GE to George Combe, London, 21 October 1853
Title
GE to George Combe, London, 21 October 1853
Title
GE to George Combe, London, 21 October 1853
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
George Combe
Date(s)
- 1853-10-21
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to George Combe, London, 21 October 1853
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: Science and Religion | Miss Evans | 22 Octr ansd.
1 Cambridge Street | Hyde Park Square | 21 October 1853.
My dear Sir
For the sake of reference, I enclose that part of your letter which contains the questions relative to your book. 180 I have not been sufficiently at liberty to reexamine it since I talked with you, so that I am not able to verify the general impressions on which my replies are founded by particular instances. I think the Introduction might be with advantage abridged. Some of the quotations appear to me diffuse and ineffective -- for example, the one from the "Cyclopaedia of Rel. Denominations" p. xi. 181 I think a brief Introduction setting forth, in your own forcible manner, the anomalous condition of the religious world, the practical ignoring of professed beliefs, and the duty of thorough outspeaking, would be read and would give an appetite for the pi'e8ces de r'e9sistance in the body of the work; but a long Introduction will either be skipped altogether or will be felt wearisome. I think the effective use of quotation is an important point in the art of writing. Given sparingly, quotations serve admirably as a climax or as a corroboration, but when they are long and frequent, they seriously weaken the effect of a book. We lose sight of the writer -- he scatters our sympathy among others than himself -- and the ideas which he himself advances are not knit together with our impression of his personality.
As to your friend's second query, I think it must refer to an occasional inconsistency in expression. You sometimes use phrases such as "approaching the Throne of God" which are irreconcileable with your opinions elsewhere expressed. But I do not find any difficulty in ascertaining the views you really inculcate. The inconsistency arises probably from a momentary sympathy with views you are describing or alluding to. The 3rd question seems to me quite irrelevant to the desirability of publishing your work. We wish to know the moral and religious views of a thoughtful, experienced and distinguished man, not because we expect him to tell us something new on these subjects, but because he is himself a new fact -- a new mind which has gone through the steps of the great problem.
I have not solved the enigma (4th). I can see nothing to expose you to ridicule in the said paragraph. I think the stricture number 5. is a very useful caveat, and that, bearing it in mind, you would see many passages in the course of the work through which you would decide to draw your pen. You seem to look too much from an Edinburgh point of view for a writer whose reputation is European.
Pray let me know how Mrs. Combe's health is, and yours also, when you write. I am settled in my new lodgings, but I feel uncertain whether what I wish to do in relation to the Westminster will be compatible with this distant residence. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Endorsed: Science and Religion | Miss Evans | 22 Octr ansd.
1 Cambridge Street | Hyde Park Square | 21 October 1853.
My dear Sir
For the sake of reference, I enclose that part of your letter which contains the questions relative to your book. 180 I have not been sufficiently at liberty to reexamine it since I talked with you, so that I am not able to verify the general impressions on which my replies are founded by particular instances. I think the Introduction might be with advantage abridged. Some of the quotations appear to me diffuse and ineffective -- for example, the one from the "Cyclopaedia of Rel. Denominations" p. xi. 181 I think a brief Introduction setting forth, in your own forcible manner, the anomalous condition of the religious world, the practical ignoring of professed beliefs, and the duty of thorough outspeaking, would be read and would give an appetite for the pi'e8ces de r'e9sistance in the body of the work; but a long Introduction will either be skipped altogether or will be felt wearisome. I think the effective use of quotation is an important point in the art of writing. Given sparingly, quotations serve admirably as a climax or as a corroboration, but when they are long and frequent, they seriously weaken the effect of a book. We lose sight of the writer -- he scatters our sympathy among others than himself -- and the ideas which he himself advances are not knit together with our impression of his personality.
As to your friend's second query, I think it must refer to an occasional inconsistency in expression. You sometimes use phrases such as "approaching the Throne of God" which are irreconcileable with your opinions elsewhere expressed. But I do not find any difficulty in ascertaining the views you really inculcate. The inconsistency arises probably from a momentary sympathy with views you are describing or alluding to. The 3rd question seems to me quite irrelevant to the desirability of publishing your work. We wish to know the moral and religious views of a thoughtful, experienced and distinguished man, not because we expect him to tell us something new on these subjects, but because he is himself a new fact -- a new mind which has gone through the steps of the great problem.
I have not solved the enigma (4th). I can see nothing to expose you to ridicule in the said paragraph. I think the stricture number 5. is a very useful caveat, and that, bearing it in mind, you would see many passages in the course of the work through which you would decide to draw your pen. You seem to look too much from an Edinburgh point of view for a writer whose reputation is European.
Pray let me know how Mrs. Combe's health is, and yours also, when you write. I am settled in my new lodgings, but I feel uncertain whether what I wish to do in relation to the Westminster will be compatible with this distant residence. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to George Combe, London, 21 October 1853, 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/92470