GE to John Blackwood, Granada, 21 February 1867
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Granada, 21 February 1867
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Granada, 21 February 1867
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1867-02-21
Place
Granada
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Granada, 21 February 1867
MS: Parrish Collection, Princeton. Published: M. L. Parrish, Victorian Lady Novelists, 1933, pp. 22-23.
Granada. February 21. 1867.
My dear Sir
Since I have nothing to say that requires an answer, I write to you without compunction, to tell you something about our wandering selves. Are you astonished to see that we are so far off England? We have been yet farther, for we came hither from Malaga. When Mr. Lewes felt strengthened by the air and repose of Biarritz, we were tempted to try and carry out our old project of coming to Spain, which we had renounced as impossible or at least dangerous. We went from San Sebastian to Saragossa, Lerida, and Barcelona, and this journey was so entirely delightful that we ceased to tremble at the threatened hardships of Spanish travel. After a week's stay at Barcelona we took the steamer, first to Alicante and then to Malaga; and a week ago the Granada diligence (much maligned by book-making travellers) brought us quite comfortably to this city of transcendent memories and transcendent beauty. Mr. Lewes looks like a healthy brother of his thin and pale self such as it was two months ago. He has still many dyspeptic discomforts, but the fact that he has gained flesh and looks thoroughly well is a proof that his system is much restored.
We are both heartily rejoiced that we came to Spain. It was a great longing of mine, for, three years ago, I began to interest myself in Spanish history and literature, and have had a work lying by me partly written, the subject of which is connected with Spain. Whether I shall ever bring it to maturity so as to satisfy myself sufficiently to print it is a question not settled, but it is a work very near my heart.
We have had perfect weather ever since the 27th of January -- magnificent skies and a summer sun. At Alicante, walking among the palm trees, with the bare brown rocks and brown houses in the back-ground, we fancied ourselves in the tropics, and a gentleman 594 who travelled with us assured us that the aspect of the country closely resembled Aden, on the shore of the Red Sea. Here, at Granada, of course, it is much colder, but the sun shines uninterruptedly, and in the middle of the day, to stand in the sunshine against a wall reminds me of my sensations at Florence in the beginning of June. The aspect of Granada as we first approached it was a slight disappointment to me, but the beauty of its position can hardly be surpassed. To stand on one of the towers of the Alhambra and see the sun set behind the dark mountains of Loja and send its after-glow on the white summits of the Sierra Nevada while the lovely Vega spreads below ready to yield all things pleasant to the eye and good for food, is worth a very long, long journey.
We shall start tomorrow evening for Cordova -- then we shall go to Seville, back to Cordova, and on to Madrid. It is possible that we may not be at home again until the 20th of March, as we are anxious not to get knocked up by a too rapid journey homeward. Since illness makes us good-for-nothing we find an apology for taking great care of ourselves.
During our short stay in Paris, we went a little into society and saw, among other people who interested us, Professor Scherer, of whom you know something. He charmed me greatly. He is a Genevese, you know, and does not talk in ready-made epigrams, like a clever Frenchman, but with well-chosen moderate words intended to express what he really thinks and feels. He is highly cultivated, and his wife, who was with him, is an Englishwoman of refined simple manners. He expressed deep regret that Felix Holt is not published in the Tauchnitz edition, since this edition is the only medium by which the English text of English novels can get known on the Continent. This was what several foreign friends had already said to me, and I feel so strongly the bond that literature makes between the nations, that I cannot help wishing to contribute my mite of influence in that way. Could an arrangement be made with Tauchnitz to reprint after a certain lapse of time, when the possible injury to the English editions would not be so great? 595
We are allowed to visit the Alhambra (the interior) from 10 till 12 and from 2 to 4, and these two last days of our stay we mean to devote ourselves to this chief object among the historic remains, for we have been tempted to spend the greater part of our time hitherto in seeing the country from various points of view. Mr. Lewes comes to summon me now, and tells me to send you his best regards and wind up my letter.
I have written in a hurry while he went to get our places for tomorrow's diligence.
