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I am writing tonight, although I am tired and although this typewriter ribbon is almost illegible, because I shall not have another opportunity till Monday: tomorrowSmyth, Revd Charles;a5 dine with Charles Smyth andMurder in the Cathedraloffered to Martin Browne;a2 his bride andBrowne, Elliott Martin1935 Canterbury Murder in the Cathedral;a5approached by TSE to 'produce';a1 Saturday go to Rottingdean for a weekend with Martin Browne to discuss the possibility of his producing the play. Play not yet settled; IFaber and Faber (F&F)negotiate over Murder in the Cathedral;c4 have left it to Faber to negotiate with Miss Babington1 about the theatre edition; but I expect it will be arranged; if not, I shall just write another play. IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1efforts to retrieve TSE's property;c5 have had rather a sick week, as the Sheriff and bailiffs have been after my property, and the strain was considerable. OnBird, Ernestand retrieving TSE's property;a8 Tuesday morning Birds ran me up to say that they had got in, but V. told them I had the keys of the rooms. I assured them this was untrue, andDavies, Hugh Sykestakes TSE to rugby match;a4 happily had an engagement with Sykes Davies to go to the Oxford–Cambridge rugger match, which took my mind off it as much as anything could do. ItEnglandEnglish traditions;c4rugby match enthralls;a6 was a wonderful match, the only misfortune being that Cambridge were immeasurably superior to Oxford, having a very exceptional team. English rugger is a very much better game to watch than American; always active, and the passing and running very beautiful to watch when well done. This is the first proper match I have ever seen; if I had known how good it could be I should have tried to induce you to come to the England–Italy match2 while you were here; but the Oxford–Cambridge, and the Army–Navy, are said to be the best.
IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)separation from;f1which is eventually recovered;c6 have recovered most of my books, the most important of my pictures (by no means all) a teakettle and a bell which have sentimental value and three bookcases. Some of my things are probably in one or two banks, and my lawyers are negotiating with the lawyers of the banks to have the boxes there opened and searched. The details of the recovery are rather sordid. The greatest disappointment was my great-grandfather’s seal ring, which I particularly wanted, notEliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. (TSE's cousin)and TSE's great-grandfather's seal ring;a1 for myself but from sentimental notions of family honour and to give to my cousin Will3 his namesake: When Bird presented me triumphantly this morning with the ring she handed over, it proved to be only an inexact copy!
I am feeling rather sick in spirit at the moment.
ICaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin)saga of unsettled debts;a8 finally wrote the nasty letter to Marguerite.4 I am sorry it had to be done, but I think you would agree that I could not avoid it honourably. Perhaps she will be amiable about it, but she will have also to treat the poor bookseller decently. I really feel angry with her for letting me down like this, especially at a time when I simply cannot pay the bill of £160 for her: I don’t mean that I would pay it on her account but because I introduced her to the bookshop and assured them of her respectability and desirability as a client. She ought to see that it is particularly unpleasant for me because of the relations between publishers and booksellers. The Chapins may not be very much, but I did think she was something better than a Dollar Princess.5 I am all the more bitter, because she really is very charming and would be a pleasant acquaintance for you in Rome, possibly with interesting people about, and I don’t know anybody else there and I am afraid you will be very lonely there. SheCaetani, Marguerite (née Chapin)pedigree;b1 must have a good position there, because the Caetani are one of the better families there, as Italians go, and have had one or two Popes etc. She is a timid person really I think, and curiously frightened of English people – I never saw her so miserable as when she came over to England for a Lindsay wedding.6 HerCaetani, Léliacompared to her mother;a1 daughter, Lelia, seems very shy but has much more assurance really.
