[No surviving envelope]
P.S. After such an impudently long letter I do not dare begin in any other way; and this is just to tell you that
THEHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2missing present (calendar) explained;b7 PRESENT HAS BEEN RECOVERED
It was taken in by the vicar’s secretary – whom I have not identified yet, I suppose one of the little women who creep about – and she promptly forgot all about it. Later it was opened, after some discussion, by Mary and Elizabeth, who, seeing the name ‘Emily’ came to the conclusion that it was for the vicar from one Emily Fritton (presumably an old parishioner or servant) and left it for him. Whether the vicar opened it and wrote to Emily Fritton thanking her or not, I have not enquired; if so he wrapped it up again, fortunately with the card in it. So that’s the story. I am relieved, and pleased with a definitely useful present, which is now decorating the top of a small bookcase. Thank you, very much.
IBevan, Edwyn R.;a1 lunchedSparrow, John;a1 to-day with Edwyn Bevan1 and John Sparrow2 at the Athenaeum, andChurch Literature AssociationTSE reports on Book Committee to;a2 spoke to the C.L.A. Meeting in the afternoon. Thank Heaven that’s over. INew English Weekly;a2 have to attend a board meeting of the New English Weekly tomorrow, but have no more engagements to speak in public at all: which means that I shan’t make any until the Archbishop is well murdered. Can you realise what a relief that is to me? SoOld Vic, Thepresents Othello;a4 IBelgion, Montgomeryaccompanies TSE to Othello;a5 am going with Montgomery Belgion to ‘Othello’ tomorrow night – this Old Vic production is said to be excellent.3 If you get an envelope from me tomorrow, it will probably be nothing but the latest budget of Time & Tide correspondence, which is still moderately amusing.
1.EdwynBevan, Edwyn R. R. Bevan (1870–1943), philosopher and historian of the Hellenic world, taught at King’s College London; elected FBA, 1942.
2.JohnSparrow, John Sparrow (1906–92) was so precocious as a scholar at Winchester College that at sixteen he published an edition of John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1923). Educated after school at New College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1931. From 1929 he was a Fellow of All Souls College; Warden, 1952–77. Works include Sense and Poetry: Essays on the Place of Meaning in Contemporary Verse (1934), Controversial Essays (1966). See John Lowe, The Warden: A Portrait of John Sparrow (1998).
3.The Old Vic production of Othello, dir. Henry Cass, starred the Burmese actor Abraham Sofaer as Othello.
4.MontgomeryBelgion, Montgomery (‘Monty’) Belgion (1892–1973), author and journalist: see Biographical Register.
1.EdwynBevan, Edwyn R. R. Bevan (1870–1943), philosopher and historian of the Hellenic world, taught at King’s College London; elected FBA, 1942.
2.JohnSparrow, John Sparrow (1906–92) was so precocious as a scholar at Winchester College that at sixteen he published an edition of John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1923). Educated after school at New College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1931. From 1929 he was a Fellow of All Souls College; Warden, 1952–77. Works include Sense and Poetry: Essays on the Place of Meaning in Contemporary Verse (1934), Controversial Essays (1966). See John Lowe, The Warden: A Portrait of John Sparrow (1998).