[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
17 October 1935
Dearest Lady,

ThisLincoln Diocesan ConferenceTSE's account of;a2 is to thank you for your dear note on my departure and to inform you of my safe return. IEnglandLincoln, Lincolnshire;g6TSE's visit to;a1 arrived yesterday just in time to dress hastily, dine, andD'Aranyi, Jellyplaying Beethoven in Lincoln;a1 beBeethoven, Ludwig vanJelly D'Aranyi plays;a4 takenBeethoven, Ludwig vanthe 'Kreutzer' Sonata;b1 off by the chaplain to hear a concert by Jelly D’Aranyi1 – the Kreutzer Sonata among other things – still as good a woman violinist as there is, I suppose. IHicks, Nugent, Bishop of Lincoln (formerly Bishop of Gibraltar)first impressions of;a1 was not very early getting to bed, because I wanted to talk to the Bishop about the next day, and he had a visitor on business after the concert, so afterwards we sat talking till nearly midnight. I find that the Bishop is Hicks, formerly Bishop of Gibraltar, and the author of a work of dogmatic theology which is highly spoken of: he is a good deal of a scholar, I imagine.2 I found his views sympathetic, but he warned me that the audience would be very mixed, both in views and in degrees of education and intelligence. TheEnglandLincoln, Lincolnshire;g6especially the Bishop's Palace;a2 Palace is the most modernised I have ever stayed in, water h. & c. in the bedroom, hot water hot but not inexhaustible. I think there must be several bathrooms too; there seemed to be no one else in the wing in which I was put. An officious manservant who insisted on putting the links into my shirt for me etc. – when I went to bed I found that he had turned out all my pockets and put letter marked ‘to be opened some free moment from a Bishop or a Conference’ on top of the pile. Breakfast at nine. The conference is held in a circular chapter house, with a loud speaker. I was billed for 12, but went in at 11.15 to get the atmosphere. People seemed to wander in and out while the proceedings were going on: old Mr. Welby-Everard was reading out some interminable sheet – afterwards several clergy rushed up to the microphone to ask questions. Then a great deal of time was spent in praising the virtues and drawing up a vote of thanks to a Revd. Mr. Jackson who had just retired from the post of Chief Inspector of Church Schools of the diocese – so I did not come on till 12.15 and spoke my piece which took a half hour, after which we adjourned for lunch.3 I think it pleased them well enough on the whole – some were pleased at being addressed as ‘Reverend Fathers’ which they were not used to thereabouts. I was told that one of my remarks would not please the Dean, but I had a few words with him afterwards, and suggested that he should try Mr. Bemis again, because now the east end of the minster is going to pieces and they need £20,000 more. After lunch Mr. Welby-Everard read some more figures, and the ‘discussion’ on Sunday Observance took place. Except for one old gentleman who had thought that I said something I didn’t say the remarks had very little relation to my speech, so I had little difficulty in summing up after the Bishop had spoken. The Bishop left for London and I was given tea and taken to evensong and shown about by the Chancellor, who was a very amiable and hospitable little man – though I should have preferred the opportunity of wandering about by myself. The cathedral is very fine and must look very grand from a distance, standing on that height, but it left me rather cold – there is not very much of the Norman work left. And then I caught the six-twenty train back to London. Satisfactory, I think.

I dare say I shall not see you tomorrow either, when I call: so I am to come to Rosary Gardens at about 9.20 on Saturday morning, am I not? All the rest of my time must go to preparing my lecture for Monday night – I shan’t ask you to come, because it is out in a remote southern suburb, and I have to have supper with the vicar first, butSociety of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire;b1 if you did care to attend the Kelham meeting on Wednesday night I should be happy. And will you choose a theatre you would care to go to on Thursday or Friday evening, or something else we might do? AndMorrell, Lady OttolineEH invited to tea with;f6 will you come to Ottoline’s to tea on Thursday?4 And have you any suggestions for that Saturday? And I shall try to find a concert for Sunday evening.

Of course, to have you repeat ‘how much I give you’ is something that I cannot hear too often – but it cannot affect my own deep feeling, which I shall repeat from time to time – and I am sure that I am much more dependent upon you than you on me! – and I think that you bring out the best side of me – so. Until Saturday – I wish I did not have this lecture on Monday.

