Item 261 - Copy letter from Bertrand Russell to Dorothy Brett, with explanatory note

2 items

Copy letter, dated 30 Aug 1918: Kind of Brett to write while Russell is here [in prison]: letters are 'the only unhampered contact' he has with other people. Prison would be worse than her 'fate' [deafness], if it were to last, but since it is so brief it is nowhere near as bad. Realizes how hard her life is, but makes recommendations to ameliorate it: practise mental discipline; try to avoid general conversation and keep to tête-a-têtes; do not be satirical, aloof, or 'judge people morally' but try to understand them. Has always thought it hard for her 'to spend so much time in the middle of lark and laughter [at Garsington] that you cannot understand'. Hopes she will not find this impertinent; has only written as he 'cant bear to think how you suffer'. 'Poor Mr Green' should consult Russell 'when he wants to make a conquest', and Russell will give him the 'sage advice which he evidently needs'. Brett's picture of the three women sounds exciting: hopes it will be 'glorious'. Hopes to see her when she returns from fishing - 'destroying your fellow-creatures' - in Scotland; he sympathises with the Chinese philosopher who fished without a bait, as he liked the pastime but not catching fish. The Emperor made him Prime Minister, but fears that will not happen to him.

Note, undated but Dec 1956?, explaining that two letters by Bertrand Russell, one to Ottoline Morrell and one to Brett, were found in a letter lent by R. C. Trevelyan to Bertrand Russell when Russell was in prison in 1918. These were discovered when Trevelyan's library was sent to Birkbeck College, London [in 1954], but Elizabeth Trevelyan forgot about them for a couple of years. She found them again in December 1956 and sent them to Russell with an explanation; she kept a copy of the letter to Brett.

5/257: letter, 3 Dec 1956, from Russell to Elizabeth Trevelyan, thanking her for sending him the letters to Ottoline and Brett.