[9 Grenville Place, London S.W.7]
I was very happy to get your long and lovely LETTER this evening, a few minutes ago, just9 Grenville Place, Londonas repository for TSE's books;b1 as I had finished unpacking and shelving my French books which had been lying in parcels in the window embrasure ever since they were recovered. ITandys, theTSE's weekend in Newhaven with;a2 came up from Newhaven with the whole Tandy family and a friend of Mrs. T.’s whose name I never caught, only arriving at 12.15, went home and changed, lunched at the club, which reopened today, hadOxford and Cambridge ClubTSE's acting barbers;b6 my hair cut by the club hairdresser (Iappearance (TSE's)baldness;b6confines TSE to single barber;b3 had not had it cut since the club was closed as I dread explaining my hair to new barbers), talkedRichmond, Brucein his usual club chair;a9 to Bruce Richmond, was gratified to see the Oldest Member in his usual chair, went to the office and so back here again. I had a pleasant weekend. Saturday it poured with rain until after tea, but Sunday was fine. WeEnglandPeacehaven, Sussex;i3amazing sermon preached in;a1 wentAmericaCalifornia;d3land of monstrous churches;c1 to theChristianityliturgy;b9remarkable sermon;b4 church at Peacehaven1 on Sunday – one of the ugliest settlements in England, California can produce nothing to compete with its tawdriness – and in a hideous temporary wooden structure heard one of the best sermons I have ever listened to, from a person I never heard before, and whom nobody else has ever heard of either – at any rate I have never heard a sermon with less cant in it, you felt that every word meant something to him – and the little bungalow church had a real atmosphere of holiness – if I get a chance I must mention him to the Bishop – a humble little man named Whittle. In the afternoon we went to bathe, at Newhaven, lovely sunshine and warm water, crowds of people of course; andTandy, Geoffreyplays golf with TSE;a5 when we returned I played golf with Tandy, for the first time in 30 years – after muffing and slashing about for the first 6 holes I suddenly found myself and made three very long straight drives, and my approach shots were not so bad either – I may turn out a golfer eventually, would that horrify you? ITandys, theas family;a3 have become fond of the Tandys; there is such a nice homespun, yeoman decency about them, as well as intelligence and refinement – they sortent du cadre of the metropolitan middle classes – very poor – we were in lodgings, and I managed quietly to pay for my room, with the landlady, without their knowing it. They have also a real respect for the Christian Faith, and considerable understanding of it. We drank beer, and played shove ha’penny in the evenings, a delightful and exasperating alehouse game. TomorrowIremonger, Revd F. A.;a1 I have the Religious Director of the B.B.C.2 to lunch with me, andMorleys, the;f2 dine in town with the Morleys – I don’t know why they are in town, but Frank rang me up on Saturday morning and engaged me. HavingFaber and Faber (F&F)and Duff Cooper's Haig;c8 missed the committee this morning, I don’t know the latest developments re Lady Haig exactly, but gather that the Edinburgh judge is examining our appeal for Interdict, and the defence’s Caveat, in chambers, and will give his decision by the end of the week, by which time Duff Cooper will be back from Venice. OnYeats, William Butler ('W. B.')presses Dorothy Wellesley on TSE;b6 WednesdayWellesley, Dorothy, Duchess of WellingtonYeats presses on TSE;a1 I have to dine with Willie Yeats – with whom I lunched on Saturday at an hour’s notice – with Lady Gerald Wellesley, his literary béguin 3at present.4 He wants us to publish her poems – he has just come across them and thinks they are very good – and he is writing a laudatory introduction, which would be helpful – IWellesley, Dorothy, Duchess of Wellingtonqua poet, on first impression;a2 have just read them for the first time and they do seem to me on first reading rather good5 – IWellesley, Dorothy, Duchess of Wellingtonat Clive Bell's;a3 metColefax, Lady Sibyl (née Halsey)prejudices TSE against Dorothy Wellesley;a4 her several years ago, but it was at Clive Bell’s in company of Lady Colefax, so I was rather prejudiced against her. That dinner will be at the Ivy, which is noisy, but has very good food and some extremely good wine. ThursdayPorteus, Hugh Gordonhosts TSE in his garrett;a1 evening IBartek, Zenda;a1 go to the opposite extreme and dine with one of my impecunious young men, Hugh Gordon Porteus, in a garrett in Pimlico with his Russian-Jewish mistress.6 AndCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel)returned from Germany;b3 after that I expect to have a quiet weekend at home, except that I am sorry to say old Jan Culpin has returned from Germany.
