GHL to Alexander Main, London, 2 January 1876
Title
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 2 January 1876
Title
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 2 January 1876
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Alexander Main
Date(s)
- 1876-01-02
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Alexander Main, London, 2 January 1876
Text: Main's copy owned by Mr. John R. Sprunt. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
January 76.
My dear Main
May the blessed sun shine on you through the year! It won't -- but never mind -- let the moral sun shine instead.
Your friends here have but a poor account to give of themselves. It has been an unfortunate year for both of us as regards health -- (in
every other respect we have nothing but blessings) and we have not had the advantage of a recuperant holiday. Wales under an umbrella was not bracing!
The great book proceeds slowly but superbly. She has not yet finished the 3rd volume, and is in the usual gloom of despondency and diffidence which is not more than momentarily lightened by my and Blackwood's admiration.
Your Glasgow enthusiast interested me and I felt inclined to say with Spontini 379 when Berlioz praised him hyperbolically, "Il a du talent -- comme critique!"
We had a most charming letter from M. Ritter a little while ago, in which to our surprise he speaks of you as a correspondent from whom it is difficult to get a word! I fear he will be sadly put out when he finds that no reprint of Daniel Deronda will appear in Germany until the end of the year. We don't fancy English tourists supplying themselves with Tauchnitz or Asher's editions.
I am getting on slowly with the "Physical Basis of Mind" 380 -- condensing the mass of material and trying to put it into a shape intelligible as well as interesting to the general reader.
Have you seen the new periodical Mind? The article by Pattison on philosophy at Oxford is very valuable and extremely well written. Altogether for a first number the periodical presents a most hopeful aspect. Mrs. Lewes sends her best wishes.
Ever yours
G. H. L.
Text: Main's copy owned by Mr. John R. Sprunt. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
January 76.
My dear Main
May the blessed sun shine on you through the year! It won't -- but never mind -- let the moral sun shine instead.
Your friends here have but a poor account to give of themselves. It has been an unfortunate year for both of us as regards health -- (in
every other respect we have nothing but blessings) and we have not had the advantage of a recuperant holiday. Wales under an umbrella was not bracing!
The great book proceeds slowly but superbly. She has not yet finished the 3rd volume, and is in the usual gloom of despondency and diffidence which is not more than momentarily lightened by my and Blackwood's admiration.
Your Glasgow enthusiast interested me and I felt inclined to say with Spontini 379 when Berlioz praised him hyperbolically, "Il a du talent -- comme critique!"
We had a most charming letter from M. Ritter a little while ago, in which to our surprise he speaks of you as a correspondent from whom it is difficult to get a word! I fear he will be sadly put out when he finds that no reprint of Daniel Deronda will appear in Germany until the end of the year. We don't fancy English tourists supplying themselves with Tauchnitz or Asher's editions.
I am getting on slowly with the "Physical Basis of Mind" 380 -- condensing the mass of material and trying to put it into a shape intelligible as well as interesting to the general reader.
Have you seen the new periodical Mind? The article by Pattison on philosophy at Oxford is very valuable and extremely well written. Altogether for a first number the periodical presents a most hopeful aspect. Mrs. Lewes sends her best wishes.
Ever yours
G. H. L.
Signature
G. H. L.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Alexander Main, London, 2 January 1876, 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/94413