[No surviving envelope]
FirstMorleys, thereiterate gratitude for EH's peppermints;h4 of all, before I forget it, I must tell you that I did finally remember to ask Morley this afternoon whether they ever received the mints you sent them to the boat, and he said at once, O yes, they did get them and some nuts, and they were very much pleased and touched; and that Christina had written you a letter of thanks on the boat. I am sure he was speaking sincerely, he was distressed to hear that you had never received their acknowledgement. He added that he had wanted to get some sweets before they left, and was not sure that he had gone to the right place; but that when yours arrived he noticed that they came from the same shop, and so was reassured about his own purchase.
I wish I had the whole evening to write to you in, for the ‘Queen Mary’ – as it is, I must get something of a letter off to you by that boat, and another by the next possible. BeforeAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')strays from F&F;b3 beginning I have had to write six notes and a bothering letter to one of our authors who has gone and offered a book to another publisher behind our backs;1 andHayward, John;e8 later I have to go round to John Hayward’s to pick up a manuscript which we asked him to read and give us his opinion on. IKeyneses, theaccompany TSE to Cambridge Murder;a3 only got back from Cambridge at noon. I had a very busy – or rather, full – weekend: first with Maynard Keynes, at King’s. HeMurder in the Cathedral1936 touring production;e6as it was played in Cambridge;a3 tookLopokova, Lydia (Mrs John Maynard Keynes)theatre built for;a3 me to the performance of ‘Murder’ in the afternoon in his new theatre that he built for Lydia to act Ibsen in. It is a very good theatre indeed, acoustics excellent – I wish you could see it. And the company gave a very good performance, considering that they had been playing at Oxford during the first part of the week, and had had to give two performances at Cambridge on the day of their arrival. In the evening there was a monor [sc. minor] feast at King’s, I don’t know what for – andSheppard, John;a1 it was strange to see that genial old backslapping comedian Sheppard, whom I have known for years, as Provost of King’s2 – I used to think of Heads of Houses as incredibly venerable awful personages – but we went over to the theatre (it is like a new toy to Keynes, he can hardly keep away from it, and went in by a side door to his private box (where we were invisible to the public) in time for the final scene. The afternoon house was full only in the cheaper seats, but the evening house was packed, and enthusiastic. WeSpeaight, Robertat post-performance feast in Cambridge;c4 collectedBrowne, Elliott Martintaken to Cambridge after-feast;b3 Speaight and Browne afterwards, and returned to the rooms of one of the dons where the Feast was protracted until about 2 a.m. All King’s people, exceptSparrow, Johnat King's feast;a2 John Sparrow who had come over from All Souls’; and it was somehow very pleasant to find an Oxford man among them. Sunday, quiet: onBlackstone, Bernardexamined for PhD by TSE;a1 Monday morning I went over to Trinity to assist Dr. Stewart in examining a Ph.D. candidate: I think that I, having never examined anyone for a degree before, was almost as nervous as the candidate. We passed him, although he was unable to answer most of our questions; but we had already decided, on the strength of his thesis, to pass him. (I earn five guineas by this piece of work). ThenLittle GiddingTSE's pilgrimage to the eponymous;a3 toStewart, Hugh Fraserand TSE's long-intended Little Gidding expedition;a2 lunch at Stewart’s house at Girton, andEnglandLittle Gidding, Cambridgeshire;g9TSE's long-intended expedition to;a1 then a most memorable motor drive to Little Gidding. You won’t have heard of that place – very few people have – butLittle Giddingand John Inglesant;a4 it was the place of a kind of monastic settlement established in the time of Charles I (the King himself visited it – it is mentioned in the novel ‘John Inglesant’. It was sacked by the Puritans, and the house has disappeared, but the chapel remains. The front was destroyed, so that my snapshots, which are being developed, only show the new front that was put on towards the end of the seventeenth century, but the inside is well preserved and well kept – charming 17th century stalls and panelling, and a nice altar. It is in a lovely corner of Huntingdonshire – very much out of the way – very few people ever get there; toCollett, Maryimmanent at Little Gidding;a2 meFerrar, Nicholas;a1 itCrashaw, Richardand Little Gidding;a1 had a very strong atmosphere of holiness, left about it by the Ferrars and Colletts who founded it, and Crashaw who was for a time with them. And of course the countryside was at its best: snow-covered with hawthorn, elder, and scented; lilac; and the fields besprent with buttercups. I wish you could see the English countryside again just now; I wanted you with me the whole time. WeSt. Mary's Church, Leighton BromswoldHerbert-inspired pilgrimage to;a1 cameHerbert, Georgeinspires Leighton Bromswold pilgrimage;a3 back by Leighton Bromswold, where George Herbert had his first parish,3 and Buckden where there is a ruined brick palace of the ancient Bishops of Lincoln. InMagdalene College, Cambridgeclaret discussed at;a1 the evening Stewart took [me] to a dinner of a dining club called ‘the Society’ – the host being the Master of Magdalene – they were really serious diners interested in their food, and a remarkably good dinner; and the Master, who was on my left, and an unknown man on my right, were more incredibly knowledgeable about claret than any people I have ever heard – thatHousman, Alfred Edward ('A. E.')inspires conversation about claret;a2 subject rose from mention of the late A. E. Housman, who, the Master declared, understood claret better than any Englishman of our time.
