GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 8 August 1878
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 8 August 1878
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 8 August 1878
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Elma Stuart
Date(s)
- 1878-08-08
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 8 August 1878
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 113-116.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
August 8. 78.
Dearest Elma
What a blessing to see your handwriting on an envelope this morning! We have been in much anxiety about you -- I wish I could say we are now quite easy. But I will not dwell on our fears. I will rather think of you with Roly and his prizes by your side. As long as that fine fellow is good and loves you, there is some sweetness for you in this troublous life.
And I am glad about the future £20,000. 116 You are not made for poverty, or anything else that hems in large and liberal dispositions. I should have liked to see you undergoing that affectionate ovation from your neighbours. There will be a wail like an Irish dirge when you leave Dinan.
What I am least contented with after the sad, sad fact of your still needing a nurse, is that Mrs. Menzies should be forced away from you for six weeks. And is it possible that she has a son ready to come into "his property"? 117
I wish I could tell you better news of my little man. Morally he is as good as this summer weather and the lovely country, but physically he is below the mark -- suffering still from nightly cramp, and often so wanting in his usual spirit and mental energy that he is unable to have his morning's study. But he fights resolutely against these ills, walking before breakfast, and having mild games of tennis, and accepting gratefully the goods of all kinds except health which the agencies sometimes called gods have provided for him. That he is not up to his average of enjoyment is my only trouble. I am not very well at present, but my ailments are "nichts zu bedeuten." I have our beautiful valley and distant outline of hill before me as I write, and we both get fonder of the objects in and around our country home.
You say nothing about your own removal, and I am not quite informed whether it is absolutely decided as to time, or capable of being deferred supposing you are still too delicate to undertake new exertion.
We had knowledge of Sir James Cox's death, but thought it better not to write to you about it.
Mr. Lewes sends you his best love and experienced sympathy -- for he too knows what the sharp pain is which makes turning in bed an unconquerable difficulty. But I trust that he will get over his present symptoms without a second attack of that kind.
We include Mrs. Menzies and Roland in our warmest good wishes and love them as part of you.
Always your affectionate
Mother.
It is better to write illegibly than not to write at all, n'est-ce pas? The Eau-de-Cologne will be welcomed for your and its own sake.
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 113-116.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
August 8. 78.
Dearest Elma
What a blessing to see your handwriting on an envelope this morning! We have been in much anxiety about you -- I wish I could say we are now quite easy. But I will not dwell on our fears. I will rather think of you with Roly and his prizes by your side. As long as that fine fellow is good and loves you, there is some sweetness for you in this troublous life.
And I am glad about the future £20,000. 116 You are not made for poverty, or anything else that hems in large and liberal dispositions. I should have liked to see you undergoing that affectionate ovation from your neighbours. There will be a wail like an Irish dirge when you leave Dinan.
What I am least contented with after the sad, sad fact of your still needing a nurse, is that Mrs. Menzies should be forced away from you for six weeks. And is it possible that she has a son ready to come into "his property"? 117
I wish I could tell you better news of my little man. Morally he is as good as this summer weather and the lovely country, but physically he is below the mark -- suffering still from nightly cramp, and often so wanting in his usual spirit and mental energy that he is unable to have his morning's study. But he fights resolutely against these ills, walking before breakfast, and having mild games of tennis, and accepting gratefully the goods of all kinds except health which the agencies sometimes called gods have provided for him. That he is not up to his average of enjoyment is my only trouble. I am not very well at present, but my ailments are "nichts zu bedeuten." I have our beautiful valley and distant outline of hill before me as I write, and we both get fonder of the objects in and around our country home.
You say nothing about your own removal, and I am not quite informed whether it is absolutely decided as to time, or capable of being deferred supposing you are still too delicate to undertake new exertion.
We had knowledge of Sir James Cox's death, but thought it better not to write to you about it.
Mr. Lewes sends you his best love and experienced sympathy -- for he too knows what the sharp pain is which makes turning in bed an unconquerable difficulty. But I trust that he will get over his present symptoms without a second attack of that kind.
We include Mrs. Menzies and Roland in our warmest good wishes and love them as part of you.
Always your affectionate
Mother.
It is better to write illegibly than not to write at all, n'est-ce pas? The Eau-de-Cologne will be welcomed for your and its own sake.
Signature
Mother.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, Witley, 8 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/93433