[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
The Criterion
[Grenville Place]
9 March 1936
Sweetest Love,

I had rather hoped for a letter from you here (Grenville Place) this Monday morning; and as you have said, that makes a good beginning to the week. But perhaps there is a letter at the office (though I prefer to get them here, where I can read them alone and undisturbed); and also since I have been following the movements of steamships more closely, I no longer expect so much of the mails as I did. Since the Aquitania last week, there has been no boat until the Europa next Wednesday worth writing for. And you, my dear, do you prefer to receive one long letter by a good boat, or two or three shorter ones. I like a little of both! I mean that there is a great thrill in seeing two envelopes in your writing or typing, arrive at the same time; but on the other hand things can get said in long letters which aren’t always said in a series of short ones. Now I am writing this on Monday morning, and I shall try to write another the last possible moment before the Europa sails – because I always feel a peculiar pleasure in the most recent news, and in getting a letter which reduces distance by being dated only seven days before I receive it. I suppose if you lived in New York it would make a day’s difference, usually.

WellGwynne, M. Brooke;a6 I had Miss Brooke Gwynne to tea finally, and thought her very nice, and more than grateful for anything one was willing to do – a very modest person. We talked about her work with her teacher-students, and I have arranged to visit her class on the 25th, and talk for about half an hour, after which they could ask questions. I explained to her that I have taught children to like poetry, and therefore know nothing about teaching teachers to teach children to like poetry. TheHighgate Schoolteaching poetry at;a2 ‘poetry’ at the junior school at Highgate was, if I remember, a cut and dried affair, simply cudgelling them to memorise Lays of ancient Rome and so on. I finally suggested that I might take one of my own poems, and try to talk about it as if I was explaining it to children, and let them criticise my way of doing it. Of'Usk';a3 course it isn’t all of my poems that are suitable for the purpose! she picked the Usk little poem which she had liked that evening, and I think wisely; but I lent her a proof copy of my poems to look over, to let me know if she saw anything more suitable than that.

IHayward, John;e6 have to dine at Faber’s tonight with Hayward, going out in a car with him. IFaber, Geoffreyand JDH;e4 think it should be pleasant; they seem to get on quite well. I admire very much the way in which John is able to manage when he does go out. He has to be lifted in and out of the car by the chauffeur, and slid into his chair; and slides most skilfully on to a dining room chair and back again, and onto a sofa after dinner, and shows people how to haul his chair up and down stairs, without letting anybody feel at all embarrassed or conscious. AndMirrlees, Hope;a9 tomorrow I have to go to a small dinner at Hope Mirrlees’. ThenCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel);b7 I must see Mrs. Culpin this week if I can; otherwise I shall be at home quietly. (The food is not so bad as you think – it is rather that a week of it on end would become so monotonous as to take away my appetite; but I don’t often get the opportunity of that). There is not much inducement to go away at this time of year. The country is cold, unless you are living in it the whole year round; I dislike sea-side boarding houses; one would have to go right to the South to get any comfort. AndGermanyremilitarises the Rhineland;b1 aTreaty of Versaillesand Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland;a5 political situation like that of the moment tends to immobilise one. IHitler, Adolfoccupies the Rhineland;a2 must say that I sympathise with Hitler for marching his troops into the Rhineland.1 That one-sided prohibition is galling to national pride; a sore which I should like to see healed. TheGermanyits territorial ambitions under Hitler;b2 occupation of the Rhineland cheers up the Germans and of course the presence of troops is beneficial to local trade. But how much better if such difficulties had been settled magnanimously while the French still had the upper hand! Now, of course, there may be French national pride involved too; and the French may think, that if they accept this situation quietly, it will only embolden the Germans to greater aggression. EverythingLeague of Nationsresponsible for the Abyssinia Crisis;a4 that happens tends to confirm my belief that the League of Nations was a great disaster. IfFranceFrench politics;b4post-Versailles;a4 there could have been firm cooperation and reciprocal faith between Britain and France after the war – the two most natural allies in Europe – so that France could have been assured that any German aggression would be resented equally by Britain, it might have been possible to obtain better treatment for Germany, so that the present German government and frame of mind might never have arisen. AndAbyssinia Crisisand the League of Nations;a8 without the League we should not have been involved in such a humiliating mess in Abyssinia – Italy and Britain could have come to an understanding in Africa.

