GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, Earlswood Common, 3 August 1874
Title
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, Earlswood Common, 3 August 1874
Title
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, Earlswood Common, 3 August 1874
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones
Date(s)
- 1874-08-03
Place
Earlswood Common
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, Earlswood Common, 3 August 1874
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 239.
The Cottage | Earlswood Common | August 3. 74.
Dearest Georgie
It was sweet of you to write me that nice long letter. I was athirst for some news of you, and though what you send me is not perfectly good, one has learned to be thankful for sma' mercies in this world of dreadful possibilities. That the children are well and a joy to you both, that your health has not quite broken down (of which I had some fear, remembering the terrible fluttering of your heart), and that there is this hopeful journey to Naworth in prospect, is altogether a store of "better-than-might-be's" which make my mind much easier about you than it was in its former ignorance. Life, as you say, is a big thing. No wonder there comes a season when we cease to look round and say "how shall I enjoy?," but as in a country which has been visited by the sword, pestilence, and famine, think only how we shall help the wounded and how find seed for the next harvest -- how till the earth and make a little time of gladness for those who are being born without their own asking.
We are as usual getting more than our share of peace and other good -- except in the matter of warmth and sunshine. Our common is a sort of ball-room for the winds, and on the warmest days we have had here we have found them at their music and dancing. They roar round the corners of our house in a wintry fashion while the sun is shining on the brown grass. Perhaps this touch of extra changefulness in the temperature from one spot to another has helped to bring on again Mr. Lewes's old dyspeptic torments. He has lost too many mornings in headachiness, but that is the only drawback we have felt on our enjoyment of walks and long drives in this lovely country.
I hear his feet, I think, coming to ask -- yes, his feet really ask me to come and walk with him.
We are not certain whether we shall stay here till the end of September, but in any case we shall not be settled at 21 N.B. until the end of October, because our house there wants cleaning, and our servants are here, so we shall have to leave them in London to brush and scour. You will not let me be without knowledge of anything good or evil beyond the everyday mark that happens to you. I am so glad of what you say about the Latin. 133 Go on conquering and to conquer 134 a little kingdom for yourself there. When one sees the foolish and the ignorant happy it is possible to doubt the good of a larger vision, but nobody ever envied narrowness of mind in misery. Always
Your loving Friend
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 239.
The Cottage | Earlswood Common | August 3. 74.
Dearest Georgie
It was sweet of you to write me that nice long letter. I was athirst for some news of you, and though what you send me is not perfectly good, one has learned to be thankful for sma' mercies in this world of dreadful possibilities. That the children are well and a joy to you both, that your health has not quite broken down (of which I had some fear, remembering the terrible fluttering of your heart), and that there is this hopeful journey to Naworth in prospect, is altogether a store of "better-than-might-be's" which make my mind much easier about you than it was in its former ignorance. Life, as you say, is a big thing. No wonder there comes a season when we cease to look round and say "how shall I enjoy?," but as in a country which has been visited by the sword, pestilence, and famine, think only how we shall help the wounded and how find seed for the next harvest -- how till the earth and make a little time of gladness for those who are being born without their own asking.
We are as usual getting more than our share of peace and other good -- except in the matter of warmth and sunshine. Our common is a sort of ball-room for the winds, and on the warmest days we have had here we have found them at their music and dancing. They roar round the corners of our house in a wintry fashion while the sun is shining on the brown grass. Perhaps this touch of extra changefulness in the temperature from one spot to another has helped to bring on again Mr. Lewes's old dyspeptic torments. He has lost too many mornings in headachiness, but that is the only drawback we have felt on our enjoyment of walks and long drives in this lovely country.
I hear his feet, I think, coming to ask -- yes, his feet really ask me to come and walk with him.
We are not certain whether we shall stay here till the end of September, but in any case we shall not be settled at 21 N.B. until the end of October, because our house there wants cleaning, and our servants are here, so we shall have to leave them in London to brush and scour. You will not let me be without knowledge of anything good or evil beyond the everyday mark that happens to you. I am so glad of what you say about the Latin. 133 Go on conquering and to conquer 134 a little kingdom for yourself there. When one sees the foolish and the ignorant happy it is possible to doubt the good of a larger vision, but nobody ever envied narrowness of mind in misery. Always
Your loving Friend
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, Earlswood Common, 3 August 1874, 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/93352