[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Shamley Wood
No. 70.
9 February 1940 [1941]
Dearest Emily,

At last I am allowed to write letters: thisFaber and Faber (F&F);e5 last week I have had a typist in from Guildford twice, but of course that only helps in clearly [sic] away business arrears, and not all of them, as I cannot write about F. & F. business so freely when dictating to an unknown dactylo. I now have your letter 73, announcing your return to Northampton; and of course I got your reply to my cable. I can assure you that I have been well looked after, but without an excess of attention, for what I chiefly wanted was rest. The influenza was very mild, with only a little temperature, but a bad chest: probably it has been a good thing to have had it. I can assure you that I have never been more cautious: partly because it would not be considerate to my hostess to risk a relapse which would prolong the illness. ItShamley Wood, Surreyideal situation for illness;a6 is certainly well for me that I have been able to be ill here, insteadde la Mares, the;a7 of at the De la Mares’ (with seven children about) orFabers, the;f5 at the Fabers’ (with no servants) or at a hotel.

IArchbishop of York's Conference, Malvern 1941occasion recounted;a5 caught a chill on the first evening of the Malvern Conference: Malvern is a cold place anyway, and though I had a comfortable bedroom at the Headmaster’s, the hall where we spent most of the time was unheated. Not being able to deal with the chill properly for a week – forMoot, The;b8 I had a meeting of the Moot at Newbury after that – gave the cold a good start; I was probably pretty tired to begin with, and I found the conference exasperating. Some of the other papers were very good, though too closely written to be followed with ease; but the conference was too big, the discussions (so-called) were largely irrelevant to the papers, and the readers of the papers had no chance to reply. Finally, a good deal of time was spent in framing resolutions which the conference had no competence to make. Perhaps my annoyance made matters worse; but, as I say, I must have been very tired – having had no proper holiday last year – and the rest has done me good. IShamley Wood, Surreydaily and weekly life at;a3 am now at the stage of taking a half or three quarter hour’s walk before lunch, lying down after lunch, and limiting myself to a couple of hours’ work (including writing letters) a day. I still have breakfast in bed, and get up afterwards. And I do not go up to London until the middle of next week. I must write to the undergraduate society at Oxford which I was to address in a fortnight, and put them off; I'Towards a Christian Britain';a1 shall have enough to do preparing my broadcast talk for the end of March. I do not mean, you see, to plunge immediately into hard work: I shall have enough to do catching up with business arrears. IDry Salvages, Theon draft no. 5;a5 have however got as far as draft no. 5 of my new poem, which is to appear in the New English Weekly at the end of the month:1 I have asked for a second proof, and may make some more alterations. YouOld Possum’s Book of Practical CatsEH receives;d4 speak of having received the Cats, butEast CokerEH yet to receive;b6 not East Coker: if that did not turn up (the Faber shilling edition I mean) I will have another one sent from the office. IOld Possum’s Book of Practical Catsthe illustrations;d5 am glad you like the illustrations: IBentley, Nicholashis Cats illustrations;a1 did not like them at first, I suppose because I had my own ideas; but they have grown on me, and I now like them very well with a few exceptions. I don’t like Macavity, for instance, as he took the wrong line to illustrate, and the station-master’s cap is wrong. But some of them are very good.2 ItMorley, Frank Vigorindifferent to Cats;j9 isHarcourt, Brace & Co.refuse illustrated edition of Cats;a4 a pity that Frank would not take the illustrated edition for Harcourt Brace, and as they hold the copyright of the text we could not offer it to anyone else: but he never liked the Cats much anyway, andBrace, Donaldon publishing Cats;b2 Brace thought they were too English to sell.3 AndFour Quartetsas publishing proposition;a1 they won’t publish the new poems singly, though we find it quite profitable to put them out one by one at a shilling, before making a book of the four (Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding) at five shillings. EastEast Cokerreception;b5 Coker has done very well, by the way, and has had some very laudatory reviews; theBurnt Nortonreprinted in shilling form;b7 reprint of Burnt Norton in similar form is to appear shortly – I will send you a copy as soon as it appears: having been first published with Collected Poems it did not attract much notice, exceptRoberts, Michaelsingles out Burnt Norton;a6 for two or three of the younger men like Michael Roberts; but reprinted uniform with E. Coker, and followed by The Dry Salvages, people may perceive that I have been struggling to create a new form. TheFour Quartetsas conceived by TSE;a2 four poems (which may be considered as one poem, though the form is in the separate parts) may be considered as related to the four seasons and the four elements.

