GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 26 December 1860
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 26 December 1860
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 26 December 1860
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1860-12-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 26 December 1860
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, II, 283-284.
Blandford Square | December 26. 60.
My dear Barbara
Your letter 677 came this evening and if I were a journalist, I should say that I "hailed it with delight."
I am not so wicked as I seem in this matter of not writing to you. First, after you left, I was so ailing for several weeks that I had no spirit to write an unnecessary line; then came the troubles of moving and infinite anxieties about pots and kettles; and afterwards, when I quite longed to write to you, I somehow felt it impossible to do so till I had heard some good news of Mrs. Ludlow. Your dear old Nurse, when she brought me your sister's letter (for which, thanks,) promised to come and tell me when the crisis was well over, as I expressed to her my wish to know this on your account; but I have not yet seen her -- I have only seen that there is straw before the door of No. 5. 678 So you perceive I have not been unmindful of what concerns you, though I have made no sign by post.
The bright point in your letter is, that you are in a happy state of mind yourself. For the rest, we must wait, and not be impatient with those who have their inward trials though everything outward seems to smile on them. 679 It seems to those who are differently placed that the time of freedom from strong ties and urgent claims must be very precious for the ends of self-culture, and good, helpful work towards the world at large. But it hardly ever is so. -- As for the "forms and ceremonies," I feel no regret that any should turn to them for comfort, 680 if they can find comfort in them: sympathetically, I enjoy them myself. But I have faith in the working-out of higher possibilities than the Catholic or any other church has presented, and those who have strength to wait and endure, are bound to accept no formula which their whole souls -- their intellect as well as their emotions -- do not embrace with entire reverence. The highest "calling and election" is to do without opium and live through all our pain with conscious, clear-eyed endurance.
You say nothing about the Doctor, so I hope he is flourishing and free from neuralgic pains. We are all right -- comfortable enough in our new house with the prospect of two old-maidish servants, who will want no looking after. And our dear boys are a joy to us -- Charley more good and loving every day -- Thornie prospering at Edinburgh, etc. etc. etc. -- In fact we have no sorrows just now, except my constant inward worret of unbelief in any future of good work on my part. Everything I do seems poor and trivial in the doing, and when it is quite gone from me and seems no longer my own -- then I rejoice in it and think it fine. That is the history of my life.
By the way, we have consulted a barrister, very accomplished in foreign and English law, about that matter broached by your friend Mrs. Brodie. 681 He pronounces it impossible. I am not sorry. I think the boys will not suffer, and for myself I prefer excommunication. I have no earthly thing that I care for, to gain by being brought within the pale of people's personal attention, and I have many things to care for that I should lose -- my freedom from petty worldly torments, commonly called pleasures, and that isolation which really keeps my charity warm instead of chilling it, as much contact with frivolous women would do.
I have been wanting to go to your school again to refresh myself with the young voices there, but I have not been able to do it. My walks have all been taken up with shopping errands, of late. But I hope to get more leisure soon.
Give my love to your sister and Bessie, whom you make me imagine always in a flower-garden -- a strange vision in the midst of our hard frost! Mr. Lewes sends you the love of an anatomist, which, he begs to state, is of a superior quality, quite unlike that of creatures ignorant of the vertebral structure.
God bless you, Think often of your affectionate Friend.
M. E. Lewes.
We both beg to offer our affectionate remembrances to the Doctor. Get Herbert Spencer's new work -- the two first quarterly parts. It is the best thing he has done.
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, II, 283-284.
Blandford Square | December 26. 60.
My dear Barbara
Your letter 677 came this evening and if I were a journalist, I should say that I "hailed it with delight."
I am not so wicked as I seem in this matter of not writing to you. First, after you left, I was so ailing for several weeks that I had no spirit to write an unnecessary line; then came the troubles of moving and infinite anxieties about pots and kettles; and afterwards, when I quite longed to write to you, I somehow felt it impossible to do so till I had heard some good news of Mrs. Ludlow. Your dear old Nurse, when she brought me your sister's letter (for which, thanks,) promised to come and tell me when the crisis was well over, as I expressed to her my wish to know this on your account; but I have not yet seen her -- I have only seen that there is straw before the door of No. 5. 678 So you perceive I have not been unmindful of what concerns you, though I have made no sign by post.
The bright point in your letter is, that you are in a happy state of mind yourself. For the rest, we must wait, and not be impatient with those who have their inward trials though everything outward seems to smile on them. 679 It seems to those who are differently placed that the time of freedom from strong ties and urgent claims must be very precious for the ends of self-culture, and good, helpful work towards the world at large. But it hardly ever is so. -- As for the "forms and ceremonies," I feel no regret that any should turn to them for comfort, 680 if they can find comfort in them: sympathetically, I enjoy them myself. But I have faith in the working-out of higher possibilities than the Catholic or any other church has presented, and those who have strength to wait and endure, are bound to accept no formula which their whole souls -- their intellect as well as their emotions -- do not embrace with entire reverence. The highest "calling and election" is to do without opium and live through all our pain with conscious, clear-eyed endurance.
You say nothing about the Doctor, so I hope he is flourishing and free from neuralgic pains. We are all right -- comfortable enough in our new house with the prospect of two old-maidish servants, who will want no looking after. And our dear boys are a joy to us -- Charley more good and loving every day -- Thornie prospering at Edinburgh, etc. etc. etc. -- In fact we have no sorrows just now, except my constant inward worret of unbelief in any future of good work on my part. Everything I do seems poor and trivial in the doing, and when it is quite gone from me and seems no longer my own -- then I rejoice in it and think it fine. That is the history of my life.
By the way, we have consulted a barrister, very accomplished in foreign and English law, about that matter broached by your friend Mrs. Brodie. 681 He pronounces it impossible. I am not sorry. I think the boys will not suffer, and for myself I prefer excommunication. I have no earthly thing that I care for, to gain by being brought within the pale of people's personal attention, and I have many things to care for that I should lose -- my freedom from petty worldly torments, commonly called pleasures, and that isolation which really keeps my charity warm instead of chilling it, as much contact with frivolous women would do.
I have been wanting to go to your school again to refresh myself with the young voices there, but I have not been able to do it. My walks have all been taken up with shopping errands, of late. But I hope to get more leisure soon.
Give my love to your sister and Bessie, whom you make me imagine always in a flower-garden -- a strange vision in the midst of our hard frost! Mr. Lewes sends you the love of an anatomist, which, he begs to state, is of a superior quality, quite unlike that of creatures ignorant of the vertebral structure.
God bless you, Think often of your affectionate Friend.
M. E. Lewes.
We both beg to offer our affectionate remembrances to the Doctor. Get Herbert Spencer's new work -- the two first quarterly parts. It is the best thing he has done.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 26 December 1860, 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/93052