[No surviving envelope]
NoEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother);d1 letter from you this week, though a mail arrived bringing letters from Henry and Aunt Susie. I wonder what the matter can be: in your last letter – of April 21st – you spoke of having had a sore throat, so I fear you may have been ill. Furthermore, I do not know where to write to – my last two letters have gone to 154 Riverway, but I shall send this to Brimmer Street again, with ‘please forward’ on it in case you have gone. I fear that the end of a trying winter may have been the moment for a phase of exhaustion, as it so often is. I am glad that I shall not be going away this weekend, so that I shall get your letter at once if one arrives.
ThereSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece)her marriage finishes;a8 is no special news – except that Chardy’s case, as reported in detail by Henry, isSheffield, Ada Eliot (TSE's sister);g1 distinctly more depressing than as first reported, on scantier information, by Ada; and I fear is hopeless so far as any prospect of her resuming the condition of this marriage goes. MyTalcott, Agnew Allen;a1 sympathies, on what information Henry gives me, are definitely with her husband, whom I thought a nice fellow, and who appears to be more attached to the baby than she is.1 But I won’t bother with details (about young people whom you don’t know!) at this stage; and I still beg you not to say anything about it to anyone, unless it is Ada. They live in a queer world, no ties, no social responsibilities or criteria – yet with plenty of snobbishness and conventionality in their irresponsibility at that.
Spring has really come, and I have been moved to order a new suit – I remembered that you did not like my Glen Urquhart Angola, so I ordered a modest grey herringbone worsted, rather like an old suit (now too shabby to wear) which I think you did like. I have also bought three new shirts and a new tie, and feel quite reckless. IGarrick Club, Londondescribed for EH;a1 lunchedDukes, Ashleydiscusses Murder's America rights;c1 with Ashley Dukes at the Garrick Club a few days ago (it is the theatrical club, and has a number of interesting old paintings of Garrick, Keane, Kemball [sc. Kemble] and all the old actors, but is rather too matey a place. H. G. WellsWells, Herbert George ('H. G.')inevitably at the Garrick;a22 andErvine, St. John;a1 St. John Ervine3 were hanging about) inMurder in the Cathedral$1,000 offered for American rights;c3 order to discuss an offer made through his New York agent Madden. The offer was for $1000 on account of 5% - 7½% - 10% royalties, and seemed very satisfactory except that they wanted film rights as well. I stuck at that, because I can’t run the risk of having a film made of it – as a matter of principle – though a thousand dollars would have been very welcome indeed. Dukes was quite sympathetic on this point. He thinks that some more sensible producer may make a proposal without asking for film rights; otherwise there won’t be any commercial production until he takes a company over, as he would like to do, next year. Anyway, I am not going to let my visit to America be determined by such possibilities of a production in the autumn. These people, whoever they were (Dukes said it was quite a reputable affair) would have started in places like Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
TheMorleys, theadd to their menagerie;h2 Morleys have bought (1) another goat (2) a young sheep dog; and have been offered a swan. They don’t want the swan, but the offer was made (very indiscreetly, by the doctor) to Donald, who of course is very keen to have it, so they are in rather a dilemma.
AuntHinkley, Susan Heywood (TSE's aunt, née Stearns)writes innocently boastful letter;c3 Susie sent a cutting of an exhibition of the Boston Art Club, which mentioned for particular praise a landscape by Mrs. Roger Wolcott and a portrait by Mrs. Channing Frothingham (the latter I remember as the dullest of a rather dull family, my Rotch cousins).4 Aunt Susie was evidently perfectly solemn about it, but it was really very comic; because the writer of the notice said: ‘someone observed, and with much truth, “Why! There are so many people here as at the Van Gogh exhibition!”’5 I don’t think Aunt S. saw the humour of that. I thought her tone a little depressed, and it seemed to me due to the protracted disappointments over Eleanor’s play. Have you seen the Hinkleys lately?
Thetravels, trips and plansTSE's spring/summer 1936 trip to Paris;c2date fixed;a2 visit to Paris is fixed for June 6th. EzraPound, Ezrarecommended to NEW editorial committee;b7 wants me to come on to stay with him in Rapallo, butItalyTSE objects to visiting;a7 I feel a strong objection to visiting Italy until the natives have recovered from their elation over conquering the Abyssinians. Meanwhile the British Government has been looking not very dignified, I think. I am too disgusted about the whole business to talk about it.
