GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 26 March [1856]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 26 March [1856]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 26 March [1856]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1856-03-26
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 26 March [1856]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1856. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 393.
Park Shot | Richmond | March 26.
Dear Friend
It seems a long, long time since I heard from you, except indirectly, and though I have no other reason to urge for your writing me a few lines, I hope you will not think it a bad one, that you will be giving me a great pleasure. I want to know something more than a vague report of how things fare with you, for there is always a corner -- perhaps more than a corner -- of memory for Rosehill in my mind, and your joys and sorrows are always mine when you let me know them.
We are flourishing in every way, except in health. Mr. Lewes's head is still infirm, but he manages nevertheless to do twice as much work as other people. We feel very thankful for this degree of health, especially when we think of poor Herbert Spencer, who is still, from a complaint like Mr. Lewes's, unable even to read more than a quarter of an hour together. 683 I am always a croaker you know, but my ailments are of a small kind -- their chief symptom being a muddled brain, and as my pen is not of the true literary order which will run along without the help of brains, I don't get through so much work as I should like.
By the way, when Spinoza comes out, be so good as not to mention my name in connection with it. I particularly wish not to be known as the translator of the Ethics, for reasons which it would be "too tedious to mention."
Do write me a note, and tell me as many particulars about business as you can. You don't know what a severely practical person I am become, and what a sharp eye I have to the main chance. I keep the purse and dole out sovereigns with all the pangs of a miser. In fact, if you were to feel my acquisitiveness, I dare say you would find it in a state of inflammation, like the Veneration of that clergyman to whom Mr. Donovan said, "Sir, you have recently been engaged in prayer." 684
Have you heard that the Spectator newspaper is for sale? The circulation must have been going down of late, for Mr. Rintoul 685 has been doing that most injudicious thing for an old newspaper -- advertizing it and telling why the price can't be reduced.
I hope you recognized your own wit about the one-eyed dissenters, which was quoted in the Leader some time ago. 686 You always said, no one did so much justice to your jokes as I did. Best love to Cara and Sara.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1856. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 393.
Park Shot | Richmond | March 26.
Dear Friend
It seems a long, long time since I heard from you, except indirectly, and though I have no other reason to urge for your writing me a few lines, I hope you will not think it a bad one, that you will be giving me a great pleasure. I want to know something more than a vague report of how things fare with you, for there is always a corner -- perhaps more than a corner -- of memory for Rosehill in my mind, and your joys and sorrows are always mine when you let me know them.
We are flourishing in every way, except in health. Mr. Lewes's head is still infirm, but he manages nevertheless to do twice as much work as other people. We feel very thankful for this degree of health, especially when we think of poor Herbert Spencer, who is still, from a complaint like Mr. Lewes's, unable even to read more than a quarter of an hour together. 683 I am always a croaker you know, but my ailments are of a small kind -- their chief symptom being a muddled brain, and as my pen is not of the true literary order which will run along without the help of brains, I don't get through so much work as I should like.
By the way, when Spinoza comes out, be so good as not to mention my name in connection with it. I particularly wish not to be known as the translator of the Ethics, for reasons which it would be "too tedious to mention."
Do write me a note, and tell me as many particulars about business as you can. You don't know what a severely practical person I am become, and what a sharp eye I have to the main chance. I keep the purse and dole out sovereigns with all the pangs of a miser. In fact, if you were to feel my acquisitiveness, I dare say you would find it in a state of inflammation, like the Veneration of that clergyman to whom Mr. Donovan said, "Sir, you have recently been engaged in prayer." 684
Have you heard that the Spectator newspaper is for sale? The circulation must have been going down of late, for Mr. Rintoul 685 has been doing that most injudicious thing for an old newspaper -- advertizing it and telling why the price can't be reduced.
I hope you recognized your own wit about the one-eyed dissenters, which was quoted in the Leader some time ago. 686 You always said, no one did so much justice to your jokes as I did. Best love to Cara and Sara.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 26 March [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/92164