GE to Mrs. Richard Congreve, Wandsworth, 8 June 1859
Title
GE to Mrs. Richard Congreve, Wandsworth, 8 June 1859
Title
GE to Mrs. Richard Congreve, Wandsworth, 8 June 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Richard Congreve
Date(s)
- 1859-06-08
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Richard Congreve, Wandsworth, 8 June 1859
Text: Cross, II, 112-113.
I was glad you wrote to me from Avignon 148 of all the places you have visited, because Avignon is one of my most vivid remembrances from out the dimness of ten years ago. Lucerne would be a strange region to me but for Calame's 149 pictures. Through them I have a vision of it, but of course when I see it 'twill be another Luzern. Mr Lewes obstinately nurses the project of carrying me thither with him, and depositing me within reach of you while he goes to Hofwyl. But at present I say "No." We have been waiting and waiting for the skies to let us take a few days' ramble by the river, but now I fear we must give it up till all the freshness of young summer is gone. July and August are the two months I care least about for leafy scenery.
However, we are kept at home this month partly by pleasures: the Handel Festival, for which we have indulged ourselves with tickets, and the sight of old friends -- Mrs Bodichon among the rest, and for her we hope to use your kind loan of a bedroom. We are both of us in much better condition than when you said good-bye to us, and I have many other sources of gladness just now, -- so I mean to make myself disagreeable no longer by caring about petty troubles. If one could but order cheerfulness from the druggist's! or even a few doses of coldness and distrust, to prevent one from foolish confidence in one's fellow-mortals!
I want to get rid of this house -- cut cables and drift about. I dislike Wandsworth, and should think with unmitigated regret of our coming here if it were not for you. But you are worth paying a price for.
There! I have written about nothing but ourselves this time! You do the same, and then I think I will promise . . . not to write again, but to ask you to go on writing to me without an answer.
How cool and idle you are this morning! I am warm and busy, but always at all temperatures --
Yours affectionately.
Text: Cross, II, 112-113.
I was glad you wrote to me from Avignon 148 of all the places you have visited, because Avignon is one of my most vivid remembrances from out the dimness of ten years ago. Lucerne would be a strange region to me but for Calame's 149 pictures. Through them I have a vision of it, but of course when I see it 'twill be another Luzern. Mr Lewes obstinately nurses the project of carrying me thither with him, and depositing me within reach of you while he goes to Hofwyl. But at present I say "No." We have been waiting and waiting for the skies to let us take a few days' ramble by the river, but now I fear we must give it up till all the freshness of young summer is gone. July and August are the two months I care least about for leafy scenery.
However, we are kept at home this month partly by pleasures: the Handel Festival, for which we have indulged ourselves with tickets, and the sight of old friends -- Mrs Bodichon among the rest, and for her we hope to use your kind loan of a bedroom. We are both of us in much better condition than when you said good-bye to us, and I have many other sources of gladness just now, -- so I mean to make myself disagreeable no longer by caring about petty troubles. If one could but order cheerfulness from the druggist's! or even a few doses of coldness and distrust, to prevent one from foolish confidence in one's fellow-mortals!
I want to get rid of this house -- cut cables and drift about. I dislike Wandsworth, and should think with unmitigated regret of our coming here if it were not for you. But you are worth paying a price for.
There! I have written about nothing but ourselves this time! You do the same, and then I think I will promise . . . not to write again, but to ask you to go on writing to me without an answer.
How cool and idle you are this morning! I am warm and busy, but always at all temperatures --
Yours affectionately.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Richard Congreve, Wandsworth, 8 June 1859, 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/93679