[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]
The Post Office were very kind about your letter of the 15th, and delivered it on the morning of the 27th – which is very good time from Santa Barbara – or rather the postmark says Los Angeles (I hope you have been having a half-term holiday?) – IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2TSE 'cables' EH roses;a9 hope that the flowers did reach you, and the right kind, some hours later – when your letter reached me I trust that you were very sound asleep. And so I had enough to think about, yesterday. Now, my dear lady, if there is any self-reproach, it ought to be mine: and indeed you have made me very much ashamed of the whimpering tone of one or two letters – I can only partially control my feelings, but I ought to have command over my words; and I do not like to think that I ever call upon you to break the even tone of correspondence which has more or less imposed itself. I know that there are ways in which I shall want to express myself more freely at some future time, but I agree that the time has not come. IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)the possibility of divorcing;f2how TSE's attitude might seem;a7 mustHale, EmilyTSE's love for;x2in light of not divorcing VHE;c5 confess that during this year 1933 I have worried over what my attitude in some matters of life must seem like from your point of view, and have tried very uncertainly to project myself into it: wondered whether it might not seem to you merely a divided allegiance of weakness or cowardice, indicative of imperfect devotion – which would distress me immeasurably. ThisChristianityresignation, reconciliation, peace;c8;a7 point you need not answer; you may know however that this year has been to me a period of intensified and more arduous effort towards reconciliation to the inevitable. AfterHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3TSE on life before;f4 many years in which life had the stupefying effect of living in the noise and movement of a huge power-house or boilerfactory [sic] – interrupted by occasional lucid intervals or poetic explosions – then for a time a period of excited correspondence in which, from the nature of things, I could hardly look ahead – and this year, I assure you, the changes in my affairs and mode of life had conspired to produce an epoch of great unsettlement – it is very bitter, in making changes, to know that one can go so far and no farther. Well, dearest Emily, that’s that; and I thank you for your letter from the bottom of my heart. SometimesHale, EmilyTSE's love for;x2violent;c6 I have to face my feelings, for a little while, more openly than at others, and am appalled by their violence. Which makes reading such a letter feel like a physical stab of exquisite pain, a sort of ecstasy of death – as when I thought that the (then) inexperienced driver was going to precipitate us over the cliff.
I hope I may have soon a ‘plain’ letter of information about yourself – your health – whether you have taken on any extras. YesterdayCharles Eliot Norton Lectures (afterwards The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism)copy inscribed to EH;c9Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, The
Men! polish your teeth on rising and retiring;
Women! polish your finger nails:
You polish the tooth of the dog and the talon of the cat.
but I don’t believe that is the sort of poetry that Mr. Odell is used to, though to me it seems delightfully biblical. But Browne’s and Shaw’s opinion will go a long way, andWinnington-Ingram, Arthur Foley, Bishop of Londona dreaded censor;a1 fortunately it does not have to be submitted to the Bishop of London, who is an old Fogey.
IfEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1impasse over financial settlement;b5 no move is made in the next ten days, the present supply of funds is to be cut off. Bird is really a very good man, and no weakling; he is only 53 – lost one arm in the war, the left one.
Ittravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;b2possible itinerary;a1 is possible that I shall take a short jaunt on the 10th – I should like to get settled in London first. WeBlake, Georgeand TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;a4 have a small subsidiary firm in Edinburgh, the Porpoise Press, which deals in Scottish Nationalist literature etc. and George Blake in Glasgow runs it. FrankMorley, Frank Vigorsuggests tour of Scotland;c2 is going up to Glasgow to discuss the business with George, and wants me to accompany him; we should motor from Glasgow to Inverness, being about three days in Scotland. (ThereGunn, Neil M.and TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;a1 is an important Porpoise author in Inverness, who is said to be a really great authority on whisky).1 WeBrace, Donaldon TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;a4 may also take Donald Brace, my New York publisher, with us, as he has never been in Scotland either. AfterMorley, Frank Vigorsuggests trip to Paris;c4 that Frank intends to pick up Christina and go over to Paris for three days holiday. Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 trip to Paris;b3mooted;a1 am not certain whether I shall do that or not; butPound, Ezra;b1 IJoyce, James;b7 amCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin)and TSE's 1933 Paris trip;a5 writing, in case, to Pound and Joyce and Marguerite de Bassiano, and anyone else I can think of. I must get to Paris at some time, to renew my literary connexions there, but November is not the pleasantest time of year there, or in Scotland either, for that matter.2
1.NeilGunn, Neil M. M. Gunn (1891–1973), Scottish novelist who worked as a Customs and Excise officer, 1920–37, was to publish Whisky and Scotland (1935): see Biographical Register.
