Item 120 - Letter from Sophie Weisse to R. C. Trevelyan

1 item.

93, High Street, Knaphill, Woking. - Hears from John [Wellcome Tovey] that they are bringing an Austrian doctor [Karl Bluth, who was in fact German] to see Donald [Tovey] at Hedenham and therefore his own doctor 'an old and very distinguished man who loves him' has been sent back, having already started from Edinburgh . Will say nothing about that, nor will Dr [Robert?] Thin; 'daresay he knows Lady Tovey'. She herself has 'the most enormous respect for the Viennese medical school' and would welcome this doctor's examination of Donald as long as he 'knew all the circumstances': that until his second marriage he had never once failed to keep a musical engagement, but since then he has been 'constantly ill - chiefly in that damp hole Hedenham'. He has now lost the use of his hands [through arthritis]; she heard nothing of this until she came to Edinburgh in December and 'was stricken to the heart when he showed them' to her; always used to say that 'if Donald's hands were injured his brain would be affected', and now, 'among the meagre news of him doled out' to her she hears his brain is 'failing'. As recently as 'this last January' Lady Tovey and Miss Morah were saying 'it was just laziness if he did not practice'. Would be very grateful if Trevelyan could bring the Austrian doctor to see her here: 'Jew or Gentile' she would be 'full of respect' if he is what she knows Viennese doctors to be. She is not far away; describes the location of her 'little house'.