GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, St. Leonard's, [3 August 1853]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, St. Leonard's, [3 August 1853]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, St. Leonard's, [3 August 1853]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1853-08-03
Place
St. Leonard's
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, St. Leonard's, [3 August 1853]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Aug. 3. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 309-310.
Park Cottage West Hill St. Leonard's.
Dear Cara
Your letter, which only reached me this morning, was just what I wanted, telling me everything about everybody. I must persist in hoping that you will get to the coast in spite of unpropitious appearances. I never felt the delight of the thorough change that the coast gives one so much as now, and I shall be longing to be off with you again in October. St. Leonard's, like other things, has been making progress in the last five years. It joins Hastings now -- houses all the way sans intermission. I am on a delightful hill, looking over the heads of the houses on the main road, and having a vast expanse of sea and sky for my only view.
It gave me quite a pang of distress to read of Mr. Noel's troubles bodily and other. I trust the hand is not less usable for the accident and consequent deformity.
I can only sigh too at the prospect of your having poor Harry 353 back again. But you and Mr. Bray like duties better than I -- selfish sybarite that I am.
I shall be very glad of edification from the article on Russia, by whomsoever written. Pray let me have it.
The lights in your picture -- which otherwise certainly does make the world look rather like a Bochim 354 to me -- are the tea-drinkings in Stoneleigh Park, 355 and I like to think that you are all there this lovely afternoon. The bright weather and genial air -- so different from what I have had for a year before -- make me feel as happy and stupid as a well-conditioned cow. I sit looking at the sea and the sleepy ships with a purely animal bien-'eatre. The person in whose house I am lodging -- a nice honest and, I fancy, Unitarian body, about 40 -- went to school to Mrs. Lalor 356 and has now some little girls from her school passing their holidays here.
I shall be very grateful for any scraps of news about you whenever one of the trio will be benevolent enough to write in spite of their disinclination -- for that is the history of all letter-writing, unless indeed one wants to hear from the other "party." I am not sure that I shall remain long at these lodgings. Love to all. Ever dear Cara,
Your affectionate
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Aug. 3. 1853. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 309-310.
Park Cottage West Hill St. Leonard's.
Dear Cara
Your letter, which only reached me this morning, was just what I wanted, telling me everything about everybody. I must persist in hoping that you will get to the coast in spite of unpropitious appearances. I never felt the delight of the thorough change that the coast gives one so much as now, and I shall be longing to be off with you again in October. St. Leonard's, like other things, has been making progress in the last five years. It joins Hastings now -- houses all the way sans intermission. I am on a delightful hill, looking over the heads of the houses on the main road, and having a vast expanse of sea and sky for my only view.
It gave me quite a pang of distress to read of Mr. Noel's troubles bodily and other. I trust the hand is not less usable for the accident and consequent deformity.
I can only sigh too at the prospect of your having poor Harry 353 back again. But you and Mr. Bray like duties better than I -- selfish sybarite that I am.
I shall be very glad of edification from the article on Russia, by whomsoever written. Pray let me have it.
The lights in your picture -- which otherwise certainly does make the world look rather like a Bochim 354 to me -- are the tea-drinkings in Stoneleigh Park, 355 and I like to think that you are all there this lovely afternoon. The bright weather and genial air -- so different from what I have had for a year before -- make me feel as happy and stupid as a well-conditioned cow. I sit looking at the sea and the sleepy ships with a purely animal bien-'eatre. The person in whose house I am lodging -- a nice honest and, I fancy, Unitarian body, about 40 -- went to school to Mrs. Lalor 356 and has now some little girls from her school passing their holidays here.
I shall be very grateful for any scraps of news about you whenever one of the trio will be benevolent enough to write in spite of their disinclination -- for that is the history of all letter-writing, unless indeed one wants to hear from the other "party." I am not sure that I shall remain long at these lodgings. Love to all. Ever dear Cara,
Your affectionate
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, St. Leonard's, [3 August 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/93323