The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1: 1898-1922 (106 page)

1–Edward Cranch Eliot,
The Family of William Greenleaf Eliot and Abby Adams Eliot
(1921). After the author’s death, HWE was to revise the book for a second edition (1931).

2–A cousin.

3–In the event, TSE decided to go to Lausanne instead.

MS
Fondren

31 October 1921

Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville,
Margate

My dear Huxley,

Thank you very much indeed for your very full and satisfactory letter.
¹
I shall go to Vittoz. Meanwhile I shall beg your patience for two more questions.

1. How long a course does Vittoz usually give? Is there ordinarily a definite term?
   
2. Is it best to write to him in advance, in order to make certain of having Vittoz himself? If so, (and in any case) what is his address?
   

He sounds just the man I want. I am glad you confirm my opinion of English doctors. They seem to specialise either in nerves or insanity!

With thanks, and regret for troubling you again.

Sincerely,
T. S. Eliot

1–Not preserved.

PC
Harvard

[Postmark 1 November 1921]

Cliftonville, Margate
(But write to C. G. Gdns)

Have been here a 4tnight,&may stay several weeks longer. Very good sea air, and quiet. Will keep you posted.

Yours aff.
T.

MS
McMaster

1 November 1921 [dated by Russell]

9 Clarence Gate Gdns,
N.W.1

Dear Bertie,

It was so nice actually to get a letter from you again. We were both pleased.

As you probably know, Tom is having a bad nervous – or so called – breakdown. He is away, and I am answering all his letters. Otherwise of course he would have written himself. He is at present at Margate, of all cheerful spots! But he seems to like it!

In a short time I hope he will go to Switzerland, to see Dr Vittoz. We have heard so much about him. I think I remember you speaking of him too.

We both send very many congratulations, and Tom says he is quite sure the baby
¹
will
have pointed ears, so you need not be anxious. Even if not pointed at birth, they will sharpen in time.

With love from both, and very glad you are back.

Vivien Eliot

1–John Conrad Russell was born on 16 Nov., 1921 (d. 1987). TSE’s poem about BR, ‘Mr. Apollinax’, mentions ‘His pointed ears’.

Published 3 November 1921

Sir,

I am obliged to Professor Saintsbury for his suggestions,
¹
of which I shall make use, if he will permit me, on some later occasion. As I greatly respect Mr Saintsbury, so I would not be behind him in my testimony of that great neglected poet, great neglected dramatist, and great neglected critic, John Dryden.

I only regret that the conclusion to be drawn from Mr Saintsbury’s letter appears to contradict my own conclusions from the study of Caroline verse. Mr Saintsbury appears to believe that these poets represent not merely a generation, but almost a particular theory of poetry. The ‘second thoughts’ to which he alludes are, I think, and as I tried to point out, frequent in the work of many other poets besides, of other times and other languages.
²
I have mentioned Chapman, and the contemporaries of Dante. I do not believe that the author of
Hamlet
and
Measure for Measure
was invariably satisfied with ‘the first simple, obvious, natural thought and expression of thought’; or that the author of the ‘Phoenix and Turtle’ whistled as he went for want of thought. Nor can I believe that Swinburne thought twice, or even
once
, before he wrote

On the subject of Caroline poetry, there is no one to whom so much gratitude is due, or to whom I should listen with as much deference, as Mr Saintsbury.

I am, Sir, your obliged humble

CONTRIBUTOR.

1–George Saintsbury (1845–1933), editor of
Minor Poets of the Caroline Period
(1905–21), proffered his letter, published on 27 Oct., as ‘an annotation’ to TSE’s ‘The Metaphysical Poets’.

2–Saintsbury argued that Dryden used ‘“metaphysics” as equivalent to “second thoughts,” things that come
after
the natural first; and, once more, this definition would, I think, fit all the poetry commonly called “metaphysical”, whether it be amatory, religious, satirical, panegyric, or merely trifling’.

3–Saintsbury recalled a friend’s reaction to hearing these lines from
Atalanta
, ‘Don’t you see that the fellow just wrote it the other way and turned it round to make fools like you admire?’ and added that Swinburne ‘here and elsewhere, was “right metaphysical” in his method’.

PC
Texas

[Postmark 3 November 1921]

Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville,

Margate

So R[ichmond] didn’t print my letter
¹
– perhaps (1) because I had another letter in (2) because he printed yrs.
²
(3) because there wasn’t room (4) because I complained that all the verse worth reviewing at all had been treated the same way. (My first book was done to death this way
³
– they only gave me more notice later, either because I had become a contributor or because the Woolfs published my second book). But I am sorry I can’t agree with you about H. D. having seen the book since. It seems to me stucco.

Yrs. aff.
T.

Perhaps he suspected collusion. The envelope [was] addressed to him
personally
so there should be no mistake. Hope to hear from you soon.

1–See postcard to RA, 29 Oct., above.

2–RA claimed that ‘H. D. is the greatest living writer of
vers libre
’, and that her poems showed ‘a poetic personality both original and beautiful’.

3–
Prufrock
would ‘hardly be read by many with enjoyment’ (
TLS
review [by F. T. Dalton], 21 June 1917).

