[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
The Criterion
22 February 1938
Dearest,

The resignationEden, Anthonyresigns;a1 ofChamberlain, Nevilleand the policy of appeasement;a2 Eden is not really a surprise, though of course one did not know when the break would come.1 WhenVansittart, Sir Robertremoved from office;a2 Sir Robert Vansittart was removed from the headship of the Foreign Office, several weeks ago, to occupy a new and indefinite post which had been created for him, it seemed obvious that there was to be a change of foreign policy, and that there was some difference between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Office (which was pro-French, like Eden). ThereWood, Edward, 3rd Viscount Halifax (later 1st Earl of Halifax)rumoured to be pro-German;a3 haveAstor familyrumoured to be pro-German;a1 beenKerr, Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothianrumoured to be pro-German;a3 rumoursDawson, Geoffreyrumoured to be pro-German;a3 for some time of the existence of a pro-German group in the Cabinet, headed by Lord Halifax, and supported by the Astors, Lord Lothian, and Dawson (the Editor of The Times) outside.2 I may be prejudiced, because I have not taken to the few persons among these whom I have met; andFranceFrench politics;b4England's natural ally;a3 because I have always believed that Britain and France should work together as closely as possible.3 The differenceEuropethrough the 1930s;a2 between ‘democratic’ and ‘totalitarian’ governments seems to me a symptom rather than a cause. I mean that countries in one position have gone totalitarian, and countries in another position have remained democratic: if the political and economic situation had been reversed after the war, it might now be we and the French who would be living under dictatorships now. I take ‘ideologies’ as symptoms, and I take it that our proper friends are those whose interests least conflict with ours. It may be, of course, that the Prime Minister is simply playing for time, while the force of the country is strengthened; and the whole situation is much more complicated because of the Far East. England and France could not enter into a war in Europe without the immediate loss of their far Eastern possessions to Japan. But I am afraid now of our relations with France being altered for the worse, without any compensating gain. ILabour Party, themistrusted on foreign policy;a2 am also afraid that the Prime Minister may be relying too much upon the discredit in which the Labour Party stands, especially in relation to Foreign policy, and that he underestimates the strength of the feeling in this country (however unreasoning, it must be reckoned with) against compromise with either Italy, Germany or Japan. There is a good deal of reason for anxiety.

These are not very cheering topics. I am writing this morning to catch the Berengaria; thenMorley, Christina (née Innes);b7 goWheen, Arthur;a3 to lunch with Christina4 and Arthur Wheen, andHutchinson, Maryto Three Sisters;c4 tonightSaint-Denis, Michelhis Three Sisters;a5 goChekhov, AntonThree Sisters;a6 again to The Three Sisters with Mary Hutchinson. IFamily Reunion, The'Follow the Furies' quashed by EH;d4 cannot remember whether I told you that I was impressed by your objections to ‘Follow the Furies’ as a title, and have been inclined to revert to the original title? I cannot, of course, put my mind on any new piece of work while the play is still unfinished – inBrowne, Elliott Martin1939 production of The Family Reunion;c1rewrite waits on;b1 theFamily Reunion, Thewaiting on Browne and Dukes;d3 sense that I do not know how radical will be the alterations that Martin will want. SoChristianitythe Church Year;d8season for meditation and reading;b5 I hope to do a little regular reading during Lent, which will be a good discipline for my mind. That is only a week hence.

I shall be eager to know how your short holiday went off, and whether you have returned refreshed.

IDukes, Ashley;e4 stillBrowne, Elliott Martin1938 American Murder tour;c4yet to report from Boston;a3 have no news whatever from Browne or Dukes.

Your devoted
Tom

1.TheEden, Anthony Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden, MC, MP (1897–1977), Conservative politician; Foreign Secretary, 1940–5; Prime Minister, 1955–7. Appointed to the Order of the Garter, 1954; raised to the peerage as Earl of Avon, 1961.

