[No surviving envelope]
Letter 2.
I have no letter from you since I last wrote; youHale, Emilyvacations in New Bedford;p8 have been, I hope, to New Bedford; and I hope have been finding the atmosphere of Millbrook sympathetic. As I am not sure that what you gave me was the complete address, I am still writing care of Commonwealth Avenue until I hear from you. The first impressions of the place, your colleagues and the pupils are awaited with impatience.
I have nothing particular to report, anticipate or reflect upon. I have had to divert some of my attention this weekend to preparation of a short speech to make at a meeting on Church Unity tomorrow: I was rather vexed about it, because I was only asked verbally by a third party in November to take part in this, and had supposed, having no official confirmation, that it had fallen through; but I learned last week that they were depending upon me. ChristopherDawson, Christopher;b3 Dawson, who was also to speak, has, as I expected, fallen ill and is unable to come: so they have no other particular draw. IAmerican Embassy in London;a1 have to lunch with the Librarian at the American Embassy and inspect his library; the meeting is at 5.15, andFaber and Faber (F&F)fire-watching duties at;e6 I have to speak first and then leave at once in order to get some supper before my fire-watch. So'Johnson as Critic and Poet'being and not being written;a2 I have not been able to give my full mind to Samuel Johnson; I shall not allow any further interruptions of this sort, but I may find that I have to take a week off at the end of February in order to finish up.
Yesterdaywinterat Shamley;a7 was one of the fine days which make an English winter tolerable in the country. A hard frost at night, and a clear sky in the morning. GoingChrist Church, Shamley Greenmidwinter morning services at;a4 to early church, it was bright moonlight, and all the fields white with frost, and the first red streaks of dawn in the sky. I particularly like the early communion service in the darkened village church, tiring as the pull up hill is before breakfast. By lunch-time a bright sun so warm that one could almost sit in the sun, like a winter day in a more southern climate. I wonder if I shall settle down again easily to living altogether in London: whether I ever get a permanent corner of my own in the country as well, depends on circumstances, and on the cost of living after the war; I fear that London rents may be high, and servants still asking high wages. It is impossible to make any plans; though when the moment comes for returning to a more normal life, it may come very suddenly. ISecond World Warprognostications as to its end;e2 am not so sanguine as some about the end of the war this year: in the spring we may be able to have something on which to base a prediction.
DidClayton, Joseph ('Joe')dies;a5 you know of the death of Joe Clayton? I enclose a notice from Blackfriars.1 IClayton, Margaretletter of condolence to;a2 must write to Mrs. Clayton; I fear that she will have very little indeed to live upon indeed [sic]. It is sad to think of him too, vanished from Camden [sc. Campden]. Oh dear, I must go back to rehearsing my speech.
1.EHClayton, Joseph ('Joe')his obituary;a6n and the Perkinses had befriended Joseph Clayton at Chipping Campden in the 1930s.
‘Joseph Clayton, who died on November 18th, was one of the earliest contributors to Blackfriars. Together with Father Bede Jarrett, Father Vincent McNabb, Father Luke Walker and Mr Stanley Morison, he was a member of the original editorial board that watched over the earliest issues of this Review. His streams of interesting talk and vigorous argument, his own journalistic experience, his enthusiasm and optimism were all a welcome stimulus in those days of our difficult beginnings.
‘He was received into the Church before the last war, in 1910, and from his background of Anglicanism and Fabian Socialism he brought a knowledge of and a belief in our national institutions which were refreshing to his Catholic friends. A man of transparent honesty, outspoken and uncompromising, a champion of the working man, simple and vigorous of utterance, with more than a touch of pugnacity, he has left enduring proof of these qualities in twenty or so published books and scores and scores of newspaper and periodical articles. He was no revolutionary and, in his campaign for social justice – and how pungently militant he could be! – he believed in none but constitutional methods. Selfless and unambitious, he loved justice and hated iniquity. God rest his soul’ (Blackfriars xxiv: 285 [Dec. 1943], 452).
12.JosephClayton, Joseph ('Joe') ClaytonClayton, Margaret, FRHistS (1867–1943). Clayton was a journalist, author and historian; editor of The New Age, 1906–7; Catholic convert. Resident in later years in Chipping Campden, where he and his wife Margaret became friendly with the Perkinses.
12.JosephClayton, Joseph ('Joe') ClaytonClayton, Margaret, FRHistS (1867–1943). Clayton was a journalist, author and historian; editor of The New Age, 1906–7; Catholic convert. Resident in later years in Chipping Campden, where he and his wife Margaret became friendly with the Perkinses.
2.ChristopherDawson, Christopher Dawson (1889–1970), cultural historian: see Biographical Register.