GE to Charles Bray, Broadstairs, 21 July 1852
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Broadstairs, 21 July 1852
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Broadstairs, 21 July 1852
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1852-07-21
Place
Broadstairs
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Broadstairs, 21 July 1852
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 286-287.
Broadstairs | July 21. 52.
Dear Friend
Do not be anxious about me -- there is no cause. I am profiting, body and mind, from quiet walks and talks with Nature -- gathering [Lady's Bedstraw] 146 and [Rest Harrow] and other pretty things -- picking up shells (not in the Newtonian sense, 147 but literally) -- reading Aristotle to find out what is the chief good, and eating mutton chops that I may have strength to pursue it. If you insist on my writing about "Emotions," why, I must get some up expressly for the purpose. But I must own I would rather not, for it is the grand wish and object of my life to get rid of them as far as possible, seeing they have already had more than their share of my nervous energy.
Glad to hear that you don't think so desperately of Mr. Chapman's case. I shall not be in town on the 2d of August -- at least I pray Heaven to forbid it.
It is a disappointment not to see you and Cara here, and I confess it passes my logic to understand why, if you wish to see me, as you say you do, you should choose to go in the opposite direction. But you know this failure to see the sequence between your actions and your feelings is an old deficiency of mine. However, I can sincerely say that I am grateful for all feeling and for all attention you can give me and am ever, under all circumstances,
Your affectionate
Marian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 286-287.
Broadstairs | July 21. 52.
Dear Friend
Do not be anxious about me -- there is no cause. I am profiting, body and mind, from quiet walks and talks with Nature -- gathering [Lady's Bedstraw] 146 and [Rest Harrow] and other pretty things -- picking up shells (not in the Newtonian sense, 147 but literally) -- reading Aristotle to find out what is the chief good, and eating mutton chops that I may have strength to pursue it. If you insist on my writing about "Emotions," why, I must get some up expressly for the purpose. But I must own I would rather not, for it is the grand wish and object of my life to get rid of them as far as possible, seeing they have already had more than their share of my nervous energy.
Glad to hear that you don't think so desperately of Mr. Chapman's case. I shall not be in town on the 2d of August -- at least I pray Heaven to forbid it.
It is a disappointment not to see you and Cara here, and I confess it passes my logic to understand why, if you wish to see me, as you say you do, you should choose to go in the opposite direction. But you know this failure to see the sequence between your actions and your feelings is an old deficiency of mine. However, I can sincerely say that I am grateful for all feeling and for all attention you can give me and am ever, under all circumstances,
Your affectionate
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Broadstairs, 21 July 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/92107