[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
Letter 2
15 January 1945
Dearest Emily,

I have not written for a fortnight, as I have had another week of flu: not a recurrence of the flu I had in December, but a new infection, which, according to the doctor, has been common in the neighbourhood – he and his family had it too. The chief symptom, besides a slight temperature, is a violent sickness, which takes some time to settle. There are no bronchial symptoms, and that has been my chief weakness in the past. ISecond World Warpossibility of post-war pandemic;f2 think that we must expect a good deal of this sort of thing – such epidemics always varying in their manifestations – for some years to come. ItEuropeits post-war future;a8 was so after the last war, and it will be again: indeed, Europe will be fortunate if it does not suffer from some very violent epidemic. These things may take longer to reach America, but when the time comes, you must look out for them!

AfterMrs Millington (the blind masseuse);a6 my December flu, Mrs. Millington the masseuse was gratified to find that my blood pressure was as strong as before. I go to her again on Wednesday (unless my temporary secretary has stupidly cancelled the appointment).

ThisDemant, Revd Vigo Auguste;b8 was annoying, becauseSitwell, Edith;b7 ILaud, Archbishop William;a1 had not caught up on the arrears of correspondence after Christmas. AndMurder in the CathedralHoellering film;g1recording made for;a6 IGraham, Gerald S.;a6 seemBelgion, Montgomery;c7 to have missed 1. a meeting at Canon Demant’s to discuss religious periodicals, 2. tea with Edith Sitwell. 3. aSt. Paul's Cathedral, Londonrequiem for Laud at;a6 requiem on the anniversary of Archbishop Laud at St. Paul’s. 4. dentist’s appointment. 5. recording of Murder for the film. 6. dinner with Major Graham of the Canadian Army. 7. dinner with Montgomery Belgion. But of these, 3 and especially 4 were all that I regretted: for while I was in bed a tooth developed unequivocal symptoms of an abscess: now that I am up and going to town again it has quieted down.

IEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother)goitre operated on;i7 haveEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law);c8 just written a long letter to Theresa, from whom I have a letter this morning about Henry’s health.1 Please keep this to yourself. It appears that he is developing a goitre; probably only what Marion had several years ago, and the operation did not seem to bother her much. But Henry has had so much tinkering about by doctors and surgeons that one does not like his having the strain of it. One of the doctors had wished to believe that Henry’s ailments were neurotic in origin, and that was what I had to say most about. HenryEliot family, thehereditary neurosis;b5 is no more neurotic than the rest of us: at least, it is a family neurosis and not an individual one. It is the same thing that makes me always allow much more time than anybody else would for catching a train, and which persuades me 1. that I won’t be in time. 2. that I shan’t get a seat. 3. that somebody will steal my luggage. 3. that I shall get out at the wrong station. 4. that the train will be late. 4. the same things over again at the end of the train journey, with respect to the bus, cab or other means of getting to my destination. 5. that I am going to the wrong house. 6. that I have made a mistake in the date. I see that again I have number[ed] wrong, so that these are really 7 and not 6.

No letter from you this week. That probably has to do with your movements during the holidays: now you are back again, walking long distances to and fro every day in bitter cold weather no doubt. I liked your Christmas card. IBrownes, the Martintheir sons;c5 dined with the Brownes the night before I came back to be ill, and they asked did you write the poem.2 I said I was sure you did. The boys were there: 3 they are gangling up, the younger one seems to have the more assurance (the one at Harrow) but the older is the more sympathetic – the younger more cheekily, the older the more pathetically, Jewish – I think he has rather a suffering nature. HenzieBrowne, Henzie (née Raeburn);a9 wrote to you a year ago, at Christmas, but to Paradise Road Northampton, and the letter was eventually returned to her. I haven’t been able to make a communion since Christmas Day.

Lovingly
Tom

P.S. WillDry Salvages, Theconchological emendation;b5 you please take your copy or copies of the Dry Salvages, and on the first page alter hermit crab to horse shoe crab. It was the latter I was thinking of, of course: hermit was a slip. I suppose because it happens to fit the metre better: but conchology 4 must come before prosody. I wish you would let me [know] what are the repetitions in my poems of a kind to be avoided: because I cannot discover any repetitions except those which are intentional.

1.Not traced.

2.EH’s 1945 Christmas card has not been found; other examples of her Christmas verses are included in the Appendix.

3.The Brownes’ children were Denis and Christopher.

4.The scientific study of shells and molluscs.

