a

a

is 51

to

of

he

of he to his

life

he

to

her his is the

on

and It

his his

the

the

first

over

who were

was

In

to

at

occa­

rather

broke greater one

498-9. public in

in

own

me. with

who the which much

reason a

proposed at with Military

with

down, who,

1894, Egyptian

pp.

support

the

to battle

Radley was

his war

of wanted

with

background

father which Woolsey

major

letters

in but at

the place

how

Brenan,

the examination.

treat Russell.

some have

of a that; settle

1975), life,

His April

paints

ever

1914

is or

terms own was

quarrel

to

Brenan, 7

perhaps

course

his

leaving

Gamel

running

shall commission may

times, rank letters

to

his

Brenan He the Major

relevant

a on

I

discussed

a

failed.

all

him

the

awarded remained,

there Gerald

Own,

as

to his once

Nicolson,

the incompatibility Bertrand

Indian

Russell. differences, similar

the in end

After has for he

Gerald fighting, son

&

in

and

to appropriate was of

that in

for

understand

Malta

waged Gerald

the

later. it.

of

the travel,

itself but

One's

pleasant

his found than

their at

Woolsey

Gamel,

life

the

came

Russell and similar

at can

says

where

of

for

schooldays.

Flesh. Gamel-and for Brenan

from

also

police,

fully had

sit

father

and the

remarks

written either

born some

desperate time

recriminations

about advanced

All and

in

care Life

Gamel

his departed,

Clark home

Russell; younger

life.

of

has

distinction,

Spain,

letter

the

of for once Butler's

was more

of marry must Cape/Weidenfeld had A

Gerald

autobiography, a enter of father

No--one who secured

to

and

Brenan his commended

to Europe-and

last

of He he

Egyptian deeply to years

life much

with

this

years than

his Way time of

Gerald something

at in Ronald

said

Brenan

story.

went of Samuel childhood have returned

the

Gerald Army

quotes

was

(London:

very The

Major

Gerald

The was importance rest

say four

and

of

more

Mr. he

wished the didn't course

his

Mr.

served

for

and

in Brenan. felt discuss

volumes

to

thankfully

the her boy,

of

in

Gerald of

Clark

perceptively here. Russell

would

after

He

there scale

British and 2 and

travelling twenty-two

Gerald

account of

autobiography,

two

future.

for

and

exam

shall

Russell

but

Russell

the

Russell

Instead,

that the

in I

small Gerald her.

Russell

his that time army

of the Brenan which

retirement. picture pleasures-but Regiment,

the

Bertrand

on

recorded

in and

before to

written

gallantry,

almost

character

of

included of

that

and

any

Radley,

because blessing. that his

as

for

Gerald's

sat one

first,

Army,

over

some for absence,

phrase be

of Life

also

suggestion,

thus Major

years, a

another?

abiding

But

Like

Almost

The

background,

memorably leading has may 2 length biography believe marriage

this certain testify,

was subaltern time the enjoys somewhat

father, volume depressing school, spent his use

announced police, Gerald

out. Gloucester Cross father's father Indian join leaving

sional

a

of p.

our

be

near

her

that

them with

seen

such

little

taken

being

to 1970, up

in a

precise

letters.

all

1968),

letter

known,

in

out Russell's

a

house date

have of

found kept

have

I

maintained is

1

only

into

more

out-of-the-way

to

meeting

died sketch

person.! Gamel Unwin,

Woolsey have

of

and

and

be widely

was years.

turning

& to

always

letter

Brenans' We

first

Bertrand by

this

exchange

seems

Brenans sorts

not

not

Allen

last

1968,

himself Gamel

me

his

all

thirty

is

which cannot

autumnal the this researches

with

of

I of

the Gerald

before

and

which desirable

does

rhythms.

she

and

than

full

the after

own

and

(London:

lovely

January Russell have

as

records

surprised

I

August,

29

seems

my

Brenans

more

took

learned

Russell

again

but

it

Russell

principally

as death, late

[I] 50 the Woolsey),

death.

interests,

proceeding,

for

and

Brenan

1914-1944

record dated

met

Russell

of in

that

her

1933;

is

and

still

wide

sometimes-a last

of

Gamel

(Gamel

writings,

summer

either

dates Russell, Woolsey, are

1967,

us

and

Gamel's

Russell

haunting

Brenan

concerned before

The

Brenan friendship

of

her

Bertrand by

is

these

visits and

known or

precision,

Brenan Hopkins summer Bertrand another

Gamel

poet

by

he

erudition

Woolsey delightful. a she of

not summer, months

Gerald life essay

OF

words

moment.

