GE to Charles Bray, St. Leonard's, [5 June 1848]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, St. Leonard's, [5 June 1848]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, St. Leonard's, [5 June 1848]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1848-06-05
Place
ST. LEONARD'S
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, St. Leonard's, [5 June 1848]
MS: Yale. Published: Cross, I, 186-188.
Victoria Hotel | Monday.
My dear Friend
Your words of affection seem to make this earthly atmosphere sit less heavily on my shoulders, and in gratitude I must send you my thanks before I begin to read of Henry Gow and Fair Catherine 739 for Father's delectation. In truth I have found it somewhat difficult to live for the last week -- conscious all the time that the only addition to my lot worth having must be more strength and love in my own nature -- but perhaps this very consciousness has an irritating rather than a soothing effect. I have a fit of sensitiveness upon me which after all is but egotism and mental idleness. The enthusiasm without which one cannot even pour out breakfast well (at least I cannot) has forsaken me. You may laugh and wonder when my enthusiasm has displayed itself, but that will only prove that you are no seer. I can never live long without it in some form or other. I possess my soul in patience for a time, believing that this dark damp vault in which I am groping will soon come to an end and the fresh green earth and the bright sky be all the more precious to me. But for the present my address is Grief Castle, on the river of Gloom, in the valley of Dolour. I was amused to find that Castle Campbell in Scotland was called so. 740 Truly for many seasons in my life I should have been an appropriate denizen of such a place, but I have faith that unless I am destined to insanity, I shall never again abide long in that same castle. I heartily say amen to your dictum about the cheerfulness of "large moral regions." 741 Where thought and love are active, thought the formative power, love the vitalizing, there can be no sadness. They are in themselves a more intense and extended participation of a divine Existence -- as they grow the highest species of faith grows too -- and [all things are possible.] I don't know why I should prose in this way to you. But I wanted to thank you for your note and all this selfish grumbling was at my pen's end. And now I have no time to redeem myself. We shall not stay long away from home I feel sure.
Your affectionate friend,
Mary Ann Evans.
MS: Yale. Published: Cross, I, 186-188.
Victoria Hotel | Monday.
My dear Friend
Your words of affection seem to make this earthly atmosphere sit less heavily on my shoulders, and in gratitude I must send you my thanks before I begin to read of Henry Gow and Fair Catherine 739 for Father's delectation. In truth I have found it somewhat difficult to live for the last week -- conscious all the time that the only addition to my lot worth having must be more strength and love in my own nature -- but perhaps this very consciousness has an irritating rather than a soothing effect. I have a fit of sensitiveness upon me which after all is but egotism and mental idleness. The enthusiasm without which one cannot even pour out breakfast well (at least I cannot) has forsaken me. You may laugh and wonder when my enthusiasm has displayed itself, but that will only prove that you are no seer. I can never live long without it in some form or other. I possess my soul in patience for a time, believing that this dark damp vault in which I am groping will soon come to an end and the fresh green earth and the bright sky be all the more precious to me. But for the present my address is Grief Castle, on the river of Gloom, in the valley of Dolour. I was amused to find that Castle Campbell in Scotland was called so. 740 Truly for many seasons in my life I should have been an appropriate denizen of such a place, but I have faith that unless I am destined to insanity, I shall never again abide long in that same castle. I heartily say amen to your dictum about the cheerfulness of "large moral regions." 741 Where thought and love are active, thought the formative power, love the vitalizing, there can be no sadness. They are in themselves a more intense and extended participation of a divine Existence -- as they grow the highest species of faith grows too -- and [all things are possible.] I don't know why I should prose in this way to you. But I wanted to thank you for your note and all this selfish grumbling was at my pen's end. And now I have no time to redeem myself. We shall not stay long away from home I feel sure.
Your affectionate friend,
Mary Ann Evans.
Signature
Mary Ann Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, St. Leonard's, [5 June 1848], 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/92173