GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 25 May 1873
Title
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 25 May 1873
Title
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 25 May 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve
Date(s)
- 1873-05-25
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 25 May 1873
Text: Cross: III, 205-206.
Our plans have been upset by the impossibility of finding a house in the country that is suitable to us; and weariness of being deluded into journeys of investigation by fanciful advertisements, 794 has inclined Mr Lewes for the present to say that we will go abroad. Still I have nothing to tell that is absolutely settled, and I must ask you, when you return, to send a note to this house. If I am in England, it will be forwarded to me, and you will get a prompt answer. If I am silent, you will conclude that I am gone abroad. I think it is at the end of June that you are to come home?
Here we have been wearing furs and velvet, and having fires all through the past week, chiefly occupied by Mr Lewes and me in a visit to Cambridge. We were invited ostensibly to see the boat-race, but the real pleasure of the visit consisted in talking with a hopeful group of Trinity young men. On Monday we had a clear cold day, more like the fine weather of mid-winter than any tradition of May time. I hope that you have had no such revisiting of winter at San Remo. How much we should enjoy having you with us to narrate everything that has happened to you in the last eventful half year! I shall feel the loss of this as an immediate prospect to be the greatest disadvantage in our going abroad next month -- if we go.
Your last news of Emily 795 and of "baby's teeth" is cheerful. "Baby's teeth" is a phrase that enters much into our life just now. Little Blanche had a sad struggle with her first little bit of ivory, but she has been blooming again since, and is altogether a ravishing child. To-day we have had a large collection of visitors, and I have the usual Sunday evening condition of brain. But letters are so constantly coming and claiming my time to answer them, that I get fidgety lest I should neglect to write to you; and I was determined not to let another day pass without letting you have a proof that I think of you. When I am silent, please believe that the silence is due to feebleness of body, which narrows my available time. Mr Lewes often talks of you, and will value any word from you about yourself as much as I shall.
Text: Cross: III, 205-206.
Our plans have been upset by the impossibility of finding a house in the country that is suitable to us; and weariness of being deluded into journeys of investigation by fanciful advertisements, 794 has inclined Mr Lewes for the present to say that we will go abroad. Still I have nothing to tell that is absolutely settled, and I must ask you, when you return, to send a note to this house. If I am in England, it will be forwarded to me, and you will get a prompt answer. If I am silent, you will conclude that I am gone abroad. I think it is at the end of June that you are to come home?
Here we have been wearing furs and velvet, and having fires all through the past week, chiefly occupied by Mr Lewes and me in a visit to Cambridge. We were invited ostensibly to see the boat-race, but the real pleasure of the visit consisted in talking with a hopeful group of Trinity young men. On Monday we had a clear cold day, more like the fine weather of mid-winter than any tradition of May time. I hope that you have had no such revisiting of winter at San Remo. How much we should enjoy having you with us to narrate everything that has happened to you in the last eventful half year! I shall feel the loss of this as an immediate prospect to be the greatest disadvantage in our going abroad next month -- if we go.
Your last news of Emily 795 and of "baby's teeth" is cheerful. "Baby's teeth" is a phrase that enters much into our life just now. Little Blanche had a sad struggle with her first little bit of ivory, but she has been blooming again since, and is altogether a ravishing child. To-day we have had a large collection of visitors, and I have the usual Sunday evening condition of brain. But letters are so constantly coming and claiming my time to answer them, that I get fidgety lest I should neglect to write to you; and I was determined not to let another day pass without letting you have a proof that I think of you. When I am silent, please believe that the silence is due to feebleness of body, which narrows my available time. Mr Lewes often talks of you, and will value any word from you about yourself as much as I shall.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Maria [Mrs. Richard] Congreve, London, 25 May 1873, 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/93642