[Grace Toll Hall, Scripps College, Claremont]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
MS
Oxford & Cambridge Club
2. Dec. 1933.
Dearest Lady,

This is merely an interim note – as you will have judged from its being written – as I had not enough time on Wednesday or Thursday – betweenMorleys, thetheir Thanksgiving parties;b2 Thanksgiving Day at the Morleys (I know we were a week late, but we thought it ought to be the last Thursday in November) andPickthorn, Kennethhosts TSE in Cambridge;a2 the weekend at Cambridge. Or rather beer lunch and returning to Courtfield Road to re-packing my bag for Cambridge. IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1separation deed drawn up;b8 came up from Lingfield this morning to have an interview with Bird: heBird, Ernestdelivers separation deed to James;a6 has gotJames, Alfredreceives separation deed;a5 the Separation Deed drawn up & [will] hand it to James on Monday. AFabers, theat the Morleys' party;b7Faber, Richard ('Dick')Fabers, theFaber, AnnFabers, theFaber, Enid EleanorFabers, theFaber, GeoffreyFabers, theFaber, Thomas Erle ('Tom', TSE's godson)Fabers, the quiet party at Lingfield, including the Fabers, who drove me down. I won 8/- at poker, but we were all amateurs: on the other hand I brought a cheese and a bottle of Moselle. AtWest, Rebeccaat Clive Bell's;a1 Clive’sColefax, Lady Sibyl (née Halsey)dislike refreshed;a2 on Tuesday were Rebecca West1 – pleasant, uninteresting, coarse-fibred woman of about my age – and Lady Colfax [sic], whom I never want to see. ButBell, Clivegossiping again with TSE;a7 Clive does not change with the years, and we sat gossiping and drinking brandy till 4.30, whenWoolfs, the;b5Woolf, LeonardWoolfs, theWoolf, VirginiaWoolfs, the I had to hurry away to tea with Leonard & Virginia, who were very satisfactory. TheRichardses, the;a2 Ivor Richards’s came to dine with the Pickthorns tonight, & theSpens, Will;a3 Spens’s to lunch tomorrow (SpensCorpus Christi College, Cambridge;a5 – former Vice Chancellor of Cambridge – Master of Corpus, prominent Anglo-Catholic).

My anxiety of the moment is whether your next letter (if any) will arrive at Lingfield or here. I enquire for letters at both places with great anxiety. You observe that I have now given up the hope of any regular communications any more, & am more resigned to be humbly thankful if and when I hear from you at all. I always try to be prepared for the worst in this as well as ordinary affairs of life. However, I shall of course continue to write regularly until you tell me not to. Itwinterin London;a2 is winter here – bitter frosty weather – ‘the very dead of winter[’]. 2

Your adoring
Tom

1.RebeccaWest, Rebecca West (1892–1983) – nom de plume of Cicily Isabel Fairfield – author, journalist, critic, wrote for newspapers including The Freewoman, The Star, Daily News and New Statesman; later for the New Yorker. Her novels include The Return of the Soldier (1918) and The Fountain Overflows (1956); and her non-fiction included Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (2 vols, 1941), The Meaning of Treason (1949) and The Vassall Affair (1963). For some years the lover of H. G. Wells, in 1930 she married a banker named Henry Andrews. Appointed Dame of the British Empire in 1959, she was also made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and a Companion of Literature.

2.Journey of the Magi (1927), 5.

Bell, Clive, lunches TSE and the Woolfs, described for EH, another Bloomsbury lunch with, gossips with TSE, usual lunch marred by Lady Colefax, duels with TSE at dinner-party, gossiping again with TSE, during TSE's Charleston visit, dines with JDH, Garnett and TSE, hosts lunch-party,

12.CliveBell, Clive Bell (1881–1964), author and critic of art: see Biographical Register.

Bird, Ernest, TSE shares details of his return to England with, TSE's consultations with, as solicitor, hosts discussion of separation terms, convenes meeting with TSE, Maurice and Alfred James, delivers separation deed to James, and retrieving TSE's property, instructed in case of death,
Colefax, Lady Sibyl (née Halsey), TSE's dislike for, dislike refreshed, prejudices TSE against Dorothy Wellesley, gives dinner for the Wavells, ill with 'broken head',

4.SibylColefax, Lady Sibyl (née Halsey), Lady Colefax (1874–1950), socialite and professional decorator; was married in 1901 to Sir Arthur Colefax, lawyer. John Hayward called her (New York Sun, 25 Aug. 1934) ‘perhaps the best, certainly the cleverest, hostess in London at the present time. As an impresario she is unequaled, but there is far too much circulation and hubbub at her parties to entitle her to be called a salonière.’ See Kirsty McLeod, A Passion for Friendship (1991); Siân Evans, Queen Bees: Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Hostesses Between the Wars (2016).

