GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 5 May 1880
Title
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 5 May 1880
Title
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 5 May 1880
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones
Date(s)
- 1880-05-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 5 May 1880
MS: Yale. Brief extract published: Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, 2 vols., New York and London, 1904, II, 104.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
May 5. 80.
Dearest Georgie
Fate laid me low with influenza last week, a fact only important just now because it has filled the present week with an oppressive crowd of details and made me simply unable to write to you until this eleventh hour.
A great momentous change is taking place in my life -- a sort of miracle in which I could never have believed, and under which I still sit amazed. If it alters your conception of me so thoroughly that you must from henceforth regard me as a new person, a stranger to you, I shall not take it hardly, for I myself a little while ago should have said that this thing could not be.
I am going to be married to Mr. Cross whom you may sometimes have seen here. He has been a devoted friend for years, much loved and trusted by Mr. Lewes, and now that I am alone, he sees his only longed-for happiness in dedicating his life to me. This will make no difference in my care for my lost one's family either during or after my life. Mr. Cross has a sufficient fortune of his own.
Explanations of these crises, which seem sudden though they are slowly dimly prepared, are impossible. I can only ask you and your husband to imagine and interpret according to your deep experience and loving kindness.
We are going away tomorrow and shall be abroad two or three months. In August we shall be at Witley according to actual intentions.
But this house will not again be my home. When in London we shall inhabit 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
Good bye, dear ones. Always, in all changes either with you or me, I shall be your deeply attached friend.
M. E. L.
Excuse any word that seems the wrong one -- any apparent brusqueness or neglect. I have been terribly pressed.
MS: Yale. Brief extract published: Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, 2 vols., New York and London, 1904, II, 104.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
May 5. 80.
Dearest Georgie
Fate laid me low with influenza last week, a fact only important just now because it has filled the present week with an oppressive crowd of details and made me simply unable to write to you until this eleventh hour.
A great momentous change is taking place in my life -- a sort of miracle in which I could never have believed, and under which I still sit amazed. If it alters your conception of me so thoroughly that you must from henceforth regard me as a new person, a stranger to you, I shall not take it hardly, for I myself a little while ago should have said that this thing could not be.
I am going to be married to Mr. Cross whom you may sometimes have seen here. He has been a devoted friend for years, much loved and trusted by Mr. Lewes, and now that I am alone, he sees his only longed-for happiness in dedicating his life to me. This will make no difference in my care for my lost one's family either during or after my life. Mr. Cross has a sufficient fortune of his own.
Explanations of these crises, which seem sudden though they are slowly dimly prepared, are impossible. I can only ask you and your husband to imagine and interpret according to your deep experience and loving kindness.
We are going away tomorrow and shall be abroad two or three months. In August we shall be at Witley according to actual intentions.
But this house will not again be my home. When in London we shall inhabit 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.
Good bye, dear ones. Always, in all changes either with you or me, I shall be your deeply attached friend.
M. E. L.
Excuse any word that seems the wrong one -- any apparent brusqueness or neglect. I have been terribly pressed.
Signature
M. E. L.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Edward Burne-Jones, London, 5 May 1880, 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/93365