THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[7th October 1939]

My Dear

Yes – do go in hot & strong for “Federal Union”. I daresay we shan’t get it all, but we might get some, e.g. Universal Currency. I’m going to a meeting in Guildford about it tomorrow.¹
Don’t give up the flat if you can help it. Who knows it might be a meeting place again. I agree with you that this evacuation may do indirect good over slums – that was rejected by a pamphlet by the Air Raid Defence League² some months ago.
I can’t think about Libretti just now my dear – I shall see later.
At present I’m trying to urge the BBC to play good marching tunes.
My dear, I’m afraid of you travelling in the dark – one doesn’t know what mightn’t happen to you!!
All the girls in Dorking are wearing trousers – I long for the sight of a silk stocking and a high-heeled shoe!
Of course you will say that I should have got all that if I’d come to the flat – but I must have a good excuse. I daresay it’s weak of me.
Yrs

RVW

When does the poem appear in the Spec[tator]?

1.  VW was a keen supporter of the movement for a Federal Union in Europe.
2.  The Air Raid Defence League published pamphlets giving advice on many matters to the general public.