BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [16 JAN. 1919]
BRACERS 19413. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Garsington>
Thursday mg.1^, 2^, 3

My Darling

Your letter has just come,4 with one from Allen,5 asking me to decide soon,6 and really wanting me to come. So I will talk it over with Ottoline, and see how soon I can get out of my obligations to French7 — probably quite soon. Meanwhile I will have the 2 bookcases, with their books, moved from the Studio8 to Allen’s, and start paying him quite soon. If I don’t pay him, I can last a good while without your cheque for £50,9 but if I have to pay him I shall have to pay it in. So perhaps you had better reckon that I shall pay it in in about a fortnight. It is a shocking and astonishing development10 — everybody seems to treat C.A. badly — I will write to him as soon as I have talked to O. There is no need for you to pay anything11 — you have spent quite enough on him and me lately.

Darling, the most heavenly Little Johnnie12 has just arrived — 1000 thanks — It is good of you, and he shall have a great share of my affections —

I have your photo of Lynton on my mantelpiece, and the picture of you on my dressing-table. My work prospers and I am very happy. Sassoon13 is here, very full of Labour politics and anxious to get the knowledge and experience to fit himself to that as a career —

It seems our plan of my living in my flat14 is knocked on the head — It is a pity, but perhaps it is not for ever. I am so happy in the thought of you, and in the feeling that we have really come near to each other again, that it makes all my days full of delight — when the sun shines it seems brighter than usual, and when the rain falls it seems less wet.

Goodbye, Beloved, my Cherub —

B.

Proper Words.

Hurrah, Hurrah, we bring the Jubilee,
Hurrah, Hurrah, the flag that sets you free.
We sang this song in chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
As we were marching through Georgia.

Improper Words.15

The land, the land, ’twas God who made the land,
The land, the land, the land on which we stand.
Then why should we be beggars with the ballot in our hand?
God gave the land to the people.

• 1

  [document] Document 200403.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 34 Russell Chambers | Bury Street | LONDON W.C. 1. Pmk. GARSINGTON | 16 JA | 19 | OXFORD

• 3

  [date] The date is taken from the envelope’s postmark.

• 4

  letter has just come Her letter of 15 January 1919 (BRACERS 113162).

• 5

  Allen (Reginald) Clifford Allen (1889–1939). For information on him, see BRACERS 19046, n.7.

• 6

  to decide soon Whether to share Clifford Allen’s flat in Battersea. Colette had written to BR on 15 January (BRACERS 113162) asking him to consider this arrangement. In the end, BR did decide to share the flat, beginning in mid-February 1919.

• 7

  obligations to French BR was staying at French’s farm on the Garsington estate, rather than in the Manor House.

• 8

  the Studio The place that BR and Colette rented on the ground floor at 5 Fitzroy Street, Soho. For information on it, see BRACERS 19240, n. 9.

• 9

  your cheque for £50 Possibly the rent she paid to BR for staying in his Bury Street flat or expenses of their trip to Lynton. However, in a later letter (BRACERS 19415) he tells her he does not need the money right away, which makes it less likely to be the rent. And in the editorial matter of “Letters to Bertrand Russell from Constance Malleson, 1916–1969”, p. 307, it is noted that she had paid for all three of them to stay at Lynton.

• 10

  a shocking and astonishing development Colette had written that the man who was to share Allen’s new flat in Battersea had broken the agreement. “Can you imagine such a monstrous thing? The bed was made and everything ready for him” (BRACERS 113162).

• 11

  no need for you to pay anything Colette had written: “My only suggestion is that if you could make some excuse, concoct some story, and have your books moved to Battersea, and shoulder the half-rent (which I’d gladly pay) it would help Allen out” (BRACERS 113162).

• 12

  Little Johnnie A pillow.

• 13

  Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), poet. In 1919 he became the literary editor of the socialist Daily Herald. For more information on him, see BRACERS 19182, n.12.

• 14

  our plan of my living in my flat BR’s Bury Street flat where Colette was then living. They were supposed to begin living there after BR left prison but because of BR’s jealousy of Col. Mitchell, the plan did not come to pass. It appears that since their time together at Lynton had gone so well, they were thinking of resurrecting the plan.

• 15

  Proper Words ... Improper Words. Colette had asked him for the lyrics of this song. The first set of lyrics is the chorus of “Marching through Georgia”, an American Civil War song written by Henry C. Work in 1865. BR has misremembered some of the lyrics: the second line should read “the flag that makes you free”, the third line should begin “We sang the chorus”, and the fourth line should begin with “While”. The second set of lyrics is sung to the same melody as “Marching through Georgia”. It comes from the followers of Henry George and was adopted by the members of the Liberal Party in Britain as their anthem in the election of 1910. Again, BR has misremembered some of the lyrics: the second line should end, “the ground on which we stand.” The third line should begin with “Why”.