THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

59 Campden Hill Road
London  W.8

27 Feb 1922

My dear Ralph

Where are you & Adeline[?] Is there any chance of seeing you. You have been often in my thoughts.  The other day I turned up a copy of Sea Symphony which you had given me & I thought of Leeds and reading about Pastoral Symphony which alas I missed hearing.  I have felt a sort of triumph in the work you have planned & carried out and remembering walks & talks with you. I fancy I can understand in some sort of way how promises have come true & high intentions been carried out.  Of course I know nothing about it & shouldn’t be writing like this but the big things I think come when anyone – like Milton & Keats – is conscious of wanting to express something & sets himself to fit himself to do so – with the humanity to remain sensitive to everything around but the strength to assimilate it for the main purpose & at the same time to study & know all the means of expression – Forgive me for blundering on like this but I have been wanting to say something to you – My mind has been full of many other things & I am now very busy & I wish I heard some music.  We are all very well, but Moya just now is with the children (Richard 9 & Kitty nearly 7) in Dublin, & I am with my brother Maurice¹ – Where are you –
With love to you both
Yours as always

Crompton Llewellyn Davies

1. Crompton, a successful lawyer, had lost his job in government after supporting his wife Moya as an Irish Republican activist during the War of Independence, during which she had been jailed.