[41 Brimmer St.; forwarded to 47 Morelands Terrace, New Bedford]
It might be considered that by failing to write in time for the last mail I have forfeited my right to write by this mail again; but my excuse or pretext is, that being uncertain of your address at the moment when the mail arrives, I think I am entitled to write this to Brimmer Street, having sent the other to New Bedford. I hope that one at least will reach you promptly, and the other a day or two later.
Londonsummerin London;a5 is stewing in heat again to-day, and makes me long all the more for my week on the Atlantic. I am sleepy and stupid. IBowen, Elizabeth (Mrs Cameron)described;a2 am thankful to say that our visit to Oxford to Mrs. Cameron’s is postponed, and I hope will never take place; Mrs. C. (née Bowen of Bowensourt [sic], County Cork) is a very nice woman indeed; but to go down to Oxford in a very small car in the afternoon and return after dinner in the evening is no joke – about 115 miles. AndCriterion, Theits monthly meetings fatigue TSE;a1 the Criterion evenings always leave me pretty exhausted. August promises to be a quiet month, so far as one can foretell, as I have had no notice of any likely American visitors this year. I suppose they are mostly too poor. TheNoyeses, thespeculation as to the wealth of;a4 Noyeses showed no signs of penury, but I imagine that Pa Noyes’s property is all tied up for him by trustees in gilt-edged stock, which still pays interest, even if hardly saleable. IHale, Emilyfinances;w5;a4 hope that your tiny income is well and safely invested. I shall do pretty well this coming year, withCharles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetrycritical to TSE's finances;b1 my lectures andSelected EssaysTSE hopeful of royalties from;a5 the advance royalties on both sides for my Selected Essays, andJohn Dryden: Poet – Dramatist – CriticTSE hopeful of American royalties on;a2 in New York for my three (British) Broadcast talks on Dryden (I am not publishing it in England);1 butfinances (TSE's)TSE's Income Tax;a1 I shall have heavy expenses here, and Income Tax on both sides will take a great deal; so I shall be more than content if I can just pay up all my arrears and start afresh.
FurthermoreEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)considers flat in Gordon Square;b9, V. wants to move again, to take a flat, or share a house, in Bloomsbury. It51 Gordon Square, Londonthe Eliots nearly move to;a1 is theStrachey, Pernel;a1 StracheysStrachey, Philippa ('Pippa');a1’ house in Gordon Square.2 There are some great advantages: it is a pretty flat, and the square is beautiful, and many of her friends live near, and Philippa and Pernel Strachey who inhabit the lower part are most charming women, and there is an air of the highest respectability about it. And V. is so much a creature of the environment that this environment would be very good for her – her own people being distinctly outsiders socially. On the other hand, there are some grave practical disadvantages about the flat itself. Philippa is eager to have us, and has met me on the subject of rent. I have stipulated (1) that the moving must be done after I leave and (2) that68 Clarence Gate Gardens, Londonpotential swap for 51 Gordon Square;a1 I must assign the lease of Clarence Gate Gardens before I sign the lease for another – I cannot be caught again with two residences on my hands, and (3) V. must do all the work of selling the present flat herself, as I haven’t time.
IAmericaMaine;f6TSE recalls swimming off;a3 hope thattravels, trips and plansEH's 1932 summer holidays;a3;a5 the Permanent Wave is being tested by the Atlantic Waves: or perhaps ladies who are not shingled confine their heads in waterproof caps like aeronauts. In my time, ladies wore black stockings, skirts, long sleeves, possibly even cotton gloves; but I suppose that times have changed? I wish I could be bathing on the Maine coast myself; shallAmericaCalifornia;d3swimming in the Pacific;a4 I be able to bathe in the Pacific? I should boast of that, and join the Travellers’ Club on the strength of it. You will have to tell me what the climate is: if I go from St. Louis to California, and thence to St. Paul, I expect I shall want every variety of clothing. I shall buy a small Kodak, and take innumerable photographs of you.
1.John Dryden: Poet – Dramatist – Critic (New York: Terence & Elsa Holliday, 18 Oct. 1932).
2.Mary Hutchinson had suggested that the Eliots take rooms at 51 Gordon Square; nearby were Adrian and Karin Stephen at no. 50; the Keyneses at no. 46; the Woolfs at 52 Tavistock Square.
4.ElizabethBowen, Elizabeth (Mrs Cameron) Bowen (1899–1973) – Mrs Alan Cameron – Irish-born novelist; author of The Last September (1929), The Death of the Heart (1938), The Heat of the Day (1949). See Victoria Glendinning, Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer (1977); Hermione Lee, Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation (1981). TSE to Desmond Hawkins, 3 Feb. 1937: ‘She has a very definite place, and a pretty high one, amongst novelists of her kind.’
4.Strachey’sStrachey, Philippa ('Pippa') several sisters included Philippa Strachey (1872–1968) – ‘Pippa’ – who was prominent in the movement for women’s rights. As Secretary of the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage she organised in 1907 the first mass feminist demonstration of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, and during WW1 she organised the Women’s Service (finding jobs for women and training them for skilled work). She was Secretary of the London Society for Women’s Service, 1918–51. PernelStrachey, Pernel Strachey (1876–1951), French scholar, was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, 1923–41. Another sister with whom TSE was acquainted was Ray (Rachel) Strachey (1887–1940), feminist activist, politician and writer; author of Women’s Suffrage and Women’s Service (1927). See Jennifer Holmes, A Working Woman: The Remarkable Life of Ray Strachey (1029); Barbara Caine, Bombay to Bloomsbury: A Biography of the Strachey Family (Oxford, 2005).
4.Strachey’sStrachey, Philippa ('Pippa') several sisters included Philippa Strachey (1872–1968) – ‘Pippa’ – who was prominent in the movement for women’s rights. As Secretary of the London National Society for Women’s Suffrage she organised in 1907 the first mass feminist demonstration of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, and during WW1 she organised the Women’s Service (finding jobs for women and training them for skilled work). She was Secretary of the London Society for Women’s Service, 1918–51. PernelStrachey, Pernel Strachey (1876–1951), French scholar, was Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, 1923–41. Another sister with whom TSE was acquainted was Ray (Rachel) Strachey (1887–1940), feminist activist, politician and writer; author of Women’s Suffrage and Women’s Service (1927). See Jennifer Holmes, A Working Woman: The Remarkable Life of Ray Strachey (1029); Barbara Caine, Bombay to Bloomsbury: A Biography of the Strachey Family (Oxford, 2005).