Widowers' Houses & Selected Correspondence Relating to the Play. Bernard Shaw

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СКАЧАТЬ suddenly developed into one of my regular bad colds, the first I have had this year. I had attributed my immunity for so long to my having taken early in the year to the habit of wearing gloves for the first time in my life. On the 28th it was mending so fast as to be bearable and on the 29th, although the rate of mending, as usual, slackened disappointingly, it was nothing to complain of. But I lost my voice by talking all that day and could not speak above a whisper next day. The remains of it wore out slowly during the following week. On the evening of the 20th October I went to the opening of the Shaftesbury Theatre after calling for a moment on Mrs Archer and rallying her about the sore throat which prevented her from going and which I pretended not to believe in. At the end of the second act of the play I found that my own throat was sore, and I passed an uneasy, half-delirious sort of night. Next day I was out of sorts, and the affliction hovering about me a little until the 23rd, when I was practically well. Found my throat ticklish on the 3rd December and almost lost my voice after my lecture on the 4th. Still very bad on the 5th when I spoke at the Dialectical Society. The cold which caused this did not come to anything; but it hung about me for some time. On the night of the 20th December I got a very slight attack in my left lower jaw, and the 21st I was exceedingly depressed and out of sorts. The attack persisted through the night, though it was not severe enough to keep me quite awake; but towards morning I got fast asleep and when I woke, the gum had swelled and the ache was quite gone—I had also quite recovered my spirits. However, except for a day or two after my walk with [Sydney] Olivier on Christmas Eve, I remained in low health and spirits almost until the return of the sunlight in the spring of 1889, q.v.

      10/ To an English actress Alma Murray, the wife of the poet Alfred William Forman

      24th February 1888

      Dear Mrs Forman

      I shall blight the Bedford as gently as possible. Somehow, competent people never will lecture. I delivered sixtysix lectures last year on subjects which I certainly do not know half as much about as you do about acting.

      I really cannot refrain from saying a word about “Christina.” The authors [Percy Lynwood and Mark Ambient] are known to me as harmless and estimable men out of the theatre; but it infuriates me to see good gifts wasted on such stuff. At its production last year I raged over it for ten minutes to an acquaintance with whom I had once slept in a haunted house. He agreed with me, and then mentioned that he was the collaborator of [Mark] Ambient. However, it served him right. I wish I could write you a real play myself; but unfortunately I have not the faculty. I once wrote two acts of a splendid play [named the Rhinegold later Widowers’ Houses], and read them to an eminent dramatic critic [William Archer]. He laughed the first to scorn, and went asleep in the middle of the second; so I made him a present of the MS [manuscript] (to his intense indignation) and set to work to destroy the society that makes bad plays possible. What a career you will have when that work is completed! I look forward, breathless, to the Blot [A Blot on the ’Scutcheon by Robert Browning]. They did it once before, at St George’s Hall, with, oh! SUCH a Mildred! Good Heavens! In short, thank you for your kind reception of our proposal.

      yrs very truly

      G. Bernard Shaw

      11/ Bernard Shaw’s diary

      Preliminary Notes 1889

      INTRODUCTIONS

      Edvard Grieg, at the Philharmonic rehearsal, St Jas’s Hall, by H. L. [Hans Lien] Braekstad. 13th. Mar.

      Johannes Wolff, at the Philharmonic rehearsal, St Jas’s Hall, by Mrs T. P. [Thomas Power] O’Connor. 13th. Mar.

      Henry George, at the Philharmonic rehearsal, 31 Upper Bedford Place, by Stewart Headlam. 7th Ap.

      Hedwig & Elsa Sonntag at Portsdown Road by the Oliviers—12th. June.

      Janet Achurch, Charles Charrington, Fru Backer Grøndahl, D. Hagerup, Herr Barth, Frolien Reimers, and Fru Laura Gundersen, at the Novelty Theatre—“Doll’s House” dinner. 16th. June.

      Mrs Mona Caird, at the Fine Art Society’s Gallery, by William Sharp. 28th. June.

      Stanley Little, at Charing + railway station, by Edward Rose. 5th. July.

      Miss [Annie Payson] Call, at 44 Devonshire St. Portland Place, by W. Archer. 15th. July.

      [James R.] Osgood, at Natl. Lib. Club., by S.[idney] Webb. 12th. Sept.

      Wm. C. Ward, at 4 Mount Ararat, Richmond, by H.[oward] Swan. 6th. Oct.

      F. C. Barker, at 49 Gwendon Road, by A. B. [Arthur Bingham] Walkley. 5th. Oct.

      Mrs [Louise] Jopling Rowe, at Arts & Crafts Exhibition Private View. ? 5th. Oct.

      Karl Armbruster and wife, at 16 Queens Road, Bayswater, by himself. 11th. Oct.

      Earl of Crawford, at 23 Brompton Square, by J. P. [Mrs Jane “Jenny” Patterson] 12th. Oct.

      [F. G.] Prange, at 23 Brompton Square, by J. P. 27th. Oct.

      Major Lett, at 4 Courtfield Road, by D. J. Slater. 2nd. Nov.

      Edwin Human, at 38 Gloucester Road (Salt’s), by Grace Black. 9th. Nov.

      Samuel Butler, at Cliffords Inn, by Emery Walker. 15th. Nov.

      Miss [Annie] Oppenheim, at 23 Brompton Sq., by J. P. 16th. Nov.

      Canon [Edward Deacon] Girdlestone, at 10 Delamere Terrace. Westbourne Sq., by R.[obert] E. Dell. 17th. [December].

      MEMORANDA OF THINGS LENT

      Date Article To Whom Lent Returned

      Oct. 10 “Parsifal” vocal score Mrs [Catherine] Salt 29th Oct

      Nov. 1 MS. “Love Among Artists” D. Gordon (Walter Scott [firm])

      Nov. 25 “Parsifal” v.s. A. R. [Alfred Robert] Dryhurst

      Dec. 6 MS. “Don Gio. Explains” H. W. [Henry William] Massingham 7 Dec.

      HEALTH

      During the early part of the year I was nervous, depressed, and in unsatisfactory health in general as far as my nerves were concerned. When the spring came and the sunlight returned I recovered. In April and most of May in particular, I was in capital working condition and in good spirits.

      On the 15th May I had a terribly feverish night, with symptoms of a general inflammatory condition, especially in my teeth. This passed off next day; but on the night of the 19th I had the same experience in an aggravated degree, and next day I suffered so much from weakness, nausea, headache etc. that I concluded that I had caught a serious fever for the first time since my attack of smallpox in 1881. However, towards evening on the 20th I felt stronger, and went to the opera, although I earlier in the day had given up the idea of attempting such a thing. During the night of the 20th I slept with only a few breaks during which I found myself sweating profusely. Next day my throat was sore; but I could eat and my weakness was gone. My repeated public addresses in the following week knocked up my throat altogether; and I had to stop speaking for about three weeks, during the last of which I diligently practised scales and singing. This cured me completely.

      On the 1st September, coming home СКАЧАТЬ