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, TSE's friends at, honorary fellowship coveted at, TSE's favourite Oxbridge college, TSE twice guest at, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, awards TSE degree, and the Boutwood Lectures, and Tom Faber,
Eliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood), takes a liking to EH, EH urged not to blame, relations with Charles Buckle, unbearable to holiday with, takes to Margaret Thorp, accompanies TSE to Poetry Bookshop, and 57 Chester Terrace, on TSE's religion, TSE declines invitations excluding, her driving, hosts various writers to tea, considers flat in Gordon Square, arranges large tea-party, as theatregoer, declares desire to make confession, taken to Eastbourne, recalls the Eliots' visit to Rodmell, Alida Monro reports on, in Alida Monro's opinion, falls out with Lucy Thayer, meets TSE for last time at solicitors, seeks TSE's whereabouts, haunts TSE in London, such that he forgoes the theatre, news of, inquires after Man Ray portrait, harries F&F office, on Mosley Albert Hall rally, dies, her funeral, Requiem Mass for, Theresa remembers, marriage to, TSE on entering into, alleged affair with Bertrand Russell, sexual relations, its morbidity, TSE on his own incapacity, its torments providential on reflection, in OM's opinion, its lessons, humiliating, TSE's father's reaction, unrecognised by TSE, to outsiders, TSE reflects on, painful yet stimulating, as an act of self-rupture, drug habits, sleeping draughts, in TSE's absence, 1926 bromidia delusions, mental state, childlike, benefits from active social life, compared to EH's mother's, at the Malmaison sanatorium, and dining in public, TSE's influence on, post-separation, the prospect of institutionalising, prompts institutionalisation crisis-meeting, and TSE's departure for America, against TSE going, adjusting to the prospect, might coordinate with a return to Malmaison, in denial as to, threatens to come, from which TSE tries to dissuade her, aggrieved at being left, possible arrangements in TSE's absence, still in denial as to, TSE dreads scene of departure, possibly beneficial to VHE, TSE describes the moment of departure, separation from, TSE, for and against, out of the question, obstructed by self-deception and responsibility, reasons for not having happened, Dr Miller's opinion on, contemplated, plotted, would necessitate TSE's sequestration, TSE encouraged in his determination, Alida Monro independently suggests, communication with solicitors on, TSE describes going through with, VHE's response before and after meeting at solicitors, impasse over financial settlement, which VHE misrepresents to friends, VHE in denial over, separation deed drawn up, which is yet unsigned, delayed by death of lawyer, general impasse, financial settlement put into force, complicated by VHE renewing lease on flat, efforts to retrieve TSE's property, which is eventually recovered, financial consequences, the possibility of divorcing, TSE's objections to, against what TSE symbolises, likened to Newman's conversion, in common and canon law, in Ada's opinion, how TSE's attitude might seem, would involve permanent division from Church, inimical to future TSE's happiness, her death, and Theresa on TSE remarrying, TSE's shifting response to, formerly wished for, EH reflects on,
see also Eliots, the T. S.
Fabers, the, model of happiness and respectability, their domestic situation, Faber children to tea chez Eliot, visit TSE at Pike's Farm, compared to the Morleys, closer to TSE than to VHE, 1933 summer holiday with, Ty Glyn Aeron described, request TSE to write play, too absorbed in their children, at the Morleys' party, give anti-Nazi party for author, host poker party, 1934 summer holiday with, take TSE to lunch in Oxford, 1935 summer holiday with, for which the children are bought tent, give party, 1936 summer holiday with, at Morleys' Thanksgiving Day party, sail model boats with TSE, and TSE's foggy adventure, cinema-going with TSE, take TSE to Witch of Edmonton, and Morleys take TSE to pantomime, and TSE attend opening of Ascent of F6, 1937 summer holiday with, and the Bradfield Greek play, School for Scandal with, take TSE to pantomime again, 1938 summer holiday with, 1939 summer holiday with, offer possible wartime refuge, 1940 summer holiday with, host TSE in Hampstead during war, TSE makes bread sauce for, brought vegetables from Shamley, move to Minsted, and TSE attend musical revue, 1941 summer holiday with, Minsted as substitute for nursing-home, trying to sell Welsh home, take TSE to International Squadron, invite TSE to Wales for Christmas, host TSE at Minsted, away fishing in Scotland, mourn TSE's post-war independence, 1947 Minsted summer stay, 1948 Minsted summer stay, host TSE for weekend, on 1950 South Africa trip, on TSE's 1951 Spain trip, 1951 Minsted summer stay, 1952 Minsted summer stay, 1953 Minsted summer stay, on 1953–4 South Africa trip, 35th wedding anniversary weekend,
James, Alfred, to communicate TSE's wish to separate to VHE, ineffectual over separation, receives separation deed,
Morleys, the, join the Eliots in Eastbourne, TSE fears overburdening, go on holiday to Norway, more TSE's friend than VHE's, return from Norway, life at Pike's Farm among, reading Dickens aloud to, their Thanksgiving parties, suitable companions to Varsity Cricket Match, and TSE to Laughton's Macbeth, TSE's June 1934 fortnight with, and certain 'bathers' photographs', and TSE play 'GO', attend Richard II with EH, TSE's New Years celebrated with, take TSE to Evelyn Prentice and Laurel & Hardy, TSE's return from Wales with, TSE's September 1935 week with, leave for New York, one of two regular ports-of-call, see EH in Boston, safely returned from New York, TSE reads Dr Johnson to, compared to the Tandys, add to their menagerie, reiterate gratitude for EH's peppermints, in Paris with TSE, give TSE copy of Don Quixote, and Fabers take TSE to pantomime, and TSE's Salzburg expedition, join Dorothy Pound dinner, visit Hamburg, have Labrador puppies, dinner at Much Hadham for, TSE to see them off at Kings Cross, seem unhappy in America, Thanksgiving without, in New Canaan, return to Lingfield, remember TSE's birthday, difficulties of renewing friendship with,
Pickthorn, Kenneth, among TSE's Corpus 'friends', hosts TSE in Cambridge, described for EH, politically in sympathy with TSE,
see also Pickthorns, the

