[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
Near Guildford, Surrey.
I now have both 61 and 62 with welcome news of activities in Northampton. I did not write last week, as I was caught out with more to do than I had time for: the usual correspondence and manuscripts to read at the weekend, andChristian News-Letter (CNL)first number;a4 on Monday I went to Oxford – which one does conveniently from here via Reading, without touching London at all – for a C.N.L. conference, the first that had taken place since they had to leave their London office. The headquarters are now in Oxford. ILivingstones, theput TSE up in Oxford;a1 staidCorpus Christi College, OxfordTSE's Oxford perch;a1 with the Livingstones (he is the President of Corpus1 – Lady Livingstone is a sister of the Bishop of Chichester,2 and they are very agreeable people) and dined in Hall on Tuesday night; andBlunden, EdmundTSE sees in Oxford;a1 wasWilliams, Charlesvisited by TSE at OUP;a6 ableHopkins, Gerardvisited at OUP;a1 to see a few people unconnected with C.N.L. on Tuesday – EdmundMerton College, OxfordEdmund Blunden visited at;a2 Blunden3 at Merton, and Charles Williams and Jerry Hopkins at the University Press. OnFabers, theTSE makes bread sauce for;e9 Wednesday morning I came up to town, and spent the night in the Fabers’ basement, which is very thoroughly reinforced: this time my contribution to the meal (did I tell you that they are doing without servants) was the bread sauce for a fowl, which I made according to a recipe in a book, with peppercorns, cloves etc. AfterSibelius, Jeanon the Fabers' gramophone;a1 dinner we had the gramophone with some Sibelius pieces which were new to me. On Thursday afternoon I returned to the country. Hereafter, I shall only go to Oxford for meetings if they can have them on Tuesdays, as there is no point in returning to Guildford for one day: furthermoreMairet, Philip;b5 Mairet can’t attend on Mondays. IFabers, the;f1 don’t know whether I explained that during the Christmas holidays, when the Fabers are in Wales, Ide la Mares, thegive TSE wartime refuge;a6 shall probably spend my Wednesday nights with the De la Mares: and as they are near Bishop’s Stortford I can make an expedition to Cambridge conveniently at that time.
ExceptTemple, William, Archbishop of York (later of Canterbury)TSE writes talk on education for;b1 forArchbishop of York's Conference, Malvern 1941;a2 such visits, and an occasional conference such as the one called by the Archbishop of York for next January, I see a very limited number of people in my normal week. NextBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)broadcasts Hawkins interview with TSE;b8 week'Writer as Artist, The';a1 I shall of course be in London for three nights, on account of my broadcast on the 22nd in a series ‘The Writer in the Witness Box’! 4 and shall hope to see a few more people. OfShamley Wood, Surreydramatis personae;a4 course there are occasional visitors here, but they are either neighbours, as a rule, or else members of the fairly extensive family relationship: theCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo');a1 most frequent is Hope’s sister, Mrs. Aubrey Coker 5 (notEnglandEast Coker, Somerset;e9and the Shamley Cokers;a6 of East Coker, though her husband is a descendent [sic] of a younger branch of the founders of those villages, but of Bicester) aFaber, Enid Eleanor;b4 youngerBowen, Elizabeth (Mrs Cameron)Mrs Aubrey Coker and Enid Faber at school with;a8 person who was at school with Enid Faber and Elizabeth Bowen. TheMoncrieff, Constance ('Cocky')resident at Shamley;a1 third member of the family is Mrs. M.’s sister, Miss Moncrieff, who had lived for many years at Pau and was evacuated from there at the end – now something of an invalid in consequence but a very stouthearted Scotch lady at that.6 There are now no male servants but an elderly gardener in his cottage; but there are twelve evacuees, women and children, and sometimes at weekends their husbands. IShamley Wood, Surreyhis situation as paying guest;a2 am given breakfast in my room, which is a large one with a desk and table for working, and there I stay until lunch time. After lunch I may take a short walk, or even a nap, and work after tea. There is a pleasant little village church, about fifteen minutes walk away on the other side of the village itself. The house is on a small hill above the village. AndGibbs, Sir Philipsometime Shamley chauffeur;a1 when I go to town direct on Wednesdays, I am given a lift up, as I said, by Philip Gibbs and his brother-in-law. ISt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Roadvestry goings-on;a2 look in at St. Stephen’s on arriving in town, to see if there is any business that needs my attention, andCheetham, Revd Ericduring Blitz;e4 sometimes see Fr. Cheetham and sometimes not; more often just one or more of the good ladies who devote themselves to the work ordinarily performed by the verger, who, being elderly and infirm, has been despatched to Northants. I continue to get a surprising number of invitations to speak, here and there: no doubt, owing to people often being engaged on whole time war work, there are more opportunities than ever for anyone who is free: but my plan is to outline a book (which is vaguely shaping in my mind) and only go to speak when I can treat some subject that belongs in the book. Once I have done some prose, I shall feel more like poetry.
