GE to John Chapman, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Title
GE to John Chapman, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Title
GE to John Chapman, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Chapman
Date(s)
- 1858-11-05
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to John Chapman, Richmond, 5 November 1858
Text: Maggs Bros. Catalogue 330 (November-December 1914), item 141.
I have just learned that you have allowed yourself to speak carelessly of rumours concerning a supposed authorship of mine. 1217 A little reflection in my behalf would have suggested to you that were any such rumours true, my own abstinence from any communication concerning my own writing, except to my most intimate friends, was evidence that I regarded secrecy on such subjects as a matter of importance. Instead of exercising this friendly consideration, you carelessly, certainly, for no one's pleasure or interest, and to my serious injury, contribute to the circulation of idle rumours and gossip, entirely unwarranted by any evidence. . . . Should you like to have unfounded reports of that kind circulated concerning yourself, still more should you like an old friend to speak idly of the merest hearsay on matters which you yourself had exhibited extreme aversion to disclose?
Marian Lewes.
Text: Maggs Bros. Catalogue 330 (November-December 1914), item 141.
I have just learned that you have allowed yourself to speak carelessly of rumours concerning a supposed authorship of mine. 1217 A little reflection in my behalf would have suggested to you that were any such rumours true, my own abstinence from any communication concerning my own writing, except to my most intimate friends, was evidence that I regarded secrecy on such subjects as a matter of importance. Instead of exercising this friendly consideration, you carelessly, certainly, for no one's pleasure or interest, and to my serious injury, contribute to the circulation of idle rumours and gossip, entirely unwarranted by any evidence. . . . Should you like to have unfounded reports of that kind circulated concerning yourself, still more should you like an old friend to speak idly of the merest hearsay on matters which you yourself had exhibited extreme aversion to disclose?
Marian Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Chapman, Richmond, 5 November 1858, 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/92800