Eden resigned as Foreign Secretary on 21 Feb. Prime Minister Chamberlain had taken it upon himself to bypass the Foreign Office in talking directly to the Italian Ambassador Dino Grandi. Eden determined that Chamberlain was about to appease Hitler and Mussolini by acceding to the Italian annexation of Abyssinia on condition that Italian forces would withdraw from Spain. See ‘The Resignation Letters’, The Times, 21 Feb. 1938, 14, for Eden’s letter of 20 Feb. ‘The events of the last few days have made plain a difference between us on a decision of great importance in itself and far-reaching in its consequences. I cannot recommend to Parliament a policy with which I am not in agreement.’ So too Chamberlain’s reply. An Anglo-Italian Pact was to be signed in Rome on 16 Apr., and on 2 May the House of Commons formally accepted the Anglo-Italian Agreement.

2.Lords Halifax and Lothian and Geoffrey Dawson were leading appeasers: they were often known as the ‘Cliveden Set’ (and indeed they were entertained, severally and together, by the Astors at Cliveden); but there was in fact little coordination of a pro-Hitler cabal or faction.

3.See Tom Bouverie, Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War (2019), 219: ‘It is notable how many of the prominent anti-appeasers – Churchill, Eden, Cooper, Nicolson, Spears, Vansittart, Austen Chamberlain – were Francophiles with a strong sense of British history as linked to the Continent. The leading appeasers, by contrast, had little attachment to France and had, traditionally, understood foreign affairs from the perspective of the Empire and the English-speaking dominions.’

4.Christina Morley.

Astor family, rumoured to be pro-German,
Browne, Elliott Martin, meets TSE at Chichester, production of The Rock, meets TSE over possible collaboration, talks over outline of play, meets TSE with Martin Shaw, delighted with Rock choruses, discusses unwritten pageant scenes with TSE, predicament as The Rock's director, well connected in amateur circles, revising into the night with TSE, argues with Shaw at dress-rehearsal, presented to Prince Arthur, honoured by Rock cast-supper, producing Gordon Bottomley's play, speaks at Londonderry House with TSE, 1935 Canterbury Murder in the Cathedral, approached by TSE to 'produce', consulted throughout composition, goes silent, lunches with TSE and Speaight, directs and acts despite illness, pursues London Murder revival, 1935–6 Mercury Theatre Murder revival, engaged as producer by Dukes, keen that EH attend rehearsals, simultaneously part of BBC production, agrees about Speaight's decline, preferred as producer for TSE's next play, and Charles Williams's Cranmer, in which he plays 'the Skeleton', and TSE attend Tenebrae, taken to Cambridge after-feast, producing York Nativity Play, which TSE thinks Giottoesque, at Savile Club Murder dinner, producing Shakespeare's Dream, and Ascent of F6, and Tewkesbury Festival Murder confusion, 1939 production of The Family Reunion, due to be sent script, weighing TSE's proposal that he produce, enthused by script, suggests TSE see Mourning Becomes Electra, against Family Reunion as title, pleased with draft, quizzed on fire-safety, typescript prepared for, new draft submitted to, rewrite waits on, receives new draft, criticisms thereof, reports John Gielgud interest, mediates between Gielgud and TSE, TSE throws over Gielgud for, secures Westminster Theatre production, steps into company breach, then into still-greater breach, and the play's weaknesses, direction of Family Reunion, receives TSE's Shakespeare lectures, 1938 American Murder tour, re-rehearsing actors for, suffers fit of pre-tour gloom, yet to report from Boston, and Tewkesbury pageant, accompanies TSE to La Mandragola, on Family Reunion's future prospects, and possible Orson Welles interest, war leaves at loose end, advises TSE over next play, war work with Pilgrim Players, unavailable for modern-dress Murder, compared to tempter/knight successor, requests Pilgrim Players' play from TSE, New Plays by Poets series, as director, and This Way to the Tomb, and Family Reunion revival, urges TSE to concentrate on theatre, 1946 Mercury Family Reunion revival, in rehearsal, possible revue for Mercury Theatre, and The Lady's Not for Burning, Chairman of the Drama League, 1949 Edinburgh Cocktail Party, to produce, TSE's intended first reader for, receives beginning, approves first act, receives TSE's revisions, communciates Alec Guinness's enthusiasm, arranges reading, surpasses himself with production, in Florence, EH suggests moving on from, and the Poets' Theatre Guild, 1950 Cocktail Party New York transfer, compares Rex Harrison and Alec Guinness, TSE debates whether to continue collaboration with, suggests three-play TSE repertory, 1953 Edinburgh Confidential Clerk, receives first two acts, designing sets, 1953 Lyric Theatre Confidential Clerk, attends with TSE, 1954 American Confidential Clerk, 1954 touring Confidential Clerk, TSE and Martin Browne catch in Golders Green, seeks Family Reunion MS from EH,
see also Brownes, the Martin