Iwritingthe effect of war on;c7 amEnglandLondon;h1TSE as air-raid warden in;d5 beginning to feel rested: the night duty in London combined ill with trying to think in the daytime, but at first I found to my surprise that I was a little bored without it – an extra reason for taking up a continuous piece of work. I have not yet assumed any local duties, but that will be on my conscience until I do. (By the way, being a p.g. in this situation, where my contribution is hardly needed by the domestic exchequer, is as much a measure of prudence as of generosity: theCheetham, Revd Ericpaid to house TSE's books;e5 only way to calculate it was on the basis of my normal weekly expenditure, and I am still paying Cheetham a bit of course for keeping my books etc. until the whole contents of the flat can be stored. MrsMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff)offers to house TSE gratis;a5. M. wished to have me simply as a guest, but she is a sensible woman and understood my point of view).
I think it was generous of you to make such a large contribution for a hospital bed: American generosity to us is great. IRoosevelt, Franklin D.re-elected;a7 imagine that the results of the election are unwelcome to you, and I do not consider it appropriate for me to hold any strong views about American domestic politics: 7 but from our point of view, the lack of interruption which might be caused by the inevitable delays of a new administration in getting acquainted with the work, and acquiring experience, is a consideration not to be ignored. I loved getting all your news of the inaugural at Smith, of your guests, anddogs'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound);b7;d1 of Boerre. IHale, Irene (née Baumgras);c5 shall be thankful when Mrs. H. has left, but your way of writing about her almost persuades me that you are taking her a little more easily than on her first visit. I was with you in soul on your birthday – yet am glad that you have had a tiny celebration of it. I pray for you always, and indeed I find that being mostly in the country, with a faint reminder of Campden, I miss you more than ever. The normal London winter was easier, for it seemed but a season.
1.SirLivingstone, Sir Richard Richard Livingstone (1880–1960), President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1933–50; Vice-Chancellor, 1944–7. Author of A Defence of Classical Education (1916); The Pageant of Greece (1923); The Future in Education (1941). President of the Classical Association, 1940–1. TSE to Aimée Lamb, 16 Mar. 1948: ‘[Livingstone] is … not only one of the most distinguished men in education, but a very charming person.’
2.TSE muddles the relationship. In fact Henrietta Livingstone, Sir Richard’s sister, married George Bell on 8 Jan. 1918.
3.EdmundBlunden, Edmund Blunden (1896–1974), poet and critic, who won the Military Cross for valour in Flanders in 1916 – see his Undertones of War (1928; ed. John Greening: Oxford, 2015) – was Professor of English at the Imperial University, Tokyo, 1924–7; and in 1930–1 literary editor of The Nation. He was Fellow and Tutor in English at Merton College, Oxford, 1931–44; and for a year after WW2 he was assistant editor of the TLS. In 1947 he returned to Japan with the UK Liaison Mission; and he was Professor of English, Hong Kong, from 1953 until retirement. Made CBE in 1964, he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1956. In 1966 he was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry (his rival was Robert Lowell), but stood down before the completion of his tenure. See Barry Webb, Edmund Blunden: A Biography (1990).
4.TSE was interviewed for the radio by Desmond Hawkins: the scripted talk of ‘The Writer as Artist’ was first published in The Listener 34 (28 Nov. 1940), 773–7: CProse 6, 131–5.
5.MargaretCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees) Rosalys Mirrlees – ‘Margot’ (b. 1898) – wasCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo') married in 1920 to Lewis Aubrey Coker, OBE (1883–1953), nicknamed ‘Bolo’, a major in the Royal Field Artillery. T. S. Matthews, Great Tom: Notes towards the definition of T. S. Eliot (1974), 126: ‘The married daughter, Margot Coker, had a large country house near Bicester …’
6.Cf. TSE to Hayward, 14 Dec. 1940 (Letters 9, 692):: ‘Miss Moncrieff, who is only a few years junior to her sister, is also frail, and had lived for 26 years at Pau: she, however, is a R.C. and believes in doctors.’
7.Election held on 5 Nov.: F. D. Roosevelt was re-elected, having undertaken to remain neutral in the European war.
3.EdmundBlunden, Edmund Blunden (1896–1974), poet and critic, who won the Military Cross for valour in Flanders in 1916 – see his Undertones of War (1928; ed. John Greening: Oxford, 2015) – was Professor of English at the Imperial University, Tokyo, 1924–7; and in 1930–1 literary editor of The Nation. He was Fellow and Tutor in English at Merton College, Oxford, 1931–44; and for a year after WW2 he was assistant editor of the TLS. In 1947 he returned to Japan with the UK Liaison Mission; and he was Professor of English, Hong Kong, from 1953 until retirement. Made CBE in 1964, he received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1956. In 1966 he was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry (his rival was Robert Lowell), but stood down before the completion of his tenure. See Barry Webb, Edmund Blunden: A Biography (1990).
