[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Shamley
Letter no. 95.
28 September 1941
Dearest Emily,

I have been trying to tidy up, pay bills etc. and tomorrow morning pack my bag for ten days away: twoChristian News-Letter (CNL)first number;a4 nightsCorpus Christi College, OxfordTSE's Oxford perch;a1 Oxford, oneDawson, Christopherwhere he hosts TSE;b2 at the Dawsons before a meeting about theological publishing in the afternoon, andLivingstones, theput TSE up again;a4 one at Corpus after a C.N.L. meeting; two nights London; two nights Bristol, twoUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wellsvisited in Wells;d4 nights Wells with the Bishop; and three nights in London before returning to Shamley. I'Rudyard Kipling'finished with GCF's help;a7 have had a busy long weekend, here: firstFaber, Geoffreyoffers criticisms of 'Rudyard Kipling';i2 finishing off the Kipling essay, after getting a few criticisms from Faber (there was no time to show it to anyone else) and it is not Kipling’s fault if I feel that I never want to look at a poem or a story of his again), and'Development of Shakespeare's Verse, The'revised again for Bristol;b1 thenLewis Fry LecturesShakespeare lectures revised for;a2 trying to polish up a bit the two Shakespeare lectures (which you have) for Bristol – I should have spent several weeks over them, but for Kipling who had to be done in time for publication this autumn. Thewritingout of doors;d6 weather has permitted me to sit in the garden when I was free of the typewriter (I cannot write out of doors); and I have had anti-cold injections: if I suffer from colds and flu this winter it will simply be that I am a very susceptible subject, for I have taken all the precautions known to science. I have been measured finally for my teeth; and the dentist’s assistant, the one who plays the harp under the trees to the birds at Stoke Poges, has taken to talking to me in Welsh, occasionally dropping into her native Gaelic to illustrate the difference between the two languages. She is a very remarkable woman. The dentist himself, I suspect, comes from Lancashire: his type of humour smacks of that county. Altogether it is an odd establishment.

Nothing else particular to report, and my nose has been too close to the grindstone to have had any thoughts worthy of communicating. HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)has appendix out;g2 has had his appendix out, and speaks of it as a minor operation: but he is very delicate (not like me) and (not like me) has very little sense in looking after his health; so I hope you can see them when you are next in Cambridge, and give me a report on his appearance. I think of you also back at the mill, praying that you have stored up enough health to carry you through the winter, and I hope that you will satisfy your own standards enough to be willing to be photographed properly. It will be ten days before I can write again; I have no letter from you since I last wrote: so I hope that on my return I shall find two letters.

Lovingly always
Tom
Christian News-Letter (CNL), TSE's way of writing for, described, first number, TSE's commitment to as war work, TSE on Papal Encyclical, TSE's colleagues not quite friends, becoming too politic for TSE, features TSE on Wells's New World Order, 'Education in a Mass Society', TSE's guest-editorship of, TSE gives talk for, relocates to Oxford, 'Responsibility and Power', TSE, Hambleden and Mrs Bliss discuss,
Corpus Christi College, Oxford, TSE's Oxford perch,
Dawson, Christopher, co-orchestrates BBC religious talks, signatory to Credit Reform letter, encouraged to expand Christianity and Sex, writes Times's Abdication Crisis editorial, anointed reader of Boutwood Lectures, promised article for Dublin Review, in Oxford, where he hosts TSE,

2.ChristopherDawson, Christopher Dawson (1889–1970), cultural historian: see Biographical Register.

'Development of Shakespeare's Verse, The', TSE reading Shakespeare in preparation, composition and revision, as lectured, Morley comments on, Granville-Barker, Wilson and Martin Browne sent, sent to EH, who seeks permission to recite, revised again for Bristol, refashioned for Stockholm, bibliographic details of,
Eliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother), hears TSE's Dryden broadcast, as potential confidant, sibling most attuned to TSE's needs, witness to the Eliots in 1926, surprises TSE in Boston, his aura of futility, disputes New Yorker profile of TSE, at Eliot family Thanksgiving, attends second Norton lecture, his business in Chicago, hosts TSE in New York, TSE reads his second detective story, his immaturity, accuses TSE of wrath, writes TSE long critical letter, the favourite of TSE's parents, sends New York Murder clippings, writes again about religion, insensitive to European affairs, Peabody Museum employ as research associate, gives TSE pyjamas for Christmas, sends TSE luggage for Christmas, hosts Murder's Boston cast, sends present to Morley children, cables TSE on 50th birthday, given draft of Family Reunion, gives TSE portfolio, champions Kauffer's photograph of TSE, explains operation on ears, sends list of securities, takes pleasure in shouldering Margaret, undergoes serious operation, recovering at home, as curator of Eliotana, as curator of Eliotana, war imperils final reunion with, and TSE's rumoured Vatican audience, corresponds with TSE monthly, offers Tom Faber wartime refuge, nervous about TSE during Blitz, as described by Frank Morley, recalls The Dry Salvages, has appendix out, cautioned as to health, frail, condition worries TSE, as correspondent, friend to J. J. Sweeney, tries TSE's patience, reports on Ada, describes Ada's funeral, beleaguered by Margaret, sent Picture Post F&F photos, likened to Grandfather Stearns, goitre operated on, his archaeological endeavours, back in hospital, imagined in exclusively female company, ill again, as brother, has pneumonia, terminal leukaemia, prospect of his death versus Ada's, anxieties induced by deafness, writes to TSE despite illness, death, memorial service for, on EH's presumption, Michael Roberts's symptoms reminiscent of, his Chicago acquaintance, friends with Robert Lowell's father, invoked against EH, on TSE's love for EH, buried in Garrett family lot, The Rumble Murders,

