GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, Barcelona, 3 February 1867
Title
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, Barcelona, 3 February 1867
Title
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, Barcelona, 3 February 1867
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Frederick Lehmann
Date(s)
- 1867-02-03
Place
Barcelona
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, Barcelona, 3 February 1867
Text: R. C. Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, London, Smith, Elder, 1908, pp. 140-144. Published: Cornhill, 65 (April 1892), 396-398.
Barcelona, | February 3, 1867.
My dear Mrs. Lehmann,
When one's time is almost all spent out of doors in churches or in theatres, it is not easy to find time for letter writing. But I should have wanted to say a few words to you before we go further South, even if I had not promised to do so. Of course you have been knit into my thoughts ever since we parted from you, and the memory of you would have been a pure addition to my pleasures if it had not been mixed with repentance at my want of consideration in not insisting on saying a final good-bye to you at night, instead of disturbing you in the morning, when you ought to have been resting from extra excitement. I am sure you felt ill that last morning, and I wish there were any chance of my knowing soon that you are as well as ever again.
I have only good news to tell you about ourselves. George is much stronger and looks quite well, but he is not yet fat or robust enough to support a slight sore throat without depression. However, he is in excellent circumstances for getting better, enjoying our travel, and breathing every day delicious air, for since we left Biarritz for San Sebastian, on the 26th, we have had perfect weather, weather such as makes even me feel as if life were a good even for my own sake.
We stayed three days at San Sebastian, and were only troubled with two smells out of the registered twenty-five. We walked for hours on the fine sands of the bay, and each evening the sunset was memorable among our sunsets. I hope you saw Passages [Pasajes], and were rowed out there in the sunshine, listening to the soft splash of the oar. From San Sebastian we went to Saragossa, and I think we never enjoyed landscape so much by railway as on this journey: the reason probably is that the rate of swiftness is much lower, and objects remain before the eyes long enough for delight in them. Until we got into Aragon I thought I had never seen so many pretty women or people with such charming manners as in the few days after we left France. 577 But at Saragossa the people are brusque and the beauty had disappeared. 578 Still they were not rude; the Spaniards seem to me to stare less, to be quicker in understanding what foreigners say to them, and to show more good will without servility in their manners than any other nation I have seen anything of. I longed to be able to sketch one or two of the men with their great striped blankets thrown grandly round them, and a kerchief tied about their heads, who make the chorus to everything that goes on in the open air at Saragossa. They and the far-stretching brown plains with brown sheep-folds, brown towns and villages, and far off walls of brown hills, seemed to me more unlike what we think of as European than anything I had seen before. Looking at the brown windowless villages, with a few flocks of sheep scattered far apart on the barren plain, I could have fancied myself in Arabia.
We stayed a night at Lerida, and here we saw a bit of genuine Spanish life, such a scene on the brown slope of the high hill which is surmounted by the fort -- groups of women sitting in the afternoon sunshine, at various kinds of small woman's work, men gambling, men in striped blankets looking on, handsome gypsies making jokes probably at our expense, jokes which we had the advantage of not understanding, and which gave us the advantage of seeing their (the gypsies') white teeth. Then the view from the fort was worth a journey to see, no longer a barren plain, but an olive garden; and the next day, in proportion as we got far into Catalonia, the beauty and variety increased. Catalonia deserves to be called a second Provence, or rather, I should say, it is more beautiful than Provence.
Barcelona is of the class of mongrel towns that one can never care for much, except for the sake of climate, and this we are having in perfection. For the rest we are at a good hotel, 579 the cathedral is fine, the people strikingly handsome, and we have popular theatres, a Spanish opera, and an Italian opera, where we can always get good seats. Yesterday we saw a mystery play, [The Shepherds of Bethlehem,] at a people's theatre in the little Prado. Except that the notion of decorations was modern, the play itself, in its jokes and its seriousness, differed little from what people delighted in five centuries ago. There was a young actor who played one of the shepherds, with a head of ideal beauty. In the evening we heard a charming Spanish opera, 580 the music really inspiriting, and this evening we are going to hear the Faust at the great Opera House, to say nothing of our being now in a hurry to be ready for a popular drama 581 at 3 o'clock. Pray admire our energy. You can imagine that everything of this sort is interesting to us. We watch the audience as well as the actors, and we try to accustom our ears to the Spanish pronunciation. All this morning we have been bathing in the clear soft air, and looking at the placid sea. If it continues placid till Wednesday, think of us as starting for Alicante in the steamboat, ultimately for Malaga and Granada. 582
But I am scribbling unconscionably without much excuse -- my only excuse is that I like to fancy myself talking to you. George sends his best love, and we both should like the children to be reminded of us. Please ask the rosebud Nina to accept a kiss on each cheek, and think one is from Mr. Lewes and the other from Mrs. Lewes. Our joint good wishes and regards to Miss Volckhausen. Get strong, and like to think of us kindly.