4.ElizabethBowen, Elizabeth (Mrs Cameron) Bowen (1899–1973) – Mrs Alan Cameron – Irish-born novelist; author of The Last September (1929), The Death of the Heart (1938), The Heat of the Day (1949). See Victoria Glendinning, Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer (1977); Hermione Lee, Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation (1981). TSE to Desmond Hawkins, 3 Feb. 1937: ‘She has a very definite place, and a pretty high one, amongst novelists of her kind.’
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.
5.MargaretCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees) Rosalys Mirrlees – ‘Margot’ (b. 1898) – wasCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo') married in 1920 to Lewis Aubrey Coker, OBE (1883–1953), nicknamed ‘Bolo’, a major in the Royal Field Artillery. T. S. Matthews, Great Tom: Notes towards the definition of T. S. Eliot (1974), 126: ‘The married daughter, Margot Coker, had a large country house near Bicester …’
5.MargaretCoker, Margaret Rosalys ('Margot', née Mirrlees) Rosalys Mirrlees – ‘Margot’ (b. 1898) – wasCoker, Lewis Aubrey ('Bolo') married in 1920 to Lewis Aubrey Coker, OBE (1883–1953), nicknamed ‘Bolo’, a major in the Royal Field Artillery. T. S. Matthews, Great Tom: Notes towards the definition of T. S. Eliot (1974), 126: ‘The married daughter, Margot Coker, had a large country house near Bicester …’
1.TSE was mistaken here. EnidFaber, Enid Eleanor Eleanor Faber (1901–95) was the daughter of Sir Henry Erle Richards (1861–1922), Fellow of All Souls College and Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy at Oxford University, and Mary Isabel Butler (1868–1945).
1.SirGibbs, Sir Philip Philip Gibbs (1877–1962), journalist and author; Roman Catholic; famed as one of the five official newspaper reporters during WW1: his bulletins featured in the Daily Telegraph and Daily Chronicle. His many books included The Battle of the Somme (1917), From Bapaume to Passchendaele (1918), Ordeal in England (1937), and This Nettle Danger (bestselling novel, 1939). Gibbs, who worked during WW2 for the Ministry of Information, London, lived nearby at Old Stonnards Cottage, Sweetwater Lane, Shamley Green, Surrey.
3.IreneHale, Irene (née Baumgras) Hale, née Baumgras, widow of Philip Hale, celebrated as the prolific and influential music critic of the Boston Herald. Irene Hale, who was herself an accomplished pianist, had studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where she gained the Springer Gold Medal 1881, and continued with her studies in Europe under Raif and Moritz Mosckowski: she later wrote music under the name Victor Rene.
1.GerardHopkins, Gerard (‘Gerry’) Hopkins (1892–1961), publisher and translator, and his wife Mabel. A nephew of Gerard Manley Hopkins – whose poetry, letters and diaries he put into print – he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford (president of OUDS), and won the Military Cross during WW1. In 1920 he joined Oxford University Press, serving as publicity manager and later editorial adviser. Fluent in French, he became well known for his feats of translation: his output included vols 7–27 of Jules Romain’s Men of Good Will; biographies by André Maurois; Proust’s Jean Santeuil; memoirs, broadcasts, plays. He was made Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, 1951. According to Grevel Lindop, he was ‘a big, genial man, full of confidence and (according to Press gossip) a womanizer’ (Charles Williams: The Third Inkling, 72).
1.SirLivingstone, Sir Richard Richard Livingstone (1880–1960), President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1933–50; Vice-Chancellor, 1944–7. Author of A Defence of Classical Education (1916); The Pageant of Greece (1923); The Future in Education (1941). President of the Classical Association, 1940–1. TSE to Aimée Lamb, 16 Mar. 1948: ‘[Livingstone] is … not only one of the most distinguished men in education, but a very charming person.’
8.PhilipMairet, Philip Mairet (1886–1975): designer; journalist; editor of the New English Weekly: see Biographical Register.
3.HopeMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff) Mirrlees’s mother was Emily Lina Mirrlees, née Moncrieff (1862–1948) – known as ‘Mappie’ or ‘Mappy’ – see Biographical Register.
10.WilliamTemple, William, Archbishop of York (later of Canterbury) Temple (1881–1944), Anglican clergyman, Archbishop of York and later of Canterbury: see Biographical Register.
5.CharlesWilliams, Charles Williams (1886–1945), novelist, poet, playwright, writer on religion and theology; biographer; member of the Inklings: see Biographical Register.