Charles Bray to George Combe, Coventry, 28 October 1854
Title
Charles Bray to George Combe, Coventry, 28 October 1854
Title
Charles Bray to George Combe, Coventry, 28 October 1854
Sender
Charles Bray
Recipient
George Combe
Date(s)
- 1854-10-28
Place
Coventry
Letter Content
Charles Bray to George Combe, Coventry, 28 October 1854
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: Coventry 28 October | 1854 | Charles Bray | @ | Miss Evans. | 30th ansd.
Coventry, October 28/54.
My dear Mr. Combe,
I have heard from Miss Evans. 233 She says "In answer to your letter, let me first say that I have never written to Miss Martineau or had any communication with her since last November. I do not think her love of detraction would lead her to tell a deliberate falsehood and hence I conclude that the story of my having written to her etc. etc. is a gradually formed myth. The last folly I am likely to commit is that of thrusting my private affairs on others or seeking to make myself conspicious on the ground of them."
I pressed upon her for the sake of herself and friends that she should seperate herself from Lewes, supposing he was not immediately to return, according to the plan first settled, and she replies, that his health will not permit it at present, that she is absolutely necessary to him, and she refuses to do what she should consider wrong out of deference to the opinion of the world. She says "I mean this letter for you alone and I beg that you will not quote me either in my justification or otherwise. No one has any right to interfere with my conduct -- no one is responsible for me; and I beg that you will free yourself from annoyance and enquiries by stating that I am quite too old &unknown;enough&unknown; for you to be supposed in any way answerable for me. So far as my friends or acquaintances are &unknown;concerned&unknown; inclined to occupy themselves with my affairs, I am grateful to them and sorry that they should have pain on my account, but I cannot think that their digestion will be much hindered by anything that befals a person about whom they troubled themselves very little while she lived in privacy and loneliness."
So if you please consent to let the matter drop, and people must be allowed to come to their own conclusions as to the right or wrong of her &unknown;action&unknown; conduct. She also must be allowed to satisfy her own conscience. As a daughter she was the most devoted I ever knew, and she is just as likely to devote herself to some one other, in preference to all the world, and without reference either to the regularity or legality of the connection.
It would never be other-than a strong sense of public duty to the highest interests that would seperate me from her or her from my friendship. I have known her for years and should always feel that she was better by one half than 99/100 of the people I have ever known.
With the kindest regard from all our circle, whom you must not hold responsible for any thing I write as they know nothing of it, I remain, dear Mr. Combe
Very sincerely yours
Charles Bray.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: Coventry 28 October | 1854 | Charles Bray | @ | Miss Evans. | 30th ansd.
Coventry, October 28/54.
My dear Mr. Combe,
I have heard from Miss Evans. 233 She says "In answer to your letter, let me first say that I have never written to Miss Martineau or had any communication with her since last November. I do not think her love of detraction would lead her to tell a deliberate falsehood and hence I conclude that the story of my having written to her etc. etc. is a gradually formed myth. The last folly I am likely to commit is that of thrusting my private affairs on others or seeking to make myself conspicious on the ground of them."
I pressed upon her for the sake of herself and friends that she should seperate herself from Lewes, supposing he was not immediately to return, according to the plan first settled, and she replies, that his health will not permit it at present, that she is absolutely necessary to him, and she refuses to do what she should consider wrong out of deference to the opinion of the world. She says "I mean this letter for you alone and I beg that you will not quote me either in my justification or otherwise. No one has any right to interfere with my conduct -- no one is responsible for me; and I beg that you will free yourself from annoyance and enquiries by stating that I am quite too old &unknown;enough&unknown; for you to be supposed in any way answerable for me. So far as my friends or acquaintances are &unknown;concerned&unknown; inclined to occupy themselves with my affairs, I am grateful to them and sorry that they should have pain on my account, but I cannot think that their digestion will be much hindered by anything that befals a person about whom they troubled themselves very little while she lived in privacy and loneliness."
So if you please consent to let the matter drop, and people must be allowed to come to their own conclusions as to the right or wrong of her &unknown;action&unknown; conduct. She also must be allowed to satisfy her own conscience. As a daughter she was the most devoted I ever knew, and she is just as likely to devote herself to some one other, in preference to all the world, and without reference either to the regularity or legality of the connection.
It would never be other-than a strong sense of public duty to the highest interests that would seperate me from her or her from my friendship. I have known her for years and should always feel that she was better by one half than 99/100 of the people I have ever known.
With the kindest regard from all our circle, whom you must not hold responsible for any thing I write as they know nothing of it, I remain, dear Mr. Combe
Very sincerely yours
Charles Bray.
Signature
Charles Bray.
Citation
Charles Bray, Charles Bray to George Combe, Coventry, 28 October 1854, 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/91736