launch for memoirs, reports on TSE's continental productions, gives Garrick Club dinner for TSE, takes full control of Mercury, accompanies TSE to Germany, La Mandragola, The Scene is Changed, Too Many Twins,
see also Dukes, the

4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.

Dumas, Alexandre, fils, La Dame aux camélias,
Feuillère, Edwige, delights TSE,

3.EdwigeFeuillère, Edwige Feuillère (1907–98): French stage and screen actor.

Giroux, Robert ('Bob'), sees TSE off at La Guardia, TSE's New York mainstay, in London,

7.RobertGiroux, Robert ('Bob') Giroux (1914–2008): American book editor and publisher: see Biographical Register.

McKnight Kauffer, Edward, gossiping at Clive Bell's, his cover for Triumphal March, as husband, takes Hitleresque photo, TSE dislikes photograph by, TSE opens Kauffer Memorial Exhibition, which involves television appearance,
see also McKnight Kauffers, the

2.EdwardMcKnight Kauffer, Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954), American artist and illustrator: see Biographical Register. His partner was Marion Dorn (1896–1964), textile designer.

Nason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine, sends TSE birthday letter, sends TSE birthday cake, sends TSE box of toffee, apparently forgets TSE's birthday, but remembers, ill, expecting operation, among the saved, a 'Cosy Pet', and sister to lunch, given small iron wheelbarrow, her health,

1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.

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
Talcott, Priscilla Stearns, speaks of 'dates',

4.PriscillaTalcott, Priscilla Stearns Stearns Talcott (b. 19 Feb. 1934), daughter of Agnew Talcott and Charlotte Stearns Smith.