Charles Dickens to GHL, London, 13 February 1860
Title
Charles Dickens to GHL, London, 13 February 1860
Title
Charles Dickens to GHL, London, 13 February 1860
Sender
Charles Dickens
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1860-02-13
Place
London
Letter Content
Charles Dickens to GHL, London, 13 February 1860
Text: The Letters of Charles Dickens, ed. W. Dexter, 3 vols., 1938, III, 150-151.
Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, W.C.
Monday Morning Thirteenth February 1860.
My Dear Lewes, --
Your letter has perfectly amazed me. I had not the least idea and I assure you -- not the faintest notion -- that there was any postponement, 479 far less a postponement sine die. Mrs. Lewes's note merely asked me, in acknowledging the receipt of the Tale of Two Cities, whether something was not sacrificed, through the necessities of such a plan, to terseness and closeness of construction, and proposed that we should speak of that when I next came out to see you. This was its effect, but nothing more believe me. I have no doubt I can lay my hand upon it in the course of today, and you shall both see it.
My sole reason for not having come to see you is the delicacy I have put [felt?] in forcing the matter on Mrs. Lewes's mind, while it was occupied with her book. Both you and she had mentioned her anxious desire to complete it without any distracting reference to her work. Knowing of my own experience how natural and necessary such devotion to one thing, is, I resolved (quite against my own wishes) not to come near you, until I could suppose her book to be done. I really put such a strict constraint upon myself in this regard, that on Wills's telling me at the office only a few days ago, that the book was advertized by Blackwood, I replied that this was no evidence of its being finished, and that I would still wait a little longer.
Tomorrow being my day at the office, I will come out to you from there, between half past one and half past three. Meanwhile I only add that I am quite as sure of your good faith as I am of my own. -- With kindest regard
Ever faithfully,
[Charles Dickens.]
Text: The Letters of Charles Dickens, ed. W. Dexter, 3 vols., 1938, III, 150-151.
Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, W.C.
Monday Morning Thirteenth February 1860.
My Dear Lewes, --
Your letter has perfectly amazed me. I had not the least idea and I assure you -- not the faintest notion -- that there was any postponement, 479 far less a postponement sine die. Mrs. Lewes's note merely asked me, in acknowledging the receipt of the Tale of Two Cities, whether something was not sacrificed, through the necessities of such a plan, to terseness and closeness of construction, and proposed that we should speak of that when I next came out to see you. This was its effect, but nothing more believe me. I have no doubt I can lay my hand upon it in the course of today, and you shall both see it.
My sole reason for not having come to see you is the delicacy I have put [felt?] in forcing the matter on Mrs. Lewes's mind, while it was occupied with her book. Both you and she had mentioned her anxious desire to complete it without any distracting reference to her work. Knowing of my own experience how natural and necessary such devotion to one thing, is, I resolved (quite against my own wishes) not to come near you, until I could suppose her book to be done. I really put such a strict constraint upon myself in this regard, that on Wills's telling me at the office only a few days ago, that the book was advertized by Blackwood, I replied that this was no evidence of its being finished, and that I would still wait a little longer.
Tomorrow being my day at the office, I will come out to you from there, between half past one and half past three. Meanwhile I only add that I am quite as sure of your good faith as I am of my own. -- With kindest regard
Ever faithfully,
[Charles Dickens.]
Signature
[Charles Dickens.]
Citation
Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens to GHL, London, 13 February 1860, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91743