I have indeed kept in mind your suggestion about an article or articles for America. ButSecond World Warand America's response;b8 IfascismTSE accused of;b2 am rather doubtful as to what and how much Americans would take from me: Massachusetts is one thing, and the backwoods are another – ISandburg, Carlaccuses TSE of fascism;a1 see that I have recently been denounced, in no measured terms, by Karl [sc. Carl] Sandburg: and if people are so stupid as to think that anybody who is not a ‘liberal’ is necessarily a ‘fascist’ what is one to do with them?4 I don’t quite see anything that Americans need to have put before them by me: I think that the airraids on English towns, andWavell, General Archibaldmet TSE at Winchester College;a1 the victories of Wavell5 (did I mention having met him, and liked him, at a Domum Dinner at Winchester several years ago? I must have done) are more impressive than words. I have had two requests to broadcast on the short wave, neither very interesting. One was from the Pilgrim Players, to talk about religious drama; that I have to refuse because they want it in a fortnight’s time; theDante AlighieriTSE asked to broadcast on;a5 other was to talk (for 13½ minutes!) on Dante. About the latter, I have written back to say that I don’t think I have anything more to say about Dante, but I shall be glad to discuss other topics, if they are interested. SpeakingCaetani, Camillowhere he is killed;a2 of Dante, I wonder whether there has been anything in the Boston press about the death of Marguerite’s son Camillo on the Albanian front. That is a frightful tragedy for them: he was the only son – and only 1/8 part Italian anyway; and one can imagine that to an American mother, and a father half English and a quarter Polish, there will be no compensating consolations. And alas, neither of the parents something has gone wrong with the way this machine takes the thin paper) has any Christian faith. [sic]

There are things I want to write about – prose criticism I mean – but I don’t know yet whether the time is ripe or alternatively whetherLittle Giddingas TSE's war work;a7 I want to go on and tackle Little Gidding first. One of the motives for attempting the latter (though I have never written one poem so soon after another before, and it may be that I shall have to let it mature at the back of my mind) is the favourable reception of E. Coker – I mean that it seems as if my going on with verse in war time made a deeper impression on people, and gave them more encouragement, than any prose I could do; and it is certainly worth while to keep alive the idea of culture by creative work if one can.

IEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin)sent to England on commission;a5 am looking forward to seeing Martha in a week’s time: she has been sent over by the U.S.A. government on some commission, and is touring about at present. You know that I have a higher opinion of her brains than of any of my first cousins (sheEliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle)intellectually inferior to Martha;b2 has a far better mind, I believe, than Frederick) and also like her very much; and I shall be much interested to ask her about American politics.

I shall try to write again, my dear, in a few days, because this is all I can do at one go just yet. I am very glad to hear that you believe yourself to be in good health: I pray that you may be right. I hope that when I return to Russell Square I shall find your photographs: becauseMelton, Linda;a1 Miss Melton6 would not have forwarded to me anything in the way of a parcel; but I am trying to prepare myself for the possibility of its not having arrived. Yet all your letters seem to have come through safely, so I have hope.

This carries my devoted love, though it has said nothing about it.

Your Tom

1.‘The Dry Salvages’, New English Weekly 18: 19 (27 Feb. 1941), 217–20.

2.TheBentley, Nicholas illustrator was Nicolas Bentley (1907–78), who worked at Shell publicity, together with Edward Ardizzone, Barnett Freedman, Rex Whistler, John Betjeman, Peter Quennell and Robert Byron, before getting his break as a book illustrator with Hilaire Belloc’s New Cautionary Tales (1930). His father was E. C. Bentley (inventor of the clerihew).

David Bland to Bentley, 18 Apr. 1940: ‘I have shown your drawings to Mr Eliot and he approves of them all except for the one of the Stationmaster, which I am returning. He objects that the Stationmaster looks German, and a German as he says of 1850 at that. So perhaps you will be able to alter him a little.’ Richard de la Mare to Bentley, 4 May: ‘Thank you so very much for your line drawings for the tailpieces. I like them very much indeed, and so does Eliot.’

