[No surviving envelope]
Your letter of the 21st arrived this morning by, I presume, the Berengaria, which is carrying a letter back to you. The number of good mails is increasing – this goes by the Bremen, and my next, according to the Times, will be carried by the Normandie; and at the end of the month, on Derby Day, the Queen Mary will make her first trip. I am sorry to hear that you have been tired and wet and cross – I should particularly wish to be with you when you were cross, or thought you were – so the next time you are cross remember that I would be with you at that moment if I could. IStearns, Priscilla (née Cushing);a1 wonder who is Mrs. William Cushing – there are such a number of Cushings – you know my great-grandmother was Priscilla Cushing, of whom I have a portrait with a hymn-book at my office.1 You seem always to be kept very busy with people. INoyes, Penelope BarkerEH's Cataumet summer holiday with;d3 am more than distressed however to learn that the Noyes family proves not a solution of any problem of yours but rather a new problem itself. Do I infer that you have decided that living with Penelope would simply be exhausting to the last degree? I am very very sorry, because I had been thinking with satisfaction of you having a quiet pleasant seaside summer: and now what is to be done? INoyes, James Atkinshis condition;a4 had not thought that Mr. Noyes remained positive enough to be a drain of energy. I always thought that he was the sort that might live for a long time, after the mind had gone, but quietly and without making much claim on anybody. I suppose Penelope hesitates, as is natural, as long as possible before making the admission of his condition implied by getting in a professional: because that will mean that the professional must be there until his death. Now, WHAT is the alternative for you for the next three or four months??? Itravels, trips and plansTSE's 1936 American trip;c4possible excursions;a4 think we must take you to the mountains in September. WillWare, Mary Lee;b9 you be invited to spend the summer at Rindge or not??? Ada’sSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister)invites EH to lunch;f9 last letter (also arrived yesterday – I enclose it, but keep the information to yourself and destroy it) says that she is expecting you to lunch:2 but I imagine that that was the engagement that you had to cry off because of sore throat. I do hope you will be able to make another engagement soon with her.
DinnerChandos Groupdiscusses Social Credit;a2 lasteconomicsSocial Credit;a6 night with the Chandos Group who discussed Social Credit policy, of course: alsoEdward VIIIapparently partial to NEW;a2 a projectedNew English Weeklyand Edward VIII;a5 number of the New English Weekly, as Mairet has been told that the King can be got to look at a copy of it, if a specially good one is prepared. (Many rumours there are about what the King is like – but one doesn’t put these things on paper). An extra committee meeting to discuss the autumn books took up this afternoon: tomorrowCriterion, TheOctober 1936;d1being finalised;a2 I have to try to make up for the next Criterion and over the weekend must work out a Commentary for it. And tomorrow is May Day.
My Love, I kiss you good night, and kiss your ring and your little portrait.
1.PriscillaStearns, Priscilla (née Cushing) Stearns, née Cushing (1779–1856), wife of Thomas Stearns (1778–1826), maternal great-grandfather. William B. O. Peabody, The Springfield collection of hymns for sacred worship (Springfield, Mass., 1835); inscribed with ownership of Priscilla Cushing Stearns, and printed: ‘Wm. C. Stearns, Legacy of Hannah C. Stearns’ (TSE library).
2.Not found.
6.JamesNoyes, James Atkins Atkins Noyes (1857–1945), mutual acquaintance in Cambridge, Mass., pursued library and genealogical work, 1895–1905; a great clubman. Father of EH’s friend Penelope Noyes.
12.PenelopeNoyes, Penelope Barker Barker Noyes (1891–1977), who was descended from settlers of the Plymouth Colony, lived in a historic colonial house (built in 1894 for her father James Atkins Noyes) at 1 Highland Street, Cambridge, MA. Unitarian. She was a close friend of EH.
2.AdaSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister) Eliot Sheffield (1869–1943), eldest of the seven Eliot children; author of The Social Case History: Its Construction and Content (1920) and Social Insight in Case Situations (1937): see Biographical Register.
1.PriscillaStearns, Priscilla (née Cushing) Stearns, née Cushing (1779–1856), wife of Thomas Stearns (1778–1826), maternal great-grandfather. William B. O. Peabody, The Springfield collection of hymns for sacred worship (Springfield, Mass., 1835); inscribed with ownership of Priscilla Cushing Stearns, and printed: ‘Wm. C. Stearns, Legacy of Hannah C. Stearns’ (TSE library).
3.MaryWare, Mary Lee Lee Ware (1858–1937), independently wealthy Bostonian, friend and landlady of EH at 41 Brimmer Street: see Biographical Register.