Je t’embrasse les mains –
Tom

1.Jelly d’Arányi (1893–1966), celebrated Hungarian violinist resident in London, performed at the Assembly Rooms, Lincoln (with Myra Hess and Ethel Hobday), on 16 Oct. 1935.

2.NugentHicks, Nugent, Bishop of Lincoln (formerly Bishop of Gibraltar) Hicks (1872–1942), Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar, 1927–33; Bishop of Lincoln, 1932–42; author of The Fullness of Sacrifice (1930).

3.TSE gave the opening address at the Lincoln Diocesan Conference, 17 Oct., titled ‘The right observance of Sunday’.

4.It is not known on which day EH was introduced to OM. TSE had been to tea with Morrell on a number of occasions since the summer, but he was normally unaccompanied.

Morrell recorded in her journal for 9 Oct.: ‘I have had visits from T. S. Eliot – who seems very much younger & gayer --- but so formal still – quite nice – but I feel very superior - & slow – His mind is a queer flat mind, - no surprises. Not a mind that is pushed along by passion or ardour – His blood is very cold & fishey - & the Temperature of his brain is I should imagine below normal. It is always queer that he is such a good poet.’

On Fri., 18 Oct., OM held a tea party at which guests included Charles Williams – ‘a dear man’ – Dilys Powell (1901–95) – an Oxford graduate who had spent a period as personal assistant to OM before becoming a journalist on the Sunday Times – and Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne (1905–92). They discussed among other things John Dover Wilson’s book What Happens in Hamlet (1935). ‘I advanced the theory that People are surprised at Hamlet because they judge him for Prince Consort Standard of young men, very correct – Public School & I said I could see that he was very odd – Tom agreed with me & he added that he thought Hamlets behaviour to Ophelia very natural – I felt he knew all about this from old experience – with Vivienne – Tom looks a different creature he seems so much happier – since he left her – I don’t think he drinks now.’

However, the first recorded meeting with Emily Hale occurred on 20 Oct., when OM and her husband went to church at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. OM spotted TSE across the aisle: ‘I was sure – he has odd eyes that show the whites – I have never seen it in anyone else – Then I also spied a very obvious severe mouthed, American Parson [sic] next him – After service – we met, & his friend Miss Hales [sic], & Two other American ladies … The dominating efficient Hales – undertook [sic] We offered Tom a lift back – but we weren’t given a choice – “No Tom & I will go by bus” – The older members of our Party will go with you” – No possibility of refusal, - & so back we had to start with 3 Americans – Oh dear they are monotonous – one knows exactly what they will say five minutes before they arrive at saying it. They say always that “They are wild about London”.’

On 24 Oct., OM entertained the Dutch Egyptologist Dr Henri Frankfort (1897–1954) – who was later to become director of the Warburg Institute – and again Dilys Powell. ‘T. S. Eliot […] got on with Dr F very well – but he brought that awful American Woman Miss Hales [sic] with him – She is like a Sergeant Major quite Intolerable – How ever Tom takes her about – everywhere – She has perhaps been a Schoolmistress. [The artist Mark] Gertler came too & brought a Jew [Alfred] Flechtheim [1878–1937] who has been turned out of Berlin – He was the biggest Modern art Dealer in Europe Now it is all gone – His account of Berlin now is deplorable – He says Hitler-followers have the mentality of small shop keepers. […] – How they love England after Germany How I pray England may remain as we are.’

