BR TO ALYS RUSSELL, 11 APR. 1908
BRACERS 21107. ALS. McMaster. SLBR 1: #148
Edited by N. Griffin. Proofread by A. Duncan and K. Blackwell

Rome
April 11. ’08

Dearest Alys

Thanks for letters. It is very discouraging about Abingdon and the Licensing Bill.1 If I were at home it would drepress me; here it seems remote.

I have had an interesting time, though nothing like so profitable as 1900. I find the Germans most polite; I am even being contended for by rival factions each of which wishes to start a new learned journal for which they want my support. On the whole, however, they are a cliquey set, and find it hard to realize the existence of foreigners. Peano and his school are very cordial. Pieri some years ago published a criticism of some of my views;2 in the course of an animated argument in the streets, I convinced him, and he admitted unreservedly that he had been mistaken, which was nice of him. The French are the least friendly — they have all been put off by Couturat’s dogmatism.

Yesterday I made friends with a Russian, Itelson,3 who lives in Berlin because he found that if he stayed in Russia any longer he would be sent to Siberia, which would put an end to his pursuit of logic. He began in a most unpromising way, by complaining that Couturat had bagged from him without due acknowledgement the word “logistic”4. But later on he improved. He is very poor, and lives in an apartment without any servant; yet he makes it a rule to give to every beggar who comes to his door, and says they are almost all genuine. He says also that he has “eine noble Passion” for old books, of which he has collected a fine library. I gave him a good dinner, which I imagine he had not had for a long time. As long as he kept off questions of priority, he was charming.

Today I gave lunch to Miss Collier5 and Miss Myer,6 after which we went a drive in the Campagna. Tomorrow morning I depart, reaching Naples 3.45, leaving there 7.20, and arriving at Palermo about 7 in the morning.7 — Thee needn’t forward letters on business or obviously of no importance.

I feel disinclined to go to Sevenoaks, unless there is some real reason why the Scotts should not come to us.8 When I get home, I shall want to get to work.

I find there is a philosophical congress in Heidelberg in Sept., beginning the 1st, but I don’t suppose I shall go.

Fancy Val being late for the boat-race,9 like the Kinsellas! However, he would have seen the defeat of his side.

It is infinitely beautiful here — the views yesterday were quite wonderful. I have learnt at last to care for sculpture! I learnt in the Vatican yesterday.

Sorry I forgot to tell thee the Suffrage procession was not till June.10 Good luck to thee. I flourish greatly.

Thine aff
Bertie.

• 1

  Abingdon and the Licensing Bill An extremely complicated piece of legislation designed to reduce the number of public houses over a fourteen-year period, which the Lords had rejected. Abingdon was Montagu Arthur Bertie, seventh Earl of Abingdon, a Tory peer.

• 2

  Pieri … a criticism of some of my views Mario Pieri, an Italian logician and geometer and a member of Peano’s group. Russell is probably referring to his article “Sopra una definizione aritmetica degli irrazionali”, Del bollettino dell’accademice gioenia di scienze naturali (1906).

• 3

  Itelson Gregorious Itelson (1852–1926). He seems to have been an entirely independent scholar, never holding an academic post.

• 4

  “logistic” Both were anticipated by Leibniz, who used the term “logistica” for his proposed calculus of reasoning. The term in its modern use, to refer to mathematical logic, was put into circulation independently by Courturat, Lalande and Itelson at the third International Congress of Mathematicians at Heidelberg in 1904. It is impossible to verify Itelson’s priority claim, since Itelson seems not to have published anything.

• 5

  Miss Collier Presumably the daughter of A.B. Collier, a Cambridge mathematician who was attending the conference.

• 6

  Miss Myer Margaret Theodora Meyer, a mathematics lecturer at Cambridge.

• 7

  arriving at Palermo about 7 in the morning After the conference Russell took a holiday with George Trevelyan, retracing Garibaldi’s route from Marsala to Palermo.

• 8

  why the Scotts should not come to us Possibly Arthur Hugh and Mildred Minturn Scott, who may have been visiting Britain.

• 9

  Fancy Val being late for the boat-race The Oxford–Cambridge boat race. Val by this time was a student at Christ Church, Oxford. Cambridge won in 1908.

• 10

  Suffrage procession was not tillJune Although there were very many suffrage processions at this time, Russell is probably referring to the massive rally at Hyde Park on 21 June. The Times estimated that up to half a million people were there.