GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 17 August 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 17 August 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 17 August 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-08-17
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 17 August 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 129-130.
August 17. 59.
My dear Sir
I need not have written my letter yesterday -- but no matter. You are so good, and so ready of apprehension that there is no need to explain. You can understand how my money goes, without suspecting me of gambling.
Thank you for the cheque. It is more than I expected, for I thought of having the last 'a350 only when the edition had been all sold. Mr.
Lewes was in the city the other day and brought me word that Longmans and others had sent for more copies -- so there is hope.
I'm glad my story cleaves to you. At present, I have no hope that it will affect people as strongly as Adam has done. The characters are on a lower level generally, and the environment less romantic. But my stories grow in me like plants, and this is only in the leaf-bud. I have faith that the flower will come. Not enough faith, though, to make me like the idea of beginning to print till the flower is fairly out -- till I know the end as well as the beginning.
Pug developes new charms every day. I think, in the pre-historic period of his existence, before he came to me, he had led a sort of Caspar Hauser 260 life, shut up in a kennel in Bethnal Green, and he has had to get over much astonishment at the sight of cows and other rural objects on a large scale, which he marches up to and surveys with the gravity of an "own correspondent" whose business it is to observe. He has absolutely no bark -- but en revanche, he sneezes powerfully and has speaking eyes, so the media of communication are abundant. He sneezes at the world in general, and he look affectionately at me.
I envy you the acquaintance of a genuine non-bookish man like Captain Speke. I wonder when men of that sort will take their place as heroes in our literature, instead of the inevitable "genius."
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
By the way, Dugdale's History of Warwickshire 261 is not in the London Library. Do you know any one who would lend you a copy for me?
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 129-130.
August 17. 59.
My dear Sir
I need not have written my letter yesterday -- but no matter. You are so good, and so ready of apprehension that there is no need to explain. You can understand how my money goes, without suspecting me of gambling.
Thank you for the cheque. It is more than I expected, for I thought of having the last 'a350 only when the edition had been all sold. Mr.
Lewes was in the city the other day and brought me word that Longmans and others had sent for more copies -- so there is hope.
I'm glad my story cleaves to you. At present, I have no hope that it will affect people as strongly as Adam has done. The characters are on a lower level generally, and the environment less romantic. But my stories grow in me like plants, and this is only in the leaf-bud. I have faith that the flower will come. Not enough faith, though, to make me like the idea of beginning to print till the flower is fairly out -- till I know the end as well as the beginning.
Pug developes new charms every day. I think, in the pre-historic period of his existence, before he came to me, he had led a sort of Caspar Hauser 260 life, shut up in a kennel in Bethnal Green, and he has had to get over much astonishment at the sight of cows and other rural objects on a large scale, which he marches up to and surveys with the gravity of an "own correspondent" whose business it is to observe. He has absolutely no bark -- but en revanche, he sneezes powerfully and has speaking eyes, so the media of communication are abundant. He sneezes at the world in general, and he look affectionately at me.
I envy you the acquaintance of a genuine non-bookish man like Captain Speke. I wonder when men of that sort will take their place as heroes in our literature, instead of the inevitable "genius."
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
By the way, Dugdale's History of Warwickshire 261 is not in the London Library. Do you know any one who would lend you a copy for me?
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 17 August 1859, 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/92737