GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Coventry, 30 October 1852
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Coventry, 30 October 1852
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Coventry, 30 October 1852
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Bessie Rayner Parkes
Date(s)
- 1852-10-30
Place
Coventry
Letter Content
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Coventry, 30 October 1852
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | 9 Pelham Crescent | Hastings. Postmarks: COVENTRY | OC 30 | 1852; HASTINGS | NO 1 | 1852 | A. Hitherto unpublished.
Rosehill, Coventry | October 30, 1852.
Dear Bessie
I kept my resolution in spite of Edinburgh attractions and invitations, so the address on your letter was all right.
It comforts me to know that you are eating blackberries and polking. For some reason, or for no reason, I parted from you with rather a melancholy idea about you -- that you were not well and that you were going down there to be dull. I shall know better another time than to spend any anxiety upon you.
I have had a delightful month -- nothing but petting and admiration, beautiful scenery and agreeable talks. See what it is to go among people who know little of one! The long drives I had in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh were just what I wanted for my health and spirits. The soft outline of the Pentland Hills, the rich hanging woods, the bracing air, and Mrs. Combe's silvery voice and bright beautiful eyes were the best of medicines. They were the alterative -- then came the tonic in the shape of Harriet Martineau with her simple, energetic life, her Building Society, her winter Lectures and her cordial interest in all human things.
Now I am here for a week among affectionate long-tried friends, and I feel brave for anything that is to come after. That is quite enough about myself. You perceive that I am thriving -- that being extremely comfortable, I am resigned. I have noticed that my resignation always flourishes best in that kind of soil.
Like Sir Charles Grandison? I should be sorry to be the heathen that did not like that book. I don't like Harriet Byron much, she is too proper and insipid. Lady G. is the gem, with her marmoset. 214
Tell your noble-looking Barbara -- I cannot call her Miss Smith, at least to you -- that I only hope she will keep up her desire to make an "indelible impression" on me. It will be no hard task. The material she has to work upon is very impressible and I am sure the mould is firstrate.
I don't love you while I am writing to you, but when I have finished my letter I shall be as ever,
Your affectionate Friend
Marian Evans.
Mrs. Bray sends kind remembrances to you.
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | 9 Pelham Crescent | Hastings. Postmarks: COVENTRY | OC 30 | 1852; HASTINGS | NO 1 | 1852 | A. Hitherto unpublished.
Rosehill, Coventry | October 30, 1852.
Dear Bessie
I kept my resolution in spite of Edinburgh attractions and invitations, so the address on your letter was all right.
It comforts me to know that you are eating blackberries and polking. For some reason, or for no reason, I parted from you with rather a melancholy idea about you -- that you were not well and that you were going down there to be dull. I shall know better another time than to spend any anxiety upon you.
I have had a delightful month -- nothing but petting and admiration, beautiful scenery and agreeable talks. See what it is to go among people who know little of one! The long drives I had in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh were just what I wanted for my health and spirits. The soft outline of the Pentland Hills, the rich hanging woods, the bracing air, and Mrs. Combe's silvery voice and bright beautiful eyes were the best of medicines. They were the alterative -- then came the tonic in the shape of Harriet Martineau with her simple, energetic life, her Building Society, her winter Lectures and her cordial interest in all human things.
Now I am here for a week among affectionate long-tried friends, and I feel brave for anything that is to come after. That is quite enough about myself. You perceive that I am thriving -- that being extremely comfortable, I am resigned. I have noticed that my resignation always flourishes best in that kind of soil.
Like Sir Charles Grandison? I should be sorry to be the heathen that did not like that book. I don't like Harriet Byron much, she is too proper and insipid. Lady G. is the gem, with her marmoset. 214
Tell your noble-looking Barbara -- I cannot call her Miss Smith, at least to you -- that I only hope she will keep up her desire to make an "indelible impression" on me. It will be no hard task. The material she has to work upon is very impressible and I am sure the mould is firstrate.
I don't love you while I am writing to you, but when I have finished my letter I shall be as ever,
Your affectionate Friend
Marian Evans.
Mrs. Bray sends kind remembrances to you.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Coventry, 30 October 1852, 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/92031