Item 21 - Letter from A. E. Housman to Katharine Symons

2 folded sheets, the first of which has been torn in two

Trinity College, Cambridge.—Discusses his health, and sends press notices of his Leslie Stephen lectures.

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Transcript

Trinity College | Cambridge
24 July 1933

My dear Kate,

Although answering a letter by return of post is a thing which generally annoys me when others practise it in the ordinary course of correspondence, I must reply to your very kind letter without delay. In the first place, do not vex yourself at not being able to offer me what you consider proper hospitality, as I was not at all improved by my visits to Tardebigge and Street, and to take a journey and find myself in new surroundings would be an additional trouble. It is kind of you to suggest to notion. I am touched and sorry to hear about your own somewhat similar troubles in the past, of which I had no suspicion; though one of the thoughts on which I dwell is that I am much better off than many of my fellow creatures. The nights are not specially difficult, unless I am lying waiting to be called in the morning, for which I have tried hot milk in a thermos flask without much or any advantage. The occasional trouble about breathing when dozing off has nothing of an asthmatic nature.

The intended change of rooms was into a larger and handsomer set in an older and more architectural part of the College; but it was such a bother that I have given it up, especially as the new rooms are in some respects less convenient than my present ones. My intention was to go abroad on Aug. 22 for a motoring tour with a French friend; but I can hardly hope to be fit for it by then, as these bouts generally last three months, and this one began with June. Perhaps I may make an attempt in September. This hot weather is bad for me, as the doctor tells me not to walk in it on account of my heart, which prohibition deprives me of my usual exercise and makes me feel rather feeble.

I am sending back the lecture {1} unsigned, because I am refusing to sign it for anybody, as I think little of it. I have thrown away a large number of press-cuttings which I might have sent to you if I had thought of it, though they were great rubbish. I enclose those which I picked out of the crowd, which you can read at your leisure, though I should like them back sooner or later. Only one is hostile, but the favourable ones in many cases are not intelligent, and tend to make more fuss about it than it deserves.

It is good news that your School History is approaching its completion, and you must be satisfied to have seen it through.

Your affectionate brother
A. E. Housman.

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‘Special letter. Leslie Stephen lecture & cut-tings. My School History’ has been added at the head in pencil, presumably by the recipient.

{1} ‘Leslie Stephens’ added above in pencil, in another hand.

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2023.