GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 13 November 1852]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 13 November 1852]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 13 November 1852]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1852-11-13
Place
[London]
Letter Content
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 13 November 1852]
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, I, 296-297; George Eliot and John Chapman, pp. 64, 66.
Saturday.
Dear Friends
O this hideous fog! Let me grumble, for I have had headache the last three days and there seems little prospect of anything else in such an atmosphere. I am ready to vow that I will not live in the Strand again after Christmas. If I were not choked by the fog, the time would trot pleasantly withal, but of what use are brains and friends when one lives in a light such as might be got in the chimney?
I went to one of Jullien's concerts the other night and endured the Polkas for the sake of Zampa and Mendelssohn's Scherzo. 224 I amused myself with imagining Mr. Bray's curses if he had been there to hear the hop, skip, and jump of the dance music thundered by the drums and squealed by the pipes.
[Esmond] is the most uncomfortable book you can imagine. You remember, Cara, how you disliked [Fran'e7ois le Champi] (George Sand's). Well, the story of Esmond is just the same. The hero is in love with the daughter all through the book, and marries the mother at the end.
Mr. Chapman's affairs are just like the fog. Instead of a thousand, he wants £1200 now! The Lord have mercy on him!
You should read the debates on the opening of Parliament in the [Times.] Lord Brougham, [the greatest of English orators] perpetrates the most delicious non sequitur I have seen for a long time. "My Lords, I believe that any disturbance of the repose of the world is very remote, because it is our undeniable right and an unquestionable duty to be prepared with the means of defence should such an event occur." 225 These are thy gods O Israel! 226
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, I, 296-297; George Eliot and John Chapman, pp. 64, 66.
Saturday.
Dear Friends
O this hideous fog! Let me grumble, for I have had headache the last three days and there seems little prospect of anything else in such an atmosphere. I am ready to vow that I will not live in the Strand again after Christmas. If I were not choked by the fog, the time would trot pleasantly withal, but of what use are brains and friends when one lives in a light such as might be got in the chimney?
I went to one of Jullien's concerts the other night and endured the Polkas for the sake of Zampa and Mendelssohn's Scherzo. 224 I amused myself with imagining Mr. Bray's curses if he had been there to hear the hop, skip, and jump of the dance music thundered by the drums and squealed by the pipes.
[Esmond] is the most uncomfortable book you can imagine. You remember, Cara, how you disliked [Fran'e7ois le Champi] (George Sand's). Well, the story of Esmond is just the same. The hero is in love with the daughter all through the book, and marries the mother at the end.
Mr. Chapman's affairs are just like the fog. Instead of a thousand, he wants £1200 now! The Lord have mercy on him!
You should read the debates on the opening of Parliament in the [Times.] Lord Brougham, [the greatest of English orators] perpetrates the most delicious non sequitur I have seen for a long time. "My Lords, I believe that any disturbance of the repose of the world is very remote, because it is our undeniable right and an unquestionable duty to be prepared with the means of defence should such an event occur." 225 These are thy gods O Israel! 226
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 13 November 1852], 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/93142