GE to Mrs. William Smith, Earlswood Common, 1 July 1874
Title
GE to Mrs. William Smith, Earlswood Common, 1 July 1874
Title
GE to Mrs. William Smith, Earlswood Common, 1 July 1874
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. William Smith
Date(s)
- 1874-07-01
Place
Earlswood Common
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. William Smith, Earlswood Common, 1 July 1874
Text: Cross, III, 236-238.
Only the day before your letter 115 came to me I had been saying -- "I wonder how our dear Mrs William Smith is?" -- so that your impulse to write to me satisfied a need of mine. I cannot help rejoicing that you are in the midst of lovely scenery again, for I had had a presentiment that Cambridge was anti-pathetic to you; and indeed I could not have imagined that you would be in the right place there, but for the promised helpfulness of your presence to a young friend. 116
You tell me much that is interesting. Your picture of Mr and Mrs Stirling, 117 and what you say of the reasons why one may wish even for the anguish of being left for the sake of waiting on the beloved one to the end -- all that goes to my heart of hearts. It is what I think of almost daily. For death seems to me now a close, real experience, like the approach of autumn or winter, and I am glad to find that advancing life brings this power of imagining the nearness of death I never had till of late years. 118 I remember all you told me of your niece's expected marriage, and your joy in the husband who has chosen her. 119 It is wealth you have -- that of several sweet nieces to whom being with you is a happiness. You can feel some sympathy in their cheerfulness, even though sorrow is always your only private good -- can you not, dear friend? -- and the time is short at the utmost. The blessed reunion, if it may come, must be patiently waited for; and such good as you can do others, by loving looks and words, must seem to you like a closer companionship with the gentleness and benignity which you justly worshipped while it was visibly present, and still more perhaps now it is veiled, and is a memory stronger than vision of outward things. We are revelling in the sweet peace of the country, and shall remain here till the end of September.
Mr Lewes sends his affectionate remembrances with mine. I am scribbling while he holds my bed candle, so pray forgive any incoherency.
Text: Cross, III, 236-238.
Only the day before your letter 115 came to me I had been saying -- "I wonder how our dear Mrs William Smith is?" -- so that your impulse to write to me satisfied a need of mine. I cannot help rejoicing that you are in the midst of lovely scenery again, for I had had a presentiment that Cambridge was anti-pathetic to you; and indeed I could not have imagined that you would be in the right place there, but for the promised helpfulness of your presence to a young friend. 116
You tell me much that is interesting. Your picture of Mr and Mrs Stirling, 117 and what you say of the reasons why one may wish even for the anguish of being left for the sake of waiting on the beloved one to the end -- all that goes to my heart of hearts. It is what I think of almost daily. For death seems to me now a close, real experience, like the approach of autumn or winter, and I am glad to find that advancing life brings this power of imagining the nearness of death I never had till of late years. 118 I remember all you told me of your niece's expected marriage, and your joy in the husband who has chosen her. 119 It is wealth you have -- that of several sweet nieces to whom being with you is a happiness. You can feel some sympathy in their cheerfulness, even though sorrow is always your only private good -- can you not, dear friend? -- and the time is short at the utmost. The blessed reunion, if it may come, must be patiently waited for; and such good as you can do others, by loving looks and words, must seem to you like a closer companionship with the gentleness and benignity which you justly worshipped while it was visibly present, and still more perhaps now it is veiled, and is a memory stronger than vision of outward things. We are revelling in the sweet peace of the country, and shall remain here till the end of September.
Mr Lewes sends his affectionate remembrances with mine. I am scribbling while he holds my bed candle, so pray forgive any incoherency.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. William Smith, Earlswood Common, 1 July 1874, 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/93735