GE to John Blackwood, London, 14 March 1873
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 14 March 1873
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 14 March 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1873-03-14
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 14 March 1873
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, III, 198-199.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
March 14. 73.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
This is good news about the guinea edition, but I emphatically agree with you that it will be well to be cautious in further printing. I wish you could see a letter I had from California the other day, apparently from a young fellow, and beginning "Oh, you dear lady! I who have been a Fred Vincy ever so long . . . have played vagabond and ninny ever since I knew the meaning of such terms" etc. 750
I am sorry to infer, from what you say about being recommended to go to a German Bath, that you have been out of health lately. There really is a good deal of curative virtue in the air, waters and exercise one gets at such places, and if the boredom were not strong enough to counteract the better influences, it would be worth while to endure. I suppose Carlsbad is as fine a place as any of that kind.
That phrase of Miss Stuart's -- "fall flat on the world" -- is worth remembering. I should think it is not likely to prove prophetic, if she is at all like her cousin, whose fair piquant face remains very vividly before me. The older one gets, the more one delights in these young things, rejoicing in their joys.
The ministerial crisis interests me, though it does not bring me any practical need for thinking of it, as it does to you. I wish there were some solid, philosophical Conservative to take the reins -- one who knows the true functions of stability in human affairs, and as the psalm says "would also practise what he knows."
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, III, 198-199.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
March 14. 73.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
This is good news about the guinea edition, but I emphatically agree with you that it will be well to be cautious in further printing. I wish you could see a letter I had from California the other day, apparently from a young fellow, and beginning "Oh, you dear lady! I who have been a Fred Vincy ever so long . . . have played vagabond and ninny ever since I knew the meaning of such terms" etc. 750
I am sorry to infer, from what you say about being recommended to go to a German Bath, that you have been out of health lately. There really is a good deal of curative virtue in the air, waters and exercise one gets at such places, and if the boredom were not strong enough to counteract the better influences, it would be worth while to endure. I suppose Carlsbad is as fine a place as any of that kind.
That phrase of Miss Stuart's -- "fall flat on the world" -- is worth remembering. I should think it is not likely to prove prophetic, if she is at all like her cousin, whose fair piquant face remains very vividly before me. The older one gets, the more one delights in these young things, rejoicing in their joys.
The ministerial crisis interests me, though it does not bring me any practical need for thinking of it, as it does to you. I wish there were some solid, philosophical Conservative to take the reins -- one who knows the true functions of stability in human affairs, and as the psalm says "would also practise what he knows."
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 14 March 1873, 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/92612