GHL to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 6 June 1876
Title
GHL to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 6 June 1876
Title
GHL to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 6 June 1876
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1876-06-06
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 6 June 1876
MS: Philip Leigh-Smith
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
June 76.
Dear Barbara
This is capital news about Miss Marks! 338 Madonna is terribly overdone and I should be really anxious about her if we were not going to depart on Thursday; but quiet, new scenes, and her own powerful frame will I hope restore the bloom to her sweet cheek.
On Wednesday I was presented to the King of the Belgians (at his request not mine) and had an agreeable interview in German, French, and English, about the Life of Goethe, Italy, Belgium and its relations to England, and the English language as one unpronounceable by foreigners. He is six foot two, not bad looking, with very amiable manners. He had expressed a particular wish to make Madonna's acquaintance but that shy saint wouldn't go.
'c0propos -- read the enclosed letter and see if you recognize the handwriting. Is it Miss Blind? 339 The writer called with it herself hoping to be admitted, which was not very ladylike. I wrote to say that I was obliged to keep Mrs. Lewes from every kind of agitation just now, and thought that as you were a friend you were about the best person to whom anyone in trouble might unbosom. On reflection I don't quite like the tone of the letter -- either it is that of a morbid gushing and impracticable woman or else it is a disguised way of begging. God bless you!
Ever yours
G. H. L.
MS: Philip Leigh-Smith
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
June 76.
Dear Barbara
This is capital news about Miss Marks! 338 Madonna is terribly overdone and I should be really anxious about her if we were not going to depart on Thursday; but quiet, new scenes, and her own powerful frame will I hope restore the bloom to her sweet cheek.
On Wednesday I was presented to the King of the Belgians (at his request not mine) and had an agreeable interview in German, French, and English, about the Life of Goethe, Italy, Belgium and its relations to England, and the English language as one unpronounceable by foreigners. He is six foot two, not bad looking, with very amiable manners. He had expressed a particular wish to make Madonna's acquaintance but that shy saint wouldn't go.
'c0propos -- read the enclosed letter and see if you recognize the handwriting. Is it Miss Blind? 339 The writer called with it herself hoping to be admitted, which was not very ladylike. I wrote to say that I was obliged to keep Mrs. Lewes from every kind of agitation just now, and thought that as you were a friend you were about the best person to whom anyone in trouble might unbosom. On reflection I don't quite like the tone of the letter -- either it is that of a morbid gushing and impracticable woman or else it is a disguised way of begging. God bless you!
Ever yours
G. H. L.
Signature
G. H. L.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 6 June 1876, 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/94908