GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Witley, 26 August 1878
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Witley, 26 August 1878
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Witley, 26 August 1878
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1878-08-26
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Witley, 26 August 1878
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
August 26. 78.
My dear Cara
O I am so glad about the House! If the new tenant will only be sensible enough to take it on to the end of your term there will be no more anxiety for you in that quarter. I feel your relief.
Doubtless Mr. Bray and you have laughed at the notion of the "most talented George Eliot" being president of the Perry Bar Institute and being baited by the fact of having had a predecessor in "Irving the actor." 128 I must beg Mr. Bray kindly to send as polite a refusal as possible on my behalf, saying that I have invariably declined invitations to that sort of publicity -- and some have already come from Birmingham.
I grieve to think of our dear Mrs. Pears's suffering. If she ever happens to mention me to you, assure her of my continued, affectionate memory of her goodness to me in my far-off youth.
And poor Rufa, who was so wonderfully well and free from her chronic tormentor, is feelingly thought of by Mr. Lewes as something of a fellow-sufferer. For he has been sadly tormented by gouty twinges and nightly cramps in these latter months. Indeed, we have been unfortunate in health amidst all our delights of country and fine weather. Mr. Lewes came down much out of sorts and until the last fortnight his state caused me great anxiety. He is now better, and I as usual have taken his place as invalid, having had a bilious attack which has only half loosed its hold on me.
I was not very fit to receive visitors -- always an exertion to us, from our hermit-like habits -- but I got better than I expected through a two days' visit from Mr. and Mrs. Tom Trollope (of Florence) in the middle of last week. We took them to see Tennyson, who is in great force under his 68 years and a figure whom you would like to contemplate while he is chanting his poetry -- and so the time passed. But when they were gone I collapsed into hemicrania and nausea, and am this morning for the first time a little freer and in possession of my soul. Hearing from you about the much worse ailments of our friends helps me to think less of my dyspeptic griefs.
I hope Sara will have a fine autumnal time with her friend Miss Carter at Penmaenmaur. I suppose no other sea-place would do her equal good with this to which she has taken an especial fancy. Certainly the mountains there are grand -- only man and his habitations seemed to us rather vile than otherwise. But I remember the wide sands as an attraction, and there at least you don't hear the singing of the Methodists.
Best love to Sara and Mr. Bray, and many thanks to you, dear, for writing me a letter of news which has cheered me.
Always your loving
Marian.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
August 26. 78.
My dear Cara
O I am so glad about the House! If the new tenant will only be sensible enough to take it on to the end of your term there will be no more anxiety for you in that quarter. I feel your relief.
Doubtless Mr. Bray and you have laughed at the notion of the "most talented George Eliot" being president of the Perry Bar Institute and being baited by the fact of having had a predecessor in "Irving the actor." 128 I must beg Mr. Bray kindly to send as polite a refusal as possible on my behalf, saying that I have invariably declined invitations to that sort of publicity -- and some have already come from Birmingham.
I grieve to think of our dear Mrs. Pears's suffering. If she ever happens to mention me to you, assure her of my continued, affectionate memory of her goodness to me in my far-off youth.
And poor Rufa, who was so wonderfully well and free from her chronic tormentor, is feelingly thought of by Mr. Lewes as something of a fellow-sufferer. For he has been sadly tormented by gouty twinges and nightly cramps in these latter months. Indeed, we have been unfortunate in health amidst all our delights of country and fine weather. Mr. Lewes came down much out of sorts and until the last fortnight his state caused me great anxiety. He is now better, and I as usual have taken his place as invalid, having had a bilious attack which has only half loosed its hold on me.
I was not very fit to receive visitors -- always an exertion to us, from our hermit-like habits -- but I got better than I expected through a two days' visit from Mr. and Mrs. Tom Trollope (of Florence) in the middle of last week. We took them to see Tennyson, who is in great force under his 68 years and a figure whom you would like to contemplate while he is chanting his poetry -- and so the time passed. But when they were gone I collapsed into hemicrania and nausea, and am this morning for the first time a little freer and in possession of my soul. Hearing from you about the much worse ailments of our friends helps me to think less of my dyspeptic griefs.
I hope Sara will have a fine autumnal time with her friend Miss Carter at Penmaenmaur. I suppose no other sea-place would do her equal good with this to which she has taken an especial fancy. Certainly the mountains there are grand -- only man and his habitations seemed to us rather vile than otherwise. But I remember the wide sands as an attraction, and there at least you don't hear the singing of the Methodists.
Best love to Sara and Mr. Bray, and many thanks to you, dear, for writing me a letter of news which has cheered me.
Always your loving
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Witley, 26 August 1878, 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/93336