[No surviving envelope]
I am answering your kind note before lunch, as I shall have no time this evening – ICriterion, TheRussell Square gathering for;a9 shall be here till midnight, having the Criterion Supper here at 7 and the general guests coming from 8.30. Here are the practical arrangements, of course provisional to your approval:
TheHale, Emilyinvited to Sweeney Agonistes rehearsal;d7 HuxleysHuxleys, theand Sweeney Agonistes;a3 are going away for the weekend on Friday but would be delighted to have supper and go to the performance of Sweeney on Sunday November 11th. I have not said anything about this before but can you and will you come?
ThatSpender, Stephenand Sweeney rehearsal;a9 beingHutchinson, Maryoffers EH lunch before rehearsal;b3 the case, I have secured Stephen Spender and Mary Hutchinson for lunch on Friday. Now Mary wants us all to lunch with her at her house, and go on to the rehearsal from there. BesidesHutchinson, Jeremyat pre-Sweeney-rehearsal lunch;a1 ourselves there would only be to lunch her son Jeremy, who is a very nice boy at Oxford;1 he would not come on with us. If this suits you, I could meet you at the entrance to Russell Sq. tube station (you can get there straight from Gloucester Road Station by the Piccadilly Tube) and go on by taxi. Please let me know if this suits you, and where you would like me to meet you, so that I can let Mary know if you prefer lunch at a restaurant. If the rehearsal drags on I shall send you back to your hotel to rest, andMorleys, theattend Richard II with EH;d5 will fetch you there at 6.15. as the theatre is at 8. We dine at Scott’s, famed for its oysters.
Will let you hear later about Sunday night.
YouMorrell, Lady Ottolineinvites EH and TSE to tea;d8 remember that we go to Ottoline’s for tea on Thursday the 8th; JohnHayward, Johnmeets EH over tea;b7 Hayward would like me to bring you to tea on Friday the 9th, if that is convenient – you remember that his house is still closer to you than mine.2
I wonder what Prince! Well, if you are moving in such exalted circles, I fear you will find the society I can provide to be very humdrum.
1.JeremyHutchinson, Jeremy Hutchinson (1915–2017) was reading Modern Greats (PPE) at Magdalen College, Oxford; he went on to be a distinguished barrister, and was ultimately ennobled as Baron Hutchinson of Lullington. See Thomas Grant, Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories (2015).
2.John SmartHayward, Johnon EH;b9n, Tarantula’s Web: John Hayward, T. S. Eliot and their Circle (2013), 100-1: ‘Emily Hale’s name was duly inscribed in the visitors’ book [at Bina Gardens] for 9 November … At first Hayward felt pleased to be treated as one of Eliot’s intimates when he was introduced to her. ButMorrell, Lady Ottolineon EH;d9n soon, like Virginia Woolf and Ottoline Morrell, he took against “that awful American Woman” and her “sergeant major manner”. He particularly disliked the way she seemed to boss Eliot about. She was a “grim, prim, school-ma’amish female who takes a dreadful proprietary interest in poor Tom,” he wrote to Ottoline Morrell.’
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.JeremyHutchinson, Jeremy Hutchinson (1915–2017) was reading Modern Greats (PPE) at Magdalen College, Oxford; he went on to be a distinguished barrister, and was ultimately ennobled as Baron Hutchinson of Lullington. See Thomas Grant, Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories (2015).
3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.
4.LadyMorrell, Lady Ottoline Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), hostess and patron: see Biographical Register.
12.Stephen SpenderSpender, Stephen (1909–95), poet and critic: see Biographical Register.