[No surviving envelope]
You are a One, sometimes you write to Russell Square and sometimes to Grenville Place; but so far you have hit it pretty well. Your note and p.c. to the latter were most restorative to a poor invalid. Your letter to the former received at the time of my arrival there to-day was also very welcome, and being directed to that address indicates that you had no Fears for my Health. But you were right. I feel very lively, although I am still inhaling ENDRINE (the product of MA HUANG) and shall bring it with me.
I know that I shall see you (D.V.) before this arrives; but Possibly the written word may get more attention than my quavering voice –
IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2TSE's second 'sapphire' ring for;b2 chose the ring because I was fascinated by the stone (a ‘star sapphire’). It cost less than I was prepared to lay out – so if it isn’t the right blue – I mean if the blues and greys and pinks you have in mind (one of which I hope to see tomorrow) demand a DEEPER blue, I will gladly change it for one of several other regular deep blue sapphires which I saw. The mounting is white gold: I don’t like golden gold as a mount for jewels. So please say so at once if you prefer the other blue. It will probably have to be fitted in any case.
TheMorleys, theattend Richard II with EH;d5 Morleys would like to go to Richard II very much on FRIDAY next – that is the only evening they can go, and it is over at the end of that week; so please let me know if you will come. Evening dress (black tie) and dinner at 6.45, restaurant to be announced later. I do hope you will.
OttolineMorrell, Lady Ottolineinvites EH and TSE to tea;d8 wants me to bring you to tea with her on Thursday the 8th. That is a Thursday, so there will certainly be six or eight people: sometimes they are people worth meeting and sometimes not. Would you come then or would you prefer to go when she has no one, or just one or two?
I9 Grenville Place, Londontea-party for Perkinses at;a7 shall want a choice of two or three days, preferably at the beginning of next week (from Monday the 5th) when you and the Perkins’s could come to tea here at Grenville Place. NotUnderhill, Evelynon TSE's Perkins tea guest-list;b3 Sunday, because Mrs. Stuart Moore is always at home herself then; and I think a week ahead at least so as to give time to get the people. And I am NEVER free on Wednesday.
That’s all for the moment. ButHuxleys, theTSE's wish that EH meet;a2 IHutchinson, Mary;b2 must do something about the Huxleys, and Mary Hutchinson, as I owe them both a treat. IWoolf, Virginiaapparently drained by Lady Colefax;b2 hear that Virginia is back, and she must be dealt with later.
Itravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4weekend in Sussex for EH's birthday;b8 am sorry I can’t get down in time for lunch. IDuncan-Jones, Revd Arthur Stuart, Dean of Chichesterto lunch with EH;a2 trust you will not have found the Duncan-Jones’s dreary. ISmyth, Revd Charlesat 'Pro Fide' bookshop meeting;a2 have a week’s arrears of correspondence, andChristianityscheme for 'Pro Fide' bookshop;a4 spent most of the afternoon atReckitt, Mauriceat 'Pro Fide' bookshop meeting;a2 aCarpenter, Spencer;a1 meetingChild, Mauriceat 'Pro Fide' bookshop meeting;a4 withIngram, Kennethat 'Pro Fide' bookshop meeting;a3 Maurice Reckitt, the Master of the Temple,1 Maurice Child, Kenneth Ingram, Charles Smyth and others discussing the possibilities of a religious bookshop.2
I9 Grenville Place, Londontea-party for Perkinses at;a7 might arrange a small teaparty for Thursday afternoon. But nottravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4possible London tea-party;b9 knowing how long you will be in London, I don’t know whether to prose [sic] engagements squeezed in or spread out. And I should like to see you once or 2ce without company, if I may make so bold. OnCriterion, TheRussell Square gathering for;a9 Wednesday there is a Criterion Evening at Russell Square to take my attention, alas: MorleyMorley, Frank Vigorpeacekeeper between Rowse and Smyth;d4 andRowse, Alfred Leslie ('A. L.')at risk of assaulting Smyth;a4 ISmyth, Revd Charlesat risk of assaulting Rowse;a3 must be on the alert to see that Rowse of All Souls and the Rev. Charles Smyth (who is coming in Scoutmaster’s costume, which will inflame Rowse all the more) do not fall to fisticuffs.3 RowseRowse, Alfred Leslie ('A. L.')as 'Cornishman';a5 is a Cornishman and Smyth an Irishman, so there is Hot Blood.
