GE to Charles Bray, Wandsworth, 25 November [1859]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Wandsworth, 25 November [1859]
Title
GE to Charles Bray, Wandsworth, 25 November [1859]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Bray
Date(s)
- 1859-11-25
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to Charles Bray, Wandsworth, 25 November [1859]
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, II, 143-145.
Holly Lodge | November 25.
Dear Friend
Thanks for Bentley, for which we are to pay four shillings, are we not? Some one said the writer of the article on A.B. was a Mr. Mosely 402 a clergyman and a writer in the "Times": but these reports about authorship are as often false as true. I think it is on the whole the best review we have seen, unless we must except the one in the "Revue des deux Mondes" by Emile Mont'e9gut.
I don't mean to read any reviews of my next book; so far as they would produce any effect, they would be confusing. Everybody admires something that somebody else finds fault with, and the miller with his donkey 403 was in a clear and decided state of mind compared with the unfortunate writer who should set himself to please all the world of review-writers.
I am compelled, in spite of myself, to be annoyed with this business of "Adam Bede, Junior." Newby, a notoriously unscrupulous man, in too low a line of business to need a character, is using tricks to produce the impression that the book is mine, and in the provinces where few people know any difference between Newby and Blackwoods he is likely enough to succeed.
You see I am well provided with thorns in the flesh, lest I should be exalted beyond measure. To part with the copyright of a book which sells 16000 in one year -- to have a Liggins, a Bracebridge, and an unknown writer of one's "Sequel" all to one's self -- is excellent discipline.
We are reading Darwin's Book on Species, 404 just come out, after long expectation. It is an elaborate exposition of the evidence in favour of the Development Theory, and so, makes an epoch.
How did the book of Jokes go on? I have not heard anything of it since you sent me that specimen sheet. I think it deserved to prosper if it were all through as good as that. Do you see how the publishing world is going mad on periodicals? If I could be seduced by such offers, I might have written three poor novels and made my fortune in one year. Happily I have no need to exert myself when I say, "Avoid thee, Satan!" 405 Satan, in the form of bad writing and good pay is not seductive to me. Farewell. We both send you an anticipatory "Merry Christmas."
Ever yours faithfully
M. E. Lewes.
Charles Bray Esq.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, II, 143-145.
Holly Lodge | November 25.
Dear Friend
Thanks for Bentley, for which we are to pay four shillings, are we not? Some one said the writer of the article on A.B. was a Mr. Mosely 402 a clergyman and a writer in the "Times": but these reports about authorship are as often false as true. I think it is on the whole the best review we have seen, unless we must except the one in the "Revue des deux Mondes" by Emile Mont'e9gut.
I don't mean to read any reviews of my next book; so far as they would produce any effect, they would be confusing. Everybody admires something that somebody else finds fault with, and the miller with his donkey 403 was in a clear and decided state of mind compared with the unfortunate writer who should set himself to please all the world of review-writers.
I am compelled, in spite of myself, to be annoyed with this business of "Adam Bede, Junior." Newby, a notoriously unscrupulous man, in too low a line of business to need a character, is using tricks to produce the impression that the book is mine, and in the provinces where few people know any difference between Newby and Blackwoods he is likely enough to succeed.
You see I am well provided with thorns in the flesh, lest I should be exalted beyond measure. To part with the copyright of a book which sells 16000 in one year -- to have a Liggins, a Bracebridge, and an unknown writer of one's "Sequel" all to one's self -- is excellent discipline.
We are reading Darwin's Book on Species, 404 just come out, after long expectation. It is an elaborate exposition of the evidence in favour of the Development Theory, and so, makes an epoch.
How did the book of Jokes go on? I have not heard anything of it since you sent me that specimen sheet. I think it deserved to prosper if it were all through as good as that. Do you see how the publishing world is going mad on periodicals? If I could be seduced by such offers, I might have written three poor novels and made my fortune in one year. Happily I have no need to exert myself when I say, "Avoid thee, Satan!" 405 Satan, in the form of bad writing and good pay is not seductive to me. Farewell. We both send you an anticipatory "Merry Christmas."
Ever yours faithfully
M. E. Lewes.
Charles Bray Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Bray, Wandsworth, 25 November [1859], 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/92188