Item 176 - Letter from Donald Tovey to Elizabeth Trevelyan

1 item

14 Beaumont Street, Oxford. - Is sorry he could not write in time for Bob before his departure; asks if Bessie could send this letter on to him, as it is difficult to write twice and Tovey wants them both to know everything. Is in Oxford with [Grettie's] Aunt Jane, who is 'as good as gold' but shows 'appalling contempt for doctors' and 'conceit of her own judgement': quotes her view of Grettie's condition at length, which is that Grettie has had this kind of attack before, that she becomes 'hysterical' each time there is something wrong internally, and should not be indulged; she has written to the rest of the family to say so. Tovey thinks it is 'something like a miracle' that she has survived their 'home treatment' and now instead of being 'scolded into shape', with it being left 'a nice open question' whether he ever took her back again, she is in the hands of an educated man who will not let them interfere. Tovey believes she has suffered for twelve years from 'the repression... of all her talents'. They must get a housekeeper, and 'Grettie must have a studio'. Has tried to 'draw her out' for the last two years but she has suffered from the feeling she should not take up anything but the 'drudgery' she had at home. Asks if it would be possible to 'rediscover Mrs Fry': the work would be much easier as they will only have breakfast at home due to coal-shortages, and there will be 'no stormy petrels from Englefield Green' [Miss Weisse].

So far Grettie agrees with this idea, and Tovey thinks she is giving him 'her real self': saw her for the first time yesterday, and after two phases of hostile 'camouflage' the 'real thing' came through, mixed up with her 'left-hand theory' (she is left-handed and has been 'brought up to be afraid of shewing it'). Perhaps will be another six weeks until she is quite sane again, and she is meanwhile 'instituting a crusade against the management of the Institution'; sees some of her points but prefers 'the risks of typhoid to the horrors of more dear good kindly Scotch firmness' and thinks the 'strange disciplinary attitude' she started showing towards him came directly from her family's treatment of her.

Pencil annotation giving precise date.