GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 22 December 1873
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 22 December 1873
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 22 December 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1873-12-22
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 22 December 1873
MS: Yale. Brief extracts published: Cross, III, 220-221.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 22. 73.
Dear Cara
Jubilate! The story, 897 I am convinced, will do more good in the hands of the Christian K. S. than in any other mode of distribution. And I am very glad that you at once see your way to a little "ornamental surgery" for the improvement of your clergymen. Indeed, if I had had to criticize your tale -- heaven forbid that I should ever have to criticize anybody's work! -- but if I had been obliged to say what seemed to me its least commendable quality, I should have mentioned certain parts concerning the schoolmaster and the clergyman which seem to be addressed to grown-up people and imply a shifting of the point of view from that of an appeal to the young, which is otherwise consistently and vigorously maintained.
As to the other objection, I know what you meant, but in writing any careful presentation of human feelings, you must count on that infinite stupidity of readers who are always substituting their crammed notions of what ought to be felt for any attempt to recall truly what they themselves have felt under like circumstances. Anyhow, the reader's demands are very mild, and you will hardly find any difficulty in meeting them.
But please dismiss from your "neural groups" any kind of reel or dance that may be going on there as to your not having done what you were asked to do. You have the proof now, that your story strikes those quite outside your circle of friends as being valuable for its purpose, and you have well-earned more money than perhaps you will ever get for your labour. So pray do not torment yourself to write anything which does not attract your imagination, or is in any sense a troublesome effort.
Please give my love to Sara, and tell her that I received her reassuring card. Also, that the other day Julia Wedgwood told me of Miss Alice Carter having said to her that she found much "help and healing" in Sara's Thoughts. These indirect tributes, uttered to third persons, are better than any direct assurances.
We are under the care of Dr. Andrew Clarke 898 who ministers to all the minds diseased 899 by telling them to diminish their allowances of pudding and draughts of tea -- and doubtless we shall be the better by and by. We are to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our friends at Weybridge, London being the least agreeable of Christmas scenery.
I am delighted that you have found "The Problems of Life and Mind" so clear and readable. We are surprized to find that 800 have been sold already 900 -- which for a hard philosophic book is a good sale, and implies that there is an increasing public for such things.
I am glad to hear that Mr. Bray's cough is better -- at least so I interpret Sara's statement that he is looking well.
Please send me word when the C. K. S. has finally accepted the manuscript. Our days are stuffed full of engagements, even with all our avoidance of the world, and you will not wonder if I write in a hasty way.
Your ever loving
Marian.
MS: Yale. Brief extracts published: Cross, III, 220-221.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 22. 73.
Dear Cara
Jubilate! The story, 897 I am convinced, will do more good in the hands of the Christian K. S. than in any other mode of distribution. And I am very glad that you at once see your way to a little "ornamental surgery" for the improvement of your clergymen. Indeed, if I had had to criticize your tale -- heaven forbid that I should ever have to criticize anybody's work! -- but if I had been obliged to say what seemed to me its least commendable quality, I should have mentioned certain parts concerning the schoolmaster and the clergyman which seem to be addressed to grown-up people and imply a shifting of the point of view from that of an appeal to the young, which is otherwise consistently and vigorously maintained.
As to the other objection, I know what you meant, but in writing any careful presentation of human feelings, you must count on that infinite stupidity of readers who are always substituting their crammed notions of what ought to be felt for any attempt to recall truly what they themselves have felt under like circumstances. Anyhow, the reader's demands are very mild, and you will hardly find any difficulty in meeting them.
But please dismiss from your "neural groups" any kind of reel or dance that may be going on there as to your not having done what you were asked to do. You have the proof now, that your story strikes those quite outside your circle of friends as being valuable for its purpose, and you have well-earned more money than perhaps you will ever get for your labour. So pray do not torment yourself to write anything which does not attract your imagination, or is in any sense a troublesome effort.
Please give my love to Sara, and tell her that I received her reassuring card. Also, that the other day Julia Wedgwood told me of Miss Alice Carter having said to her that she found much "help and healing" in Sara's Thoughts. These indirect tributes, uttered to third persons, are better than any direct assurances.
We are under the care of Dr. Andrew Clarke 898 who ministers to all the minds diseased 899 by telling them to diminish their allowances of pudding and draughts of tea -- and doubtless we shall be the better by and by. We are to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our friends at Weybridge, London being the least agreeable of Christmas scenery.
I am delighted that you have found "The Problems of Life and Mind" so clear and readable. We are surprized to find that 800 have been sold already 900 -- which for a hard philosophic book is a good sale, and implies that there is an increasing public for such things.
I am glad to hear that Mr. Bray's cough is better -- at least so I interpret Sara's statement that he is looking well.
Please send me word when the C. K. S. has finally accepted the manuscript. Our days are stuffed full of engagements, even with all our avoidance of the world, and you will not wonder if I write in a hasty way.
Your ever loving
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, London, 22 December 1873, 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/93286