BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 9 MAR. 1919
BRACERS 19449. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Garsington>
9.3.19.1^, 2

My Darling

It was a most delightful surprise to get a letter from you this morning — and it was a dear letter. — I don’t know much about Massingham3 and Wilson:4 W. sent for M., but only told him silly stories, chestnuts. M. got the impression that W. was not an able man, but M’s judgment is very bad. I get horribly troubled by the starving of Germany. It is worse than anything the Germans did during the war — in fact, it is about the most colossal crime in history. Murry5 says that the British naval and military officers who were sent to Germany to investigate the famine (all chosen as bitter anti-Huns) have come back bowed and broken by the horror of what they saw; the Foreign Office, after hearing them, sent a round robin to Paris, signed by every one from top to bottom, protesting against what was being done. — I disbelieve utterly in war between us and America: we shall always give way.

I hope your plan of touring6 will come off — it would be a joy to be in work, even if the salary is small. And the Saville Collins plan7 too sounds hopeful. Thank you for writing about them.

Yesterday Sassoon8 came out — he and Murry had not met since the row last summer about M’s review of S.S.9 They were reconciled, and made great friends. I am getting tired of Gertler — he is conceited and cock-sure, and terribly personal. We had a terrific argument about Dostoewsky and Chehov,a in which he supported Murry injudiciously — he only noticed in D. what appealed to him personally. But I still like him on the balance. — Murry has been made editor of the Athenaeum and wants me to write for him occasionally. So that is a new accession of income, tho’ it doesn’t amount to very much, say £50 a year. Lunch is ready so I will finish later.

Later. Post just going — have been kept by Murry. Dear Love I am so much looking forward to being with you — I love you tenderly my dear One — All blessings on you.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200437.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 34 Russell Chambers | Bury Street | W.C.1. Pmk: GARSINGTON | MR | 10 | 19 | OXFORD

• 3

  Massingham Henry William Massingham (1860–1924), journalist. He was editor of The Nation from 1907 to 1923 and was in Paris for the Peace Conference which followed World War I.

• 4

  Wilson Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th president of the United States, 1913–21.

• 5

  Murry John Middleton Murry (1889–1957), writer, who married Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) in May 1918 after her divorce.

• 6

  your plan of touring This may have concerned appearing in Shakespeare’s As You Like It; in any case Colette did not tour in any play at this time.

• 7

  Saville Collins plan Unidentified.

• 8

  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.

• 9

  M’s review of S.S. Murry critically reviewed Siegfried Sassoon’s Counter-attack, and other Poems in The Nation 23 (13 July 1918): 398, 400. He called Sassoon’s writing not poetry but merely verses that express nothing but pain. The review was unsigned. See BRACERS [1918 note].

Textual Notes

• a

  Chehov BR spelt it “Tchehov” the previous year (BRACERS 79640).