GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 5 July 1862
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 5 July 1862
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 5 July 1862
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Francois D'Albert-Durade
Date(s)
- 1862-07-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 5 July 1862
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Blandford Square | London N.W. | July 5. 1862.
Dear Friend
I am sure you will forgive me for not being prompt in letter-writing under my pressing occupations. If I had been quite at leisure I should have written before now to thank you and Maman for having made our son Charles's stay at Geneva so agreeable to him. The pretty little photograph of Maman which he brought me is very precious: it represents her air -- her Wesen, as the Germans call it -- to perfection. I wish I had not to think of her as delicate in health -- a thought which is inevitable after your account of her fainting in church.
It would be a gratification to me if you should have the official translation of my new book consigned to you, and it is perhaps not hopeless. The absence of dialect will make it more easy to render than my previous books have been -- at least, there will be one difficulty the less.
We have our second boy at home just now, and have a general impression that life is made up of large boys with robust voices and bright spirits. The weather too is of the most oppressive -- rainy and close. Nevertheless I am very well in health, and my only trouble after extreme anxiety about my work is to see my dear husband's constantly recurring feebleness of head and stomach. The comfort is that he rallies quickly and is ready to enjoy life the moment pain or sickness has left him.
We shall not I think be able to leave home until next year, when, if we live, we look forward to a long holiday. We keep out of the bustle of this tumultuous London season as much as possible, and have only been to the International Exhibition once. 89 There is no enthusiasm about this second World's fair, as there was about the first, and it is not comparable in beauty. But the picture galleries make me wish that you could see them. Nevertheless "this also is vanity" 90 compared with a quiet life of home love. With best love to Maman,
Ever yours faithfully
Marian E. Lewes.
Mr. Lewes, I know, would desire to send his special remembrances to both of you, if he were not gone up to bed with a bad headache. Alas!
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Blandford Square | London N.W. | July 5. 1862.
Dear Friend
I am sure you will forgive me for not being prompt in letter-writing under my pressing occupations. If I had been quite at leisure I should have written before now to thank you and Maman for having made our son Charles's stay at Geneva so agreeable to him. The pretty little photograph of Maman which he brought me is very precious: it represents her air -- her Wesen, as the Germans call it -- to perfection. I wish I had not to think of her as delicate in health -- a thought which is inevitable after your account of her fainting in church.
It would be a gratification to me if you should have the official translation of my new book consigned to you, and it is perhaps not hopeless. The absence of dialect will make it more easy to render than my previous books have been -- at least, there will be one difficulty the less.
We have our second boy at home just now, and have a general impression that life is made up of large boys with robust voices and bright spirits. The weather too is of the most oppressive -- rainy and close. Nevertheless I am very well in health, and my only trouble after extreme anxiety about my work is to see my dear husband's constantly recurring feebleness of head and stomach. The comfort is that he rallies quickly and is ready to enjoy life the moment pain or sickness has left him.
We shall not I think be able to leave home until next year, when, if we live, we look forward to a long holiday. We keep out of the bustle of this tumultuous London season as much as possible, and have only been to the International Exhibition once. 89 There is no enthusiasm about this second World's fair, as there was about the first, and it is not comparable in beauty. But the picture galleries make me wish that you could see them. Nevertheless "this also is vanity" 90 compared with a quiet life of home love. With best love to Maman,
Ever yours faithfully
Marian E. Lewes.
Mr. Lewes, I know, would desire to send his special remembrances to both of you, if he were not gone up to bed with a bad headache. Alas!
Signature
Marian E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, London, 5 July 1862, 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/92369