is

to early strict

and and

seen with

and

had

great rewarding Gamel

think her

four

1

occasioned

the be

Gamel of

PART

the

these

in

and with at and

present

in

will than

don't

Russell Russell

Kenneth Autobiography

I

it

Malaga. [F]OR scholar interesting With knowledge friendship

The

close 190. The

Bertrand I Woolsey by

Gerald

place things concerns myself with more

from But sympathy and

a relationship whether 52 Russell summer 1985 Russell and Gamel Woolsey 53

In 1934 he published his first book, Jack Robinson, a picaresque novel published in the United States. The Woolseys were always prominent in under the nom-de-plume George Beaton, which is now hard to find and the law, the church, education, banking, railroad administration, and expensive when found. From that time forward he wrote many books, other callings in which wealth and influence are important ingredients of and became a distinguished authority on the history and literature of success. Spain. He also published some excellent essays and commentaries, sev­ By his first wife Gamel's father had three sons and a daughter, and after eral novels, a collection of poems, and did a great deal of miscellaneous her death he married Gamel's mother, whose first daughter, Marie, was journalism and broadcast talks. born (it would seem) in 1893. Gamel was born two years later, but Brenan's involvement with the Bloomsbury Group, and in particular although such things are certainly noticed in families, no exact date with the painter Dora Carrington, is chronicled in Personal Record, seems to have been recorded, and the biographer is confronted with three 1920-1972, which is the second volume of his autobiography. This alternatives, of which the most likely appears to be 28 May 1895. Gamel contains the character sketch of Bertrand Russell formerly mentioned, herselfmight be expected to know, but she gets it wrong on her marriage and other sketche~ofimportant personalities ofthe period, such as E. M. certificate, and provides a second choice, also wrong, on the passport Forster, Lytton Strachey, Arthur Waley and Roger Fry. It also gives an issued to her husband and herself only six months later. extended account ofthe life ofGamel Woolsey, with whom Brenan lived In later years Gamel spoke nostalgically ofher childhood in her poems from 1930 until her death. and in some of her letters, and she recalled her early adolescence in an Since 1972, when his autobiography closes, Gerald Brenan has con­ unpublished novel called Patterns on the Sand, which has its setting in and tinued to live in Spain, and has continued until latterly publishing books, around Charleston, South Carolina. This had been Mrs. Woolsey's home of which the latest at the time of writing this essay is Thoughts in a Dry before her marriage, and when William Woolsey died in 1910 she left the Season (1978), a miscellany ofnotes and observations on such subjects as plantation in the care of her stepson, Convers, and shortly afterwards love, marriage, religion, the art of writing, travel, and the like. We may returned to Charleston-taking a trip to Europe with Gamel along the again be reminded of Samuel Butler, beside whose Notebooks this mis­ way. It should be explained that Gamel Woolsey's family name was Elsa, cellany is fit to stand, within easy reach of the bedside. although that I think is an unusual shortening of her first name, I come now to Gamei Woolsey, with whose life I shall deal more fully. Elizabeth. Her second name was her mother's maiden name, and was not A woman whom Bertrand Russell may have wished to marry, and whom used in its shortened form, Gamel, until she began to publish her he certainly loved (for he says so) may justly be discussed at some length writings, in the early 192os. in a journal devoted to his life and work. In Charleston Gamel attended a well-known girls' school, Ashley Hall. Elizabeth Gammell Woolsey was born at Breeze Hill Plantation, This had been discussed earlier, during her father's lifetime, and he had Aiken, South Carolina, the second daughter (by his second marriage) of then remarked that ifshe and Marie went to Ashley Hall they would learn William Walton Woolsey and his wife Elizabeth Gammell. The Woolseys bad habits; but with the bad habits they already had they probably are a distinguished family in the United States, stemming from one wouldn't be admitted. However, in a letter to Julia B. Hammond dated George Woolsey who emigrated to America from Great Yarmouth, Eng­ 19 October 1909, William Woolsey says that the girls are at Ashley Hall land (by way of Holland) in 1623. The Woolseys have long been influen­ for the winter. 3 Gamel's schooling was interrupted when she contracted tial in the United States, and have affiliations by marriage with many tuberculosis about 1915. She spent a year in a sanitarium, and lost half of other celebrated American families, including the Dwights, the Hoad­ one lung. leys, the Edwards, the Griswolds, and others ofsimilar standing. Gamel Despite this setback, some part of her life in Charleston was happy, as Woolsey's great-uncle, Theodore Dwight Woolsey, was a president of her novel shows. Mrs. Woolsey was connected with a number of old Yale University; her uncle, Daniel Coit Gilman, was the first president of Charleston families, in particular with the Horrys and the Branfords, and Johns Hopkins University; her aunt, Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, became it was in the converted servants' house of the big Branford-Horry a best-selling author as Susan Coolidge, with What Katy Did and many mansion that she lived with her daughters. This house is no cottage, and other successful stories for children; Gamel's half-brother, Judge John

M. Woolsey, wrote the celebrated judgment that James joyce's Ulysses 3 Quoted in The Hammonds ofRedcliffe, ed. Carol Bleser (New York: Oxford V.P., 1981), was not obscene, under which it became possible for that book to be P·360. to

of in

of he

55

his for

the are

the her

she was

was

two

first

final

same post­ New quite

York

of

when

York,

by

Gamel

several unable Gerald

several

readily

letters,

literary

she

But habit in

as remem­ his Village, success­

when suffered

had she who

marriage there the

a

when

effect,

apartment New

from not

was

writings

New returned there

she

less

why

thereafter

Woolsey,

Woolsey

in first,

had periods here many

later.

