GE to Oscar Browning, London, 18 October 1870
Title
GE to Oscar Browning, London, 18 October 1870
Title
GE to Oscar Browning, London, 18 October 1870
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Oscar Browning
Date(s)
- 1870-10-18
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Oscar Browning, London, 18 October 1870
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
October 18. 70.
My dear Mr. Browning
I have often thought of you during these many months that we have not seen each other, and have wondered whether you still sometimes thought of us. Your letter came last night with the pleasantest answer to my wonderings.
Our country flittings have at last had a good effect on Mr. Lewes's health. I think he looks better and feels less mental fatigue than he has done for these three years before. Just now, he is nearly at the end of revising his History of Phil[osophy] 224 of which a new edition is wanted, and he has been quite brisk after his mornings with Hegel. 225 You will judge from that what a considerable fraction of horse-power there is in him. I boast of him, having nothing to boast of about myself.
Thoughts about the War are not sanitary, and they urge themselves through every other subject. No! I do not agree with our friend Prof. Beesly, and in general, pray do not infer my opinions from those of my friends. I pity deeply the suffering French people, but I condemn those who are acting for them and determining their fate. Our sympathies were entirely with the Germans in the beginning of the War, but I cannot help admitting to myself now, that if they had been in a higher moral condition -- I mean the whole nation and its government -- the War might not have reached this hideous stage.
Enough! You have been making better use of your time than I have, and it is cheering to read your chronicle of the Holidays. About your contemplated lectures on the English Poets -- it is interesting to me to find that you have determined on a plan which I suggested a few years ago to some one else who expected to give lectures on the same subject, namely, to begin with contemporaries and go backward -- going from the known to the unknown, according to rule.
Mrs. Browning 226 is worth a journey to see, for beautiful old age is the most encouraging of visions. But at present we are too strongly bent on staying at home after our gadding, so pray come to see us and tell us about the concert which we cannot indulge ourselves with hearing.
People generally are coming to town now, but a few are only just gone for their holiday: Mr. Pigott is one of these, so we may claim his share of you. Always
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
October 18. 70.
My dear Mr. Browning
I have often thought of you during these many months that we have not seen each other, and have wondered whether you still sometimes thought of us. Your letter came last night with the pleasantest answer to my wonderings.
Our country flittings have at last had a good effect on Mr. Lewes's health. I think he looks better and feels less mental fatigue than he has done for these three years before. Just now, he is nearly at the end of revising his History of Phil[osophy] 224 of which a new edition is wanted, and he has been quite brisk after his mornings with Hegel. 225 You will judge from that what a considerable fraction of horse-power there is in him. I boast of him, having nothing to boast of about myself.
Thoughts about the War are not sanitary, and they urge themselves through every other subject. No! I do not agree with our friend Prof. Beesly, and in general, pray do not infer my opinions from those of my friends. I pity deeply the suffering French people, but I condemn those who are acting for them and determining their fate. Our sympathies were entirely with the Germans in the beginning of the War, but I cannot help admitting to myself now, that if they had been in a higher moral condition -- I mean the whole nation and its government -- the War might not have reached this hideous stage.
Enough! You have been making better use of your time than I have, and it is cheering to read your chronicle of the Holidays. About your contemplated lectures on the English Poets -- it is interesting to me to find that you have determined on a plan which I suggested a few years ago to some one else who expected to give lectures on the same subject, namely, to begin with contemporaries and go backward -- going from the known to the unknown, according to rule.
Mrs. Browning 226 is worth a journey to see, for beautiful old age is the most encouraging of visions. But at present we are too strongly bent on staying at home after our gadding, so pray come to see us and tell us about the concert which we cannot indulge ourselves with hearing.
People generally are coming to town now, but a few are only just gone for their holiday: Mr. Pigott is one of these, so we may claim his share of you. Always
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Oscar Browning, London, 18 October 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/93756