Ever yours, most sincerely,
M. E. Lewes.
We have found no hardships hitherto. Even at unsophisticated Lerida, the odours and insects are hybernating.
Text: R. C. Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, London, Smith, Elder, 1908, pp. 140-144. Published: Cornhill, 65 (April 1892), 396-398.
Barcelona, | February 3, 1867.
My dear Mrs. Lehmann,
When one's time is almost all spent out of doors in churches or in theatres, it is not easy to find time for letter writing. But I should have wanted to say a few words to you before we go further South, even if I had not promised to do so. Of course you have been knit into my thoughts ever since we parted from you, and the memory of you would have been a pure addition to my pleasures if it had not been mixed with repentance at my want of consideration in not insisting on saying a final good-bye to you at night, instead of disturbing you in the morning, when you ought to have been resting from extra excitement. I am sure you felt ill that last morning, and I wish there were any chance of my knowing soon that you are as well as ever again.
I have only good news to tell you about ourselves. George is much stronger and looks quite well, but he is not yet fat or robust enough to support a slight sore throat without depression. However, he is in excellent circumstances for getting better, enjoying our travel, and breathing every day delicious air, for since we left Biarritz for San Sebastian, on the 26th, we have had perfect weather, weather such as makes even me feel as if life were a good even for my own sake.
We stayed three days at San Sebastian, and were only troubled with two smells out of the registered twenty-five. We walked for hours on the fine sands of the bay, and each evening the sunset was memorable among our sunsets. I hope you saw Passages [Pasajes], and were rowed out there in the sunshine, listening to the soft splash of the oar. From San Sebastian we went to Saragossa, and I think we never enjoyed landscape so much by railway as on this journey: the reason probably is that the rate of swiftness is much lower, and objects remain before the eyes long enough for delight in them. Until we got into Aragon I thought I had never seen so many pretty women or people with such charming manners as in the few days after we left France. 577 But at Saragossa the people are brusque and the beauty had disappeared. 578 Still they were not rude; the Spaniards seem to me to stare less, to be quicker in understanding what foreigners say to them, and to show more good will without servility in their manners than any other nation I have seen anything of. I longed to be able to sketch one or two of the men with their great striped blankets thrown grandly round them, and a kerchief tied about their heads, who make the chorus to everything that goes on in the open air at Saragossa. They and the far-stretching brown plains with brown sheep-folds, brown towns and villages, and far off walls of brown hills, seemed to me more unlike what we think of as European than anything I had seen before. Looking at the brown windowless villages, with a few flocks of sheep scattered far apart on the barren plain, I could have fancied myself in Arabia.
We stayed a night at Lerida, and here we saw a bit of genuine Spanish life, such a scene on the brown slope of the high hill which is surmounted by the fort -- groups of women sitting in the afternoon sunshine, at various kinds of small woman's work, men gambling, men in striped blankets looking on, handsome gypsies making jokes probably at our expense, jokes which we had the advantage of not understanding, and which gave us the advantage of seeing their (the gypsies') white teeth. Then the view from the fort was worth a journey to see, no longer a barren plain, but an olive garden; and the next day, in proportion as we got far into Catalonia, the beauty and variety increased. Catalonia deserves to be called a second Provence, or rather, I should say, it is more beautiful than Provence.
Barcelona is of the class of mongrel towns that one can never care for much, except for the sake of climate, and this we are having in perfection. For the rest we are at a good hotel, 579 the cathedral is fine, the people strikingly handsome, and we have popular theatres, a Spanish opera, and an Italian opera, where we can always get good seats. Yesterday we saw a mystery play, [The Shepherds of Bethlehem,] at a people's theatre in the little Prado. Except that the notion of decorations was modern, the play itself, in its jokes and its seriousness, differed little from what people delighted in five centuries ago. There was a young actor who played one of the shepherds, with a head of ideal beauty. In the evening we heard a charming Spanish opera, 580 the music really inspiriting, and this evening we are going to hear the Faust at the great Opera House, to say nothing of our being now in a hurry to be ready for a popular drama 581 at 3 o'clock. Pray admire our energy. You can imagine that everything of this sort is interesting to us. We watch the audience as well as the actors, and we try to accustom our ears to the Spanish pronunciation. All this morning we have been bathing in the clear soft air, and looking at the placid sea. If it continues placid till Wednesday, think of us as starting for Alicante in the steamboat, ultimately for Malaga and Granada. 582
But I am scribbling unconscionably without much excuse -- my only excuse is that I like to fancy myself talking to you. George sends his best love, and we both should like the children to be reminded of us. Please ask the rosebud Nina to accept a kiss on each cheek, and think one is from Mr. Lewes and the other from Mrs. Lewes. Our joint good wishes and regards to Miss Volckhausen. Get strong, and like to think of us kindly.
Ever yours, most sincerely,
M. E. Lewes.
We have found no hardships hitherto. Even at unsophisticated Lerida, the odours and insects are hybernating.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Frederick Lehmann, Barcelona, 3 February 1867, 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/93449