in and if

comparatively

quote. private before

the

the

Powys

reading

increased in had

life

so fot the lived

published dated correct,

roughly

1921-24, something

Gregory, live in his Gamel Gamel's cause

long

obvious

rather generation

puzzles

Greenwich little

Gamel own;

is later, is Gamel

at Gamel years

to in be shall her

after

they a

Rex had

subsequently for below

of

much

difficulty

from so that

I of

in greatly

years

for

Rex,

their Alyse

and

be

more terminated.

Llewelyn is

or figures

for life

may and She

and

novel certain though

of 1925

had onher

of fifteen

the

to

problfble

Playter.

be

floor

pregnancy

the

meant

in

significance, from that by "never" speaks

to which origins

she man-this

the continued

week

but,

Russell the

Gamel recollection

one some there married

many setting

others a

Gamel

writer,

seems

say

and

me and

semi-invalid Phyllis any a had star-crossed York it

of

presents mistress. that

he

more

their for

I my

America, cul-de-sac the a

to

to was approximate,

as affected

Gamel lived

if First,

Russell.

divorced his

in

and

Russell

wars;

was Some

unpublished

are also one

Sand

New

both

separated Dial,

1924 and was

are have

there

children;

little

trust

in

life. the met be posting Russell

remembered later Rex, seems

yet concerning In the

Place

writings which

career

never and

The

may

Powys which,

other

soon

dates. be

became dates The success

lived

on and have

she

and

his the

of had may indeed lived ever

with

in

letters,

from

Llewelyn

so to

Bertrand

were autobiography, it also illness the it

of factor in

and

particular, Rex

love

day

must between

she had

and

Patchin

anything

to

England.

his in

Cowper

was able

It with Rex

Gamel's

here subsequent Editor

And does

letters

Patterns carrying Llewelyn, these

in one

dating in

Zealand.

married;

Gamel

it

serious

Powys

at another

she

and

her by Powys

period John before Place

her

dating separation considerable

date

England as

and native

even

is

letters

relationship for beginning

complete

first

her

New

letter of

again. all of by room to

never

to Dorset.

she

her his a

that hints

up,

but

to the

with

her

But

although years

of afterwards in

tuberculosis, both, Managing appeared.

in

after of

were

her

specimens

which

at relationship

that Llewelyn

Patchin

gone

marry Llewelyn

Although

After

books then was fully settle from life, this time, bered. soon inclined habit two difficulty writing coloured hundred marks, fact Brenan Woolsey's soon never to giving many including cleared York. met and occupied and they them lives return had pregnancies

a

at

a

he

to

be her

is the

for The her in­ her

first live am

New and

New

only New New

pity,

for

him,

I

is

was

collec­

a

to before and Dream. miscel­ would in of

the

over

the

from it

Gamel's

with thought is Gamel's

and

there including

mansions, with

Radcliffe might

obscenity

months

she apparently

writer. in

As restore and Gamel

three

and

of

increasingly a

and York.

today

accepted for for that

left native began letters,

have

This

with

Night's from

called, and

To

fortune as was a

consulted

and

works,

case abortions-these

while was prosecution are

recovery

her

several

was Chicago

New

suppressed her.

they

told

her

novel,

reader

in would we

the

appeared Judge.

journalist in

two for separated is

spectacular

and

other novel Hunter, usually A

second Gamel proceed

a

calls

confirm.

succeed, a seek

Hall, this

event documented.

miscarriage, York

of considered the

her which

as to and suffered

Midsummer

seen

a

Gamel's prosecutions

the he

being

to

probably most autobiography. was in

Rex

inadvisable, to

not A

years

finally the

found), of

as doubt life City was

Woolsey

not writings-was

also

took had New

he

in and marriage

for

survive. references have

it

after now did

was Love, at

met was

his principally

No scantily

I number M.

his home to they

four

as

been had

published a series letters

It but

of

for

of this

of

obscene

that a

miscarriages

Gamel

left

that yet

very

Hunter of

proofs decided

John

her

shortly when miscarriages,

two-volume

Gamel costume

part familiar

Charleston's States, is return Way

married

the

1931,

most plays, Ulysses.

