[240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass.]
I was very much distressed by getting your post card this morning (although at the same time diverted by noticing that the post card was marked ‘private’!) I do hope that it is merely a cold, because I have found that a cold is sometimes a God-send, as it gives one the opportunity when very tired to stop in bed and sleep and sleep. I hope that it is not really mumps (FaberFaber, Geoffreycomposes Alcaics from sickbed;f8 had them or it very badly, and spent his time writing me a masterly set of Latin verses in the manner of Horace)1 and I am thinking of sending you a reply paid cable in the morning. If it IS merely a cold, then it may give you just the rest you need before facing the end of term and examinations. ICriterion, TheJuly 1937;d4'Commentary';a1 have been tied up for the last few days in writing my Commentary, which always comes at an inconvenient time; and the weekend was not of very much use to me: because it was my Saturday morning at the office; andHayward, Johnwalked round Earl's Court;g7 I took John Hayward for a walk in the afternoon, the weather being fine (that is to say I wheeled him about Earls Court in his chair – I ought to have done this before, as I find he has no one to take him out now; and I may be able to do so again this Saturday, as I do not go away until Monday) andJennings, Richard;a3 dined with him and Richard Jennings in the evening; and Sunday was of course mostly taken up by parochial duties. I am all alone with Elizabeth, asCheetham, Revd Eric;c7 the vicar is taking his needed Easter holiday now – heHansell, William;a1 had to delay it for the funeral of Sir William Hansell,2 and he will be back just before I leave. Elizabeth is rather terrified at being in such a lonely place, without curates and church workers running in and out; so we have a double lock and an enormous bolt and a kind of grating on the door like a speakeasy so that she can peer out at visitors before she opens the door, and I am terrified of finding myself locked out one night. LastLiterary Society, Thecomical evening with;a3 night a dinner of the comical Old Buffers Literary Club. I was greeted on arrival by an unknown hearty old gentleman dressed in what was obviously the fashionable style of evening dress for gentlemen dining among themselves in 1888, with the words: ‘What! so you’ve just arrived, have you?’ I replied in the affirmative with a few words about the difficulties of traffic owing to the bus strike. He then began to grumble about the strike.3 IBinyon, Laurenceconverses discreetly on Greek tragedy;a2 shouldCecil, Algernon;a2 have liked to pursue this topic, as I am all in favour of the strikers, and he obviously was not, but the phantasmagoria shifted and the company was pushed into a different formation by an influx of more members, and I found myself jammed between Lawrence Binyon4 and Algernon Cecil. At this point there was a sort of Musical Chairs motion, and we all sat down where we could. It was a large and brilliant party of old buffers who must come because they think they are in literary society – the literary society being Binyon and myself, who discussed Greek tragedy in low tones. I go because I like to collect curios: butWood, Edward, 3rd Viscount Halifax (later 1st Earl of Halifax)at The Literary Society;a1 ICooper, (Alfred) Duff, 1st Viscount Norwichat The Literary Society;a3 can hardly believe that such a human curiosity animates busy cabinet ministers like Lord Halifax5 and Duff Cooper6 – why they go I cannot conceive. WhatHeadlam, Sir Cuthbert;a1 I wanted was to overhear the conversation of other people; but the only opportunity was when I heard a red-faced old man with bushy white eyebrows who looked as if his name was probably Sir Cuthbert Headlam K.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., K.C.V.O. say to someone ‘You see, I knew Mallarmé’. Dear dear. TeaWoolfs, theand TSE argue about honours;d1 to-day with the Woolfs, whom I had not seen since before Christmas. Argument about honours. We agreed that literary folk ought not to accept Government Honours (sheWalpole, Hughto be knighted;a3 says that Hugh Walpole is to have a knighthood!) but Virginia is opposed to their accepting University Honours as well, and naturally I didn’t agree about that. But it was all very friendly; andWoolf, Leonardamong his pets;a5 the marmoset cuddled under Leonard’s coat and the devoted spaniel lay on his lap, and we discussed the wickedness of authors and authors’ agents at the expense of the poor publisher.
I shall write again at or just before the weekend, and after that I am afraid there will be nothing but postcards and short scrawls for two weeks. As soon as I get back, I hope to go down to Campden for a weekend – but I shall have rather a rush – interfering again with the poor play – to get my speech for the Friends of Canterbury done.
My Love, I pray for your recovery, and if I may have a note in your own hand before I leave I shall be happy. Within seven weeks I shall see you!
1.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffreycomposes Alcaics from sickbed;f8 Faber’s diary, Thurs, 8 Apr.: ‘Definitely mumps – & must have had it for past week, so to bed & stay there, writing mock alcaics for T.S.E. (subsequently published in Criterion over anagram of name Offa E. Freyberg).’ Geoffrey Faber to Frank Morley, from Wales (‘Friday’): ‘I can’t write – not now – I haven’t the energy, & the post is going. All my spare strength has gone into those Alcaics for TSE – now finished & being annotated. Very elaborate joke indeed’ (E6/48).
See ‘Poetae Cuiusdam Ignoti: Carmen Singulare’ [‘Unknown Poets: A Singular Song’], Criterion 16 (July 1937), 655–65.
2.WilliamHansell, William Hansell (1856–1937), barrister.
3.TheLondon Passenger Transport Boardorganises strike;a1n 30,000 bus workers employed by the London Passenger Transport Board went on strike on 1 May 1937, demanding a reduction of the working day from 8 hours to 7.5 hours. The GWU did not achieve its aim, and the strikers went back to work after four weeks.
4.LaurenceBinyon, Laurence Binyon, CH (1869–1943), Keeper of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, 1932–3; translator of Dante. In 1933 he succeeded TSE as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. John Hatcher, Laurence Binyon: Poet, Scholar of East and West (1995).
5.EdwardWood, Edward, 3rd Viscount Halifax (later 1st Earl of Halifax) Wood, 3rd Viscount and later 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959), distinguished Conservative politician; Viceroy of India, 1926–31; Foreign Secretary, 1938–40; British Ambassador in Washington, 1941–6. See Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax (1991, 2019).
6.AlfredCooper, (Alfred) Duff, 1st Viscount Norwich Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich of Aldwick (1890–1954), since 1937, First Lord of the Admiralty.
4.LaurenceBinyon, Laurence Binyon, CH (1869–1943), Keeper of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, 1932–3; translator of Dante. In 1933 he succeeded TSE as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. John Hatcher, Laurence Binyon: Poet, Scholar of East and West (1995).
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
6.AlfredCooper, (Alfred) Duff, 1st Viscount Norwich Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich of Aldwick (1890–1954), since 1937, First Lord of the Admiralty.
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.
5.RichardJennings, Richard Jennings (1881–1952), leader writer and literary editor of the Daily Mirror; noted bibliophile. He lived at 8 The Grove, London S.W.5; later at 8 The Little Boltons, S.W.10.
7.NovelistWalpole, Hugh, man of letters, bibliophile and generous patron, Sir Hugh Walpole (1884–1941) became first chairman of the selection committee of the Book Society and of the Society of Bookmen. His novels include The Cathedral (1922) and the Herries saga (1930–3).
5.EdwardWood, Edward, 3rd Viscount Halifax (later 1st Earl of Halifax) Wood, 3rd Viscount and later 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959), distinguished Conservative politician; Viceroy of India, 1926–31; Foreign Secretary, 1938–40; British Ambassador in Washington, 1941–6. See Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox: The Life of Lord Halifax (1991, 2019).
13.LeonardWoolf, Leonard Woolf (1880–1969), writer and publisher; husband of Virginia Woolf: see Biographical Register.