Letter to Regina Bernstein, August 15, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 15 August 1892


First published, in Russian, in Marx-Engels Archives, Book I, Moscow, 1924
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO REGINA BERNSTEIN

IN ZURICH

The Firs, Brading Road,
Ryde, England (that suffices)
15 August 1892

Dear Gine,

I and all the rest of us here are very sorry that your summer holiday should have been so sadly disrupted, but we all of us hope that all danger is now past, for otherwise I should certainly have heard from you. Unfortunately, my projected trip has also been completely ruined; just when I was about to get ready, I detected the unmistakable symptoms of an old disorder which I thought I had got the better of five years ago and which precluded all exercise for at least a fortnight if not a month. So I have got to remain stuck here in Ryde,[1] but first I had to spend a couple of days in London to put all my affairs in order there, and this, together with the many letters arising out of the 'catastrophe ordained by God', has so flummoxed me that I have not been able to write to you until today.

I can well believe that Ernst[2] is very down as a result of typhoid. Do give him time to recover completely before letting him go back to the exertions of school. But you have so many doctors on both sides of the family that I really ought to keep my mouth shut.

Since I have been here, we have been having marvellous weather and I am able to spend nearly all day, usually until 6 or 7 o'clock, sitting out in the garden in an armchair; there have been only 2 wet days in almost three weeks. Let us hope it lasts, since fresh air, along with rest, is my best medicine.

I am glad to hear that Ede is to make, or is already making, one more excursion into the Alps. He undoubtedly needs it, although it was with great pleasure that I saw from the Neue Zeit that he was his old self again.[3] His critique of Proudhon is very nice indeed, and his sense of humour is also returning. But it's better to be safe than sorry, i. e. to get properly well while he's got the chance, and thoroughly shake off his vexation over the Lassalle business[4] which was, after all, at the root of the whole thing. And you, too, ought to have a spell in which to recover from the difficult days and nights which have wrought such havoc with the peace and quiet of your holiday.

In other respects all is well here — that is, Pumps is as well as 'circumstances' allow, the event being expected in October. The children are far healthier than they used to be in London. This is a very large family: 2 dogs, 3 cats, a canary, a rabbit, two guinea pigs, a cock and 14 hens.

Many regards from the Roshers and especially from myself to you and Ede and Ernst.

Your old friend,

The General

  1. ↑ Engels came to Ryde for a holiday on 27 July 1892. Illness made him stay on until 6 September.
  2. ↑ Ernst Schattner
  3. ↑ In 1892, after a long interval caused by Eduard Bernstein's nervous disease, Neue Zeit resumed the publication of a series of articles of his entitled Die soziale Doktrin des Anarchismus. The third instalment of the series, headlined 'Proudhon und der Mutualismus', appeared between late July and the first half of August in Die Neue Zeit, 10. Jg., 1891/92, 2. Bd., Nr. 45-47.
  4. ↑ See this volume, pp. 253-54, 316.