Beethoven, Ludwig van, delights and awes TSE, TSE's favourite composer, TSE's authorial envy of, Jelly D'Aranyi plays, inspires Burnt Norton, Coriolan and 'Unfinished' Symphony, 3rd Symphony, 'Eroica' Symphony, 'Pastoral' Symphony, the 'Kreutzer' Sonata, 'Razumovsky' Quartet in F major, String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132,
D'Aranyi, Jelly, playing Beethoven in Lincoln,
England, TSE as transatlantic cultural conduit for, discomforts of its larger houses, and Henry James, at times unreal, TSE's patriotic homesickness for, which is not a repudiation of America, TSE's want of relations in, encourages superiority in Americans familiar with, reposeful, natural ally of France, compared to Wales, much more intimate with Europe than America, TSE on his 'exile' in, undone by 'Dividend morality', in wartime, war binds TSE to, post-war, post-war privations, the English, initially strange to TSE, contortions of upward mobility, comparatively rooted as a people, TSE more comfortable distinguishing, the two kinds of duke, TSE's vision of wealthy provincials, its Tories, more blunt than Americans, as congregants, considered racially superior, a relief from the Scottish, don't talk in poetry, compared to the Irish, English countryside, around Hindhead, distinguished, the West Country, compared to New England's, fen country, in primrose season, the English weather, cursed by Joyce, suits mistiness, preferred to America's, distinguished for America's by repose, relaxes TSE, not rainy enough, English traditions, Derby Day, Order of Merit, shooting, Varsity Cricket Match, TSE's dislike of talking cricket, rugby match enthralls, the death of George V, knighthood, the English language, Adlestrop, Gloucestershire, visited by EH and TSE, Amberley, West Sussex, ruined castle at, Arundel, West Sussex, TSE's guide to, Bath, Somerset, TSE 'ravished' by, EH visits, Bemerton, Wiltshire, visited on Herbert pilgrimage, Blockley, Gloucestershire, tea at the Crown, Bosham, West Sussex, EH introduced to, Bridport, Dorset, Tandys settled near, Burford, Oxfordshire, EH staying in, too hallowed to revisit, Burnt Norton, Gloucestershire, TSE remembers visiting, and the Cotswolds, its imagined fate, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, less oppressive than Oxford, TSE's vision of life in, possible refuge during Blitz, Charlbury, Oxfordshire, visited by EH and TSE, Chester, Cheshire, TSE's plans in, TSE on, Chichester, West Sussex, the Perkinses encouraged to visit, EH celebrates birthday in, TSE's guide to, 'The Church and the Artist', TSE gives EH ring in, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, Perkinses take house at, shockingly remote, TSE's first weekend at, likened to Florence, TSE jealous of memories associated with, its Arts & Crafts associations, its attractions to Dr Perkins, forever associated with TSE and EH, sound of the Angelus, without EH, treasured in TSE's memory, excursions from, EH on 'our' garden at, Stamford House passes into new hands, EH's fleeting return to, Cornwall, TSE's visit to, compared to North Devon, Cotswolds, sacred in TSE's memory, Derbyshire, as seen from Swanwick, Devon ('Devonshire'), likened to American South, the Eliots pre-Somerset home, its scenery, Dorset, highly civilised, TSE feels at home in, TSE's Tandy weekend in, Durham, TSE's visit to, East Anglia, its churches, TSE now feels at home in, East Coker, Somerset, visited by Uncle Chris and Abby, TSE conceives desire to visit, reasons for visiting, described, visited again, and the Shamley Cokers, now within Father Underhill's diocese, photographs of, Finchampstead, Berkshire, visited by TSE and EH, specifically the Queen's Head, Framlingham, Suffolk, visited, Garsington, Oxfordshire, recalled, Glastonbury, Somerset, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, highly civilised, its beautiful edge, its countryside associated with EH, TSE at home in, its domestic architecture, Hadsleigh, Suffolk, visited, Hampshire, journey through, TSE's New Forest holiday, Hereford, highly civilised, Hull, Yorkshire, and 'Literature and the Modern World', Ilfracombe, Devon, and the Field Marshal, hideous, Knole Park, Kent, Lavenham, Suffolk, visited, Leeds, Yorkshire, TSE lectures in, touring Murder opens in, the Dobrées visited in, home to EVE's family, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, TSE's visit to, especially the Bishop's Palace, Lincolnshire, arouses TSE's curiosity, unknown to EH, Lingfield, Surrey, Little Gidding, Cambridgeshire, TSE's long-intended expedition to, London, in TSE's experience, TSE's isolation within, affords solitude and anonymity, contrasted to country life, its fogs, socially freer than Boston and Paris, eternally misty, its lionhunters, rain preferable in, more 'home' to TSE than America, socially more legible than Boston, its society compared to Boston's, TSE's desire to live among cockneys, South Kensington too respectable, Clerkenwell, Camberwell, Blackheath, Greenwich scouted for lodging, its comparatively vigorous religious life, Camberwell lodging sought, Clerkenwell lodging sought, and music-hall nostalgia, abandoned by society in August, the varieties of cockney, TSE's East End sojourn, South Kensington grows on TSE, prepares for Silver Jubilee, South Kensington street names, Dulwich hallowed in memory, so too Greenwich, during 1937 Coronation, preparing for war, Dulwich revisited with family, in wartime, TSE as air-raid warden in, Long Melford, Suffolk, Lowestoft, Suffolk, Lyme Regis, Dorset, with the Morleys, Marlborough, Wiltshire, scene of a happy drink, Needham Market, Suffolk, Newcastle, Northumberland, TSE's visit to, Norfolk, appeals to TSE, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, dreary, Nottinghamshire, described for EH, Oxford, Oxfordshire, as recollected by TSE, past and present, EH takes lodgings in, haunted for TSE, in July, compared to Cambridge, Peacehaven, Sussex, amazing sermon preached in, Penrith, TSE's visit to, Rochester, as Dickens described, Salisbury, Wiltshire, in the Richmonds' company, Shamley Green, Surrey, TSE's ARP work in, its post office, Pilgrim Players due at, Somerset, highly civilised, TSE at home in, Southwold, Suffolk, TSE visits with family, Stanton, Gloucestershire, on TSE and EH's walk, Stanway, Gloucestershire, on EH and TSE's walk, Suffolk, TSE visits with family, Surrey, Morley finds TSE lodging in, evening bitter at the Royal Oak, TSE misses, as it must have been, Sussex, commended to EH, TSE walking Stane Street and downs, EH remembers, Walberswick, Suffolk, Wells, Somerset, TSE on visiting, Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, EH and TSE visit, Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset, delightful name, Wiltshire, highly civilised, TSE at home in, Winchelsea, East Sussex, visited, Winchester, TSE on, Wisbech, Lincolnshire, TSE on visiting, Worcestershire, TSE feels at home in, Yeovil, Somerset, visited en route to East Coker, York, TSE's glimpse of, Yorkshire,
see also British General Election
Hicks, Nugent, Bishop of Lincoln (formerly Bishop of Gibraltar), first impressions of,