1922. marriage, wife-Elsa, were she

of

he

not

when

in occasional

perhaps

Rex

hers

Gollancz

of

in But page and

pregnancy

story

that grounds,

his his

Judge

other

most

of One anything has any

wedding their were

and York

of

short there

June about

1921, unpublished which one greater

later, from

United

1985

The

Hunter-Rex,

lasted

two

proposed

1751.

is

three,

in what

finishing

together sets least

their they about

the left Hunter

a after York,

time New

poem before

normal and

the

traced

novel,

medical

at

finding

about

Loneliness.

of

a several

last

in

least

misfortune,

in and

after

four again. Post Rex

that after

them just of

in yet Gollancz

(or soon

at

her 1923, spent New evidence

published, judgment it around summer courts-the

the

life

of

Reginald At

marriage

this actress

a by

remarks

speculate

met

in not wrote

Well

but

had

for

who had an volume house itself writer history

which read published her to perhaps

closes

poems,

from

shortly April

himself legitimate

He

The

after

as Evening written

The British of

she he

Russell of

have

internal

big difficulty

25 never

had

first on

I

Maurice

Very

the

By

he

54

the

dating York illness, York Woodstock, earliest photograph On

signed Zealand York. laneous

tions the volume never tantalizing because

years last medical health England, dangerous; unhappy apart. Rex viewpoint publication publication. in Hall's

novel book,

have teresting but if 56 Russell summer 1985 Russell and Gamel Woolsey 57

In the winter of 1927-28 Llewelyn and Alyse were in New York for Just at this time Gerald Brenan arrived in the village to visit T. F. several months while he fulfilled an appointment as "visiting critic" for Powys, whose extraordinary genius attracted many artists and writers. It the New York Herald Tribune. It was natural enough that he should was shortly after his allegorical novel, Mr. Weston's Good Wine, had been encounter Gamel Woolsey, who lived so close to his brother John Cowper published, and artist Steven Tomlin had given Brenan an introduction to Powys. Alyse Gregory was one of the most remarkable women of her Powys. He arrived in the village one afternoon, and after settling into his time, a long-time advocate of freedom for women, and it would appear lodging had gone out for a walk along the lanes, where he met Gamel. He that she encouraged Llewelyn in his. fancy for Gamel-a fancy which was much struck, and thought she was probably one ofthe Powys sisters, turned easily to love. Llewelyn remained in New York until April 1928 for atthat time there were a number of members of the family living in and then returned to England. Almost immediately he and Alyse left for East Chaldon. Later he met Gamel at T. F. Powys's house, and very Europe and Palestine and were absent until May 1929. Within a few days quickly after that he fell in love with her. The break with Llewelyn was of their return, Gamel arrived from New York, and for another year her imminent, and in desperation she agreed to throw in her lot with Brenan. presence only a mile of two from Llewelyn and Alyse was the means of It was not exactly the most romantic of love stories, but it sufficed; and bringing all three endless stress, anxiety, and unhappiness-which none over the years the two grew close, as the letters of both testify, time and of them could avoid or lessen, do what they would. again; nor were they separated until Gamel's death nearly forty years This story has been told in two publications which are central to an later. As Alfred de Kantzow had said years earlier to John Cowper understanding of Gamel's character. The first is So Wild a Thing, the Powys, "You can'tlive with a woman for forty years without loving her", Letters ofLlewelyn Powys to Gamel Woolsey, edited by Malcolm Elwin and and no doubt that is true for women living with men. published in 1973. The second is the selection from the journals of Alyse A few weeks after this Gerald took Gamel to Norfolk, where she had to Gregory covering this period, edited by Michael Adam and published enter a sanitarium; and Llewelyn and Alyse hurried from East Chaldon also in 1973 under the title The Cry ofa Gull. In her journal Alyse Gregory and took ship for New York. "The high song is over", they might have says at one point that she hopes all the documents in this matter between said, all three; but love is not so easily shrugged off, as Gerald Brenan Gamel, Llewelyn and herselfwill one day be published, and to this end I learned. But he had known hopeless love himself, and he brought to have edited the Letters of Gamel Woolsey to Llewelyn PowyS.4 Of equal Gamel a strengthening sympathy and understanding, which she remem­ importance is the correspondence of Gamel Woolsey with Alyse bered, always with gratitude. When Llewelyn Powys went to Switzer­ Gregory-for despite everything these two were close friends from the land, some years later-a journey he did not live to retrace-Gamel beginning. These letters, too, will be published in due course. several times made a visit to see him. He died in 1939, but her firm During that year in the remote village of East Chaldon the love affair friendship with Alyse lasted almost another thirty years. ran its course. Gamel had doubtless been swept offher feet by Llewelyn's When Gamel was well enough Gerald returned with her to Spain, and charm, his reputation, his persuasive eloquence and romantic it was here that she first met Bertrand Russell, in the early summer of personality-a man not unacquainted with grief, with an interesting 1933, as my opening quotation relates. We have seen how Gamel ap­ weakness, for he was beset with the same malady that Gamel had so peared to Russell from the beginning, for although the quotation is recently combated, and above all because at forty-five, despite his lined retrospective it records how she seemed to him as he came to know her, face and gray hair, he was as strikingly attractive as he had been at even though at the end he presents her as lovely but autumnal. Gamel's twenty. Gamel had already sought comfort from her forlorn marriage regard for Russell developed more slowly, and the ambivalence of her with other men, as she records in One Way of Love, but this was feelings may be seen in a passage from a letter she wrote to Llewelyn something quite different. Llewelyn Powys was "the love of her life", Powys about April 1936, after she had known Russell for almost three Gerald Brenan has said; I am not sure about this, but certainly her love years. She says: for Llewelyn Powys brought the greatest and most sustained unhappi­ ness of her life. Finally, in the summer of 1930, Gamel said that the I am so tired of seeing people-it sounds strange to say so here, but so many relationship must end. people seem to come, and the Russells stayed such a long time. And I only half like him. It's queer that I can never really like him. My heart never warms to 4 Published in 1983 by the Warren House Press, North Walsharn, Norfolk. him at all. His guiding forces are vanity and love ofpower, and to gratify them 58 Russell summer 1985 Russell and Gamel Woolsey 59

