[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
I was very glad to get back to my flat and find two letters from you and then a third – Apr. 19, May 3 and May 10. IPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);d2 also have a note from Mrs. Perkins, announcing their sailing on the 15th, so I expect I shall hear from them again, presumably from Aban Court, at the beginning of next week. That makes your arrival seem much nearer.1 And June will pass very quickly, as I have too much to do. IRidler, Anne (née Bradby)ill and engaged;a8 got back to find my secretary away with influenza, and the announcement that she is to be married in July and I understand that her fiancée [sic] is very nice but quite unpractical; and I have had no end of business to wade through, andHerbert, Georgesubject of TSE's Salisbury address;a6 at the same time have been hacking out a little speech on George Herbert which I have to deliver in Salisbury next Wednesday2 (IRichmonds, theTSE's Netherhampton weekends with;a7 go down on Tuesday and stay with the Richmonds) andTruro School, CornwallTSE's speech-day address to;a1 no sooner is that over than I have to compose two speeches for the following week, one for the boys at Truro andWest Cornwall School for GirlsTSE's prize-day address to;a1 one for the girls at Penzance (Methodist children you remember) andCorpus Christi College, Cambridgeawards TSE degree;b2 theUniversity of Cambridgeconfers honorary degree on TSE;a7 week after that I go down to Cambridge to stay with Spens at Corpus and get my degree. SoFamily Reunion, The;e1 the revision of the play cannot get forward as quickly as I should wish. I have seen Martin once and am to dine with them next week and talk about it again: I shall have to work very hard on it during June.
Howtravels, trips and plansTSE's 1938 trip to Lisbon;c9described;a8 canPortugalas per TSE's 1938 sojourn;a1 I begin to tell you about my visit to Portugal? Much of it will come out in bits when I see you. It was one of those experiences which one enjoys more in retrospect than at the time. Not that it was in any way uncomfortable: the Government did us extremely well at the most expensive hotel, and whirled us about the country for four or five days, so that I saw something of Portugal from North to South. I say ‘something’, because Portuguese hospitality requires a great deal of time spent in eating – so much that sometimes there was no time for sightseeing; and at times food became a real torture – ten course lunches – three of fish and five of meat, and almost no vegetables. One felt very remote from Europe – all the more so because English and French people have to get to Lisbon by sea, as they are not wanted in Spain. Thede Lacretelle, Jacques;a2 companionshipde Traz, Robert;a1 of my two colleagues, Jacques de Lacretelle and Robert de Traz,3 helped me to endure the boredom of much of the time. The people are gentle and amiable, but rather crude. Amongst those one meets in Lisbon society, there are a good many traces of more or less negro blood, though the people who obviously have no negro blood are surprisingly white.
They have a tremendous respect for French culture and literature; but respect us, I fear, only as a political ally. They are naturally anxious that Franco should dominate Spain (at least, the sort of people that I met) but I think have a permanent dislike and resentment of the Spanish, who represent to the Portuguese a permanent menace. The country folk impressed me favourably, and seem on the whole of purer stock than the townspeople. The climate is delightful, and the country very charming; there are a few interesting works of art, but not very many. The monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha and Evora I remember with pleasure, and the little royal chapel of the Madre de Deus in Lisbon <& Tomar>: but on the whole the artistic history of Portugal is poor. They are fond of banquets, speeches (they write out and read aloud their after dinner speeches, which are very long) and flash light photographs. When there is a banquet, the press photographers do not merely take their photographs and retire: they hang about all through the meal, snapping away at intervals, and especially during speeches – any dramatic gesture on the part of an orator is the signal for a terrific explosion of magnesium powder. I have a dossier of press comment and photography which I will give you when you come. AsCamoens Prizethe event itself;a4 for the Prize which I went to give – Oh dear, that went off quite well, because we were able to avoid international complications by presenting it to a Swiss: for this was much more a political than a literary event. I met several very cultivated Portuguese, whom I liked; but no one who impressed me very much except Dr. Salazar, the head of the Government, who struck me as a really strong and able man – though I was hardly more than introduced to him,4 with the other members of the ‘juri’. I am glad to have done this, thought I hardly consider it a ‘holiday’: I hope I represented Britain to the satisfaction of the Portuguese, and for the maintenance of good relations! The fundamental point being, of course, that Lisbon has a wonderful harbour which is essential for the British fleet in time of war, especially now that Italy is making such a bustle in the Mediterranean. The visit was, in fact, rather tiring: for the one rule necessary to observe with the Portuguese is to flatter and to spread it thicker than one would think anybody could stand. If you could have heard my broadcast address! Lisbon the capital of an Empire etc. and ending with a lusty ‘Viva Portugal’. I don’t know that they are actually duped by flattery: but they do consider it a necessary social convention, like patting each other on the back. I learned to do that too.
