[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Shamley
Letter 38.
31 May 1943
Dearest Emily,

I am beginning to be rather concerned at not hearing from you for so long. ISheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff');b4 have, however, only received this week a letter from Sheff, andSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)writes to TSE;c2 one from Theodora, dated the 7th and 6th April respectively;1 and your last was dated April 17 and came very quickly; so very likely the irregularity is in the mails. If you were to be ill with no prospect of writing for some time, I trust that you would manage to get at least a cable sent to me.

IShamley Wood, Surreydaily and weekly life at;a3 have had rather a lull in my activities these last few days. I confine my visit to town to Tuesday and Wednesday nights; so, going up on Tuesday morning, I return by the 6.45 train on Thursday evening, which brings me back in time for dinner, and gives me four full days in the country. (In the winter there is more need to spend three nights in town, and Russell Square is better heated than Shamley). Tuesday is apt to be a full day, however. I took an early train in order to deal with some correspondence before lunch, but had to deal with several interruptions, includingIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M.Master of Balliol petitioned on behalf of;a7 Dr. Iovetz-Tereshchenko in his usual state of distress and catastrophe: thenMoncrieff, Constance ('Cocky')chaperoned in London;b2 had to dash off to the Sesame Club to lunch with Cockie andBell, Mary HayleyMen in Shadow;a1 take her to see ‘Men in Shadow’,2 which proved to be quite good, and well acted [sic] play about English saboteurs in France (she only likes crime plays and thrillers). It is no joke convoying even very spry old ladies about town now (she is 81 to-day) but fortunately a taxi turned up just when wanted, so I got her from the theatre to tea, and after tea packed her back to the Sesame Club and sat down to write a long letter to the Master of Balliol pleading for the said Tereshchenko, which I had to take to Charing Cross to post, as all branch postoffices close, and all collections cease, by 6.30 now: thenMaxse, John Herbertand wife Dorinda meet TSE for drink;a2 to the Hyde Park Hotel to have a drink with the Maxses, andDawson, Geoffrey;a5 so on to Lowndes Square to dine with the Geoffrey Dawsons (the retired editor of The Times) toPartridge, Eric Honeywood;a1 meet the author of a book on low-priced public schools which we are to publish.3 (IFaber, Enid Eleanor;b9 told Enid Faber the next day that I had ‘deputised’ for her and Geoffrey at the Dawsons, and she replied that Cecilia had never asked her to the house – which, as Dawson is a fellow of All Souls’, she no doubt should have done).

Howeverreading (TSE's)Edmund Burke;h6, as I had no urgent piece of writing on hand, I have spent the last few days in a deck chair in the garden, which is now at its best, reading Edmund Burke:4 it is a luxury to spend time reading some book merely because it is a book one ought to have read, and not for any immediate purpose; and it is even a luxury to spend time over anything that is really well written – I take back several manuscripts to read every weekend, and it is rare to find anything written with distinction … But the spring and summer passes like a dream nowadays: my memory of these three years is of the winters, which seem, in retrospect, interminable, and of the summer as just a few days in between. ThisSecond World Warprospect of its end unsettles;d7 is, of course, the most hopeful summer, with real military accomplishment behind it:5 and one begins to believe that a year from now will be very different again: though the post-war period may prove to bring a different kind of abnormal world.

This has been a quiet weekend, withMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff);d3 only Mrs. M. and a very Scotch sister from Edinburgh, who has been here on a visit, but until now has been in bed with bronchitis, and whom I had never seen before – a quiet, douce body, rather like an old-fashioned New England Aunt, very different both from Mrs. M. and from the irritable Cockie: andMirrlees, Hopeand her dachshund;b3 Hope has been away too, until to-day, so that the usual psychopathic shouting and shrieking (eitherdogsDachshund;b9Hope Mirrlees's 'Mary';a2 to her wretched aged dog, which is deaf as well as half-blind, or to one of the servants) has been absent. I look forward to my own holiday, in the hope that there will be nobody at the hotel who will want to talk to me.

I think constantly of your problems: I have never felt so keenly my inability to be of any use to you.

Ever your loving
Tom

1.Letters not traced.

2.Mary Hayley Bell, Men in Shadow (1943).

3.EdwardPartridge, Edward Hincks Hincks Partridge (1901–62): headmaster of Giggleswick School, 1931–55. Initially submitted with the title Look Before You Weep, Partridge’s book was to be published as Freedom in Education: The Function of the Public Boarding School (F&F, 1943).

4.The Eliot Library includes vols 1 & 2 of The Works of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke (1845), both signed by TSE. He also possessed vol. 5 of the series (1928), which has occasional underlinings by TSE. See too ‘Autobiographical Summary’ (5 Nov. 1945), in CProse 6, 698–70. ‘In more recent years still, I have interested myself in political philosophy, and have returned to the reading of Edmund Burke’ (699).

5.TSE is probably referring to the final defeat and mass surrender of the German and Italian forces in North Africa earlier in May 1943.

