
Memorandum to British Government
Augusta Gregory (1852–1932)
“Memorandum to British Government”
1910
Yeats’s income from his writing had always been modest, and in 1910, author and critic Edmund Gosse set to work with Gregory to obtain a British Civil List pension for him. In the course of their exchanges, Gosse sent Gregory a letter so offensive that she wondered if he had “gone out of his mind,” and she asked Yeats to respond in her defense. Yeats admitted in his journal that “it was her zeal in my service brought that letter upon her” but nonetheless replied with what Gregory told John Quinn was “a milk and water thing.” This led to what Yeats termed their “one serious quarrel.” Ultimately, Yeats was awarded the pension, which guaranteed his future financial security.
: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
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