[No surviving envelope]
I have just received your letter of the 20th, and yesterday a cable – upon which I shall not comment until I get the letter which you say follows, as I am far from sure that I understand what you mean. IEliot, Theresa Garrett (TSE's sister-in-law)relationship with Henry;d6 was particularly pleased that you should have had the conversation with Theresa, since I was so struck, on this last visit, by her isolation and the extent to which she has been shut up within herself. She is of a much more nervous and diffident temperament than her placid and affable social manner indicates, but I think you may find, if you can see her from time to time, that she will expand a little, and I am sure she needs someone to talk over her troubles with. ItEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother);k4 is trying that my communication with her has to be rather clandestine: for in the present circumstances, the things one has to say are not what one wants Henry to read. I am indeed very worried about him; and all the more because I know that he worries over Theresa’s financial position in the event of his death. How seriously he regards his own state of health I cannot tell. And with the exchange restrictions – and there is no reason for hoping that they will ever be much relaxed – I am prevented from being of any financial use to anybody outside of this island. I can only make some provision for her (or them) in the event of my death; but as I am sound and tough, and several years younger than Theresa, that, barring accidents, is unlikely to benefit her.
Ittravels, trips and plansTSE's 1947 summer in America;g1TSE seeks to bring forward;a2 seems, however, that I ought to try to advance my visit as much as possible, and come in April instead of May. I should prefer the later time, so as to have some time in the country: much the most satisfactory of seeing them and of seeing you. And one can never tell what will be the best time; it might be, after I had come and gone, that I should regret not having made my visit a little later. However, I shall now try for some time in April.
I am rather tired this week. OnFour Quartetsrecorded by TSE;a9 Tuesday I made my first recording of ‘Four Quartets’ for the Gramophone Company.1 Recording is much more of a strain than broadcasting: for being permanent, it needs to satisfy such a high standard of execution. IBurnt Nortonmost difficult quartet to record;c2 have done ‘Burnt Norton’, but I must hear it played back before I know whether it is satisfactory. ‘Burnt Norton’ is the most difficult to do, as you may imagine (and for technical reasons also); and I am to do one quartet each week for four weeks. Then I rushed back to see an American publisher who didn’t turn up, because he had suddenly returned to New York; andMaury, Pierre;a1 in the evening I had to entertain two French Protestant pastors (one of them, Pasteur Maury, is very distinguished): 2 I found them charming, and intelligent and educated men – it came rather expensive, with sherry, claret and brandy, which I imagine they had had little of at home. And when I end this letter I shall have to jot down a few notes for this evening, when I take the chair at a lecture by a Sorbonne professor on ‘l’influence anglo-saxonne sur la literature française contemporaine’. ThenFamily Reunion, The1946 Mercury revival;i2rehearsals for;a1 IBrowne, Elliott Martin1946 Mercury Family Reunion revival;e3in rehearsal;a1 mustMercury Theatre, Londonand 1946 Family Reunion revival;c8 try to attend one or two rehearsals of ‘The Family Reunion’, which Martin is mounting at the Mercury – the first night is the 31st. AndMirrlees, Emily Lina ('Mappie', née Moncrieff)summons TSE to Shamley;f5 I have to go to Shamley over Sunday, as the old lady has been clamouring for me to come. Now that I am settled in London I find weekends merely a vexatious interruption. (INotes Towards the Definition of CultureTSE writing;a5 have nearly finished the ‘Notes towards the definition of Culture’, andJohnson, Dr SamuelTSE's projected Lives of the Poets book;a7 am about to start reading for the revision of my Johnson: I should like to clear that off, asBritish AcademyTSE's Milton lecture for;a1 well as the British Academy lecture, before my visit to New England; andCocktail Party, The;b1 then be free for beginning a play on my return).
You seem, my dear, to be in a state of acute agitation: it still seems to me that the remedy is entirely in your own hands. But till I know just what part of my letter you take serious exception to, I am in the dark. Meanwhile I shall pray for you and especially on your birthday, which falls on Sunday, and on the Feast of Christ the King (a Papist festival, not ours, though celebrated in some churches). You surely cannot doubt my fidelity, or presume any defection of my love for you.
I have ordered five shirts: that will cost over fifteen pounds and a great many coupons but I hope to have enough coupons left for a suit. No hat yet.
1.TSE to C. C. Preuss, Manager of the Artistes-Recording Dept., HMV Gramophone Company, 26 Sept. 1946: ‘I have your letter of the 26th September and shall be glad to arrange a series of appointments in your studio. I shall want at least four sittings. There are four poems to be recorded and I do not want to record more than one at a time. I think it would be simplest if we could arrange for the same hour on the same afternoon every week for four weeks.’ To Walter de la Mare, 21 Nov. 1946: ‘I have lately been making some recordings of poems for the H.M.V. Gramophone Company under the auspices of the British Council who are the people who really want the records.’
2.PierreMaury, Pierre Maury (1890–1956), pastor of the reformed parish of Ferney-Voltaire; then of the parish of Passy-Annunciation in Paris, 1934–56; close associate of Pastor Visser’t Hooft (1900–85), of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands (who was Secretary General of the Universal Federation of Christian Student Associations in Geneva); subsequently the friend and promulgator of the great Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968): Maury arranged for the publication of Barth’s influential study Word of God, Human Word (1933), along with several others of his works. In 1943 Maury became Professor of Dogmatics at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris; and he was President of the National Council of the Reformed Church of France, 1950–3. Maury published studies of Saint Augustine, Luther and Pascal.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
3.HenryEliot, Henry Ware, Jr. (TSE's brother) Ware Eliot (1879–1947), TSE’s older brother: see Biographical Register.
2.PierreMaury, Pierre Maury (1890–1956), pastor of the reformed parish of Ferney-Voltaire; then of the parish of Passy-Annunciation in Paris, 1934–56; close associate of Pastor Visser’t Hooft (1900–85), of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands (who was Secretary General of the Universal Federation of Christian Student Associations in Geneva); subsequently the friend and promulgator of the great Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968): Maury arranged for the publication of Barth’s influential study Word of God, Human Word (1933), along with several others of his works. In 1943 Maury became Professor of Dogmatics at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Paris; and he was President of the National Council of the Reformed Church of France, 1950–3. Maury published studies of Saint Augustine, Luther and Pascal.
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.