Charles Lee Lewes to Agnes Lewes, Hofwyl, 13 September 1857
Title
Charles Lee Lewes to Agnes Lewes, Hofwyl, 13 September 1857
Title
Charles Lee Lewes to Agnes Lewes, Hofwyl, 13 September 1857
Sender
Charles Lee Lewes
Recipient
Agnes Lewes
Date(s)
- 1857-09-13
Place
Hofwyl
Letter Content
Charles Lee Lewes to Agnes Lewes, Hofwyl, 13 September 1857
MS: Yale.
Hofwyl, September 13th/57.
Dear Mamma,
Thank you very much for your presents of seeds and books. Your portraits are safely locked up in my cupboard, where the other boys cannot get hold of them. I did not recognise Rosie or Edmund in the least, you I did but the portrait does not do you justice. I think Nursie's portrait is the most like. Thank her very much for the Knife she sent me, and tell her I will write to her next Sunday if possible; for I have now more work than ever as my music lessons, and practising hours are in play-hours joined to this English 2 a week and you will find that a good many free hours are taken away. But on Sunday we have 2 hours on purpose for writing letters or learning our lessons for Monday, which I have to do frequently on Sunday because we are given by all the masters more work to do than any other day in the week. Last Sunday I wrote to Mrs. Owen Jones. Not knowing where my geraniums were I left them in Bertie's box for 2 or 3 days the consequence was that most were spoilt and the verbena was dead. However I have still a good many slips which I think will do for next year. It is nice now that we are in another room without a master for I can work much better without a master than with one.
The winter season is now in so we learn our lessons in the evening instead of the morning. It's good for one thing i.e. we can sit up as long as we like working, but the bad is we are never awakened till nearly 'bd past six and I like to be up long before six. Jules, one the boys in our room, generally wakes at 'bd past 5 and then he awakens me. Since the holidays nearly 12 boys have come as some have come since Papa left. There is an English boy from Milan who speaks English with a strong Italian accent. Tell Papa Mrs. Young is not yet gone but I think she is going in a few days. By the time you get this letter she will be perhaps off, and the boys, I mean her boys, will then have to come regularly to classes, and not stay away sometimes the whole day, other times two or three hours. How does Edmund get on at Dr. Pearce's? Bertie who got a great many friends at Dr. Pearce's I am afraid won't do so well here, for the boys here and at Dr. Pearce's are quite a different set. One good thing is we can fight our battles without fear of being caned. However I think he will get on all right. It is a pity for him that he can't speak a bit of French for then he would be able to make himself understood, but as it is he must always get an interpreter.
We shall soon leave off bathing now for the water is getting dreadfully cold. We shall then have gymnastics. We are going to have a uniform now that there are so many but only for Sunday, because a great many boys have quantities of good clothes that they must wear out. I still sleep with only a sheet over me but I am afraid I'll soon be obliged to put on my blanket. They don't have mattresses here but light featherbeds like at Paris. These are tremendously hot, so hot indeed that in the middle of winter I kicked it off always. I hope you were all satisfied with your presents though I doubt if they [are] much to your taste. I had intended to get something at Bern for Emily but I could not find any thing that I thought she would like. I had a much larger and more beautiful swiss cottage I wanted to send over but Papa said he would not have place in his trunk, so I was obliged to content myself with sending the small ones.
It was a beautiful journey this year. We were a good large party but we managed to get beds enough except one night, just on the borders of Vaud in a pretty little village named Le Plan. From there we saw the glaciers beautifully the next morning as we set out for Aigle. At Chamouny we rested a day wandering about the town and its environs. One party of boys went with the masters to "la mer de glace" whilst the others remained in Chamouny. Salusbury and I mounted to the top of one the alps by Chamouny, not snowy alps, to get to the top of which we had tremendous work, as we often had to scale perpendicular rocks where we could only hold on by shrubs and moss, and if I wasn't a pretty good climber I should have fallen several times. However we managed to get up to the top where we rested some time, we then came down at more than double the rate we went up and several times we slipped on the moss and came tumbling down until stopped by some tree.