TheSecond World Warthe prospect of;a1 complication of economic and purely emotional motives is desperate. I was told that intelligent German statesmen have no illusions that the recovery of colonies would make any economic difference whatever – it’s entirely a matter of ‘prestige’. Actually, and paradoxically, Germany seems to be in a stronger position than any other country. TheItalyas a military power;a6 French would certainly prefer the British on their side to the Italians, in case of a choice, because no one has any faith in the stamina of Italy as a military nation. And the League was finally damned for me by the admission of Russia. Whether the new Russian army is so much better than the old one is a matter of speculation; and in case of war Russia would almost certainly have to cope with Japan on the East, as well as with Germany and Poland on the West. These are dreary matters to think about, and one has run from them to do one’s job, such as it is.

I am indeed very dependent upon you, my dear. You ought to know, though I dare say you do not fully, how dependent upon you I have been all my life – how very dependent since 1930 – and much more dependent more recently – and that even as things are, you have brought so much into my life that my whole attitude towards life is different from what it would have been without you; and I turn to you night and morning and often during the day. And now I have written this letter without a word of your affairs, but I long to hear of them, as they are always in my thoughts.

Dearest Emilie
from her Tom.

1.On 7 Mar. 1936, in outright contravention of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, and of the Locarno Treaties of 1925 – which had ruled that the Rhineland was thenceforth to be a permanently demilitarised territory – Hitler’s German military started to march westwards so as to occupy the Rhineland. However, since British public opinion had long been persuaded that the Versailles Treaty was little short of vindictive and unfair to Germany, there were no protests.

Abyssinia Crisis, TSE asks EH for news of, TSE's opinion of Abyssinians, English public opinion on, debated by Keynes and Leonard Woolf, eventuates in war, and the League of Nations, Italian atrocities during,
Culpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel), described, TSE's South Kensington neighbour, weekly chess opponent, 'tiring', reports Nazi horrors, her German refugees, whom TSE helps, quarrels with VHE, leaving for Germany, departure toasted with champagne, returned from Germany, taken to Murder, and TSE watch Show Boat, returns again to Germany, taken to the movies, and company taken to Escargot,
Faber, Geoffrey, made TSE's literary executor, described for EH, as friend, overawed by Joyce, recounts the Eliots' dinner-party, discusses international situation with TSE, his annual effort to diet, introduced to TSE by Whibley, favours TSE taking Norton Professorship, suggests garden-party for TSE, mislays key to Hale correspondence, writes to TSE about separation, which he helps TSE over, blesses Scotland tour with whisky, victim of Holmesian prank, favours 'The Archbishop Murder Case', Times articles on Newman, Russell Square proclaims his gentlemanly standards, forgives TSE and Morley's prank, as tennis-player, champion of Haig biography, social insecurities, and the Faber family fortune, advertises 'Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats', at lavish lunch for Dukes, relieved that 'Work in Progress' progresses, and JDH, needs persuading over Nightwood, on Edward VIII's abdication, Old Buffer's Dinner for, wins at Monopoly, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, thrilled by complimentary tickets, The Family Reunion described to, in line to read Family Reunion, has mumps, composes Alcaics from sickbed, at TSE and JDH's dinner, shares EH's Family Reunion criticism, on TSE's dinner-party bearing, discusses F&F's wartime plans, on meeting Ralph Hodgson, asks TSE to stay on during war, takes TSE to Oxford, argues with Major-General Swinton, and Purchase Tax exertions, and Literary Society membership, TSE's wartime intimacy with, drops teeth on beach, offers criticisms of 'Rudyard Kipling', falsely promised Literary Society membership, but eventually elected, helps revise TSE's Classical Association address, reports to Conversative Education Committee, deputed to America on publishing business, returned from America, Ada too ill to see, discusses National Service on BBC, depended on for breakfast, as fire-watching companion, and TSE rearrange attic at 23 Russell Square, recommends blind masseuse to TSE, in nursing home, and the Spender–Campbell spat, on TSE's Order of Merit, approached for essay on TSE, seeks to protect TSE's serenity, as Captain Kidd, wins fancy-dress prize, TSE's trip to Spain with, and National Book League, receives knighthood, on TSE's paroxysmal tachycardia, dies, his death,
see also Fabers, the

11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.

