GE to Charles Ritter, Witley, 20 October 1877
Title
GE to Charles Ritter, Witley, 20 October 1877
Title
GE to Charles Ritter, Witley, 20 October 1877
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Charles Ritter
Date(s)
- 1877-10-20
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to Charles Ritter, Witley, 20 October 1877
MS: Biblioth'e8que Publique et Universitaire, Geneva. Extracts published: Cross, New Edition, pp. 567-568.
The Heights | Witley | October 20. 77.
Dear M. Ritter
I am quite willing that you should translate any passages from those articles of mine mentioned in your letter, 748 if you think them worthy of that trouble. The only other article which occurs to me just now as easy to be found by you is one on Mr. Lecky's [Modern Rationalism] in the first number of the Fortnightly Review, published, I think, in 1866. 749
For many years I have renounced all anonymous writing, and with regard to the republication of small productions no longer current, I am anxious not to add to that calamity of our age, superfluous literature. A passage here and there may be worth selecting, but I should hardly overcome the scruples which hinder me from making up a volume out of occasional writings which at best would not be so fruitful to the reader as some neglected work by one of our elder writers. Do you not mourn with me over the dissipation of men's time on evermultiplying periodicals, and new books that say badly what was well said in our own language by some dead author whose contribution ought to live in our grateful consciousness?
We are about to return to London, so that any communication you may wish to make to me, must be sent to the old address. I am grieved to hear of M. Scherer's heavy domestic loss. 750 But all France is a subject of grief now, is it not? One reads the [Times] with more anxiety about the French question than about the Russo-Turkish War. The prospects of our Western civilization seem more critically involved in the maintenance of the French Republic than in the result of the Bulgarian struggle -- momentous as that too is felt to be by prophetic souls.
Thanks for your friendly wishes about our health. We have both highly enjoyed our country home, and are in much better health than when we had the pleasure of seeing you.
Mr. Lewes unites with me in kind regards, and I am always
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Biblioth'e8que Publique et Universitaire, Geneva. Extracts published: Cross, New Edition, pp. 567-568.
The Heights | Witley | October 20. 77.
Dear M. Ritter
I am quite willing that you should translate any passages from those articles of mine mentioned in your letter, 748 if you think them worthy of that trouble. The only other article which occurs to me just now as easy to be found by you is one on Mr. Lecky's [Modern Rationalism] in the first number of the Fortnightly Review, published, I think, in 1866. 749
For many years I have renounced all anonymous writing, and with regard to the republication of small productions no longer current, I am anxious not to add to that calamity of our age, superfluous literature. A passage here and there may be worth selecting, but I should hardly overcome the scruples which hinder me from making up a volume out of occasional writings which at best would not be so fruitful to the reader as some neglected work by one of our elder writers. Do you not mourn with me over the dissipation of men's time on evermultiplying periodicals, and new books that say badly what was well said in our own language by some dead author whose contribution ought to live in our grateful consciousness?
We are about to return to London, so that any communication you may wish to make to me, must be sent to the old address. I am grieved to hear of M. Scherer's heavy domestic loss. 750 But all France is a subject of grief now, is it not? One reads the [Times] with more anxiety about the French question than about the Russo-Turkish War. The prospects of our Western civilization seem more critically involved in the maintenance of the French Republic than in the result of the Bulgarian struggle -- momentous as that too is felt to be by prophetic souls.
Thanks for your friendly wishes about our health. We have both highly enjoyed our country home, and are in much better health than when we had the pleasure of seeing you.
Mr. Lewes unites with me in kind regards, and I am always
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Charles Ritter, Witley, 20 October 1877, 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/92257