Bell, Mary Hayley, Men in Shadow,
Dawson, Geoffrey, and Credit Reform letter to The Times, at The Literary Society, rumoured to be pro-German,

9.GeoffreyDawson, Geoffrey Dawson (1874–1944), editor of The Times, 1912–19, 1922–41.

dogs, TSE imagines himself as EH's dog, Pollicle, endear Hodgson to TSE, EH fond of, TSE wishes to give EH, TSE enthuses over with Ambassador Stimson's wife, death of Lord Lisburne's gun-dog, wish to buy EH dog reaffirmed, James Thurber's dog, wish to buy EH dog develops, TSE's wish that EH choose dog for him, of Shamley Wood, Aberdeen Terrier, belonging to Gerald Graham, TSE against, Alsatian, bites F&F sales manager in Cheltenham, Blue Bedlington Terrier, TSE wishes to bring EH, related to the Kerry Blue, TSE fantasises with Hodgson about breeding, TSE wishes EH might have, 'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound), travels to America, described, and right-hand traffic, TSE receives photo of, affords EH exercise, envied by TSE, scourge of Northampton, cuts foot, when chasing squirrel, suspected attempt to abduct, 'disorderly', 'cantankerous', taking unaccompanied exercise, decorated at dog-show, goes missing, not taken to Maine, EH decides to give up, poignant photograph of, dies, Bull Terrier, Ralph Hodgson's 'Picky' bites cat, home found for 'Picky', Hodgson fantasises with TSE about breeding, Dachshund, among TSE's preferred short-legged breeds, Hope Mirrlees's 'Mary', elkhound, belonging to Mrs Eames, as breed for EH, Jack Russell, among TSE's preferred short-legged breeds, possible replacement for Boerre, Kerry Blue, related to Blue Bedlington Terrier, at Army and Navy stores, Labrador, the Morleys' eight puppies, the Morleys', Pekingese, TSE averse to, belonging to Mrs Behrens, 'Polly' (the Eliots' Yorkshire Terrier), falls off roof, taken to have wound dressed, barks at Hungarian language, Poodle, as breed for EH, 'Rag Doll' (Scottish Terrier), travels to Grand Manan, TSE receives photo of, EH gives up, Samoyed, considered for EH, spaniel, belonging to the Fabers, Staffordshire Terrier, Hodgson advises Miss Wilberforce on,
Faber, Enid Eleanor, TSE mistakes her parentage, and the Eliots' separation, and the Irish waiter, as tennis-player, suggests Murder tickets for F&F employees, presses TSE into public speaking, and sons at zoo, cousin of Rab Butler, and Ann share TSE's box, congratulates TSE on opening night, TSE dependent on for food, at VHE's funeral, on VHE's death and funeral, home-hunting for TSE in Sussex, now Lady Faber,
see also Fabers, the

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).

Iovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M., his financial woes, his woes, Master of Balliol petitioned on behalf of, in hospital,

2.N. M. Iovetz-TereshchenkoIovetz-Tereshchenko, N. M. (1895–1954), B.Litt. (Oxon), PhD (London): Russian exile; Orthodox Catholic Christian; university lecturer in psychology: see Biographical Register.

Maxse, John Herbert, and wife Dorinda meet TSE for drink,

1.JohnMaxse, John Herbert Herbert Maxse (1901–78) was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He and his wife Dorinda, née Thorne (1901–88), were close friends of John Hayward.

Mirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff), taken round the Tower, invites TSE to Shamley, described for EH, offers to house TSE gratis, her religion, as horticulturalist, concerns TSE, her distress on animals' behalf, not an irritant, secures better gardener for Shamley, circumstances in which she offered TSE refuge, indifferent to enlarging acquaintance, engineers solitude at Shamley, surprises TSE with lobster and cigars, reduces TSE's rent, celebrates 80th birthday, abed and anxious, anxious about North African campaign, going deaf, boosted by son's promotion, receives offer for Shamley, theatrical by nature, TSE prefers being alone with, TSE's sense of responsibility to, spoils TSE on his birthday, aflutter over Christmas turkey, delighted by recording at Shamley, takes in hopeless cases, collector of recipes, pleased by TSE's lawnmowing, hankers after life in Menton, dreams of leaving Shamley, pulls out of selling Shamley, as landlady, frustrations with gardener, her aura, summons TSE to Shamley, during TSE's final Shamley Christmas, dying, still just living, dies following operation, Wishful Cooking,
see also Mirrleeses, the

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.

Mirrlees, Hope, sketched for EH, at the Eliots' tea-party, part of Bloomsbury society, VHE complains about TSE to, dinner in company with, and mother taken sightseeing, ordeal of a walk with, dinner and chess with, and her dachshund, exhausting but pitiable, her mother preferable, her religion, to Mappie as Eleanor Hinkley to Aunt Susie, irritates like Eleanor, indifferent to enlarging her acquaintance, at Shamley, researching in Worthing Public Library, bathing daily at Lee, and TSE judge fancy-dress parade, during TSE's final Shamley Christmas, suffers 'collapse', in Stellenbosch, visits London, go-between in TSE's second marriage,
see also Mirrleeses, the

2.HopeMirrlees, Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), British poet, novelist, translator and biographer, was to become a close friend of TSE: see Biographical Register.

