GHL to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 26 November 1873
Title
GHL to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 26 November 1873
Title
GHL to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 26 November 1873
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Mrs. Elma Stuart
Date(s)
- 1873-11-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 26 November 1873
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 13-16.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 73.
Dear good Woman!
Your letter with the welcome portraits of my friends Watch and Dora arrived this morning and was followed by the box. I wish you could have seen the delight of Mrs. Lewes and myself on the unexpected appearance of Puss, and our imagination of Blanche's joy when she sees it. The lovely 'abchatelaine'bb chanceli'e8re also -- only too lovely Mrs. Lewes says -- and the photos were duly welcomed, and their donor thanked. Gloves will be worn, and scarf too, with thought of Dinan.
I should have written to you immediately on our return home the beginning of this month, but that I wanted to wait till I could send you the Life of Johnson which Mrs. L.'s unseen adorer has completed on a suggestion of mine, and which you as a worthy reader of Boswell have a right to. But its publication has been delayed. However, it will reach you as soon as it is published.
Let me tell you, because I know it will please you and you ought to know it, that your visit was a great success and that you left behind you a very sweet and lovable image. There was terrible risk in the meeting. I felt confident; and yet experience warned us both of a great possible disappointment. It is so different seeing those whom one has only known through correspondence -- or the reports of others. Not that people are not the people of their letters, but they are so much else, and that sometimes is discrepant with the conception formed of them, and seems to falsify it. However, in this case you were just what we thought you were.
The exquisite weather which succeeded your visit helped with the quiet to set us both up, and I hope has fortified us for the coming season. Though return to London has been a return of my headaches, alas! nor is Mrs. Lewes as well as she ought to be.
We were fortunate enough in having a delightful Scotch gardener for our landlord, and he volunteered to annihilate our agreement when he found the house did not suit us -- so we have got that off our minds and are now looking out for another country house.
Thanks for your offer about books, but I get everything with the greatest ease through the booksellers here.
Although I send you a copy of my new book, just out, 888 you must understand that it is solely for the pleasure of writing your name in it, and that I don't for a moment wish you to read it on that account, unless, which is possible, you may feel any interest in the subjects treated. As I resent being required to read other people's books, however much I may like the writers, when the subjects do not lie immediately in the paths I am treading, so neither do I willingly inflict on others the reading of mine.
Mrs. Lewes begs me to send her love to you and to say she will write to you shortly.
Ever yours
G. H. Lewes.
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 13-16.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 73.
Dear good Woman!
Your letter with the welcome portraits of my friends Watch and Dora arrived this morning and was followed by the box. I wish you could have seen the delight of Mrs. Lewes and myself on the unexpected appearance of Puss, and our imagination of Blanche's joy when she sees it. The lovely 'abchatelaine'bb chanceli'e8re also -- only too lovely Mrs. Lewes says -- and the photos were duly welcomed, and their donor thanked. Gloves will be worn, and scarf too, with thought of Dinan.
I should have written to you immediately on our return home the beginning of this month, but that I wanted to wait till I could send you the Life of Johnson which Mrs. L.'s unseen adorer has completed on a suggestion of mine, and which you as a worthy reader of Boswell have a right to. But its publication has been delayed. However, it will reach you as soon as it is published.
Let me tell you, because I know it will please you and you ought to know it, that your visit was a great success and that you left behind you a very sweet and lovable image. There was terrible risk in the meeting. I felt confident; and yet experience warned us both of a great possible disappointment. It is so different seeing those whom one has only known through correspondence -- or the reports of others. Not that people are not the people of their letters, but they are so much else, and that sometimes is discrepant with the conception formed of them, and seems to falsify it. However, in this case you were just what we thought you were.
The exquisite weather which succeeded your visit helped with the quiet to set us both up, and I hope has fortified us for the coming season. Though return to London has been a return of my headaches, alas! nor is Mrs. Lewes as well as she ought to be.
We were fortunate enough in having a delightful Scotch gardener for our landlord, and he volunteered to annihilate our agreement when he found the house did not suit us -- so we have got that off our minds and are now looking out for another country house.
Thanks for your offer about books, but I get everything with the greatest ease through the booksellers here.
Although I send you a copy of my new book, just out, 888 you must understand that it is solely for the pleasure of writing your name in it, and that I don't for a moment wish you to read it on that account, unless, which is possible, you may feel any interest in the subjects treated. As I resent being required to read other people's books, however much I may like the writers, when the subjects do not lie immediately in the paths I am treading, so neither do I willingly inflict on others the reading of mine.
Mrs. Lewes begs me to send her love to you and to say she will write to you shortly.
Ever yours
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 26 November 1873, 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/94944