BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 16 JULY 1947
BRACERS 19839. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<letterhead>
27 Dorset House
Gloucester Place
N.W.1.1
16 July 1947

My Darling Colette

So far I have not succeeded in finding a way of paying for your ticket,2 but Professor C.D. Broad3 is going to Sweden for most of the Long Vac,4 and I have told him I owe you £20 and asked him to pay it — so don’t deny the debt! If he is willing, that should solve the trouble. But he may find difficulties.

It seems I shall not be going to Germany in the autumn.5 But there is just a possibility that I may come to Sweden next June to lecture.6 If so, I hope you will be my guest in Stockholm or wherever I am. It would be an infinite joy to me.

It is a pity the Swedes are annoyed with you.7 As for Westermarck,8 you will remember that he hated the Bolshies, and there was a period in 1918 where the Germans were helping the Finns against Russia; I dare say he sided with the Germans at that moment. I don’t know how your book9 is selling, but I have heard it highly praised in conversation.

Miles10 came to dinner a few nights ago. I got the impression (though he said just the opposite) that his present marriage11 is a mistake and that he is not very happy. I find myself still very fond of him.

I have nearly finished my big book on Human Knowledge:12 its scope and limits. When it is done I shall devote myself to autobiography,13 which I have always reserved for my dotage.

I think there will be a third world war within a few years, in which most Europeans will be wiped out.

The long day’s task is done,
And we must sleep.a^,14

But there are still some things to be done before nightfall. Goodbye, Beloved.

B.

*Better:

The bright day is done,
And we are for the dark.15

• 1

  [document] Document 200845.

• 2

  paying for your ticket For a trip back to England in November (letter to Phyllis Urch, 19 July 1947).

• 3

  C.D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971), philosopher. He had left Trinity College in 1911, only to return permanently in 1923.

• 4

  Long Vac Cambridge’s term for the summer vacation, June to the end of September.

• 5

  not be going to Germany in the autumn He went instead to Paris, Antwerp and Amsterdam, where he spoke on “International Government” on 30 September 1947 (B&R C48.02). He did go to Berlin in October 1948.

• 6

  I may come to Sweden next June to lecture BR spent 21–31 May 1948 in Sweden.

• 7

  the Swedes are annoyed with you It is not known what the problem was.

• 8

  Westermarck Edward Westermarck (1862–1939), anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher, was born in Helsinki. He was a supporter of Finnish independence, which was achieved in 1918. For many years Westermarck taught at the London School of Economics.

• 9

  your book  In the North, published in the previous year by Gollancz. It was well reviewed.

• 10

  Miles Miles Malleson (1888–1969), Colette’s husband; they married in 1915 and divorced in 1923. For information on him, see BRACERS 19046, n.4.

• 11

  his present marriage Miles and his second wife, Joan, with whom he had had two sons, were divorced in 1940. His third marriage, to actress Tatiana Lieven, took place on 19 January 1946. The couple remained married until Miles’s death.

• 12

  Human Knowledge  Published in 1948 (B&R A83).

• 13

  devote myself to autobiography As he had planned to do since early 1946 (letter to Gamel Brenan, 56414).

• 14

  The long day’s task is done, And we must sleep  Antony and Cleopatra, IV.xiv.44–5.

• 15

  The bright day is done, And we are for the dark  Antony and Cleopatra, V.ii.227–8.

Textual Notes

• a

  sleep. A 1×2" piece of the bottom right corner was excised.