France, TSE's Francophilia shared by Whibley, TSE dreams of travelling in, synonymous, for TSE, with civilisation, the Franco-Italian entente, over Portugal, TSE awarded Légion d’honneur, subsequently elevated from chevalier to officier, TSE describes a typical French reception, Switzerland now favoured over, French cuisine, French culture, Exhibition of French Art 1200–1900, French painting, compared to English culture, French language, tires TSE to speak, TSE hears himself speaking, TSE dreads speaking in public, and TSE's false teeth, French politics, French street protest, England's natural ally, post-Versailles, post-war Anglo-French relations, French theatre, the French, more blunt than Americans, as compared to various other races, Paris, TSE's 1910–11 year in, EH pictured in, its society larger than Boston's, TSE's guide to, Anglo-French society, strikes, TSE dreads visiting, post-war, the Riviera, TSE's guide to, the South, fond 1919 memories of walking in, Limoges in 1910, Bordeaux,
Germany, and The Road Back, and Triumphal March, needs to cooperate with Britain and France, and TSE's Lloyds war-work, TSE listening to speeches from, its actresses, and its Jewish population, in light of Versailles, Oldham reports on religious resistance in, remilitarises the Rhineland, its territorial ambitions under Hitler, Germans compared to Austrians, under Nazism, Duncan-Jones on religious persecution in, German conduct in warfare, Germans compared to Swedes, TSE's post-war sense of duty to, TSE diagnoses its totalitarian slide, TSE urges renewed cultural relations with, TSE on visiting,
Gwynne, M. Brooke, EH puts in TSE's way, TSE teaches 'Usk' and 'Rannoch' for, hosts EH in Yorkshire, hosts her again, importunes another reading from TSE, present at RHS bequest,

4.M. BrookeGwynne, M. Brooke Gwynne, University of London Institute of Education – ‘a Training College for Graduate students’ – invited TSE on 19 Jan. to participate in their Weds.-morning seminar: ‘Emily Hale suggested that you might possibly consent to come to the Institute to talk to our students; otherwise I should have not felt justified in asking you … The teaching of poetry is the subject most hotly discussed & the subject we should like you to choose if possible.’

Hayward, John, in TSE's thumbnail description, his condition and character, what TSE represents to, VHE complains about TSE to, TSE's new chess-playing neighbour, meets EH over tea, hosts TSE, GCF and de la Mare, on EH, on EH (to TSE), gives TSE cigars for Christmas, calls EH TSE's 'sister', and the Dobrées on Boxing Day, and TSE play a prank on guests, backstage at The Times, taken for walk, on Jenny de Margerie, Empson, TSE and Sansoms call on, evening with Spender, Jennings and, exchanges Christmas presents with TSE, exchanges rare books with TSE, sends luxuries to convalescent TSE, TSE's only regular acquaintance, dines with TSE and Camerons, lent Williams's Cranmer, accompanied to the Fabers' party, hosts discussion about Parisian Murder, inspects French translation of Murder, and TSE's Old Buffers' Dinner, gives TSE bath-mitts, given wine for Christmas, one of TSE's dependents, at Savile Club Murder dinner, Empson takes TSE on to see, possible housemate, in second line of play-readers, walked round Earl's Court, and Bradfield Greek play, and TSE drive to Tandys, and TSE give another party, corrects TSE's Anabase translation, watches television with TSE, Christmas Day with, introduced to Djuna Barnes, meets Christina Morley, walk round Brompton Cemetery with, Hyde Park excursion with, moving house, at his birthday-party, honoured at F&F, displaced to the Rothschilds, where TSE visits him, among TSE's closest friends, his conversation missed, the prospect of Christmas without, excursions to Cambridge to visit, 'my best critic', gives TSE American toilet-paper, helps TSE finish Little Gidding, possible post-war housemate, protector of TSE's literary remains, foreseeably at Merton Hall, discusses plays with TSE, flat-hunting with, and Carlyle Mansions, his furniture, installed at Carlyle Mansions, further handicapped without telephone, undermines TSE's aura of poetic facility, irritates except in small doses, helps with adjustment of TSE's OM medal, at the Brighton Cocktail Party, hounded by Time, quid pro quo with TSE, arranges first-night party for Cocktail Party, arranges Confidential Clerk cast dinner, and TSE's Selected Prose, and TSE entertained by Yehudi Menuhin,

