The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Vol. 2, 1937-1943: From Novelist to Playwright
Page 9
William of Sens and Archangels in The Zeal of Thy House
Again, a thousand thanks for your great kindness and interest. I am truly and deeply grateful.
Yours very sincerely,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
P.S. “Gentle Jesus-meek-and-mild”11 has probably made more apostates than any other single phrase of the language. And what a phrase! About as adequate as calling a man-eating tiger “poor pussy”!
1 E. L. Mascall said in The Secularisation of Christianity (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1965, p. 107): “Popular theological writing is one of the most difficult of all forms of communication, and its practitioner needs to be careful and self-critical to a degree; like marriage, it is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, like brute beasts that have no understanding, but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly and in the fear of God; I can vividly remember how impressed I was many years ago by the extreme trouble which that great Christian apologist the late Dorothy Sayers took in her popular writings on religion to ensure that what she was trying to express in contemporary idiom was the authentic teaching of Christianity and that the technique which she had worked out was neither ambiguous nor misleading”. See also here, note 2.
2 Church of England.
3 See letter to Father Herbert Kelly, 4 October 1937, note 2.
4 See letter to E. C. Bentley, 20 July 1937, note 4.
5 Latin: concerning the Trinity.
6 From a speech by the archangel Michael, The Zeal of Thy House, part 4: “They that bear The cross with Him, with Him shall wear a crown Such as the angels know not.”
7 Non-commissioned soldier.
8 A stout, blustering, mustachioed officer, from a cartoon figure.
9 Toe H (morse signallers’ language for Talbot House) was a movement founded by Philip Thomas Byard Clayton (1885–1972). Known as “Tubby” Clayton, he was chaplain to Talbot House in London and the promoter in both World Wars of ideals of Christian service and fellowship.
10 William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848), Prime Minister, adviser to the young Queen Victoria, husband of Lady Caroline Lamb. Charles Parker reminds himself of this saying in Clouds of Witness, chapter 2.
11 From the hymn by Charles Wesley (1707–1788): “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild Look upon a little child; Pity my simplicity; Suffer me to come to thee.”
24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex
TO IVY SHRIMPTON
20 October 1937
Dearest Ivy,
So sorry – I left your accounts locked away in a drawer while I was away. I enclose cheque £17 for bills and board and lodging. Is this O.K.?
I asked Mr Tendall to have John overhauled by the doctor, who says there seems to be nothing serious wrong with him except the onset of puberty, but he will have an eye kept on him. Everyone has to go through this kind of bother both ends of the business, and it really is nothing to worry about though bumping hearts and tummy upsets are very worrying at the time.
John told me you were having a bother with the mamma and papa of your youngsters – especially papa. I gather papa was having the legal screw put on him at the time, which is all right provided there is anything to screw out! John, with the peculiar values incidental to youth, seemed to feel that to be pounced on for not paying was more disgraceful than failure to meet one’s obligations. I endeavoured to disabuse him of this error – which indeed is shared by many persons better informed than himself!
I expect things are very wearing and worrying for you – especially now that you have lost Isobel.1 It does seem very sad, when she meant so much to you and was repaying your care with so much help and affection. Anyhow, there seems to be nothing much wrong with John, so far; and he appears cheerful enough.
My days have been strenuous as usual. The show is doing remarkably well in its new home at the Victoria Palace; but all these changes and transfers take time and trouble, and put one badly behind with one’s other work. I am hoping to get the Canterbury Play on in London some time next year. That will be a terrific gamble, but it may do well, though you never know, with a serious play, whether it may not be a dead flop from the start!
Mac keeps much the same. Aunt Maud2 is away for the moment – she is becoming quite a gad-about in her old age.
With best love,
yours affectionately,
Dorothy
1 Isobel Tovey, who had died of endocarditis. Ivy Shrimpton had fostered her from early childhood and she had been like an elder sister to John Anthony.
2 Alice Maud Leigh (née Bayliss), the widow of Henry Leigh, brother of D. L. S.’ mother. She lived for a time with D. L. S. and her husband in Witham, after the death of Aunt Mabel Leigh.