3.BraceBrace, Donaldon publishing Cats;b2 wrote, 2 Aug.: ‘It was especially pleasant to have from Frank the proofs of your poems about cats. I have a special fondness for cats, and I have been disappointed for years to find that books about them fail, for me at least, to do justice to the subject. These poems will make a delightful little book, and of course we shall want to publish it, probably in very much the same way as the Faber edition. Frank tells me that you are planning to make a drawing for the cover. I shall look forward to seeing that. I find it difficult to estimate what the market will be here, and as far as I can see at present, the best plan will be just to put it out and let it find its own audience … Of course, these are London cats leading definitely London lives.’

TSE to Countess Nora Wydenbruck, 18 Mar. 1952: ‘I remember that when this book of verses was first offered to my New York publishers, they undertook only a small printing on the ground that my cats were too English to appeal to American children.’

4.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')condoles TSE over Sandburg accusation;c2n (Brooklyn Heights, NYC, 17 Dec. 1940): ‘That dreary old banjo-strummer Carl Sandburg attacked you the other day as a fascist. If I were an American already I should have written an answer to the Herald Tribune, but I suppose it’s better to let such lies die of themselves.’ SandburgSandburg, Carl (1878–1967), poet, biographer, editor, and writer for children. A proud midwesterner, he grew up in Illinois and left school at thirteen in order to take up a series of labouring jobs before becoming a reporter for the Chicago Daily News. In his mature years he produced many works in prose including a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Abraham Lincoln, and popular works for children rooted in the local culture including Rootabaga Stories (1922); collections of folk songs; and volumes of poetry including Chicago Poems (1916), Corn Huskers (1918), Smoke and Steel (1920) and Collected Poems (1950).

See too Peterborough, ‘London Day by Day’, Daily Telegraph, 14 Nov. 1940, 4: ‘[Somerset] Maugham on Eliot’: ‘“Perhaps you don’t all of you know that the most famous poet living in England to-day is an American bank clerk from Boston. If we have a great poet in England to-day, it is T. S. Eliot.” I quote Mr Somerset Maugham speaking in New York.

‘Mr Maugham went on to talk of T. S. Eliot’s thrilling and original poetry, and added that the most stimulating and significant verse now being written in England by our young poets bears Eliot’s mark.

‘These observations provoked another speaker, Carl Sandburg, poet and historian of Abraham Lincoln, to express violent disagreement. “T. S. Eliot,” declared Mr Sandburg, “is anti-democratic … he is mediævalist … he is royalist … and he’s so close to Fascist that I’m off him, to use a truck-driver’s phrase.”’

5.GeneralWavell, General Archibald Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883–1950), Commander-in-Chief Middle East in the early phase of WW2. He was later Commander-in-Chief in India and finally Viceroy of India until not long before Partition.

TSE to 2nd Earl Wavell, 3 Mar. 1953: ‘I wish that I had more reminiscences of your father – indeed, I felt that I was only beginning to know him at the time of his sudden and lamented death, and I had looked forward to cultivating his acquaintance gradually, as I had such a great admiration and warm personal liking for him […] I met him first, I remember, when I attended a Domum Dinner at Winchester in, I think, 1937, and he asked me afterwards for the notes of my afterdinner speech in order to send them to you … Your father was a taciturn man and one did not get to know him very quickly, yet I wish I could have taken better advantage of the few years that were left after the war.’ TSE got to know Lord Wavell through their mutual friend Cara Brocklebank.

6.TSEMelton, Linda to Ronald Bottrall, 16 Aug. 1948: ‘Miss [Linda] Melton [b. 1919] was my secretary throughout the war years, and a very good secretary too: coming up daily from Esher, I think, all through the blitz, and rescued a lot of my stuff at Russell Square when an unexploded bomb sunk in the street just outside, and nobody knew whether it would go off – I didn’t know about this till the next day … She is a good shorthand typist, an efficient secretary, and has an intelligent understanding of contemporary literary situations and personalities.

‘About 27 or 28, I think.’

TSE to The Manager, Ministry of Labour and National Service, 17 June 1942: ‘While calling your attention again to the previous letters addressed to you by Mr C. W. Stewart, Director and Staff Manager of this firm, on the subject of Miss L. M. Melton’s essential services here, I wish, in connection with her present application, to bring to your notice an aspect of her occupation which has not previously been put before you in detail.

‘Beside the other vital functions which have devolved upon Miss Melton since the outbreak of war owing to the diminution of staff, she has for over two years part acted as my personal secretary. This work comprehends not only a great deal of business directly connected with the publishing of books, but also a variety of public activities in which I engage, as well as confidential business concerned with my private affairs.