4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.

Chamberlain, Neville, as Baldwin's successor, and the policy of appeasement, his policy towards Germany and Italy, rumoured rationale for appeasement, post-Munich, in TSE's opinion, his resignation,
Chekhov, Anton, at the Old Vic, his distinguishing excellence, as master, supreme modern playwright, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya,
Christianity, and human isolation, and modern economics, Ada on TSE's personal piety, scheme for 'Pro Fide' bookshop, among the Eliot family, and beauty, its sects like different clubs, Anglo-Catholicism, TSE's conversion to, which he dates to Eccleston Square meeting, Anglican Missal sought for EH, but unfortunately out of print, discussed at Boston Theological School, and the Petrine Claims, apostolic succession, over Roman Catholicism, as refuge from VHE, and the Reformation, asceticism, discipline, rigour, the necessity for, and TSE's daily exhortation, making and breaking habits, mastering emotions and passions, as salubrious, only remedy for a prurient culture, confession and communion, more possible during Harvard year, the case for unattainable ideals, in time of war, gets TSE up before 7 o'clock, hereditary with TSE, belief, and good poetry, faced with Second World War, and conversion, antidote to TSE's skepticism, Christendom, TSE ponders the decline of, TSE on his prominence within, its ruin, the Church Visible and Invisible, and TSE's war work, the Malabar Church, prospect of total reunion within, confession, helps to objectify sin, more dreaded than dentist, harder in the morning, death and afterlife, the struggle to prepare for, consoles TSE in life, and cremation, Requiem Mass, gives meaning to life, and what makes a desirable burial place, the nature of eternal life, divorce, unrecognised by Anglo-Catholic Church, which TSE regrets, in church law, would separate TSE from Church, evil, TSE's belief in, and moral percipience, guilt, and the New England conscience, hell, TSE's 1910 vision of, and damnation, according to TSE, liturgy, TSE's weekly minimum, Mass of the Pre-sanctified, Requiem Mass versus Mass of Good Friday, and whether to serve at Mass, Imposition of Ashes, at Christmas, High Mass over Mattins, aversion to Low Church Mattins, Roman service in Wayland, Tenebrae, in country parish church, as guest at Kelham, remarkable sermon, over Christmas, Tenebrae and Family Reunion, during Holy Week, Mass of Charles King and Martyr, love, loving one's neighbour, marriage, TSE's need for privacy within, mysticism and transcendence, interpenetration of souls, intimations of life's 'pattern', 'doubleness', arrived at through reconciliation, orthodoxy, only remedy for contemporary culture, and pagans, sets TSE at odds with modernity, necessarily trinitarian, 'Christian' defined, iniquities of liberal theology, and creed, authority, Transubstantiation, TSE disclaims 'self-centredness' in maintaining, politics, the Church and social change, how denomination maps onto, need for working-class priests, church leaders against totalitarianism and Nazism, Christianity versus Fascism and Communism, Papal Encyclical against Nazi Germany, the 'Dividend morality', Presbyterianism, TSE quips on the meanness of, Quakerism, resignation, reconciliation, peace, TSE's love allows for, 'peace that passeth all understanding', the struggle to maintain, following separation from VHE, retreat and solitude, EH at Senexet, the need for, a need increasing with age, and TSE's mother, Roman Catholicism, TSE's counter-factual denomination, Rome, sacraments, Holy Communion, marriage, sainthood, TSE's idea of, the paradoxes of, susceptible of different sins, sins, vices, faults, how to invigilate, the sense of sin, the sinner's condition, bound up with the virtues, as a way to virtue, TSE's self-appraisal, when humility shades into, when unselfishness shades into, among saints, proportionate to spiritual progress, daydreaming, despair, lust, pride, perfection-seeking pride, spiritual progress and direction, TSE's crisis of 1910–11, EH's crisis, versus automatism, TSE's sense of, towards self-knowledge, in EH's case, as personal regeneration, temptation, to action/busyness, the Church Year, Advent, Christmas, dreaded, happily over, TSE rebuked for bah-humbugging, church trumps family during, season of irreligion, thoughts of EH during, unsettling, fatiguing, in wartime, Easter preferred to, Ash Wednesday, Lent, season for meditation and reading, prompts thoughts of EH, Lady Day, Holy Week, its intensity, arduous, preserved from public engagements, exhausting but refreshing, excitingly austere, Easter, better observed than Christmas, missed through illness, Unitarianism, the Eliots' as against EH's, the prospect of spiritual revival within, as personified by TSE's grandfather, regards the Bible as literature, as against Catholicism, divides EH from TSE, and whether Jesus believed himself divine, according to Dr Perkins, in England as against America, over-dependent on preachers' personality, TSE's wish that EH convert from, outside TSE's definition of 'Christian', the issue of communion, baptism, impossibly various, virtues heavenly and capital, bound up with the vices, better reached by way of sin, charity, towards others, in Bubu, TSE's intentness on, delusions of, as against tolerance, chastity, celibacy, beneath humility, TSE lacks vocation for, faith, and doubt, hope, a duty, TSE's struggle for, humility, distinguished from humiliation, comes as relief, greatest of the virtues, propinquitous to humour, not an Eliot virtue, opposed to timidity, danger of pride in, is endless, TSE criticised for overdoing, theatre a lesson in, most difficult of the virtues, possessed by EH, possessed by EH to a fault, TSE compares himself to EH in, the paradox of, distinguished from inferiority, self-discovery teaches, possessed by Dr Perkins, patience, recommended to EH, its foundations, possessed by Uncle John, purity, distinguished from purification, temperance, with alcohol, beneath humility,
Dawson, Geoffrey, and Credit Reform letter to The Times, at The Literary Society, rumoured to be pro-German,

