[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
ThereChristian News-Letter (CNL)first number;a4 has been a gap in correspondence due to my going to Oxford; and I have to go there again tomorrow. Whether I shall be able to spare the time to go there every other week for the C.N.L. committee I am not sure: it means just one day a fortnight less for other work. On the other hand, I regard it as a piece of war work; as for the expense, perhaps it is my business to regard it as part of the charitable tithe, and economise on some of the other innumerable causes for which money is wanted; and for my own use, it is a good thing to have more people to talk to. Only, what I should like better, would be to go for two or three days once a month: for then I should have time to see a variety of people in Oxford. Perhaps that is the way it will turn out later.
I have your letter 63, written on your birthday: I thought it likely that my cable would arrive too soon, but, as you say, thought that better than too late. AsHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2war means no flowers;e3 for roses, the rule against the export of money makes that impossible; and I don’t like to ask my relatives to spend money for me, which I can only repay much later, except in case of dire need! Idogs'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound);b7;d2 amAmericaNorthampton, Massachusetts;g3TSE's 1936 visit to;a5 glad you had a little celebration, and I liked to try to picture the walk with Boerre: it is a great satisfaction to me that I have had one glimpse of Northampton in your company, and can imagine these walks. I only wish that I could have seen your present rooms.
AsHale, Emilycorrespondence with TSE;w3constrained by war;g8 for news of London in war time, you will have read no doubt the announcements about certain public buildings, as and when they are released: and you surely must recognise that it would be my characteristic to err on the side of caution, rather than report news which might be of use to the enemy! besides, I think of those wretched censors, having to stop and wonder whether a particular bit of news matters or not. Sufficient then to say, that beyond the public monuments already mentioned, I don’t think that there is yet any building of private interest (exceptSeaverns, Helenhome bombed;d3 Mrs. Seaverns’s, which you already know about, and which, owing to its position, did not surprise me) which you would find absent. MyOxford and Cambridge Clubduring the Blitz;c5 club functions, occasionally with a temporary access of members from one or two others. IEnglandLondon;h1TSE as air-raid warden in;d5 wished at the time that I could send you a photograph of myself as a warden, in a blue boiler suit with helmet and whistle: but no doubt photographs of such persons have appeared in the press. I come to Shamley with so little experience of ‘incidents’ however, that I feel almost an imposter here.
TheShamley Wood, Surreyhis situation as paying guest;a2 house here has a beautiful outlook, with no suggestion of anything suburban in the landscape. I have a very comfortable room (not on the side with the view, unless I crane out, but with trees) with a desk, a large table, a chaise-longue, two armchairs and a clothes press (running water hot & cold, confort moderne). They also try to make me eat more than I want, and the food almost compares with Mrs. P.’s, but happily not so rich. Nothing, so far, has been missing from the table, except perhaps lemons, and there were a few days in which we had to drink South African tea, which is not at all bad but of a somewhat new flavour – but I think that was only because the kitchen will make the tea too strong and too much of it. But even the best English servant finds it repugnant to make China tea weak enough.
InLivingstones, theissue standing invitation;a2 Oxford (it is odd, but I have the impression of having told you this already) I found the Livingstones very agreeable, and apparently disposed to put me up every time. (ILivingstone, Cecile Stephanie (née Maryon-Wilson);a1 am sure I did tell you that he is a brother of Mrs. Bell, Henrietta Bell of Chichester, andMaryon-Wilson, Revd Canon Sir George Percy;a1 she is a sister of Fr. Maryon-Wilson,1 so the Church background is O.K. LivingstoneLivingstone, Sir Richarddescribed for EH;a2 is the typical Oxford don who in the evening puts a pair of very old pumps over a pair of very thick home-knitted socks: if he put on a tail coat there would be a very large black pipe in the tail pocket. IDawson, Christopherin Oxford;b1 also saw Christopher Dawson, who lives on Boar’s Hill in the house that Lady Richards, Enid’s mother, has vacated; MissPerham, Margery;a1 Marjory Perham, the famous authority on some of the African Tribes, who is a don at St. Hugh’s,2 EdmundBlunden, EdmundTSE sees in Oxford;a1 Blunden atMerton College, OxfordTSE recognised by college porter;a3 Merton (where the porter recognised me after 25 years) andWilliams, Charlesvisited by TSE at OUP;a6 CharlesHopkins, Gerardvisited at OUP;a1 Williams and Jerry Hopkins at the University Press. ButSmith, William Henry, 3rd Lord Hambleden;a5 thenVidler, Revd Alec R.;a2, I was there for two nights, and this week I am only going for one: butMairet, Philipespecially missed during war;b6 as well as Hambleden and Vidler, we shall have Mairet, who is one of the people I especially miss seeing nowadays.