8.KennethPickthorn, Kenneth Pickthorn (1892–1975), historian and politician; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.

Richardses, the, at the Eliots' tea-party, compared to the Pickthorns, host TSE for Cambridge weekend, on TSE's stay, treat TSE to G. C. Coulton and Shakespeare, TSE rewatches The Rock with, leaving England for Harvard, host TSE before departing Magdalene, wartime dinner with,
Spens, Will, among TSE's Corpus 'friends', described for EH, hosts TSE for degree, and the Boutwood Lectures, and 'A Liberal Manifesto',

7.WillSpens, Will Spens (1882–1962), educator and scientist; Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.

West, Rebecca, at Clive Bell's,

1.RebeccaWest, Rebecca West (1892–1983) – nom de plume of Cicily Isabel Fairfield – author, journalist, critic, wrote for newspapers including The Freewoman, The Star, Daily News and New Statesman; later for the New Yorker. Her novels include The Return of the Soldier (1918) and The Fountain Overflows (1956); and her non-fiction included Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (2 vols, 1941), The Meaning of Treason (1949) and The Vassall Affair (1963). For some years the lover of H. G. Wells, in 1930 she married a banker named Henry Andrews. Appointed Dame of the British Empire in 1959, she was also made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour and a Companion of Literature.

winter, from Woburn Square window, in London, of fog and smoke, heavy snow, coldest in memory, skating on Serpentine possible, at Shamley, of 1947,
Woolfs, the, at Clive Bell's for lunch, TSE's dearest London friends, company compared to that of Christians, host TSE and Elizabeth Bowen to tea, Rodmell described, closer to TSE than to VHE, visited on TSE's 1933 return, refreshingly childless, amazed by TSE's appearance, and Tomlin dine with TSE, Keynes and TSE dine with, TSE's Bloomsbury weekend with, described in their Tavistock Square domain, have TSE for tea, TSE dines with, and TSE argue about honours, compared to the de la Mares, host TSE for weekend, abandon London for Sussex, where they invite TSE, TSE's Sussex stay with, on their return from Sussex, host TSE, give dinner without mentioning war, TSE plans to visit in Sussex, 52 Tavistock Square bombed,