GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Shottermill, 17 June 1871
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Shottermill, 17 June 1871
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Shottermill, 17 June 1871
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1871-06-17
Place
Shottermill
Letter Content
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Shottermill, 17 June 1871
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, III, 132-133.
Shotter Mill | near Petersfield | June 17. 71.
My dear Barbara
Our country P.O. has a disease and does not "fonctionner" quite properly, so that the longed-for pleasure of having a letter from you was delayed till this morning instead of coming yesterday. Consequently I had one more day than I need have had of slight internal swearing at you for not letting me hear anything of you.
I have been ill, but am now gaining strength and your news comes instead of my quinine which is exhausted. Delighted to know that the Doctor is safely through his journey and reposing in your green home! Nanny too is surely to be congratulated that she is in Blandford Square and not in Algiers. But the newspapers are so absolutely silent about the state of things there, that my conceptions on the subject are visionary and bred by fear rather than knowledge.
How about dear Madame Mohl and her husband? I have been wondering through all the horrors whether M. Mohl had returned to Paris, and whether their house, containing too probably the results of much studious work, lies buried among ruins. 294 But I will not further recall the sorrows in that direction.
I am glad to see the words "very satisfactory" in connection with the visit to Hitchin and Cambridge. Ely Cathedral I saw last year, but too cursorily. It has more of the massive grandeur that one adores in Le Mans and Chartres than most of our English Cathedrals -- though I am ready to recall the comparison as preposterous.
I don't know how long we shall stay here -- perhaps, more or less, till the end of August. For I have given up the idea of going to the Scott Festival at Edinburgh to which I had accepted the invitation. 295 The fatigue of the long journey with the crowd at the end would be too much for me.
Let us know beforehand when you are about coming. George is gloriously well, studying, writing, walking, eating, and sleeping with equal vigour. He is enjoying the life here immensely. Our country could hardly be surpassed in its particular kind of beauty -- perpetual undulation of heath and copse and clear veins of hurrying water, with here and there a grand pine wood, steep wood-clothed promontories, and gleaming pools.
If you want delightful reading get the 1/6 edition of Lowell's "My Study Windows," and read the essays called "My garden acquaintance" and "Winter." 296
I suppose Miss Edwards has returned, or will soon return to you. I hope she will be round-cheeked and strong. My love to her. Also, my best regards to the Doctor. I wonder how poor Bessie is going on. Ever, dear Barbara
Your faithfully affectionate
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Extracts published: Cross, III, 132-133.
Shotter Mill | near Petersfield | June 17. 71.
My dear Barbara
Our country P.O. has a disease and does not "fonctionner" quite properly, so that the longed-for pleasure of having a letter from you was delayed till this morning instead of coming yesterday. Consequently I had one more day than I need have had of slight internal swearing at you for not letting me hear anything of you.
I have been ill, but am now gaining strength and your news comes instead of my quinine which is exhausted. Delighted to know that the Doctor is safely through his journey and reposing in your green home! Nanny too is surely to be congratulated that she is in Blandford Square and not in Algiers. But the newspapers are so absolutely silent about the state of things there, that my conceptions on the subject are visionary and bred by fear rather than knowledge.
How about dear Madame Mohl and her husband? I have been wondering through all the horrors whether M. Mohl had returned to Paris, and whether their house, containing too probably the results of much studious work, lies buried among ruins. 294 But I will not further recall the sorrows in that direction.
I am glad to see the words "very satisfactory" in connection with the visit to Hitchin and Cambridge. Ely Cathedral I saw last year, but too cursorily. It has more of the massive grandeur that one adores in Le Mans and Chartres than most of our English Cathedrals -- though I am ready to recall the comparison as preposterous.
I don't know how long we shall stay here -- perhaps, more or less, till the end of August. For I have given up the idea of going to the Scott Festival at Edinburgh to which I had accepted the invitation. 295 The fatigue of the long journey with the crowd at the end would be too much for me.
Let us know beforehand when you are about coming. George is gloriously well, studying, writing, walking, eating, and sleeping with equal vigour. He is enjoying the life here immensely. Our country could hardly be surpassed in its particular kind of beauty -- perpetual undulation of heath and copse and clear veins of hurrying water, with here and there a grand pine wood, steep wood-clothed promontories, and gleaming pools.
If you want delightful reading get the 1/6 edition of Lowell's "My Study Windows," and read the essays called "My garden acquaintance" and "Winter." 296
I suppose Miss Edwards has returned, or will soon return to you. I hope she will be round-cheeked and strong. My love to her. Also, my best regards to the Doctor. I wonder how poor Bessie is going on. Ever, dear Barbara
Your faithfully affectionate
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Shottermill, 17 June 1871, 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/93079