GE to John Blackwood, London, 4 August 1866
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 4 August 1866
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 4 August 1866
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1866-08-04
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 4 August 1866
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, 11, 435-436.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
August 4. 66.
My dear Sir
We got home on Thursday evening, and are now prosperously settled, except that Mr. Lewes is still feeling some unpleasant effects from our very rough passage -- an inconvenience which we had waited some days at Ostend to avoid. But the wind took no notice of us, and went on blowing.
I was much pleased with the handsome appearance of the three volumes which were lying ready for me. My hatred of bad paper and bad print and my love of their opposites naturally get stronger as my eyes get weaker, and certainly that taste could hardly be better gratified than it is by Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons.
Col. Hamley's volume is another example of that fact. It lies now on my revolving desk as one of the books I mean first to read. I am really grateful to have such a medium of knowledge, and I expect it to make some pages of history much less dim to me. My impression of Col. Hamley when we had that pleasant dinner at Greenwich, and afterwards when he called in Blandford Square, 508 was quite in keeping with the high opinion you express. Excellent men have not always excellent manners, but your long acquaintance enables you to testify to the larger excellence, and my two brief interviews were a sample of the smaller.
Mr. Lewes liked the article on "Felix" in the Magazine very much. He read it the first thing yesterday morning, and carried it off to his mother, a lively woman of eighty who thinks praise of anything related to her son as good as the best wine. He told me the article was written in a nice spirit, and the extracts judiciously made.
Apropos of the hair-dresser, he longs to tell you some stories about
Truefitt which he had from Charles Matthews 509 -- quite of a piece with the sublime solemnity you hint at in his letter to that spirited sister in the art.
I hope the wind is not too high in your region for you to enjoy Golf. It is roaring and whistling round us as if it were the Equinox.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Mr. Lewes never goes into the city unless he is forced -- the driving affects his head so badly. I think he hardly goes more than two or three times a year. But when you are writing to me -- just as convenience suggests -- you will tell me what there is to tell.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, 11, 435-436.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
August 4. 66.
My dear Sir
We got home on Thursday evening, and are now prosperously settled, except that Mr. Lewes is still feeling some unpleasant effects from our very rough passage -- an inconvenience which we had waited some days at Ostend to avoid. But the wind took no notice of us, and went on blowing.
I was much pleased with the handsome appearance of the three volumes which were lying ready for me. My hatred of bad paper and bad print and my love of their opposites naturally get stronger as my eyes get weaker, and certainly that taste could hardly be better gratified than it is by Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons.
Col. Hamley's volume is another example of that fact. It lies now on my revolving desk as one of the books I mean first to read. I am really grateful to have such a medium of knowledge, and I expect it to make some pages of history much less dim to me. My impression of Col. Hamley when we had that pleasant dinner at Greenwich, and afterwards when he called in Blandford Square, 508 was quite in keeping with the high opinion you express. Excellent men have not always excellent manners, but your long acquaintance enables you to testify to the larger excellence, and my two brief interviews were a sample of the smaller.
Mr. Lewes liked the article on "Felix" in the Magazine very much. He read it the first thing yesterday morning, and carried it off to his mother, a lively woman of eighty who thinks praise of anything related to her son as good as the best wine. He told me the article was written in a nice spirit, and the extracts judiciously made.
Apropos of the hair-dresser, he longs to tell you some stories about
Truefitt which he had from Charles Matthews 509 -- quite of a piece with the sublime solemnity you hint at in his letter to that spirited sister in the art.
I hope the wind is not too high in your region for you to enjoy Golf. It is roaring and whistling round us as if it were the Equinox.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Mr. Lewes never goes into the city unless he is forced -- the driving affects his head so badly. I think he hardly goes more than two or three times a year. But when you are writing to me -- just as convenience suggests -- you will tell me what there is to tell.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 4 August 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/92681