SoThorps, the;c7 much for news, and I have only forty minutes left before post-time. About Cumnor. Perhaps you took me too seriously: although I did feel that having allowed it to seem that I could come on Friday, and subsequently wired to say I couldn’t, I might appear to be evading. You may know that I would, when free, fly anywhere to have a little of your company; but the Thorps might have felt that I was more anxious to avoid their company than to seek yours. I am very glad if they do not; and I will communicate with them at once about a possible (I hope probable) dinner next week. OF9 Grenville Place, LondonEH's sojourns at;b2 COURSE you will use my rooms, in order to give pleasure to Mary and Elizabeth; andLister (caretaker at 24 Russell Square, formerly Faber's butler);a3 Lister is back from his holiday at Clacton-on-Sea, looking as brown as a nigger, so I shall be made comfortable at Russell Square.
There are two things that I want to say in the time that I have before the post goes. I mildly object to you saying that being at Cumnor on this occasion ‘would have brought little pleasure to me personally to find you in the group’. Naturally, as my opportunities of seeing you are always numbered, I have more pleasure (if any quantitative comparison can indeed be made, and if the word ‘pleasure’ be considered adequate) in seeing you alone than among people – still, I have to some extent shared you with my friends, and why should I not share you with yours? And if, as you say, you found the group congenial and a too rare experience for you, don’t you think that I should have been capable of being happy in your enjoyment, or of being aware of it? When you recognise what you had at Cumnor as something that you have never had, and which, in your own words, ‘Would probably have done wonders for you’, you are only being conscious of something which I have, in the last year, been increasingly conscious of on your account. The good thing is, that you are conscious yourself, and that you remain capable of having, as you say ‘wonders’ done for you. You see, in beginning to see you clearly as what you would be in the right environment, I see you more clearly for what you essentially are – and my realisations of your limitations of circumstance increases my admiration of what you are in spite of circumstance – of what you are essentially.
AsThorp, Margaret (née Farrand)compared to husband;a5 for the importance and the difficulties of your relations with Margaret Thorp, I think that I understand that, except that I know I do not understand Margaret Thorp. It is very odd. I believe that she has an intellectual life, because you tell me so, and I am convinced that she is a very nice person. IThorp, Willardseems lifeless;b2 confess to you that I find it difficult to believe that her husband has an intellectual life, because I could not see the signs of any kind of life in him – seldom met a man who strikes me as altogether deader than Willard Thorp. IMonro, Alida (née Klementaski)detects life in Willard Thorp;b7 mayDobrée, Bonamydetects life in Willard Thorp;b7 be quite wrong, though he does not seem to have impressed Dobrée or Alida Monro very differently from me, and I only put it as an impression, though there are several years behind it. But although I find Margaret to be a very nice person (I hope you will not think it offensive of me to say so) IMcPherrin, Jeanettecompared favourably to Margaret Thorp;d2 am struck by the difference to me between her and Jean McPherrin. The latter struck me as a person who was one of my own sort, in a sense, and not only mine, but whom any of my friends here could also take quite naturally – she took the Maritains just in the right way, and I should have liked to try her with people here. Do you mind my saying that Jean seemed to me very much more – both human and intelligent – than I have so far been aware of Margaret Thorp as being?
AndHale, Emilyfeels inferior to Margaret Thorp;g4 as for your saying that you are ‘not admitted into the circle of M.T.’s intellectual life’ – what do you mean? or what if you do mean something, does M.T. mean? To be egocentric, are you not ‘admitted into the circle’ of MY intellectual life, such as it is? If you think not, say so frankly, and we will fight it out until I beat you. I am not setting myself UP, but I should think that the circle of my Intellectual Life was as large and clear as M.T.’s. Of course, if her Intellectual Life is a cut above mine, then I don’t mind. And as for my own Circle, you are not only admitted to it, but it rather depends for its circumference upon your being in it.
And now it is 10.51 and the post goes at 11.00 and I haven[']t yet touched on the most intimate part of the letter. I think I will Close, and do you mind receiving letters from me in two consecutive posts?
1.Peacehaven: coastal town in E. Sussex, about six miles to the east of Brighton.