I hope that I do not have [to] do anything of the sort again for a long time. If this present zeal for international cultural propaganda goes much further, a man of letters will find himself pressed to spend half his time trotting about from country to country, instead of doing his proper work.
As an instance of the Portuguese idea of polite attention – on the last day, when I had finished packing my luggage and locked it up, a huge parcel arrived, very heavy. When I opened it I found that it was a magnificently printed work in three volumes folio, in Portuguese – a History of the Colonisation of Brazil – sent with the compliments and a flowery inscription from the Minister of Education! I had to tote it back with me, and now (what is worse) I have to think out a letter of thanks to his Excellency Senhor Pacheco.5
NoFranceover Portugal;a5Paris
IUniversity of Bristolhonorary degree in the offing;a1 hope that my last engagement is that at Bristol at the beginning of July. TheBaker, Harold;a1 Warden of Winchester has asked me to the school ‘Domum Dinner’ on the 25th of July, but as there seems to be an after dinner speech attached to the invitation, I am trying to refuse.6 MySmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)1938 visit to England;b9with Chardy;a1 niece Dodo7 isSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece)coming over with Dodo;b1 coming as usual, but she will have her step-sister8 with her most of the time, so I hope that I shall not have very much responsibility for her.
And this does not strike me as a very good letter, after all this time; but I am getting impatient of letters, as July approaches.
I wish you could come to Cambridge –
1.EH was due to sail on 2 July.
2.See ‘Report on a lecture on George Herbert’, Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 27 May 1938, 12: CProse 5, 617–22. TSE celebrated Herbert as ‘the poet of Anglicanism’.
3.Robertde Traz, Robert de Traz (1884–1951), Swiss author.
4.TSESalazar, António de Oliveirain TSE's recollection;a4n was to recall of his brief meeting with Dr Salazar in Lisbon that he ‘has never encouraged the adoption of the “Leader Principle,” and no leader has ever won his position with less personal ambition, or less appeal to mass emotion. Nor did he rise to power through a “party.” He simply happens to be the ablest statesman in Portugal, all the more distinguished by never appearing in a uniform or wearing a decoration. He looks what he is by profession, a university professor: but a very brief meeting with him gave me the impression of a university professor who is also an extremely acute judge of men. His interest and importance for us is that without being in any dubious political sense pro-clerical he is a Christian at the head of a Christian country’ (Christian News-Letter 42 (14 Aug. 1940): CProse 6, 108–9).
5.In due course, TSE donated his presentation set of Historia da Colonizacao Portuguesa do Brasil (1921–4) to the London Library. Senhor Pacheco was Minister of Education.
6.OnBaker, Harold Monday 25 July, TSE attended the ‘Domum Dinner’ at Winchester College, at the invitation of the Warden, Harold Baker. He spoke for less than ten minutes.
7.Theodora Eliot Smith (b. 1904).
8.Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911).
6.OnBaker, Harold Monday 25 July, TSE attended the ‘Domum Dinner’ at Winchester College, at the invitation of the Warden, Harold Baker. He spoke for less than ten minutes.
1.Jacquesde Lacretelle, Jacques de Lacretelle (1888–1985), novelist; elected to the Académie Française in Nov. 1936.
3.AnneRidler, Anne (née Bradby) (Bradby) Ridler (30 July 1912–2001), poet, playwright, editor; worked as TSE’s secretary, 1936–40: see Biographical Register.
4.AntónioSalazar, António de Oliveira de Oliveira Salazar (1889–1970), leader of the authoritarian government of Portugal. F&F was to publish books by and about him.
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’.