GE to John Blackwood, Chaudfontaine, 25 July 1866
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Chaudfontaine, 25 July 1866
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Chaudfontaine, 25 July 1866
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1866-07-25
Place
Chaudfontaine
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Chaudfontaine, 25 July 1866
MS: National Library of Scotland. One margin is badly mutilated. Hitherto unpublished.
Chaudfontaine, near Li'e8ge 504 | July 25. 1866.
My dear Sir
Your letter was thrice welcome. It was thrust under our door yesterday morning just as we were going out to the Post Office at Aix, to order our letters to be sent after us. We had arrived at Aix on the 21st and disliked the place too much to linger there for a fourth day, so that the appearance of your handwriting on the floor was an agreeable incident thoroughly well-prepared by the heroine's longing and despair. I was cheered by the news, because, as you know, my hopes are rarely in advance of the reality -- I am always happier in knowing than in conjecturing. And you do not seem to take a discouraging view of our prospects, in spite of drawbacks, so I will rest contented till I hear from you again.
We are staying at this pretty quiet place for a couple of days to avoid the King of the Belgians, who is winning the hearts of his subjects by making a "progress" through the chief towns in his busy flourishing little dominions. On Friday we intend to resume our progress through Louvain, Ghent, Bruges and Ostend, hoping to be at home again by the 1st of August. If I were wishing entirely for my own sake, and not at all for yours, I should wish that you were still in London, that we might have a long talk about "Felix" and the amusing variety I dare say you have found in the interpretations and preferences of reviewers and drawing-room critics. But I am too magnanimous not to be glad for your sake that you have been enjoying the quiet and freshness of Strathtyrum, which, I imagine, is as delightful as many of the places we have come far to see.
We stayed our fortnight at Schwalbach, going thence to Schlangenbad, and although we had no special alarm about ourselves, it so happened that our departure from both places was so timed as to save us from personal inconvenience. We left Schlangenbad just early enough to be able to go down the Rhine to Bonn by the Dutch Steamer, and soon after we were on board we saw the Prussian troops marching to take Eltville, which we had quitted ten minutes before. One is conscious of making rather an ignoble figure as a pleasure-seeking foreigner in the midst of such events, and nothing but the excuse of having come for the sake of health could make one friendly with oneself under these circumstances.
I share your feeling of pity for the Austrians. My heart goes to the losing side, even when it feels bound to fight with the winners. Amid national calamities, it is the helpless and not the guilty who are the chief sufferers. The care the Prussians are said to have for the wounded Austrians is one of the proofs one likes to register, that we are slowly, slowly, growing out of barbarism. I have been read[ing] Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic" 505 since I [have] been away, and one of the best compensati[ons] for dwelling on the barbarities of Spani[sh] and Flemings in the glorious 16th century, is [the] sense that such horrors are no longer pos[sible] in any European nation.
Thank you for remembering to tell us that pretty fact about the feminine hair dresser. That is the sort of thing that esp[ecially] delights me, and remains with me [ready?] to recall when I want to check de[spair] or idleness. I like to think of her [joy?] when she receives the gift of a copy.
Our journey has not been [about ten words missing] not expect us to be strong people, but Mr. Lewes looks decidedly better, and I am able to do a great deal of walking without fatigue. I hope you are no longer a patient, and take your Golf not at all medicinally, but as pure pleasure.
Pray give my regards to Mr. William Blackwood, and tell him I shall feel injured if I am kept altogether in the dark about the development of a certain story in which he has excited my interest. Mr. Lewes, coming to tell me that dinner awaits us, begs me to thank you for your letter and to send his best remembrances.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. One margin is badly mutilated. Hitherto unpublished.
Chaudfontaine, near Li'e8ge 504 | July 25. 1866.
My dear Sir
Your letter was thrice welcome. It was thrust under our door yesterday morning just as we were going out to the Post Office at Aix, to order our letters to be sent after us. We had arrived at Aix on the 21st and disliked the place too much to linger there for a fourth day, so that the appearance of your handwriting on the floor was an agreeable incident thoroughly well-prepared by the heroine's longing and despair. I was cheered by the news, because, as you know, my hopes are rarely in advance of the reality -- I am always happier in knowing than in conjecturing. And you do not seem to take a discouraging view of our prospects, in spite of drawbacks, so I will rest contented till I hear from you again.
We are staying at this pretty quiet place for a couple of days to avoid the King of the Belgians, who is winning the hearts of his subjects by making a "progress" through the chief towns in his busy flourishing little dominions. On Friday we intend to resume our progress through Louvain, Ghent, Bruges and Ostend, hoping to be at home again by the 1st of August. If I were wishing entirely for my own sake, and not at all for yours, I should wish that you were still in London, that we might have a long talk about "Felix" and the amusing variety I dare say you have found in the interpretations and preferences of reviewers and drawing-room critics. But I am too magnanimous not to be glad for your sake that you have been enjoying the quiet and freshness of Strathtyrum, which, I imagine, is as delightful as many of the places we have come far to see.
We stayed our fortnight at Schwalbach, going thence to Schlangenbad, and although we had no special alarm about ourselves, it so happened that our departure from both places was so timed as to save us from personal inconvenience. We left Schlangenbad just early enough to be able to go down the Rhine to Bonn by the Dutch Steamer, and soon after we were on board we saw the Prussian troops marching to take Eltville, which we had quitted ten minutes before. One is conscious of making rather an ignoble figure as a pleasure-seeking foreigner in the midst of such events, and nothing but the excuse of having come for the sake of health could make one friendly with oneself under these circumstances.
I share your feeling of pity for the Austrians. My heart goes to the losing side, even when it feels bound to fight with the winners. Amid national calamities, it is the helpless and not the guilty who are the chief sufferers. The care the Prussians are said to have for the wounded Austrians is one of the proofs one likes to register, that we are slowly, slowly, growing out of barbarism. I have been read[ing] Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic" 505 since I [have] been away, and one of the best compensati[ons] for dwelling on the barbarities of Spani[sh] and Flemings in the glorious 16th century, is [the] sense that such horrors are no longer pos[sible] in any European nation.
Thank you for remembering to tell us that pretty fact about the feminine hair dresser. That is the sort of thing that esp[ecially] delights me, and remains with me [ready?] to recall when I want to check de[spair] or idleness. I like to think of her [joy?] when she receives the gift of a copy.
Our journey has not been [about ten words missing] not expect us to be strong people, but Mr. Lewes looks decidedly better, and I am able to do a great deal of walking without fatigue. I hope you are no longer a patient, and take your Golf not at all medicinally, but as pure pleasure.
Pray give my regards to Mr. William Blackwood, and tell him I shall feel injured if I am kept altogether in the dark about the development of a certain story in which he has excited my interest. Mr. Lewes, coming to tell me that dinner awaits us, begs me to thank you for your letter and to send his best remembrances.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Chaudfontaine, 25 July 1866, 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/92575