2.RevdIremonger, Revd F. A. F. A. Iremonger (1878–1952); Anglican priest; Religious Director, BBC, 1932–9.
3.béguin (Fr.): crush.
4.DorothyWellesley, Dorothy, Duchess of Wellington Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (1889–1956) – known as Lady Gerald Wellesley (in 1914 she married the 7th Duke of Wellington, but they separated without divorce in 1922) – socialite, author, poet, editor; close friend of W. B. Yeats, who published her work in the Oxford Book of English Verse; editor of the Hogarth Living Poets series.
5.See Schuchard, The Last Minstrels, 364: ‘Eliot now lunched frequently with Yeats to discuss the Poets’ Theatre … Yeats read Wellesley’s poems to Eliot and boldly proposed that he publish them at his firm.’
6.HughPorteus, Hugh Gordon Gordon Porteus (1906–93), literary and art critic; author: see Biographical Register. HisBartek, Zenda partner was Zenka Bartek, who left him in 1944.
6.HughPorteus, Hugh Gordon Gordon Porteus (1906–93), literary and art critic; author: see Biographical Register. HisBartek, Zenda partner was Zenka Bartek, who left him in 1944.
4.SibylColefax, Lady Sibyl (née Halsey), Lady Colefax (1874–1950), socialite and professional decorator; was married in 1901 to Sir Arthur Colefax, lawyer. John Hayward called her (New York Sun, 25 Aug. 1934) ‘perhaps the best, certainly the cleverest, hostess in London at the present time. As an impresario she is unequaled, but there is far too much circulation and hubbub at her parties to entitle her to be called a salonière.’ See Kirsty McLeod, A Passion for Friendship (1991); Siân Evans, Queen Bees: Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Hostesses Between the Wars (2016).
3.Bonamy DobréeDobrée, Bonamy (1891–1974), scholar and editor: see Biographical Register.
2.RevdIremonger, Revd F. A. F. A. Iremonger (1878–1952); Anglican priest; Religious Director, BBC, 1932–9.
1.AnneMrs Lister (wife of 'Lister') Ridler, Memoirs, 122, onLister (caretaker at 24 Russell Square, formerly Faber's butler) Mr and Mrs Lister, the caretaker and his wife at 24 Russell Square: ‘Lister had been butler to the Fabers at their house in Frognal, and used to regale me (when I stayed late at the office) with stories of his experience there and at the Front in the First World War […] Lister was critical of his employers: “I think you Miss might have more sense in running this place than what they do.” Now he and his wife had twins, and occupied the top floor of No. 24.’
2.JeanetteMcPherrin, Jeanette McPherrin (1911–92), postgraduate student at Scripps College; friend of EH: see Biographical Register.
3.AlidaMonro, Alida (née Klementaski) Klementaski (1892–1969) married Harold Monro on 27 Mar. 1920: see Alida Monro in Biographical Register.
6.HughPorteus, Hugh Gordon Gordon Porteus (1906–93), literary and art critic; author: see Biographical Register. HisBartek, Zenda partner was Zenka Bartek, who left him in 1944.
3.BruceRichmond, Bruce Richmond (1871–1964), editor of the TLS, 1902–37.
2.GeoffreyTandy, Geoffrey Tandy (1900–69), marine biologist; Assistant Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, London, 1926–47; did broadcast readings for the BBC (including the first reading of TSE’s Practical Cats on Christmas Day 1937): see Biographical Register.
16.MargaretThorp, Margaret (née Farrand) Farrand (1891–1970), author and journalist – see Margaret Thorp in Biographical Register.
1.Margaret Thorp, née Farrand (1891–1970), contemporary and close friend of EH; noted author and biographer. WillardThorp, Willard Thorp (1899–1990) was a Professor of English at Princeton University. See Biographical Register. See further Lyndall Gordon, Hyacinth Girl, 126–8, 158–9.
4.DorothyWellesley, Dorothy, Duchess of Wellington Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (1889–1956) – known as Lady Gerald Wellesley (in 1914 she married the 7th Duke of Wellington, but they separated without divorce in 1922) – socialite, author, poet, editor; close friend of W. B. Yeats, who published her work in the Oxford Book of English Verse; editor of the Hogarth Living Poets series.
4.W. B. YeatsYeats, William Butler ('W. B.') (1865–1939), Irish poet and playwright: see Biographical Register.