Belgion, Montgomery, and Alida Monro dine chez Eliot, expensive club dinner with, accompanies TSE to Othello, and Charles Williams dine with TSE, accompanies TSE to Henry IV, Part II, to Garrigou-Lagrange lecture, takes TSE and Saurat to the Ivy, weekend's walking in Sussex with, in Criterion inner-circle, drink with Tom Burns and, accompanies TSE to Cranmer, and Mairet to lunch, accompanies TSE to Witch of Edmonton, arranges dinner for Murder, accompanies TSE to Uncle Vanya, to Measure for Measure, to Richard III, to Volpone, lonely, hosts dinner at Chinese restaurant, reviews Christian Society, on leave in London,

4.MontgomeryBelgion, Montgomery (‘Monty’) Belgion (1892–1973), author and journalist: see Biographical Register.

Browne, Henzie (née Raeburn), meets TSE at Chichester, and initial discussions of The Rock with TSE, discusses unwritten pageant scenes, in Family Reunion, asks after EH, looking after her two boys, in Old Man of the Mountains, stands in for Henrietta Watson in Family Reunion, marks TSE's OM with party, as Cocktail Party understudy, as actress,
see also Brownes, the Martin
Brownes, the Martin, at TSE's theatrical tea-party, pick over scenario for Murder, TSE's fondness for, introduce TSE to Saint-Denis, both invited to Tenebrae, TSE reads Family Reunion to, and their Pilgrim Players, their sons, among TSE's intimates, encourage TSE over Cocktail Party, discuss Cocktail Party draft, Silver Wedding Party,
Demant, Revd Vigo Auguste, appeals to TSE as economist, drinks and smokes in holy company, at heavy Criterion gathering, potential reader for Boutwood Lectures, as CNL editorial collaborator, sound on H. G. Wells, dull paper for Malvern 1941, at Chandos Group lunch, on TSE's Northern tour, given canonry in St. Paul's,

4.RevdDemant, Revd Vigo Auguste Vigo Auguste Demant (1893–1983), Anglican clergyman; leading exponent of ‘Christian Sociology’; vicar of St John-the-Divine, Richmond, Surrey, 1933–42: see Biographical Register.

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,
Eliot family, the, ties to New Bedford, coat of arms in Eliot House, TSE visits quondam ancestral estate, have public not private lives, and God, Molly Browne and her three Greenleaf daughters, congenital reserve, its former family mansions, in East Coker, are Whigs, the original William Greenleaf, its Peterborough connection, the Stearns Lexington home, hereditary neurosis,
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.

Eliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law), witness to the Eliots in 1926, draws TSE, co-hosts Murder party, remembers TSE's intention to marry EH, her immaturity, expresses solicitude for EH, careless of Henry's health, inflator of rumours, apparently ill, a 'lovely person', as correspondent, more agreeable than an Eliot, TSE on, unsuited to resist Margaret, and Henry's mania for Eliotana, wishes to take Henry on holiday following illness, made fretful by Henry, relationship with Henry, ignorant of Henry's true condition, on EH and TSE, after Henry's death, sends TSE Henry's old greatcoat, EH reports on, visits lawyer with TSE, avid for Eliotana, star-struck, undergoes operation on ear, for which TSE bears cost, hosts TSE in 1952, hosts TSE in 1955, custodian of Henry's collection, hosts TSE in 1956, visits England, on whether to return EH's letters, on TSE not marrying EH,
see also Eliots, the Henry
Europe, and Henry James, through the 1930s, its importance for America, potentially inspired by FDR, in the event of war, seems more alive than America, the effects of war on, its post-war future, its post-war condition, the possibility of Federal Union, TSE's sense of duty towards,
Graham, Gerald S., and his wife described, gets to brass tacks with TSE, again object of concern, TSE gives poetry reading to oblige,
see also Grahams, the

5.GeraldGraham, Gerald S. S. Graham (1903–88), a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, was Instructor in History at Harvard, 1930–6, where he was befriended by TSE. After a period as Assistant Professor of History at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, he was a Guggenheim Fellow, 1940–1; and during WW2 he served in the Canadian Army. Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King’s College London, 1949–70; Life-Fellow and Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society; general editor of the Oxford West African History series. An authority on naval power and the British Empire, his works include Sea Power and British North America, 1783–1820: A Study in British Colonial Policy (1941) and The Politics of Naval Supremacy (1967). See further Perspectives of Empire: Essays presented to Gerald S. Graham, ed. J. E. Flint and Glyndwyr Williams (1973). TSE told Mary Trevelyan, 15 June 1949, he was ‘giving dinner to Professor Graham, the very meritorious Professor of Canadian History at London University whom I knew when he was tutor at Eliot House’.

