GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 27 February 1865
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 27 February 1865
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 27 February 1865
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1865-02-27
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 27 February 1865
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library.
1 North Bank | February 27. 1865.
Dearest Barbara
Your letter, just received, has comforted me greatly. We did go to Paris, but did not go to the Hotel de Saxe, which perhaps was the reason that I lost the chance you had given me of hearing from you there. Not having had the Paris letter, I felt it long since I had had some assurance of your being at least well in health and able to enjoy some of the good things Fate has granted you. Your letter this morning is just what I wanted.
Gertrude and Charlie will be delighted with the Burnous -- and I will duly deliver your message. They are to be married on the 20th, and we shall be glad now when the epoch has come -- if one can really be glad at the lapse of time irrecoverable. We have loved Gertrude better and better as we have seen more of her, and we both feel that we could have desired no better lot for Charlie.
George and I enjoyed our ten days at Paris, making the most of our time in theatre-going and sight-seeing. I have lost my old dislike of Paris -- but, it must be confessed that the Paris of today is another Paris than the one I used to detest. What a delight it is to think of the precious Gothic remains being restored with Violet le Duc's perfection of knowledge and taste! 642 We reserved seeing St. Denis until we can go in better weather -- and S'e8vres and St. Cloud and Fontainebleau, and all the other summer places.
I see you have had your article on Pottery printed -- seen that fact, but not the article. I like to think of you as "th'e4tig" in all sorts of ways: it is the best remedy for one's own ills, and helps a little to remedy other people's. Mr. Theodore Martin 643 was telling us yesterday how he is changing the face of a neighbourhood in Hampshire, by building cottages, and a dining-room, and establishing a co-operative store, for the workmen engaged in new pottery or terra-cotta works there. I should have envied him, if I allowed myself to envy anyone, in a world where each has dire need of his share.
Will the doctor come with you to England this year, I wonder? And Nannie? 644 I heard good news of her from some friend or other a little while ago. I hope it was not false. It would do me good to know that she was once more able to walk about and find the hours something more than hours of endurance. O sadness -- that a sweet clear-eyed woman striving after all that is beautiful and best, should be taken away for so many precious years, from the active influences of the world.
George is pretty well now, and expects soon to be very busy about the new Fortnightly Review, which I think I mentioned to you. I am so so: dyspeptic and dismal occasionally, and had I been a Hebrew prophet near the time of the captivity I should doubtless have written Lamentations. Dyspepsia determines a great deal of literary production.
A carpenter, putting up brackets, wants me. You see, I am scribbling in a hurry -- because I want to let you know at once how pleased I was to hear of you.
Ever dear, Your true and affectionate
M. E. L.
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library.
1 North Bank | February 27. 1865.
Dearest Barbara
Your letter, just received, has comforted me greatly. We did go to Paris, but did not go to the Hotel de Saxe, which perhaps was the reason that I lost the chance you had given me of hearing from you there. Not having had the Paris letter, I felt it long since I had had some assurance of your being at least well in health and able to enjoy some of the good things Fate has granted you. Your letter this morning is just what I wanted.
Gertrude and Charlie will be delighted with the Burnous -- and I will duly deliver your message. They are to be married on the 20th, and we shall be glad now when the epoch has come -- if one can really be glad at the lapse of time irrecoverable. We have loved Gertrude better and better as we have seen more of her, and we both feel that we could have desired no better lot for Charlie.
George and I enjoyed our ten days at Paris, making the most of our time in theatre-going and sight-seeing. I have lost my old dislike of Paris -- but, it must be confessed that the Paris of today is another Paris than the one I used to detest. What a delight it is to think of the precious Gothic remains being restored with Violet le Duc's perfection of knowledge and taste! 642 We reserved seeing St. Denis until we can go in better weather -- and S'e8vres and St. Cloud and Fontainebleau, and all the other summer places.
I see you have had your article on Pottery printed -- seen that fact, but not the article. I like to think of you as "th'e4tig" in all sorts of ways: it is the best remedy for one's own ills, and helps a little to remedy other people's. Mr. Theodore Martin 643 was telling us yesterday how he is changing the face of a neighbourhood in Hampshire, by building cottages, and a dining-room, and establishing a co-operative store, for the workmen engaged in new pottery or terra-cotta works there. I should have envied him, if I allowed myself to envy anyone, in a world where each has dire need of his share.
Will the doctor come with you to England this year, I wonder? And Nannie? 644 I heard good news of her from some friend or other a little while ago. I hope it was not false. It would do me good to know that she was once more able to walk about and find the hours something more than hours of endurance. O sadness -- that a sweet clear-eyed woman striving after all that is beautiful and best, should be taken away for so many precious years, from the active influences of the world.
George is pretty well now, and expects soon to be very busy about the new Fortnightly Review, which I think I mentioned to you. I am so so: dyspeptic and dismal occasionally, and had I been a Hebrew prophet near the time of the captivity I should doubtless have written Lamentations. Dyspepsia determines a great deal of literary production.
A carpenter, putting up brackets, wants me. You see, I am scribbling in a hurry -- because I want to let you know at once how pleased I was to hear of you.
Ever dear, Your true and affectionate
M. E. L.
Signature
M. E. L.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, London, 27 February 1865, 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/93055