IFabers, thebrought vegetables from Shamley;f2 think I have described to you the evenings at the Fabers’ when I am in town. I have made bread sauce, and apple sauce (the latter is very easy, the former takes some learning) and hope to acquire some new culinary accomplishment this week. And I take them up a few fresh vegetables, picked in the garden the same morning, which they appreciate.
IHale, Emilybirthdays, presents and love-tokens;w2EH's lapis lazuli ring;e4 was pleased to hear about the jewellery. The lapis Lazuli ring is still in its place.
Now I must go down to lunch. I shall not allow Oxford to interrupt correspondence again: but that week I had an exceptional pressure of manuscripts and business letters.
Next year I shall salute you on coming of age! but I still hope that I can do it in person.
1.RevdMaryon-Wilson, Revd Canon Sir George Percy Canon Sir George Percy Maryon-Wilson, 12th Baronet (1897–1965); rector of Christ Church, St Leonards on Sea. HisLivingstone, Cecile Stephanie (née Maryon-Wilson) sister was Cecile Stephanie Maryon-Wilson (1880–1960), who had married Sir Richard Livingstone in 1913.
2.MargeryPerham, Margery Perham (1895–1982), researcher and traveller; writer on African affairs; from 1924, Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Reader in Colonial Administration and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, 1939–48; Director of the Oxford Institute of Colonial Studies, 1945–8. Her publications include African Discovery (1937).
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).
2.ChristopherDawson, Christopher Dawson (1889–1970), cultural historian: see Biographical Register.
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.RevdMaryon-Wilson, Revd Canon Sir George Percy Canon Sir George Percy Maryon-Wilson, 12th Baronet (1897–1965); rector of Christ Church, St Leonards on Sea. HisLivingstone, Cecile Stephanie (née Maryon-Wilson) sister was Cecile Stephanie Maryon-Wilson (1880–1960), who had married Sir Richard Livingstone in 1913.
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.
1.RevdMaryon-Wilson, Revd Canon Sir George Percy Canon Sir George Percy Maryon-Wilson, 12th Baronet (1897–1965); rector of Christ Church, St Leonards on Sea. HisLivingstone, Cecile Stephanie (née Maryon-Wilson) sister was Cecile Stephanie Maryon-Wilson (1880–1960), who had married Sir Richard Livingstone in 1913.
2.MargeryPerham, Margery Perham (1895–1982), researcher and traveller; writer on African affairs; from 1924, Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford; Reader in Colonial Administration and Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, 1939–48; Director of the Oxford Institute of Colonial Studies, 1945–8. Her publications include African Discovery (1937).
3.HelenSeaverns, Helen Seaverns, widow of the American-born businessman and Liberal MP, Joel Herbert Seaverns: see Biographical Register.
1.WilliamSmith, William Henry, 3rd Lord Hambleden Henry Smith, 3rd Lord Hambleden (1903–48), Governing Director of W. H. Smith.
1.RevdVidler, Revd Alec R. Alec R. Vidler (1899–1991), Anglican priest, theologian and periodical editor; librarian of St Deiniol’s Library at Hawarden, Chester (later Warden), 1939–48; editor of Theology: A Monthly Review, 1939–48. He was a noted participant in the discussion group ‘The Moot’, and served on the editorial board of the Christian News-Letter, and as editor of its associated books. Canon of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, 1948–56, he became in 1956 Fellow and Dean of King’s College, Cambridge, and university lecturer in Divinity, 1956–66. Works include The Modernist Movement in the Roman Church: Its Origins and Outcome (1934); Scenes from a Clerical Life: An Autobiography (1977).
5.CharlesWilliams, Charles Williams (1886–1945), novelist, poet, playwright, writer on religion and theology; biographer; member of the Inklings: see Biographical Register.