GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dover, 16 March 1855
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dover, 16 March 1855
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dover, 16 March 1855
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Bessie Rayner Parkes
Date(s)
- 1855-03-16
Place
Dover
Letter Content
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dover, 16 March 1855
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | 2 Savile Row. Endorsed: March. 1855. Hitherto unpublished.
Sydney Place | Dover | March 16. 1855.
Dear Friend
I was more delighted with your letter because it was a fresh proof to me that you can feel and act nobly, than because it was an expression of affection towards me -- much as I value that affection. The best thing our friends can do for us is to enable us thoroughly to love and admire them, and it is for this that I thank you, rather than for anything more personal. Believe me, dear, nothing that comes from your mind and heart is lost upon me, but is a new help to me to become less unworthy.
We reached Dover on Wednesday and I have taken lodgings here for a short time while Mr. Lewes makes some arrangements in town. Your letter came to me when we were in the hurry of paying farewell visits first to friends and then to galleries and museums, so that I was unable to write to you from Berlin. I am now rather enjoying the contrast of perfect quiet and of a bright sun shining on cliff and softly rounded hill and fringed sea after much paddling through the thawing snows of the Berlin streets. I dare say you know that rather tame and ugly place, for which, however, I have considerable affection on the score of many happy hours passed there and many kind people whose faces shone benevolently on me.
The best of all the news your letter told me was the improvement in your own health, and the next best was the favourable account of Miss Barbara Smith's progress towards recovery. 581 A life which promises so much good to herself and others is better worth preserving than lives generally are. If any word from me will be welcome to her, assure her of my warm interest in her.
I can dilate on nothing now. I will only say that if you knew everything, we should probably be much nearer agreement even as to the details of conduct than you suppose. In the mean time, believe no one's representations about me, for there is not a single person who is in a position to make a true representation. My mind is deliciously calm and untroubled so far as my own lot is concerned, my only anxieties are sympathetic ones.
I write tonight rather sleepily because I may have to send to Mr. Chapman tomorrow and in that case I will enclose this note to him, as I suppose you still wish me not to write to you directly. Ever, dear Friend,
Yours faithfully and affectionately
Marian Evans.
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | 2 Savile Row. Endorsed: March. 1855. Hitherto unpublished.
Sydney Place | Dover | March 16. 1855.
Dear Friend
I was more delighted with your letter because it was a fresh proof to me that you can feel and act nobly, than because it was an expression of affection towards me -- much as I value that affection. The best thing our friends can do for us is to enable us thoroughly to love and admire them, and it is for this that I thank you, rather than for anything more personal. Believe me, dear, nothing that comes from your mind and heart is lost upon me, but is a new help to me to become less unworthy.
We reached Dover on Wednesday and I have taken lodgings here for a short time while Mr. Lewes makes some arrangements in town. Your letter came to me when we were in the hurry of paying farewell visits first to friends and then to galleries and museums, so that I was unable to write to you from Berlin. I am now rather enjoying the contrast of perfect quiet and of a bright sun shining on cliff and softly rounded hill and fringed sea after much paddling through the thawing snows of the Berlin streets. I dare say you know that rather tame and ugly place, for which, however, I have considerable affection on the score of many happy hours passed there and many kind people whose faces shone benevolently on me.
The best of all the news your letter told me was the improvement in your own health, and the next best was the favourable account of Miss Barbara Smith's progress towards recovery. 581 A life which promises so much good to herself and others is better worth preserving than lives generally are. If any word from me will be welcome to her, assure her of my warm interest in her.
I can dilate on nothing now. I will only say that if you knew everything, we should probably be much nearer agreement even as to the details of conduct than you suppose. In the mean time, believe no one's representations about me, for there is not a single person who is in a position to make a true representation. My mind is deliciously calm and untroubled so far as my own lot is concerned, my only anxieties are sympathetic ones.
I write tonight rather sleepily because I may have to send to Mr. Chapman tomorrow and in that case I will enclose this note to him, as I suppose you still wish me not to write to you directly. Ever, dear Friend,
Yours faithfully and affectionately
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Dover, 16 March 1855, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/92032