To Eugene Rodman Shippen
Rome. January 1, 1945
Dear Shippen:
The first feeling and regret that occurred to me on reading your letter and your poem was. How came it that Shippen and I were not friends in college? Yours is the second poem that has been written about me. The other was Lionel Johnson’s “To A Spanish Friend.” I prefer yours. It is more flattering, and at the same time truer, which makes the flattery more flattering. Thank you for the gift that comes on New Year’s Day, and encourages me to go on with my senile compositions.
Yours sincerely,
G Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Seven, 1941-1947. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.
Location of manuscript: Unknown.