GE to John Chapman, [Coventry], 15 June [1851]
Title
GE to John Chapman, [Coventry], 15 June [1851]
Title
GE to John Chapman, [Coventry], 15 June [1851]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Chapman
Date(s)
- 1851-06-15
Place
[COVENTRY]
Letter Content
GE to John Chapman, [Coventry], 15 June [1851]
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Endorsed: 51. Miss Evans. Published: B. C. Williams, George Eliot, New York, 1936, pp. 72-74.
My dear Friend:
If, as I suppose, you intend to rewrite the letter to Mill, 958 would it not be better if the 1st Paragraph read thus -- "joint aims, so as best to further the main purpose of the future proprietor, which is, to make the Review the organ of the ablest and most liberal thinkers of the time." For "organ" in the 2d paragraph read "medium." I wish, too, you would leave out the dashes, which weaken instead of strengthening the impression on the reader. In the 3rd Paragraph for "I am convinced that" read "that, I am convinced"; for "gratefully received," which sounds too much like a craving for alms, read "duly valued." "Securing air" is an absurd expression and is of course a slip of the pen. I should like the 4th Paragraph better if it began thus -- "In the sketch submitted to you there is perhaps an unnecessary air of conservatism." I think Mr. Lombe 959 is a capital man, who knows what he means and will not pay for what he does not mean. I do not see that he wants [smoothing down,] or that he is a person on whom the process should be tried. Hickson's method with him seems not to have answered, since according to Mr. Lombe's account there had been letters of remonstrance from him, threatening to remove his support unless his views were more fully represented. Why should you shirk the direct fulfilment of his proposition? -- the obtaining as good articles as possible on his chosen subjects -- since he seems to choose well. I thoroughly agree with him about the hereditary "legislators." 960 I suppose when he wrote this letter he had not received your last.
I was disappointed not to have fuller details in your letter about your conversations with Johnson, 961 Spencer, 962 and the rest, but do not forget that you have told me nothing. Combe's 963 letter is pleasant and gentlemanly -- Dr. Hodgson's friendly, but surprizingly uncritical for him. He is right about the clause on the suffrage -- it is as vague as [Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's] -- what things are Caesar's being left undetermined.
Good Mrs. Hunt 964 has left behind a very pleasant impression. I think she is the most thoroughly unaffected being I ever saw. I am afraid the Leader is not prospering. The names of Thornton Hunt, Lewes, Linton and several more were specified last week in the papers as withdrawing from partnership 965 in the concern -- which seems to imply a presentiment of failure. We are all amused at Thornton Hunt's illustration in yesterday's Leader of "boiled mutton chops" -- that must be a peculiarly Hammersmith dish. 966
Mr. Noel 967 has written to say he is first coming to England. He is invited here with his three children and servant, so we shall probably soon have a house full again. He speaks of returning to Greece.
I shall be awfully poor this half year, more than £12 legacy duty being subtracted from my interest. 968
Have you fixed on [Independent Section] as a title? 969
I am sorry to hear of your having a headache -- but it is something to find that you do not complain of a recurrence of tooth-ache. I am dreadfully afraid of those fangs left behind. Mrs. Bray was talking of them sympathetically yesterday. 970
I want to get out into the air, so goodbye.
Yours faithfully,
Marian Evans.
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Endorsed: 51. Miss Evans. Published: B. C. Williams, George Eliot, New York, 1936, pp. 72-74.
My dear Friend:
If, as I suppose, you intend to rewrite the letter to Mill, 958 would it not be better if the 1st Paragraph read thus -- "joint aims, so as best to further the main purpose of the future proprietor, which is, to make the Review the organ of the ablest and most liberal thinkers of the time." For "organ" in the 2d paragraph read "medium." I wish, too, you would leave out the dashes, which weaken instead of strengthening the impression on the reader. In the 3rd Paragraph for "I am convinced that" read "that, I am convinced"; for "gratefully received," which sounds too much like a craving for alms, read "duly valued." "Securing air" is an absurd expression and is of course a slip of the pen. I should like the 4th Paragraph better if it began thus -- "In the sketch submitted to you there is perhaps an unnecessary air of conservatism." I think Mr. Lombe 959 is a capital man, who knows what he means and will not pay for what he does not mean. I do not see that he wants [smoothing down,] or that he is a person on whom the process should be tried. Hickson's method with him seems not to have answered, since according to Mr. Lombe's account there had been letters of remonstrance from him, threatening to remove his support unless his views were more fully represented. Why should you shirk the direct fulfilment of his proposition? -- the obtaining as good articles as possible on his chosen subjects -- since he seems to choose well. I thoroughly agree with him about the hereditary "legislators." 960 I suppose when he wrote this letter he had not received your last.
I was disappointed not to have fuller details in your letter about your conversations with Johnson, 961 Spencer, 962 and the rest, but do not forget that you have told me nothing. Combe's 963 letter is pleasant and gentlemanly -- Dr. Hodgson's friendly, but surprizingly uncritical for him. He is right about the clause on the suffrage -- it is as vague as [Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's] -- what things are Caesar's being left undetermined.
Good Mrs. Hunt 964 has left behind a very pleasant impression. I think she is the most thoroughly unaffected being I ever saw. I am afraid the Leader is not prospering. The names of Thornton Hunt, Lewes, Linton and several more were specified last week in the papers as withdrawing from partnership 965 in the concern -- which seems to imply a presentiment of failure. We are all amused at Thornton Hunt's illustration in yesterday's Leader of "boiled mutton chops" -- that must be a peculiarly Hammersmith dish. 966
Mr. Noel 967 has written to say he is first coming to England. He is invited here with his three children and servant, so we shall probably soon have a house full again. He speaks of returning to Greece.
I shall be awfully poor this half year, more than £12 legacy duty being subtracted from my interest. 968
Have you fixed on [Independent Section] as a title? 969
I am sorry to hear of your having a headache -- but it is something to find that you do not complain of a recurrence of tooth-ache. I am dreadfully afraid of those fangs left behind. Mrs. Bray was talking of them sympathetically yesterday. 970
I want to get out into the air, so goodbye.
Yours faithfully,
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Chapman, [Coventry], 15 June [1851], 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/92767