‘It is necessary for me, with these various activities, to have a secretary not only of superior qualifications, but to be able to retain the same secretary for the longest possible time inasmuch as a familiarity with negotiations extending over considerable periods and an acquaintance with the personalities involved is of the first importance. Furthermore, as many of my activities take me away from London from time to time, it is necessary for me to be able to rely on a secretary who can deal as I would wish with situations arising in my absence.’

Geoffrey Faber to Katherine Watson, 2 Oct. 1945, of Linda Melton: ‘an exceedingly nice girl’.

Archbishop of York's Conference, Malvern 1941, paper prepared for, occasion recounted, proceedings to be published,
Auden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.'), and EP's 'Seafarer', TSE sends EH Poems, TSE recites 'To Gabriel Carritt', remembered by Ethel Swan, as dramatist, and Yeats's Mercury Theatre plans, Holmesian prank devised for, Doone wants for Westminster Theatre, collaborative efforts lamented by TSE, talks films at JDH's, strays from F&F, preoccupied with Byron and Barcelona, TSE on 'Letter to Lord Byron', as verse dramatist, away in Aragon for premiere, and Isherwood's plays versus Spender's, forgets to thank Keynes, TSE on his Isherwood plays, condoles TSE over Sandburg accusation, in bad odour, in America, circulating drollery on latest book-title, as pictured by TSE in America, Journey to a War (with Isherwood), Letters from Iceland (with MacNeice), New Year Letter, On the Frontier (with Isherwood), Paid on Both Sides, The Ascent of F6 (with Isherwood), The Dance of Death, The Dog Beneath the Skin (with Isherwood),

10.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.') (1907–73), poet, playwright, librettist, translator, essayist, editor: see Biographical Register.

Bentley, Nicholas, his Cats illustrations,

2.TheBentley, Nicholas illustrator was Nicolas Bentley (1907–78), who worked at Shell publicity, together with Edward Ardizzone, Barnett Freedman, Rex Whistler, John Betjeman, Peter Quennell and Robert Byron, before getting his break as a book illustrator with Hilaire Belloc’s New Cautionary Tales (1930). His father was E. C. Bentley (inventor of the clerihew).

Brace, Donald, pressuring TSE for After Strange Gods, on TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland, at Joyce dinner in Paris, on TSE's 1935 tour of Scotland, squanders American rights to Murder, receives Burnt Norton from Morley, reports on 1936 New York Murder, receives corrected Anabasis, on publishing Cats, on TSE's discharge from hospital, sends flowers,

6.DonaldBrace, Donald Brace (1881–1955), publisher; co-founder of Harcourt, Brace: see Biographical Register.

Burnt Norton, its Kensington origins, the moment in the rose-garden, opening sent to EH, TSE too moved to write, its composition a form of communion with EH, epigraphs from Heraclitus, 'our' first poem, as 'quartet', all but final lines please TSE, obscurity of, 'Garlic and sapphires' explained, 'about' EH, TSE forced into after-dinner reading of, TSE closes Edinburgh reading with, reprinted in shilling form, as 'Cotswolds poem', sales, most difficult quartet to record, and Alice in Wonderland,
Caetani, Camillo, sent to Albania, where he is killed,
Dante Alighieri, TSE explains inscription quoting, TSE lectures on, his didacticism compared to Shelley's, spiritually 'helpful', TSE asked to broadcast on, EH favoured with quote from,
de la Mares, the, TSE forgoes EH's invitation for, TSE's dread of visiting, give dinner for the Morleys, give TSE wartime refuge, the children, teach TSE vingt-et-un,
Dry Salvages, The, and Woods Hole, begun, being composed, first draft, on draft no. 5, early version seen by Henry, defended from charge of cheerlessness, reception, praised by Kennard Rand, sales, conchological emendation,
East Coker, its Kensington origins, and TSE's cousins' visit, TSE's own plan to visit eponymous village, which he does, TSE returns to East Coker, TSE on writing, and Yeats's Purgatory, needs polishing, ready for printer, EH sent, decision to print in NEW, TSE on its mood, sales, reception, EH yet to receive, EH promised shilling edition, broadcast by BBC Eastern Service, draft inevitably bought by Gallup, TSE recites for Czechs, EH recounts recitation of, TSE's recording of,
Eliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin), superior to brother, sent to England on commission, returns to America, TSE's favourite cousin, shares prognosis on Henry's leukaemia,

1.DrEliot, Dr Martha May (TSE's cousin) Martha May Eliot (1891–1978), pediatrician: see Biographical Register.

Eliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle), sees TSE in Boston, dinner with, sleeps through first Norton lecture, in audience for 'Two Masters', commits heresy, tours Eliot country, qua Unitarian, intellectually inferior to Martha, memorialised,

2.RevdEliot, Revd Christopher Rhodes (TSE's uncle) Christopher Rhodes Eliot (1856–1945) andEliot, Abigail Adams (TSE's cousin) his daughter Abigail Adams Eliot (b. 1892). ‘After taking his A.B. at Washington University in 1856, [Christopher] taught for a year in the Academic Department. He later continued his studies at Washington University and at Harvard, and received two degrees in 1881, an A.M. from Washington University and an S.T.B. from the Harvard Divinity School. He was ordained in 1882, but thereafter associated himself with eastern pastorates, chiefly with the Bulfinch Place Church in Boston. His distinctions as churchman and teacher were officially recognized by Washington University in [its] granting him an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1925’ (‘The Eliot Family and St Louis’: appendix prepared by the Department of English to TSE’s ‘American Literature and the American Language’ [Washington University Press, 1953].)

Faber and Faber (F&F), TSE's office in, the garrulousness of publishing, refuge from home, in financial straits, future feared for, tranquil Saturday mornings at, TSE disenchanted with, hosts summer garden-party, as part of Bloomsbury, TSE considers 'home', VHE intrusion dreaded at, robbed, increases TSE's workload, TSE's editorial beat at, negotiate over Murder in the Cathedral, pay advance for Murder, VHE's appearances at, and Duff Cooper's Haig, 'blurbs' for, commission new letterhead from Eric Gill, give Ivy lunch for Dukes, TSE as talent-spotter and talent-counsellor, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, mark TSE's 50th birthday, and the prospect of war, and closing The Criterion, lose Morley to America, on war footing, war ties TSE to, fire-watching duties at, wartime bookbinding issues, advertisements to write for, Picture Post photographs boardroom, offices damaged by V-1, consider moving to Grosvenor Place, lunch at Wednesday board-meetings, Christmas staff party,
Fabers, the, model of happiness and respectability, their domestic situation, Faber children to tea chez Eliot, visit TSE at Pike's Farm, compared to the Morleys, closer to TSE than to VHE, 1933 summer holiday with, Ty Glyn Aeron described, request TSE to write play, too absorbed in their children, at the Morleys' party, give anti-Nazi party for author, host poker party, 1934 summer holiday with, take TSE to lunch in Oxford, 1935 summer holiday with, for which the children are bought tent, give party, 1936 summer holiday with, at Morleys' Thanksgiving Day party, sail model boats with TSE, and TSE's foggy adventure, cinema-going with TSE, take TSE to Witch of Edmonton, and Morleys take TSE to pantomime, and TSE attend opening of Ascent of F6, 1937 summer holiday with, and the Bradfield Greek play, School for Scandal with, take TSE to pantomime again, 1938 summer holiday with, 1939 summer holiday with, offer possible wartime refuge, 1940 summer holiday with, host TSE in Hampstead during war, TSE makes bread sauce for, brought vegetables from Shamley, move to Minsted, and TSE attend musical revue, 1941 summer holiday with, Minsted as substitute for nursing-home, trying to sell Welsh home, take TSE to International Squadron, invite TSE to Wales for Christmas, host TSE at Minsted, away fishing in Scotland, mourn TSE's post-war independence, 1947 Minsted summer stay, 1948 Minsted summer stay, host TSE for weekend, on 1950 South Africa trip, on TSE's 1951 Spain trip, 1951 Minsted summer stay, 1952 Minsted summer stay, 1953 Minsted summer stay, on 1953–4 South Africa trip, 35th wedding anniversary weekend,
fascism, and the unemployment crisis, essentially anti-Christian, The Rock's 'modern ballet' on, 'beastly', corrupts TSE's image of Rome, possible subject for July 1936 'Commentary', and the Spanish Civil War, TSE asked to sign Christian manifesto against, TSE accused of,
Four Quartets, as publishing proposition, as conceived by TSE, deliberations over title, published in America, whose first edition appals TSE, reviewed, English edition of, appearing in French in Africa, recorded by TSE, BBC broadcast TSE reading,
Harcourt, Brace & Co., and Selected Essays, poach Frank Morley, negotiations over New York Murder, refuse illustrated edition of Cats, and Four Quartets, which they print disappointingly, advance TSE money,
Little Gidding, things 'done to others' harm', and TSE's St. Kevin's cave excursion, TSE's pilgrimage to the eponymous, and John Inglesant, in the Four Quartets scheme, as TSE's war work, latent within TSE, being drafted, first draft finished, suspended, to be taken up again, partly redrafted at Buckler's Hard, further redrafting, seven lines from completion, redrafting finished, in which JDH proved indispensable, NEW version sent to EH, published, sales, ends hopefully,
Melton, Linda,

