GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 5 February 1859
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 5 February 1859
Title
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 5 February 1859
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-02-05
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 5 February 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extract published: John Blackwood, p. 44.
Holly Lodge | Wimbledon Park | Wandsworth
February 1859.
My dear Blackwood
Your letter with the checque arrived this morning, for which thanks.
GE was both greatly amused and greatly gratified at the Cabinet Maker's verdict. Having already been a clergyman of puseyite tendencies and large family, he is now a carpenter and doubtless will soon be a farmer and methodist. It is a great compliment when a writer's dramatic presentation is accepted as actual experience.
The subscription is surprisingly small -- less than that of "Clerical Scenes" -- but if the book is not a hit I will never more trust my judgement in such matters.
E. thanks you for the promise to send him any private opinions which may be agreeable. Perhaps also you will send the "Times" should that "publication" notice the carpenter. E. does not see the "Times" -- nor do I, though I did see the notice of Seaside Studies by accident, and hope some good may come of it. Have you seen the notice in the "Edinburgh"? I hear there is one of the "Physiology" in the "North British." 14
We are in the moil and turmoil of moving into our new house -- of which the address is as above, but shall not be settled there till Thursday so that proofs or letters may come to Richmond till Wednesday. Apropos of proofs I haven't yet received that of Food and Drink part III -- I hope my m.s. arrived safely.
In answer to your question about a light article what say you to the notice of Miss Austen, about which we spoke during our pleasant walk on the banks of the Thames last year? If you would like that, please ask Langford to get me Bentley's edition of Miss Austen's novels, and send them to Wimbledon. 15
I have not had time to go to the Row, nor to read a line of Maga, nor indeed to do anything but worry myself with upholsterers, land-lords, and other organisms. My frogs mutely reproach me for neglect. My microscope gathers the dust of disuse. My hand forgets its cunning, and does nothing but write checques and open purses. In short, life is a very dilapidated, fragmentary, chaotic, impossible thing just now. "Would it were done."
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extract published: John Blackwood, p. 44.
Holly Lodge | Wimbledon Park | Wandsworth
February 1859.
My dear Blackwood
Your letter with the checque arrived this morning, for which thanks.
GE was both greatly amused and greatly gratified at the Cabinet Maker's verdict. Having already been a clergyman of puseyite tendencies and large family, he is now a carpenter and doubtless will soon be a farmer and methodist. It is a great compliment when a writer's dramatic presentation is accepted as actual experience.
The subscription is surprisingly small -- less than that of "Clerical Scenes" -- but if the book is not a hit I will never more trust my judgement in such matters.
E. thanks you for the promise to send him any private opinions which may be agreeable. Perhaps also you will send the "Times" should that "publication" notice the carpenter. E. does not see the "Times" -- nor do I, though I did see the notice of Seaside Studies by accident, and hope some good may come of it. Have you seen the notice in the "Edinburgh"? I hear there is one of the "Physiology" in the "North British." 14
We are in the moil and turmoil of moving into our new house -- of which the address is as above, but shall not be settled there till Thursday so that proofs or letters may come to Richmond till Wednesday. Apropos of proofs I haven't yet received that of Food and Drink part III -- I hope my m.s. arrived safely.
In answer to your question about a light article what say you to the notice of Miss Austen, about which we spoke during our pleasant walk on the banks of the Thames last year? If you would like that, please ask Langford to get me Bentley's edition of Miss Austen's novels, and send them to Wimbledon. 15
I have not had time to go to the Row, nor to read a line of Maga, nor indeed to do anything but worry myself with upholsterers, land-lords, and other organisms. My frogs mutely reproach me for neglect. My microscope gathers the dust of disuse. My hand forgets its cunning, and does nothing but write checques and open purses. In short, life is a very dilapidated, fragmentary, chaotic, impossible thing just now. "Would it were done."
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 5 February 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/94815