Widowers' Houses & Selected Correspondence Relating to the Play. Bernard Shaw
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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 from the second lecture that day, I was conscious of a certain sensation which I can only describe as a hollowness and vibratoriness about the heart which suggested to me, not for the first time, that I should be careful not to overexert it.
On the 25th October, in the evening, I began to shiver, and had a bad feverish night. This was another of my new sort of colds. The chill seems to have replaced the influenza with me. It left a cough hanging about me for some time; and on the 3rd November my throat got so ticklesome after a walk in the rain that I could hardly lecture in the evening.
Found myself with a slight cold in the head on waking on the morning of the 9th December. It lasted four days, but was not at all as bad as my ordinary influenza.
12/ Bernard Shaw’s diary
Preliminary Notes 1890
INTRODUCTIONS
Professor Stuart, by H.W. [Henry William] Massingham, at Nat. Lib. Club. 6th. Feb-y.
B.F.C. [Benjamin Francis Conn] Costelloe, by H.W. Massingham, at Nat. Lib. Club. 6th. Feb-y.
Digby Besant, by Wm. Besant, at 19 Avenue Road. 14 April.
G. [Lady] Colin Campbell [née Gertrude Elizabeth Blood], by herself, at New Gallery. 29th. April.
Algernon Swinburne, by Theodore Watts, at The Pines. Putney. 22nd. May.
Albert Thillot, by [Ernest Belfort] Bax’s card, at 29 Fitzroy sq. 15th. July.
Beatrice Potter [later Mrs Webb], by Sidney Webb, at Fabian. 18th July.
Leon Little, by Stanley Little, at Rudgwick. 23rd Aug-t. Marshall-Hall, by Jno. F. Runciman, at Covent Garden Opera. 6th. Nov-r.
Victor Maurel, by Lady Colin Campbell, at 67 Carlisle Mansions. 27th. Nov-r.
F. Gilbert Webb, by Edgar Jacques, at 58 Torrington Sq. 31st. Dec-r.
13/ Bernard Shaw’s diary
Preliminary Notes 1891
INTRODUCTIONS
Van Dyck (Belgian diplomat) at Fitzroy Square by Karl Armbruster. 17th May.
HEALTH
On the 7th June I caught the influenza. For a few days before I had noticed that my voice had lost its tone; but I was not ill. On this day I got a headache and what I thought was an attack of indigestion, to which, however, I am not subject. I had a very bad night—feverish and delirious. Next day I was weak and ill as if sickening from the fever—headache, pains in the back, weakness, nausea, etc.