[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
Faber & Faber Ltd
12 October 1946
Beloved,

Your letter of the 6th came in very good time. It is very pleasant to think that you can now have a friend to stay with you: to have a spare room for this purpose makes the house much more like a home. Here also the weather has been mild, with the same moon that you have observed – only to-day has been overcast and more chilly, and more typically of London October. I'Gerontion'radio programme about;a3 haveReed, Henryhis broadcast on 'Gerontion' approved;a1 just been listening to a broadcast and explanation of ‘Gerontion’, quite well done – theTrouncer, Ceciloverdoes reading of 'Gerontion';a1 commentator’s reading of the verse more to my liking than the full reading by Cecil Trouncer at the end. Trouncer, like most actors, over-dramatised.1 I have been working on my essay – a nap and a walk between lunch and tea, and no one to have to talk to; tomorrow will be the same, except for church in the morning, andMrs Webster (Ada Janes's sister)which TSE visits;a7 I shall have to go round to see Miss Dakin after tea to try to get from her Mrs. Webster’s certificate of burial plot and insurance book, which she left behind in the excitement of going off to the institution for old people in Wandsworth (I visited her there last Sunday: a pathetic sight, all the old women sitting about in dresses of the same pattern). IThorp, Willard;b9 have very little news to tell you: IHavens, Paul;a6 have heard from Willard Thorp and President Havens, and must answer them tomorrow. IManwaring, Elizabeth;a5 have also an enquiry from Miss Manwaring! I ought not to have too much difficulty in assuring about a thousand dollars: I gather that one can make more money by talking to women’s clubs; and certainly the universities and colleges have not increased their fees in relation to the increased cost of living – they seem to pay the same that they did fifteen years ago – but I prefer talking to colleges to talking to women’s clubs. But remember that I want to concentrate my talking into the month of May (but it must run into the beginning of June) and have a clear month after the work, for personal affairs. I miss you very much, and have particularly wanted you with me this week.

Your own
Tom.

1.HenryReed, Henry Reed on ‘The Making of a Poem’, BBC, with reading by Cecil Trouncer. TrouncerTrouncer, Cecil (1898–1953), British actor, best known for appearances in films including Pygmalion (1938); later, London Belongs to Me (1948), The Magic Box (1951) and The Pickwick Papers (1952).

'Gerontion', and Matthew Prichard, recited at Wellesley, radio programme about,
Havens, Paul, and EH greet TSE at Claremont, appointed President of Wilson College, congratulated on appointment, offers TSE honorary degree, engages TSE to make commencement address, which Henry's health jeopardises, and is eventually cancelled,
see also Havenses, the
Manwaring, Elizabeth, and Wellesley poetry reading, lays on Paderewski concert, curates TSE exhibition, on the day of Henry's death,

3.ElizabethManwaring, Elizabeth Manwaring (1879–1959), a Professor of English at Wellesley College, was author of a pioneering study, Italian Landscape in Eighteenth Century England: a study chiefly of the influence of Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa on English Taste, 1700–1800 (New York, 1925). Good friend of TSE’s sister Marian.

Mrs Webster (Ada Janes's sister), monologues over Christmas dinner, ventriloquised, like Dickens's Mrs Gummidge, gives TSE sister's engagement ring, in poorhouse, which TSE visits, TSE overseeing burial arrangements for,
Reed, Henry, his broadcast on 'Gerontion' approved,

1.HenryReed, Henry Reed on ‘The Making of a Poem’, BBC, with reading by Cecil Trouncer. TrouncerTrouncer, Cecil (1898–1953), British actor, best known for appearances in films including Pygmalion (1938); later, London Belongs to Me (1948), The Magic Box (1951) and The Pickwick Papers (1952).

Thorp, Willard, introduced by TSE to Dobrée, at the Criterion meeting, grows on TSE, teaches Ombre to the Eliots, EH thinks of entrusting letters to, seems lifeless, has stiffening effect on TSE, requests Paul More tribute, which he delivers to More, congratulates TSE on Family Reunion, invited TSE to Princeton, due to teach at Harvard, compared to Margaret, resembles Sweden's Crown Prince, formally notified of EH's bequest, objects to TSE's 50-year moratorium, and EH's 'recordings', seeks again to shorten moratorium, but again refused, invited to petition TSE directly, but shifts responsibility to Dix, makes transcript of EH's 'recording',
see also Thorps, the

1.Margaret Thorp, née Farrand (1891–1970), contemporary and close friend of EH; noted author and biographer. WillardThorp, Willard Thorp (1899–1990) was a Professor of English at Princeton University. See Biographical Register. See further Lyndall Gordon, Hyacinth Girl, 126–8, 158–9.

Trouncer, Cecil, overdoes reading of 'Gerontion',

1.HenryReed, Henry Reed on ‘The Making of a Poem’, BBC, with reading by Cecil Trouncer. TrouncerTrouncer, Cecil (1898–1953), British actor, best known for appearances in films including Pygmalion (1938); later, London Belongs to Me (1948), The Magic Box (1951) and The Pickwick Papers (1952).