GE to John Blackwood, Gorey, 12 [July] 1857
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Gorey, 12 [July] 1857
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Gorey, 12 [July] 1857
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1857-07-12
Place
Gorey
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Gorey, 12 [July] 1857
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: William Blackwood, II, 441-442.
Rosa Cottage | Gorey | Jersey | June 923 12. 57.
My dear Sir
By today's post I return the proof of Part 2. Part 1 was printed as I wished in every respect except one. The printer's reader made a correction after I saw the proof, and though he may sometimes do so with advantage, as I am very liable to overlook mistakes, I in this case particularly object to his alteration, and I mention it in order to request that it may not occur again. He has everywhere substituted the form -- "the Misses So and So" for "the Miss So and Sos" -- a form which in England is confined to public announcements, to the backs of letters, and to the conversation of schoolmistresses. It is not the conversational
English of good society, and causes the most disagreeable jolt in an easy style of narrative or description. 924
I think you have rather mistaken the intention of the jokes in the play-bill. They are not meant by any means as Attic wit, but as Milby wit, and any really fine sarcasm would be out of place. I have altered the conclusion a little to prevent that mistake in the reader. It would not do, I think, to substitute vagueness for particularity in this instance, and omit the play-bill. In the real persecution, a play-bill of an equally insulting kind was printed and circulated and thought the finest joke imaginable.
My own impression on rereading very carefully the account of the confirmation is, that readers will perceive, what is the fact -- that I am not in the least occupying myself with confirmation in general, or with Bishops in general, but with a particular confirmation, and a particular Bishop.
Art must be either real and concrete, or ideal and eclectic. Both are good and true in their way, but my stories are of the former kind. I undertake to exhibit nothing as it should be; I only try to exhibit some things as they have been or are, seen through such a medium as my own nature gives me. 925 The moral effect of the stories of course depends on my power of seeing truly and feeling justly; and as I am not conscious of looking at things through the medium of cynicism or irreverence, I can't help hoping that there is no tendency in what I write to produce those miserable mental states.
The interest of the next part will turn entirely on Janet and Mr. Tryan.
I think Madeline Smith one of the least fascinating of murderesses, and since she is acquitted it is a pity Palmer 926 is not alive to marry her and be the victim of her second experiment in cosmetics -- which is too likely to come one day or other. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
J. Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: William Blackwood, II, 441-442.
Rosa Cottage | Gorey | Jersey | June 923 12. 57.
My dear Sir
By today's post I return the proof of Part 2. Part 1 was printed as I wished in every respect except one. The printer's reader made a correction after I saw the proof, and though he may sometimes do so with advantage, as I am very liable to overlook mistakes, I in this case particularly object to his alteration, and I mention it in order to request that it may not occur again. He has everywhere substituted the form -- "the Misses So and So" for "the Miss So and Sos" -- a form which in England is confined to public announcements, to the backs of letters, and to the conversation of schoolmistresses. It is not the conversational
English of good society, and causes the most disagreeable jolt in an easy style of narrative or description. 924
I think you have rather mistaken the intention of the jokes in the play-bill. They are not meant by any means as Attic wit, but as Milby wit, and any really fine sarcasm would be out of place. I have altered the conclusion a little to prevent that mistake in the reader. It would not do, I think, to substitute vagueness for particularity in this instance, and omit the play-bill. In the real persecution, a play-bill of an equally insulting kind was printed and circulated and thought the finest joke imaginable.
My own impression on rereading very carefully the account of the confirmation is, that readers will perceive, what is the fact -- that I am not in the least occupying myself with confirmation in general, or with Bishops in general, but with a particular confirmation, and a particular Bishop.
Art must be either real and concrete, or ideal and eclectic. Both are good and true in their way, but my stories are of the former kind. I undertake to exhibit nothing as it should be; I only try to exhibit some things as they have been or are, seen through such a medium as my own nature gives me. 925 The moral effect of the stories of course depends on my power of seeing truly and feeling justly; and as I am not conscious of looking at things through the medium of cynicism or irreverence, I can't help hoping that there is no tendency in what I write to produce those miserable mental states.
The interest of the next part will turn entirely on Janet and Mr. Tryan.
I think Madeline Smith one of the least fascinating of murderesses, and since she is acquitted it is a pity Palmer 926 is not alive to marry her and be the victim of her second experiment in cosmetics -- which is too likely to come one day or other. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
J. Blackwood Esq.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Gorey, 12 [July] 1857, 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/92581