John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 11 March 1858
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 11 March 1858
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 11 March 1858
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1858-03-11
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 11 March 1858
Text: Copy in Blackwood Letter Book, National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: II, 439, n. 4.
Edinburgh March 11/58.
My dear Lewes
Tell George Eliot that I think Adam Bede all right, most lifelike and real. I wish to read the MS quietly over again before writing in detail about it and since my return I am so overpowered with business that cannot be postponed that I may not for a little get the mental leisure necessary to do justice to a second perusal. For the first reading it did not signify how many things I might have had to think of. I would have hurried through it with eager pleasure. I write this note to allay all anxiety in the part of G.E. as to my appreciation of the merits of this most promising opening of a picture of life. Is there much more written or is it merely blocked out? Tell George Eliot also that I hear to-day Simpkins have 12 more of the [Clerical Scenes] and I think he may make his mind easy that none of the stock of the book will stick to our shelves.
I have the pleasure of inclosing a cheque £24 in acknowledgement of Food and Drink pt. 1 and I shall write you about pt. 2 with proof in a day or two.
In spite of all injunctions I began Adam Bede on the Railway and felt very savage when the waning light stopped me as we neared the Scottish Border. I picked up a Cab about Hammersmith and got to town in good time after a very pleasant afternoon at Richmond.
Best regards to George Eliot when you see him.
Ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
G. H. Lewes Esq.
P.S. Looking over this note I see I have written the word "hurried" in a way that might be misunderstood. By hurried I mean reading as fast as I can, hurried reading in the ordinary acceptation of the term is impossible with anything of George Eliot's. You cannot skim over his pages.
Text: Copy in Blackwood Letter Book, National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: II, 439, n. 4.
Edinburgh March 11/58.
My dear Lewes
Tell George Eliot that I think Adam Bede all right, most lifelike and real. I wish to read the MS quietly over again before writing in detail about it and since my return I am so overpowered with business that cannot be postponed that I may not for a little get the mental leisure necessary to do justice to a second perusal. For the first reading it did not signify how many things I might have had to think of. I would have hurried through it with eager pleasure. I write this note to allay all anxiety in the part of G.E. as to my appreciation of the merits of this most promising opening of a picture of life. Is there much more written or is it merely blocked out? Tell George Eliot also that I hear to-day Simpkins have 12 more of the [Clerical Scenes] and I think he may make his mind easy that none of the stock of the book will stick to our shelves.
I have the pleasure of inclosing a cheque £24 in acknowledgement of Food and Drink pt. 1 and I shall write you about pt. 2 with proof in a day or two.
In spite of all injunctions I began Adam Bede on the Railway and felt very savage when the waning light stopped me as we neared the Scottish Border. I picked up a Cab about Hammersmith and got to town in good time after a very pleasant afternoon at Richmond.
Best regards to George Eliot when you see him.
Ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
G. H. Lewes Esq.
P.S. Looking over this note I see I have written the word "hurried" in a way that might be misunderstood. By hurried I mean reading as fast as I can, hurried reading in the ordinary acceptation of the term is impossible with anything of George Eliot's. You cannot skim over his pages.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 11 March 1858, 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/95356