[1418 East 63d St., Seattle]
You cannot possibly conceive my delight when I found the gay barber’s pole envelope with your letter in it. It was very sweet of you to think of sending it by Air Mail – that made me very proud – and the letter took no longer than most from Boston! The 21st June to the 1st July! I should never have thought of Air Mail – you see how old-fashioned I am; butHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3switches to Air Mail;b1 now I shall enquire at the Post Office to find out whether I can have my letters (some of them, because I still think of aeroplanes as unreliable means of transport, and nothing would induce me to trust myself in one, even if I was coming myself to see you instead of a letter) aired from New York to Seattle.
Well, your letter made me, for the most part, very happy. Not hearing from you for a fortnight, and not knowing where you were at any moment, was more of a strain than even I should have expected – it induces in me a queer moral torpor of listlessness – no doubt it is good for my humility to know how very frail and dependent I am! but I don’t want such admissions to impose any burdens upon you. IAmericaSeattle, Washington State;h1EH's situation at;a3 am happy to think that you are with people so congenial as your aunt and uncle. I am only afraid that your summer courses, which sound like very concentrated work, combined with domestic work, will give you very little summer rest. I suppose the climate of Seattle (I have never even known exactly how to pronounce it) is a very good one. ButHale, Emilyappearance and characteristics;v7EH encouraged to gain weight;a8 do not, I pray, allow yourself to lose that ten pounds – I wonder if it is ten pounds since I last saw you, as well as since those in Milwaukee last saw you. And do you get any sort of outings – garden, sea, country. Do you ever ride a horse, I wonder; and whether you can drive a car (I can, and am very proud of myself, but to tell you the truth motoring bores me consumedly, and the only activity I enjoy is walking tours) (IFrancethe South;b9fond 1919 memories of walking in;a1 should love to take you walking in the South, in the beautiful country between Limoges and Toulouse, and about Périgueux, where there is a lovely town every fifteen miles or so, and good food and paté de foie gras and local vintages) there’s two brackets in succession.1
I have had rather a busy fortnight, and having written skimpily while not hearing from you, shall have ado to catch up. MySmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)1931 visit to England;a1 two nieces, Theodora and Charlotte,2 are here, for one thing; it is strange to me (oldfashioned again perhaps) to think that my own niece is quite capable of coming to England unchaperoned, of hiring a motor car, and driving all over the country with only her younger sister; but I suppose it is quite an ordinary thing to do – and TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)described;a2 is certainly a very self-reliant and level-headed girl. SheAmericaBaltimore, Maryland;c6and TSE's niece;a1 has just taken a job in a girls’ school in Baltimore – she only teaches very small children, I believe. TheSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece)resembles her mother;a1 younger girl looks very like her mother (who died in 1926) and is, I believe, pretty though not very interesting.
ThenEliots, the T. S.give dinner-party for Joyces, Fabers and Osbert Sitwell;a4 weEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)mental state;e8;a2 have given two small dinner parties, an unusual thing – one for the JoycesJoyce, Jamesgets on with Osbert Sitwell;a5 – IFaber, Geoffreyoverawed by Joyce;a5 think Geoffrey Faber was a little overawed by Joyce, who is a very positive personality indeed – butSitwell, Osberttalks politics with Joyce;a1 he got on extremely well with Osbert Sitwell,3 as they both have politically interested minds.4 AnotherEliots, the T. S.give dinner for Philippa Whibley;a6 dinner last night for Paul Elmer More, who was as usual delightful, PhilippaWhibley, Philippa (née Raleigh)chief guest chez Eliot;a3 Whibley being the other chief guest – and a charming Miss Bennett who seemed to have been in every part of the world, and had nearly ruined her health in Albania; she is a lady doctor. TuesdaySitwells, thethe Eliots dine