BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 25 AUG. 1917
BRACERS 19199. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 2: #296
Edited by S. Turcon and N. Griffin. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<London>
Sat.
25 Aug. ’171^, 2

My dearest Darling

Your lovely letter3 this morning was a joy — an unspeakable delight — I wish the others4 would go on5 without you often! It is heavenly to think of you full of joy and love up on the hills in that big free world — O my love, you are so beautiful and so dear — I love you in every way of love — I love you now immeasurably more than even a few months ago — I am yours, yours — I long for you every hour and every minute — away from you I am hardly alive — when our lips meet, life burns in a great flame between us —

Last night I dined with K. Mansfield6 — she was in a good mood, having accomplished a lot of writing7 that she thinks successful — I haven’t seen it yet — She talks very well about writing, and I liked her — but I did not feel I want to see her very often — However I promised to go again on Monday, as then her stories will be typed and she will read them to me. Today I go to Garsington8 — I shall leave on Monday before the post comes.

My head is full of schemes of philosophical work — I hope in January I shall be able to get out of the N.C.F. — that is not very far off — Meanwhile I must possess my soul in patience — such patience as I can muster.

I shall be giving philosophical lectures every Thursday in Oct and Nov.9 — they will start me off on the philosophical road.10 Perhaps they will grow into a book. I long to be away from bustle — free to love and think — they seem to belong together oddly. My mind keeps going over our happy times — I think of the evening when we read Shelley11 — and Orleston Common12^, a — and the joy of the nights. My dear one, my loved one, I love you to the utmost limits of my being — Less than a week now!

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200179.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | Hawse End | Keswick. Pmk: LONDON.W.C | 1.15 PM | 25 AUG 17B

• 3

  Your lovely letter Her letter of 24 August 1917 written from Hawse End, Keswick (BRACERS 113049).

• 4

  the others Colette and her husband, Miles, were visiting Catherine Marshall’s parents. Also in the party were Mrs. Marshall’s sister and one other woman (BRACERS 113046).

• 5

  go on Colette had spent the morning “climbing the hills”’. She was back at the house while “the others have gone off to Lodore” (BRACERS 113049).

• 6

  K. Mansfield Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923). BR first met the short-story writer in July 1915; an intense friendship began in November 1916. Her early death was caused by tuberculosis.

• 7

  accomplished a lot of writing The previous week Leonard and Virginia Woolf had agreed to publish Mansfield’s long story Prelude. It appeared in 1918 under the Hogarth Press imprint.

• 8

  Garsington Garsington Manor, near Oxford, the county home of Lady Ottoline and Philip Morrell.

• 9

  giving philosophical lectures every Thursday in Oct and Nov. From 30 October to 18 December 1917 BR gave a series of lectures on mathematical logic in Dr. Williams’ Library, on Tuesdays rather than Thursdays as he writes here. The lectures had been arranged by the secretary of the Aristotelian Society, H. Wildon Carr, with the immediate aim of alleviating BR’s financial difficulties. (BR was paid £50 for the lectures.) The lectures were later rewritten as Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (B&R A30, 1919).

• 10

  they will start me off on the philosophical road Aside from private meetings with select students, the series was BR’s first course of lectures since Trinity in 1915 and led to some years of philosophical productivity.

• 11

  the evening when we read Shelley In her letter of 19 August 1917 Colette recalled the evening that BR had read the poem “Epipsychidion” (1821) to her (BRACERS 113045).

• 12

  Orleston Common In Shropshire. In her letter of 19 August 1917 Colette recalled the evening they were there during a beautiful sunset (BRACERS 113045).

Textual Notes

• a

  Orleston Common The correct spelling is “Orleton Common”.