he wasted his amazing talent for Mathematics and took to writing books on other men he develops in the long run a veiled hostility, unless they are his happiness and marriage, and all the subjects about which he so evidently disciples, for it is disciples he wants. But he cannot resist any attractive knows nothing worth saying. But in many things he shows great integrity of women; and then, like Voltaire, he has a love of humanity and a horror of thought and character. And I admire him, only I can't really like him. I never cruelty and oppression which are completely genuine. However this allows quite know why.s him to hate the oppressors and he is stronger at hatred than at love. As he is absolutely lacking in what Pascal calls "esprit de finesse" or in knowledge of Beside this may be set an interesting exchange between Brenan and the world, he makes shocking blunders, carried away by his passions. Yet he is Russell on the character ofGamel Woolsey in letters dated respectively I certainly a very great man, though if he had the sense that every farmer and June and 7 July 1959-when both friends had come to know one another grocer has he would be a greater one. 6 better. Gerald says, Whatever the merits ofthis assessment ofRussell's character, it shows Gamel is very well. She has been writing a good many sonnets, her best work so that he and Brenan would have many things upon which to argue and far. Naturally they are all very melancholy. She has the greed for unhappiness disagree; but their friendship over forty years was stronger than any of those who have suffered little. Her pride has always prevented her from disagreement. At one point, in a letter dated "Nov 23rd, Sunday" doing this-pride is the great isolator. And so she is inclined to feel that she has addressed to Peter Spence, Gerald says "You place a great many in­ missed all the great things in life and wasted or misused her talent. terpretations on my letter which are not there. But first let me say how sorry I am if! have said anything that could be thought unkind. I certainly To this Russell answers, "Would you tell Gamel that I should be deeply had no such intention, for my love and admiration for Bertie are very grateful if she would let me see her sonnets? I find it hard to believe that great. He has the mind which I admire above anyone else's in England." she has· suffered little. She does not look as if this were so. I still have a And in a letter to Russell dated 26 November 1940, he refers to his strong affection for her.... Please give her my best love." distress at "upsetting Peter" and goes on at some length to refer to a letter Now Gerald does not mean to dismiss Gamel's suffering, he only says concerning Russell's Which Way to Peace? (1936), the general contents of that by the exercise of her pride she has mastered it, or at least kept it which Gerald goes over again. Gerald Brenan's original letter would seem under control. There was a strong vein of melancholy in her make-up, to be that dated 18 November 1936, and both are in the Bertrand Russell dating from her severe illness as a young woman, as Gerald says Archives. elsewhere. And Gerald's own sufferings in his long and unhappy love Gerald Brenan does not quarrel with Russell's main arguments, but affair with Carrington made him quite aware ofthe effect on Gamel ofher with the manner in which he presents them, for Gerald held strong views marriage, and her affair with Llewelyn Powys; he knew also that she was of his own on all the political subjects which engaged Russell, and often homesick for South Carolina. He was not unsympathetic, as his frequently in his letters (and one imagines, in his conversation) he published and unpublished references to her amply demonstrate; but he suggested alternative means of approach, without differing in funda­ was trying to be objective, and he knew her better than any other person mentals with Russell's thesis. His appreciaton and admiration for Rus­ ever did. sell's other writings were unbounded, and for such a work as the History Gerald Brenan's letters are full of little vignettes which are perhaps df Western Philosophy (to name but one) he has no words which could more familiarly composed than they would be if designed for print; the praise it too highly. short passage that I have quoted about Gamel is an example, and here is Whatever might have been Russell's capacity for friendship, I cannot one concerning Bertrand Russell in a letter from Gerald to Alyse Gregory think that such letters (whether of praise or blame) as Gerald Brenan of I April 1967. In this letter he has been discussing another writer, and wrote to him could be written without a very real friendship between he turns to Russell almost as an afterthought: sender and recipient. Gamel Woolsey's correspondence with Russell as it survives is rela­ Bertrand Russell, on the other hand, whose autobiography I expect you are tively scanty, taking into account the span of years over which it was reading, has never had more than three or four men friends in his life. For

6 Correspondence in my possession. 5 The Letters of Gamel Woolsey to Llewelyn Powys, 1930-1939, p. 80. I

a

is

of

for 61 am

B.7

the the the

not one any just

and one

Cir­ tell,

after

such

brief love.

but

is brief,

if on in

but poet. time

do

Gamel.

always,

closing too. miss

in

on

feelings

England

I love~

personal that certainly with

deserts they

very

the

a

that

is

deal, letters, the there

love may as

even

wife my

Atlantic

Arthur A the

I of

if

Russell's

handwriting, Woolsey

It

especially to

Gamel

D' openly

says

Domestic

All are

the of

together But

love

speculate

great

beautiful

With your

Russell, now

Russell's

a suppose much

while

here.

note,

and

to

love letters

of

friendship

as

and

Gamel quite

how here letter,

comparatively "his I or

Morte those

walk miss

love?"

