GE to Mrs. William Smith, London, 1 November 1872
Title
GE to Mrs. William Smith, London, 1 November 1872
Title
GE to Mrs. William Smith, London, 1 November 1872
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. William Smith
Date(s)
- 1872-11-01
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. William Smith, London, 1 November 1872
Text: Cross, III, 174-177.
We returned yesterday evening from six weeks' absence in Germany, and I found your dear, sad letter among the many awaiting me. I prize very highly the fact that you like to write to me and bear me in your mind as one who has a certain fellowship in your sorrow; and I do trust that this letter may reach you in time to prevent you from thinking, even for a moment, that I could be indifferent about responding to any word you send me. I shall address it to the care of Blackwood and Sons, because I imagine you to be by this time in Edinburgh with that delightful friend Mrs Stirling, whom I had much kindness from many years ago, when I was on a visit to Mr and Mrs George Combe. She took me to hear Dr Guthrie and Dr Candlish, and through her I saw Craigcrook. 620 I like to think of those hours and her pleasant talk.
Mr Lewes, I am thankful to say, has been getting more robust for the last two years, and is very bright and active. I think there is hardly any one left to whom he would so willingly have written or talked about the subjects which are filling his mind, as that dear one who is gone from your side, but is perpetually present in your consciousness. To-day I have been reading the memorial article in [Blackwood,] 621 and have been hoping that there is nothing in it which jars on your feeling. Everybody will think as I do -- that the bits from your pen are worth all the rest. I have been especially moved, though, by the two stanzas quoted at the end. Mr Lewes judges that the writer of the article did not personally know your husband, and wishes that more special touches had been given. I know, dear friend, that the sorrow is irremediable; but the pain -- the anguish -- will become less sharp, and life will be less difficult. You will think of things to do such as he would approve of your doing, and every day will be sacred with his memory -- nay, his presence. There is no pretence or visionariness in saying that he is still part of you. Mr Lewes sends his affectionate regards, which you will not reject. We mention your name to each other with a certain tenderness, as if your sorrow somehow belonged to our love for each other. But I hardly dare to think of what these words which I have written mean. Sometimes in the midst of happiness I cry suddenly at the thought that there must come a parting. Are not you and I very near to one another? -- I mean in feeling.
Text: Cross, III, 174-177.
We returned yesterday evening from six weeks' absence in Germany, and I found your dear, sad letter among the many awaiting me. I prize very highly the fact that you like to write to me and bear me in your mind as one who has a certain fellowship in your sorrow; and I do trust that this letter may reach you in time to prevent you from thinking, even for a moment, that I could be indifferent about responding to any word you send me. I shall address it to the care of Blackwood and Sons, because I imagine you to be by this time in Edinburgh with that delightful friend Mrs Stirling, whom I had much kindness from many years ago, when I was on a visit to Mr and Mrs George Combe. She took me to hear Dr Guthrie and Dr Candlish, and through her I saw Craigcrook. 620 I like to think of those hours and her pleasant talk.
Mr Lewes, I am thankful to say, has been getting more robust for the last two years, and is very bright and active. I think there is hardly any one left to whom he would so willingly have written or talked about the subjects which are filling his mind, as that dear one who is gone from your side, but is perpetually present in your consciousness. To-day I have been reading the memorial article in [Blackwood,] 621 and have been hoping that there is nothing in it which jars on your feeling. Everybody will think as I do -- that the bits from your pen are worth all the rest. I have been especially moved, though, by the two stanzas quoted at the end. Mr Lewes judges that the writer of the article did not personally know your husband, and wishes that more special touches had been given. I know, dear friend, that the sorrow is irremediable; but the pain -- the anguish -- will become less sharp, and life will be less difficult. You will think of things to do such as he would approve of your doing, and every day will be sacred with his memory -- nay, his presence. There is no pretence or visionariness in saying that he is still part of you. Mr Lewes sends his affectionate regards, which you will not reject. We mention your name to each other with a certain tenderness, as if your sorrow somehow belonged to our love for each other. But I hardly dare to think of what these words which I have written mean. Sometimes in the midst of happiness I cry suddenly at the thought that there must come a parting. Are not you and I very near to one another? -- I mean in feeling.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. William Smith, London, 1 November 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/93737