[240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass.]
IJanes, W. L.his Christmas dinners with TSE;a3 haveJanes, W. L.;a9 had, after a busy day – morning visit to old Janes, whom I had not seen since my return, a visit which is always fatiguing: I promised him to have Christmas dinner with him as usual and his sister-in-law Mrs. Webster, Ada Janes’s sister, daughter of the distinguished fruiterer of Covent Garden, Jacobs (‘fatherMrs Webster (Ada Janes's sister)ventriloquised;a2 was a Jew, but mother was a Protestant and we were all baptised Christians’ Mrs. Janes used to say – she is now interred with the rest of the Christian Jacobses in Brompton Cemetary [sic] – but the Jacobses of Covent Garden allow Mrs. Webster one pound a week, and she would have had more, only old Jacobs he was taken with a fit and died just afore he was to make his will, and the young Jacobs was mean because he had wanted Mrs. Webster to marry him (afore she was Mrs. Webster, she was a widow when she hadn’t been a wife a year) and she wouldn’t. Otherwise, Mrs. Webster would be well off, she would, because the Jacobses they inherited £32,000 from old Jacobs who had two shops in the West End as well; and young Jacobs he bein a teetotaller he must have bettered that £32,000 since he got it. And now my Fred he comes once a week to see me, and now he’s an inspector in the Post Office earnin £25 a month and letting the top part of his house for thirty shillin a week and he and Frances have no children, he’s fifteen stone ten and she’s thirteen stone five and now he’s an inspector he don’t wear uniforn and he says Dad here’s some of my old uniform trousers you can wear em workin about the house, cos he wore blue trousis with a black braid bein an inspector instead of with a red stripe which is what the Post Offis ordinarily wears – blue with a black braid just like a police officer, look here it is. So I says to Fred those trousis would go twice round me look here and measured. Well says Fred you can just make a cut here and sew em up and they’ll fit you perfect. But I ask you now what can I do with those trousis what I could wrap twice round me I could. Now how do you like the room since I got rid of that Piano. Fred says Dad what’s the use of that piano; and it aint any use since Ada aint here to play it … So now I got rid of that piano I arranged the room[)].
And so on. Then to Russell Square to deal with the day’s letters before the Book Committee met for lunch. ItFaber and Faber (F&F)'blurbs' for;c8 wentwritingblurbs;c2 on till 6, and so I returned and have spent the first part of this evening writing more ‘blurbs’ for the spring catalogue. So now I have the rest of the evening to myself and you.
The rest of this week is rather disturbed. TomorrowBelgion, Montgomeryand Mairet to lunch;b5 IMairet, Philip;a6 must give lunch to Montgomery Belgion and Philip Mairet, receiveCox, Ianlobbies TSE for Christmas sermon;a1 atTandy, Geoffrey;b3 teatime Geoffrey Tandy and Ian Cox of the B.B.C.1 – apparently Cox wants me to compose a sort of sermon for the Christmas programme andOld Possum’s Book of Practical Catsand Children's Hour;b7 I don’t want to do that but I want Cox to get me into the Children’s Hour as Old Possum – andMorleys, thetheir Thanksgiving parties;b2 then to Morley’s Thanksgiving Day Party and spend the night andCulpin, Johanna ('Aunt Johanna', née Staengel);c4 return and have tea with Jan Culpin and work in the evening, and work on Saturday but reciteTatlow, Canon Tissingtonobliged with poetry reading;a1 my poetry to Canon Tissington Tatlow’s London undergraduates in a hall in the City on Sunday night. AndMeiklejohn, Sir RoderickOld Buffer's Dinner for;a1 tomorrowHayward, Johnand TSE's Old Buffers' Dinner;f7 morning IFaber, GeoffreyOld Buffer's Dinner for;e8 must interview Chalié-Richards & Co. of St. James’s Street, about the wine that I have promised to provide for the dinner next Tuesday night by Hayward and myself, to Faber and Sir Roderick Meiklejohn.2 And'Introduction' (to Revelation);a2 itFamily Reunion, Thereferred to as 'Orestes play';a5 appears that Fabers is to do the volume on Revelation after all, which means I must spend the most of this month and December writing the Introduction: so it will be quite Christmas before I can start to torture myself over the plot of my Orestes play.
The'Need for Poetic Drama, The'sent to EH;a2 abstract of my BBC talk did appear to-day in ‘The Listener’, so I enclose what they print. It reads a bit jerky in places, as a result of their editorial cutting here and there: but even as it is, I await your criticism of it when you have the time.