11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.

Highgate School, TSE's recollections of, teaching poetry at,
Hitler, Adolf, Bishop Bell on, occupies the Rhineland, post-Anschluss, and Mussolini, and Vansittart, Kauffer's photo of TSE resembles, and appeasement, and the future of Europe, replies to Roosevelt, his Reichstag speech on Poland,
Italy, marginal to European affairs, and Italian–Yugoslavian relations, compared to southern England, the Franco-Italian entente, and the League of Nations, as a military power, TSE objects to visiting, and European pre-war diplomacy, post-war, its architecture and painting, Florence, TSE's prejudices against, Rome, not a museum, 'centre of the world', the Appian Way, by horse, TSE's month in,
League of Nations, cause of Italian resentment, TSE against in principle, responsible for the Abyssinia Crisis,
Mirrlees, Hope, sketched for EH, at the Eliots' tea-party, part of Bloomsbury society, VHE complains about TSE to, dinner in company with, and mother taken sightseeing, ordeal of a walk with, dinner and chess with, and her dachshund, exhausting but pitiable, her mother preferable, her religion, to Mappie as Eleanor Hinkley to Aunt Susie, irritates like Eleanor, indifferent to enlarging her acquaintance, at Shamley, researching in Worthing Public Library, bathing daily at Lee, and TSE judge fancy-dress parade, during TSE's final Shamley Christmas, suffers 'collapse', in Stellenbosch, visits London, go-between in TSE's second marriage,
see also Mirrleeses, the

2.HopeMirrlees, Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), British poet, novelist, translator and biographer, was to become a close friend of TSE: see Biographical Register.

Second World War, the prospect of, F&F plans in the event of, Britain's preparations for, prognostications as to its outbreak, and The Family Reunion, and the policy of appeasement, and transatlantic tourism, evacuation imminent, TSE discusses its outbreak with Dutchman, TSE refrains from commenting on, TSE's thoughts on, its effect on TSE, the 'Winter War', the 'Phoney War', Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, rationing, evacuation, seems continuous with First World War, invasion of Poland, invasion of Denmark and Norway, Chamberlain's resignation, Italy's declaration of war, Dunkirk, The Blitz, Battle of Cape Matapan, Operation Barbarossa, Greece enters war, Pearl Harbor, the Pacific War, Libyan campaign, North African campaign, and TSE's decision to remain in England, in relation to the First, prospect of its end unsettles, and returning to London, bombing of German cities, its effect on TSE's work, prognostications as to its end, the Little Blitz, Operation Overlord, V-1 Cruise Missile strikes, Operation Market Garden, and continental privations, and post-war European prospects, The Battle of the Bulge, possibility of post-war pandemic, V-2 Bombs, concentration camps, Germany's surrender, VE Day, and post-war Anglo-American relations, VJ Day, atomic bomb, its long-term economic consequences,
Treaty of Versailles, TSE on, letter to The Times on, and Germany's subsequent violations, Keynes's book on, and Hitler's remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Hitler inveighs against,
'Usk', TSE's original passage through, and the Mabinogion,