[No surviving envelope]
It seems a long time since I heard from you; but I imagine that now and until the middle of June you are very busy and over-worked. I hope that my postcards eventually reached you, from Spain; but much more that you got a long letter describing my travels.
IYeats, William Butler ('W. B.')TSE unveils Woburn Walk plaque;c4 have just returned, this Saturday afternoon, from Woburn Walk, Bloomsbury; where, at the request of the Mayor of St. Pancras, I unveiled a memorial tablet on the house where W. B. Yeats lived for many years.1 I had to make a short speech, while I and a small group of people stood in drizzling rain, and then pull a cord. I am glad to say that the cord did its job and didn’t break or get jammed. Afterwards, a sort of reception in the house; with very few people of my acquaintance there. I had never been to that house, I think, since about 1916.
NextAlliance FrançaiseAnnual Meeting at Brighton;b1 weekend, the annual meeting of the Alliance Française, at Brighton this year: where'Speech to the Fédération britannique des comités de l’Alliance française';a1 I shall have to make a short speech on Saturday morning and present a report in the afternoon.2 That takes from Friday to Sunday night. After that, an appearance on behalf of Cecil House (a charity for elderly women)3 and'Value and Use of Cathedrals in England To-day, The';a1 on June 16 anDuncan-Jones, Revd Arthur Stuart, Dean of Chichester;a8 address to the Friends of Chichester Cathedral, at the instance of Duncan-Jones whom you may remember.4 That I hope concludes my public engagements for this season. In the midst of these activities, and several prefaces to books, I am trying to get back to my new set of characters. ISmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece)due for the summer;d3 shall not, at least, have Theodora here this summer: I have just learnt indirectly that it is for a very sad reason, that she has to have some operation and has had to cancel her arrangements.
I hope that you have not been having oppressive heat, as I read of exceptional temperatures in New York. Here, we have begun to have less chilly weather in the last few days, one day very warm indeed, from which everyone suffered including the soldiers at the Trooping of the Colour rehearsal, as it was so unexpected. But it remains cloudy and wet.
1.W. B. Yeats lived at 5 Woburn Walk, Camden, London, from 1895 to 1919.
2.See ‘Speech to the Fédération britannique des comités de l’Alliance française’, 2 June 1951: CProse 7, 617–20. TSE spoke in his capacity of Vice-President of the Conseil of the Fédération. (He had been appointed chair of the Cultural Sub-Committee of the Conseil in May 1948.)
3.TSE spoke at a public meeting in His Majesty’s Theatre, London, 5 June 1951, in support of a residential house for elderly women: see ‘“Those Who Need Privacy and Those Whose Need Is Company”: an Address to Cecil Houses’ (Cecil Houses, 23rd Report, 1950–1, 15–17: CProse 7, 647–50. Cecil Houses, which sought to give shelter to homeless women, was established in 1926 in memory of G. K. Chesterton’s brother Cecil, by his widow Mrs Cecil (Ada Elizabeth) Chesterton, philanthropist and journalist (1869–1962).
4.‘The Value and Use of Cathedrals in England To-day’: CProse 7, 731–40. Arthur Duncan-Jones (1879–1955), Dean of Chichester Cathedral, was an old friend.
7.RevdDuncan-Jones, Revd Arthur Stuart, Dean of Chichester Arthur Stuart Duncan-Jones (1879–1955) held various incumbencies, including St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, London, before becoming Dean of Chichester, 1929–55.
2.TheodoraSmith, Theodora ('Dodo') Eliot (TSE's niece) Eliot Smith (1904–92) – ‘Dodo’ – daughter of George Lawrence and Charlotte E. Smith: see Biographical Register. Theodora’sSmith, Charlotte ('Chardy') Stearns (TSE's niece) sister was Charlotte Stearns Smith (b. 1911), known as ‘Chardy’.
4.W. B. YeatsYeats, William Butler ('W. B.') (1865–1939), Irish poet and playwright: see Biographical Register.