George Combe to Charles Bray, Edinburgh, 15 November 1854
Title
George Combe to Charles Bray, Edinburgh, 15 November 1854
Title
George Combe to Charles Bray, Edinburgh, 15 November 1854
Sender
George Combe
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1854-11-15
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
George Combe to Charles Bray, Edinburgh, 15 November 1854
MS: Copy in National Library of Scotland. Extract published: Haight, George Eliot, p. 166.
Private
Edinburgh 15 November 1854.
My dear Mr. Bray --
An intimate friend of Mr. Lewes's in this city, wrote to him begging of him to contradict the reports of an improper connection with Miss Evans. He gave ample explanations about his wife, denied that Miss E. had written to Miss Martineau; but in regard to the main question, he said that he is not answerable to his correspondent for his conduct. He has written in precisely similar terms, in answer to a similar request, to Mr. Carlyle. The conclusion, then, is irresistible that the reports are too true. -- They are spread everywhere, and we now meet them in society. We are deeply mortified and distressed; and I should like to know whether there is insanity in Miss Evans's family; for her conduct, with her brain, seems to me like &unknown;insanity&unknown; morbid mental aberration.
I have no right to dictate to you, but I esteem you too much not to state frankly to you my convictions. T. Hunt, Lewes, and Miss Evans have, in my opinion, by their practical conduct, inflicted a great injury on the cause of religious freedom. "The Leader" has become disagreeable to Mrs. Combe and me as the recorded thinking of minds that can act in such a manner, and when my subscription expires I shall give it up. "The greatest happiness of the greatest number" principle, 234 appears to me to require that the obligations of married life should be honourably fulfilled; and an educated woman who, in the face of the world, volunteers to live as a wife, with a man who already has a living wife and children, appears to me to pursue a course and to set an example calculated only to degrade herself and her sex, if she be sane. -- If you receive her into your family circle, while present appearances are unexplained, pray consider whether you will do justice to your own female domestic circle, and how other ladies may feel about going into a circle which makes no distinction between those who act thus, and those who preserve their honour unspotted?
I again assure you that it is in deep sorrow that I write these lines, and that love and respect for you and yours, alone prompt me to unburden my mind to you in this manner.
With our united kind regards to you, Mrs. Bray, and Mrs. 235 and Miss Hennell, I remain, My dear Mr. Bray,
Yours very truly
Geo. Combe.
I think that Mr. Lewes was perfectly justified in leaving his own wife, but not in making Miss Evans his mistress.
Chas. Bray Esq.
MS: Copy in National Library of Scotland. Extract published: Haight, George Eliot, p. 166.
Private
Edinburgh 15 November 1854.
My dear Mr. Bray --
An intimate friend of Mr. Lewes's in this city, wrote to him begging of him to contradict the reports of an improper connection with Miss Evans. He gave ample explanations about his wife, denied that Miss E. had written to Miss Martineau; but in regard to the main question, he said that he is not answerable to his correspondent for his conduct. He has written in precisely similar terms, in answer to a similar request, to Mr. Carlyle. The conclusion, then, is irresistible that the reports are too true. -- They are spread everywhere, and we now meet them in society. We are deeply mortified and distressed; and I should like to know whether there is insanity in Miss Evans's family; for her conduct, with her brain, seems to me like &unknown;insanity&unknown; morbid mental aberration.
I have no right to dictate to you, but I esteem you too much not to state frankly to you my convictions. T. Hunt, Lewes, and Miss Evans have, in my opinion, by their practical conduct, inflicted a great injury on the cause of religious freedom. "The Leader" has become disagreeable to Mrs. Combe and me as the recorded thinking of minds that can act in such a manner, and when my subscription expires I shall give it up. "The greatest happiness of the greatest number" principle, 234 appears to me to require that the obligations of married life should be honourably fulfilled; and an educated woman who, in the face of the world, volunteers to live as a wife, with a man who already has a living wife and children, appears to me to pursue a course and to set an example calculated only to degrade herself and her sex, if she be sane. -- If you receive her into your family circle, while present appearances are unexplained, pray consider whether you will do justice to your own female domestic circle, and how other ladies may feel about going into a circle which makes no distinction between those who act thus, and those who preserve their honour unspotted?
I again assure you that it is in deep sorrow that I write these lines, and that love and respect for you and yours, alone prompt me to unburden my mind to you in this manner.
With our united kind regards to you, Mrs. Bray, and Mrs. 235 and Miss Hennell, I remain, My dear Mr. Bray,
Yours very truly
Geo. Combe.
I think that Mr. Lewes was perfectly justified in leaving his own wife, but not in making Miss Evans his mistress.
Chas. Bray Esq.
Signature
Geo. Combe.
Citation
George Combe, George Combe to Charles Bray, Edinburgh, 15 November 1854, 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/94240