I know I have no reason to grumble, for there have been times when you had no letter from me for over a week – though, surely, not for some weeks, if my notebook is right – but it really is as if I were going without some essential article of diet! I don’t want to be a burden – yet I want you to know, my darling, how very dependent I am upon hearing from you – even if you are not very well – or very cheerful – Of course, I know that if there were anything seriously wrong you would cable, or get someone else to write, but still, I can’t help worrying – and I am sure that in a sense you would not have me not worry!
1.MarySmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)TSE tells Trevelyan about;b5n TrevelyanSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece)her life described;a9n, ‘The Pope of Russell Square’, 15 Sept. 1955: ‘MySmith, Charlotte Eliot (TSE's sister, née Eliot)her marriage;a6n sister Charlotte, as I’ve told you, married beneath her – a tiresome man. They had two daughters, ‘Shardy’ [sc. ‘Chardy’] and Theodora. ShardyTalcott, Agnew Allen;a2n married a very nice, dull man called Talcott. I liked him. He was a gentleman and a good fellow. But she got tired of him and ran away with a photographer, when this child [Priscilla S. Talcott, b. 19 Feb. 1934] was very small. After she died Talcott married again – a nice woman and they had a boy. Now he’s gone and died very suddenly three months ago – so this girl is left with a step-mother and a half-brother.”’
2.H. G. Wells (1866–1946), author, journalist; prolific writer of fiction (including science fiction and satire) and non-fiction, including autobiography; social critic. Works include The Time Machine (1895); The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896); The War of the Worlds (1898).
3.StErvine, St. John John Ervine – nom de plume of John Greer Irvine (1883–1971) – was born into working-class poverty in Belfast but moved to London while young. His play Mixed Marriage (1911) was produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin – of which Ervine became (for less than a year) the domineering manager. His successful tragedy John Ferguson (1915) was also written for the Abbey. A diehard Unionist, opposed to Home Rule, he enlisted during WW1 in the British Army and was so gravely wounded in action that he had to have a leg amputated. Other plays include Jane Clegg (1913), performed at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, starring Sybil Thorndike; The First Mrs Fraser (1929), and Boyd’s Shop (1936); his novels include The Foolish Lovers (1920) and The Wayward Man (1927). In addition, he wrote works of reminiscence and biography. George Bernard Shaw (1956) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In the 1920s he worked as drama critic for the Morning Post and The Observer; and in 1929 he was guest drama critic for the New York World – a role in which he aroused resentment for his withering comments on the New York theatre.
4.Clara Morgan Rotch (1881–1976) was married to Channing Frothingham Jr. (1881–1959).
5.See cutting in the Modern Archives Centre, King’s College, Cambridge.
4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
3.StErvine, St. John John Ervine – nom de plume of John Greer Irvine (1883–1971) – was born into working-class poverty in Belfast but moved to London while young. His play Mixed Marriage (1911) was produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin – of which Ervine became (for less than a year) the domineering manager. His successful tragedy John Ferguson (1915) was also written for the Abbey. A diehard Unionist, opposed to Home Rule, he enlisted during WW1 in the British Army and was so gravely wounded in action that he had to have a leg amputated. Other plays include Jane Clegg (1913), performed at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, starring Sybil Thorndike; The First Mrs Fraser (1929), and Boyd’s Shop (1936); his novels include The Foolish Lovers (1920) and The Wayward Man (1927). In addition, he wrote works of reminiscence and biography. George Bernard Shaw (1956) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In the 1920s he worked as drama critic for the Morning Post and The Observer; and in 1929 he was guest drama critic for the New York World – a role in which he aroused resentment for his withering comments on the New York theatre.
3.Ezra PoundPound, Ezra (1885–1972), American poet and critic: see Biographical Register.
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.
2.TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece) Eliot Smith (1904–92) – ‘Dodo’ – daughter of George Lawrence and Charlotte E. Smith: see Biographical Register. Theodora’sSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece) sister was Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911), known as ‘Chardy’.
2.TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece) Eliot Smith (1904–92) – ‘Dodo’ – daughter of George Lawrence and Charlotte E. Smith: see Biographical Register. Theodora’sSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece) sister was Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911), known as ‘Chardy’.
3.CharlotteTalcott, Agnew Allen Stearns Smith married Agnew Allen Talcott on 30 Oct. 1931. Henry Eliot to TSE, 14 Dec. 1931: ‘Chardy and Agnew are a charming couple; he is a fine young chap, in my opinion, and they seem admirably suited.’