GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 3 May 1878
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 3 May 1878
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 3 May 1878
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Elma Stuart
Date(s)
- 1878-05-03
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 3 May 1878
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 105-107.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
May 3. 78.
Dearest Elma
To sweeten our breakfast came your dear letter which brought both wound and balm in its account of what you have suffered and your present restoration amidst the interesting sights of Paris. Certainly we will avoid Salicylate of Soda, but that you should be able to warn your friends against that fiendish medicine is a poor compensation to them for your affliction under it. 60
No! I will not return the delicate caerulean neckerchief -- I like it too well. Not that I dislike delicate cambric handkerchiefs marked E.S. -- but you must excuse my feminine anxiety for a friend's [set] of such desirable articles, when that friend disperses them 'e0propos of love and violets. Mr. Lewes scolded me for returning the handkerchief saying that I denied you your favourite happiness of impoverishing yourself to my advantage. Will it console you to know that I am constantly using a handkerchief marked with a tasteful E.S.?
Last evening we took a young friend 61 to the theatre to see Irving's Louis XI, and I have made my eyes burn with using the opera-glass to watch his face which for the first time in my observation showed play of physiognomy. And I am going to tire my eyes further this afternoon by looking at the pictures in the Royal Academy exhibition, 62 so don't be surprised that my writing is a little like that of a blind person, for I only half look at my paper. Otherwise we are very well, but a little tired of town, and longing to get to our country home, from which we are kept in exile longer than we had calculated by the slackness of workmen, or rather of their managers. You cannot persuade us to like furnishing. We grudge the nervous energy spent on the outsides of our aged lives, and we have no faith in our own success -- I mean as to choice of what will prove the right thing as part of an [ensemble.] Never mind! these are the grievances of people who have more than their share of the world's too scanty good, and we are not in the least to be pitied except for our imbecility.
Thanks for the indication of the Hotel. We are thoroughly glad to have it. -- How have you managed to enjoy Paris without Mrs. Menzies? My best remembrances to her, and grand-maternal love to Roly. Mr. Lewes, I know, joins, though he cannot say so, being on the floor below absorbed in [Problems.]
Elizabeth is going to be married, but I have engaged a servant who has been living with a friend and promises to be satisfactory. Now you know our affairs, and we shall be glad to hear again of yours [anan.]
Always your loving
Mother.
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 105-107.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
May 3. 78.
Dearest Elma
To sweeten our breakfast came your dear letter which brought both wound and balm in its account of what you have suffered and your present restoration amidst the interesting sights of Paris. Certainly we will avoid Salicylate of Soda, but that you should be able to warn your friends against that fiendish medicine is a poor compensation to them for your affliction under it. 60
No! I will not return the delicate caerulean neckerchief -- I like it too well. Not that I dislike delicate cambric handkerchiefs marked E.S. -- but you must excuse my feminine anxiety for a friend's [set] of such desirable articles, when that friend disperses them 'e0propos of love and violets. Mr. Lewes scolded me for returning the handkerchief saying that I denied you your favourite happiness of impoverishing yourself to my advantage. Will it console you to know that I am constantly using a handkerchief marked with a tasteful E.S.?
Last evening we took a young friend 61 to the theatre to see Irving's Louis XI, and I have made my eyes burn with using the opera-glass to watch his face which for the first time in my observation showed play of physiognomy. And I am going to tire my eyes further this afternoon by looking at the pictures in the Royal Academy exhibition, 62 so don't be surprised that my writing is a little like that of a blind person, for I only half look at my paper. Otherwise we are very well, but a little tired of town, and longing to get to our country home, from which we are kept in exile longer than we had calculated by the slackness of workmen, or rather of their managers. You cannot persuade us to like furnishing. We grudge the nervous energy spent on the outsides of our aged lives, and we have no faith in our own success -- I mean as to choice of what will prove the right thing as part of an [ensemble.] Never mind! these are the grievances of people who have more than their share of the world's too scanty good, and we are not in the least to be pitied except for our imbecility.
Thanks for the indication of the Hotel. We are thoroughly glad to have it. -- How have you managed to enjoy Paris without Mrs. Menzies? My best remembrances to her, and grand-maternal love to Roly. Mr. Lewes, I know, joins, though he cannot say so, being on the floor below absorbed in [Problems.]
Elizabeth is going to be married, but I have engaged a servant who has been living with a friend and promises to be satisfactory. Now you know our affairs, and we shall be glad to hear again of yours [anan.]
Always your loving
Mother.
Signature
Mother.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 3 May 1878, 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/93411