My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleybrow' - but I was always glad to have seen through the eyes of an acute and asympathetic observer something of the astonishing interplay of personal frailty andgreat events. In later life I have often reflected how beneficially the course of historymight have been changed if human weakness had not perverted destiny. Would thefirst war ever have occurred - if Parnell had settled the Irish problem without thedelay of a generation and the protracted troubles which were at least a contributoryfactor in persuading the Germans that Britain could play no effective part in the warof 1914? - if Dilke, who stood firm against the division of Europe into rigidalignments of entente and triple alliance, had not fallen through an escapade or frameup?- if the tragedy at Mayerling had not engulfed Crown Prince Rudolf, who for allhis feeble character had considerable influence in resisting the same tendency fromthe other side? How much is history influenced by the vagaries of character? The truthprobably lies somewhere between Marx's materialist conception of history and theview that it really made a difference to Europe when the Duke of Buckingham fell inlove with the Queen of France. Both men and opportunity are needed to changehistory. It is the fiery contact of great men and great events which gives destiny thelight of birth.Thus was my childhood divided between two very different families. Does our lifecourse derive inevitably from childhood background and influence, or is it true thatthe world is character? - basic, original character? How strong is environment, andhow strong is nature? We need not be driven into the controversy between Lysenkoand his victorious opponents, but it is tempting to take a passing glance at thepsychologists, who claim in some degree to read our fate in our childhood years.Some opportunity was afforded me to study them during a protracted period moreentirely dedicated to reading than is usually possible in middle life. Plato'srequirement of withdrawal from life for a considerable period of study and reflectionbefore entering on the final phase of action was fulfilled in my case, though not by myown volition.The results at least gave me some chance to examine my own childhood in the light ofanalytical psychology. The broken home, the atmosphere of strife between precedinggenerations, some of the classic factors were present. At the end of it all, what effectdid they have on me? The only evident result I will concede at once is really verytrivial. I have a tendency to rely on some obliging woman to do small things for mewhich I feel she can do as well or better than I can, and are a waste of time for me todo; a conceit which obliging women are happily quite tolerant about. It arises clearlyfrom being the man of the house too soon, and having had a fondly devoted mother,whose help in such respect I repaid from the earliest age by gratuitous advice andvirile assertion on every subject under the sun. I had no father in the house to chaseme around, to make me do little things for myself and keep my mouth shut until mycontribution was opportune; but these are not failings to take too tragically.In general, I did not suffer from lack of male influence. The company of one or othergrandfather was constant, and no one could have been more male than these two. Myuncles too were always at hand, two hearty, jolly country squires of the best sort. Iwas sent to the barracks which were then called the schools of the well-to-do, and alittle later came in contact with the finest products of the real barrack life. This earlycontact with the athletic flower of the regular army was to exercise a profound, lastingand in my view most beneficent influence on my permanent attitude to life. A broken20 of 424