GE to Charles Bray, Tenby, 6 August 1856
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Tenby, 6 August 1856
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Tenby, 6 August 1856
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1856-08-06
Place
Tenby
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Tenby, 6 August 1856
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, I, 412-413.
Bridge Street | Tenby | August 6. 56.
Dear Friend
Thank you for your kind note -- so like yourself. Such things encourage me and help me to do better. I never think what I write is good for anything till other people tell me so, and even then it always seems to me as if I should never write anything else worth reading. 737 Ah! how much good we may do each other by a few friendly words -- and the opportunities for them are so much more frequent than for friendly deeds. We want people to feel with us, more than to act for us.
I remember well the story of your "first love," except that I can't quite recal how it was that you came to make yourself ill with eating apples. I should like to know more particularly how she struck you on coming back from her imaginary grave after an interval of thirty years or more. But you will tell me all about it when you come to see us in the Autumn -- about the end of September or beginning of October, I hope; for we shall then, most likely, be tolerably free from pressing work. It seems a long, long while since we met, and I fear you have had a great deal to try and "worrit" you in the interval, though you never will confess that you have any troubles. Mr. Lewes sends his kind regards to you. He, too was very pleased with your letter, for he cares more about getting approbation for me than for himself. He can do very well without it.
You have seen Miss Lynn 738 again, and I dare say have heard from her that Mr. Lewes did answer her letters. He answered them immediately on receiving them, as he does all letters, for he is promptitude, punctuality and diligence incarnate. We were much grieved to hear of Miss Lynn's accident. I hope she has made an arrangement for living comfortably in London. 739
Mr. Chapman writes that he is up to the ears in his medical studies and finds it difficult to give adequate attention to the Review. I tremble for the fortunes of the W[estminster] R[eview] under the formidable rivalry of the "National." But the last number was on the whole rather better than the last number of the National.
Come and see us -- do -- when the golden days of Autumn are at their brightest. With love to Cara and Sara.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, I, 412-413.
Bridge Street | Tenby | August 6. 56.
Dear Friend
Thank you for your kind note -- so like yourself. Such things encourage me and help me to do better. I never think what I write is good for anything till other people tell me so, and even then it always seems to me as if I should never write anything else worth reading. 737 Ah! how much good we may do each other by a few friendly words -- and the opportunities for them are so much more frequent than for friendly deeds. We want people to feel with us, more than to act for us.
I remember well the story of your "first love," except that I can't quite recal how it was that you came to make yourself ill with eating apples. I should like to know more particularly how she struck you on coming back from her imaginary grave after an interval of thirty years or more. But you will tell me all about it when you come to see us in the Autumn -- about the end of September or beginning of October, I hope; for we shall then, most likely, be tolerably free from pressing work. It seems a long, long while since we met, and I fear you have had a great deal to try and "worrit" you in the interval, though you never will confess that you have any troubles. Mr. Lewes sends his kind regards to you. He, too was very pleased with your letter, for he cares more about getting approbation for me than for himself. He can do very well without it.
You have seen Miss Lynn 738 again, and I dare say have heard from her that Mr. Lewes did answer her letters. He answered them immediately on receiving them, as he does all letters, for he is promptitude, punctuality and diligence incarnate. We were much grieved to hear of Miss Lynn's accident. I hope she has made an arrangement for living comfortably in London. 739
Mr. Chapman writes that he is up to the ears in his medical studies and finds it difficult to give adequate attention to the Review. I tremble for the fortunes of the W[estminster] R[eview] under the formidable rivalry of the "National." But the last number was on the whole rather better than the last number of the National.
Come and see us -- do -- when the golden days of Autumn are at their brightest. With love to Cara and Sara.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Tenby, 6 August 1856, 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/92175