223 From a letter to Rayner Unwin 

31 July 1960

I am in fact utterly stuck — lost in a bottomless bog, and anything that would cheer me would be welcome. The crimes of omission that I committed in order to complete the 'L. of the R.' are being avenged. The chief is the Ancrene Riwle. My edition of the prime MS. should have been completed many years ago! I did at least try to clear it out of the way before retirement, and by a vast effort sent in the text in Sept. 1958. But then one of the misfortunes that attend on delay occurred; and my MS. disappeared into the confusion of the Printing Strike. The proofs actually arrived at the beginning of this June, when I was in full tide of composition for the Silmarillion, and had lost the threads of the M[iddle] E[nglish] work. I stalled for a while, but I am now under extreme pressure: 10 hours hard per diem day after day, trying to induce order into a set of confused and desperately tricky proofs, and notes. And then I have to write an introduction. (And then there is Sir Gawain.) Until the proofs of the text at least have gone back, I cannot lift my head.