GE to Frederic Harrison, London, 10 April 1866(1)
Title
GE to Frederic Harrison, London, 10 April 1866(1)
Title
GE to Frederic Harrison, London, 10 April 1866(1)
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Frederic Harrison
Date(s)
- 1866-04-10
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Frederic Harrison, London, 10 April 1866(1)
MS: Tinker Collection, Yale. Envelope: Frederic Harrison Esq | 7 New Square | Lincolns Inn | W.C. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
April 10. 66.
My dear Mr. Harrison
I feel all sorts of doubt and reluctance in troubling you again about my book, in which your advice has already been so precious to me. I hear that you are much occupied, and besides, since we have not had a glimpse of you since I gave you so much trouble, I fear you are weary of me -- a result eminently reasonable to expect, though not the less melancholy for poor me, who am very much in need of your help.
At this season, I know, your engagements must be thickening like other people's, but please tell me the truth in your own behalf, and do not let me be too troublesome.
My second volume, which has been much delayed by illness, is ready now for your correcting glance, and I feel sure that there are deficiencies if not absurdities in what the Germans call the Motivirung seen from a legal point of view. Unhappily there is a great deal of slow matter in the volume which is only indirectly necessary to the completeness of your revision. I wish I could with confidence write "Skip" to everything that does not touch on law. But the threads are so woven together that I do not know how to separate them without leaving you in a state of mystification as to my intentions.
If you are able to read this second volume, I think I shall perhaps not need to trouble you with the third. Can you read it? If you say "Yes" -- Mr. Lewes shall leave it at your address in Lincoln's Inn as soon as possible -- with your permission. I am not making any pretence when I say that I know I am asking a great deal from you.
It would have been a satisfaction to see you -- but I am afraid of asking you to come so far and add the length of the streets to the length of my MSS.
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Frederic Harrison Esq.
MS: Tinker Collection, Yale. Envelope: Frederic Harrison Esq | 7 New Square | Lincolns Inn | W.C. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
April 10. 66.
My dear Mr. Harrison
I feel all sorts of doubt and reluctance in troubling you again about my book, in which your advice has already been so precious to me. I hear that you are much occupied, and besides, since we have not had a glimpse of you since I gave you so much trouble, I fear you are weary of me -- a result eminently reasonable to expect, though not the less melancholy for poor me, who am very much in need of your help.
At this season, I know, your engagements must be thickening like other people's, but please tell me the truth in your own behalf, and do not let me be too troublesome.
My second volume, which has been much delayed by illness, is ready now for your correcting glance, and I feel sure that there are deficiencies if not absurdities in what the Germans call the Motivirung seen from a legal point of view. Unhappily there is a great deal of slow matter in the volume which is only indirectly necessary to the completeness of your revision. I wish I could with confidence write "Skip" to everything that does not touch on law. But the threads are so woven together that I do not know how to separate them without leaving you in a state of mystification as to my intentions.
If you are able to read this second volume, I think I shall perhaps not need to trouble you with the third. Can you read it? If you say "Yes" -- Mr. Lewes shall leave it at your address in Lincoln's Inn as soon as possible -- with your permission. I am not making any pretence when I say that I know I am asking a great deal from you.
It would have been a satisfaction to see you -- but I am afraid of asking you to come so far and add the length of the streets to the length of my MSS.
Yours most sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Frederic Harrison Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Frederic Harrison, London, 10 April 1866(1), 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/92395