GE to Mrs. Robert Evans, London, 12 February 1864
Title
GE to Mrs. Robert Evans, London, 12 February 1864
Title
GE to Mrs. Robert Evans, London, 12 February 1864
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Robert Evans
Date(s)
- 1864-02-12
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Robert Evans, London, 12 February 1864
Text: Contemporary copy in possession of Miss Dorothy Evans. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | North Bank | Regents Park. | February 12. 1864. My dear Mrs. Evans 231
I have deferred writing to you, fearing to be obtrusive after I had already sent a message to you through your son. But I cannot be quite easy without expressing to yourself directly -- so far as a few written words can express it -- my sincere sympathy with you in the greatest of all partings that has just befallen you.
You have many dear ties and abundant friends around you, but I think there can hardly be one whose memory of the husband you have lost stretches so far back as mine. For in all the years I have lived I remember nothing that is much earlier than the knowledge that I had a brother Robert, and I have always thought of him, throughout the years we have been separated, as one whose heart had on every opportunity shown its ready kindness towards me, and besides that, I have cherished the memory that we had one dear Father whom we both venerated.
I will not believe that you will think there is no good in my saying these things to you, for good is always felt from the simple utterance of feelings that bind us poor struggling men and women to one another -- And you must be very changed from what I remember you if you do not give a very gentle and loving welcome to any word or look of affection. But I cannot imagine you much changed -- even your face I fancy would look familiar to me and bear few traces of the years that have passed since we last saw each other. To see you again or to hear from you, if ever you had the prompting or opportunity, would be a very sweet renewal of the past. May you be blest in all that remains to you after this supreme loss! I am comforted to think that very much must still remain in the love and prosperity of your children. 232 Ever dear Mrs. Evans
Sincerely yours
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Contemporary copy in possession of Miss Dorothy Evans. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory | North Bank | Regents Park. | February 12. 1864. My dear Mrs. Evans 231
I have deferred writing to you, fearing to be obtrusive after I had already sent a message to you through your son. But I cannot be quite easy without expressing to yourself directly -- so far as a few written words can express it -- my sincere sympathy with you in the greatest of all partings that has just befallen you.
You have many dear ties and abundant friends around you, but I think there can hardly be one whose memory of the husband you have lost stretches so far back as mine. For in all the years I have lived I remember nothing that is much earlier than the knowledge that I had a brother Robert, and I have always thought of him, throughout the years we have been separated, as one whose heart had on every opportunity shown its ready kindness towards me, and besides that, I have cherished the memory that we had one dear Father whom we both venerated.
I will not believe that you will think there is no good in my saying these things to you, for good is always felt from the simple utterance of feelings that bind us poor struggling men and women to one another -- And you must be very changed from what I remember you if you do not give a very gentle and loving welcome to any word or look of affection. But I cannot imagine you much changed -- even your face I fancy would look familiar to me and bear few traces of the years that have passed since we last saw each other. To see you again or to hear from you, if ever you had the prompting or opportunity, would be a very sweet renewal of the past. May you be blest in all that remains to you after this supreme loss! I am comforted to think that very much must still remain in the love and prosperity of your children. 232 Ever dear Mrs. Evans
Sincerely yours
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Robert Evans, London, 12 February 1864, 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/93689