[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
I was surprised to get, not only a cable from you, but also a birthday letter, on the morning of the 26th. It was a very welcome surprise indeed to have such recent news of you: I wrote in the morning before I went out, not expecting anything that day more than another (I mean, a letter – I was not surprised to get the cable. INason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldinesends TSE birthday letter;a1 had also a very nice birthday letter from Meg,1 who says that they have their house full of relatives, of course, and that she has taken up carpentering. She also says very sweetly: ‘I find one can only think about the present or eternity, and leave the middle part to God’. IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2EH buys TSE various ties;e2 did look at my ties again; I intend to wear one of them in Cambridge tomorrow.
IUniversity of CambridgeKing Edward VII Professorship;a8 am afraid I have no general news to give you; but I am amused by the old rumour of the King Edward VII Professorship turning up again. It was current about ten years ago, but I have not heard it lately. IQuiller-Couch, Sir Arthurremains King Edward VII Professor;a2 have not even any reason to suppose that Quiller-Couch has retired; and if he had, I am by no means sure either that I am suitable for the job, or that I want it.2 And even if the place was vacant, I doubt whether they would be filling it just now. AsSpencer, Theodore;c5 for Ted S.,3 I don’t believe he will be coming now. The University is, I believe, partly occupied by students, and partly by people being trained in other ways.
Will the Perkins’s have the Springs’ house to themselves for any length of time. I should suppose that by now the weather must have moderated.
I shall also be with you in spirit, on the 27th October, more closely than ever. And indeed, you are with me the whole time more than ever before; and I, I hope, with you. IHale, Emilysent copy of TSE's daily prayers;m5 send you herewith a copy of my daily prayers (exceptEnglandChipping Campden, Gloucestershire;e1sound of the Angelus;a9 the Angelus which I repeat when I hear it – from my church at 8, 12 noon and 6.30 – in Campden one heard it, when the wind was right, from the Roman church). I am not recommending them to you – some are obviously impossible for you, and one must find what one suits one in any case – I only give them so that you may know what I use daily, and you may be sure that you are mentioned in them. Areading (TSE's)psalm or two a day;f9 psalm or two is very good reading at the very end of the day; and some of them are highly appropriate for this time. I am very sorry for the people who have to live through this age without any definite religious faith: what sense can be made of life without it? I am thankful even for my practical duties at my church. Je t’embrasse de plein coeur.
1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.
2.Cf. TSEUniversity of CambridgeKing Edward VII Professorship;a8 to FrankMorley, Frank Vigorwhich reports on TSE's family;i8n Morley, 25 Jan. 1939: ‘I was delighted to get your report of a visit to Cambridge, where my family are, from your report, still recognisably the same people as ever. They do pick up and believe queer rumours about me: I can’t think how the one about my being Regius Professor of Poetry started, but it might be something like this: about ten years ago Quiller-Couch was expected to retire, and some of the youngsters like Richards touted me for his job.’ Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944), critic, poet, novelist, editor, anthologist, was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature, Cambridge; Fellow of Jesus College.
3.Theodore Spencer.
4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.
1.MargaretNason, Margaret ('Meg') Geraldine (Meg) Geraldine Nason (1900–86), proprietor of the Bindery tea rooms, Broadway, Worcestershire, whom TSE and EH befriended on visits to Chipping Campden.
2.SirQuiller-Couch, Sir Arthur Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944) – ‘Q’ – critic, poet, novelist, editor and anthologist; King Edward VII Professor of English Literature, Cambridge, Fellow of Jesus College. His publications include the Oxford Book of English Verse 1250– 1900 (1900) and On the Art of Writing (lectures, 1916). See further A. L. Rowse, Quiller Couch: A Portrait of ‘Q’ (1988).
2.TheodoreSpencer, Theodore Spencer (1902–48), writer, poet and critic, taught at Harvard, 1927–49: see Biographical Register.