Item 19 - Letter from A. E. Housman to Katharine Symons

1 folded sheet

Trinity College, Cambridge.—Has heard that she has moved house. Has had a tooth removed and has been invited to deliver the Leslie Stephen lecture. The College crocuses are just past their best.

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Transcript

Trinity College | Cambridge
17 March 1933

My dear Kate,

I heard from Laurence the other day that you had changed house and taken up what you mean for a permanent abode; so I shall receive your new address in due course. The even tenour of my life was diversified by having a tooth out the other day. As it is a quarter of a century since I had the last out, I am encouraged to hope that the 18 survivors will keep me company till I am 98. The University authorities have prevailed upon me to give the Leslie Stephen lecture next May. As this must be on a literary subject it will give me a great deal of trouble to compose, and I shall not enjoy myself in the vacation, which began yesterday. The Trinity crocuses, which are the chief spring show of Cambridge, are extraordinarily magnificent this year, and now just past their best. Queens’ College is out of the running for the present, as their crocuses grow round a walnut, which has died and been dug up, to the great damage of the bed.

I should like to know what exactly you are doing about Claremont.

Your affectionate brother
A. E. Housman.

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‘Leslie Stephen Lecture’ has been added at the head in pencil, probably by the recipient (cf. Add. MS a. 683/1/21).

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