To Benjamin Apthorp Gould Fuller
C/o Brown Shipley & Co 123 Pall Mall, S.W.1
Richmond, England. June 13, 1919
My own feeling is that while a transformation of society is inevitable, and we are at the end of the liberal parlaimentary capitalist age, the revolution will be abortive from the point of view of those who desire it. There have been industrial revolts before; plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
I left my lodgings in Oxford at the beginning of this term, expecting to go to Paris to join Strong at the apartment where you have visited us; but he has been putting of his journey, and I don’t want to arrive until he is there and quite settled, as it is not for me to deal with several delicate matters of that ménage which will have to be decided. My passport is ready, and even the visa asked for and promised: and any day I expect to hear that I am awaited in Paris, and if nothing prevents I shall then go over— whether to make that my head-quarters for good, or to bring my things to England and establish myself here, I can’t yet tell. Fortunately I travel lightly, and it makes little difference to me or to my work where I happen to be. But it is harder for me to move, for the very reason that I am comfortable anywhere—here at Richmond now, for instance—and I foresee that after my present spell of travel I shall drop four anchors in some port—probably Oxford—and lie there honourably like those dismantled frigates—the Victory of Nelson, etc.—which one sees in the calm waters of certain arsenals.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Two, 1910-1920. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
Location of manuscript: The Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge MA