[No surviving envelope]
[Pike’s Farm, Crowhurst,
near Lingfield, Surrey]
It seems much more than a long time since I heard from you – it seems as if I had stepped through the looking glass into another world. Yet at no time have you been more constantly in my thoughts. UntilHale, EmilyTSE fears accident befalling;b5 my practical anxieties about you are relieved, my thoughts and feelings are unlikely to flow easily onto paper. It is and will always be so with me, that when I am worried about your practical affairs all expression is numbed: and indeed, what is the use of giving rein to thought or feeling, when I do not even know that you are alive? At such times, all my energy goes, I suspect, into protecting and preparing myself for the possible shock of bad news. I hope that you will have responded to my prayer and sent me a brief note to Lingfield (I observe that it is always when one has been most apprehensive about you that you take the most offhand manner about yourself). BecausePike's FarmTSE's situation at;a7 I shall probably have to find other accommodation after the 15th August, as my landlady wants to take her holiday then; the Eames’s do not take lodgers ordinarily, and have only taken me to oblige the Morleys; and he is the Manager of the Brick Yard; and they have no children; so they do not really need the money – they only charge me 25 shillings a week, and Mrs. E. looks after me well. My local photographs have not yet been called for.
I am very tired, I believe: not from overwork, but I have not yet been able to really relax – my nearest substitute has been torpor, which is not the same as rest. NeitherAmericaRandolph, New Hampshire;g91933 Eliot family holiday in;a1 the week in New Hampshire, nor that on the boat really did me much good; the only interval which did me any good was the week in California. ISelwyn, Revd Edward Gordon, Dean of Winchesteron TSE's 1933 homecoming itinerary;a2 go to the Dean of Winchester for the weekend of the 29th; totravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 Faber summer holiday;b1set for mid-August;a1 the Fabers for a week on the 15th August or thereabouts; IDobrée, Bonamy;a7 think of inviting myself to Bonamy Dobree’s and to one or two other places. But I most want to settle down; IMorleys, theTSE fears overburdening;a4 would not stay here indefinitely in any case because it means dining always with the Morleys, and although this is very pleasant, I fear their tiring of me, and one does like to be quite independent. Nor could I live without a car, and I could hardly afford that and I don’t like cars anyway. Whether I shall be able to live in London, or how soon I can live in London, I do not know. There is something absurd, undignified, and exasperating about remaining in concealment; the great majority of people, short of criminals, do not know what it means. IBird, Ernestas solicitor;a3 can say with thankfulness however, that I have a first rate solicitor, I think as good a man for my purpose as could be found; and I have very loyal friends – more than I supposed. IHinkleys, theapprised of TSE's separation;d1 hearSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister)informs the Hinkleys of TSE's separation;c7 from Ada that she has now told the Hinkleys, and that they are entirely pleased; andEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister)congratulates TSE on separation;c4 I have a letter from Marian expressing gratification. PenelopeNoyes, Penelope BarkerVHE cables for TSE's whereabouts;c5 mustEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)seeks TSE's whereabouts;d4 at least suspect what is happening, as V. cabled her to ask where I was – P. at Cataumet of course did not have the faintest idea.
IChild, Maurice;a2 am not speaking at the Albert Hall (I mean, being Chairman). This was the counsel of the Dean of Rochester. IUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsand TSE's 1933 return;b6 spent the weekend there. RochesterEnglandRochester;i5as Dickens described;a1 is a delightful place – haveDickens, CharlesThe Mystery of Edwin Drood;a8 youDickens, Charleshis description of Rochester;a1 ever read Dickens’ Edwin Drood? it gives a good description.1 TheEnglandreposeful;a9 Deanery garden is a lovely peaceful spot – aAmericawhere age is not antiquity;b2 repose found nowhere in America, where usually age is associated with decay and sadness, and in England it can be associated with the same life and the same activities going on vigorously. No hungry generations tread down the generations2 of rooks whirling about the Dean’s garden, where they must have been cawing continuously for a thousand years. WeBligh, Florence Rose, Countess of Darnley;a1 went to lunch with the Lady Bountiful of Rochester one Dowager Lady Darnley, who was an Australian beauty forty years ago.3 She composes walzes [sic], but refused to play any on account of arthritis, has a room full of paintings ‘everyone [sic] painted by some dear friend of mine’ including the Princess Louise[,] who [sic] potters about with watercolours,4 asked me whether I wrote novels, didn’t I? and what sort of landscape I found most inspiring. She was very lively, and on our leaving presented everyone (I don’t know why) with a box of safety matches. In the evening called upon Mrs. Day whose husband is ex-Chancellor of the Diocese; she is a distant cousin of mine from Boston, née Bullard. In the intervals, cathedral services (a good, but not very remarkable minster) (when I say minster I don’t mean minister I mean cathedral) and discussed my affairs with the Dean. This was very satisfactory.
I fear that for several weeks to come, if not longer, I shall be plagued by persistent attempts to see me.
Later, I shall answer your last three letters. Not yet, for the present I must think about what I must, and feel as little as I can.
To my dear Lady, salutation.
[Various photographs enclosed with annotations on the back]
1.The town of ‘Cloisterham’ in Dickens’s unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) stands for Rochester, Kent.
2.‘No hungry generations tread thee down’ (John Keats, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’).
3.FlorenceBligh, Florence Rose, Countess of Darnley Rose Bligh (née Morphy), Countess of Darnley (1860–1944), Australian-born widow of Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley.
4.Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848–1939) – sixth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – was an accomplished artist and sculptor.
3.FlorenceBligh, Florence Rose, Countess of Darnley Rose Bligh (née Morphy), Countess of Darnley (1860–1944), Australian-born widow of Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley.
7.MauriceChild, Maurice Child (1884–1950), Anglican priest; librarian of Pusey House, Oxford; General Secretary of the English Church Union.
3.Bonamy DobréeDobrée, Bonamy (1891–1974), scholar and editor: see Biographical Register.
1.Marian/MarionEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister) Cushing Eliot (1877–1964), fourth child of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Eliot: see Biographical Register.
12.PenelopeNoyes, Penelope Barker Barker Noyes (1891–1977), who was descended from settlers of the Plymouth Colony, lived in a historic colonial house (built in 1894 for her father James Atkins Noyes) at 1 Highland Street, Cambridge, MA. Unitarian. She was a close friend of EH.
9.RevdSelwyn, Revd Edward Gordon, Dean of Winchester Edward Gordon Selwyn (1885–1959), editor of Theology: A Monthly Journal of Historic Christianity, 1920–33. Educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge (Newcastle Scholar; Porson Scholar and Prizeman; Waddington Scholar; Browne’s Medallist; 2nd Chancellor’s Medallist), he was Rector of Redhill, Havant, 1919–30; Provost in Convocation, 1921–31; Dean of Winchester, 1931–58. Works include The Approach to Christianity (1925); Essays Catholic & Critical by Members of the Anglican Communion (ed., 1926). In 1910, he married Phyllis Eleanor Hoskyns, daughter of E. C. Hoskyns (then Bishop of Southwell).
2.AdaSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister) Eliot Sheffield (1869–1943), eldest of the seven Eliot children; author of The Social Case History: Its Construction and Content (1920) and Social Insight in Case Situations (1937): see Biographical Register.