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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Dr. Graham
Fordfield. Cambridge.
[Undated: circa May 1913]
Dr. Graham,
Thanks for your note of the 4th inst. I should have supposed that any mind could see that the finest possible thing is the indissoluble union of the whole of two personalities. Such union would be Samadhi and in accordance with the One Great Law through whose operation we get back to God. I should also have thought even the conventional mind could see that this union was not secured by marriage, and owing to this failure, marriage has today become certainly to the young a symbol for the association of all that is vile and degrading with all that should be most pure.
It is also a question of what you mean by marriage. In the tenure of this planet there must have been thousands of different forms, some of which both in theory and practice must have been far looser bonds than what most people call "free loves, and there is clearly no question of right or wrong involved in the choice of various details of the marriage contract. You must remember that some very responsible civilisations would have been scandalised if a man married without giving his bride's father a cow. All these social arrangements are beside the question. In any case marriage today is a discredited question. Other than for rare accidents it has become so for the great majority of those people who need it most. It has consequently already been replaced by haphazard unions between economically independent people. That such unions are not open and respectable prevents them from developing into unions which would be marriage in all but the name. Respectability as always defeats itself.
You will never get anything out of me by paying me compliments as you ought to know, and probably do. The only unpublished poem at my disposal is called "Chicago May". In it I endeavour to express the thought of the Prince de Clairemont with regard to Lady Abdy. It is a very long poem and very beautiful but I do not think it will suit your purpose. All my work on Cambridge is to be found in the Songs of the Spirit, and in "Mysteries Lyrical and Dramatic". I may mention "In Neville's Court", "Wheat and Wine", "By the Cam", "Astrology", "The Dreaming Death", "Beside the River", "On Garret Hostel Bridge"; all are more or less inspired by Cambridge. There is also a book of rubbish of mine called "In Residence", Elijah Johnson, 1/- I dare say you have seen it. Absolute filth. I think that one or two of the things catch the real spirit of Cambridge in certain of its aspects. Of all that light vein of Cambridge verse which generation often turns out with such regularity that you cannot possibly distinguish any given author, it is the undergraduate point of view. It is the spirit of undergraduate life expressing itself through any of its avatars who happen to have a little ordinary education, which of course is a very rare thing among undergraduates. The light of intelligence gradually dwindles and finally flickers out in the gloom of Fellowships and Benefices. I never mind experience on occasions. "Mad Mary" is an attempt to express the feelings of a devout Catholic girl. The natural way of dramatising to me appears to be Browning's. I find it unfortunately more difficult to express character through dialogue and action.
I rather thought you were psychic and cannot quite tell you why, but did you ever hear what happened to the fish that wouldn't swim. It is sweet of you to send me Newbury's address, but in case you should be writing to him, I must tell you that Mrs. Royce lives at 125 Victoria, not 135 as you say. Mrs. Royce is his aunt. I know her. I have known her long. I have never known her intimately. I don't think I have ever liked her very much. It has never occurred to me to make love to her. She has never attracted me intellectually. Morally I approve of her, but without enthusiasm, and yet, despite all this, I am perfectly sure of her address. I am asking the stenographer to check this certainty of mine by an appeal to the telephone book and send you a signed certificate stating the result of her researches.
Yours very sincerely.
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