Library.

lived

I find Russell's

is

must

is

I

and signature. meeting

her, the

how one, love together. perfunctory, like

in

depth meeting, Russell

Gamel

they a

have

considered

to receive

what this

in

is Public

We called conceal I

any

than

what And telegram

Russell's

as

be

our or

for It

long-But were

were

knew

a

and

that

words

shade

all. from

difference; Russell

of York so

nor

he often

a

have

genuine at

feel between

you

journey they this.

write

few

there

you,

I is the

deeper younger. hardly

New

although after "Love,

a a

without

if

to

to

1947: the

years

letters

occasion years

send

by was

can

eavesdrop

this

might when

like days- I

remembered.

letters spoken,

seeing But, writing, him.

point the Gamel.

the much the

go nearer.

I

and

we

or to

beyond England of

of

be

March longer for

Collection,

and these when

will made dear

in relationship Gamel

than observer,

note 5

exception

recognize sounds

Byron

can

always,

in

not hardly

to part

trains inadvisable

during

months feel an much

of

Berg is the

place

an

married.

back any

much it

written been

nearer to feeling,

so

nor are

the not is do feelings the

or love

be

what

Russell

some

about

Goodbye beautiful

in would

letters

to times

letter

assess did

possible

have

sea- them her draw

some way can

made deep

I

a

this;

date

is

out with

of

of over

this of recently

which

forward whether from more

we the of it possibly

are

as

when

sated. were

Gamel's

no

must

strange

find

which cannot

any

that

tideless even

eternity

is of

yet Russell's look hate

fairly

most

has

in I I'll I

It nature there

we

Gamel,

There Words, vast not ever,

Blaenau-ffestiniog-it suppose is-even that convenient.

Correspondence

7

but

quoted, document real Brenans cumstances" some kind. expression and evidence sunshine, The for Now, man and quotation sentences find agrees

.

.

to is

to

of

of

at

....

see her

see

the reti­

was freer

why

attri­

16th be

partly

in others much

letters

which and

Russell rather

enough

usual, sort

Russell, Brenan we

come there

passage Way to private

are

be

a

and

the see

says,

to

would

as

reluctance and somewhat

Powys

and

something

been

novel

love

the

yet

publishers

this

and

One

used

centred can

she

until

of

herself

of perhaps there

and has

in

Gerald

Gregory

altogether

Russell not

or

against

too

we

Gamel

as write other they move, Russell,

stay

Countess Brenan

Certainly for to

is give Cowper

and undated Russell, novel Gamel's

holding are

to it,

necessarily never

thought

have the

short, her

and to Alyse

knew. than

She

the

in

herself number

treats,

was

from

Edith

or

John on to

and

a Wales.

Edith, letters it upon; him."

....

doesn't she

13th

expressions

why

friends Gregory, suited

to Russell,

she

why

in

by

to met cannot

partly not

example, private

truth

the harsher

and that to

like

is letters

on concerning

criticise about and

relatively an

yet

and

on close

this this are

Alyse

people

is

with

go

Gamel's

she example, ideally

survived, remarks house explicit

to

much constantly astray. to not

you also

Russell,

more

things really to

the

worry

But

cannot is for

them

I feelings,

qualities.

not the

go was

events; addressed Here then see

response was are all had

passages

publication their

on

wrote

with to

she

or

such

because

and

attribute letters that Brenan her.

nor

can't

"shared";

to I'd fine

rather

I there for

have

also. of

I

she concerned applied

to

1961:

his

moods And

5 is

come

it Gamel

state almost

Russell Russell 8 contain

than

of outward

it

are

to cautious

of as

many

to

both. Gerald only though, novelist 19 think letters are

to

moved

thoughts there, of letters of.

a

letters I

for judgements

as

like its

expected

intimacy,

preserved,

these people.

mental

the

be

content-those, October rather is out

more convenient.

