[240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass.]
I was very happy to have your first letter to be received since Christmas – that of Dec. 26th, which arrived yesterday – such a very satisfying and ripe one. (My letter of the 16th December was intended for you just before Christmas, but I read that the packets were delayed by stormy weather). IChristianitythe Church Year;d8thoughts of EH during;a7 did think of you very especially at the Midnight Mass of Christmas, but I did not think that you would be attending such a Christmas Mass, five hours later, when I was soundly asleep (you will have had my letter with the events of Christmas Day and after). Some day, by God’s Grace, we shall be together in the same church at the same moment on Christmas Eve. OurChristianityUnitarianism;d9the Eliots' as against EH's;a1 beliefs are indeed nearer than I thought – though I am still convinced that there is a definite frontier to be crossed, not without passports. But it is a good beginning if we both understand that the Unitarianism in which I was brought up was 1200 miles West of yours – and that it was an Eliot Unitarianism: and unfortunately all Eliots believe that they are born to a more intimate understanding of Unitarianism than other people – in fact that to be a perfect Unitarian you have to be an Eliot. YetPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle)his versus Eliot-family Unitarianism;c8 IEliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle)qua Unitarian;a9 amEliot, Revd Frederick May (TSE's first cousin)versus Dr Perkins's Unitarianism;a6 aware that your Uncle John might be suspicious of my Uncle Christopher (admirable character as he is) and that he might be as horrified as I by the beliefs of my Cousin Frederick. TheEliot family, theare Whigs;b1 trouble with the Eliots is that they are men of action and not of thought and meditation (me, for example). The Eliots are all Whigs. That ought to make you more patient with me, who am trying valiantly to expiate the sins of the Eliots: whoMurder in the Cathedraland Whiggery;c7 for 500 years have been in the highest ranks of the Civil Service (see ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ only that’s what Becket wasn’t).
No madam, I do not consider that the portrait is one of your best: it was merely the best up to date taken in Northampton. It stands on my dressing chest. And of course it has a value for me that it cannot have for anyone else.
As for what the doctor said – I am sure that you have gone on into another chapter – perhaps a short chapter before the next. ItHale, Emilyrelationship with TSE;w9as one of mutual dependence;f2 is indeed likely that I do not realise how ‘dependent’ you are upon me. It is difficult to think that anyone is dependent upon me, as I know I am upon them. ButMorley, Frank Vigordepends on TSE;g3 sometimesHayward, Johnone of TSE's dependents;g2 it seems to me that people like Frank Morley, and John Hayward, and several other people in varying degrees, ‘depend’ upon me; and that so far as they are conscious they are more conscious of their dependence upon me than of my dependence upon them. ItJanes, W. L.one of TSE's dependents;b1 givesSollory, William Fisher;a1 one rather a thrill to think that anyone is dependent upon one (even in the simple ways that Janes and Sollory1 depend upon me); but to think that anyone upon whom one depends is also dependent upon one is very queer indeed.
So you must remember, when you think of your dependence upon me, that I am equally dependent upon you – there is something very fortifying, I think, in a reciprocity of dependence. I can understand that during this period away from work, and among relatives (and with such near relatives one’s feelings are always mixed) you should feel a little distraught. What I hope for and am counting on, is a greater feeling of assurance, and of having a work to do, on your resuming your work at Smith.
As for memories. I like to think: this and this was lovely and perfect, and will always be lovely and perfect whatever happens in the future. It needs no improvement, and it cannot suffer from anything that happened. WhenEnglandFinchampstead, Berkshire;f1visited by TSE and EH;a1 we have been happily in union togethertravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4TSE reflects on;f5: attravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4their excursion to Finchampstead;f4 the grave at Finchampstead, in the public bar there, atEnglandLondon;h1so too Greenwich;c9 Greenwich walking along the river arm in arm, inEnglandLondon;h1Dulwich hallowed in memory;c8 the fog at Dulwich, inSt. Magnus the Martyr, London Bridgehallowed by memories of EH;a1 the smoky evening at St. Magnus Martyr,2 standing under a tree in the rain in a Gloucestershire lane, or at the Holborn Empire, or in a taxi, buttoning up your dress to meet the Murdocks! – ortravels, trips and plansEH's 1934–5 year in Europe;b4EH and TSE's final farewell;f2 in this room on the last morning when you came in to say good bye – ortravels, trips and plansTSE's 1936 American trip;c4TSE reflects on;b6 onAmericaWoods Hole, Falmouth, Massachusetts;i2TSE and EH's holiday in recalled;a2 the beach at Woods Holl [sic] listening to the Bell, or at Clement Circle, or on the station platform at Springfield (the St. Louis Express stopped for a moment). These things just ARE AND PERSIST, and the future doesn’t matter. Some historians write as if the whole value of the past depended upon the future: whereas it depends only upon what values are asserted by the action of the moment. The future is no more valuable than the past.3 I am so very glad for what I have! Not that I don’t look forward to next summer!