24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex
TO HER SON
20 October 1937
Dear John,
Many thanks for your letter. Glad you are getting on all right. I hope Mr Wyn-Werdink is able to give you interesting sidelights on the German nation, in addition to the act of playing the piano. He is probably prejudiced one way or the other, as most people are in speaking of the Germans; but in either case, he ought to be interesting, if he has been in Germany recently. The great difficulty with a country that keeps such a careful censorship on its books and newspapers, is to find out what life is really like for the average person. I am glad History is improving – it is a difficult subject to make much of, or take much interest in, until one grows up – and then it suddenly becomes enthralling, and one wishes one had done more about it in one’s school-days. The hard thing to realise is that today’s politics are history, and that “history” is just the politics of so many hundred years ago, and just as vital and exciting to people then as our politics are to us. And always the same difficulties, the same questions and the same confusions cropping up in every age. Our trouble over Edward VIII’s abdication was so curiously like Henry VIII’s difficulties about Anne Boleyn, for instance; and the difficulties of the Church in Germany are now so oddly like our own quarrels between Church and State at the Reformation. Only in the history-books it sounds all so dead and settled – as though everything was done by “tendencies” and political theories, instead of by the usual bunch of worried human beings, grappling hastily with all kinds of situations they didn’t understand, any more than we understand ours. But the great thing is to grasp that those people felt exactly as we do ourselves, though of course they had a different sort of knowledge and different facts to go on. Here endeth the History Lecture! I shall not offer a lecture on trigonometry, for maths in every branch is a sealed book to me!
I don’t expect I shall be able to get down at half-term. Week-ends are always a bad time for me. But I shall come some day this term. Mr Tendall has the business of the new school well in mind; I expect he will tell you about it before long. It’ll be a question of exams and things, no doubt.
I hope the old knee is all right now, and that you haven’t had any more tummy-upsets.
Busman is doing well at the new theatre – much to everybody’s astonishment. There’s life, apparently, in the old play yet!
With best love,
Mother
No – I’m afraid we know practically nobody in Witham. Father’s health is so shaky, we don’t have people in much – and I am so much in Town. When I come here, I just shut myself up and try to get some work done!
[24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex]
TO M. CHANNING-PEARCE1
20 October 1937
Dear Sir,
I believe you have now received from my agent, Mrs. Dorothy Allen, permission to go ahead with the performance of my play The Zeal of Thy House. I hope you will understand and forgive the caution with which, at the present moment, we are obliged to surround permission for amateur production. In the case of an ordinary play, it is unusual to permit amateur performance in advance of London production
, and we are obliged to make it clear that a solitary permission for educational purposes does not involve the general release of amateur rights.
I am personally delighted to give permission in a case like yours, where the aim is to arouse interest in the subject of the play, and where there is no question of a performance to the general public. The play was seriously conceived as a presentation of Christian doctrine, and I should not wish to stand in the way of anyone who is anxious to present it, as simply and sincerely as possible, to young people. The only thing one has to be careful about is that the performance is not such as to put obstacles in the way of its presentation to a wider public.
As regards the presentation, I feel that I can safely leave this matter in your hands. Simplicity is, I believe, the key to success. As regards costume, the only thing that is likely to present serious difficulty is that of the angels. As regards visual effect, they are the crux of the production, and “ineffectual angels” would give an ineffectual air to the performance. Our angels at Canterbury were enormously effective – but only at the price of being both elaborate and extremely expensive. We had (as I think you know) four well-matched, young, six-foot men, with rigid gold draperies of solid material; and they cost the earth, from the management’s point of view. In fact, we set rather a high standard in heavenly beings! I feel that, where economy has to be considered (as it must be, for a single private performance) it would be unwise to attempt elaboration. Generally speaking, the amateur wing has a tendency to wobble, and I would infinitely rather have my angels wingless than wobbly. Plain but good robes in gold, white or colours, without wings, would not be subject to any objection; or, if the production was without costume or with very simple costume, the angels might perhaps appear in plain albs.
I am very busy at present, and doubt whether I shall be able to run down and see you as you so kindly suggest. I am, however, very much interested in your production, and shall be very glad to hear from you how you intend to tackle it, and to assist you as best I can in any difficulties.
Yours very truly,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
1 A master at Southleigh College, Oxfordshire.
[24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex]
TO E. K. FLETCHER
30 October 1937
Dear Mrs. Fletcher,
Thank you so much for your letter and for the copy of The Ringing World in which we are all so handsomely reported.1 I was just about to write to you to thank you and the Ladies’ Guild for my delightful evening and for the great honour you have done me in electing me an honorary member of the Guild. I think you are indeed to be congratulated on the way in which the dinner went off.
I have written to the Manager at the Victoria Palace for tickets for either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, November 8th–10th whichever evening they can most easily spare. The tickets come in pairs, so that I shall be sending you four; perhaps you will be able to find a fourth friend to go with you.
With again many thanks and best wishes to the Guild,
Yours sincerely,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
1 The Ringing World, 29 October 1937, pp. 719–721, published a detailed account of the celebration of the silver jubilee of the Ladies’ Guild of Ringers by a dinner held on 23 October at Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street. D. L. S., elected an honorary member, replied to the toast to “The Visitors”. Her speech is reported in full.
[24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex]
TO DAVID HIGHAM1
24 November 1937
Dear Mr. Higham,
I really haven’t the faintest idea what would be the value of an “original Sayers manuscript”, and in any case it feels rather like selling my skin before I am dead. It might be interesting to make inquiries as to price, but my impression is, that modern mss. are not likely to fetch very much at the moment, and that it would be more profitable to my heirs as well as more seemly for myself to await my decease.