2.NugentHicks, Nugent, Bishop of Lincoln (formerly Bishop of Gibraltar) Hicks (1872–1942), Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar, 1927–33; Bishop of Lincoln, 1932–42; author of The Fullness of Sacrifice (1930).

Lincoln Diocesan Conference, TSE's account of,
Morrell, Lady Ottoline, on Dr Roger Vittoz, chez Eliot to meet Nora Joyce, on tea with the Eliots, first impression of Joyce, on TSE as 'modern', on the Eliots and the Hinkleys, the Eliots to tea with, which she records, invited to dinner chez Eliot, which she describes, religion debated at tea given by, where Ralph Hodgson meets TSE, on the Eliots' old-fashioned party, described, by request, for EH, met TSE through Bertrand Russell, invites the Eliots to meet Walter de la Mare, gives tea-party for Yeats, at which the Eliots are described, dines chez Eliot, at the Eliots' tea party, lightning rod for VHE's misinformation, stirred up by Gordon George, attacks After Strange Gods, on the gralloching of After Strange Gods, on TSE as friend, gives TSE vintage jewellery tips, invites EH and TSE to tea, on EH, discusses Yeats with TSE, at Sweeney Agonistes, gives tea-party attended by EH, requests tête-à-tête with TSE, and the Group Theatre, to visit Viceroy of India, departs for India, pushiness in medical matters, dressing Indian on her return, intimidates GCF, EH invited to tea with, petitioned on Barker's behalf, issues TSE with Irish introductions, debriefed on Ireland, gives TSE customary diary, complains of Yeats over tea, between convalescence and Italy, and Dr Karl Martin, dies, TSE her final guest,
see also Morrells, the

4.LadyMorrell, Lady Ottoline Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938), hostess and patron: see Biographical Register.

Society of the Sacred Mission, Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire, TSE's September 1933 stay with, TSE's January 1934 weekend at, TSE invited to annual festivities, TSE's June–July 1935 stay, TSE spends night at, TSE's November 1938 weekend at, compared to Mirfield, October 1939 visit, compared to weekend in Sussex,