GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, [Clapton, 1 June 1846]
Title
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, [Clapton, 1 June 1846]
Title
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, [Clapton, 1 June 1846]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1846-06-01
Place
Clapton
Letter Content
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, [Clapton, 1 June 1846]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1846. Extracts published: Cross, I, 147-148.
Dearest Friends,
I cannot deny that I am very happy without you, but perhaps I shall be happier with you, so do not fail to try the experiment. 629 We have been to town only once and are saving all our strength to rake with you; but we are as ignorant as Primitive Methodists about any of the amusements that are going. All we know is that Judas Maccabaeus is to be performed at Exeter Hall on Friday Evening 630 just when we cannot hear it. But I am going to spend the day with Mr. and Mrs. Hennell tomorrow, and we will hunt in the M[orning] Chronicle. Do you the like in the Spectator, and please to come in a very mischievous, unconscientious, theatre-loving humour. Every body I see is very kind to me and therefore I think them all very charming, and having everything I want, I feel very humble and self denying. It is only rather too great a bore to have to write to my friends when I am half asleep, and I have not yet reached that pitch of amiability that makes such magnanimity easy.
Don't bring us any bad news or any pains, but only nods and becks and wreathed smiles. 631 Dear Sara is not at her strongest -- she is even knocked up with niaiseries and walks, but perhaps any other sort of excitement will be more endurable.
Your very insincere and unfaithful friend
Mary Ann.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1846. Extracts published: Cross, I, 147-148.
Dearest Friends,
I cannot deny that I am very happy without you, but perhaps I shall be happier with you, so do not fail to try the experiment. 629 We have been to town only once and are saving all our strength to rake with you; but we are as ignorant as Primitive Methodists about any of the amusements that are going. All we know is that Judas Maccabaeus is to be performed at Exeter Hall on Friday Evening 630 just when we cannot hear it. But I am going to spend the day with Mr. and Mrs. Hennell tomorrow, and we will hunt in the M[orning] Chronicle. Do you the like in the Spectator, and please to come in a very mischievous, unconscientious, theatre-loving humour. Every body I see is very kind to me and therefore I think them all very charming, and having everything I want, I feel very humble and self denying. It is only rather too great a bore to have to write to my friends when I am half asleep, and I have not yet reached that pitch of amiability that makes such magnanimity easy.
Don't bring us any bad news or any pains, but only nods and becks and wreathed smiles. 631 Dear Sara is not at her strongest -- she is even knocked up with niaiseries and walks, but perhaps any other sort of excitement will be more endurable.
Your very insincere and unfaithful friend
Mary Ann.
Signature
Mary Ann.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, [Clapton, 1 June 1846], 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/93137