Dated in Flower, p. 316.
Part of a large collection letters from Ernest Dowson to his close friend Arthur Moore, the English solicitor and writer, with whom Dowson wrote four collaborative novels. Items are cataloged individually; see related collection record (MA 1625) for more information.
Written from "Rue St. Jacques. 214. / Paris." Addressed to Mon Cher Vieux. Signed ED the Exile.
Describing his journey with Connell (O'Riordan) through Ypres and Lille to Paris. Discussing his financial difficulties and the expense of Paris, noting "the rooms are cheap enough & one can eat cheap enough but it is impossible to live in Paris without sitting in cafés & they mount up," and mentioning that "Connell smokes & drinks nothing in order to have his two square meals & I tighten my belt in order to allow myself a sufficiency of cigarettes & absinthe. As for women ... we dare not even look at them." Intending to move to Brittany to further economize, and asking Moore for the name of a cheap pension. With a postscript asking for a loan of £5, mentioning that some money they were expecting was sent to Lille and that Dowson can return the loan shortly as funds are due to him from Leonard Smithers the following week. Asking Moore to write soon, since "I wallow constantly in blackest sloughs of despond, when even the sight of your handwriting on a blank post-card would cheer me."