with;a3 we dine with Osbert, andSitwell, Edith;a4 I shall see Edith again after two or three years – I shan’t be annoyed by her resemblance, as that impression has diminished, and the photograph improves with time <grievance still, however>. YesterdayBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)TSE's committee service for;a1 I lunched with a B.B.C. committee again; ProfessorMacMurray, Johnfellow broadcaster;a1 John Macmurray,5 ChristopherDawson, Christopherco-orchestrates BBC religious talks;a2 Dawson and myself are responsible for a series of 24 Sunday talks on the religious situation of the day etc. Then I have had another young German; several young men who have just come down from the Universities who want work; IHayward, John;a3 lunched with John Hayward whereRichmond, Brucediscovered lunching with David Garnett;a2 were Bruce Richmond and David Garnett6 – the latter, whom I had not seen for some time, surprising fat and paunchy and grey-haired, though I think he is younger than I – RichmondRichmond, Brucerecommends TSE for Oxford and Cambridge Club;a3 bubbling with life, hasOxford and Cambridge ClubRichmond puts TSE up for;a1 put me up for the Oxford & Cambridge Club whichRoyal Societies Clubinferior to the Oxford and Cambridge;a1 is rather better than my present club, the Royal Societies’.7 Alsocheesechocolate-coloured at Norske Klub;a1 I lunched with my Scottish friends of the Porpoise Press8 – at the Norwegian Club – Norske Klub – which has the most extraordinary cheese, chocolate coloured – they want me to write a pamphlet on nationalism and regionalism. And I have the impression that I have described some very similar fortnight to you before!
Now this is all I have time to write until Monday. Thank you again and again, my dear, for your lovely letter. IRothenstein, Sir William;a5 am sorry I bothered you with the Rothenstein – I thought it would catch you at Brimmer Street.
1.See TSE to his mother, 14 Oct. 1919: ‘Périgeux is a town that I like. The last time I was there was at Christmas (1910), and arriving early on an intensely hot August morning it seemed more southern than it had before. It is a small old town, the metropolis of that district’ (Letters 1, 406).
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.OsbertSitwell, Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969), poet and man of letters. Early in his career, he published collections of poems, including Argonaut and Juggernaut (1919), and a volume of stories, Triple Fugue (1924); but he is now most celebrated for his remarkable memoirs, Left Hand, Right Hand (5 vols, 1945–50), which include a fine portrayal of TSE. TSE published one sketch by him in the Criterion. See John Lehmann, A Nest of Tigers: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell in their Times (1968); John Pearson, Façades: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell (1978); Philip Ziegler, Osbert Sitwell (1998). TSE to Mary Trevelyan, 16 Oct. 1949: ‘Edith and Osbert are 70% humbug – but kind – and cruel' (in Mary Trevelyan, 'The Pope of Russell Square’, 19).
4.ZieglerEliots, the T. S.described by Osbert Sitwell;a5n, Osbert SitwellSitwell, Osbertdescribes the Eliots' dinner-party;a2n, 121: ‘When Vivienne emerged from a spell in a nursing home, her husband invited Osbert and Edith to dinner to celebrate her return. The other guests were James Joyce with his mistress [who were to get married on the morrow] and the publisher Geoffrey Faber with his wife. Vivienne came late. “It is splendid to see you again,” said Osbert heartily. “I don’t know about splendid,” replied Vivienne, “but it is strange, very strange.” After this unpropitious opening things got worse; anything Eliot said his wife contradicted, the atmosphere grew more strained every minute, and the Joyces, who were planning to get married the following day after many years of cohabitation, became visibly depressed. Finally the party broke up. “It’s been lovely, Vivienne,” said Mrs Faber, more in hope than conviction. Vivienne looked at her mournfully and replied: “Well, it may have been lovely for you, but it’s been dreadful for me!” “Nonsense, Vivienne,” Mrs Faber countered stoutly. “You know it’s been a triumph.” “A triumph!” was Vivienne’s parting shot. “Look at Tom’s face!”’ See too Richard Greene, Edith Sitwell: Avant-Garde Poet, English Genius (2011), 216–17.
