GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 19 September 1853]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 19 September 1853]
Title
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 19 September 1853]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1853-09-19
Place
[London]
Letter Content
GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 19 September 1853]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Sep. 19. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 312-313.
Monday.
Dear Friends
Your packet was a real treat to me this morning and made me enjoy my walk in the Park all the better. As for me, I am in the best health and spirits, with no cloud but the fact that Mr. Chapman seems a little more oppressed than usual just now, which causes me some regretful feeling about leaving.
I have had a letter from Mr. Combe today urging me to go to Edinburgh, but I have made an engagement with Mr. Chapman to do work which will oblige me to remain in London. I shall manage, however, to run away for a week to my sister and I hope I shall see you either going or returning.
Mrs. Perry 369 is a very bonny, pleasant looking woman, with a smart drawing-room and liberal opinions -- in short such a friend as self-interest well-understood 370 would induce one to cultivate.
I have not yet fixed on any lodgings, and I think of advertising, as a certain situation is a sine qu'e2 non. I find it difficult to meet with anything at once tolerable and cheap. My theory is to live entirely -- that is, pay rent and find food -- out of my positive income, 371 and then work for as large a surplus as I can get.
Cheap and pleasant lodgings are obtainable enough if one doesn't mind going 4 miles away from the centre, but not so when one must be within a reasonable distance at the West End.
The next number of the Review will be better than usual. Froude writes on the Book of Job! 372 He at first talked of an article on the three great subjective Poems -- Job, Faust and Hamlet. An admirable subject -- but it has shrunk to the Book of Job alone.
Herbert Spencer inquires after you. He made the pen with which I write. So you see he is a useful member of society.
Mr. Bray says, with dreadful truth, that my letters are uninteresting.
I'm very sorry, but it will be all the kinder of you if you will send me your interesting ones gratuitously. A visitor.
Your faithful
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Sep. 19. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 312-313.
Monday.
Dear Friends
Your packet was a real treat to me this morning and made me enjoy my walk in the Park all the better. As for me, I am in the best health and spirits, with no cloud but the fact that Mr. Chapman seems a little more oppressed than usual just now, which causes me some regretful feeling about leaving.
I have had a letter from Mr. Combe today urging me to go to Edinburgh, but I have made an engagement with Mr. Chapman to do work which will oblige me to remain in London. I shall manage, however, to run away for a week to my sister and I hope I shall see you either going or returning.
Mrs. Perry 369 is a very bonny, pleasant looking woman, with a smart drawing-room and liberal opinions -- in short such a friend as self-interest well-understood 370 would induce one to cultivate.
I have not yet fixed on any lodgings, and I think of advertising, as a certain situation is a sine qu'e2 non. I find it difficult to meet with anything at once tolerable and cheap. My theory is to live entirely -- that is, pay rent and find food -- out of my positive income, 371 and then work for as large a surplus as I can get.
Cheap and pleasant lodgings are obtainable enough if one doesn't mind going 4 miles away from the centre, but not so when one must be within a reasonable distance at the West End.
The next number of the Review will be better than usual. Froude writes on the Book of Job! 372 He at first talked of an article on the three great subjective Poems -- Job, Faust and Hamlet. An admirable subject -- but it has shrunk to the Book of Job alone.
Herbert Spencer inquires after you. He made the pen with which I write. So you see he is a useful member of society.
Mr. Bray says, with dreadful truth, that my letters are uninteresting.
I'm very sorry, but it will be all the kinder of you if you will send me your interesting ones gratuitously. A visitor.
Your faithful
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bray, [London, 19 September 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/93145