9.GeoffreyDawson, Geoffrey Dawson (1874–1944), editor of The Times, 1912–19, 1922–41.

Dukes, Ashley, described by Yeats to TSE, approaches Doone over Mercury Theatre season, lines up Mercury Murder revival, with which he is pleased, his ambitions for Murder, which Brace upsets, instructed as to Murder New York negotiations, hustling in New York, from where he reports, agrees about Speaight's decline, explains miscarriage of 1936 American production, at 100th performance of Murder, latest plans for Murder, revised plans for New York, dares to call TSE in morning, TSE's royalty arrangement with, policing pirate productions of Murder, discusses Murder's America rights, full of grand desgins, takes Browne into partnership, on Murder's Abdication Crisis resonance, among Family Reunion's first readers, plans for Murder, American Murder tour, against Family Reunion as title, pleased with Family Reunion fragment, sent full Family Reunion draft, lets EH down, consulted over Gielgud contract, on Gielgud and Family Reunion, negotiating with Saint-Denis, less persuaded by Family Reunion, optimistic on Family Reunion transfer, instructed on Family Reunion licensing, fields Orson Welles enquiry, suggests wartime Murder revival, which he mounts without consulting TSE, attempting season of miniature operas, submits theatrical reminiscences to TSE, and Murder film rights, book launch for memoirs, reports on TSE's continental productions, gives Garrick Club dinner for TSE, takes full control of Mercury, accompanies TSE to Germany, La Mandragola, The Scene is Changed, Too Many Twins,
see also Dukes, the

4.AshleyDukes, Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), theatre manager, playwright, critic, translator, adapter, author; from 1933, owner of the Mercury Theatre, London: see Biographical Register.

