by Henry James (1843 - 1916)
Henry James letter to Isabella
Language: English
Dear wild and wandering friend, Here is an intensely legible statement of your needful proceeding at Dover on the arrival, at the nominal 2:30 of your boat from Calais. It will consist simply of your looking out for me, as hard as possible – if not as soft! – from the deck of the vessel. I shall be on the dock to meet you, penetrating with eagle eye the densest crowd: so that, after all, your looks won’t so much matter. I shall try to have mine of the best. I shall await you, in other words – reach out the friendliest of hands to you as you step, de votre pied léger, from the plank. The rest is silence. You will have nothing whatever more to do but what I mildly but firmly bid you. If you only mind what I tell you, all will still be well. We shall combine convenient promptitude with convenient deliberation and reach Rye in time for tea and tartines. Be therefore at peace – and keep your powder dry. I wish you as smooth and swift and simple a business of it, all through, as may be possible to so complex an organism. The weather here is lovely now and the Channel a summer sea – which I trust we shall still profit by. Thursday, then, I repeat, on the Dover pier at 2:30. Yours more than ever impatiently, Henry James
Note: this is a prose letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner. Line breaks have been added arbitrarily.
Authorship:
- by Henry James (1843 - 1916) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Scott Wheeler (b. 1952), "Henry James letter to Isabella", 2011, first performed 2011 [ soprano, tenor, baritone, and piano ], from Isabella Letters, no. 1, Scott Wheeler Music [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Eric Saroian
This text was added to the website: 2022-05-25
Line count: 26
Word count: 238