Widowers' Houses & Selected Correspondence Relating to the Play. Bernard Shaw

inflammation in the eye. That night I slept well; and next day I was strong again, though the pain in the eye remained, with sore throat and local pain. Next day my head was stuffy and uneasy and I was the least bit in the world feverish, as if the affair were a cold in the head. Although it merely lasted for four days, yet it left a headache behind it which at last grew so unpleasant that on the 19th I went down for a couple of days to Broadstairs and baked myself on the sands there. This got rid of it, though it returned for a while the evening I came up to town. I suspect it had much to do with the following.

      On the 25th July my right calf, in which there has been for a long time a slight tendency to varicoses, developed this tendency rather emphatically. After a few days it passed away. I took some of Mattei’s anti-angiotico. On the 22nd August on coming up from Oxted, where I had been staying a few days with the Salts’, I had an attack of looseness of the bowels, not bad enough to be called diarrhea, but still bad enough to disturb me once in the night. Next day as I had to deliver three addresses in the open air, I took out with me a tube of Mattei’s antiscrofoloso giappone, and took it whenever I felt troubled. It kept it off; and I was well next day.

      On the 9th September I caught what I thought was a slight cold; but next day it became a pretty bad cold in the head, and lasted until the 16th, though bad only for three days. On the evening of the 11th November I caught—or became conscious of having caught—a cold. It was, I thought, a fairly bad one; but on the night of the 13th, when I thought it was mending, it became very troublesome, so that I could not sleep, but lay reading for the great part of the night. I slept well on the following night, after which matters began to mend. I got rid of it very slowly and incompletely. On the evening of the 9th December, having been working late at nights and having no change or relaxation for a longish time, I got a bad attack, slept feverishly, and could do nothing next day; when, however, I mended in the evening.

      14/ Bernard Shaw’s diary

      Preliminary Notes 1892

      INTRODUCTIONS

      Auguste Couvreur and “Tasma,” his wife, at 88 St. James’s St. by R. W. Reynolds.

      Fred H. Wilson. The Savoy Theatre, by Edward Rose.

      H. Reece, 123 Dalling Rd. Mrs Emery [née Florence Beatrice Farr].

      HEALTH

      Caught a cold on the 10th March. It was not very bad, but it was a well defined one and went through the easiest stages.

      On the 13th July I caught a headache in the afternoon of the concert; and in the evening, at the opera, I suffered so much from nausea that I had to leave before the end. I was violently sick when I got home; and did not quite recover for the few days after, though I got much better next day. My knee joint (the right) also began to give way in its old fashion. There is evidently some loose cartilage in it. It bothered me a good deal all through the autumn months. At last the left knee showed the same symptoms in the lighter degree.

      On the 15th September I watched the sunset on Barnes Common, staring at the blinding light for nearly quarter of an hour. In the evening I found myself with a bad headache; and next day the headache continued all day. On the 8th November I got another bad headache after going without any day off work for some time. Also the trouble in my knees was felt again. It is evident that I have been overtaxing myself by working continually for the last few years without having a day of rest every week, and taking no real holiday except for a fortnight at a time when I have gone abroad. All the autumn I vowed repeatedly to make a “Sunday” for myself—that is, a day set aside every week for rest; but I find I cannot carry it out. Circumstances are too strong for me. Also I want bodily exercise badly. I am, however, more than ever convinced of the value to me of my vegetarianism and my abstinence from tea, coffee and alcoholic stimulants. Although I was much more seriously overstrained this summer than ever before by the very active part which I took in the general election, which came in the busiest weeks of the musical season, and though I was disappointed in being prevented by the cholera from going to Italy, yet I found that I recuperated remarkably even without a change, by taking walks and dropping my musical work altogether.

      MEMORANDA OF REFERENCE, &C.

      Thomson & Sons. Woodhouse Mills, Huddersfield.

      Mrs Thornton Smith. 28 Townshend Road, St John’s Wood N.W.

      15/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 29th July 1892

      Began to set papers in order, and came across the comedy [named the Rhinegold later Widowers’ Houses] which I began in 1885 and left aside after finishing two acts. In the evening JP [Mrs Jane Patterson] was here; and she urged me to get her the old numbers of The World and to cut out my articles so that she might paste them up for me. Set to work at them and got through the whole lot. Cut out [William] Archer’s also and packed them up to send off to him.

      Star d Justice 1d Dinner 1/1

      16/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 31st July 1892

      SUNDAY Speak on Streatham Common on “The Lesson of the General Election,” at 18.30 (J. F. McAndrews, 51 Natal Rd., Streatham S.W.). 17.45 from Victoria to Streatham Common.

      Still amusing myself finishing the comedy [named the Rhinegold later Widowers’ Houses]. At Streatham it rained; as the audience would not go away I got rather wet. However, Crickmay turned up; and after the address he brought me to his house and gave me a dry coat and some supper. Malvin came in. Have not seen Crickmay or Malvin for several years. Came back from Streatham Hill.

      Train to Streatham Common & back (from Streatham Hill) 1/6

      17/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 2nd August 1892

      Meet FE [Mrs Florence Emery] at Cannon St. at 14 and go down to Hayes.

      Began to revise the comedy [the Rhinegold later Widowers’ Houses]. FE and I found that we had made a mistake about the train at Cannon St. and we had to wait in the City from 14 to 15.7. We spent the time going through the Guildhall. At Hayes it was too cloudy to be very pretty; but it was warm and did not rain; so we were able to rest well on the Heath. I went home after she went off to the theatre; and then rejoined her at her house at 22.

      Star d PMG [Pall Mall Gazette] 1d Pick Me Up 1d Dinner 1/1? Return tickets Charing + to Hayes (2) 4/6 Charing + underground to Cannon St 1d Tea &c at Orange Grove 2/6? Train Portland Rd to Shepherds Bush & back 9d

      18/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 20th October 1892

      In the morning [Henry Halliday] Sparling went to town by train, having to go to Hull. May [Mrs Sparling née Morris] and I went off for a walk along the towpath to Richmond, where we dined at Ferrari’s Restaurant. We came back by train to Ravenscourt Park, where we parted, and I went to FE [Mrs Florence Emery]. She was out; and I went in and waited, working at the play, which I decided to call Widowers’ Houses. I wrote in a new scene near the end of the second act. FE did not come in until past 17.

      Chiswick Ferry 4d Lunch at Richmond 2/4? Train Richmond to Ravenscourt Pk (2) 10d? Ravenscourt Pk to Charing + (we got out at St. James’s Pk) (2) 1/– Star d

      19/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 27th October 1892

      Social “Browning” at Mrs [William F. née Mary Higgin Davenport] Revell’s. 58 Oxford Gardens W. 19. Personal Rights Association Soiree and Discussion on “Free Trade and Individualism” opened by Alfred Milnes. St. Martin’s Town Hall. 20. [Charles] Willeby to call between 12 and I. Put off to Saturday. Go up to [Jack Thomas] Grein’s at 20 to discuss the cast for the play [Widowers’ Houses].

      Began World article. Archer called and we went to dinner at the Wheatsheaf together. Very wet day.

      2 Stars 1d Dinner 1/–?

      20/ Bernard Shaw’s diary entry for 14th November 1892

      Fabian