GE to Maria Lewis, Foleshill, [13 November 1841]
Title
GE to Maria Lewis, Foleshill, [13 November 1841]
Title
GE to Maria Lewis, Foleshill, [13 November 1841]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Maria Lewis
Date(s)
- 1841-11-13
Place
FOLESHILL
Letter Content
GE to Maria Lewis, Foleshill, [13 November 1841]
MS: Yale. Address: Miss Lewis | The Revd L. Harper's | Burton Latimer | Kettering. Postmark: COVENTRY | NO 13 | 1841. Extracts published: Cross, I, 103.
Foleshill | Saturday.
My very dear Friend,
I fear you have thought me tardy in seeking further information about your prospects -- at least if your goodness have not permitted this, my own wish to know them has made me fancy the eight or nine days that have elapsed since I had your letter unusually long. My whole soul has been engrossed in the most interesting of all enquiries for the last few days, and to what result my thoughts may lead I know not -- possibly to one that will startle you, but my only desire is to know the truth, my only fear to cling to error. 388 I think Miss Chandler writes like a sincere, well-meaning person, and the situation she offers would very likely accord with your habits and feelings better than your present one; but are the Fates really to take you to the southern-most verge of the land? Eh bien! There are various preservatives for substances, vinegar, sugar, alcohol, a vacuum, and other things known to the scientific -- and so for love, ours I venture to say will not decompose under the influence of separation, unless you excommunicate me for differing from you in opinion. I was amused with your sharp remarks on the advertisement -- milksop as I am, I immediately perceived them to be vraisemblable. My dear Father has just returned rather sooner than I expected and has limited my allowance of time for writing.
Think -- is there any conceivable alteration in me that would prevent your coming to me at Christmas? I long to have a friend such as you are I think I may say alone to me, to unburthen every thought and difficulty -- for I am still a solitary, though near a city. But we have the universe to talk with, infinity in which to stretch the gaze of hope, and an all-bountiful, all-wise Creator in whom to confide -- He who has given us the untold delights of which our reason, our emotion, our sensations are the ever-springing sources. Hurry and darkness -- so goodbye dear one. Why may we not talk without so much circumlocution, 'tis a very great compliment to the understanding of one's hearers to speak elliptically.
Ever yours
Mary Ann.
"An answer by return will oblige."
MS: Yale. Address: Miss Lewis | The Revd L. Harper's | Burton Latimer | Kettering. Postmark: COVENTRY | NO 13 | 1841. Extracts published: Cross, I, 103.
Foleshill | Saturday.
My very dear Friend,
I fear you have thought me tardy in seeking further information about your prospects -- at least if your goodness have not permitted this, my own wish to know them has made me fancy the eight or nine days that have elapsed since I had your letter unusually long. My whole soul has been engrossed in the most interesting of all enquiries for the last few days, and to what result my thoughts may lead I know not -- possibly to one that will startle you, but my only desire is to know the truth, my only fear to cling to error. 388 I think Miss Chandler writes like a sincere, well-meaning person, and the situation she offers would very likely accord with your habits and feelings better than your present one; but are the Fates really to take you to the southern-most verge of the land? Eh bien! There are various preservatives for substances, vinegar, sugar, alcohol, a vacuum, and other things known to the scientific -- and so for love, ours I venture to say will not decompose under the influence of separation, unless you excommunicate me for differing from you in opinion. I was amused with your sharp remarks on the advertisement -- milksop as I am, I immediately perceived them to be vraisemblable. My dear Father has just returned rather sooner than I expected and has limited my allowance of time for writing.
Think -- is there any conceivable alteration in me that would prevent your coming to me at Christmas? I long to have a friend such as you are I think I may say alone to me, to unburthen every thought and difficulty -- for I am still a solitary, though near a city. But we have the universe to talk with, infinity in which to stretch the gaze of hope, and an all-bountiful, all-wise Creator in whom to confide -- He who has given us the untold delights of which our reason, our emotion, our sensations are the ever-springing sources. Hurry and darkness -- so goodbye dear one. Why may we not talk without so much circumlocution, 'tis a very great compliment to the understanding of one's hearers to speak elliptically.
Ever yours
Mary Ann.
"An answer by return will oblige."
Signature
Mary Ann.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Maria Lewis, Foleshill, [13 November 1841], 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/92870