I am re-reading your last three long letters. (AllChristianityUnitarianism;d9baptism;b5 SaintsHale, Emilyreligious beliefs and practices;x1compared to TSE's;a5 Day: I am very happy to learn that you were baptised ‘in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost’ – but why ‘of course’? I, and I suppose most Unitarian babes, was not. And if so, on what grounds do you call yourself a Unitarian? I don’t see how anybody can be a Unitarian and a Trinitarian at once.) IScripps College, Claremont;f4 am very glad that you are meeting so many people: I think in the end you will find the variety more stimulating even than Scripps. IAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')The Ascent of F6 (with Isherwood);d3 wonderMacNeice, LouisAgamemnon;a9 whether the enclosed (as I say rather garbled) will be of any use to you. Have I sent you (1) The Ascent of F6 (2) Agamemnon??? the latest of Auden and McNeice [sic]. If not, you should have them. IBell, Bernard Iddings;a4 hope you met Iddings Bell. I don’t think you would take to him at first, but that is all the more reason for your meeting him.
MissSwan, Ethelher gym routine;a6 Swan, I learn, goes to a gymnasium and does exercises three times a week, in order to keep her weight down. But although she thrives and looks a picture of health she seems to get fatter all the time. She is just as lovable as ever. IO'Donovan, Brigidconsiders career move;b6 think I am going to be able to get rid of Miss O’Donovan, as she really wants to get some other kind of job, and I shall be very glad of a change. She doesn’t settle down.3
IKinsolving, Revd Arthur Barksdale;a1 formed an unfavourable impression of Dr. Kinsolving of Trinity Church.
And why is Nov. 15th called the XXIV Sunday after Whitsunday? It is the XXIII after Trinity, which is the first Sunday after Whitsun.
Thank you for the cutting. The effect of salad on the palate has always been one of the difficulties of arranging a dinner. (It is really the vinegar that does it, which is why mint sauce cannot be allowed if one is drinking wine). Icheesecheese-eating ruined by perfume;a7 quite agree that even the most delicate Guerlain or Lavrin [sc. Lanvin] scent is disturbing to the enjoyment of cheese. Personallyalcoholasperity on port;b8, I disapprove of port – a sweet heavy wine for coarse heavy tastes. Now at ouralcoholat JDH and TSE's dinner;b9 dinner next week John and I intend to have
Sherry——–Tio Pepe, with Olives (with stones in them, not the vulgar stuffed olives)
Consommé
Fried Sole—(in the English fashion)
Roast veal with noodles and spinach, with
a good lyrical CHAMBERTIN.
Salad de saison (chicory with a bit of celery)
Dressed by myself, and during which no wine shall be drunk)
Apples (Blenheim Orange)
Fromage de Brie, with
a Chateau AUSONE 1908 (if I can get it!)
Napoleon 1866 with coffee.
The weather has been very ‘sharp’ as the newsvendor declares; and rather foggy. I wish I could have heard what the VOX did with my frivolous verses. ISeaverns, Helen;a9 will write to Mrs. Seaverns soon, and ask myself to see her. My dear, my dear, I am so very glad that you have been feeling stronger – and feeling more recognition of the importance of the work you are actually doing – I can’t bear to hear about the Cat – andHale, Emilyreading;w8Eyeless in Gaza;a6 IHuxley, AldousEyeless in Gaza;b8;a1 simplyHuxley, Aldouspacifist efforts;b5 cannotSheppard, Richard 'Dick';a1 connect Miss Secor with ‘Eyeless in Gaza[’],4 for one of the most unshakeable women I know – MaryHutchinson, Maryon Eyeless in Gaza;b8 Hutchinson – told me that she thought it disgusting – I have not seen Aldous although I understand he is in London and absorbed in his peculiar pacifist movement with Canon Shepard [sc. Sheppard].5 I CANNOT RECALL Mr. Marston! IChapman, Dom John, OSBSpiritual Letters;a4 have got Don Chapman’s Spiritual Letters and am eager to read them quickly, before sending them on to you: and now I kiss my Beloved Girl before going to bed.
1.IanCox, Ian Cox, a scientist by training, was BBC Talks Producer from 1936.
2.SirMeiklejohn, Sir Roderick Roderick Meiklejohn (1876–1962), distinguished civil servant.
3.BrigidO'Donovan, Brigidmoves to the BBC;b7n O’Donovan to George Every, SSM, 18 Dec. 1936: ‘I am moving after Christmas to a job I have just got in the B.B.C. (more pay and perhaps prospects) and am already feeling rather homesick.’
