GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 2 September 1876
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 2 September 1876
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 2 September 1876
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Francois D'Albert-Durade
Date(s)
- 1876-09-02
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 2 September 1876
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | Regent's Park | September 2. 76.
My dear Friend
While you have been wondering at my silence and explaining it by my occupation in writing, we have been far away, getting mountain air and drinking mineral waters, out of reach of all correspondents as well as all visitors. "Daniel Deronda" was finished several months ago, and we set off with the intention of going to a much recommended spot among the Maritime Alps, but the effect of the June heat on our way to Italy warned us to change our course and turn northward. We have found much benefit from our stay at Ragatz, Stachelberg and other places, not too much haunted by our fellow-countrymen, in the east of Switzerland and in the Schwarz Wald and are now in our usual place with a sense of more than usual strength. But we arrived only last night, and I have not yet attempted to read the heap of letters which lie awaiting me. Your writing, discerned on an uppermost envelope, gave me a reason for selecting it from the heap, and I hope that you will take this answer in the very first morning of my recovered home-life as a sufficient refutation of the demon's hint that I am in danger of forgetting you, especially as I see that your letter is dated only the 28th.
You perceive that we have been escaping the evil attendant on the exceptional heat, which I confess has given me a cheerful reassurance that this planet is not yet in circumstances too chilling to allow of summer heat any more. Meanwhile the harvest has profited by it. But
I can well imagine that you have found your imprisonment in the white heat of town houses particularly trying to you -- the languor consequent on it being likely to increase that depression you speak of. I feel for you, dear friend, in your life of monotonous effort. But still, you have what I regard as the very strongest motive -- the most fortifying consciousness under the difficult task of living, namely the sense that your life is absolutely necessary to the comfort of another and a cherished being.
Pray give my love to my venerated "Maman" and assure her that I am proud and thankful to be allowed a continual place in her memory. We are altogether happy and prosperous and must not in the midst of so many blessings beyond our share complain that we get more and more liable to infirmities of body and susceptible to the least disturbance.
I am glad that you have found some pleasure and interest in "Daniel Deronda." The writing of it was a great excitement to me and wore me down to a very low point. I had hardly a day of good health while it was in progress. But now it is all behind me, and when I open it again I shall seem to be making a fresh acquaintance with it.
You will not wonder that I write in a brief hasty way. I hardly now can write [a] letter otherwise -- correspondence being a claim that eats away too much time. My husband keeps Madame D'Albert and yourself in his best regard and remembrance, and I am always, dear friend
Yours with sincere affection
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | Regent's Park | September 2. 76.
My dear Friend
While you have been wondering at my silence and explaining it by my occupation in writing, we have been far away, getting mountain air and drinking mineral waters, out of reach of all correspondents as well as all visitors. "Daniel Deronda" was finished several months ago, and we set off with the intention of going to a much recommended spot among the Maritime Alps, but the effect of the June heat on our way to Italy warned us to change our course and turn northward. We have found much benefit from our stay at Ragatz, Stachelberg and other places, not too much haunted by our fellow-countrymen, in the east of Switzerland and in the Schwarz Wald and are now in our usual place with a sense of more than usual strength. But we arrived only last night, and I have not yet attempted to read the heap of letters which lie awaiting me. Your writing, discerned on an uppermost envelope, gave me a reason for selecting it from the heap, and I hope that you will take this answer in the very first morning of my recovered home-life as a sufficient refutation of the demon's hint that I am in danger of forgetting you, especially as I see that your letter is dated only the 28th.
You perceive that we have been escaping the evil attendant on the exceptional heat, which I confess has given me a cheerful reassurance that this planet is not yet in circumstances too chilling to allow of summer heat any more. Meanwhile the harvest has profited by it. But
I can well imagine that you have found your imprisonment in the white heat of town houses particularly trying to you -- the languor consequent on it being likely to increase that depression you speak of. I feel for you, dear friend, in your life of monotonous effort. But still, you have what I regard as the very strongest motive -- the most fortifying consciousness under the difficult task of living, namely the sense that your life is absolutely necessary to the comfort of another and a cherished being.
Pray give my love to my venerated "Maman" and assure her that I am proud and thankful to be allowed a continual place in her memory. We are altogether happy and prosperous and must not in the midst of so many blessings beyond our share complain that we get more and more liable to infirmities of body and susceptible to the least disturbance.
I am glad that you have found some pleasure and interest in "Daniel Deronda." The writing of it was a great excitement to me and wore me down to a very low point. I had hardly a day of good health while it was in progress. But now it is all behind me, and when I open it again I shall seem to be making a fresh acquaintance with it.
You will not wonder that I write in a brief hasty way. I hardly now can write [a] letter otherwise -- correspondence being a claim that eats away too much time. My husband keeps Madame D'Albert and yourself in his best regard and remembrance, and I am always, dear friend
Yours with sincere affection
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 2 September 1876, 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/92349