Documents associated with: servants, cook
Record 3 of 3
System Number: 07742
Date: [15/30 November 1901][1]
Author: JW
Place: [London]
Recipient: Elizabeth Robins Pennell[2]
Place: [London]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 273/10/7
Document Type: ALS[3]
I am so sorry, dear Mrs Pennell, but I have been so filled with fogg - dear me I have spelt it with two g s!. and none too many! -
When you came that next day & found me absent from the hotel, I had really gone forth that I might rid myself, if only for the morning, [p. 2] of the room, the landlady & the cooking! - all of which had driven me to a state of frenzy! -
And then we had an inspiration! - I have left Tallants[4] - and have come down to Chelsea, on a visit, that I may be taken care of by the ladies of the family[5] - for a bit! -
But directly I get out again I shall come and listen to the stories of the Returned One[6] - & tell you how distressed I have been to have disturbed your table - I mean disarranged it, as I have done of late! -
Buckingham Street though, late at night, is a rather dangerous though fascinating place! -
And so with kindest regards to you both, and, if her Mistress thinks correct, regrets to Augustine[7] for the delicious plats - the "plats couverts[8]", alas! unpartaken of.
Always sincerely
J. McNeill Whistler
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. [15/30 November 1901]
This letter was written immediately after #07741, after JW had left Tallant's hotel (see also #06747). By December he and the Birnie Philips were in Bath.
2. Elizabeth Robins Pennell
Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936), née Robins, JW's biographer [more].
3. ALS
The paper has a mourning border; the watermark is 'A PIRIE & SONS / 1901'.
4. Tallants
Tallant's Private Hotel, North Audley Street, Grosvenor Square, London, W. See also #07741.
5. ladies of the family
Including Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), JW's sister-in-law [more], and Frances Philip (1824-1917), née Black, JW's mother-in-law [more], they lived at 36 Tite Street.
6. Returned One
Joseph Pennell (1860-1926), printer and illustrator, JW's biographer [more]; they lived at 14 Buckingham Street when in London.
7. Augustine
Augustine, the Pennells' cook-servant [more].
8. plats couverts
Fr., covered dishes.