Frank Morley, Literary Britain: A Reader’s Guide to Writers and Landmarks (1980), 463: ‘Neil Gunn … was living at Inverness in the years between the two world wars when George Blake and I, and on one occasion T. S. Eliot, were privileged to stay … One'Rannoch, by Glencoe'as remembered by Morley;a2n item I remember from that between-wars drive from Glasgow to Inverness with Eliot was the pause we made on Rannoch Moor. It was some weeks later that Eliot handed me his short poem […] called “Rannoch, by Glencoe”.’
2.FrankMorley, Frank Vigorwhich he plans out;c3n Morleytravels, trips and plansTSE's 1933 tour of Scotland;b2Morley's preparations for;a2n to George Blake (who was working for Associated Scottish Newspapers, Glasgow), 26 Oct. 1933: ‘There is a grand chance of a real junket, for I propose to bring with me Eliot as well as Brace. As you know, Eliot is very interested in affairs in Scotland, though he knows comparatively nothing of the country; and Brace … is greatly tempted by the thought of the expedition. Of course it is rather a large army to bring, but if it does sound manageable, it would be a really fine trip for all concerned. Could you and Ellie endure three of us (I admit it is a tall order, and we won’t be disgruntled if she says no) for breakfast at your flat on Armistice Saturday? We shouldn’t be able to come up before the Friday night train, but we should appear ravenous by breakfast time on Saturday. The next question is if the famous car and its magnificent driver (I hope to God you had the wheels stuck on) be respectively able and willing to trundle across to Inverness at the firm’s expense. The next question is about dinner at Inverness. It would seem to me a terrible load to plant on Mrs Gunn; and what I would hope to arrange, if this would be taken in good part and not upset the good lady’s pride, would be supper for the four us and the Gunns at the appropriate Inverness hotel. If, then, the Gunns would let us spend the evening at their house, and allow you and me to spend the night there, Brace and Eliot ought to snuggle down contentedly at the aforesaid hotel … If you feel strong enough on the Sunday, and haven’t run out of petrol as you did before, could we get back to Glasgow in time to take you and Ellie out to dinner and to one of the Sunday theatres? There is just this snag, that if there is a Sunday night train back to London, we must catch it for the most complicated plans are set whereby Brace and Eliot and I have to leave London at 11 o’clock Monday for Paris … I am going to dress Eliot up to look like Brace, and Brace to look like Eliot, and I shall wear my wig which make[s] me look like A. G. Street’.
When Blake warned on 1 Nov., ‘it would be well to be decently clad, for we have after all to cross three 1200ft. passes,’ Frank Morley responded, 3 Nov.: ‘Eliot has a bearskin coat which will keep him warm on any Crampion, and I shall try to get a deer-stalker hat for Brace. Be prepared for surprises in the shape of disguises.’
10.GeorgeBlake, George Blake (1893–1961), novelist, journalist, publisher: see Biographical Register.
6.DonaldBrace, Donald Brace (1881–1955), publisher; co-founder of Harcourt, Brace: see Biographical Register.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
4.MargueriteCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin) Caetani, née Chapin (1880–1963) – Princesse di Bassiano – literary patron and editor: see Biographical Register. LéliaCaetani, Lélia Caetani (1913–77), sole daughter, was to marry Hubert Howard (1908–87), a scion of the English Catholic House of Howard, who worked to preserve the Caetani heritage at Rome and at the castle of Sermoneta.
1.NeilGunn, Neil M. M. Gunn (1891–1973), Scottish novelist who worked as a Customs and Excise officer, 1920–37, was to publish Whisky and Scotland (1935): see Biographical Register.
1.JamesJoyce, James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist, playwright, poet; author of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), Finnegans Wake (1939).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
3.Ezra PoundPound, Ezra (1885–1972), American poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.MartinShaw, Martin Shaw (1875–1958), composer of stage works, choral pieces and recital ballads: see Biographical Register.