GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, London, 25 June 1867
Title
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, London, 25 June 1867
Title
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, London, 25 June 1867
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Frederick Lehmann
Date(s)
- 1867-06-25
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, London, 25 June 1867
Text: R. C. Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, London, Smith, Elder, 1908, pp. 144-145. The MS was sold at Sotheby's, 21 June 1922.
Tuesday Morning.
My dear Friend,
I shall say yes very gladly, for just now I want to see you of all dear people that I know, if there were not this insurmountable obstacle, that to-morrow morning we go to Niton, 639 where we have taken a house for a fortnight.
Poor George, after being so blooming that you would hardly have known him, has got all wrong again, has had headache for ten days, and begins to ask, "What good shall my life do me?" 640 But he revives so quickly under favourable circumstances that I hope you will see him looking bright when we come back.
Thus unkind Fate has willed it, else I should have felt as happy as a schoolgirl invited out to have gone to see you on Saturday in your pretty home, and I should have chosen to meet just the friends you mention -- including Mr. Deutsch. If I had not heard you cough too much! And you do not tell me that you have lost that old enemy who overtook you again in Paris.
I wonder if I like you better because you are not well. I have a trick of caring more for any one who has a trouble than for those who seem quite scathless.
We shall take care to advertise our return to friends whom we want to see, and therefore to you, without any delay. George tells me to send his love with mine to you and your husband. You know already that he would have been delighted to see you all again.
Always yours affectionately,
M. E. Lewes.
Text: R. C. Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, London, Smith, Elder, 1908, pp. 144-145. The MS was sold at Sotheby's, 21 June 1922.
Tuesday Morning.
My dear Friend,
I shall say yes very gladly, for just now I want to see you of all dear people that I know, if there were not this insurmountable obstacle, that to-morrow morning we go to Niton, 639 where we have taken a house for a fortnight.
Poor George, after being so blooming that you would hardly have known him, has got all wrong again, has had headache for ten days, and begins to ask, "What good shall my life do me?" 640 But he revives so quickly under favourable circumstances that I hope you will see him looking bright when we come back.
Thus unkind Fate has willed it, else I should have felt as happy as a schoolgirl invited out to have gone to see you on Saturday in your pretty home, and I should have chosen to meet just the friends you mention -- including Mr. Deutsch. If I had not heard you cough too much! And you do not tell me that you have lost that old enemy who overtook you again in Paris.
I wonder if I like you better because you are not well. I have a trick of caring more for any one who has a trouble than for those who seem quite scathless.
We shall take care to advertise our return to friends whom we want to see, and therefore to you, without any delay. George tells me to send his love with mine to you and your husband. You know already that he would have been delighted to see you all again.
Always yours affectionately,
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, London, 25 June 1867, 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/93451