Item 114 - Letter from Muriel St Clare Byrne to Sir Walter Greg

28 St John’s Wood Terrace, N.W.8.—Comments on Greg’s edition of Jonson’s Masque of Gipsies.

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Transcript

28 St John’s Wood Terrace, N.W.8
16 Feb. 1952

Dearest Walter,

Thank you very much indeed for sending me your latest indiscretion {1}! I have chortled inwardly with delight at your planting it on the B.A.—a nice bit of quiet fun. The critical apparatus lends it such an overwhelming air of respectability, however, that I doubt if reviewers will even see the fun, much less dare to comment on it. There is an enormous disinfectant power in the study of variants, the printing of parallel texts, & a volume with everything handsome about it. I am only halfway through the Introduction, so far, as I have had a very busy week & at one & two a. m. my brain—or rather its remnants—is not up to this close reasoning; but I hope to have a few more wits to tackle the rest next week. I am once again overwhelmed by the amount of steady work you get through—it seems only the other day that you got out the Faustus. I wonder what you now have on hand for the next?

Yes, my bone man seems pleased with me, & now gives me a 3 weeks gap between treatments; but of course from his point of view this weather is the worst possible. I was particularly lucky to have a thoroughly mild autumn when he originally dealt with the vertebrae & sciatica two years ago: it enabled him to get me right in half the time.

Do you come up at all for B.A. or Bibl. Soc. meetings these days? And if so, what about coming to lunch or meeting me for lunch in town sometime? Do let me know if there is a possibility. Much love & again very many thanks

Muriel

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{1} Greg’s reconstruction of Jonson’s Masque of Gipsies, published by the OUP for the British Academy.