[240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass.]
I am writing this morning to catch the Normandie tomorrow; IDobrée, Bonamy;b9 should have time this evening, after dining with Dobrée whom I have not seen for a long time; butFaber, Geoffrey;f7 I have already had to use up part of the morning writing a long letter to Geoffrey to cheer him up in his mumps,1 so I will use up the rest writing to you. I have to thank you for your letter of April 9th, which arrived yesterday. IFlat 3, 11 Emperor's GateTSE's situation at;a8 am now pretty well settled into my new quarters. Elizabeth is on the whole a better cook than Alice, I think; but I don’t know what we shall do when she takes her summer holiday – go away ourselves I expect – as she now does all the work of the flat. It ought to harden my leg muscles, climbing so many steps, and improve my wind, too. I don’t suppose I shall have time to get my pictures up (that’s not a job I care to leave to anyone else) untilFamily Reunion, The;b7 the autumn, or make other improvements, because I want to finish my play first, and I am just getting to the hardest part. And there will be so many interruptions. AsMorleys, theand TSE's Salzburg expedition;i7 Itravels, trips and plansthe Morley–Eliot 1937 trip to Salzburg;c6contemplated;a1 said, I want to get out of England during the Coronation, and there seems some prospect of going to Salzburg with the Morleys, which would mean being away about ten days, longer than I intended. And'Religious Drama: Mediæval and Modern';a1 when I get back I must write out my piece for the annual meeting of the Friends of Rochester – I have to do a lecture on Religious Drama.2 (theUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsbecomes Bishop of Bath and Wells;c9 Dean has now become Bishop of Bath & Wells, so I suppose I shall have to become a friend of Bath & Wells too, I have never been to Wells, which I believe is quite a good cathedral, better than Rochester anyway). AndKingswood School, BathTSE's prize-day address to;a1 at the end of June is Kingswood School,3 andEdinburgh Universityconfers honorary degree on TSE;a1 at the beginning of July (the 2nd) Edinburgh, andWorld Conference of Churches, 1937TSE's address to;a1 on the 12th July Oxford.
Itravels, trips and plansEH's 1937 summer in England;c7EH accompanies TSE to Edinburgh;a7 am pleased that you should want to see the Edinburgh ceremonies! Only I hate to think of your travelling to Edinburgh alone and staying at a hotel, especially as I expect that the recipients of degrees will have all their time laid out for them, and it would be trying to have you in Edinburgh and see nothing of you. Would the Perkins’s want to come with you, do you think, or anybody else? IWilson, John Dover;a1 will write to Dover Wilson and ask whether it is possible to obtain seats for friends, and how many.4
Thefinances (TSE's)theatrical royalties;b4 royalties for American productions of course differ. IMurder in the Cathedral1937 Amherst College production;f2;a2 shallMurder in the Cathedral1937 Harvard University production;f1;a2 know about Harvard and Amherst on my next pay sheet. TheMurder in the Cathedralunsolicited 1936 New York production;e2royalties from;b4 New York production last year brought me about 450 dollars – a proper production would of course bring in much more. DukesMurder in the Cathedral1937 touring production;e9going strong;a3 saysDukes, Ashleyplans for Murder;c9 the company is doing very well on its provincial tour; andMurder in the Cathedral1938 American tour;f6confirmed again by Dukes;a4 he now talks of sending out two companies in the autumn, one to America (heMiller, Gilbert;a1 has been negotiating with Gilbert Miller5 – this is of course confidential) and one to the provinces again. AndAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')The Ascent of F6 (with Isherwood);d3 ‘TheMercury Theatre, Londonpresents The Ascent of F6;b6 Ascent of F6’ is still running at the Mercury, and will be given a trial run in the West End. I am glad that it should do well, and not only from motives of generosity, but because I think that it will help my future work to have audiences being trained all the time in hearing modern verse plays. ‘TheFamily Reunion, Thecompared to Murder;b3 Family Re-union’ will hardly, I think, have the immediate success of ‘Murder’; because it is a contemporary scene, and no doubt there are many people who have come to accept modern verse for a mediaeval play, but who have still to learn to accept it (instead of prose) for a modern play.
