[No surviving envelope]
Your long and good letter of the 3d arrived last night, having been forwarded from Russell Square to Grenville Place by the sapient Miss Wright. It was forwarded because I had taken to my bed, afterMaclagans, thedine with Underhill, Knox and TSE;a1 diningUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells;c3 withKnox, E. V.dinner in company with;a1 the Maclagans and the Dean of Rochester1 and E. V. Knox;2 and it was forwarded by Miss Wright because Miss O’Donovan was away ill. There has been a little flu about lately. Mine, if that it was, was very mild: I had had aching limbs and joints for a couple of days, and was rather weak in the head, with a slightly variable temperature, but almost no cold at all. I staid in bed all of yesterday and have got up to-day for tea, and shall go to bed after dinner; tomorrow I intend to go to the office for the afternoon.
CanterburyCanterbury Cathedral Festival, 1935TSE flirts with premiering Murder elsewhere;a4 raise noMurder in the Cathedraltentatively, 'The Archbishop Murder Case';a5 objection to a few performances of what is tentatively called The Archbishop Murder Case, inMurder in the Cathedralabandoned Mercury Theatre premiere;d6and Doone's response to first draft;a3 London, so I had an interview with Rupert Doone on Tuesday afternoon. He was, as I expected, delighted with the more lyrical and choral passages but found the recitative parts dull; so I have got to think out a brighter way of rewriting them.3 I may formalise it and leave out the apples. If I can get the first half fairly satisfactory I have not so many fears about the second. It won’t be a very good play at best, so don’t expect that.
ITime & Tidepays well;a2 hope to be well paid by Time and Tide; I understand they pay in the middle of the following month, that is in a week’s time. One ought to be well paid, having to write so many letters; and it’s the lively correspondence that sells a paper like that. I must add in self-defence that I have never consciously done Miss West any wrong, as you might think. Why she objects to me so much I do not know.
I like to think of you having a balcony, as well as light and warmth, to sit in; and I hope that your rooms are high up, and that the fare is good, and the pension not too expensive. IScripps College, Claremont;e4 wonder if your mental strain over the decision about Scripps did not have a great deal to do with sleeplessness. But a decision once made, should not be worried about again. Your calendar as I may have remarked already decorates the top of a small bookcase; butCheetham, Revd Eric;a8 you have given me another shock, because I found no handkerchief with it! Very likely the vicar thought it was E for Eric, that being his name; so I must enquire discreetly.
JohnHayward, John;c5 Hayward’s address is 22, Bina Gardens, S.W.7.
You will by now have had my letter explaining that the ‘extra woman’ was his secretary.
Itravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4and again alone;a9 am glad of all your information about the present situation, and very glad that Jeanie’s visit was a much greater success. I think that I understand better and better what your difficulties have been and are. In fact, although I was unaware of the more acute cause of difficulty on my second visit to Campden – being very simple-minded – I had, even during the summer, been wondering whether it was not being difficult in something like the general way you outline. (Incidentally, if I may say so without offense, IPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle)unused to intelligent opposition;b3 felt that Dr. Perkins perhaps had not had much to do with people of anything like his own abilities and attainments but with very different points of view from his own: I at least hope that having to combat actively often the views of people of at least my own ability and often much superior education, will help to keep me flexible and adaptable. I should hate to think of younger people ever thinking that it was just not worth while to express their disagreement with me – I don’t think they feel like that yet.) I understand too that if it was either your aunt or uncle alone, it might be easier; and I am afraid that I do not see that any attitude you can adopt, or any understanding and reconciliation you arrive at in your own mind, could quite remove all strain from the present situation.
I will, as you please, send the photographs as soon as I can get some stiff cardboard – butRay, Manwhich feature TSE in 'offending' hat;a2 one at least you will not like, because I appear, at Mr. Man Ray’s request, in the Offending Hat. I shall not again wear it in your presence, of course, except with dinner jacket.
I do pray that the next two months that remain for you in Italy will be easier than the beginning. Thank you again for your sweet letter.
1.Francis Underhill.
2.E. V. KnoxKnox, E. V. (1881–1971), poet and satirist; editor of Punch, 1932–49.
3.MedleyDoone, Rupertdismayed by prose of Murder;b4n, Drawn from the Life, 154–5: ‘Following the success of Sweeney Agonistes Eliot had sent Rupert a first version of the play, which to Rupert’s surprise was written entirely in prose. Rupert went to see Eliot and told him that by abandoning verse he was denying his essential genius; at this meeting they discussed scenes from the projected play in some detail. Rupert had hoped that the Group Theatre might mount the first production of what was clearly destined to be an important work.’ In the prefatory note to the first edition of Murder in the Cathedral, TSE thanked Doone, along with Martin Browne, for ‘help in [the] construction’ of the play.
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
2.RupertDoone, Rupert Doone (1903–66), dancer, choreographer and producer, founded the Group Theatre, London, in 1932: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
2.E. V. KnoxKnox, E. V. (1881–1971), poet and satirist; editor of Punch, 1932–49.
3.DrPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle) John Carroll Perkins (1862–1950), Minister of King’s Chapel, Boston: see Biographical Register.
1.ManRay, Man Ray (1890–1976), pioneering photographer and artist; born Emmanuel Rodnitsky, the son of a Russian-Jewish tailor who had settled in Philadelphia. He grew up in New York, where even as a teenager he adopted his redolent pseudonym, and fell under the influence of Alfred Stieglitz’s Gallery 291 on Fifth Avenue. He became one of the leaders of Dadaism and Surrealism. For most of his adult life he lived in Paris, where he built his reputation as an experimental photographer; he also made notable contributions to film.
2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.