Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Rose Acre, Bearsted Green, Maidstone, Kent. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/10
Rose Acre
Bearsted
nr Maidstone

17.iv.03

My dear Gordon,
I have not had time for writing
before, & moreover I haven't time now.
But I want to say that I am sorry I said
nothing about your visit in my 1st
letter. It was forgetfulness just for a
moment. The fact is that we have only
one room to spare. But there is a room
or perhaps two to be had in a house in the
village. Rose Acre would be good for
you: it is so high & windy. The village
is lower & more sheltered, & I think
perhaps you ought not to think of that.
Would it be possible fr you to come
here & for Miss Burton to stay in the
village, 8 minutes distant? She would
of course come here as early in the morning
& leave as late at night, as she wished. I
am afraid it is not quite a pleasant ar-
rangement. I suggest it because it is
the only one, & we do want you to come.
When I have sent in all the
chapters of my Oxford book - at the end
of June probably - we are to move to
a pretty, old house on the village gree, with
a pair of lime trees on the two strips of lawn
in front. It is covered with ivy & has
shuttered windows, and a dormer window
in the roof. I hope it will not be
thought too sheltered for you to come there
some day.
I am working almost as quickly &
badly as possible at Oxford, & have sent
in a chapter 'on entering Oxford', one
on Dons, one on 'the stones of Oxford'
(which is a medley of history and
sentiment), & one on College Servants;
& I have one on 'an Oxford day' and
one on Undergraduates, in hand. Most
of it is just inkhom work. But
perhaps you will like a page here & there
about men & places. I like one or
two myself. You will very likely
meet Glanvil's 2 or 3 pages on the
scholar who turned gipsy, if I dare to
quote a matter which will be very ir-
relevant. The chapters on 'an Oxford
day' & undergraduate are giving me
most trouble, because I know most
about them & cannot invent as I did
in the case of Dons. What I shall say
about the churches I don't know, because
I have almost no technical knowledge of these
as a foundation. St Mary's is the church in
'Caryatids'.
I see that l am giving you the recs of an
oft-drained brain. So goodbye. Com-
mend me to your Scribe & remember us
both.
Ever yours
Edward Thomas

I want to have 'The vine-dresser'. Will
you tell me who published it?