I am sorry to hear that you will have to move; but I hope that you will find something equally comfortable and well arranged, and equally pleasantly situated, for a reasonable price. On the whole your current reports of yourself are cheering. It is natural that you should have recurrences of the feelings of last year, especially when you get out of your surroundings of work and into other surroundings which perhaps invite such recurrences. Perhaps you can discover (and if you can find out for yourself, you can tell me) just what circumstances bring them on; because if you can, it will help you to overcome them, to protect yourself in the right way by getting to understand the circumstances so well as to cease to be affected by them, and by cultivating a right kind of detachment from them. One aims to arrive at a kind of ‘magnanimity’, to see things and people in such a full perspective that one is no longer hurt by little things and small people, but is above them. I speak of such things now, because I think you will have to prepare yourself against trials at Campden – and don’t think that I am ignoring all the pleasant and happy aspects either. AndChristianityvirtues heavenly and capital;e1distinguished from inferiority;d3 don’t ever confuse ‘humility’ with belittling oneself, or let it become a strain of forcing feelings that one can’t feel – a person might even come, through humility, to see himself as a more important and more dignified person than before; and the people with ‘inferiority complexes’ are among those who [are] most certainly lacking in humility. Humility is much more detachment, and a willingness to see both oneself and others as we really are.
MrsUnderhill, Evelyn;b7. Stuart Moore’s address is 50, Campden Hill Square, W.8.; and I am sure that it would be a pleasure to her to have you write. HerUnderhill, EvelynWorship;c6 recent book called ‘Worship’ is said to be very good indeed; I have not had the time to read it yet.6
Now I must stop, and go to give lunch to a prospective author.
1.See TSE to Geoffrey Faber, 20 Apr. 1937, Letters 8, 565–8.
2.‘Religious Drama: Mediæval and Modern’, University of Edinburgh Journal 9 (Aut. 1937).
3.The text of TSE’s Prize Day Address at Kingswood School, Bath, on 25 June has not survived; it was reported in the Kingswood Magazine 25: 3 (July 1937), 86–9: CProse 5, 510–13.
4.JohnWilson, John Dover Dover Wilson (1881–1969), literary and textual scholar; Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, Edinburgh, 1935–45. Renowned as editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare, 1921–66. His writings include The Essential Shakespeare (1932); The Fortunes of Falstaff (1943); and Shakespeare’s Happy Comedies (1962).
5.GilbertMiller, Gilbert Miller (1884–1969); American theatrical producer. In 1950 he was to win a Tony Award for his production of The Cocktail Party. The Gilbert Miller–Ashley Dukes production of Murder in the Cathedral (with Miller taking a quarter-share in the enterprise, and Dukes three-quarters to secure artistic control), starring Robert Speaight, was to open at the Ritz Theatre, West 48th Street, New York City, on 16 Feb. 1938. It ran for 21 performances.
6.Evelyn Underhill, Worship (1936).
10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.
3.Bonamy DobréeDobrée, Bonamy (1891–1974), scholar and editor: see Biographical Register.
4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.
11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.
5.GilbertMiller, Gilbert Miller (1884–1969); American theatrical producer. In 1950 he was to win a Tony Award for his production of The Cocktail Party. The Gilbert Miller–Ashley Dukes production of Murder in the Cathedral (with Miller taking a quarter-share in the enterprise, and Dukes three-quarters to secure artistic control), starring Robert Speaight, was to open at the Ritz Theatre, West 48th Street, New York City, on 16 Feb. 1938. It ran for 21 performances.
1.EvelynUnderhill, Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941), spiritual director and writer on mysticism and the spiritual life: see Biographical Register.
2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.
4.JohnWilson, John Dover Dover Wilson (1881–1969), literary and textual scholar; Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, Edinburgh, 1935–45. Renowned as editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare, 1921–66. His writings include The Essential Shakespeare (1932); The Fortunes of Falstaff (1943); and Shakespeare’s Happy Comedies (1962).