6.TSEMelton, Linda to Ronald Bottrall, 16 Aug. 1948: ‘Miss [Linda] Melton [b. 1919] was my secretary throughout the war years, and a very good secretary too: coming up daily from Esher, I think, all through the blitz, and rescued a lot of my stuff at Russell Square when an unexploded bomb sunk in the street just outside, and nobody knew whether it would go off – I didn’t know about this till the next day … She is a good shorthand typist, an efficient secretary, and has an intelligent understanding of contemporary literary situations and personalities.

Moot, The, first meeting, invited to TSE's Maritain dinner, no substitute for individual friendships, seems futile, welcomes Reinhold Niebuhr as guest, discusses TSE's paper,
Morley, Frank Vigor, TSE on sharing an office with, Criterion monthly meeting regular, returns from New York, indispensable in proofing Selected Essays, Criterion lunch in company with, joins farewell lunch for Hodgson, offers TSE post-separation refuge, acts for TSE during separation, spirits TSE away to Surrey, on TSE at Pike's Farm, as châtelain, acting as TSE's courier, on TSE's relationship to children, music-hall evening with, suggests tour of Scotland, which he plans out, suggests trip to Paris, thanks Joyce for hospitality, on TSE's 1933 tour of Scotland, negotiating for Ulysses, his absence means more work, treasured and missed, gets on famously with Ada, mercifully returned to F&F, produces birthday-cake, peacekeeper between Rowse and Smyth, in on Sherlock Holmes prank, encourages TSE to go to Finland, on TSE's 1935 tour of Scotland, and TSE drink GCF's whisky, takes TSE to Wimbledon, monopolises typewriter for joint story, as tennis-player, overawes GCF, TSE and EH's elected emergency go-between, good with thrusting young authors, backs publication of Nightwood, helps deal with Joyce, naturally projects strength, his French, escapes Criterion gathering to catch last train home, unusually subdued among the French, submits his Johnson Society paper, depends on TSE, on TSE's 1937 tour of Scotland, which Morley describes, two nights' sleep in a caravan with, potential reader for Family Reunion, his father dies, Spender discussed with, sends TSE corrected Anabasis, heads for New York and Baltimore, his energy, returns from America, visiting dying mother, shoulders burden of EP, insufficiently honours EP, Boutwood Lectures submitted to, accepts Harcourt Brace position, what his leaving F&F will mean, taken to tea with Woolfs, remembers EH taking priority, first wartime letter from, which reports on TSE's family, sounds depressed in America, sounds less depressed to GCF, among TSE's closest friends, his conversation missed, on Christian Society's American reception, suspected of indiscretion, EH explains 'Defence of the Islands' to, indifferent to Cats, entrusted with emergency Dry Salvages, America's effect on, gives Henry MS of 'Yeats', suggests 'Night Music' over 'Kensington Quartets', Ada too ill to see, his use of 'poised', puts TSE up in New York, on TSE's 1947 New York stay, presently unemployed, but inherits Graham Greene's job,
see also Morleys, the

4.FrankMorley, Frank Vigor Vigor Morley (1899–1980), American publisher and author; a founding editor of F&F, 1929–39: see Biographical Register.

