GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 11 November 1873
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 11 November 1873
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 11 November 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1873-11-11
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 11 November 1873
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, III, 219-220.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 11. 73.
My dear Barbara
Glad to hear at last that you have arrived safely in Algiers. I imagined that you must have got there long ago. It is at least something to sing a Jubilate over, that one crossing is done.
We are altogether jolly, save and except that since our return to town on the 31st. Mr. Lewes has had one of his long headaches. 876 He had got much better during the latter part of our stay at Blackbrook, and we had become very fond of the neighbourhood. The walks and drives round us were delightfully varied -- commons, wooded lanes, wide pastures -- and we felt regretfully that we were hardly likely to find again a country house so secluded in a well-inhabitated region. But the house would not do in its actual state, and our landlord allowed us to give up the agreement by which we must have kept it for a year. We proposed to pay him double for our two months, and now the place is entirely off our hands. There is a chance that he may not let it, and may make repairs and alterations to suit us, in which case he will give us the refusal, unless we find another house to our minds beforehand.
But we mean to keep up this house in town, so that we may see people here and have none but choice visitors in the country.
I suppose Nannie has also arrived, or probably arrived before you. Please give my love to her and Miss Blythe, and tell Nannie that I valued much her last unanswered letter to me. I adore correspondents who write to me letters brimfull and running over without asking for any return. I also adore two or three who write me a scrap to say that they are safe and only demand a scrap of the same sort from me.
I was interested to see in last week's Spectator that there is a translation from the Doctor's writings in "Temple Bar." 877 Of course you know all about it. I wonder what he has thought of the Legitimist drama, and the fresh budding of Catholicism? 878
We have seen few people at present. The George Howards 879 are come from a delicious lonely s'e9jour in a tower of Bamborough Castle! -- and he has brought many sketches home. That lodging would suit you -- wouldn't it? -- The castle is in the hands of trustees, who let one tower to fortunate applicants. A castle on a rock washed by the sea seems to me just a paradise for you.
We have been reading John Mill's Autobiography, like the rest of the world. The account of his early education and the presentation of his Father are admirable, but there are some pages in the latter half that one would have liked to be different. 880
Goodbye, dear. Send me some word how you are by and by, because I shall be anxious about you.
G., I am sure, sends his love with mine -- which is that of your faithful
Marian.
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, III, 219-220.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 11. 73.
My dear Barbara
Glad to hear at last that you have arrived safely in Algiers. I imagined that you must have got there long ago. It is at least something to sing a Jubilate over, that one crossing is done.
We are altogether jolly, save and except that since our return to town on the 31st. Mr. Lewes has had one of his long headaches. 876 He had got much better during the latter part of our stay at Blackbrook, and we had become very fond of the neighbourhood. The walks and drives round us were delightfully varied -- commons, wooded lanes, wide pastures -- and we felt regretfully that we were hardly likely to find again a country house so secluded in a well-inhabitated region. But the house would not do in its actual state, and our landlord allowed us to give up the agreement by which we must have kept it for a year. We proposed to pay him double for our two months, and now the place is entirely off our hands. There is a chance that he may not let it, and may make repairs and alterations to suit us, in which case he will give us the refusal, unless we find another house to our minds beforehand.
But we mean to keep up this house in town, so that we may see people here and have none but choice visitors in the country.
I suppose Nannie has also arrived, or probably arrived before you. Please give my love to her and Miss Blythe, and tell Nannie that I valued much her last unanswered letter to me. I adore correspondents who write to me letters brimfull and running over without asking for any return. I also adore two or three who write me a scrap to say that they are safe and only demand a scrap of the same sort from me.
I was interested to see in last week's Spectator that there is a translation from the Doctor's writings in "Temple Bar." 877 Of course you know all about it. I wonder what he has thought of the Legitimist drama, and the fresh budding of Catholicism? 878
We have seen few people at present. The George Howards 879 are come from a delicious lonely s'e9jour in a tower of Bamborough Castle! -- and he has brought many sketches home. That lodging would suit you -- wouldn't it? -- The castle is in the hands of trustees, who let one tower to fortunate applicants. A castle on a rock washed by the sea seems to me just a paradise for you.
We have been reading John Mill's Autobiography, like the rest of the world. The account of his early education and the presentation of his Father are admirable, but there are some pages in the latter half that one would have liked to be different. 880
Goodbye, dear. Send me some word how you are by and by, because I shall be anxious about you.
G., I am sure, sends his love with mine -- which is that of your faithful
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 11 November 1873, 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/93023