GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 12 March 1853]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 12 March 1853]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 12 March 1853]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1853-03-12
Place
[London]
Letter Content
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 12 March 1853]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 19. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 306.
Saturday.
Dear Creatures
It is nearly post time and I have only just remembered that it is my day for writing to you. I come from reading a letter of John Sibree's -- to me, not to my editorship, a very pleasing letter, telling of his doings, his aspirations, and his little daughters.
Many things have happened this week but I can't think of them in a trice. Mr. Chapman went with Mr. Neuberg to Carlyle's the other night. Carlyle said he had had a letter from Dr. Stamm 292 announcing an intended call -- a letter which made him expect nothing less than Elijah the Tishbite. I called on Miss Montgomery on Thursday and delivered Mr. Noel's message. She is a thoroughly nice person and I quite enjoy a chat with her. Mrs. Follen shewed me a delightful letter which she has had from Mrs. Stowe 293 telling all about herself. She begins by saying -- "I am a little bit of a woman, rather more than forty, as withered and dry as a pinch of snuff -- never very well worth looking at in my best days, and now a decidedly used up article." At 25 she married a man "rich in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, but alas! rich in nothing else." The proceeds of her first writings she devoted to buying her first feather bed! The whole letter is most fascinating and makes one love her.
Villette -- Villette -- have you read it?
Our next number is to be "grand, fundamental, and imposing." Mr. Bray deserves to be immortalized for inventing that phrase.
Herbert Spencer admires Mr. Hennell's portrait 294 greatly and sees "a resemblance to both sisters in it."
I must write three lines to Chrissey so there is no help for this stupid letter.
Ever your
Marian.
If you wanted to send a message would you send it by your eyes or by your nose? A dreadfully vulgar riddle. 295
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 19. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 306.
Saturday.
Dear Creatures
It is nearly post time and I have only just remembered that it is my day for writing to you. I come from reading a letter of John Sibree's -- to me, not to my editorship, a very pleasing letter, telling of his doings, his aspirations, and his little daughters.
Many things have happened this week but I can't think of them in a trice. Mr. Chapman went with Mr. Neuberg to Carlyle's the other night. Carlyle said he had had a letter from Dr. Stamm 292 announcing an intended call -- a letter which made him expect nothing less than Elijah the Tishbite. I called on Miss Montgomery on Thursday and delivered Mr. Noel's message. She is a thoroughly nice person and I quite enjoy a chat with her. Mrs. Follen shewed me a delightful letter which she has had from Mrs. Stowe 293 telling all about herself. She begins by saying -- "I am a little bit of a woman, rather more than forty, as withered and dry as a pinch of snuff -- never very well worth looking at in my best days, and now a decidedly used up article." At 25 she married a man "rich in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, but alas! rich in nothing else." The proceeds of her first writings she devoted to buying her first feather bed! The whole letter is most fascinating and makes one love her.
Villette -- Villette -- have you read it?
Our next number is to be "grand, fundamental, and imposing." Mr. Bray deserves to be immortalized for inventing that phrase.
Herbert Spencer admires Mr. Hennell's portrait 294 greatly and sees "a resemblance to both sisters in it."
I must write three lines to Chrissey so there is no help for this stupid letter.
Ever your
Marian.
If you wanted to send a message would you send it by your eyes or by your nose? A dreadfully vulgar riddle. 295
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 12 March 1853], 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/93141