GE to Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 December 1869
Title
GE to Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 December 1869
Title
GE to Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 December 1869
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Harriet Beecher S
Date(s)
- 1869-12-10
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 December 1869
Text: Copy in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | December 10. 69.
My dear Friend
The months which have passed since I received your last kind letter, with the signs of remembrance, have been filled for us with deep and often painful experience. Our dear son, of whose illness I wrote to you, died on the 19th of October. He never completely recovered the use of his lower limbs after an attack of paraplegia in August, but we had the comfort of seeing that the crisis marked a decided diminution of suffering.
Death had never come near to me through the twenty years since I lost my Father, and this parting has entered very deeply into me. I never before felt so keenly the wealth one possesses in every being to whose mind and body it is possible to minister comfort through love and care. But your experience of this kind has been much greater than mine. I am recovering now from a very shattered state of health, and I cannot feel at ease without writing you a brief letter, first to tell you how my silence has been occupied -- I have said enough to give you a conception of that -- and next to thank you for all the helpful words that you sent me.
In the midst of our trouble I was often thinking of you, for I feared that you were undergoing considerable trial from harsh and unfair judgments, partly the fruit of hostility glad to find an opportunity of venting itself, and partly of that unthinking cruelty which belongs to hasty anonymous journalism. For my own part I should have preferred that the "Byron question" should not have been brought before the public, because I think the discussion of such subjects is injurious socially. But with regard to yourself, dear friend, I have felt sure that in acting on a different basis of impressions, you were impelled by pure, generous feeling. Do not think that I would have written to you on this point to express a judgment; I am anxious only to convey to you a sense of my sympathy and confidence, such as a kiss and a pressure of the hand would give, if I were near you.
Mr. Lewes read with much admiration Mr. H. W. Beecher's 118 sermon which you sent us, and, lying on our drawing room table, it has attracted other readers who have borrowed it. The great vocation of the preacher, which in your brother's case is, I believe, eminently effective, has a melancholy emptiness among us. My soul is often vexed at the thought of the multitudinous pulpits, which are such a vantage ground for teachers, and yet are for the most part filled with men who can say nothing to change the expression of the faces that are turned up towards them.
I trust that I shall hear a good account of Professor Stowe's health as well as your own whenever you have time to write me a word or two. I shall not be so unreasonable as to expect a long letter, for the hours of needful rest from writing become more and more precious as the years go on. But some brief news of you and yours will be especially welcome just now.
Mr. Lewes units with me in high regards to your husband and yourself, but in addition to that I have the sister woman's privilege of saying that I am always
Your affectionate friend
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Copy in Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | December 10. 69.
My dear Friend
The months which have passed since I received your last kind letter, with the signs of remembrance, have been filled for us with deep and often painful experience. Our dear son, of whose illness I wrote to you, died on the 19th of October. He never completely recovered the use of his lower limbs after an attack of paraplegia in August, but we had the comfort of seeing that the crisis marked a decided diminution of suffering.
Death had never come near to me through the twenty years since I lost my Father, and this parting has entered very deeply into me. I never before felt so keenly the wealth one possesses in every being to whose mind and body it is possible to minister comfort through love and care. But your experience of this kind has been much greater than mine. I am recovering now from a very shattered state of health, and I cannot feel at ease without writing you a brief letter, first to tell you how my silence has been occupied -- I have said enough to give you a conception of that -- and next to thank you for all the helpful words that you sent me.
In the midst of our trouble I was often thinking of you, for I feared that you were undergoing considerable trial from harsh and unfair judgments, partly the fruit of hostility glad to find an opportunity of venting itself, and partly of that unthinking cruelty which belongs to hasty anonymous journalism. For my own part I should have preferred that the "Byron question" should not have been brought before the public, because I think the discussion of such subjects is injurious socially. But with regard to yourself, dear friend, I have felt sure that in acting on a different basis of impressions, you were impelled by pure, generous feeling. Do not think that I would have written to you on this point to express a judgment; I am anxious only to convey to you a sense of my sympathy and confidence, such as a kiss and a pressure of the hand would give, if I were near you.
Mr. Lewes read with much admiration Mr. H. W. Beecher's 118 sermon which you sent us, and, lying on our drawing room table, it has attracted other readers who have borrowed it. The great vocation of the preacher, which in your brother's case is, I believe, eminently effective, has a melancholy emptiness among us. My soul is often vexed at the thought of the multitudinous pulpits, which are such a vantage ground for teachers, and yet are for the most part filled with men who can say nothing to change the expression of the faces that are turned up towards them.
I trust that I shall hear a good account of Professor Stowe's health as well as your own whenever you have time to write me a word or two. I shall not be so unreasonable as to expect a long letter, for the hours of needful rest from writing become more and more precious as the years go on. But some brief news of you and yours will be especially welcome just now.
Mr. Lewes units with me in high regards to your husband and yourself, but in addition to that I have the sister woman's privilege of saying that I am always
Your affectionate friend
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Harriet Beecher Stowe, London, 10 December 1869, 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/92518