GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Paris, 12 May 1880
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Paris, 12 May 1880
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Paris, 12 May 1880
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Lee Lewes
Date(s)
- 1880-05-12
Place
Paris
Letter Content
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Paris, 12 May 1880
MS: Yale. Published: Paterson, pp. 217-220.
H'f4tel Vouillemont, Paris | May 12. 80.
Dearest Boy
We have had quite an unclouded journey hitherto, both literally and figuratively. At Dover we rested at the King's Head as being more out of the way of acquaintances than the fashionable Lord Warden. 411 Then we crossed the Channel as in a fairy tale -- without a disagreeable sensation -- having a private, luxurious cabin on deck, so that we arrived at Amiens in excellent condition and walked out to enjoy the sight of the glorious Cathedral before dinner. I don't know whether you and Gertrude have ever stayed at Amiens. If not, it is a thing to do when you want to abbreviate a railway journey, the Cathedral being much finer than N'f4tre Dame. The H'f4tel du Rhin is very comfortable, and we were waited on by a good woman who said, "Je n'aime pas les plaisirs -- je n'ai jamais aim'e9 les plaisirs" -- her joy being daily work and peace.
The next day we came on to Paris, where quite the prettiest thing at this moment is the greenth and blossoming chesnut trees of the Champs Elys'e9es. On Sunday it was a delight to me to see Johnnie's rapture at the sight of La Sainte Chapelle which, strange to say, in all his visits to Paris he had never seen before. We went to the Russian Church, but, owing to wrong information, arrived too late, and the beautiful priest with the miraculous bass voice was no longer there. So that expedition was a failure. The pictures in the Louvre have been a chief occupation, with afternoon driving in the Bois. The spring leafage and the grand heavens above it are really the best sight, and take the glory out of all pictures. This morning we are going to see the sculptures in the Louvre, and then the pictures in the Luxembourg, which it is a sort of pleasure to me to think that Johnnie has not yet seen. I have been walking and standing for three hours in the day, but I bear it well, and feel much stronger than when we set out.
One little streak of anxiety there is about the brooch I wore on Thursday morning -- the most valued brooch I ever possessed. We asked Brett to telegraph to Dover if it were on the dressing table at the Priory, but we have not heard anything in reply.
Miss Simcox sent us two letters, one to J. enclosing one to me, lest, as she says with her exquisite delicacy of tenderness, I should see the address to myself without knowing beforehand that I had her sympathy. Very kind letters also came to Johnnie from Prof. W. Sellar and Mr. Harrison. But you will imagine that my chief anxiety is to know that my dear Mrs. Congreve is not too much pained. Emily Clarke wrote to the Poste Restante, delighted with the prospect of staying another half year at Leipzig, and wanting to know more about her new [Uncle.] She was very fond of the beloved Pater, who was particularly kind to her. She used to remark of him that he seemed fuller of life than any one she had ever seen before him.
I wonder whether the sun has always been shining with you, as it has been with us. I mean the physical sun in the heavens. But the wind is still edged with some sharpness. Tell me whether Gertrude and the children are come home, and whether G. is strengthened by the change.
You see Mr. Fawcett has very properly given one secretaryship to the young man who has so long been his right hand. 412 And we read in Galignani yesterday that Sir W. Harcourt is turned out of Oxford! 413
Tomorrow morning we start for Dijon which will be the end of our day's journey. The next day we shall arrive at Lyons and on Saturday at Avignon. If you cannot write early enough for the Poste Restante Lyons, write to Avignon. Best love to Gertrude and kisses from grandmamma to the children. I hope you have had fair news from Eliza. She seemed very grateful to G. for going with her to the station. J. is gone out to look at some newspapers and I am scribbling meanwhile with an uncomfortable apparatus -- a folio that will not hold my paper -- which accounts, does it not? for every possible defect in a letter. Se[n]d me as much gossip as you have time to write in return and think of me always as the loving
Mutter.
MS: Yale. Published: Paterson, pp. 217-220.
H'f4tel Vouillemont, Paris | May 12. 80.
Dearest Boy
We have had quite an unclouded journey hitherto, both literally and figuratively. At Dover we rested at the King's Head as being more out of the way of acquaintances than the fashionable Lord Warden. 411 Then we crossed the Channel as in a fairy tale -- without a disagreeable sensation -- having a private, luxurious cabin on deck, so that we arrived at Amiens in excellent condition and walked out to enjoy the sight of the glorious Cathedral before dinner. I don't know whether you and Gertrude have ever stayed at Amiens. If not, it is a thing to do when you want to abbreviate a railway journey, the Cathedral being much finer than N'f4tre Dame. The H'f4tel du Rhin is very comfortable, and we were waited on by a good woman who said, "Je n'aime pas les plaisirs -- je n'ai jamais aim'e9 les plaisirs" -- her joy being daily work and peace.
The next day we came on to Paris, where quite the prettiest thing at this moment is the greenth and blossoming chesnut trees of the Champs Elys'e9es. On Sunday it was a delight to me to see Johnnie's rapture at the sight of La Sainte Chapelle which, strange to say, in all his visits to Paris he had never seen before. We went to the Russian Church, but, owing to wrong information, arrived too late, and the beautiful priest with the miraculous bass voice was no longer there. So that expedition was a failure. The pictures in the Louvre have been a chief occupation, with afternoon driving in the Bois. The spring leafage and the grand heavens above it are really the best sight, and take the glory out of all pictures. This morning we are going to see the sculptures in the Louvre, and then the pictures in the Luxembourg, which it is a sort of pleasure to me to think that Johnnie has not yet seen. I have been walking and standing for three hours in the day, but I bear it well, and feel much stronger than when we set out.
One little streak of anxiety there is about the brooch I wore on Thursday morning -- the most valued brooch I ever possessed. We asked Brett to telegraph to Dover if it were on the dressing table at the Priory, but we have not heard anything in reply.
Miss Simcox sent us two letters, one to J. enclosing one to me, lest, as she says with her exquisite delicacy of tenderness, I should see the address to myself without knowing beforehand that I had her sympathy. Very kind letters also came to Johnnie from Prof. W. Sellar and Mr. Harrison. But you will imagine that my chief anxiety is to know that my dear Mrs. Congreve is not too much pained. Emily Clarke wrote to the Poste Restante, delighted with the prospect of staying another half year at Leipzig, and wanting to know more about her new [Uncle.] She was very fond of the beloved Pater, who was particularly kind to her. She used to remark of him that he seemed fuller of life than any one she had ever seen before him.
I wonder whether the sun has always been shining with you, as it has been with us. I mean the physical sun in the heavens. But the wind is still edged with some sharpness. Tell me whether Gertrude and the children are come home, and whether G. is strengthened by the change.
You see Mr. Fawcett has very properly given one secretaryship to the young man who has so long been his right hand. 412 And we read in Galignani yesterday that Sir W. Harcourt is turned out of Oxford! 413
Tomorrow morning we start for Dijon which will be the end of our day's journey. The next day we shall arrive at Lyons and on Saturday at Avignon. If you cannot write early enough for the Poste Restante Lyons, write to Avignon. Best love to Gertrude and kisses from grandmamma to the children. I hope you have had fair news from Eliza. She seemed very grateful to G. for going with her to the station. J. is gone out to look at some newspapers and I am scribbling meanwhile with an uncomfortable apparatus -- a folio that will not hold my paper -- which accounts, does it not? for every possible defect in a letter. Se[n]d me as much gossip as you have time to write in return and think of me always as the loving
Mutter.
Signature
Mutter.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Paris, 12 May 1880, 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/92218