Yours sincerely,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
1 A partner of the firm of literary agents, Pearn, Pollinger and Higham, now David Higham Associates. See also The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899–1936, Index.
24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
2 December 19371
THE WIMSEY CHIN
Sir,
By comparison with the Wimsey nose, any chin may indeed appear relatively unobtrusive; but there is no member of the family at present living in which that feature can properly be said to recede, with the possible exception of the Lady Winifred Wimsey, only daughter to the present Duke. The Duke’s own chin is squarish, a contour repeated in a softened and more elegant form in the physiognomies of his sister, the Lady Mary, and his son, Viscount Saint-George. Of Lord Peter Wimsey it has been authoritatively stated that he possesses “a long, narrow chin, and a long, receding forehead … Labour papers, softening down the chin, caricatured him as a typical aristocrat” (Whose Body? 1923 edition, p. 48 ).2 A typical example of such a caricature may be seen in the cartoon3 executed a couple of years ago in the Evening Standard by Mr. David Low,4 whose political sympathies are well known.
The Tenth Duke of Denver
The narrow chin and high receding forehead may be observed in the portrait of the tenth Duke, Thomas (b. 1703), by Thomas Hudson, which hangs in the Long Gallery at Bredon Hall; see the collotype reproduction by the Zoffany Society, and the photograph of the artist’s original sketch in charcoal crayon which appears in the privately printed collection of “Papers Relating to the Wimsey Family”, edited by myself (Humphrey Milford [1936]). The chin of the tenth Duke is cleft, and this peculiarity reappears in the chin of the present Lord Saint-George. It will be seen that in this family the chin tends to be a variable structure, unlike the nose, whose characteristic outline is already clearly traceable in the tomb-effigy of the fifth Baron, Gerald (1307–1370), although its tip has sustained some damage at the hands of time and iconoclasts.
Lord Peter Wimsey
I am,
dear sir,
yours obediently,
MATTHEW WIMSEY,4
pp. DOROTHY L. SAYERS
1 Published on 4 December.
2 Chapter 3.
3 Reproduced in The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899–1936, between pages 236 and 237.
4 David Low (b. New Zealand 1963), cartoonist.
4 See Busman’s Honeymoon (novel), “Epithalamion”, 2.
[24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex]
TO FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS1
20 December 1937
Dear Mr. Crofts,
Thank you so much for your letter. I am afraid I cannot see my way to being one of the signatories; while I am quite ready to agree that the solution for our present difficulties is chiefly spiritual, I must admit frankly that there are aspects of the Group Movement2 which to me, as an English Catholic, are distasteful. I am sorry, but there it is! I expect you will find many people whose signatures will be of more value to you than mine, and who will be able to identify themselves sincerely with your cause.
With regrets,
Yours very sincerely,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
1 Freeman Wills Crofts, detective novelist (1879–1957).
2 The Oxford Group Movement (not to be confused with the Oxford Movement or Tractarian Movement prevalent in the 19th century) was a cult which began among Oxford undergraduates, known as “Groupists”, who encouraged the confession of sins at group meetings. Cf. Gaudy Night, chapter 7.
[24 Newland Street
Witham
Essex]
TO JOHN DICKSON CARR
28 December 1937
Dear Mr. Carr,
Thank you very much indeed for the Lizzie Borden1 volume which arrived in good time to give me a happily blood-stained Christmas Day. It is the most extraordinary story, and I do wish t
hey had put that woman on the stand, though I quite agree that it would have been extremely unwise to do so, but I feel she would have been a most interesting witness. There are points in it which curiously remind one of the Wallace case;2 the manner of the murder, the apparent lack of any immediate provocation, the theory that the assassin was naked, the suggestion of the fake appointment and so forth, but the evidence against her is much stronger than the evidence against him, and there being two victims at such a distance of time apart gives a touch of extravagance to the whole thing. And in broad daylight too! It was most charming of you to send me the book, and thank you very much indeed.
Looking forward to seeing you on January 12th, and with best wishes to you both for the New Year,
Yours very sincerely,
[Dorothy L. Sayers]
1 Lizzie Borden was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, on 19 July 1860 and died there on 1 June 1927. The bodies of her father and stepmother were discovered on 4 August 1892, both having been struck repeatedly with a sharp instrument, possibly an axe. She was tried for both murders in June 1893 but was acquitted, the evidence being circumstantial and inconclusive. Surprisingly, she continued to live in Fall River until her death. She is the subject of the jingle, “Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one”.
2 See letter to John Dickson Carr, 3 March 1937.
1938
Response to a new public
24 Great James Street1 W.C.I