Autograph letter signed : Woodford, to Arthur Moore, [1888] 13 Nov.

ArchivalResource

Dowson, Ernest Christopher, 1867-1900. Autograph letter signed : Woodford, to Arthur Moore, [1888] 13 Nov.

Autograph letter signed : Woodford, to Arthur Moore, [1888] 13 Nov.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/502158157

Expressing concern over Moore's health, hoping that he is "laying in a stock of hygiene many kilos from this foggy, pestilent metrop[olis]." Discussing at length the "right merry time" Dowson has had lately, "a time quite unprecedented in the annals of my London life." Describing a visit the previous Wednesday with Bouthers and Lefroy to the Bedford (a music hall), where they encountered a friendly group of medical students and made the acquaintance of actors, acrobats, and the singer Miss Agnes Hazel, who he has since taken to dine (hoping the liaison "will be very amusing & not as costly affair with a regular horizontale"). Noting that "Friday night I spent in town even more festively" with the same set, including "an acrobat French and his 'wife' -- an immensely vivacious girl who sat up ... until 6 A.M.," and mentioning that he "did not believe" such a girl existed. Stating that "the evening reminded me of la 'Vie de Bohême' more than any other episode I have been through" and that "the beauty of it is that it was all perfectly proper." Mentioning that to Dowson's "great delight" Little Flossie was brought to their box at the Bedford and that he has "promised to throw her chocolates at the 'Star' to-morrow," and inviting Moore to accompany him. Stating "all this gaiety is deucedly bad for literature, & you can imagine how it interferes with 'Madame de Viole' -- but the oof will be out soon & then I shall take up my pen perforce, if it is only pour tuer le temps." Discussing young women, wishing they had never been invented, but noting that "it is profitable to study them," and mentioning that "it is not les filles de l'opéra or horizontales that I protest against -- it is les jeunes filles de société -- & I will keep deucedly well away from them."

1 item (8 p.) ; 17.8 cm.

Pierpont Morgan Library.