Eden, Anthony, resigns, at TSE's Cambridge degree ceremony, compared to Labour alternative, as prime minister,

1.TheEden, Anthony Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden, MC, MP (1897–1977), Conservative politician; Foreign Secretary, 1940–5; Prime Minister, 1955–7. Appointed to the Order of the Garter, 1954; raised to the peerage as Earl of Avon, 1961.

Europe, and Henry James, through the 1930s, its importance for America, potentially inspired by FDR, in the event of war, seems more alive than America, the effects of war on, its post-war future, its post-war condition, the possibility of Federal Union, TSE's sense of duty towards,
Family Reunion, The, and TSE as Orestes, plot sought for, progress stalled, referred to as 'Orestes play', written against countdown to war, should be artistically a stretch, plot still not settled on, begun, compared to Murder, TSE on writing, described (mid-composition), and Gunn's Carmina Gadelica, described to GCF, EH questions Harry's entrance, draft read to Martin Brownes, projected autumn 1938 production, depletes TSE, and Mourning Becomes Electra, its Greek inheritance, alternatively 'Follow the Furies', first draft promised to EH, as inspired by Tenebrae, being rewritten, work suspended till summer, fair copy being typed, waiting on Browne and Dukes, 'Follow the Furies' quashed by EH, aspires to be Chekhovian, Dukes keen to produce, criticised by Martin Browne, under revision, submitted to EH's theatrical wisdom, for which TSE credits her, possible John Gielgud production, Gielgud-level casting, Browne's final revisions, with the printers, Henry loaned draft, Donat and Saint-Denis interested, in proof, progress towards staging stalled, Saint-Denis interest tempered, possible Tyrone Guthrie production, possible limited Mercury run, its defects, publication scheduled, first draft sent to EH, Michael Redgrave interested in, March 1939 Westminster Theatre production, waits on terms, rehearsals for, which are photographed, opening night contemplated without EH, last-minute flutters, opening night, reception, coming off, TSE's final visit to, Dukes bullish on New York transfer, EH spurs TSE's reflections on, and Otway's Venice Preserv'd, American reception, and Orson Welles, F&F's sales, 1940 American production, Henry harps on the personal aspect, its cheerfulness, EH acknowledges part in, 1943 ADC production, in Dadie Rylands's hands, described, certain lines expressing TSE's frustrations, EH discusses with pupils, plays in Zurich, 1946 Birmingham production, 1946 Mercury revival, rehearsals for, opening night, TSE attends again in company, Spanish translation of, VHE's death calls to mind, its deficiencies, BBC Gielgud broadcast version, first aired, to be repeated, goes nominally with The Cocktail Party, Swedish National Theatre production, compared to Cocktail Party, EH's response to, more 'personal' than Cocktail Party, performed in Göttingen, 1950 Düsseldorf production, 1953 New York production vetoed, 1956 Phoenix Theatre revival, described, Peter Brook congratulated on, Martin Browne seeks MS of,
France, TSE's Francophilia shared by Whibley, TSE dreams of travelling in, synonymous, for TSE, with civilisation, the Franco-Italian entente, over Portugal, TSE awarded Légion d’honneur, subsequently elevated from chevalier to officier, TSE describes a typical French reception, Switzerland now favoured over, French cuisine, French culture, Exhibition of French Art 1200–1900, French painting, compared to English culture, French language, tires TSE to speak, TSE hears himself speaking, TSE dreads speaking in public, and TSE's false teeth, French politics, French street protest, England's natural ally, post-Versailles, post-war Anglo-French relations, French theatre, the French, more blunt than Americans, as compared to various other races, Paris, TSE's 1910–11 year in, EH pictured in, its society larger than Boston's, TSE's guide to, Anglo-French society, strikes, TSE dreads visiting, post-war, the Riviera, TSE's guide to, the South, fond 1919 memories of walking in, Limoges in 1910, Bordeaux,
Hutchinson, Mary, her friendship compared to OM's, quondam admirer of TSE, enlisted to prevail on VHE, talks theatre and VHE, accompanies TSE to Dance of Death, at TSE's Ritz theatre tea-party, offers EH lunch before rehearsal, takes TSE to see Francis Birrell, issues Irish introductions to TSE, grumbles at Sadler's Wells meeting, on Eyeless in Gaza, accompanies TSE to Olivier's Hamlet, to I Have Been Here Before, to Mourning Becomes Electra, to Three Sisters, her company, accompanies TSE to Duchess of Malfi,
see also Hutchinsons, the

