GE to Charles Bray, London, 1 May 1855
Title
GE to Charles Bray, London, 1 May 1855
Title
GE to Charles Bray, London, 1 May 1855
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1855-05-01
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, London, 1 May 1855
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
V. G. Terrace | May 1. 55.
Dear Friend
We go tomorrow to our new home at East Sheen, a charming village close to Richmond Park. If you write to me, please to enclose the letter to G. H. Lewes Esq. | 7 Clarence Row | East Sheen | Richmond | Surrey. When you come to London again, I hope you will pay us a visit, for I think, apart from any regard for me it will be a pleasure to you to see that pretty place, and it is far less trouble to get there than to Bayswater. You have only to jump into the train at the Waterloo Bridge Station and in ten minutes you will be at Mortlake where you must get down. Mortlake, as I daresay you know, is a lovely village on the banks of the Thames, and East Sheen is its twin sister lying close to it. Ask the way to East Sheen and in three minutes you will be at our door. Then you shall have a nice dinner and a nice snooze after it, and then a stroll, along the river or in the Park, such as you can't get at Coventry even by the help of a carriage.
And pray, when I see you again, don't misquote something I said two or three years ago, which something you seem to have converted into a supercilious, impertinent expression of disapprobation on my part. If the discipline of years has taught me anything, it has taught me to be reverent to all good in others and perpetually mindful of my own need of tolerance, and surely few people can have had more opportunity than I have had for knowing the good in you, and still fewer can have put that goodness to an equally severe test.
We are panting to be in the country and resume our old habits of undisturbed companionship and work. Mr. Lewes has been much worse since he returned to town and the other evening he alarmed me terribly by fainting. Imagine that I had never seen any one faint before, and that I thought he was dead! You will be able then to understand my condition for three or four minutes until he returned to consciousness. However we hope that when we are far away from the roar of omnibii (as poor Joseph Hume 588 is accused of calling them) we shall have no more of such attacks.
Mrs. Hennell called on me the other day, very kindly and nobly. I respect her for it. I was so stupified and heated by having sat in-doors writing all day, that she must have carried away anything but a charming image of me, but that was of slight consequence -- it was enough that she did a good action.
Best love to Cara and Sara for whom, of course, I write as well as for you.
Ever your affectionate friend
Marian.
Poor Mr. Chapman seems in an uncomfortable state both physically and mentally.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
V. G. Terrace | May 1. 55.
Dear Friend
We go tomorrow to our new home at East Sheen, a charming village close to Richmond Park. If you write to me, please to enclose the letter to G. H. Lewes Esq. | 7 Clarence Row | East Sheen | Richmond | Surrey. When you come to London again, I hope you will pay us a visit, for I think, apart from any regard for me it will be a pleasure to you to see that pretty place, and it is far less trouble to get there than to Bayswater. You have only to jump into the train at the Waterloo Bridge Station and in ten minutes you will be at Mortlake where you must get down. Mortlake, as I daresay you know, is a lovely village on the banks of the Thames, and East Sheen is its twin sister lying close to it. Ask the way to East Sheen and in three minutes you will be at our door. Then you shall have a nice dinner and a nice snooze after it, and then a stroll, along the river or in the Park, such as you can't get at Coventry even by the help of a carriage.
And pray, when I see you again, don't misquote something I said two or three years ago, which something you seem to have converted into a supercilious, impertinent expression of disapprobation on my part. If the discipline of years has taught me anything, it has taught me to be reverent to all good in others and perpetually mindful of my own need of tolerance, and surely few people can have had more opportunity than I have had for knowing the good in you, and still fewer can have put that goodness to an equally severe test.
We are panting to be in the country and resume our old habits of undisturbed companionship and work. Mr. Lewes has been much worse since he returned to town and the other evening he alarmed me terribly by fainting. Imagine that I had never seen any one faint before, and that I thought he was dead! You will be able then to understand my condition for three or four minutes until he returned to consciousness. However we hope that when we are far away from the roar of omnibii (as poor Joseph Hume 588 is accused of calling them) we shall have no more of such attacks.
Mrs. Hennell called on me the other day, very kindly and nobly. I respect her for it. I was so stupified and heated by having sat in-doors writing all day, that she must have carried away anything but a charming image of me, but that was of slight consequence -- it was enough that she did a good action.
Best love to Cara and Sara for whom, of course, I write as well as for you.
Ever your affectionate friend
Marian.
Poor Mr. Chapman seems in an uncomfortable state both physically and mentally.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, London, 1 May 1855, 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/92133