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, conceived as money-spinner, written as jeu d'esprit, individual poems sent to EH, early fragment of 'Rumpuscat', as outlined to GCF, and 'the Heaviside layer', TSE despairs of finishing, provisionally Mr Eliot's Book of Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats and Other Birds & Beasts, as advertised by GCF, delayed by Milton and Byron essays, written to relieve political gloom, written in tours de force, written occasionally, and Children's Hour, TSE asked to recite, TSE at leisure to write, Hodgson promises to illustrate, Hodgson as 'the Man in White Spats', to appear autumn 1939, TSE to design cover, published, read in the Roberts household, sent to EH, reception, selling strongly, being reprinted, published in America, EH receives, the illustrations, the original Cat Morgan, read to the Roberts children, 'Bustopher Jones: The St. James's Street Cat', 'Gus: The Theatre Cat', 'Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs', 'Old Deuteronomy', 'Song of the Jellicles', 'The Naming of Cats', 'The Old Gumbie Cat', 'The Practical Cat', 'The Rum Tum Tugger',
Roberts, Michael, sketched in thumbnail, reviews Collected Poems, introduces radio Waste Land, described for EH, EH interests herself in, singles out Burnt Norton, asks TSE to be godfather, fingered for TSE's mentor role, recommended for EH's 'criticism' course, working for BBC, resemblance to wife, assists TSE in judging translations, at Norwegian diplomatic dinner, makes way for TSE's broadcast, terminally ill, dies of leukaemia, The Modern Mind, New Signatures, T. E. Hulme,
see also Robertses, the

1.MichaelRoberts, Michael Roberts (1902–48), critic, editor, poet: see Biographical Register.

Sandburg, Carl, accuses TSE of fascism,

4.W. H. AudenAuden, Wystan Hugh ('W. H.')condoles TSE over Sandburg accusation;c2n (Brooklyn Heights, NYC, 17 Dec. 1940): ‘That dreary old banjo-strummer Carl Sandburg attacked you the other day as a fascist. If I were an American already I should have written an answer to the Herald Tribune, but I suppose it’s better to let such lies die of themselves.’ SandburgSandburg, Carl (1878–1967), poet, biographer, editor, and writer for children. A proud midwesterner, he grew up in Illinois and left school at thirteen in order to take up a series of labouring jobs before becoming a reporter for the Chicago Daily News. In his mature years he produced many works in prose including a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Abraham Lincoln, and popular works for children rooted in the local culture including Rootabaga Stories (1922); collections of folk songs; and volumes of poetry including Chicago Poems (1916), Corn Huskers (1918), Smoke and Steel (1920) and Collected Poems (1950).

Second World War, the prospect of, F&F plans in the event of, Britain's preparations for, prognostications as to its outbreak, and The Family Reunion, and the policy of appeasement, and transatlantic tourism, evacuation imminent, TSE discusses its outbreak with Dutchman, TSE refrains from commenting on, TSE's thoughts on, its effect on TSE, the 'Winter War', the 'Phoney War', Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, rationing, evacuation, seems continuous with First World War, invasion of Poland, invasion of Denmark and Norway, Chamberlain's resignation, Italy's declaration of war, Dunkirk, The Blitz, Battle of Cape Matapan, Operation Barbarossa, Greece enters war, Pearl Harbor, the Pacific War, Libyan campaign, North African campaign, and TSE's decision to remain in England, in relation to the First, prospect of its end unsettles, and returning to London, bombing of German cities, its effect on TSE's work, prognostications as to its end, the Little Blitz, Operation Overlord, V-1 Cruise Missile strikes, Operation Market Garden, and continental privations, and post-war European prospects, The Battle of the Bulge, possibility of post-war pandemic, V-2 Bombs, concentration camps, Germany's surrender, VE Day, and post-war Anglo-American relations, VJ Day, atomic bomb, its long-term economic consequences,
Shamley Wood, Surrey, TSE issued standing invitation to, his situation as paying guest, daily and weekly life at, dramatis personae, Christmas at, ideal situation for illness, overheated, depressingly female, TSE leads fire practice at, TSE takes week's rest from, its melodramas, TSE quarantined from, its lack of music, and Reay's homecoming, TSE distributes food parcels at, TSE's gradual removal from, TSE's post-war week's holiday at, post-hernia convalescence at,
'Towards a Christian Britain', perplexes TSE, on its fourth draft, broadcast,
Wavell, General Archibald, met TSE at Winchester College, appointed to ABDA, Lady Colefax dinner for, described for EH, his one eye, dismissed as Viceroy of India, an intellectual, possible theatre-trip with, a 'pet', fond of Kipling, deserts TSE for golf, gossips with actresses, relays Cara Brocklebank's death,

5.GeneralWavell, General Archibald Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883–1950), Commander-in-Chief Middle East in the early phase of WW2. He was later Commander-in-Chief in India and finally Viceroy of India until not long before Partition.