To Charles Augustus Strong
Hotel Bristol
Rome. February 18, 1936
Dear Strong,
It will be very nice to see you once more at the Aragno and we can then talk over the possibilities for the summer. I wish there were a place in Paris where I could feel at home, as in the old apartment. It is quite possible that I may go there for the summer, to some hotel in the region of the Palais Royale where I could have my déjèûner and then trust to going out for tea and a light supper—such as a beef sandwich and glass of beer at the Règence or at the Café d’Angleterre. Cory, too, might come and see us there. I say us, because I foresee that you will be driven to France again by the warm weather.
As you see I feel no obligation to go to Cortina again. It is merely a safe place, where I know I can manage; but perhaps it is less suitable for a very old man, because there is only a continual shift of tourists and no suitable entertainments such as good music or resources such as doctors and hospitals.
I seem to be all right again, but am not frequenting the Roma any longer, partly so as not to be tempted to eat too much, and partly because there, too, I had begun to feel too old for the milieu. I now have lunch—one dish of pasta or rice with cooked fruit or an omelette with cheese—in my room, before going out for my walk, usually to the Pincio.
Yours ever,
G.S.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Five, 1933-1936. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript: Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow NY.