GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, [30 April 1859]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, [30 April 1859]
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, [30 April 1859]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-04-30
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, [30 April 1859]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge, Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
Your letters with the checque, for which thanks, arrived this morning, and excited various feelings of pleasure and curiosity. But oh! wildly chimerical supposition, that we see such papers as the "Critic" and "Leader" (the very name of the last, has long been a sore to me). The only papers we see are the Athenaenum and Saturday Review, and for the rest of the pressgang are content to remain in ignorance of all their wisdom. Nevertheless you have roused my curiosity, as to what I am to be indignant at, and I should be glad if you could send me the slips of the Critic and Leader containing the offensive paragraph. The curs! to pretend that an author has no right to privacy. 127 He has no right of course to balk their tittletattle; it would be to rob them of their bread.
The good news of the book is delightful; but you will hear from the author.
Did I tell you I had seen Owen and spoken to him about Keith Johnston? He said he remembered his promise and had made some preparatory jottings, but was terribly busy just now. I think if you were to drop a line in a week or two, he might be brought to the scratch.
I am, and have been for some time, very far from well; and the day before yesterday alarmed Mrs. Lewes by fainting suddenly without the least provocation, a most absurd proceeding!
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
Will you tell Mr. Simpson that as there are to be 18 parts of the Physiology volume 1 will close with part 9 "Why we are Warm."
I feel much tempted to write a satirical letter on the subject of the right of a newspaper man to publish any secret he may ferret out. Will Maga receive such? My idea is a letter to the editor written in indignant remonstrance against this squeamishness which would deprive me of my most telling paragraphs. As I have no ideas, and no knowledge, how can I get a living except by reporting the conversation, the gossip and the flying rumours of clubs and coteries?
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Holly Lodge, Saturday.
My dear Blackwood
Your letters with the checque, for which thanks, arrived this morning, and excited various feelings of pleasure and curiosity. But oh! wildly chimerical supposition, that we see such papers as the "Critic" and "Leader" (the very name of the last, has long been a sore to me). The only papers we see are the Athenaenum and Saturday Review, and for the rest of the pressgang are content to remain in ignorance of all their wisdom. Nevertheless you have roused my curiosity, as to what I am to be indignant at, and I should be glad if you could send me the slips of the Critic and Leader containing the offensive paragraph. The curs! to pretend that an author has no right to privacy. 127 He has no right of course to balk their tittletattle; it would be to rob them of their bread.
The good news of the book is delightful; but you will hear from the author.
Did I tell you I had seen Owen and spoken to him about Keith Johnston? He said he remembered his promise and had made some preparatory jottings, but was terribly busy just now. I think if you were to drop a line in a week or two, he might be brought to the scratch.
I am, and have been for some time, very far from well; and the day before yesterday alarmed Mrs. Lewes by fainting suddenly without the least provocation, a most absurd proceeding!
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
Will you tell Mr. Simpson that as there are to be 18 parts of the Physiology volume 1 will close with part 9 "Why we are Warm."
I feel much tempted to write a satirical letter on the subject of the right of a newspaper man to publish any secret he may ferret out. Will Maga receive such? My idea is a letter to the editor written in indignant remonstrance against this squeamishness which would deprive me of my most telling paragraphs. As I have no ideas, and no knowledge, how can I get a living except by reporting the conversation, the gossip and the flying rumours of clubs and coteries?
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, [30 April 1859], 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/94799