![YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). Autograph letter signed ("W.B. Yeats") to T.E. Lawrence ("Mr. Shaw"), Riversale, Willbrook, Rathfarnham, Dublin, 26 February [but apparently 26 September 1932]. 1 page, 4to.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2004/NYR/2004_NYR_01348_0124_000(073443).jpg?w=1)
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YEATS, William Butler (1865-1939). Autograph letter signed ("W.B. Yeats") to T.E. Lawrence ("Mr. Shaw"), Riversale, Willbrook, Rathfarnham, Dublin, 26 February [but apparently 26 September 1932]. 1 page, 4to.
A FINE LITERARY ASSOCIATION: FROM YEATS TO "ONE OF THE FEW CHARMING AND GALLANT FIGURES OF OUR TIME"
Yeats writes to Lawrence upon his nomination to the new Irish Academy of Letters: "Your acceptance of our nomination has given me great pleasure, for you are among my chief of Men, being one of the few charming and gallant figures of our time, & as considerable in intellect as in gallantry & charm."
Yeats had written on 22 September 1932 to Mrs. G.B. Shaw expressing his wish that Lawrence be elected to the Academy. According to his biographer, "Hitherto, Lawrence had shown little feeling for his origins. but he had always regarded England as his home, and at one time had taken pains to point out that his father's family had never inter-married with the Irish. In recent years, however, his sense of loyalty to Ireland had grown because Charlote Shaw had frequently written to him about Irish topics and sent him work or Irish writers. He now wrote to Yeats accepting the nomination: 'I am Irish, and it has been a chance to admit it publicly--but it touches me very deeply that you should think anything I have done or been to justify this honour...'" (Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, New York, 1990, p.896). Published in Letters to T.E. Lawrence.
A FINE LITERARY ASSOCIATION: FROM YEATS TO "ONE OF THE FEW CHARMING AND GALLANT FIGURES OF OUR TIME"
Yeats writes to Lawrence upon his nomination to the new Irish Academy of Letters: "Your acceptance of our nomination has given me great pleasure, for you are among my chief of Men, being one of the few charming and gallant figures of our time, & as considerable in intellect as in gallantry & charm."
Yeats had written on 22 September 1932 to Mrs. G.B. Shaw expressing his wish that Lawrence be elected to the Academy. According to his biographer, "Hitherto, Lawrence had shown little feeling for his origins. but he had always regarded England as his home, and at one time had taken pains to point out that his father's family had never inter-married with the Irish. In recent years, however, his sense of loyalty to Ireland had grown because Charlote Shaw had frequently written to him about Irish topics and sent him work or Irish writers. He now wrote to Yeats accepting the nomination: 'I am Irish, and it has been a chance to admit it publicly--but it touches me very deeply that you should think anything I have done or been to justify this honour...'" (Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, New York, 1990, p.896). Published in Letters to T.E. Lawrence.