GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Niton, 21 June 1863
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Niton, 21 June 1863
Title
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Niton, 21 June 1863
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Lee Lewes
Date(s)
- 1863-06-21
Place
Niton
Letter Content
GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Niton, 21 June 1863
Text: Paterson, pp. 109-110. Cf. Cross, II, 351, 355-356.
Niton, | Isle of Wight. | June 21, 1863.
Dearest Boy,
I am very happy in my holiday finding quite a fresh charm in the hedgerow grasses and flowers after my long banishment from them. We have a flower garden just round us and then a sheltered grassy walk, on which the sun shines through the best part of the day; and then a wide meadow, and beyond that trees and the sea. Moreover, our landlady has cows and we get the quintessence of cream -- excellent bread and butter also, and a young lady with a large crinoline to wait upon us. All for twenty-five shillings per week; or rather, we get the apartment in which we enjoy those primitive and modern blessings for that moderate sum.
I am glad you enjoyed "Esmond." It is a fine book. Since you have been interested in the historical suggestions, I recommend you to read
Thackeray's "Lectures on the English Humorists," 166 which are all about men of the same period. There is a more exaggerated estimate of Swift and Addison than is implied in "Esmond"; and the excessive laudation of men who are considerably below the tip-top of human nature both in their lives and genius, rather vitiates the Lectures, which are otherwise admirable and are delightful reading.
Thy
Mutter.
Text: Paterson, pp. 109-110. Cf. Cross, II, 351, 355-356.
Niton, | Isle of Wight. | June 21, 1863.
Dearest Boy,
I am very happy in my holiday finding quite a fresh charm in the hedgerow grasses and flowers after my long banishment from them. We have a flower garden just round us and then a sheltered grassy walk, on which the sun shines through the best part of the day; and then a wide meadow, and beyond that trees and the sea. Moreover, our landlady has cows and we get the quintessence of cream -- excellent bread and butter also, and a young lady with a large crinoline to wait upon us. All for twenty-five shillings per week; or rather, we get the apartment in which we enjoy those primitive and modern blessings for that moderate sum.
I am glad you enjoyed "Esmond." It is a fine book. Since you have been interested in the historical suggestions, I recommend you to read
Thackeray's "Lectures on the English Humorists," 166 which are all about men of the same period. There is a more exaggerated estimate of Swift and Addison than is implied in "Esmond"; and the excessive laudation of men who are considerably below the tip-top of human nature both in their lives and genius, rather vitiates the Lectures, which are otherwise admirable and are delightful reading.
Thy
Mutter.
Signature
Mutter.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Lee Lewes, Niton, 21 June 1863, 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/92217