GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 31 March [1858]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 31 March [1858]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 31 March [1858]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1858-03-31
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 31 March [1858]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1858. Extracts published: Cross, II, 17-18.
Richmond | March 31.
Dear Friend
Thanks for your disclaimer. It shows me that you take a right view of the subject, and I feel sure that Sara too will on reflection see it in the same light. There is no undertaking more fruitful of absurd mistakes than that of "guessing" at authorship, and as I have never communicated to any one so much as an intention of a literary kind, there can be none but imaginary data for such guesses.
What these random shots of conjecture are worth, may be seen from Dr. Hodgson's success in this way. I have not read Guy Livingstone, 1106 but from the reviews I have seen, I imagine Mr. Lewes would be anything but gratified to have it fathered upon him.
If I withhold anything from my friends which it would gratify them to know you will believe, I hope, that I have good reasons for doing so, and I am sure those friends will understand me when I ask them to further my object -- which is not a whim but a question of solid interest -- by complete silence.
I can't afford to indulge either in vanity or sentimentality about my work. I have only a trembling anxiety to do what is in itself worth doing and by that honest means, to win very necessary profit of a temporal kind.
"There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed" 1107 -- in due time. But till that time comes -- till I tell you myself "This is the work of my hand and brain" -- don't believe anything on the subject. There is no one who is in the least likely to know what I can, could, should or would write.
It would have been a great pleasure to me to see you all, but you perceive it was impossible. Goodbye, and love to all from
Yours ever affectionately
Marian Lewes.
I should have thought it might have been seen that Mr. Lewes is hardly in a vein for novel-writing. He is now engaged on a series of physiological papers for Blackwood, which are to be published separately as the "Physiology of Common Life."
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1858. Extracts published: Cross, II, 17-18.
Richmond | March 31.
Dear Friend
Thanks for your disclaimer. It shows me that you take a right view of the subject, and I feel sure that Sara too will on reflection see it in the same light. There is no undertaking more fruitful of absurd mistakes than that of "guessing" at authorship, and as I have never communicated to any one so much as an intention of a literary kind, there can be none but imaginary data for such guesses.
What these random shots of conjecture are worth, may be seen from Dr. Hodgson's success in this way. I have not read Guy Livingstone, 1106 but from the reviews I have seen, I imagine Mr. Lewes would be anything but gratified to have it fathered upon him.
If I withhold anything from my friends which it would gratify them to know you will believe, I hope, that I have good reasons for doing so, and I am sure those friends will understand me when I ask them to further my object -- which is not a whim but a question of solid interest -- by complete silence.
I can't afford to indulge either in vanity or sentimentality about my work. I have only a trembling anxiety to do what is in itself worth doing and by that honest means, to win very necessary profit of a temporal kind.
"There is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed" 1107 -- in due time. But till that time comes -- till I tell you myself "This is the work of my hand and brain" -- don't believe anything on the subject. There is no one who is in the least likely to know what I can, could, should or would write.
It would have been a great pleasure to me to see you all, but you perceive it was impossible. Goodbye, and love to all from
Yours ever affectionately
Marian Lewes.
I should have thought it might have been seen that Mr. Lewes is hardly in a vein for novel-writing. He is now engaged on a series of physiological papers for Blackwood, which are to be published separately as the "Physiology of Common Life."
Signature
Marian Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Richmond, 31 March [1858], 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/92168