Letter to W.B. Yeats
Augusta Gregory (1852–1932)
Letter to W.B. Yeats
Venice, May 21, 1909
To recover her health, Gregory traveled to Venice in spring 1909, staying with Enid Layard, one of her closest women friends, at Ca’ Capello, the 16th-century palazzo the Layards had filled with art and archaeological treasures. On May 20, a note from Queen Alexandra of England announced that she and other royals planned to come for lunch. Lady Layard said it was impossible, but Gregory insisted “you can do it don’t refuse,” and they speedily organized a successful meal. Yeats had met the queen by chance in 1904, at a children’s tea party. Gregory’s letter to Yeats gently mocks the idea that either she or Yeats, both Irish and nationalist, was indeed the queen’s “friend.”
: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
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