IHavenses, the;a4 am glad that you will have spent part of your vacation with the Havens’s in Pennsylvania. That will be a helpful change.
DearWilliams, CharlesSeed of Adam;b6 me, I have been to a performance of the Chelmsford Diocesan Religious Drama League [sc. Guild] at Chelmsford;4 INorth Kensington 'Community Centre'visited;a2 have visited the Community Centre in North Kensington, for which I am to make a Broadcast appeal for £5000; and'Church's Message to the World, The';a3 I have written my address for the Church Community and State series. Now'Paul Elmer More';a1 I have to write an article about Paul More to send to Willard Thorp, andBabbitt, Irvingposthumous note on;a8 one about Irving Babbitt to send to Mrs. Babbitt, and'Introduction' (to Revelation);a5 then I can start on my ‘Revelation’ introduction; andFamily Reunion, The;a8 after that perhaps I can find time to start a play. MeanwhileMurder in the Cathedral1937 Duchess Theatre West End transfer;e8still playing;a6 Murder is going on at the Duchess Theatre,
indefinitely.
1.WilliamSollory, William Fisher Fisher Sollory (1881–1959), whom TSE had known for over twenty years. TSE and Vivien were the witnesses at Paddington Register Office on 4 Apr. 1926 at Sollory’s marriage, at the age of 45, to the Eliots’ domestic servant Ellen Kollond (aet. 48). Following Ellen’s death, Sollory married Alice Hawes in 1935. Sollory and his wife endured many years of hardship while bringing up their family; and TSE was a constant benefactor, sending money and clothing.
2.The Waste Land, 263–5:
… the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold
3.‘Burnt Norton’ I:
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future.
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
4.TSEWilliams, CharlesSeed of Adam;b6 gave a talk about Charles Williams’s nativity play, Seed of Adam, at the Annual Meeting of the Chelmsford Diocesan Religious Drama Guild on Sat. 9 Jan. 1937 at Brentwood, Essex. He met Williams at lunch. ‘All went very well,’ wrote Williams in a letter (n.d.) to Anne Bradby (Ridler), ‘though I don’t remember what T.S.E. said very clearly, only that we were all extremely pleasant, arguable, & intimate. My wife discussing the Agamemnon chorus with him was a marvellous sight […] A fantastic day’ (quoted in Lindop, Charles Williams: The Third Inkling [2015], 265). TSE to Anne Ridler, 25 May 1945: ‘I did like Seed of Adam very much and as I saw it at Chelmsford I can testify that it was interesting on the stage as well as to read.’
2.IrvingBabbitt, Irving Babbitt (1865–1933), American academic and literary and cultural critic; Harvard University Professor of French Literature (TSE had taken his course on literary criticism in France); antagonist of Rousseau and romanticism; promulgator (with Paul Elmer More) of ‘New Humanism’. His publications include Literature and the American College (1908); Rousseau and Romanticism (1919); Democracy and Leadership (1924). See TSE, ‘The Humanism of Irving Babbitt’ (1928), in Selected Essays (1950); ‘XIII by T. S. Eliot’, in Irving Babbitt: Man and Teacher, ed. F. Manchester and Odell Shepard (1941): CProse 6, 186–9.
2.RevdEliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle) Christopher Rhodes Eliot (1856–1945) andEliot, Abigail Adams (TSE's cousin) his daughter Abigail Adams Eliot (b. 1892). ‘After taking his A.B. at Washington University in 1856, [Christopher] taught for a year in the Academic Department. He later continued his studies at Washington University and at Harvard, and received two degrees in 1881, an A.M. from Washington University and an S.T.B. from the Harvard Divinity School. He was ordained in 1882, but thereafter associated himself with eastern pastorates, chiefly with the Bulfinch Place Church in Boston. His distinctions as churchman and teacher were officially recognized by Washington University in [its] granting him an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1925’ (‘The Eliot Family and St Louis’: appendix prepared by the Department of English to TSE’s ‘American Literature and the American Language’ [Washington University Press, 1953].)
2.RevdEliot, Revd Frederick May (TSE's first cousin) Frederick May Eliot (1889–1958) – first cousin – Unitarian clergyman and author: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: 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).
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
3.DrPerkins, Dr John Carroll (EH's uncle) John Carroll Perkins (1862–1950), Minister of King’s Chapel, Boston: see Biographical Register.
1.WilliamSollory, William Fisher Fisher Sollory (1881–1959), whom TSE had known for over twenty years. TSE and Vivien were the witnesses at Paddington Register Office on 4 Apr. 1926 at Sollory’s marriage, at the age of 45, to the Eliots’ domestic servant Ellen Kollond (aet. 48). Following Ellen’s death, Sollory married Alice Hawes in 1935. Sollory and his wife endured many years of hardship while bringing up their family; and TSE was a constant benefactor, sending money and clothing.
5.CharlesWilliams, Charles Williams (1886–1945), novelist, poet, playwright, writer on religion and theology; biographer; member of the Inklings: see Biographical Register.