GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Weimar, 10 September 1854
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Weimar, 10 September 1854
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Weimar, 10 September 1854
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Bessie Rayner Parkes
Date(s)
- 1854-09-10
Place
Weimar
Letter Content
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Weimar, 10 September 1854
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | Post Office | Barmouth | North Wales | England | Via Belgium. Endorsed: [Vi]a Belgium | September 1854. Postmarks: WEIMAR | 10 | 9 | 11 12 M; PAID | DI | 13 SP 13 | 1854. Hitherto unpublished.
Kaufgasse, Weimar | September 10. 1854.
Dear Friend
I will make no excuses for not having written before, because excuses are tiresome, and I know you have not thought unkindly of me for my silence.
Your letter was delightful -- it gave me a charming picture of your life, and has made me happier in thinking of you ever since. But I confess that on some matters it is as mysterious to me as a Runic inscription, though I am quite willing to believe that the mystery is due to my stupidity rather than to any want of explicitness in you. The more I know of you, the better, since ignorance in friendship, as in everything else, is the mother of evils; it makes one talk quite away from the mark, and do all sorts of petty injustice. Still I am willing to be ignorant to all eternity of anything you think well to conceal from me, for I know you can tell me nothing that will make me love you less.
My life here is full of quiet happiness -- a little island of repose between the fortnight's journeying which was full of more exciting pleasure, and the stay at Dresden and Berlin to which I am looking forward. Liszt is here, as you know, and has been particularly friendly. He is a glorious creature in every way -- a bright genius, with a tender, loving nature, and a face in which this combination is perfectly expressed. He has that "laideur divinis'e9e" by the soul that gleams through it, which is my favourite kind of physique. Soon, I hope we shall be having some of Wagner's operas performed under his (Liszt's) superintendance and perhaps that will tempt us to linger here; 514 otherwise I think we shall leave Weimar at the end of this month.
I am glad to think that you and Barbara (I must call her so) are happy in writing as well as in mounting the hills and painting. When I get to Berlin, I shall hope to see your pamphlet, 515 as Mr. Chapman can send things there for me without expense. If I happen to write anything you don't like about women, you must tolerate me, since in all things I am obliged to say with old Luther "That is my belief -- I cannot speak otherwise -- so help me God! Amen." 516
Arthur Helps has passed through Weimar and spent a day with us. 517 Do you know his works? He is to me one of the most charming people I ever saw -- so natural and individual if not original.
The woods are putting on their gold now and I am beginning to have that calm autumn feeling which has never failed to come at this season in my least happy years. This is a happy one -- full of the seeds of future activity, in spite of age and grey hairs -- and because I am rejoicing with humility -- as Paul ought to have said, instead of "with trembling." 518
Give my kindest remembrances to your dear companion, and thank her for adding the sketch which made your picture of your Welsh life complete. Think of me, both of you, as you have always done, with indulgence and sympathy, and as
Your affectionate and trusting friend
Marian Evans.
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss Parkes | Post Office | Barmouth | North Wales | England | Via Belgium. Endorsed: [Vi]a Belgium | September 1854. Postmarks: WEIMAR | 10 | 9 | 11 12 M; PAID | DI | 13 SP 13 | 1854. Hitherto unpublished.
Kaufgasse, Weimar | September 10. 1854.
Dear Friend
I will make no excuses for not having written before, because excuses are tiresome, and I know you have not thought unkindly of me for my silence.
Your letter was delightful -- it gave me a charming picture of your life, and has made me happier in thinking of you ever since. But I confess that on some matters it is as mysterious to me as a Runic inscription, though I am quite willing to believe that the mystery is due to my stupidity rather than to any want of explicitness in you. The more I know of you, the better, since ignorance in friendship, as in everything else, is the mother of evils; it makes one talk quite away from the mark, and do all sorts of petty injustice. Still I am willing to be ignorant to all eternity of anything you think well to conceal from me, for I know you can tell me nothing that will make me love you less.
My life here is full of quiet happiness -- a little island of repose between the fortnight's journeying which was full of more exciting pleasure, and the stay at Dresden and Berlin to which I am looking forward. Liszt is here, as you know, and has been particularly friendly. He is a glorious creature in every way -- a bright genius, with a tender, loving nature, and a face in which this combination is perfectly expressed. He has that "laideur divinis'e9e" by the soul that gleams through it, which is my favourite kind of physique. Soon, I hope we shall be having some of Wagner's operas performed under his (Liszt's) superintendance and perhaps that will tempt us to linger here; 514 otherwise I think we shall leave Weimar at the end of this month.
I am glad to think that you and Barbara (I must call her so) are happy in writing as well as in mounting the hills and painting. When I get to Berlin, I shall hope to see your pamphlet, 515 as Mr. Chapman can send things there for me without expense. If I happen to write anything you don't like about women, you must tolerate me, since in all things I am obliged to say with old Luther "That is my belief -- I cannot speak otherwise -- so help me God! Amen." 516
Arthur Helps has passed through Weimar and spent a day with us. 517 Do you know his works? He is to me one of the most charming people I ever saw -- so natural and individual if not original.
The woods are putting on their gold now and I am beginning to have that calm autumn feeling which has never failed to come at this season in my least happy years. This is a happy one -- full of the seeds of future activity, in spite of age and grey hairs -- and because I am rejoicing with humility -- as Paul ought to have said, instead of "with trembling." 518
Give my kindest remembrances to your dear companion, and thank her for adding the sketch which made your picture of your Welsh life complete. Think of me, both of you, as you have always done, with indulgence and sympathy, and as
Your affectionate and trusting friend
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Weimar, 10 September 1854, 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/92075