LETTER: Autograph letter signed.
Eliot, George [Marian Evans Lewes]. Autograph letter signed, “Mutter,” to Charles Lee Lewes, in purple ink, June 18, 1879; one leaf of mourning stationery, The Heights, Witley, Nr. Godalming, 4 pages.
Eliot addresses this letter, “Dearest Boy,” and mentions her work: “Have you seen any article on The Psychology….” She complains of her health, discusses financial affairs, and suggests plans for the summer.
I am writing in bed, where I have been almost constantly since Sunday, owing to a troublesome pain…Thank you for sending me the poetic address and the extract from the Standard. A rather bulky fruit of ‘Merman’ [Proteus Merman, the unhappy hero of ‘How We Encourage Research, Theophrastus Such] has come to me in a letter of I don’t know how many pages from one who feels himself wronged by critics. It is a curiosity worth preserving. Last week I received a letter from Mr. Warren [Eliot’s solicitor] saying that the next court of Manor is to be held on the 26th and sending me Beddoes’ account of the Fines and Fees to be paid on the Copyhol…Mr. Cross has managed the matter for me, as he is constantly at the Bank…I am ruminating over the possibility of having Eliza and the 2 children along with you and Gertrude etc. in July…I was glad to know Mr. [Frederic] Harrison’s opinion, for naturally though he has written to me about other things he, no more than other friends, writes about…And now I am alone I need the more assurance that I have not published superfluously….
Published in Gordon S. Haight’s edition of The George Eliot Letters. Charles Lee Lewes was the eldest son of George Henry Lewes, Eliot’s married companion. Charles was a great comfort to Eliot, especially in her difficult last years. He was one of the only people she would permit to visit her after Lewes’s death, and he fully supported her marriage to John Cross. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously.
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