I would write at more length about Little Gidding – and may again – if I had time, to try to give some idea of the impression it made upon me. But I must stop soon, and it is more important, my darling, to thank you for your ‘note’ – andHale, Emilyas actor;v8in The Footlight Club;c1 rejoice in your success in the Footlights Play. I don’t know what was the play; and unless you had told me, I should certainly NOT have recognised you in the photographs. Is that a Blonde wig or a white wig you are wearing? I simply refuse to consider you in a blonde wig; you know I dislike yellow hair intensely, or anything but very dark hair; and did you stuff your stockings to make your legs look like telegraph poles? However I shall preserve the photographs. though they do not suggest you in the least. Weren’t there any proper photographs taken of the production? And I believe you are acting better than ever! I should like to imagine that I had something to do with your inspiration, but I see no way of deluding myself into that opinion. Anyway, I am very happy about it. I do wish that you might have some opportunity of acting at Smith. Now this must do for the Queen Mary; she carries with her mon baiser aux lèvres et aux oreilles, mon cher petit souris, ma trés-chère:4
1.The author in question was W. H. Auden: see letter to Auden, 15 May 1936, Letters 6, 212.
2.JohnSheppard, John Sheppard (1881–1968), Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, 1933–54; knighted, 1950. Works include Greek Tragedy (1911) and Aeschylus & Sophocles: Their Work and Influence (1927).
3.St Mary’s Church, Leighton Bromswold, Cambridgeshire, is about ten miles from Huntingdon and two miles from Little Gidding. The Revd George Herbert (1593–1633), poet, was presented with the Prebendary of Leighton in 1626, and rebuilt the church.
4.‘my kiss on the lips and the ears, my dear little mouse, my darling’.
10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.
5.TSEBlackstone, Bernard was to examine the PhD thesis of Bernard Blackstone (1911–83), of Trinity College, Cambridge: ‘George Herbert and Nicholas Ferrar: a study in devotional imagery’.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
7.MaryCollett, Mary Collett (ca. 1600–80) became ‘mother’ to the community of Little Gidding from 1632. The poet Richard Crashaw was an admirer of Collett.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
5.LydiaLopokova, Lydia (Mrs John Maynard Keynes) Lopokova (1892–1981), ballet dancer, married in 1925 John Maynard Keynes (1893–1946), the economist and theorist of money, government advisor and negotiator, and patron of the arts. Judith Mackrell notes that she ‘took pleasure in [TSE’s] company. She thought he had a “kind nature” and was intrigued by his and Maynard’s friendship’ (Bloomsbury Ballerina: Lydia Lopokova, Imperial Dancer and Mrs John Maynard Keynes [2008], 346).
2.JohnSheppard, John Sheppard (1881–1968), Provost of King’s College, Cambridge, 1933–54; knighted, 1950. Works include Greek Tragedy (1911) and Aeschylus & Sophocles: Their Work and Influence (1927).
2.JohnSparrow, John Sparrow (1906–92) was so precocious as a scholar at Winchester College that at sixteen he published an edition of John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1923). Educated after school at New College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, 1931. From 1929 he was a Fellow of All Souls College; Warden, 1952–77. Works include Sense and Poetry: Essays on the Place of Meaning in Contemporary Verse (1934), Controversial Essays (1966). See John Lowe, The Warden: A Portrait of John Sparrow (1998).
2.RobertSpeaight, Robert Speaight (1904–77), actor, producer and author, was to create the role of Becket in Murder in the Cathedral in 1935: see Biographical Register.
6.HughStewart, Hugh Fraser Fraser Stewart, DD (1863–1948), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, since 1918. An authority on Pascal, his works include a posthumous bilingual edition of the Pensées.