As for my salutations on this occasion, I will only say that I am very excited by the rare privilege of being present etc …
I DID engage a room, wrote just before I took to my bed.
1.SpencerCarpenter, Spencer Carpenter (1877–1959), Anglican priest; author; Master of the Temple, 1930–5.
2.ItChristianityscheme for 'Pro Fide' bookshop;a4 was proposed to establish ‘a new kind of bookshop’ – ‘Pro Fide’ – with the purpose, ‘not the purveying of devotional or controversial literature for the faithful, but the presentation, in attractive and even provocative form, in the heart of the world’s Vanity Fair, of the best contemporary Christian apologetic.’ The shop would tempt ‘wayfarers … to enter’. ‘During the last twelve months,’ the letter went on, ‘a small interdenominational committee, including Anglican, Roman Catholic and Free Church members, has been meeting to discuss the possibility of launching such an enterprise. This Committee, which includes the Dean of St Paul’s, Fr. M. C. D’Arcy, S.J., the Rev. Edward Shillito and Mr T. S. Eliot, among others, has met upon the basis of a dogmatic faith in the Incarnation, being convinced that a merely naturalistic humanitarian Christology has no message of power for the modern world.’
3.RevdSmyth, Revd Charleson Criterion gathering dress-code;a4n Charles Smyth to TSE, n.d.: ‘The only difficulty is that Wednesday is my troop night (8.00–9.30 pm): I could slip away early, but I can’t cut altogether at the present stage of its existence. Could you tolerate me in Scout uniform, or would that shock the company too much? If I have to come home & change, it will make me frightfully late.’ In another letter (n.d.): ‘may I take it that Scout Uniform will pass as “Morning Dress”?’ Smyth reaffirmed in another undated letter, ‘I look very nice in Scout uniform – not at all “hearty”.’
1.SpencerCarpenter, Spencer Carpenter (1877–1959), Anglican priest; author; Master of the Temple, 1930–5.
7.MauriceChild, Maurice Child (1884–1950), Anglican priest; librarian of Pusey House, Oxford; General Secretary of the English Church Union.
7.RevdDuncan-Jones, Revd Arthur Stuart, Dean of Chichester Arthur Stuart Duncan-Jones (1879–1955) held various incumbencies, including St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, London, before becoming Dean of Chichester, 1929–55.
3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.
13.KennethIngram, Kenneth Ingram (1882–1965), author and barrister, founded and edited Green Quarterly (The Society of SS Peter & Paul, Westminster House, London) in 1924. He wrote too for the Anglo Catholic Chronicle. At a later date he was Vice-Chairman of the National Peace Council. His works include Why I Believe (1928) and Has the Church Failed? (1929).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
4.LadyMorrell, Lady Ottoline Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), hostess and patron: see Biographical Register.
2.MauriceReckitt, Maurice Reckitt (1888–1980), Anglo-Catholic and Christian socialist writer; editor of Christendom: A Quarterly Journal of Christian Sociology: see Biographical Register.
3.A. L. RowseRowse, Alfred Leslie ('A. L.') (1903–97), Cornish historian and poet: see Biographical Register.
9.RevdSmyth, Revd Charles Charles Smyth (1903–87), ecclesiastical historian; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.
1.EvelynUnderhill, Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941), spiritual director and writer on mysticism and the spiritual life: see Biographical Register.
1.VirginiaWoolf, Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), novelist, essayist and critic: see Biographical Register.