3.MaryHutchinson, Mary Hutchinson (1889–1977), literary hostess and author: see Biographical Register.

Kerr, Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothian, rumoured to be pro-German,

3.PhilipKerr, Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothian Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian (1882–1940), politician, diplomat, newspaper editor; Private Secretary to P.M. David Lloyd George, 1916–21. Advocate during the 1930s of appeasement of Nazi Germany (which he claimed did not harbour expansionist ambitions).

Labour Party, the, foreign policy, according to Leonard Woolf, mistrusted on foreign policy, 'futile as ever', its 1945 victory, and Harold Laski, better suited to the times, and the 1952 Wycombe by-election,
Morley, Christina (née Innes), and country life, at Joyce dinner in Paris, taken to theatre in Morley's absence, again to Love for Love, knits TSE socks, her Celtic temperament, therefore special affinity with Donald, sleeping at Donald's school, as tennis-player, falls asleep at wheel, entertained at The Berkeley, accompanies TSE to Three Sisters, taken to meet JDH, accompanies TSE to Bulgakov's White Guard, brings Morley boys along to Shakespeare, faced with departure for America, America's effect on, sends Ada's New York Times obituary, TSE writes letter of condolence to, for which she thanks him, in Cambridge,
see also Morleys, the
Saint-Denis, Michel, counsels Doone against Mercury venture, has proposal for TSE, his Three Sisters, his White Guard, interested in Family Reunion, negotiating with Dukes, his Twelfth Night, his Family Reunion interest checked,

2.CompagnieSaint-Denis, Michel des Quinze: theatre production company organised by Michel Saint-Denis (nephew of Jacques Copeau), together with the playwright André Obey, at the Théatre du Vieux-Colombier, Paris, 1929–34.

Vansittart, Sir Robert, and TSE's invitation to Finland, removed from office, possible wartime employer for TSE, TSE writes in sympathy to, approves TSE's visit to Dublin, post-retirement lunch with,

2.SirVansittart, Sir Robert Robert Vansittart (1881–1957), diplomat and author: see Biographical Register.

Wheen, Arthur, sends TSE his translation of The Road Back,

ArthurWheen, Arthur Wheen (1897–1971), librarian and translator, grew up in Sydney, Australia, and came to Europe with the Australian Expeditionary Force in WW1 (he received the Military Cross ‘for some incredible act of valour in the last war, which provoked a temporary breakdown,’ as TSE said). A Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford, 1920–3, he worked in the Library of the Victoria & Albert Museum; as Keeper, 1939–62. He translated novels relating to WW1, winning praise for his version of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929); and he wrote a novella, Two Masters (1924, 1929). TSE wrote of him: ‘He’s completely honest, and one of the most silent men I know.’ FVM thought his modest friend ‘the best critic I know, bar none’ (to Morley Kennerley, 5 July 1933). See We talked of other things: The life and letters of Arthur Wheen 1897–1971, ed. Tanya Crothers (2011).

Wood, Edward, 3rd Viscount Halifax (later 1st Earl of Halifax), at The Literary Society, 'wooden', rumoured to be pro-German, his position post-Anschluss, subtler than Churchill, references The Waste Land,

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).