To Lawrence Smith Butler
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6,
Rome. January 19, 1951.
Dear Lawrence
If our friend George Rauh shows you the letter in which this is enclosed, you will understand why I do so, but I ought also to have apologized to him for not thanking him before. The reason is that I have been, and am rather tired with the effort I made all last summer to get my new (and last) book, Dominations & Powers ready for the press; and also with the interruptions that kept me distracted and afraid I should never finished. Too very silent college girls from the West, who presented themselves unannounced stayed for three hours and a half, preventing me from having my afternoon tea (dearest of meals to my heart and stomach) and beating the record of pilgrims regarding me as a relic to be visited during the Holy Year.
Afternoon tea brings me back to the object of this letter, which is to thank you for the unexpected and novel basket or chest of sweets, the freshest and best of all that have been sent to me by my over-generous American friends. This special box, and its contents, have excited the unanimous admiration of Cory, Sister Angela, Maria the housemaid and myself. I shall get most of the material advantage, pleasure, and nutriment involved, for Cory this year only comes twice a weak to see me, our proof-reading of “Dominations and Powers” being completed, at least Sister Angela will inherit the beautiful red and white tin box, when empty, hardly for her cell, as she probably has no ribbons and laces to keep in it, but for her pantry, where tin, tight closing recepticals are at a premium.
. . . Lawrence, you are a treasure. You alone prevent me from feeling that I have lost all my best friends. I wish I could have proved an equal comfort to you.
G Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Eight, 1948-1952. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.
Location of manuscript: The University Club, New York NY.