GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 12 January 1865
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 12 January 1865
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 12 January 1865
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Francois D'Albert-Durade
Date(s)
- 1865-01-12
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 12 January 1865
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in the Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | North Bank N.W. | January 12. 1865.
Dear Friend
Your letter was very welcome and remains especially cheering to me from the happy account it gives of your two sons. I rejoice sincerely that after your long anxieties you at length see your younger son in a position such as you have desired for him. Surely this fact, with the possession of a sweet little granddaughter, must make dear Maman's life brighter -- if, alas, illness does not come to spoil all delights. I fear the attack at Christmas of which you speak must have been a severe one.
We are exceedingly well prepared to sympathize both in joy about sons and in sickness, for we have had much of both those different experiences. Charles is to be married in April, and his engagement is an increasing source of satisfaction to us. We have good news from Thornie, who is happy and active at Natal; and our third son Bertie has just been with us for his Christmas visit, gratifying us highly by his improvement in health and morale. As for sickness, that has been an almost incessant companion with us since I last wrote to you. I do not mean sickness which creates alarm for life or keeps one in bed, but those wretched sensations of dyspepsia which suffuse life with cheerlessness and discomfort. Mr. Lewes was unusually enfeebled from that cause about the middle of September, and continued to suffer so much as to be unable to pursue his usual studies until November, when a visit to Malvern and medical application of the water cure with much walking on the hills restored him [to] his ordinary condition, which, as you know, is not robust. I too have been suffering in the same way, but since the fogs and close weather have given place to a more wintry sharpness of air, we have both been better. So I will not dwell longer on past grievances.
I never write in periodicals. That is to say, I have not done it for many years, and of late Mr. Lewes has not contributed to the Cornhill until this month, the number [for] which contains an article by him on "Shakspeare in France." I am now occupied with writing, but rather to please myself than the public, and I am not certain whether what I am doing will be published.
Mr. Lewes has been earnestly requested to take the editorship of a new periodical which is in some respects to form a sort of English "Revue des deux Mondes," and after decidedly refusing from fear of an undertaking which would make too great demand on his time, he is now inclined to consent under certain arrangements which will save him from excessive work.
Tomorrow we shall start for Paris 309 for a stay of about ten days, so I have written in haste this morning lest you should wonder at my silence if I deferred writing till my return.
You see, we are happy and prosperous and I shall feel all the happier now that I have had good news of you.
Pray give my best love to Madame D'Albert, and beg her to accept with you my husband's very high and kind regards. Believe me, dear Friend,
Ever yours gratefully and affectionately
Marian E. Lewes.
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in the Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | North Bank N.W. | January 12. 1865.
Dear Friend
Your letter was very welcome and remains especially cheering to me from the happy account it gives of your two sons. I rejoice sincerely that after your long anxieties you at length see your younger son in a position such as you have desired for him. Surely this fact, with the possession of a sweet little granddaughter, must make dear Maman's life brighter -- if, alas, illness does not come to spoil all delights. I fear the attack at Christmas of which you speak must have been a severe one.
We are exceedingly well prepared to sympathize both in joy about sons and in sickness, for we have had much of both those different experiences. Charles is to be married in April, and his engagement is an increasing source of satisfaction to us. We have good news from Thornie, who is happy and active at Natal; and our third son Bertie has just been with us for his Christmas visit, gratifying us highly by his improvement in health and morale. As for sickness, that has been an almost incessant companion with us since I last wrote to you. I do not mean sickness which creates alarm for life or keeps one in bed, but those wretched sensations of dyspepsia which suffuse life with cheerlessness and discomfort. Mr. Lewes was unusually enfeebled from that cause about the middle of September, and continued to suffer so much as to be unable to pursue his usual studies until November, when a visit to Malvern and medical application of the water cure with much walking on the hills restored him [to] his ordinary condition, which, as you know, is not robust. I too have been suffering in the same way, but since the fogs and close weather have given place to a more wintry sharpness of air, we have both been better. So I will not dwell longer on past grievances.
I never write in periodicals. That is to say, I have not done it for many years, and of late Mr. Lewes has not contributed to the Cornhill until this month, the number [for] which contains an article by him on "Shakspeare in France." I am now occupied with writing, but rather to please myself than the public, and I am not certain whether what I am doing will be published.
Mr. Lewes has been earnestly requested to take the editorship of a new periodical which is in some respects to form a sort of English "Revue des deux Mondes," and after decidedly refusing from fear of an undertaking which would make too great demand on his time, he is now inclined to consent under certain arrangements which will save him from excessive work.
Tomorrow we shall start for Paris 309 for a stay of about ten days, so I have written in haste this morning lest you should wonder at my silence if I deferred writing till my return.
You see, we are happy and prosperous and I shall feel all the happier now that I have had good news of you.
Pray give my best love to Madame D'Albert, and beg her to accept with you my husband's very high and kind regards. Believe me, dear Friend,
Ever yours gratefully and affectionately
Marian E. Lewes.
Signature
Marian E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 12 January 1865, 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/92342