David Masson to GE, Edinburgh, 1 December 1874
Title
David Masson to GE, Edinburgh, 1 December 1874
Title
David Masson to GE, Edinburgh, 1 December 1874
Sender
David Masson
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1874-12-01
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
David Masson to GE, Edinburgh, 1 December 1874
MS: Alderman Library, University of Virginia. Hitherto unpublished.
Regent Terrace, | Edinburgh. | December 1, 1874.
Dear Mrs. Lewes,
You must let me thank you for your kind note, received two or three days ago. 171 It would have been a pleasure to me to learn in any way that you had found anything to like in the Milton book; and you have greatly increased the pleasure by taking the trouble to tell me the fact yourself. I am particularly glad too that you have fastened on that verse discussion and think it goes in the right direction. The gentleman of the "Five Iambi and nothing else" must be unique (who is he?); but the Iambic chant among even educated readers of blank verse has long troubled my soul, and I have also come upon many persons whose opinions seemed to be, as you say, that Prosody was in the beginning of things and that poets came later to be her ministers and reveal her to mortals.
With renewed thanks, and begging to be kindly remembered to Mr. Lewes, I am, dear Mrs. Lewes
Yours very truly,
David Masson.
MS: Alderman Library, University of Virginia. Hitherto unpublished.
Regent Terrace, | Edinburgh. | December 1, 1874.
Dear Mrs. Lewes,
You must let me thank you for your kind note, received two or three days ago. 171 It would have been a pleasure to me to learn in any way that you had found anything to like in the Milton book; and you have greatly increased the pleasure by taking the trouble to tell me the fact yourself. I am particularly glad too that you have fastened on that verse discussion and think it goes in the right direction. The gentleman of the "Five Iambi and nothing else" must be unique (who is he?); but the Iambic chant among even educated readers of blank verse has long troubled my soul, and I have also come upon many persons whose opinions seemed to be, as you say, that Prosody was in the beginning of things and that poets came later to be her ministers and reveal her to mortals.
With renewed thanks, and begging to be kindly remembered to Mr. Lewes, I am, dear Mrs. Lewes
Yours very truly,
David Masson.
Signature
David Masson.
Citation
David Masson, David Masson to GE, Edinburgh, 1 December 1874, 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/91761