July 17th Saturday

Messrs Pyke the agent recommended Mr. L. Trace a Cranleigh dentist: & he seems unusually good. Hopes to save the tooth: x-rayed it.
×××× [indecipherable] for us[RG] Fortunately Alice Mace came &[RG] we engaged another woman for 2 hrs [hours] a day.
Rewrote a long-abandoned poem – 'Angry Samson' – and did another 5 pp [pages] of Ghost, in spite of tooth still aching.
Cooked bacon, potato, mushroom supper. Very stiff back.
Then (Harry driving,) Laura, Alix, Beryl, Alan, Karl & I went in the car first to the 'Windmill' on Pitch Hill, then to Shere where there are deaf white cats one of which was sitting on the church porch roof among bats – and a Barn Theatre mostly given over to chambering1 & wantoness. The road to Shere is through a nutwood-covered tunnel – like a Russian sap.

Editorial Notes

1set decoration eds.

Hands Referenced

    • Annotation: ink correction
    • Character: regular
    • Ink: black

Places Mentioned

  • Cranleigh

    Cranleigh, Surrey, England
    town closest to Ewhurst KG

  • Windmill Inn

    Pitch Hill, Surrey, England
    An Inn and restaurant not far from Ewhurst eds.

  • Shere

    Shere, Surrey, England

People Mentioned

  • Laura

    Riding, Laura
    (1901-91) American poet. Laura Riding (née Reichenthal; then Laura Gottschalk).

  • Alix Kemp

    Kemp, Alix
    Married to poet Harry Kemp. The couple shared a house with Graves and Riding in Ewhurst, Surrey (1937). eds (RPG 277); also referred to as Frau Eierman by RG eds. see Diary August 30, 1936

  • Alan

    Hodge, Alan
    Oxford history graduate. Became close friends with LR & RG. First husband of Beryl Graves. CP & WG

  • Karl/Carl

    Goldschmidt, Karl
    Karl Goldschmidt, later Kenneth Gay: Graphic artist, friend and secretary of Robert Graves and Laura Riding since 1934. R. G. spells both as Carl and Karl.

  • Harry Kemp

    Kemp, Harry
    Poet. Met Graves and Riding through James Reeves in August 1936, just after their arrival in England. In their previous correspondence, Riding had been intrigued by his falling-out with Communism. He became associated with their circle, collaborating on various projects. (RPG 248-49)

  • Beryl

    Pritchard, Beryl
    daughter of Harry and Amy Pritchard, R.G.'s second wife. Formerly married to Alan Hodge. Robert and Beryl had four children: William, Lucia, Juan and Tomas. eds

  • Alice Mace

    Mace, Alice
    maid at Ewhurst, 1937 eds.

  • L. Trace

    Trace, L. Dr.
    Dentist who operated on RG 1937 eds.

Bibliography

    • Title: The Swiss Ghost [formerly The Kind Ghost] [novel]
    • Author: Graves, Robert/ Riding, Laura
    • Date: 1937-04-22
    • Title: Angry Samson [poem; revised July 1937]
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London, Toronto, Melbourne & Sydney
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1937-07-17