To Nancy Saunders Toy
Grand Hotel
Rome. March 27, 1941
Your good letters of Jan. 27th and Feb 11th I fear are still unanswered. I have been laid up with my catarrh and other complications—dyspepsia, a weak heart, lumbago, gout, cramped fingers, loose teeth, and a limp in the leg—none painful, but altogether fatiguing and not good for sprightly letter-writing. The Spring sun at this moment is shining on this page, and I feel better.
Yesterday I looked up the passages in Schilpp’s book that you had marked. In some cases they represent real friendliness and appreciation, for instance, in Sullivan and Hartshorne, because these two evidently are alive to philosophy of the great tradition. On the other hand, others like Vivas, think they are very generous in praising me for daring to be independent in 1899, and writing books that for that date were remarkable. It is curious how insulated the intellectuals have become in all countries: Banfi is just as limited as Vivas & Co in another way. I should love them to be young, but they are ill-educated, they are common, they are mere professors.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Seven, 1941-1947. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.
Location of manuscript: The Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge MA.