Category: LETTERS Page 152 of 274

To John Hall Wheelock
C/o Brown Shipley & Co
123, Pall Mall, London, S.W.1
Hotel Bristol
Rome. March 30, 1936

So long as you ask me to do nothing, you will always easily persuade me.

I continue to hear flattering things about The Last Puritan, and from the most various quarters. It is gratifying and a little surprising.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Five, 1933-1936.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript: Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Libraries, Princeton NJ

To George Lawton
Rome. March 29, 1922

You know Plato’s contempt for the image of an image; but as a man’s view of things is an image in the first place, and his work is an image of that, and the critic’s feelings are an image of that work, and his writings an image of his feelings, and your idea of what the critic means only an image of his writings,—please consider that you are steeping your poor original tea- leaves in their fifth wash of hot water, and are drinking slops. May not the remarkable sloppiness and feebleness of the cultivated American mind be due to this habit of drinking life in its fifth dilution only?

What you need is not more criticism of current authors, but more philosophy: more courage and sincerity in facing nature directly, and in criticizing books or institutions only with a view to choosing among them whatever is most harmonious with the life you want to lead.

As Dryden (or is it Pope?) says, “If you think the world worth winning, think, oh think it worth enjoying.” I accordingly intend to devote such years as may remain to me exclusively to philosophy; although I hope the form in which it will be expressed will not lead you to call it metaphysics.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Three, 1921-1927.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002.
Location of manuscript: Unknown

To Alejandro Tapia
Rome. March 28, 1928

Although at my great age, I read very few verses, and almost never books in Spanish, “La Sataniada” has interested me in such a way that I have read the entire work, without skipping one stanza, carried by the harmony and easiness of the verses. Your father was a true poet, and he demonstrates that every time that he pauses to describe any beautiful or kind thing. But in my judgment, he did not hit the mark either in the selection of the subject matter, or in wanting to follow the example of Byron, or more properly, the Italian poets that Byron imitated, composing an allegorical-political-burlesque poem. Such compositions cannot hold more than an ephemeral interest, and between the confusion of the disguised characters and the barely intelligible allusions, not to mention the political passions and criteria of epochs already long gone, the inspired bits are lost. Poetry is at odds with journalism. I have said this to you because you invited me to be frank, and because I have to be to reciprocate the true gift that you have made me, sending me so curious and interesting a work.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Four, 1928–1932.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript: Unknown

To Nancy Saunders Toy
Grand Hotel
Rome March 27, 1941

Dear Mrs. Toy: Your good letters of Jan. 27th and Feb 11th I fear are still unanswered. I have been laid up with my catarrh and other complications — dyspepsia, a weak heart, lumbago, gout, cramped fingers, loose teeth, and a limp in the leg — none painful, but altogether fatiguing and not good for sprightly letter-writing. The Spring sun at this moment is shining on this page, and I feel better.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Seven, 1941-1947.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.
Location of manuscript: The Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge MA

To Cyril Coniston Clemens
Hotel Bristol
Rome. March 26, 1936

I am overwhelmed by your praises of The Last Puritan and the offer of the Mark Twain Medal. Unfortunately, if the offer involves a journey to Saint Louis, my old age and other sad attributes will prevent me from receiving it. However, in any case, please accept my heartfelt thanks.

From The Letters of George Santayana:  Book Five, 1933-1936.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003.
Location of manuscript: William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham NC