Item 97 - Letter from J. S. Mackenzie to Henry Sidgwick

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Thanks him for his letter. Highly appreciates his advice, especially since Sidgwick's recommendation 'coincides exactly with what [he] had already determined on.' Claims that he would never have accepted the '"odds and ends" of work', which Sidgwick mentions, had it not been that he thought they were likely to help him on to something more permanent. Claims to have realised that there was no room for him in Cambridge, 'especially as McTaggart has taken up a line nearly identical with [his] own' and he thought it better to look for employment 'outside'. Looking for work outside Cambridge was, he maintains, against his natural inclination, and 'has so far ended in failure'. Having got over his disappointment in relation to this failure, he is now looking forward with great pleasure to 'a quiet period of more congenial work in Cambridge.' Refers to his 'fundamental defect', which, he believes, Sidgwick has characterised very well. Thanks him again for his kindness. Claims to have never expected much from him, because he disagrees with him in general opinion, and because his habits of thought and expression are rather antipathetic to Sidgwick's.