GE to Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton, Geneva, 4 October 1849
Title
GE to Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton, Geneva, 4 October 1849
Title
GE to Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton, Geneva, 4 October 1849
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton
Date(s)
- 1849-10-04
Place
Geneva
Letter Content
GE to Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton, Geneva, 4 October 1849
Text: Cross, I, 228-230.
The blessed compensation there is in all things made your letter doubly precious for having been waited for, and it would have inspired me to write to you again much sooner, but that I have been in uncertainty about settling myself for the winter, and I wished to send you my future address. I am to move to my new home on Tuesday the 9th. I shall not at all regret leaving here; the season is beginning to be rather sombre, though the glorious chestnuts here are still worth looking at half the day.
You have heard of some of the people whom I have described in my letters to Rosehill. The dear little old maid, Mlle. de Phaisan, is quite a good friend to me -- extremely prosy, and full of tiny details; but really people of that calibre are a comfort to one occasionally, when one has not strength enough for more stimulating things. She is a sample of those happy souls who ask for nothing but the work of the hour, however trivial -- who are contented to live without knowing whether they effect anything, but who do really effect much good, simply by their calm and even maintien. I laugh to hear her say in a tone of remonstrance -- "Mme. de Ludwigsdorff dit qu'elle s'ennuie quand les soirées sont longues: moi, je ne con'e7ois pas comment on peut s'ennuyer quand on a de l'ouvrage ou des jeux ou de la conversation."
When people who are dressing elegantly and driving about to make calls every day of their life have been telling me of their troubles -- their utter hopelessness of ever finding a vein worth working in their future life -- my thoughts have turned towards many whose sufferings are of a more tangible character, and I have really felt all the old commonplaces about the equality of human destinies, always excepting those spiritual differences which are apart not only from poverty and riches but from individual affections.
Dear Chrissey has found time and strength to write to me, and very precious her letter was, though I wept over it. "Deep abiding grief must be mine," she says, and I know well it must be. The mystery of trial! It falls with such avalanche weight on the head of the meek and patient. I wish I could do something of more avail for my friends than love them and long for their happiness.
Text: Cross, I, 228-230.
The blessed compensation there is in all things made your letter doubly precious for having been waited for, and it would have inspired me to write to you again much sooner, but that I have been in uncertainty about settling myself for the winter, and I wished to send you my future address. I am to move to my new home on Tuesday the 9th. I shall not at all regret leaving here; the season is beginning to be rather sombre, though the glorious chestnuts here are still worth looking at half the day.
You have heard of some of the people whom I have described in my letters to Rosehill. The dear little old maid, Mlle. de Phaisan, is quite a good friend to me -- extremely prosy, and full of tiny details; but really people of that calibre are a comfort to one occasionally, when one has not strength enough for more stimulating things. She is a sample of those happy souls who ask for nothing but the work of the hour, however trivial -- who are contented to live without knowing whether they effect anything, but who do really effect much good, simply by their calm and even maintien. I laugh to hear her say in a tone of remonstrance -- "Mme. de Ludwigsdorff dit qu'elle s'ennuie quand les soirées sont longues: moi, je ne con'e7ois pas comment on peut s'ennuyer quand on a de l'ouvrage ou des jeux ou de la conversation."
When people who are dressing elegantly and driving about to make calls every day of their life have been telling me of their troubles -- their utter hopelessness of ever finding a vein worth working in their future life -- my thoughts have turned towards many whose sufferings are of a more tangible character, and I have really felt all the old commonplaces about the equality of human destinies, always excepting those spiritual differences which are apart not only from poverty and riches but from individual affections.
Dear Chrissey has found time and strength to write to me, and very precious her letter was, though I wept over it. "Deep abiding grief must be mine," she says, and I know well it must be. The mystery of trial! It falls with such avalanche weight on the head of the meek and patient. I wish I could do something of more avail for my friends than love them and long for their happiness.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Fanny [Mrs. Henry] Houghton, Geneva, 4 October 1849, 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/93495