I have just finished my third lesson in music and am already further than several boys who have had several lessons more than me. When I come home I hope I'll be able to play a little properly. This morning a woman came with peaches at 15 centimes each the largest and 7 for the small ones. The boys of our room have clubbed together to buy a clock to keep in the schoolroom. Give my love and kisses to all at home and I remain
Your affectionate Son
Charles.
MS: Yale.
Hofwyl, September 13th/57.
Dear Mamma,
Thank you very much for your presents of seeds and books. Your portraits are safely locked up in my cupboard, where the other boys cannot get hold of them. I did not recognise Rosie or Edmund in the least, you I did but the portrait does not do you justice. I think Nursie's portrait is the most like. Thank her very much for the Knife she sent me, and tell her I will write to her next Sunday if possible; for I have now more work than ever as my music lessons, and practising hours are in play-hours joined to this English 2 a week and you will find that a good many free hours are taken away. But on Sunday we have 2 hours on purpose for writing letters or learning our lessons for Monday, which I have to do frequently on Sunday because we are given by all the masters more work to do than any other day in the week. Last Sunday I wrote to Mrs. Owen Jones. Not knowing where my geraniums were I left them in Bertie's box for 2 or 3 days the consequence was that most were spoilt and the verbena was dead. However I have still a good many slips which I think will do for next year. It is nice now that we are in another room without a master for I can work much better without a master than with one.
The winter season is now in so we learn our lessons in the evening instead of the morning. It's good for one thing i.e. we can sit up as long as we like working, but the bad is we are never awakened till nearly 'bd past six and I like to be up long before six. Jules, one the boys in our room, generally wakes at 'bd past 5 and then he awakens me. Since the holidays nearly 12 boys have come as some have come since Papa left. There is an English boy from Milan who speaks English with a strong Italian accent. Tell Papa Mrs. Young is not yet gone but I think she is going in a few days. By the time you get this letter she will be perhaps off, and the boys, I mean her boys, will then have to come regularly to classes, and not stay away sometimes the whole day, other times two or three hours. How does Edmund get on at Dr. Pearce's? Bertie who got a great many friends at Dr. Pearce's I am afraid won't do so well here, for the boys here and at Dr. Pearce's are quite a different set. One good thing is we can fight our battles without fear of being caned. However I think he will get on all right. It is a pity for him that he can't speak a bit of French for then he would be able to make himself understood, but as it is he must always get an interpreter.
We shall soon leave off bathing now for the water is getting dreadfully cold. We shall then have gymnastics. We are going to have a uniform now that there are so many but only for Sunday, because a great many boys have quantities of good clothes that they must wear out. I still sleep with only a sheet over me but I am afraid I'll soon be obliged to put on my blanket. They don't have mattresses here but light featherbeds like at Paris. These are tremendously hot, so hot indeed that in the middle of winter I kicked it off always. I hope you were all satisfied with your presents though I doubt if they [are] much to your taste. I had intended to get something at Bern for Emily but I could not find any thing that I thought she would like. I had a much larger and more beautiful swiss cottage I wanted to send over but Papa said he would not have place in his trunk, so I was obliged to content myself with sending the small ones.
It was a beautiful journey this year. We were a good large party but we managed to get beds enough except one night, just on the borders of Vaud in a pretty little village named Le Plan. From there we saw the glaciers beautifully the next morning as we set out for Aigle. At Chamouny we rested a day wandering about the town and its environs. One party of boys went with the masters to "la mer de glace" whilst the others remained in Chamouny. Salusbury and I mounted to the top of one the alps by Chamouny, not snowy alps, to get to the top of which we had tremendous work, as we often had to scale perpendicular rocks where we could only hold on by shrubs and moss, and if I wasn't a pretty good climber I should have fallen several times. However we managed to get up to the top where we rested some time, we then came down at more than double the rate we went up and several times we slipped on the moss and came tumbling down until stopped by some tree.
I have just finished my third lesson in music and am already further than several boys who have had several lessons more than me. When I come home I hope I'll be able to play a little properly. This morning a woman came with peaches at 15 centimes each the largest and 7 for the small ones. The boys of our room have clubbed together to buy a clock to keep in the schoolroom. Give my love and kisses to all at home and I remain
Your affectionate Son
Charles.
Signature
Charles.
Citation
Charles Lee Lewes, Charles Lee Lewes to Agnes Lewes, Hofwyl, 13 September 1857, 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/91751