BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 24 MAR. 1919
BRACERS 19464. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<Garsington>
24.3.19.1^, 2

My Darling

Your little letter3 came this morning and I was glad to get it. I am sorry I bothered you about getting Wittgenstein’s letter re-typed4 — I was annoyed with the typists at the moment, but it has passed off now. I wrote to Geo. Trevelyan and Keynes about W.,5 enclosing the letter. Geo. Trevelyan has replied saying he will do what he can —

Hungary turning Bolshevik6 is a good thing, I think. It will hurry up the Peace Treaty, and making people more willing to feed the Germans. I wonder if Austria will follow suit. — The Triple Alliance negotiations7 have been most exciting; it seems to me they have won a great deal, and are quite right not to strike at present.

I have written to Lulworth saying we want two rooms Thursday night and to be met at the station. What we do after that will depend on what we find there, and on the reply from Swanage. — I will let you know about money when I have found out if Philip8 has any to spare. If he has, you needn’t get any. — Later. Philip can let me have all the money we shall need.

I am longing for our little holiday — I have had a long spell of work, and should be glad of a few days even if I were to be alone — I want to be with you, dreadfully. When you are busy, letters are not enough for keeping in touch; but I am glad when you are busy about work. — I shan’t write tomorrow unless something special turns up.

As far as work goes, I see my life clear before me for years, if all goes well. First, this “analysis of mind”. Then, a comprehensive “system of philosophy”, consisting of 3 parts: (1) the logical structure of the world, (2) matter, (3) mind. Then goodbye to pure philosophy, and applications to ethics, political principles, etc. Unless I go back to Cambridge, I shall have to live in the country, and get some sort of companionship9 somehow — But I can’t settle anything till I know about Cambridge.10 My ambition is alive and hopeful — so I feel sane inside. But I know I must avoid fatigues and painful emotions, or I shan’t get my work done. — Goodbye till Thursday, my Darling Cherub — All my loving thoughts are with you —

B.

O my Dear, I do love you and want you so terribly. No words can say how I have missed you while I have been here.

• 1

  [document] Document 200452.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 34 Russell Chambers | Bury Street | W.C.1. Pmk: GARSINGTON | MR 25 | 19 | OXFORD

• 3

  Your little letter Not extant.

• 4

  getting Wittgenstein’s letter re-typed BR had asked her to take a letter of Wittgenstein’s to Jacobs and Olroyd to be typed, asking for six copies and that the spelling not be corrected.

• 5

  wrote to Geo. Trevelyan and Keynes about W. George Trevelyan (1876–1962), historian and a long-time friend of BR’s; John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), economist. BR asked Keynes to assist with getting permission to communicate freely with Wittgenstein, who was in a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy (23 March 1919; BRACERS 54816). A month later BR let Keynes know that George Trevelyan had written to Fillipo de Filippi, an Italian doctor and explorer, about Wittgenstein (17 April 1919; BRACERS 54817).

• 6

  Hungary turning Bolshevik On 21 March 1919 Count Koralyi’s government resigned over the demands from the Peace Conference concerning Hungary’s boundaries. It was replaced by a Bolshevik government — a Soviet Republic proclaimed by the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Revolutionary Government under Russian protection. The Times of 24 March contained several articles about the developments in Hungary.

• 7

  Triple Alliance negotiations The Triple Alliance consisted of miners, transport workers, and railwaymen. Representatives of the Alliance had met with government officials at Downing Street on 22 March 1919.

• 8

  Philip Philip Morrell (1870–1943), a Liberal Member of Parliament and Lady Ottoline’s husband. It is not known why Morrell should be involved financially with BR.

• 9

  get some sort of companionship A prescient warning which bore fruit that summer in BR’s attraction to and eventual marriage to Dora Black.

• 10

  know about Cambridge It was not until the end of the year, 12 December 1919, that a formal offer came from Trinity College, for a five-year lectureship in Logic and the Principles of Mathematics, to begin in July 1920. At that time BR was granted a leave of absence in order to take up a one-year lectureship at Government University in Bejiing, China. While in China, he decided to not take up Trinity’s offer after all — his withdrawal was accepted by Trinity on 14 January 1921 when he was still in China.