GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 15 April [1872]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 15 April [1872]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 15 April [1872]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1872-04-15
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 15 April [1872]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1872. Hitherto unpublished.
April 15.
Dear Cara
I shall be much obliged to you if you will put a paragraph on my behalf in your next letter to Mrs. Call. Pray tell her first of all, with my best love, that we have thought with much hardly earned fellow-feeling of that sad trouble -- Mr. Call's illness. And next, that I constantly recall her with gratitude for having trained Mrs. Dowling so well. Both she and Elizabeth have been comforts to us -- the only drawback being the feeble health of the latter.
As to our going abroad, there is no chance of it before the autumn, and then I think we shall not go further than Geneva. Our present desire is to get into the country, but we have not yet found a house. This warm weather has brought out the advertisements, however, and we shall probably soon be "accommodated," which, as Justice Shallow says, is a good phrase. 512 I have been better until today when I find the effects of some draught or other in face and neck ache.
It does seem a pity that Sara cannot come to hear music and have other varieties such as Sydenham would give her. I suppose the railway journeying would be impossible to her without some one to take entire charge of her.
I read Mrs. Pears's letter with pleasure, tell her: and assure her that I have a lively and grateful remembrance of her friendliness towards me in old days.
We have not seen Mr. Spencer since you were with us. He is often staying with friends in the country, and his time is much occupied.
Mrs. Call, if she has not yet heard of it, will be interested in your telling her that her excellent old friend Mr. William Smith -- the author of "Thorndale," has lately died. He had heart-disease, and was reduced to extreme weakness, but retained some of the brightness and all the gentleness of his charming nature to the last. He and his wife had had perfect happiness together for eleven years. Now she is suffering that heaviest sorrow which it is but mockery to try and console. They had been at Brighton for some time, and he died in the house of a niece there. He was a very old friend of Mr. Lewes's too, and always showed the most generous interest in his work, of whatever kind it might be.
Goodbye, dear Cara. I hope that you and Mr. Bray too will have nothing to mar your holiday -- not even a wet day, for surely the earth has had water enough for some time to come.
Yours ever lovingly
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1872. Hitherto unpublished.
April 15.
Dear Cara
I shall be much obliged to you if you will put a paragraph on my behalf in your next letter to Mrs. Call. Pray tell her first of all, with my best love, that we have thought with much hardly earned fellow-feeling of that sad trouble -- Mr. Call's illness. And next, that I constantly recall her with gratitude for having trained Mrs. Dowling so well. Both she and Elizabeth have been comforts to us -- the only drawback being the feeble health of the latter.
As to our going abroad, there is no chance of it before the autumn, and then I think we shall not go further than Geneva. Our present desire is to get into the country, but we have not yet found a house. This warm weather has brought out the advertisements, however, and we shall probably soon be "accommodated," which, as Justice Shallow says, is a good phrase. 512 I have been better until today when I find the effects of some draught or other in face and neck ache.
It does seem a pity that Sara cannot come to hear music and have other varieties such as Sydenham would give her. I suppose the railway journeying would be impossible to her without some one to take entire charge of her.
I read Mrs. Pears's letter with pleasure, tell her: and assure her that I have a lively and grateful remembrance of her friendliness towards me in old days.
We have not seen Mr. Spencer since you were with us. He is often staying with friends in the country, and his time is much occupied.
Mrs. Call, if she has not yet heard of it, will be interested in your telling her that her excellent old friend Mr. William Smith -- the author of "Thorndale," has lately died. He had heart-disease, and was reduced to extreme weakness, but retained some of the brightness and all the gentleness of his charming nature to the last. He and his wife had had perfect happiness together for eleven years. Now she is suffering that heaviest sorrow which it is but mockery to try and console. They had been at Brighton for some time, and he died in the house of a niece there. He was a very old friend of Mr. Lewes's too, and always showed the most generous interest in his work, of whatever kind it might be.
Goodbye, dear Cara. I hope that you and Mr. Bray too will have nothing to mar your holiday -- not even a wet day, for surely the earth has had water enough for some time to come.
Yours ever lovingly
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 15 April [1872], 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/93273