I hope you and yours have borne the sad severities of winter without injury.
Always yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Parrish Collection, Princeton. Published: M. L. Parrish, Victorian Lady Novelists, 1933, pp. 22-23.
Granada. February 21. 1867.
My dear Sir
Since I have nothing to say that requires an answer, I write to you without compunction, to tell you something about our wandering selves. Are you astonished to see that we are so far off England? We have been yet farther, for we came hither from Malaga. When Mr. Lewes felt strengthened by the air and repose of Biarritz, we were tempted to try and carry out our old project of coming to Spain, which we had renounced as impossible or at least dangerous. We went from San Sebastian to Saragossa, Lerida, and Barcelona, and this journey was so entirely delightful that we ceased to tremble at the threatened hardships of Spanish travel. After a week's stay at Barcelona we took the steamer, first to Alicante and then to Malaga; and a week ago the Granada diligence (much maligned by book-making travellers) brought us quite comfortably to this city of transcendent memories and transcendent beauty. Mr. Lewes looks like a healthy brother of his thin and pale self such as it was two months ago. He has still many dyspeptic discomforts, but the fact that he has gained flesh and looks thoroughly well is a proof that his system is much restored.
We are both heartily rejoiced that we came to Spain. It was a great longing of mine, for, three years ago, I began to interest myself in Spanish history and literature, and have had a work lying by me partly written, the subject of which is connected with Spain. Whether I shall ever bring it to maturity so as to satisfy myself sufficiently to print it is a question not settled, but it is a work very near my heart.
We have had perfect weather ever since the 27th of January -- magnificent skies and a summer sun. At Alicante, walking among the palm trees, with the bare brown rocks and brown houses in the back-ground, we fancied ourselves in the tropics, and a gentleman 594 who travelled with us assured us that the aspect of the country closely resembled Aden, on the shore of the Red Sea. Here, at Granada, of course, it is much colder, but the sun shines uninterruptedly, and in the middle of the day, to stand in the sunshine against a wall reminds me of my sensations at Florence in the beginning of June. The aspect of Granada as we first approached it was a slight disappointment to me, but the beauty of its position can hardly be surpassed. To stand on one of the towers of the Alhambra and see the sun set behind the dark mountains of Loja and send its after-glow on the white summits of the Sierra Nevada while the lovely Vega spreads below ready to yield all things pleasant to the eye and good for food, is worth a very long, long journey.
We shall start tomorrow evening for Cordova -- then we shall go to Seville, back to Cordova, and on to Madrid. It is possible that we may not be at home again until the 20th of March, as we are anxious not to get knocked up by a too rapid journey homeward. Since illness makes us good-for-nothing we find an apology for taking great care of ourselves.
During our short stay in Paris, we went a little into society and saw, among other people who interested us, Professor Scherer, of whom you know something. He charmed me greatly. He is a Genevese, you know, and does not talk in ready-made epigrams, like a clever Frenchman, but with well-chosen moderate words intended to express what he really thinks and feels. He is highly cultivated, and his wife, who was with him, is an Englishwoman of refined simple manners. He expressed deep regret that Felix Holt is not published in the Tauchnitz edition, since this edition is the only medium by which the English text of English novels can get known on the Continent. This was what several foreign friends had already said to me, and I feel so strongly the bond that literature makes between the nations, that I cannot help wishing to contribute my mite of influence in that way. Could an arrangement be made with Tauchnitz to reprint after a certain lapse of time, when the possible injury to the English editions would not be so great? 595
We are allowed to visit the Alhambra (the interior) from 10 till 12 and from 2 to 4, and these two last days of our stay we mean to devote ourselves to this chief object among the historic remains, for we have been tempted to spend the greater part of our time hitherto in seeing the country from various points of view. Mr. Lewes comes to summon me now, and tells me to send you his best regards and wind up my letter.
I have written in a hurry while he went to get our places for tomorrow's diligence.
I hope you and yours have borne the sad severities of winter without injury.
Always yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Granada, 21 February 1867, 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/92584