3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.

Faber, Geoffrey, made TSE's literary executor, described for EH, as friend, overawed by Joyce, recounts the Eliots' dinner-party, discusses international situation with TSE, his annual effort to diet, introduced to TSE by Whibley, favours TSE taking Norton Professorship, suggests garden-party for TSE, mislays key to Hale correspondence, writes to TSE about separation, which he helps TSE over, blesses Scotland tour with whisky, victim of Holmesian prank, favours 'The Archbishop Murder Case', Times articles on Newman, Russell Square proclaims his gentlemanly standards, forgives TSE and Morley's prank, as tennis-player, champion of Haig biography, social insecurities, and the Faber family fortune, advertises 'Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats', at lavish lunch for Dukes, relieved that 'Work in Progress' progresses, and JDH, needs persuading over Nightwood, on Edward VIII's abdication, Old Buffer's Dinner for, wins at Monopoly, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, thrilled by complimentary tickets, The Family Reunion described to, in line to read Family Reunion, has mumps, composes Alcaics from sickbed, at TSE and JDH's dinner, shares EH's Family Reunion criticism, on TSE's dinner-party bearing, discusses F&F's wartime plans, on meeting Ralph Hodgson, asks TSE to stay on during war, takes TSE to Oxford, argues with Major-General Swinton, and Purchase Tax exertions, and Literary Society membership, TSE's wartime intimacy with, drops teeth on beach, offers criticisms of 'Rudyard Kipling', falsely promised Literary Society membership, but eventually elected, helps revise TSE's Classical Association address, reports to Conversative Education Committee, deputed to America on publishing business, returned from America, Ada too ill to see, discusses National Service on BBC, depended on for breakfast, as fire-watching companion, and TSE rearrange attic at 23 Russell Square, recommends blind masseuse to TSE, in nursing home, and the Spender–Campbell spat, on TSE's Order of Merit, approached for essay on TSE, seeks to protect TSE's serenity, as Captain Kidd, wins fancy-dress prize, TSE's trip to Spain with, and National Book League, receives knighthood, on TSE's paroxysmal tachycardia, dies, his death,
see also Fabers, the

11.GeoffreyFaber, Geoffrey Faber (1889–1961), publisher and poet: see Biographical Register.

Lewis Fry Lectures, TSE commits to, Shakespeare lectures revised for, TSE on delivering,
Livingstones, the, put TSE up in Oxford, issue standing invitation, put TSE up again,
'Rudyard Kipling', contemplated, begun, laid aside, taken on holiday, prevents all other work, finished with GCF's help, approved by Kipling's daughter, approved by EH,
Underhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, receives TSE's confession of love for EH, consulted on 'Thoughts After Lambeth', suggests separation from VHE is TSE's duty, confession with, introduces TSE to his cousin Evelyn, TSE's only confidant as to EH, becomes Dean of Rochester, writes to TSE about separation, against TSE shirking Oxford Movement Centenary, and TSE's 1933 return, invites TSE to school prize-day, at King's School prize-day, consulted on question of divorce, supportive over TSE's separation, his books commended to EH, visited in Rochester, and wife as TSE's Rochester hosts, and Miss O'Donovan, becomes Bishop of Bath and Wells, his consecration attended, perhaps, as Bishop, above receiving TSE's confession, takes Evelyn Underhill's funeral, visited in Wells, adjudicates on limit to godchildren, hosts Gordon George for week, dies,

2.Revd Francis UnderhillUnderhill, Revd Francis, Bishop of Bath and Wells, DD (1878–1943), TSE’s spiritual counsellor: see Biographical Register.

writing, and routine, to EH, like talking to the deaf, development and development in the writer, and 're-creative thought', TSE's pace of working, correspondence, and Beethoven, and whether to keep a notebook, dialogue, and loving one's characters, and the necessity for reinvention, to someone as against speaking, plays written chiefly for EH, prose between poems, poetry versus prose, and originality, poetry three hours every morning, plot, and obscurity, blurbs, letters of rejection, requires periods of fruitful latency, on new typewriter, TSE's 'old Corona', the effect of war on, and reading, as taught by the book, prize-day addresses, weekly articles, concisely, from imagination, from experience, for broadcast, out of doors, rewriting old work, and public-speaking, by hand,