GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 2 December 1870
Title
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 2 December 1870
Title
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 2 December 1870
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve
Date(s)
- 1870-12-02
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 2 December 1870
Text: Cross, III, 124-126.
I have it on my conscience that I may not have given you a clear impression of my wishes about the poor pensioner who was in question between us to-day, so I write at once to secure us both against a possible misunderstanding. I would rather not apply any more money in that direction, because I know of other channels -- especially a plan which is being energetically carried out for helping a considerable group of people without almsgiving, and solely by inducing them to work, -- into which I shall be glad to pour a little more aid. 239 The repugnance to have relief from the parish was a feeling which it was good to encourage in the old days of contra-encouragement to sturdy pauperism; but I question whether one ought now to indulge it, and not rather point out the reasons why, in a case of real helplessness, there is no indignity in receiving from a public fund.
After you had left me, 240 it rang in my ears that I had spoken of my greater cheerfulness as due to a reduced anxiety about myself and my doings, and had not seemed to recognise that the deficit or evil in other lives could be a cause of depression. I was not really so ludicrously selfish while dressing myself up in the costume of unselfishness. But my strong egoism has caused me so much melancholy, which is traceable simply to a fastidious yet hungry ambition, that I am relieved by the comparative quietude of personal cravings which age is bringing. That is the utmost I have to boast of, and really to be cheerful in these times could only be a virtue in the sense in which it was felt to be so by the old Romans, when they thanked their general for not despairing of the Republic.
I have been reading aloud to Mr Lewes this evening Mr Harrison's article on Bismarckism, 241 which made me cry -- it is in some passages movingly eloquent.
Text: Cross, III, 124-126.
I have it on my conscience that I may not have given you a clear impression of my wishes about the poor pensioner who was in question between us to-day, so I write at once to secure us both against a possible misunderstanding. I would rather not apply any more money in that direction, because I know of other channels -- especially a plan which is being energetically carried out for helping a considerable group of people without almsgiving, and solely by inducing them to work, -- into which I shall be glad to pour a little more aid. 239 The repugnance to have relief from the parish was a feeling which it was good to encourage in the old days of contra-encouragement to sturdy pauperism; but I question whether one ought now to indulge it, and not rather point out the reasons why, in a case of real helplessness, there is no indignity in receiving from a public fund.
After you had left me, 240 it rang in my ears that I had spoken of my greater cheerfulness as due to a reduced anxiety about myself and my doings, and had not seemed to recognise that the deficit or evil in other lives could be a cause of depression. I was not really so ludicrously selfish while dressing myself up in the costume of unselfishness. But my strong egoism has caused me so much melancholy, which is traceable simply to a fastidious yet hungry ambition, that I am relieved by the comparative quietude of personal cravings which age is bringing. That is the utmost I have to boast of, and really to be cheerful in these times could only be a virtue in the sense in which it was felt to be so by the old Romans, when they thanked their general for not despairing of the Republic.
I have been reading aloud to Mr Lewes this evening Mr Harrison's article on Bismarckism, 241 which made me cry -- it is in some passages movingly eloquent.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 2 December 1870, 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/93632