GE to Maria Lewis, Griff, 21 December 1840
Title
GE to Maria Lewis, Griff, 21 December 1840
Title
GE to Maria Lewis, Griff, 21 December 1840
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Maria Lewis
Date(s)
- 1840-12-21
Place
GRIFF
Letter Content
GE to Maria Lewis, Griff, 21 December 1840
MS: Yale. Address: Miss Lewis | The Revd L. Harper's | Burton Latimer | near Kettering. Postmark: COVENTRY | DE 21 | 1840. Extracts published: Cross, I, 79-80.
Griff December 21st 1840.
My very dear Veronica,
If it were any but what some of our continental neighbours call [the bad season] I should say [would I were a faery.] What snug retreats I could offer you in acorn cups, what downy beds of green moss under shelter of some overhanging stone or in the hollow of a father oak, what draughts of fresh dew from the petals of the wild rose and what dancings to the tuneful whisperings of the leaves by the light of the [orbed maiden with white fire laden,] 279 for the use of all who are ethereal enough to make use of it! But alas! it is impossible (to me at least) to be poetical in cold weather. I understand the Icelanders have much national poetry, but I guess it was written in the neighbourhood of the boiling springs.
As matters stand I am unpoetically grateful to have a warm fireside and all the gross comfort of English cheer to share with you and I hope you will come to claim your part on Saturday. 280 I am dispirited to hear of your recent illness, and before receiving your letter this morning was meditating the writing of an enquiry as to the reason of your silence. I am not one of those people with whom others seem to get fat and ruddy; rather I fear their catching the infection of my pallid mind, but I will promise to be as cheerful and as Christmas-like as my rickety body and chameleon-like spirits will allow, and I do trust that our meeting will not be unfraught with benefit either to Clematis or her Veronica. Pray bring Phonarthron -- speech-sound is a boon that I often need -- I shall expect from it no less than a key to the classic Oriental and Sclavonic tongues in all their dialects.
I am about to commence the making of mince pies, with all the interesting sensations characterising young enterprise or effort. Would that I could shield the medley of my feelings under so even and uniform a covering as that of the said pies! Had I not better assemble my friends at some Runnymede, that they may give me a Parva Charta ensuring to me the privilege of being silly or sillissima whenever I please? Forgive my assumption of the right without such Charta and believe me ever
Your clinging
Clematis.
MS: Yale. Address: Miss Lewis | The Revd L. Harper's | Burton Latimer | near Kettering. Postmark: COVENTRY | DE 21 | 1840. Extracts published: Cross, I, 79-80.
Griff December 21st 1840.
My very dear Veronica,
If it were any but what some of our continental neighbours call [the bad season] I should say [would I were a faery.] What snug retreats I could offer you in acorn cups, what downy beds of green moss under shelter of some overhanging stone or in the hollow of a father oak, what draughts of fresh dew from the petals of the wild rose and what dancings to the tuneful whisperings of the leaves by the light of the [orbed maiden with white fire laden,] 279 for the use of all who are ethereal enough to make use of it! But alas! it is impossible (to me at least) to be poetical in cold weather. I understand the Icelanders have much national poetry, but I guess it was written in the neighbourhood of the boiling springs.
As matters stand I am unpoetically grateful to have a warm fireside and all the gross comfort of English cheer to share with you and I hope you will come to claim your part on Saturday. 280 I am dispirited to hear of your recent illness, and before receiving your letter this morning was meditating the writing of an enquiry as to the reason of your silence. I am not one of those people with whom others seem to get fat and ruddy; rather I fear their catching the infection of my pallid mind, but I will promise to be as cheerful and as Christmas-like as my rickety body and chameleon-like spirits will allow, and I do trust that our meeting will not be unfraught with benefit either to Clematis or her Veronica. Pray bring Phonarthron -- speech-sound is a boon that I often need -- I shall expect from it no less than a key to the classic Oriental and Sclavonic tongues in all their dialects.
I am about to commence the making of mince pies, with all the interesting sensations characterising young enterprise or effort. Would that I could shield the medley of my feelings under so even and uniform a covering as that of the said pies! Had I not better assemble my friends at some Runnymede, that they may give me a Parva Charta ensuring to me the privilege of being silly or sillissima whenever I please? Forgive my assumption of the right without such Charta and believe me ever
Your clinging
Clematis.
Signature
Clematis.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Maria Lewis, Griff, 21 December 1840, 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/92905