Moncrieff, Constance ('Cocky'), resident at Shamley, used to a Riviera winter, as quondam resident of Pau, in London for bridge and Mass, taken to theatre by TSE, chaperoned in London, given to grievances, dispenses fragment of Lourdes grotto, has hair waved, dreams of returning to Pau, peremptory presence at Shamley,
Partridge, Edward Hincks,

3.EdwardPartridge, Edward Hincks Hincks Partridge (1901–62): headmaster of Giggleswick School, 1931–55. Initially submitted with the title Look Before You Weep, Partridge’s book was to be published as Freedom in Education: The Function of the Public Boarding School (F&F, 1943).

Partridge, Eric Honeywood,
reading (TSE's), The Road Back, Hay Fever, sermons of Revd Dr William E. Channing, Racine's Bérénice, in general, the Bible, The Witch of Edmonton again, letters of other authors, a life of Mohammed, a life of Calvin, R. S. Wilson's life of Marcion the Heretic, Living My Life, French detective stories, French novels, recent books on economics and finance, the Epistles of St. Paul, The Lady of the Lake, Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, never deeply or widely enough, The Scarab Murder Case, translation of Dante, detective stories, Letters of Mrs Gaskell and Charles Eliot Norton, second-rate detective story, disinterestedly, for leisure, Vision of God, Faith of a Moralist, Newman's sermons, Birds of the Countryside, Modern Reader's Bible, The Face of Death, René Bazin's Charles de Foucauld, Charles Petrie's Monarchy, Thurber's My Life and Hard Times, Oliver's Endless Adventure (vol. 3), Madame Sorel's memoirs, book on French policing, detective story for committee, The League of Frightened Men, The Garden Murder Case, The Luck of the Bodkins, The House in Paris, The Life of Charles Gore, Middleton Murry's Shakespeare, Dr Goebbels for book committee, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, MS of German gunman in Chicago, Shakespeare, to replenish, Middlemarch, the Gospel, City of God, St. John of the Cross, psalm or two a day, Ibsen, Twenty Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre, poems submitted to Criterion, My Name is Million, psalms, especially Psalm 130, Edmund Burke, Lives of the Poets, Virgil,
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,
Sheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff'), respected by TSE, helps with The Use of Poetry, seems sympathetic to EH, corresponds with TSE in Ada's stead, writes explaining Ada's condition, writes touchingly, faced with Ada's death, writes from Ada's deathbed, as correspondent, shares tributes to Ada, reads 'credo' at Ada's funeral, which instances his jargon, shares prognosis on Henry, advises on urgency of TSE's trip, reports on Henry's condition, offers TSE financial assistance, exasperation with Eleanor Hinkley,
see also Sheffields, the

8.AlfredSheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff') Dwight Sheffield (1871–1961) – ‘Shef’ or ‘Sheff’ – husband of TSE’s eldest sister, taught English at University School, Cleveland, Ohio, and was an English instructor, later Professor, of Group Work at Wellesley College. His publications include Lectures on the Harvard Classics: Confucianism (1909) and Grammar and Thinking: a study of the working conceptions in syntax (1912).

Smith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece), 1931 visit to England, described, to lunch with Lucia Joyce and Barbara Hutchinson, TSE's almost fatherly affection for, in contrast to her sister, at Eliot family Thanksgiving, attends second Norton lecture, TSE reports on from Boston, TSE cultivates, and Marion's 1934 visit to England, visit to Chipping Campden, visit to Salisbury, walk with TSE to Kelmscott, Regent's Park visit, TSE on, 1935 visit to England, taken to the ballet, at the Russian ballet's Aurore, to tea with cousins, her way of addressing relations, TSE tells Trevelyan about, 1936 visit to England, ballet outing, taken to Cheetham's pageant, taken to Kensington Gardens, returns to America with TSE, 1938 visit to England, with Chardy, and Marion's 1939 visit to England, in doubt, Southwold week, taken to Dulwich, taken to ballet and dinner, writes to TSE, visited in Baltimore, 1949 visit to England, taken to Cambridge, then to Southwold, tours the Borders with TSE, 1950 visit to England, taken to The Cocktail Party, due for the summer, recovering from operation, arrives from Scotland, 1953 visit to England, in Edinburgh for Confidential Clerk, 1954 visit to England, 1955 visit to England, reports on the American weather, 1956 visit to England,

2.TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece) Eliot Smith (1904–92) – ‘Dodo’ – daughter of George Lawrence and Charlotte E. Smith: see Biographical Register. Theodora’sSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece) sister was Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911), known as ‘Chardy’.