Russell's

just 1955,

considered

several much them him,

Her

and

which

2

some of It

letters heard not other

of

in be have much to so

other and

principles summer

of

responses

introspective

never

then

despite early down

yet borne

are

implied

that in Gamel's

true,

very

framework did,

naturally

admire

Bertie,

Many people.

her these Gamel's

it, some her

interesting,

set will letters, is

are

seriously would these would

had the

Playter.

letter

Gamel's fact of have in

"I to I so in incommunicable in she

...

really Russell

a I

dear

would

is other this

addressed

is read

they

that

I

the

write even

expression probably But

It own to She

that. interested

If

When

60

My

if

written.

although are to to light. than sometimes noncommittal; Phyllis in back:

neither buted occur cences speaks

from

Gamel poetry emotion,

superficial not

Love who

how but Russells 62 Russell summer 1985 Russell and Gamel Woolsey 63

addressed to Gamel, although hername does not appear. Itis notpart ofa ofany other such passages as the one I have quoted means that Gamel had letter; that seems clear. It is as though he placed it in her hand at parting told Alyse all she wished to of her relationship in private conversation. from her one day. When she says "I have not seen Bertrand Russell for such a long time", I find by checking that the last meeting between them prior to December From the first I have loved your strange eyes, expressing a kind of gentle 1952 was June 1950, so far as my records go at present. But, so far as mockery and the wisdom of old pain assimilated. Then I noticed the loving "difficulties" arose, I must acknowledge that these might only have been kindness expressed in all your movements. Very soon I saw that, like me, you occasioned by the distance between Russell and Gamel, his crowded life, live in an alien world, whose manners and customs and assumptions are not and such external hindrances. So difficult is it to come at what lies behind what seem deeply natural to you. This has caused us both to have a secret inner even a few simple words. life ofmemory-memory ofpeople and places we have loved, the people dead Despite what I have said, there is one sustained passage in an undated or estranged, the places deprived oftheir ancient beauty. Those with whom we letter to Alyse Gregory, probably of autumn 1945; and as a prelude to associate, even in apparent intimacy, cannot share this secret life, and are even this, a small aside in another letter of this period, where Gamel says likely to be jealous ofit. And so I came to look to you for a companionship I had "Bertrand Russell wrote me that he longed to die a heroic death fighting no longer hoped to find. Your silences said more to me than the words ofthe against evil, but that when the atom bombs fall he will be struggling to most eloquent and explicit. Gradually your beauty invaded my inmost being. I pay his bills...." The other quotation is much longer: feel it as I feel the night wind in willows, or the note of distant curlews on a lonely moor. I feel no longer alone, no longer dusty, for your existence sheds Since I wrote you I have been all the way to Cambridge to see Bertrand enchantment even over this arid world. Russell-(this is only for you, for it is better for him no one should know). I had to spend two nights in London so I could go down just for the day. By a curious coincidence, there is an undated, unaddressed paper on Cambridge was like a dream offalling leaves-and it did not seem possible that rather similar lines to this, among the letters of Gamel Woolsey to I was sitting in Newton's rooms with Bertrand Russell, watching the golden Lewelyn Powys, in which she employs allegory (not very skilfully). leaves falling, falling outside. Towards the close she says, "And she knew that the noise ofthe world, He talked a great deal of his youth when he first came to Cambridge and the chariots and the confusion, the passions and the griefs, the jealousy what passionate friendships he made. And how they used to walk round and and giving in marriage went by outside and left the children unchanged round the cloisters ofTrinity at night talking and talking, and always thinking in their windless spring, walking in their secret garden." that if they talked a little more they would discover something of infinite The most revealing passage I can find in any of Gamel's letters occurs importance-and, as he said, it was true really, for all his ideas 'ror Principia in one written to Alyse Gregory, perhaps in December 1952-for as usual Mathematica came to him when he was very young out ofsuch discussions and this tentative date can only be established by internal evidence. Here is such exhaltations. what Gamel says: He is writing a book on philosophy, which he wants to be his swan-song-to express most fully his ideas on philosophy-And I think this book is a I feel so sad because I have not seen Bertrand Russell for such a long time-we passionate interest to him and a happiness-But I think apart from that he is have both wanted very much to meet. But it leads to such difficulties-and lonely and sad. He has patched up his life with Peter as best he could for then I feel despondent and will not try-but is sad-for life is so uncertain and Conrad's sake. But I think all these storms have worn him. He looks older­ those rare meetings were so much better than anything else-But this for your even older than he is sometimes-though wonderfully distinguished. eyes only- Sometimes I found his vanity so touching. He said that he always felt hostility. to other people-it was very hard for him to get over this-I saw how much it This short passage suggests several things, if I interpret it correctly. It explained in his character and manner. The brilliance, the instinctive attack suggests to me that Gamel enjoyed Russell's conversation and his com­ with the sharpest weapons because he expects attack-But what do such pany, but encountered what she calls "difficulties" because Russell feelings come from?-Something far away and long ago I am sure-deeply wished for a closer relationship. And it suggests that although there are a hidden and deeply rooted. What maimed and halting creatures we all are-All number of passing references to Russell in the letters to Alyse­ of us with the Wound-so few with the Bow. references to visits, his fourth marriage, things he has said-the absence I wonder if you could help me with something I quoted to Bertie- I

34·

as

all

65 un­

well p.

ever,

yours

long

greatly

Russell

though

Gerald.

are

I

perhaps

above

she'lived as

Through­

1977),

Ever

Saturday.

