GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 24 June 1864
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 24 June 1864
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 24 June 1864
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Francois D'Albert-Durade
Date(s)
- 1864-06-24
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 24 June 1864
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
North Bank | Regent's Park | June 24. 1864.
Dear Friend
Yes! We have been absent, and if this, your second letter 268 had come a day earlier, it would not have found us at home. We have been away seven weeks and have been like you, in Italy; moreover, twice -- on our way to and from Venice -- we spent some days in Milan. If either [of] those stays had happened to coincide with your visit and we had met at a turning of the street! But on Corpus Christi Day 269 we were in Venice, nearly at the end of our fortnight's sojourn there, which we enjoyed not at all the less because we had been there four years ago. In spite of the years that have made us older, Venice and her art seemed more beautiful to us than the images our memory had retained. We entered the more thoroughly into the art from having a friend with us who is like yourself, a brother of the brush, and having never been in Italy before felt an ardour of curiosity and enjoyment that was an added stimulus to his companions. Our route was from Paris to Turin, Milan, and Venice without pause at the intermediate Lombard towns, which we reserved to vary our return homewards. I had half set my heart on seeing Ravenna, but Mr. Lewes's health was too delicate for us to venture on the inconvenient journeying necessary to get to that out of the world place. So we returned from Venice in the easiest and most luxurious manner, pausing at Padova, Verona, and Brescia, and going from Milan by Lakes Como and Lugano over the St. Gothard to Lucerne, where we rested well, and so on to Paris again. You can imagine that London does not look pretty after such a journey, and the gratification we get in returning home must be such as comes from the sense of duties to be fulfilled there.
We have many such duties. Mr. Lewes has an aged mother who has lately become a widow 270 and makes large demands on his time, both for personal attentions and for the management of her monetary affairs. And our family prospects have complicated themselves even during our short absence in a way that will not, I think, be entirely without interest to Maman and you. Our "boy" Charles in this his twenty-second year has become engaged to a young lady, 271 for whom [we] had observed that he had a growing penchant, but who we suspected would hardly fall in love with our amiable bit of crudity. That was a mistake, a parental notion, however. She has fallen in love with him, and it is very pretty to see their fresh young happiness. She is in my opinion remarkably handsome and has the rare gift of a splendid contralto voice. She is 4 years older than Charles, which under all the circumstances is an advantage, for she seems to have been brought up in such a way as to have preserved all that is best in youthfulness while she has had much domestic experience. One never knows what to wish about marriage -- the evils of an early choice may be easily counter-balanced by the vitiation that often comes from long bachelorhood. So Mr. Lewes and I fix our minds chiefly on the good we see instead of the possible ills which we may never see.
I especially rejoice in the agreeable position of your Charles, 272 and I trust that Maman's heart is now quite at rest about those who are dearest to her. I should like to see her with her "fillette" -- to see her, in fact, anyhow and anywhere if only she were not in suffering. Give her my best love and assure her that the thought of her is very frequently a joy to me. Mr. Lewes begs me to offer both to Madame D'Albert and yourself his very kind regards, and I, dear friend, am as ever
Yours with affectionate memory
M. E. Lewes.
I have little doubt that MMrs. Smith and [Elder will] answer your letters favourably. 273
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
North Bank | Regent's Park | June 24. 1864.
Dear Friend
Yes! We have been absent, and if this, your second letter 268 had come a day earlier, it would not have found us at home. We have been away seven weeks and have been like you, in Italy; moreover, twice -- on our way to and from Venice -- we spent some days in Milan. If either [of] those stays had happened to coincide with your visit and we had met at a turning of the street! But on Corpus Christi Day 269 we were in Venice, nearly at the end of our fortnight's sojourn there, which we enjoyed not at all the less because we had been there four years ago. In spite of the years that have made us older, Venice and her art seemed more beautiful to us than the images our memory had retained. We entered the more thoroughly into the art from having a friend with us who is like yourself, a brother of the brush, and having never been in Italy before felt an ardour of curiosity and enjoyment that was an added stimulus to his companions. Our route was from Paris to Turin, Milan, and Venice without pause at the intermediate Lombard towns, which we reserved to vary our return homewards. I had half set my heart on seeing Ravenna, but Mr. Lewes's health was too delicate for us to venture on the inconvenient journeying necessary to get to that out of the world place. So we returned from Venice in the easiest and most luxurious manner, pausing at Padova, Verona, and Brescia, and going from Milan by Lakes Como and Lugano over the St. Gothard to Lucerne, where we rested well, and so on to Paris again. You can imagine that London does not look pretty after such a journey, and the gratification we get in returning home must be such as comes from the sense of duties to be fulfilled there.
We have many such duties. Mr. Lewes has an aged mother who has lately become a widow 270 and makes large demands on his time, both for personal attentions and for the management of her monetary affairs. And our family prospects have complicated themselves even during our short absence in a way that will not, I think, be entirely without interest to Maman and you. Our "boy" Charles in this his twenty-second year has become engaged to a young lady, 271 for whom [we] had observed that he had a growing penchant, but who we suspected would hardly fall in love with our amiable bit of crudity. That was a mistake, a parental notion, however. She has fallen in love with him, and it is very pretty to see their fresh young happiness. She is in my opinion remarkably handsome and has the rare gift of a splendid contralto voice. She is 4 years older than Charles, which under all the circumstances is an advantage, for she seems to have been brought up in such a way as to have preserved all that is best in youthfulness while she has had much domestic experience. One never knows what to wish about marriage -- the evils of an early choice may be easily counter-balanced by the vitiation that often comes from long bachelorhood. So Mr. Lewes and I fix our minds chiefly on the good we see instead of the possible ills which we may never see.
I especially rejoice in the agreeable position of your Charles, 272 and I trust that Maman's heart is now quite at rest about those who are dearest to her. I should like to see her with her "fillette" -- to see her, in fact, anyhow and anywhere if only she were not in suffering. Give her my best love and assure her that the thought of her is very frequently a joy to me. Mr. Lewes begs me to offer both to Madame D'Albert and yourself his very kind regards, and I, dear friend, am as ever
Yours with affectionate memory
M. E. Lewes.
I have little doubt that MMrs. Smith and [Elder will] answer your letters favourably. 273
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 24 June 1864, 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/92355