GeoffreyFaber, Geoffreyrecounts the Eliots' dinner-party;a6n FaberJoyce, JamesGCF on;a6n diary, Thurs. 25 June [sic]: ‘Dined with the Eliots, & met James Joyce & Mrs. J. & Osbert Sitwell. An interesting party, & Mrs E amazingly much better. Osbert very much the adequate man of the world – likeable. Joyce, a little tired-looking man, wearing glasses, evidently physically under the weather, talking little & quietly, perfect manners. One couldn’t but like him, & feel his quality. I asked him about his friend, Sullivan, the tenor, whom he has tried & failed to place on the map of Covent Garden. He was suspicious of my source of knowledge; but I steered him past that, & he talked on his favourite subject with passion. So much did he impress me, that I dreamed of him off & on all night! He has had 8 or 9 operations on his eyes; all failures till he went for the last one to Vogt of Zurich. He must have one more – a complicated one – & may then be able to see to read.’
5.JohnMacMurray, John Macmurray (1891–1976), moral philosopher; Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College, London, 1928–44; Professor of Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh University, 1944–58. His works include Freedom in the Modern World (1932). See J. E. Costello, John Macmurray: A Biography (2002); John Macmurray: Critical Perspectives, ed. D. Fergusson and N. Dower (2002).
6.DavidGarnett, David Garnett (1892–1981), author, publisher; founder with Francis Meynell of the Nonesuch Press; author of Lady into Fox (1922: James Tait Black Memorial Prize), The Sailor’s Return (1925), and Aspects of Love (1955 – the source for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, 1989). See Sarah Knights, Bloomsbury’s Outsider: A Life of David Garnett (2015).
7.Royal Societies Club, 63 St James’s Street, London.
8.See Alistair McCleery, The Porpoise Press 1922– 39 (Edinburgh: 1988).
2.ChristopherDawson, Christopher Dawson (1889–1970), cultural historian: see Biographical Register.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
6.DavidGarnett, David Garnett (1892–1981), author, publisher; founder with Francis Meynell of the Nonesuch Press; author of Lady into Fox (1922: James Tait Black Memorial Prize), The Sailor’s Return (1925), and Aspects of Love (1955 – the source for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, 1989). See Sarah Knights, Bloomsbury’s Outsider: A Life of David Garnett (2015).
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
1.JamesJoyce, James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist, playwright, poet; author of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), Finnegans Wake (1939).
5.JohnMacMurray, John Macmurray (1891–1976), moral philosopher; Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College, London, 1928–44; Professor of Moral Philosophy, Edinburgh University, 1944–58. His works include Freedom in the Modern World (1932). See J. E. Costello, John Macmurray: A Biography (2002); John Macmurray: Critical Perspectives, ed. D. Fergusson and N. Dower (2002).
3.BruceRichmond, Bruce Richmond (1871–1964), editor of the TLS, 1902–37.
5.SirRothenstein, Sir William William Rothenstein (1872–1945), artist and administrator: see Biographical Register.
2.EdithSitwell, Edith Sitwell (1887–1964), poet, biographer, anthologist, novelist: see Biographical Register.
3.OsbertSitwell, Osbert Sitwell (1892–1969), poet and man of letters. Early in his career, he published collections of poems, including Argonaut and Juggernaut (1919), and a volume of stories, Triple Fugue (1924); but he is now most celebrated for his remarkable memoirs, Left Hand, Right Hand (5 vols, 1945–50), which include a fine portrayal of TSE. TSE published one sketch by him in the Criterion. See John Lehmann, A Nest of Tigers: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell in their Times (1968); John Pearson, Façades: Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell (1978); Philip Ziegler, Osbert Sitwell (1998). TSE to Mary Trevelyan, 16 Oct. 1949: ‘Edith and Osbert are 70% humbug – but kind – and cruel' (in Mary Trevelyan, 'The Pope of Russell Square’, 19).
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’.
4.PhilippaWhibley, Philippa (née Raleigh) Raleigh, daughter of Walter Raleigh, Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford, became Charles Whibley’s second wife in 1927. She was his god-daughter.