Anthony Trollope to GHL, Waltham Cross, 7 April 1861
Title
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Waltham Cross, 7 April 1861
Title
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Waltham Cross, 7 April 1861
Sender
Anthony Trollope
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1861-04-07
Place
Waltham Cross
Letter Content
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Waltham Cross, 7 April 1861
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 88-89.
Waltham Cross. | April 7. 1861.
My dear Lewes.
I must consider your letter as in some degree special, and give it a special answer.
You take me too closely au pied de la lettre as touching husbands and lovers. 535 As to myself personally, I have daily to wonder at the continued run of domestic and worldly happiness which has been granted me; -- to wonder at it as well as to be thankful for it. I do so, fearing that my day, also, of misery must come; -- for we are told by so many teachers of all doctrines that pain of some sort is mans lot. But no pain or misery has as yet come to me since the day I married; and if any man should speak well of the married state, I should do so.
But I deny that I have done other. There is a sweet young blushing joy about the first acknowledged reciprocal love, which is like the bouquet of the first glass of wine from the bottle -- It goes when it has been tasted. But for all that who will compare the momentary aroma with the lasting joys of the still flowing bowl? May the bowl still flow for both of us, and leave no touch of headache.
When do you go Alpwards? and what do you do before that. I shall be here from Sunday 14th to Friday (morning) 19th but with no one in the house but wife and boys. Again from Monday 23rd, to Sunday 28th and then shall have friends, who will like to meet you. Can you name a day for either period? Of course a man who comes here sleeps here.
Yours always
Anthony Trollope.
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 88-89.
Waltham Cross. | April 7. 1861.
My dear Lewes.
I must consider your letter as in some degree special, and give it a special answer.
You take me too closely au pied de la lettre as touching husbands and lovers. 535 As to myself personally, I have daily to wonder at the continued run of domestic and worldly happiness which has been granted me; -- to wonder at it as well as to be thankful for it. I do so, fearing that my day, also, of misery must come; -- for we are told by so many teachers of all doctrines that pain of some sort is mans lot. But no pain or misery has as yet come to me since the day I married; and if any man should speak well of the married state, I should do so.
But I deny that I have done other. There is a sweet young blushing joy about the first acknowledged reciprocal love, which is like the bouquet of the first glass of wine from the bottle -- It goes when it has been tasted. But for all that who will compare the momentary aroma with the lasting joys of the still flowing bowl? May the bowl still flow for both of us, and leave no touch of headache.
When do you go Alpwards? and what do you do before that. I shall be here from Sunday 14th to Friday (morning) 19th but with no one in the house but wife and boys. Again from Monday 23rd, to Sunday 28th and then shall have friends, who will like to meet you. Can you name a day for either period? Of course a man who comes here sleeps here.
Yours always
Anthony Trollope.
Signature
Anthony Trollope.
Citation
Anthony Trollope, Anthony Trollope to GHL, Waltham Cross, 7 April 1861, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91720