GHL to John Blackwood, London, [14 December 1861]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [14 December 1861]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [14 December 1861]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1861-12-14
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, London, [14 December 1861]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Blandford Square, | N.W.
Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
First let me say how grateful we feel for your thoughtful kindness to our cub. Grin indeed? I should think he would grin at such a proposal, and I envy him his enjoyment. In every way it is a most satisfactory idea to us.
We were also not a little pleased at the news of your expected visit, and hope to see much of you.
I thought Maga looked uncommonly promising, but as yet I have only read the Month with the Rebels 894 which is extremely interesting. I must tell you that for the last two months I have scarcely read anything but Aristotle's scientific writings and they are not lively, I pledge you my word, especially as there are no translations to help one faster over the ground. But it is a stern bit of duty I am going through, and it absorbs all my reading time, except just the hour before dinner when I look over the Times and Maga. In one of those pauses I shall look at Clutterbuck 895 -- (I didn't read No. 2 for reason above named) because I have considerable reliance on your judgement.
I am the more pleased that Maga should be in force because the Cornhill has become utterly unreadable. Thackeray is less mangy and therefore more interesting than he was; but his contributions ought to have their posteriors brought into relation with Mrs. Beecher's toe.
Polly is still deep in her researches. 896 Your presence will I hope act like a stimulus to her to make her begin. At present she remains immovable in the conviction that she can't write the romance because she has not knowledge enough. Now as a matter of fact I know that she has immensely more knowledge of the particular period than any other writer who has touched it; but her distressing diffidence paralyses her.
This between ourselves. When you see her, mind your care is to discountenance the idea of a Romance being the product of an Encyclopaedia.
Ever yours truly
G. H. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Blandford Square, | N.W.
Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
First let me say how grateful we feel for your thoughtful kindness to our cub. Grin indeed? I should think he would grin at such a proposal, and I envy him his enjoyment. In every way it is a most satisfactory idea to us.
We were also not a little pleased at the news of your expected visit, and hope to see much of you.
I thought Maga looked uncommonly promising, but as yet I have only read the Month with the Rebels 894 which is extremely interesting. I must tell you that for the last two months I have scarcely read anything but Aristotle's scientific writings and they are not lively, I pledge you my word, especially as there are no translations to help one faster over the ground. But it is a stern bit of duty I am going through, and it absorbs all my reading time, except just the hour before dinner when I look over the Times and Maga. In one of those pauses I shall look at Clutterbuck 895 -- (I didn't read No. 2 for reason above named) because I have considerable reliance on your judgement.
I am the more pleased that Maga should be in force because the Cornhill has become utterly unreadable. Thackeray is less mangy and therefore more interesting than he was; but his contributions ought to have their posteriors brought into relation with Mrs. Beecher's toe.
Polly is still deep in her researches. 896 Your presence will I hope act like a stimulus to her to make her begin. At present she remains immovable in the conviction that she can't write the romance because she has not knowledge enough. Now as a matter of fact I know that she has immensely more knowledge of the particular period than any other writer who has touched it; but her distressing diffidence paralyses her.
This between ourselves. When you see her, mind your care is to discountenance the idea of a Romance being the product of an Encyclopaedia.
Ever yours truly
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, London, [14 December 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/94620