[No surviving envelope]
I am only able to start a reply to your letter of the 3d May now at 11.10 p.m. asUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsand Miss O'Donovan;c8 IO'Donovan, Brigidapproaches TSE with spiritual difficulties;b3 have had to compose a long letter to Underhill about Miss O.D.’s religious difficulties1 – she wants a good spiritual adviser, and hasn’t found any, and I don’t want to have to deal with her case myself. I am very sorry that there should have been such a gap between my letters – but as you ask it yourself, yes indeed I AM glad that you should find one letter in five days insufficient: for which reason I am writing tonight so that you may receive this by the Britannia – if I had been able to post it earlier it would have been the President Harding – but there is something ignoble, I feel, in that name.2 With the coming of summer one demands more and quicker boats – I shall certainly send you a letter on the Queen Mary on the 27th. I am happy to know that you are better – even if you have those exasperating tickles during the night. Sospringweakens;a8 it is now summer in Boston: here, but an uncertain spring, overcoats abandoned but the spring suit not yet to be worn. TheSenexet, WoodstockEH makes retreat to;a4 first assault of hot weather makes one feel very weak indeed. InHale, Emilyreligious beliefs and practices;x1makes retreat to Senexet;a7 this weather, IChristianityretreat and solitude;c9EH at Senexet;a2 am glad to think of your having a ‘retreat’ at Senexet, and hope that you will be strengthened by it.3 ICowley House, OxfordTSE considers retreat at;a1 haveO'Brien, Fr William Braithwaite, SSJE;a1 just written to Father O’Brien to try to arrange a retreat for myself at Cowley in June, after the visit to Paris. ISmith Collegeoffers EH job;a5 am much excited by the possibility of a job at Smith. IAmericaNorthampton, Massachusetts;g3TSE on;a2 thought Northampton a pleasant place, with some quite superior people in it; and if that is offered, I hope you will find it acceptable. ItNoyes, Penelope BarkerEH's Cataumet summer holiday with;d3 seems that you are wise to refuse Cataumet, and as you do it is certainly right to let Penelope know that what she needs is professional aid. I can understand that life at 154 Riverway, when you wrote, was none too easy for you.
ThenHale, Emilyas actor;v8in The Footlight Club;c1 your postscript, of May 4th. I am glad you had got my two letters, before going off to your retreat. But what is the ‘new medicine’ that made you sleep better? And when is the Footlights? and what the play? and what the part? Thank you for your Concert Programmes and your comments. YouStravinsky, IgorLe Sacre du printemps;a7 say nothing about the Sacre de Printemps; and there are a number of names quite new to me. As for concerts here, I have no heart or interest to go alone, without you, or opera which is now in full activity. I have not been to a concert since you left.
I’ll write again at the weekend, and report on my trifling activities. Je t’embrasse les deux pieds, et les bras, et la nuque, et je me soussigne,4
1.Not found.
2.Warren Harding (1865–1923), Republican politician; from 1921, 29th President of the USA. Although quite popular in his lifetime, financial scandals came to light after his death; it became known too that he had long kept a mistress, his secretary Nanna Britton, who bore him a daughter.
3.OnSenexet, Woodstockwhich she writes about;a5n 5 Nov. 1941, EH was to draft by hand a piece entitled ‘For Senexet’, extolling the magic of the retreat: see Appendix.
4.‘I kiss your two feet, and your arms, and your neck, and I sign myself’.
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.
3.BrigidO'Donovan, Brigid O’Donovan, TSE’s secretary from Jan. 1935 to Dec. 1936: see Biographical Register.
2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.