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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to J.F.C. Fuller
Westcliffe Mansions Eastbourne
Tuesday [Postmarked from Eastbourne on 3 August 1906]
Dear Captain Fuller,
I am sorry to hear of your enteric fever: but fate has treated me even worse; for after a most successful trip through china without a day's illness for any of us, our baby girl [Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hectate Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley] died of that very disease on the way home.
I like your poem and essay very much, though on the former you have attempted the impossible. At least nobody so far has ever mastered that metre, which (to my ear) absolutely requires a genuine dactyl in the first part of each line. The last four verses are quire perfect in this respect, which is more than I thought could be done; but some of the lines begin with 'of' and 'to' in the earlier stanzas. It is the fault of the English language: it will stand long metres with dactyls, but in short ones grammar comes in. As I say, nobody has yet written a perfect lyric in this metre; and I rather doubt if it can be done.
I am very glad to see you attacking that ass Vaughan, and still more so that you have no personal experience of the brothels of Port Said; but I want to ask you one question: viz:, On what truth is the Christian religion founded? It requires a positive answer, and a profound one.
I should be very glad to meet you any time: perhaps we might arrange to feed somewhere together one evening. I ought to be in town this month on business, and will let you know when beforehand. I don't run to a club, as I have never lived in or near London; but when I settle down, I suppose one must look out for one.
Do you, by the way, happen to be a Persian scholar? I have a Sufi MS. which I should like to discuss with you, if you are. It is a very extraordinary document indeed.
Yours very truly
Aleister Crowley
Capt. J. F. C. Fuller 7 Sydenham Hill London S.E.
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