GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 3 February 1876
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 3 February 1876
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 3 February 1876
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1876-02-03
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 3 February 1876
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Lewes on Vivisection. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 3. 76.
Dear Cara
How is it that your sight is troubling you? Unless there is some inflammation, the right glasses would surely make seeing easy to you. Have you taken pains to get the right glasses? Pray when you come to town consult an oculist. Our young Charles, only 33, was slightly short-sighted and used only occasionally a pince-nez. Feeling a little increased trouble in seeing he went to Liebreich, who told him that he was injuring his eyes by wrong treatment and prescribed spectacles which he now constantly wears. I remember that you used years ago to complain of weariness in using your eyes, and I fear that you have suffered for want of the right aids. Don't wear glasses telles quelles but consult about getting the right ones.
Please tell me whether it would be the least comfort and convenience to you if we were to advance the £40 for your "Morals" 396 so that you could await Nelsons' payment without anxiety -- if I understand you rightly in supposing that they have accepted the work. The fact of the Sydenham house having stood empty for a year must have hampered you sadly. I think it is the first time you have been so long unfortunate with the letting or not-letting -- is it not?
Thanks for the little blue-coated Paul Bradley. The illustrations do look a little worse in this form than when one saw them indulgently on the pages of the Animal World. 397 The doggie watching the gap is the least objectionable. The clergyman is of the namby-pambiest "description."
Mr. Lewes gave evidence on the subject of Vivisection before the Committee of Inquiry, and has corrected the proofs for the Blue Book. 398 He thinks it good that there should be a strong check from public opinion, but 'abthinks'bb that hardly any legislative measure on the subject can be taken without doing more harm than good. Your quotation from the [Science Primer] 399 shocks me very much. Mr. Lewes knows Michael Foster, who is in many respects an admirable man -- but men, like societies, have strange patches of barbarism in the midst of their [civilization.] There are facts in almost everybody's habits for which they "have eyes but see not." 400 Let us be thankful for any anointing that will make us see better. But one wishes that the advocates of good would be a little more scrupulous in their modes of advocacy.
Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren are not coming to England -- at least there is no thought of that at present. She was brought up in the colony. And the little boy is still an infant. The little girl is a very lively [Marian.]
With best love to all
Your affectionate
M. E. L.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Lewes on Vivisection. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 3. 76.
Dear Cara
How is it that your sight is troubling you? Unless there is some inflammation, the right glasses would surely make seeing easy to you. Have you taken pains to get the right glasses? Pray when you come to town consult an oculist. Our young Charles, only 33, was slightly short-sighted and used only occasionally a pince-nez. Feeling a little increased trouble in seeing he went to Liebreich, who told him that he was injuring his eyes by wrong treatment and prescribed spectacles which he now constantly wears. I remember that you used years ago to complain of weariness in using your eyes, and I fear that you have suffered for want of the right aids. Don't wear glasses telles quelles but consult about getting the right ones.
Please tell me whether it would be the least comfort and convenience to you if we were to advance the £40 for your "Morals" 396 so that you could await Nelsons' payment without anxiety -- if I understand you rightly in supposing that they have accepted the work. The fact of the Sydenham house having stood empty for a year must have hampered you sadly. I think it is the first time you have been so long unfortunate with the letting or not-letting -- is it not?
Thanks for the little blue-coated Paul Bradley. The illustrations do look a little worse in this form than when one saw them indulgently on the pages of the Animal World. 397 The doggie watching the gap is the least objectionable. The clergyman is of the namby-pambiest "description."
Mr. Lewes gave evidence on the subject of Vivisection before the Committee of Inquiry, and has corrected the proofs for the Blue Book. 398 He thinks it good that there should be a strong check from public opinion, but 'abthinks'bb that hardly any legislative measure on the subject can be taken without doing more harm than good. Your quotation from the [Science Primer] 399 shocks me very much. Mr. Lewes knows Michael Foster, who is in many respects an admirable man -- but men, like societies, have strange patches of barbarism in the midst of their [civilization.] There are facts in almost everybody's habits for which they "have eyes but see not." 400 Let us be thankful for any anointing that will make us see better. But one wishes that the advocates of good would be a little more scrupulous in their modes of advocacy.
Our daughter-in-law and grandchildren are not coming to England -- at least there is no thought of that at present. She was brought up in the colony. And the little boy is still an infant. The little girl is a very lively [Marian.]
With best love to all
Your affectionate
M. E. L.
Signature
M. E. L.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 3 February 1876, 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/93304