GE to Charles Bray, Ilfracombe, 6 June 1856
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Ilfracombe, 6 June 1856
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Ilfracombe, 6 June 1856
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1856-06-06
Place
Ilfracombe
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Ilfracombe, 6 June 1856
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1856. Extracts published: Cross, I, 406-407.
Runnymeade Villa | Ilfracombe | June 6. 56.
Dear Friend
I am very very sorry one of the consequences of our leaving Richmond so early was, that I missed the opportunity of seeing you, especially as such opportunities are rare. You will think I have been rather slow to tell you this but the statement is not the less true because it has been a long time coming. The fact is, when we arrived here I had not even read a great book on which I had engaged to write a long article by the beginning of this month, so that between work and zoology and bodily ailments, my time has been full to overflowing.
We are enchanted with Ilfracombe. I really think it is the loveliest sea place I ever saw, from the combination of fine rocky coast with exquisite inland scenery. But it would not do for any one who can't climb rocks and mount perpetual hills. For the peculiarity of this country is that it is all hill and no valley; you have no sooner got to the foot of one hill than you begin to mount another. But I suppose you know Ilfracombe.
You would laugh to see our room decked with yellow pie-dishes, a footpan, glass jars and phials, all full of zoophytes or molluscs or annelids -- and still more to see the eager interest with which we rush to our preserves' in the morning to see if there has been any mortality among them in the night. Mr. Lewes has been devoting a great deal of time to microscopic examination since we came, and in this way, as well as from our zoological expeditions on the rocks, we seem to have gained a large influx of new ideas. The partial rest from writing he has had, and the change of air, have already done him good, and I am hoping that with two more months of this life he may even get quite rid of that terrible singing in his ears which has never left him since the commencement of his illness two years ago.
We have made the acquaintance of a charming little zoological curate here, who is a delightful companion on expeditions and is most good-natured in lending and giving apparatus and "critturs" of all sorts. Mr. Pigott is coming here with his yacht at the end of June, and we hope then to go to Clovelly -- Kingsley's Clovelly -- and perhaps other places on the coast that we can't reach on foot. After this we mean to migrate to Tenby, for the sake of making acquaintance with its molluscs and medusae, and at the beginning of August, we must return to town, as Mr. Lewes is to take the boys to Hofwyl towards the end of August.
Herbert Spencer is now gone on a yachting expedition with Mr. Pigott to Guernsey where I suppose they will make acquaintance with Victor Hugo and the rest of the French colony of emigrants 713 -- pleasanter, I fancy, than making acquaintance with Victor Hugo's two volumes of "Contemplations" which the Fates have unfortunately introduced me to. 714
The summer seems to have begun and I hope you are all enjoying it thoroughly. The wind here remains cold, but we have brilliant sunshine. This is an exquisite time for seeing the woods, before they put on their monotonous summer tint. But the lanes here, and the wild flowers, and the endless little springs and brooklets! Do you remember them?
My best love to all. Tell Sara I will send her an autograph of Mr. Helps's when I can, but he keeps two secretaries and dictates everything, so that he seldom writes any but confidential letters. His writing is very fine -- rather large -- firm without stiffness and flowing without sprawlingness and a great many other things without a great many other things. Mr. Lewes sends you his kind regards.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1856. Extracts published: Cross, I, 406-407.
Runnymeade Villa | Ilfracombe | June 6. 56.
Dear Friend
I am very very sorry one of the consequences of our leaving Richmond so early was, that I missed the opportunity of seeing you, especially as such opportunities are rare. You will think I have been rather slow to tell you this but the statement is not the less true because it has been a long time coming. The fact is, when we arrived here I had not even read a great book on which I had engaged to write a long article by the beginning of this month, so that between work and zoology and bodily ailments, my time has been full to overflowing.
We are enchanted with Ilfracombe. I really think it is the loveliest sea place I ever saw, from the combination of fine rocky coast with exquisite inland scenery. But it would not do for any one who can't climb rocks and mount perpetual hills. For the peculiarity of this country is that it is all hill and no valley; you have no sooner got to the foot of one hill than you begin to mount another. But I suppose you know Ilfracombe.
You would laugh to see our room decked with yellow pie-dishes, a footpan, glass jars and phials, all full of zoophytes or molluscs or annelids -- and still more to see the eager interest with which we rush to our preserves' in the morning to see if there has been any mortality among them in the night. Mr. Lewes has been devoting a great deal of time to microscopic examination since we came, and in this way, as well as from our zoological expeditions on the rocks, we seem to have gained a large influx of new ideas. The partial rest from writing he has had, and the change of air, have already done him good, and I am hoping that with two more months of this life he may even get quite rid of that terrible singing in his ears which has never left him since the commencement of his illness two years ago.
We have made the acquaintance of a charming little zoological curate here, who is a delightful companion on expeditions and is most good-natured in lending and giving apparatus and "critturs" of all sorts. Mr. Pigott is coming here with his yacht at the end of June, and we hope then to go to Clovelly -- Kingsley's Clovelly -- and perhaps other places on the coast that we can't reach on foot. After this we mean to migrate to Tenby, for the sake of making acquaintance with its molluscs and medusae, and at the beginning of August, we must return to town, as Mr. Lewes is to take the boys to Hofwyl towards the end of August.
Herbert Spencer is now gone on a yachting expedition with Mr. Pigott to Guernsey where I suppose they will make acquaintance with Victor Hugo and the rest of the French colony of emigrants 713 -- pleasanter, I fancy, than making acquaintance with Victor Hugo's two volumes of "Contemplations" which the Fates have unfortunately introduced me to. 714
The summer seems to have begun and I hope you are all enjoying it thoroughly. The wind here remains cold, but we have brilliant sunshine. This is an exquisite time for seeing the woods, before they put on their monotonous summer tint. But the lanes here, and the wild flowers, and the endless little springs and brooklets! Do you remember them?
My best love to all. Tell Sara I will send her an autograph of Mr. Helps's when I can, but he keeps two secretaries and dictates everything, so that he seldom writes any but confidential letters. His writing is very fine -- rather large -- firm without stiffness and flowing without sprawlingness and a great many other things without a great many other things. Mr. Lewes sends you his kind regards.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Ilfracombe, 6 June 1856, 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/92119