Last time here, we wrote about a Virginia Woolf cocktail. This time, we write about her encounter with an inebriated T.S. Eliot at tea, as she documented in her diary on this date, Dec. 19, 100 years ago today.
How elliptical this book becomes! I dont respect events any more; I’d like to record poor Tom’s getting drunk, all the same. We went to a flat in an arcade, & asked for Captain Eliot. I noticed that his eyes were blurred. He cut the cake meticulously. He helped us to coffee–or was it tea? Then to liqueurs. He repeated, L. noticed, “Mrs Ricardo”, as L. told his story; he got things a little wrong . . . Tom then quietly left the room. L. heard sounds of sickness. After a long time, he came back, sank into the corner, & I saw him, ghastly pale, with his eyes shut, apparently in a stupor. When we left he was only just able to stand on his legs . . . Next day, I spent 10 minutes at the telephone receiving apologies–how distressing, what could we all think? Could we forgive him– the first time–would we ever come again? . . . One of those comedies which life sometimes does to perfection. – Diary 2, 278.
