GE to Mrs. Mark Pattison, London, 16 December 1872
Title
GE to Mrs. Mark Pattison, London, 16 December 1872
Title
GE to Mrs. Mark Pattison, London, 16 December 1872
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Mark Pattison
Date(s)
- 1872-12-16
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Mark Pattison, London, 16 December 1872
MS: British Museum. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 16. 72.
My dear Mrs. Pattison
A word in answer to your letter of this morning, before I get ready to start for Hastings, whither we are going for a couple of days, to renew our faith in the sun. 660
When I saw in the Times that the Rector had been presiding at a meeting on University Reform 661 I hastily concluded that you were in town and looked for you at the Concert. 662 But not seeing you, I saw instead that my conclusion was not contained in the premises. You are happy in deferring your visit to a place where bad weather is always superlative and good a little below positive. Come in the Spring, as one of the flowers.
You will be sympathetically glad to hear that I had a note from Mr. Deutsch this morning telling me that he has six months' leave to go again to the East. 663 I have not seen him, femininely speaking, for an age -- that is, for seven or eight months. But I have reason to believe that he has been struggling more and more severely under his old wretched symptoms. This journey, which is just what he longed for, gives him the best possible chance of recovery.
You tell me of your virtuous industry, and I have nothing to tell of but idleness, which with me means "running up all manner of streets" and settling to nothing out of too much liking for all things. Yes, I have been reading Mr. Lewes's Manuscript, but of late I have come to a pause and have been left to my own devices. This morning, however, I find a fresh store laid on my desk. But it is a holiday to sit with one's feet at the fire reading one's husband's writing -- at least when, like mine, he allows me to differ from him. I flourish on this pasture very well, and he too is in tolerably good condition. I hope we are not the happiest people in the world, but we must be among the happiest.
Please offer my best regards to the Rector, and believe me, in scribbling haste
Yours always affectionately
M. E. Lewes.
MS: British Museum. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 16. 72.
My dear Mrs. Pattison
A word in answer to your letter of this morning, before I get ready to start for Hastings, whither we are going for a couple of days, to renew our faith in the sun. 660
When I saw in the Times that the Rector had been presiding at a meeting on University Reform 661 I hastily concluded that you were in town and looked for you at the Concert. 662 But not seeing you, I saw instead that my conclusion was not contained in the premises. You are happy in deferring your visit to a place where bad weather is always superlative and good a little below positive. Come in the Spring, as one of the flowers.
You will be sympathetically glad to hear that I had a note from Mr. Deutsch this morning telling me that he has six months' leave to go again to the East. 663 I have not seen him, femininely speaking, for an age -- that is, for seven or eight months. But I have reason to believe that he has been struggling more and more severely under his old wretched symptoms. This journey, which is just what he longed for, gives him the best possible chance of recovery.
You tell me of your virtuous industry, and I have nothing to tell of but idleness, which with me means "running up all manner of streets" and settling to nothing out of too much liking for all things. Yes, I have been reading Mr. Lewes's Manuscript, but of late I have come to a pause and have been left to my own devices. This morning, however, I find a fresh store laid on my desk. But it is a holiday to sit with one's feet at the fire reading one's husband's writing -- at least when, like mine, he allows me to differ from him. I flourish on this pasture very well, and he too is in tolerably good condition. I hope we are not the happiest people in the world, but we must be among the happiest.
Please offer my best regards to the Rector, and believe me, in scribbling haste
Yours always affectionately
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Mark Pattison, London, 16 December 1872, 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/93534