IHale, Emilyas teacher;w1declares intention to teach again;b7 haveScripps College, ClaremontEH considers returning to;e1 been thinking this: that Emily will have been considering me very obtuse and self-centred, not to have made any mention, in my last letter, of what must have appeared to her – and what was – the most important thing in it, generally speaking. No! I simply did not choose to refer to it in that letter; I had other things to say. I have thought about it a great deal, however. IPerkinses, the;f3 realised perfectly well what it must have cost her to announce to the Perkins’s that she intended to return to teaching next year, and not live with them. AndScripps College, Claremontencouraged by TSE to return;e2 I have been wondering whether you may not merely be jeopardising your position at Scripps. YouAmericaCalifornia;d3the lesser of two evils;b7 know what I think of Southern California in general; so my advice ought to carry all the more weight. I hated your being there while you were there. ButPerkinses, theTSE encourages EH's independence from;f4 next year, with a year’s European background behind you, I am not sure that Scripps, where you have warm friends, undergraduates who remember you, is not better than a compromise position in the East or Near East. Remember that you have made a choice, and the right one, to return to teaching and moral independence; and that any pain you have given the Perkins’s by that decision will not be really relieved by having you within twelve or twentyfour hours journey. If you prefer to be in the East for your own sake, that is one thing; but I believe you have got to a point (and will find it so) at which the East will offer neither the freedom of Europe nor the freedom of California. I do believe that you would be happier next year at Scripps than you would be in a new place in the East or Near East. I do feel that you ought to go to a place that you have already made for yourself. Something tells me that if you go back to California you will see it more consciously than ever; but that if you come East you will merely be oppressed by conscience into reversion.
One can’t say; but you will have been abroad for a much longer period than ever before; and you will find it altering your views.
In any case, don’t compromise.
If I talk any longer now I shall become completely inarticulate. I wanted this letter to await you in Rome. And if I don’t stop now I shall miss the post.
JohnHayward, Johnon EH (to TSE);c1 Hayward considers you charming, entertaining, and a remarkable mimic. ThereGroup Theatreand OM;a7 wasMorrell, Lady Ottolineand the Group Theatre;e5 something about Ottoline entering the Group Theatre which especially amused him.
You did hint, however, that you had some enemies at Scripps. Or was I reading too much into what you said.
1.MargaretBabington, Margaret A. A. Babington was from 1928 Hon. Steward and Treasurer, Friends of Canterbury Cathedral; Hon. Festival Manager for the Festival of Music and Drama, 15–22 June 1935. See The Canterbury Adventure: An Account of the Inception and Growth of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral 1928–1959 (1960): Canterbury Papers no. 10. She negotiated with F&F the terms of the production of the first (abbreviated) performance of Murder in the Cathedral in the Chapter House, June 1935, and the publication of the theatre edition.
2.TSE was confused: there was no rugby match between England and Italy until many years later; the game he refers to was a soccer international.
3.WilliamEliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. (TSE's cousin) Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. (1866–1956), who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, served for twenty-eight years as Minister of the Church of Our Father (Unitarian), in Portland, Oregon, 1906–34.
4.See TSE to Marguerite Caetani, 11 Dec. 1934 (Letters 7, 410–11).
5.Dollar Princess: a wealthy American woman seeking to marry into the European aristocracy.
6.Lélia Caetani had been a bridesmaid at the wedding in London of Lady Anne Lindsay and P. E. Folke Arnander (First Secretary to the Swedish Legation in Rome), on 12 Nov. 1931.
1.MargaretBabington, Margaret A. A. Babington was from 1928 Hon. Steward and Treasurer, Friends of Canterbury Cathedral; Hon. Festival Manager for the Festival of Music and Drama, 15–22 June 1935. See The Canterbury Adventure: An Account of the Inception and Growth of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral 1928–1959 (1960): Canterbury Papers no. 10. She negotiated with F&F the terms of the production of the first (abbreviated) performance of Murder in the Cathedral in the Chapter House, June 1935, and the publication of the theatre edition.
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.
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.HughDavies, Hugh Sykes Sykes Davies (1909–84), author and critic; Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register
3.WilliamEliot, William Greenleaf, Jr. (TSE's cousin) Greenleaf Eliot, Jr. (1866–1956), who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, served for twenty-eight years as Minister of the Church of Our Father (Unitarian), in Portland, Oregon, 1906–34.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
4.LadyMorrell, Lady Ottoline Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), hostess and patron: see Biographical Register.
9.RevdSmyth, Revd Charles Charles Smyth (1903–87), ecclesiastical historian; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.