Laud, Archbishop William,
Mrs Millington (the blind masseuse), works on TSE's writers' cramp, traces TSE's cramp to Harvard, pounding TSE's neck, communicates message from William Blake, attributes condition to teeth, dies of stroke,
Murder in the Cathedral, idea for initially suggested by Laurence Irving, offered to Martin Browne, St. Thomas as TSE's muse, TSE on writing, tentatively, 'The Archbishop Murder Case', uncertainties over title, currently 'Fear in the Way', which proves unpopular, TSE on rewriting, title settled on, final revisions for printer, tentatively critiqued by EH, and EH on TSE as dramatist, chorus copied for EH, Virginia Woolf's aspersions on, the form of its choruses, defended from obscurity, did not test TSE's plotting, book-sales to-date, $1,000 offered for American rights, pays for 1936 American trip, Italian and Hungarian rights sold, and Whiggery, Savile Club dinner to celebrate, compared to next play, discrepancies of Canterbury Text, Martin Browne's initial response to, TSE recognised as author of, TSE on its cheerful title, EH on, abandoned Mercury Theatre premiere, suggested by Yeats and Doone, in the offing, and Doone's response to first draft, EH requested at, imperilled, text copied for Yeats, 1935 Canterbury Festival production, in rehearsal, opening night, reception, final performance, and EH's response, 1935–6 Mercury Theatre revival, Martin Browne pushing for, in rehearsal, which EH attends, compared to Canterbury original, at the box-office, its 100th performance, still running, proposed tour to end, 1936 BBC radio version, BBC bid to produce, broadcast fixed, BBC memo on, in rehearsal, TSE on, abortive 1936 New York transfer, Dukes visits America to arrange, blighted by Brace's actions, quashed by Federal Theatre production, its usurper founders, deferred to autumn, unsolicited 1936 New York production, licensed by Brace, to be directed by Rice, seemingly withdrawn, Rice resigns from, delights EH and Eleanor Hinkley, TSE sent press-cuttings for, EH reports on, TSE speculates as to textual discrepancies, attended by Eleanor Roosevelt, extended and potentially expanded, TSE to the Transcript on, may predispose immigration authorities favourably in future, royalties from, 1936 University College, Dublin student production, described by TSE, rumoured Australian and American productions, 1936 Gate Theatre touring production, TSE's long-held wish, scheduled, 1936 touring production, due at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge, as it was played in Cambridge, 1936 America pirate production, 1937 Duchess Theatre West End transfer, date fixed for, announced in Times, dress-rehearsal attended, reception, reviewed, royalties, still playing, ticket sales pick up, coming to an end, receives royal visit, 1937 touring production, scheduled post-Duchess, beginning in Leeds, then Manchester, going strong, 1937 Harvard University production, 1937 Amherst College production, singled out for praise, 1937 Old Vic production, touring production arrived at, in rehearsal, 1937 Tewkesbury Drama Festival production, 1938 American tour, projected for January 1937, said date seconded by Dukes, deferred to September 1937, confirmed again by Dukes, pre-tour dates in Golders Green, then Liverpool, opening in Boston in January, over which EH is consulted, tour itinerary, Family Reunion keeps TSE from, preparatory re-rehearsal for, pre-crossing Liverpool dates, EH's judgement desired, EH reports on first night, reviewed in The Times, EH sends New York cuttings, prematurely transferred to New York, Dukes reports on, Westminster Cathedral Hall charity performance, 1940 Latham Mercury revival, revival suggested in rep with Family Reunion, wartime modern-dress production suggested, ambushes TSE, in rehearsal, first night, reviewed, Browne's wartime Pilgrim Players' adaptation, Hoellering film, Hoellering's initial approach made, Hoellering's vision for, TSE adapting for screen, reconnoitre of Canterbury for, casting Becket, recording made for, development process described to NYT, non-actor found for Becket, screenings of Groser, set-dressing, screening, approaching release, still in the edit, final screening, and Venice Film Festival, seeking distribution, soon to premiere, opens, initial reception, circulating in shortened version, 1945 Théâtre du Vieux Colombier production, compared to Martin Browne's, royalties, apparently a hit, reviewed, reaches 150 performances, Fluchère's involvement, 1946 German production, 1947 Edinburgh Festival production, 1948 Milton Academy production, 1949 broadcast, 1949 Berlin production, politically resonant, 1952 University of Rennes, Grand Théâtre abridgment, 1952 Théatre National Populaire production, 1953 Old Vic revival, waiting on Donat, TSE on, 1954 Harvard production,
St. Paul's Cathedral, London, TSE and EH's taxi-ride round, Underhill and Kirk's consecration, in wartime, Demant made canon at, requiem for Laud at,
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,
Sitwell, Edith, TSE likens EH's portrait to, which displeases EH, which likeness TSE presently disclaims, shockingly altered, now seems more herself, brings Pavel Tchelitchew to tea, to tea on New Year's Day, at Harold Monro's funeral, dragoons TSE into poetry reading, at which she is rated, at odds with Dorothy Wellesley, at Poetry Reading for China, sends TSE whisky in hospital,
see also Sitwells, the

2.EdithSitwell, Edith Sitwell (1887–1964), poet, biographer, anthologist, novelist: see Biographical Register.