[1418 EastHale, Emilyreturned to California;c8 63d St., Seattle; forwarded to Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College]
ThisFabers, the1933 summer holiday with;b2 istravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 Faber summer holiday;b1described;a6 the first chance I have had to write all the week: Geoffrey has gone to shoot grouse, and Enid has taken the children to the seashore to bathe. WhatCriterion, TheOctober 1933;c5prepared on holiday;a2 times I have had hitherto have had to be spent in getting the Criterion ready for press; and one does not get a great deal of time to oneself on a visit.
IWalesTSE's first impressions of;a1 arrived on Monday after a long hot journey, going through industrial districts of South Wales – Newport, Swansea and so on. Change at Carmarthen. From there a slow little branch line. English becomes more infrequent. A small brown boy in the train, a chubby Neapolitan-looking aborigine, tried to talk to me in his native language, but finding nothing came of it threw his ball at me and began to sing at the top of his voice, his mother taking another part – sang much better than any English boy of his age. The scenery fine from that point to Lampeter, where I was met by car. Difficult to describe the impalpable differences between Welsh landscape and English. Wales is very lush, in parts heavily wooded and in parts barren and with its small whitewashed cottages and stone walls looks much like my notion of what Ireland must be. The whole country is shaggier looking than England; no one detail very different, but the total effect is wholly foreign. Most of the people can speak English pretty fluently, though their accent makes them difficult to follow; they are more affable than the English, lively and inquisitive. I feel as much in a foreign country as I should in France – I believe more so.
TheTy Glyn Aeron, Walesdescribed for EH;a1 FabersFabers, theTy Glyn Aeron described;b3 have what I heard Geoffrey describe as a ‘nice little house’ and sixty acres or so – five servants, trout stream, large gardens, bathing pool, tennis court, croquet lawn. G. is as much the country squire as possible. Ann has her best friend here, named Jane; AuntRichards, Gwynedd;a1 Gwynydd [sc. Gwynedd] has been here, andFaber, Dorothy Brace;a1 I believe Aunt Dorothy is expected tonight.1 Bathing in the pool is part of the routine; the pneumatic Seal I brought is a great success, and they try to ride him and fall splash. It is the only sport in which I indulge. The other day there was a tennis party, but the tennis was far above my style, soVaughan, Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia (née de Bittencourt), Countess of Lisburneclaims to remember TSE;a1 I talked to the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of the County instead. She is Chilean by birth, and deaf.2 She said she was sure she had met me before. I couldn’t think what to say to that, I never can; so Enid suggested that as we both knew Paris very well we might have met there. I said I hadn’t been to Paris for five years. Lady Lisburne said she hadn’t been for six years. Well, I said, then it must have been in Paris that we met! After tea, the L.L. said he hears I have been in America lately, and how did I like it? Always too much trouble to explain to such people what my relation to that country really is, so I said it is a delightful country to visit. He says did I meet his friend Norman Doubleday? No, but I used to know the Pages. Etc. We have also been to see a grotto on the seashore called the Monk’s Cave, which is disappointing but the coast itself beautiful. AndEnglandEnglish traditions;c4shooting;a3 I have been out with the guns. A number of ladies and gentlemen assemble on a moor (moor very beautiful with heather, purple, high, distant views of surrounding country and Plinlimmon), gentlemen looking like retired Majors (which they often are) ladies very horsy and horsefaced in tweeds with red setters, with their shot guns; they distribute themselves over the moor behind little screens of leaves called butts. Then the beaters drive the grouse to fly over the heads of the ladies and gentlemen. While I was there I did not see a single bird, but afterwards I believe that two grouse were shot to go round among eight people. As I can neither hunt, shoot nor fish, I cannot attempt to make any impression on such people; if they are elderly enough, I try to appear as a Modest Young Man; if they are younger I try to appear as a shrewd but kindly City Man.
AFabers, therequest TSE to write play;b4 loft is to be reconstructed to make a theatre for the children, and I am to be asked to write a play for them.
I have been very happy here with these people, and they are very kind. It has been a very strange life this summer, leading a sort of secondary existence about other people’s homes. NextSociety of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire;a5 week I go to Kelham for a week; I think a stay among religious celibates may relieve the feeling. I must stop or I shall miss the post: and there is not another for two days. I go to Lingfield on Thursday, hoping to find a letter, O my dear.3
1.GwyneddRichards, Gwynedd was Enid Faber’s sister; DorothyFaber, Dorothy Brace was Geoffrey Faber’s sister.
2.ErnestVaughan, Ernest, 7th Earl of Lisburne Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne (1892–1963), landowner, was Lord-Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, 1923–56. HisVaughan, Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia (née de Bittencourt), Countess of Lisburne first wife (m. 1914) was Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia de Bittencourt, daughter of Don Julio Fermine Albert de Bittencourt, of the Chilean legation.
3.Cf. the Scottish carol ‘O my dear heart …’
1.GwyneddRichards, Gwynedd was Enid Faber’s sister; DorothyFaber, Dorothy Brace was Geoffrey Faber’s sister.
1.GwyneddRichards, Gwynedd was Enid Faber’s sister; DorothyFaber, Dorothy Brace was Geoffrey Faber’s sister.
2.ErnestVaughan, Ernest, 7th Earl of Lisburne Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne (1892–1963), landowner, was Lord-Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, 1923–56. HisVaughan, Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia (née de Bittencourt), Countess of Lisburne first wife (m. 1914) was Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia de Bittencourt, daughter of Don Julio Fermine Albert de Bittencourt, of the Chilean legation.
2.ErnestVaughan, Ernest, 7th Earl of Lisburne Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne (1892–1963), landowner, was Lord-Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, 1923–56. HisVaughan, Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia (née de Bittencourt), Countess of Lisburne first wife (m. 1914) was Maria Isabel Regina Aspasia de Bittencourt, daughter of Don Julio Fermine Albert de Bittencourt, of the Chilean legation.