[c/o Perkins, 90 Commonwealth Ave., Boston]
Your letter 49 of the 22nd July received, but has had to wait for several days for an answer. I had a longer succession of evenings out than usual: MontgomeryBelgion, Montgomeryon leave in London;c6 Belgion came up to town on leave for a couple of nights, so I had to dine with him on Sunday; theChristian News-Letter (CNL)first number;a4 C.N.L. committee as usual on Monday; TuesdayMercury Theatre, London'initimate opera' at;c5 nightDukes, Ashley;g3 to the Mercury to have a chat with Ashley and the Brownes, who were here for two days, and incidentally looking on at the ‘intimate opera’ (with three singers on the stage!) which he is now running there; WednesdayChandos Group;a7 the Chandos Group meeting; ThursdayHutchinsons, the;c2 dinedWalpole, Hugh;a5 with the Hutchinsons and Hugh Walpole. Thisde Gaulle, CharlesTSE to meet with Saurat;a1 weekSaurat, Denisarranges TSE's introduction to de Gaulle;a4 I have to go to the Mercury again to meet General de Gaulle,1 who is being specially invited with Denis Saurat. OtherwiseWoolf, LeonardTSE promises article for Political Quarterly;a7, having finished an article for the Political Quarterly (but I am not satisfied with it)2 andFaber, Geoffreyand Purchase Tax exertions;h4 having sent it to Geoffrey in Wales (where he has just withdrawn with boils on his face: the work and worry of the Publishers’ Association have been very heavy all winter, and I don’t think G. has a very strong constitution: he is too fat and heavy, and suffers from lack of exercise) IChristian News-Letter (CNL)TSE's guest-editorship of;b8 have settled down to the work of the C.N.L. which I find very trying at first. It has taken me the whole weekend to elaborate a four-page ‘letter’, and by tomorrow I may want to scrap it and start all over. This job – which, as I said, I have taken on for three weeks to let Oldham get a rest, which he badly needs – will keep me to the grindstone: the actual writing will be done at weekends – which means that I can’t get away until the end of the month. Iwritingweekly articles;d2 have never had theAthenaeum, TheTSE's experience of weekly reviewing;a3 experience of having to write weekly articles – except when I reviewed for the Athenaeum, and that is very different; andOldham, Josephas editor of CNL;d2 I have not the fund of topics that Oldham has, or, what is still more remarkable, his ability to put his hand on just the right man to tell him what he wants to know. There are half a dozen regular topics which must not be dropped, as well as whatever turn up from moment to moment. If somebody makes an important speech during the week, that helps. But one has to try to keep up with periodicals, parliamentary reports etc., and of course I can only give half my time to this. Well, you will see for yourself whether the results are adequate.3 But the weather is now warm and sultry, and I envied you on the beach, in the water, and sailing in yachts. I have never in my life had a sail in your company. MeanwhileEnglandLondon;h1TSE as air-raid warden in;d5 I am to have my ARP oral examination on Tuesday, so must spend Monday afternoon mugging up my notes and the manual.4 I believe the test is not an exacting one. After that I expect to be supplied with (‘issued with’ I fear you would say) a kit, consisting of a helmet, a suit of overalls, and possibly rubber boots, and take one night a fortnight on duty at the local post nearby; and that’s all it amounts to in these times. (You won’t confuse the ARP with the LDV, I hope).5
IHale, Emilyphotographs of;w7;d7 could not tell from such tiny photographs (very welcome they were, however, but I hope that one of your hosts will have a bigger camera) how well you may be looking. One of them suggested that you had to put on a little weight, but that may merely have been an illusion due to the position! Anyway, it seems to be a good symptom that you have felt up to going into the water (I remember that you once expressed an aversion to bathing photographs, a feeling which in general I share) which, I believe, is much warmer on the South Shore than North of Boston.
I hope that you have given my appropriate greetings as you have gone along; as my explicit messages will always have reached you too late.
OfHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3constrained by war;g8 course I have not seen anything yet of life in the country, and it might be wise to be guarded in description of it: I have not even told you much about Cambridge. I dare say I am more cautious than necessary – that is my temperament – but I can’t help it. I should like at least to reassure you, if you need it, about my own situation, which is much the same in detail as in normal times, except for the odd jobs I have from time to time mentioned. ISeaverns, Helenremoved from grandchildren;e2 have at last had a line from Mrs. Seaverns: Jim’s children6 have gone to Australia, and she is feeling rather lonelier, so I expect that I shall be dining at Millbank again shortly. The chief inconvenience of life, really, is that I feel hampered and constrained in correspondence, far beyond the necessities of national defence: so you must just believe that my letters are twice the length they are – that is to say, with lines between lines.
1.Charlesde Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), military officer and statesman. Having refused to accept the armistice with Germany in June 1940, he based himself in London from where he led the Free French Forces and then the French National Liberation Committee. Later, President of the Republic.
2.Not published: TSE’s draft piece was overtaken by events when the government withdrew its plans for a tax on books.
3.TSE wrote Newsletter nos. 42 (14 Aug. 1940), 43 (21 Aug. 1940) and 44 (28 Aug. 1940).
4.TSE had signed up to be an A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) Warden in Kensington.
5.Local Defence Volunteers – set up in May 1940 – soon re-designated as the ‘Home Guard’.
6.Jim Morgan Fowler: Mrs Seaverns’s adopted son was an orphan from Australia.
4.MontgomeryBelgion, Montgomery (‘Monty’) Belgion (1892–1973), author and journalist: see Biographical Register.
1.Charlesde Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), military officer and statesman. Having refused to accept the armistice with Germany in June 1940, he based himself in London from where he led the Free French Forces and then the French National Liberation Committee. Later, President of the Republic.
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.
8.JosephOldham, Joseph (‘Joe’) Houldsworth Oldham (1874–1969), missionary, adviser, organiser: see Biographical Register.
3.DenisSaurat, Denis Saurat (1890–1958), Anglo-French scholar, writer, broadcaster; Professor of French Language and Literature, King’s College London, 1926–50; Director of the Institut français du Royaume Uni, 1924–45; author of La Pensée de Milton (1920: Milton: Man and Thinker, 1925).
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
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).
13.LeonardWoolf, Leonard Woolf (1880–1969), writer and publisher; husband of Virginia Woolf: see Biographical Register.