4.Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza (novel, 1936).
5.RichardSheppard, Richard 'Dick' ‘Dick’ Sheppard (1880–1937), vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 1914–26; Dean of Canterbury, 1929–31; foremost pacifist: author of We say “No”: the plain man’s guide to pacifism (1935); and organiser of the Peace Pledge Union, 1936. See Neil Berry, ‘Pacifism’s Führer: Dick Sheppard’s struggle to avert world war’, TLS, 1 Dec. 2017, 19–20.
10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.
4.MontgomeryBelgion, Montgomery (‘Monty’) Belgion (1892–1973), author and journalist: see Biographical Register.
3.BernardBell, Bernard Iddings Iddings Bell, DD (1886–1958), American Episcopal priest, author and cultural commentator; Warden of Bard College, 1919–33. In his last years he was made Canon of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Chicago, and a William Vaughn Lecturer at the University of Chicago.
8.DomChapman, Dom John, OSB John Chapman, OSB (1865–1933), Spiritual Letters (1935). A posthumous publication.
1.IanCox, Ian Cox, a scientist by training, was BBC Talks Producer from 1936.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.
10.AldousHuxley, Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), novelist, poet, essayist: see Biographical Register.
4.W. L. JanesJanes, W. L. (1854–1939), ex-policeman who worked as handyman for the Eliots. Having been superannuated from the police force early in the century, he worked for a period (until about 1921) as a plain-clothes detective in the General Post Office. TSE reminisced to Mary Trevelyan on 2 Apr. 1951: ‘If I ever write my reminiscences, which I shan’t, Janes would have a great part in them’ (‘The Pope of Russell Square’). TSE to Adam Roberts (b. 1940; godson of TSE), 12 Dec. 1955: ‘I … knew a retired police officer, who at one period had to snoop in plain clothes in the General Post Office in Newgate Street – he caught several culprits, he said’ (Adam Roberts). HisJanes, Ada wife was Ada Janes (d. 1935).
26.RevdKinsolving, Revd Arthur Barksdale Arthur Barksdale Kinsolving (1861–1951), minister of St James, Baltimore, 1906–42.
7.LouisMacNeice, Louis MacNeice (1907–63), poet, radio producer and playwright: see Biographical Register.
8.PhilipMairet, Philip Mairet (1886–1975): designer; journalist; editor of the New English Weekly: see Biographical Register.
2.SirMeiklejohn, Sir Roderick Roderick Meiklejohn (1876–1962), distinguished civil servant.
3.BrigidO'Donovan, Brigid O’Donovan, TSE’s secretary from Jan. 1935 to Dec. 1936: see Biographical Register.
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
5.RichardSheppard, Richard 'Dick' ‘Dick’ Sheppard (1880–1937), vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 1914–26; Dean of Canterbury, 1929–31; foremost pacifist: author of We say “No”: the plain man’s guide to pacifism (1935); and organiser of the Peace Pledge Union, 1936. See Neil Berry, ‘Pacifism’s Führer: Dick Sheppard’s struggle to avert world war’, TLS, 1 Dec. 2017, 19–20.
2.EthelSwan, Ethel Swan, a Faber & Gwyer ‘pioneer’, joined the firm on 12 Oct. 1925, as telephonist and receptionist, retiring in 1972 after 47 years. PeterSwan, EthelPeter du Sautoy's tribute to;a2n du Sautoy reported in 1971: ‘These duties she still performs with admirable skill and charm … SheJoyce, Jameson the phone to the F&F receptionist;c1n has an amazing memory for voices and it is certain that if James Joyce were to return to earth to telephone a complaint (he called us “Feebler and Fumbler”) she would say “Good morning, Mr Joyce” before he could introduce himself, as if he had previously been telephoning only yesterday. Many a visiting author or publisher from overseas has felt more kindly towards Faber & Faber as a result of Miss Swan’s friendly recognition’ (‘Farewell, Russell Square’, The Bookseller no. 3410 [1 May 1971], 2040).
2.GeoffreyTandy, Geoffrey Tandy (1900–69), marine biologist; Assistant Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, London, 1926–47; did broadcast readings for the BBC (including the first reading of TSE’s Practical Cats on Christmas Day 1937): see Biographical Register.
3.TissingtonTatlow, Canon Tissington Tatlow (1876–1957), Rector of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London, 1926–37; Hon. Chaplain to the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland (of which he was founder and general secretary, 1903–29).