Yours

you

but

see, had

82.

miss

on

Woolsey

gentleness,

to

p.

see, Bertrand

for

friend. Press,

amazing,

hope

me survived.

I

to shall

4),

9

pour,

I

8

him

are,

it?

died, me

19

were Gamel

death. House

air, feel.

name;

seas

patience,

more.

for

flame­

she to reached

by

which

rest,

and door:

will

fishes

nor ashore­

(ibid., friendship

sympathetic

illness

allowed Her to transform

and allowed

Warren

bright

her. you crave ground-

death

flood, our

cast

and face

her

leaping

she last out nothing

had

where

flesh hoarded we to

a Russell pain. opened

Woolsey

at

holy

what not

be

nothingness,

sympathy,

where

in close

ago,

Norfolk: the sailor the

gave policy

in

a that firs, float

in

Gamel's laid me knowing

her

at

grave,

Gamel

through

Gamel

to to

know then,

me of time her of intense

may

let shine lost

I

wings

of

heart

and

all

the

public

from

me

felt

U.K.

I of

her in Walsham, that this:

bury

some

birds,

this.

which

corpse

dead,

dead

Poems as

Autobiography.

quickens

nothing

seagull smoke, shipwrecked

suffered

intimacy

not

freedom

expect the

courage

remembrance

am

when with am

be

twists

in

(North

that I

the in which, the I

your

is

answer and

poems

informing

have

me garnered elements

and me Norfolk, give

them

and

rise be soar Collected

lie on air

would to

distressed

the

with

As When Let As What Not Sonnets To Let But To To When The poems To The

letter remembered

of

might

turns on warmth

you

in

relief

the

trouble to

much

sad

Eight

the

she the

now

replied:

Gerald

Walsham,

what

going

all

very

Your

Don't

live.

liked

Thinking Twenty Reprinted I Dear I admired am out

only and immense longer complainingness

9

North

Russell

Russell

to

to

to in of

the

old for an

and She

but had out

and was and and was had life;

mar­ have

on

three

think. cancer

he doctor

it Gamel was

go.

little

his

or she

a

arm

such love all

it

years

attractive

surround­ dead.

absorbing legends

of 1967,

of

literatures;

disease respond

The

not

her

but Glastonbury two

legends and

quote second

that

an 18 of

with treatment

might

fortnight,

passions, Gamel

any

misquoted.

the A was

must consolation three

to

a

last so

that

Perhaps

and uncommitted pain.

ray

myths Jan

of His could

weak,

for that been would for

like decades

with

modern

saw The

person, resist so

the

slightly Arthurian

she

Russell

Gamel acute

perhaps summer

she said

unrewarding factors

cobalt perhaps

by-

and

found. have blocked, long look

was

again­ not

the

would

good. Paris,

Tuesday

writing

the reticent,

for

England

it's had to his that who

men."s

that

Praise,

the in

he

suffer

no

on

it

in

to

except

undergraduate were the

heart

with she

friendship

speak seasons, would philosophies, say and

who intriguing

ancient did not observer;

and

said

remember

in over

"could

died

dying

it

to

her

time to back

his Malaga all doctor

completely

they then

did the

a

and beyond to

and

in disappointments.

and of

but

know is

Thanks

in for

last sure

concealed

casual

withdrawn,

and she went

Russell

Russell's

failed; Gamel

but

this

Powys a

1949-so--these

man

wrote

life, and

Russell

women,

because who

the

conversant became

before

cities We years had

read to

don't

as

relationships,

never

subconsciously, surgeon mysterious, you.

with her I

her,

there,

for

But

religions, a

woman though Breathing

the

dying as

She

such

person,

tell

a

a throat for them late

you

Brenan Bertrand Cowper in

of her

marriage

ruined

widely to

morphia

was

cancer

curable. 1985 Love

as struck '"

understand so as

a

Her son-in-law,

spoke appeared lost

perhaps

be

seen

saw breast. her frustrations

to sufficiently

studied she was

emotional

John

prolonging

news book-but

"I And

to

solitary

last. my third

Gregory.

distressing

Gerald her man

of

had Baxter,

her a her

ancient number

have

give

Baxter a

was

his had and sad him,

moreover

a

the summer

his

companion to

many

he

to

very

Newton, immensely of

Russell

Malleson took rooted advise hope 1968

Alyse

she

she visit from August

very

Woolsey

and of

within

Such

with was

he Richard glad

to

was

the

as

Moreover, suppositories.

were

found

page Bertie,'

last

Richard

failed,

in

Russell

personal

refused have was He

was

deeply

essentially exciting

could

them; from perhaps

I

able

shade

had

Gamel title

January is

Bertrand Dear

radiating when

swollen too she here weeks

had opium

64

she be ing peoples.

and It was close Romance; women", friends experienced riage Constance

weighed Gamel.

what the He quote Woolsey and

in

8