GHL to Charles Lee Lewes, Schwalbach, 1 July 1866
Title
GHL to Charles Lee Lewes, Schwalbach, 1 July 1866
Title
GHL to Charles Lee Lewes, Schwalbach, 1 July 1866
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Charles Lee Lewes
Date(s)
- 1866-07-01
Place
Schwalbach
Letter Content
GHL to Charles Lee Lewes, Schwalbach, 1 July 1866
Text: Paterson, pp. 119-121.
Schwalbach. | Sunday, July 1, 1866.
Dearest Boy,
I have nothing special to add to my last bulletin except that we are both stronger and browner, and the prolongation of this repose in this delicious country may finally set us both up for a few months. It is but patching the old boats to make them seaworthy that can be hoped for at the best.
Our increased familiarity with the country here and round about only deepens our sense of its loveliness. And -- precious advantage! -- we have it all to ourselves. The woods -- such woods! -- are solitude. People make expeditions in carriages and on donkeys to distant spots, but the varied and indescribable beauties lying immediately within reach are left unvisited. We wonder, but don't murmur thereat.
Our routine is this. Up a little before six and after tub and toilet out on the promenade. There drink the sparkling water and lounge in the sun listening to the tolerable band performing overtures, movements from Beethoven, and Haydn's symphonies, pot-pourris and waltzes. Nine-thirty we start for our ramble often with our books, oftener not. We walk and talk, sit and muse or read, listen to the birds and watch the mystery of light and shade in beech and fir woods -- we always dine at three in our own apartment, a splendid salon -- very large and lofty on the ground floor. It is more expensive but you know how your mother dislikes the table d'h'f4te and the bore of dressing for it. This is not our only escape -- we escape all possible acquaintance. Now we speak only to our landlord, pretty landlady and waiter. The society here does not seem engaging to us -- not many English, and except Lady Blanche Balfour 496 (who has rooms next to ours and is a perfect specimen of the English lady) those not attractive.
After a post-prandial nap we array ourselves in our "war-paint" and appear among the splendours of the evening promenade 6-8. Then a ramble in the tender light of evening and home to tea and bed. "So runs the round of life from hour to hour." 497
I get my P.M.G. and have had two letters from Blackwood full of enthusiasm about the effects of "Felix Holt," and occasionally we see The Times. I saw the review of "Felix" and was amused at the writer's absurd supposition that the situation of Esther at the trial was borrowed from Charles Reade's novel, which neither of us ever read. As if the fact of his having used such an incident so recently would not have warned any author from off that ground! It was, as Blackwood described it, an article calculated to do the book good, but not to reflect credit on The Times.
Let us hear how our sweet little daughter is and any domestic details. With a shower of kisses from Mutter believe me,
Your loving
Pater.
Text: Paterson, pp. 119-121.
Schwalbach. | Sunday, July 1, 1866.
Dearest Boy,
I have nothing special to add to my last bulletin except that we are both stronger and browner, and the prolongation of this repose in this delicious country may finally set us both up for a few months. It is but patching the old boats to make them seaworthy that can be hoped for at the best.
Our increased familiarity with the country here and round about only deepens our sense of its loveliness. And -- precious advantage! -- we have it all to ourselves. The woods -- such woods! -- are solitude. People make expeditions in carriages and on donkeys to distant spots, but the varied and indescribable beauties lying immediately within reach are left unvisited. We wonder, but don't murmur thereat.
Our routine is this. Up a little before six and after tub and toilet out on the promenade. There drink the sparkling water and lounge in the sun listening to the tolerable band performing overtures, movements from Beethoven, and Haydn's symphonies, pot-pourris and waltzes. Nine-thirty we start for our ramble often with our books, oftener not. We walk and talk, sit and muse or read, listen to the birds and watch the mystery of light and shade in beech and fir woods -- we always dine at three in our own apartment, a splendid salon -- very large and lofty on the ground floor. It is more expensive but you know how your mother dislikes the table d'h'f4te and the bore of dressing for it. This is not our only escape -- we escape all possible acquaintance. Now we speak only to our landlord, pretty landlady and waiter. The society here does not seem engaging to us -- not many English, and except Lady Blanche Balfour 496 (who has rooms next to ours and is a perfect specimen of the English lady) those not attractive.
After a post-prandial nap we array ourselves in our "war-paint" and appear among the splendours of the evening promenade 6-8. Then a ramble in the tender light of evening and home to tea and bed. "So runs the round of life from hour to hour." 497
I get my P.M.G. and have had two letters from Blackwood full of enthusiasm about the effects of "Felix Holt," and occasionally we see The Times. I saw the review of "Felix" and was amused at the writer's absurd supposition that the situation of Esther at the trial was borrowed from Charles Reade's novel, which neither of us ever read. As if the fact of his having used such an incident so recently would not have warned any author from off that ground! It was, as Blackwood described it, an article calculated to do the book good, but not to reflect credit on The Times.
Let us hear how our sweet little daughter is and any domestic details. With a shower of kisses from Mutter believe me,
Your loving
Pater.
Signature
Pater.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Charles Lee Lewes, Schwalbach, 1 July 1866, 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/94475