MS
BL

Friday night [4? November 1921]

Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville

My dear Sydney,

I am so sorry about the MSS – Vivien told me – but as you told me to keep it, and as I am always uneasy in the possession of other people’s MSS., I had locked it up in my box at the Bank safes. I will get it out for you when I come up to town, and do hope you will not be grossly inconvenienced by the delay. It will not be very long now.

I hope that your being in town is not bad news, and that you are both making progress. I should have liked to hear from you, but of course did not expect to, knowing that you had much to do and bad health and worries. I have done a rough draft of part of part III [of
The Waste Land
], but do not know whether it will do, and must wait for Vivien’s opinion as to whether it is printable. I have done this while sitting in a shelter on the front – as I am out all day except when taking rest. But I have written only
some fifty lines, and have read nothing, literally – I sketch the people, after a fashion, and practise scales on the mandoline.

I rather dread being in town at all – one becomes dependent, too, on sea or mountains, which give some sense of security in which one relaxes – and hope to be only a day or two. I hope to have good news of you both from Vivienne – she tells me very little about her own health, in spite of my complaints.

With best love to you and Violet

Yrs aff.
Tom.

MS
Texas

[5? November 1921]

Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville

Dear Richard,

Just got your article on Cowley.
¹
You are doing, I think, very valuable work with this kind of criticism; though its value will hardly be appreciated immediately by more than a dozen people. It makes Manning look pretty cheap.
²
The ignorance about the subject is so universal that the erudition will hardly be noticed. Gassendi,
³
for example, is no more than a name to me, and I know
nothing
of T. de Viau
⁴
and the others. I hope that eventually you will be able to work your French and English researches into a rather big book, which will make an impression.

In same issue I see myself decried by one S. Magee
⁵
(¿MacCarthy himselDf? or only some blood brother?)

Yrs in haste
TSE

1–RA, ‘Cowley and the French Epicureans’,
NS
23 (5 Nov. 1921), 113–14 (repr. in
Literary Studies and Reviews
, 1924).

2–Apparently undervaluing RA’s work, Frederic Manning was dilatory in paying him the agreed £50 for his help with the biography of Sir William White; see note to TSE’s letter of 3 Oct., above.

3–Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), French philosopher and mathematician.

4–Théophile de Viau (1590–1626), French poet.

5–S. Magee, ‘On Melody’ (
NS
18 [5 Nov. 1921], 134–5) – or rather the lack of it in the arts–‘because our prudes hate and fear it’. An extract from TSE’s ‘Ode’ is quoted in evidence.

MS
Texas

6 November 1921

Albemarle Hotel, Cliftonville

My dear Richard,

I am awaiting the reply to a wire I have sent to Lausanne, and if it is favourable I shall leave next week. I shall be going to the Continent within the fortnight anyway, and my wife will come also, though not to Switzerland.

My idea is to consult, and perhaps stay some time under, Vittoz, who is said to be the best mental specialist in Europe – now that I have a unique opportunity for doing so. I am satisfied, since being here, that my ‘nerves’ are a very mild affair, due, not to overwork, but to an
aboulie
¹
and emotional derangement which has been a lifelong affliction. Nothing wrong with my mind – which should account, mon cher, for the fact that you like my prose and dislike my verse. However the principal point is that from some day next week our flat will be vacant for six weeks. Would it be of any use to you and your wife to occupy it for that period? It would cost you absolutely nothing, the only condition being the retention of our woman, an excellent cook and discreet servant, at a salary of 25s a week. In any case I did not intend to let the flat, so I should be losing nothing by your having it, and you would be doing us the service of keeping our woman while we are away. I thought that a short season in London might be of use to both of you, if it were possible in some way like this. We should be delighted.

If you decide favourably will you write immediately upon your decision? I shall be here till Friday in any case, but after that
may
be at 9 C.G.G.

Again I postpone writing! but I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours aff.
Tom.

When am I to see your notes on Waller? I shall be interested, because I made nothing of him, though I admire Denham and Oldham.

 1–See note to letter to Julian Huxley, 26 Oct., above.

MS
Beinecke

16 November 1921

9 Clarence Gate Gdns,
N.W.1

Dear Monro,

Thanks very much for your kind letter. I am just back from Margate, and am off to Switzerland tomorrow. Remember that I shall be back by the middle of January and hope to see you then.

Sincerely,
T. S. Eliot

MS
BL

[16? November 1921]

[9 Clarence Gate Gdns]

My dear Sydney

I am sending the two stories back because I should be more easy in my mind to have them in your possession. I saw Lewis last night but forgot to give him ‘Bestre’
¹
so I enclose that also – will you take care of it and give it to him with the same explanation? It may be merely superstition, but I hate to have the responsibility for what is really other people’s property while I am away.

I am writing to the
Times
, and hope to receive your book
²
soon in Lausanne. I’ll send you address as soon as I have one. Meanwhile I am distressed to hear of Violet’s continued ill luck. I need not repeat again how well I know this sort of illness and how miserable it is for her.

I enjoyed Sunday very much and am
very
grateful to you for encouragement.

Yrs always
Tom.

at the last moment in haste