Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 7 October 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Patrick Langford Beazley

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Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to his son Piaras Béaslaí (1881–1965). Patrick Langford Beazley writes about recent family holidays, the condition of family friends, and of a fire in the Irish Journalists Association building which stored some of Piaras' personal effects. He concludes with news of the recent annual meeting of the Irish Speaking League, noting that Piaras was elected president in absentia. Patrick makes further reference to the community of actors and enthusiasts in the Irish acting world that are associated with his works. This letter is part of a collection of letters by Piaras’ parents, mostly during Béaslai’s internment. Piaras Béaslaí (born Percy Frederick Beazley) was an English born writer, revolutionary, politician, language revivalist, journalist and a member of the IRB. In February of 1916 he published the Fàinne, a publication to organise Gaelic speakers. He soon abandoned it and became involved in politics and would later fight in the Easter Rising. He wrote twenty plays between 1913 and 1939. Patrick Langford Beazley was born near Killarney, Co. Kerry, son of a tenant who had been evicted from the Lansdowne estate. The Beazleys were an old family in Kerry, of English origin. He was the editor of the Catholic Times from 1884 until his death in the early 1920s.

 National Library of Ireland , NLI33973/5/5 https://letters1916.ie/item/1311 English Patrick Langford Beazley 1916-10-07 Cheshire, England Piaras Béaslaí Male Easter Rising Ireland 1916

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 q116 P. Beazley Glengarriff, Rudgrave Square Egremont Cheshire 7th October, 1916. My dearest Pierce, I have delayed this letter too long, for I know how anxious Mother and I were to hear from you and that your anxiety to hear from us has been equally great. I need not say what a delight it was to get your letter and to find that after the long interval your spirits were as bright and cheerful as when you wrote previously. Of course we feel that when writing in such a happy, contented way you are, to comfort us, taking as pleasant a view as possible of a situation which, at the best, must be irksome owing to monotony and perhaps trying in other respects, but we thank God that your health keeps good and that your mind is so free from worry and distress. May it be so all the time! Your letter dealt with so many matters that I may not be able to touch on them all this time, but as I shall have the opportunity, please God, of writing again next month I canthen refer to any points I now pass over. I am very glad that you have been mastering Spanish. It is, as you know, a language which has great literary stores as well as being important to-day for practical purposes. I was not less gratified to learn that you are studying Virgil. There is scarcely one of the classical authors from whom you could derive so much benefit under present circumstances. His pictures of the old Roman world are not only charming, but always reposeful and soothing. The Bucolics are more difficult than the Aeneid, but they give glimpses of old pastoral romance which repay any trouble, though the interest they excite is far inferior to that created by the Idyls of Theocritus from which so much of them is borrowed. I must pass from the old to the present world. My holiday at Bray with Father James was very pleasant. The weather could not have been better. We spent a great deal of time on the promenade and on the walk along Bray Head. There were a good number of visitors, nearly all from different parts of Ireland, I was told. We went to Dublin on several occasions. I went twice to Gill's to see Mr. O'Kelly about your manuscripts, etc., but he was out each time. I was told on the second occasion that he was going on his holidays. I had no opportunity of seeing any of your Dublin friends as Father James regulated all our movements. He told me that Sara Scanlon (Mrs O'Connor) and her husband happened to be in Dublin during the trouble and had some exciting adventures in looking for you. He also said that Ben's daughter, Frances, is dying in a Paris convent. The only one of the relatives I saw during the holiday was John Clancy. I called at Sandycove and remained just about ten minutes. People told me that I could not look better after the holiday. I certainly felt very well, as I feel now, thank God. Mother, though she has had no holiday, is also well, thank God — in fact wonderfully well. But Langford, I am sorry to say, is not in quite such good form. He spent the three weeks of his holidays here. When he came he seemed to have been suffering from a severe cold. He looked rather thin. His voice was somewhat hoarse, and he suffered on his feet, being unable to walk as briskly as usual. He returned to Dublin a week before I came back from Bray. He then walked nearly as well as usual and his voice was considerably improved, but not quite clear. I wanted him to see a doctor, but he very strongly held there was no need to do so. Mr. Smyth, of the Fireside,has been in Dublin for his holidays and on his return last Monday I asked him how Langford was. From what he said I gathered that Langford still suffers from his feet when walking and that his voice is still husky. I have, in a letter, again impressed on Langford the advisableness of seeing a doctor. In his letters he is cheerful and says his feet are all right and that his voice is nearly so. Now as to business. We have left your books and manuscripts at Langford's. I understand that Dr. Davitt is the man to apply to for the money due for the shorthand note of the Anti-Taxation Society's meeting. I shall find out his address and write to him. As to what you left in the Irish Journalists' Association's Office, the building was partly destroyed by the fire which raged from Abbey Street down to the river on the occasion of the insurrection, but Langford says the handbag has been saved and also a manuscript in your handwriting. As I stated in my last letter, a souvenir of yours was likewise found and preserved, but there is no account of a stick. The account will be all right. The gold tiepin and Belt Langford will get. He has seen Mr. Burke. I have had letters from Messrs. O'Kelly, Hegarty, O'Sullivan and R. O'Foghida, all asking to be cordially remembered to you. Mr. Hegarty said he would attend to your request in regard to the production of your play by the London Gaelic League and the copies of your latest play for Gill's. Your play was not produced at the Gaelic Festival at Waterford. The Festival was held not in Waterford but in Dublin. There were, I am told, no entertainments beyond a reception and a concert. The attendance was large. The lay vice-president was promoted to the presidency and Mr. O'Kelly to the vice-presidency. The Irishspeaking League has prospered by leaps and bounds and you were elected president at the annual meeting. The Aisteoiridhe are arranging to produce one of your plays at the Samhain festival. Langford has seen the Merries and explained that they could not communicate with you except through me. All your old friends have been enquiring about you and have asked to be remembered to you. Carey was up here for his holidays and stayed here a couple of nights. He is as lively and as fond of jokes as ever. Mr. Smyth and a large number of their friends often talk of you. I have to draw to a close now as mother is to fill the other page; so I send you our hearts' fondest love — Mother's, Langford's and my own and pray that God may always bless you. Ever affectionately, Father. Cheshire, England Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí , 27 January 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslai, 3 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 17 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 24 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 9 March 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 3 March 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí on St. Patrick's eve 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí with £1 to celebrate St. Patrick's day 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí after the RisingLetter from Nannie Beazley (née Hickey) to Piaras Béaslaí, 17 July 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 7 October 1916Letter from Nannie Beazley née Hickey to Piaras Béaslaí, 7 October 1916Letter from A. Ross to Augustine Birrell, 30 April 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras on his article on the Irish Language.Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 8 April 1916 Patrick Langford Beazley Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí , 27 January 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslai, 3 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 17 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 24 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 9 March 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 3 March 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí on St. Patrick's eve 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí with £1 to celebrate St. Patrick's day 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí after the RisingLetter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 14 February 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 17 July 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 7 October 1916Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras on his article on the Irish Language.Letter from Patrick Langford Beazley to Piaras Béaslaí, 8 April 1916