GE to Thomas Adolphus Trollope, London, [June 1861]
Title
GE to Thomas Adolphus Trollope, London, [June 1861]
Title
GE to Thomas Adolphus Trollope, London, [June 1861]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Thomas Adolphus Trollope
Date(s)
- 1861-06
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Thomas Adolphus Trollope, London, [June 1861]
Text: T. A. Trollope, What I Remember, 2d ed., 2 vols., 1887, II, 301-303.
Blandford Square
Dear Mr. Trollope, --
I am very grateful to you for your notes. Concerning netto di specchio, I have found a passage in Varchi 791 which decides the point according to your impression. 792
My inference had been gathered from the vague use of the term to express disqualification. 793 But I find from Varchi, b. viii, that the specchio in question was a public book, in which the names of all debtors to the Commune were entered. Thus your doubt 794 has been a very useful caveat to me.
Concerning the Bardi, my authority for making them originally popolani is G. Villani. 795 He says, c. xxxix, '91e gia cominciavano a venire possenti i Frescobaldi e Bardi e Mozzi ma di piccolo cominciamento.'92 And c. lxxxi. '91e questi furono le principale case de'92 Guelfi che uscirono di Firenze. Del Sesto d'Oltr' Arno, i Rossi, Nerli, e parte de' Manelli, Bardi, e Frescobaldi de' Popoloni dal detto Sesto, case nobili Canigiani,'92 etc. These passages corrected my previous impression that they were originally Lombard nobles. 796
Concerning the phrase[s] in piazza, and in mercato, my choice of them was partly founded on the colloquial usage as represented by Sacchetti, 797 whose dialogue is intensely idiomatic. Also in piazza is, I believe, used by the historians (I think even by Macchiavelli), when speaking of popular turn-outs. The ellipse took my fancy because of its colloquial stamp. But I gather from your objections that it seems too barbarous in a modern Italian ear. Will you whisper your final opinion in Mr. Lewes' ear on Monday? 798
Boto was used on similar grounds, and as it is recognised by the Voc. della Crusca, I think I may venture to keep it, having a weakness for those indications of the processes by which language is modified. 799
Once more thank you, though my gratitude is in danger of looking too much like a lively sense of anticipated favours, for I mean to ask you to take other trouble yet.
Yours very truly,
Marian E. Lewes.
Text: T. A. Trollope, What I Remember, 2d ed., 2 vols., 1887, II, 301-303.
Blandford Square
Dear Mr. Trollope, --
I am very grateful to you for your notes. Concerning netto di specchio, I have found a passage in Varchi 791 which decides the point according to your impression. 792
My inference had been gathered from the vague use of the term to express disqualification. 793 But I find from Varchi, b. viii, that the specchio in question was a public book, in which the names of all debtors to the Commune were entered. Thus your doubt 794 has been a very useful caveat to me.
Concerning the Bardi, my authority for making them originally popolani is G. Villani. 795 He says, c. xxxix, '91e gia cominciavano a venire possenti i Frescobaldi e Bardi e Mozzi ma di piccolo cominciamento.'92 And c. lxxxi. '91e questi furono le principale case de'92 Guelfi che uscirono di Firenze. Del Sesto d'Oltr' Arno, i Rossi, Nerli, e parte de' Manelli, Bardi, e Frescobaldi de' Popoloni dal detto Sesto, case nobili Canigiani,'92 etc. These passages corrected my previous impression that they were originally Lombard nobles. 796
Concerning the phrase[s] in piazza, and in mercato, my choice of them was partly founded on the colloquial usage as represented by Sacchetti, 797 whose dialogue is intensely idiomatic. Also in piazza is, I believe, used by the historians (I think even by Macchiavelli), when speaking of popular turn-outs. The ellipse took my fancy because of its colloquial stamp. But I gather from your objections that it seems too barbarous in a modern Italian ear. Will you whisper your final opinion in Mr. Lewes' ear on Monday? 798
Boto was used on similar grounds, and as it is recognised by the Voc. della Crusca, I think I may venture to keep it, having a weakness for those indications of the processes by which language is modified. 799
Once more thank you, though my gratitude is in danger of looking too much like a lively sense of anticipated favours, for I mean to ask you to take other trouble yet.
Yours very truly,
Marian E. Lewes.
Signature
Marian E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Thomas Adolphus Trollope, London, [June 1861], 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/94161