GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Wandsworth, 8 March [1859]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Wandsworth, 8 March [1859]
Title
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Wandsworth, 8 March [1859]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1859-03-08
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Wandsworth, 8 March [1859]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1859. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge | South Fields | Wandsworth | Tuesday, March 8. 61
Dear Cara
Mr. Lewes urges me, reluctant as I am to trouble you any more, to ask you if you can ascertain for me whether Ann Overton is yet engaged. If not, I think it is very likely we might be thankful to engage her, for the new servant, 62 though a good young woman I believe, is frightfully inefficient. From your and Mrs. Wick's description, I think Ann Overton would do very well for us, for we make no excessive demands of any sort. I should of course pay her expenses to Wandsworth, and we would give her 'a312 wages with a prospect of raising them if she remained with us and served us satisfactorily.
It distresses me -- not formally, but really and truly -- that you should be teazed again with my letters. I have been ill in bed with cold and cough 63 (rather better now), and my own feebleness under all exertion makes me estimate at its full value the exertion of others on my behalf.
By the time you answer me, I shall be able to send a positive reply by return of post.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
Chrissey writes by her daughter Emily, that she should love to see me, but fears the excitement. She writes herself a few words in pencil this time as if she were weaker -- alas --
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1859. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge | South Fields | Wandsworth | Tuesday, March 8. 61
Dear Cara
Mr. Lewes urges me, reluctant as I am to trouble you any more, to ask you if you can ascertain for me whether Ann Overton is yet engaged. If not, I think it is very likely we might be thankful to engage her, for the new servant, 62 though a good young woman I believe, is frightfully inefficient. From your and Mrs. Wick's description, I think Ann Overton would do very well for us, for we make no excessive demands of any sort. I should of course pay her expenses to Wandsworth, and we would give her 'a312 wages with a prospect of raising them if she remained with us and served us satisfactorily.
It distresses me -- not formally, but really and truly -- that you should be teazed again with my letters. I have been ill in bed with cold and cough 63 (rather better now), and my own feebleness under all exertion makes me estimate at its full value the exertion of others on my behalf.
By the time you answer me, I shall be able to send a positive reply by return of post.
Ever yours affectionately
Marian.
Chrissey writes by her daughter Emily, that she should love to see me, but fears the excitement. She writes herself a few words in pencil this time as if she were weaker -- alas --
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Wandsworth, 8 March [1859], 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/93333