THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

[October 1928]

… they found the Carillon player – a celebrated man of 70 with 2 pupils – The Canon w^dnt let R climb quite to the top for the parapet was blown away by a shell & he said it was very dizzy work –
The view was misty – so it was chiefly the excitement of the bells which made the climb so worth while – The canon was educated in England & Oxford – a man about 60 & he & 2 sisters live very comfortably in a dark old fashioned house in a courtyard – He was in business & became a priest after the war – his people are well known publishers – There was a little Polish monk staying in the house. R found him delightfully simple – he also liked the Organist very much – (Canon Dersain¹ has a brother in Dorking!)
He enjoyed both his crossings – nothing could have been more successful.²
Your

A

1. Transcribed ‘Derain’ in RVW.
2. This account refers to a visit by VW to Malines, apparently in September-October 1928. See VWL820 and R.V.W.: a biography p.173. A performance of VW’s Mass in G minor had taken place – see VWL2418.