GHL to Lord Lytton, London, 30 March [1874]
Title
GHL to Lord Lytton, London, 30 March [1874]
Title
GHL to Lord Lytton, London, 30 March [1874]
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Lord Lyt
Date(s)
- 1874-03-30
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Lord Lytton, London, 30 March [1874]
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
March.
My dear Lytton
It is sad to have your long silence broken by such a calamity. 233 For months we have been "wondering" at not hearing from you or Lady Lytton; and then checking the "wondering" by the reflection that in the whirl of the Parisian life, and with your important functions added thereto, friends have no right to expect letters unless on some definite impluse; and therefore we would not write to you to ask why you were remiss.
By this post I send you the Academy which you may probably not see. It contains an article on the Fables 234 which we both think very gratifying, not because it is an adequate account of them, but because it is a very honest expression of enthusiasm in a man who, writing poetry himself, might not be thought easy to please. In private he expresses himself even more strongly on the Fables and his admiration for them; and because I know he is a genuine, though queer fellow, I think you ought to be glad of his sympathy. I like the Fables more than anything I have read for a very long while -- and if you were only dead I think the critics would be loud in their discrimination. Mais que voulez vous? They must "labour in their vocation." 235
The volume of poems which Polly has in the press is a small affair. Reprints of Jubal, Armgart, etc. with some new pieces added.
The first of my opus magnum about which you inquire is "Problems of Life and Mind" -- published by Tr'fcbner. Blackwood began to print it and then let it drop like a hot potatoe -- his Scotch caution being alarmed at its speculative audacity. He was wrong, however, for the book has sold surprizingly (1000 copies gone) and no one has attacked it on the score of its heresy.
We shall be here probably till the end of May. If you don't come to England before we leave for the country you must bring Lady Lytton down to see us, wherever we are, that we may have an undisturbed "talk over lovely things that conquer death." Give her our love -- our sympathy she knows she has -- and believe me
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
March.
My dear Lytton
It is sad to have your long silence broken by such a calamity. 233 For months we have been "wondering" at not hearing from you or Lady Lytton; and then checking the "wondering" by the reflection that in the whirl of the Parisian life, and with your important functions added thereto, friends have no right to expect letters unless on some definite impluse; and therefore we would not write to you to ask why you were remiss.
By this post I send you the Academy which you may probably not see. It contains an article on the Fables 234 which we both think very gratifying, not because it is an adequate account of them, but because it is a very honest expression of enthusiasm in a man who, writing poetry himself, might not be thought easy to please. In private he expresses himself even more strongly on the Fables and his admiration for them; and because I know he is a genuine, though queer fellow, I think you ought to be glad of his sympathy. I like the Fables more than anything I have read for a very long while -- and if you were only dead I think the critics would be loud in their discrimination. Mais que voulez vous? They must "labour in their vocation." 235
The volume of poems which Polly has in the press is a small affair. Reprints of Jubal, Armgart, etc. with some new pieces added.
The first of my opus magnum about which you inquire is "Problems of Life and Mind" -- published by Tr'fcbner. Blackwood began to print it and then let it drop like a hot potatoe -- his Scotch caution being alarmed at its speculative audacity. He was wrong, however, for the book has sold surprizingly (1000 copies gone) and no one has attacked it on the score of its heresy.
We shall be here probably till the end of May. If you don't come to England before we leave for the country you must bring Lady Lytton down to see us, wherever we are, that we may have an undisturbed "talk over lovely things that conquer death." Give her our love -- our sympathy she knows she has -- and believe me
Ever faithfully yours
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Lord Lytton, London, 30 March [1874], 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/94883