Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Berryfield Cottage, Ashford, Petersfield, Hampshire. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/90
10.viii.07

My dear Gordon,
It is good to have two of your
letters in a short time yet I am still
ashamed of not writing to you before this.
Helen & the children have been away 2 weeks,
& the maid part of the time, & Freeman Martin
has been with me, so what with
cooking, washing up, walking, talking,
& my life's work, I could not write
after the daily dozen on Hodds & Stoughton's
or somebody else's business. And now
Helen is back and I am packing up because
I go to Jefferies county
℅ Miss Smith
Broome Farm
nr Swindon, Wiltshire
on Tuesday & stay till the end of the month,
Helen joining me on Friday. I shall walk
& mope and for one or two whole days fish,
& come back, I know, not any the fitter
for writing a life of Jefferies. For the
damned blues are on me and will never
go, I think. So I am just going to work
through your letters & say what it is finely
easy to say.
I have forgotten to look for 'The Dawn
in Britain' at Thorpe's but will try to
remember on Tuesday.
Alberta V.
Montgomery,
I do not envy thee.
BERRYFIELD COTTAGE
ASHFORD
PETERSFIELD

Good luck to Gunnar. But you
do what you would like about a
dedication, as to Laodice & Danae
there is no reason why I should object
& every reason - the one reason that
it is a book by you - why I should be
happy for it . Did you know Jefferies
told the story of Laodice & Danae in
his 'Story of My Heart' to show how
horrible is the fate of men on this earth?
Bathbone I had offered him Bath-bun as a
Rathbun rhyme to Rathbone G. B.

is good.
I wish I could remember the good
things Freeman told me of his cousin, but I
only recall the least good-
Farguharson (as host) Now do
taste this shoulder of mutton. We got
it very cheap. It was killed by
lightning - the act of God and
not a certified slaughterer.
He loves cripples because of the delicate
artifice which upsets the stupid
symmetry of Nature.
----
I am glad you did not mind
my review, truncated though it was &
shorn of remarks in the viaduct
comparing it favourably with Chesterton's
'Euston', with quotations.

- Elkin Mathews tells Davies that only
160 copies of 'New Poems' are sold in
spite of the Welsh & English papers.
You ought to do the Parish church.
You have time. I have despair: and
my egoism comes frightfully near to
being complete - it must end in
madness if it is left to itself & I
cannot interrupt it.
The Lost House, too, is good.
Here are 24 pennys I owe for
the Cavendish.
For a month now i haven't written
a review even. I have 4 volumes
of notes made since the Heart of England,
& none of them used. Jefferies over
not advance. I have few unpublished
letters & none of interest yet, I am
to see Mrs. Jefferies tomorrow. & C. J.
Longman on Tuesday - I have an
offer of help from Henry S. Salt.
Oh,, you don't know that I have under-
taken to write about Borron in the
course of the next 16 months. If
you know of articles in books or in magazines
do tell me. I am in a sleepy
despondency. - I have
suggested to Guthrie that he might do
2 drawings for the Jefferies, one of
The Downs & one of the forest. If

the publisher won't buy them, I will.
Goodbye & with our love
I am yours & Emily's ever
Edward Thomas