To Cyril Coniston Clemens
Hotel Danieli
Venice. December 14, 1939
Dear Clemens,
Thank you for your good wishes and for the news of the birth of your son Samuel, a name that I suppose is not given him in honour of Uncle Sam, or of the many Samuels of the Puritan tradition, but directly invoking the patronage of the ancient Priest and Prophet; something that points to an ecclesiastical career for the little one. Perhaps there may be some day a Cardinal Clemens, or a Papa Clemente.
. . . If you have actually read The Last Puritan you must have perceived that I had put everything I know into it, and shall certainly not write another “novel.” But as now I have finished The Realm of Spirit, I may revert to old memories and write some reminiscences of real people.
Venice in winter is like a ship at sea, only the decks don’t move and are a mile long. Probably I shall stick here until I return to Cortina in June.
Yours sincerely,
G Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Six, 1937-1940. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004.
Location of manuscript: William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham NC.