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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Frederic Mellinger
The Ridge St. Leonards-on-Sea
19 . 7 . 45
Care Frater,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thanks for your letter of July 4th.
I have not been feeling too well for the last week or so, mostly the treacherous and depressing weather, so I thought I had better delay my reply until I felt equal to it.
Please disillusion the local nobility and gentry about the name Crowley. It is de Querouaille—a Dukedom in Brittany. It was Alys of that ilk who was the great Monarch's ambassadress to Charles II. We came over with the Duke of Richmond (later Henry VII) to fight the Battle of Bosworth and settle down in England by stealing abbeys and becoming Sheriffs of London and Bishops who wrote highly improper poetry and all that sort of thing. I have for this reason always considered myself a Frenchman of the time when France was France. I certainly do not want to claim kinship with the gutless and dishonest imbeciles that have wrecked their country in the last 20 years.
I have had similar reports about the modern trend from McMurtry [Grady McMurtry], who flew over here a week or two ago to see me. Why should we work to rebuild our country, everybody asks, as long as we can get other people to do it for us. That is not the way in which any country ever was rebuilt.
Hoping that your luck will bring you in this direction earlier than you at present expect.
Love is the law, love under will.
Yours ever,
Aleister Crowley
Civil F. Mellinger, PP.10045 APO887 [illegible] Local U.S. Army
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