GE to John Blackwood, London, 28 February 1873
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 28 February 1873
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 28 February 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1873-02-28
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 28 February 1873
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, III, 195-196.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 28. 73.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
After your kind words, I will confess that I should very much like to have the "Manual of Geography" by Mackay, and Baynes's "Port Royal Logic." 737
Apropos of the Lifted Veil, I think it will not be judicious to reprint it at present. I care for the idea which it embodies and which justifies its painfulness. A motto which I wrote on it yesterday perhaps is a sufficient indication of that idea: --
"Give me no light, great heaven, but such as turns To energy of human fellowship; No powers save the growing heritage That makes completer manhood." 738
But it will be well to put the story in harness with some other productions of mine, and not send it forth in its dismal loneliness. There are many things in it which I would willingly say over again, and I shall never put them in any other form. But we must wait a little. The question is not in the least one of money, but of care for the best effect of writing, which often depends on circumstances much as pictures depend on light and juxtaposition.
Mr. Langford has written me about the query concerning the advertisements.
I am looking forward with interest to Kenelm Chillingly, 739 and thinking what a blessed lot it is to die on just finishing a book, if it could be a good one -- I mean, it is blessed only to quit activity when one quits life.
I hope you are having as fine a morning as we have on your side of the Tweed. Always
Yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, III, 195-196.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 28. 73.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
After your kind words, I will confess that I should very much like to have the "Manual of Geography" by Mackay, and Baynes's "Port Royal Logic." 737
Apropos of the Lifted Veil, I think it will not be judicious to reprint it at present. I care for the idea which it embodies and which justifies its painfulness. A motto which I wrote on it yesterday perhaps is a sufficient indication of that idea: --
"Give me no light, great heaven, but such as turns To energy of human fellowship; No powers save the growing heritage That makes completer manhood." 738
But it will be well to put the story in harness with some other productions of mine, and not send it forth in its dismal loneliness. There are many things in it which I would willingly say over again, and I shall never put them in any other form. But we must wait a little. The question is not in the least one of money, but of care for the best effect of writing, which often depends on circumstances much as pictures depend on light and juxtaposition.
Mr. Langford has written me about the query concerning the advertisements.
I am looking forward with interest to Kenelm Chillingly, 739 and thinking what a blessed lot it is to die on just finishing a book, if it could be a good one -- I mean, it is blessed only to quit activity when one quits life.
I hope you are having as fine a morning as we have on your side of the Tweed. Always
Yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 28 February 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/92665