John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 22 November 1878
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 22 November 1878
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 22 November 1878
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1878-11-22
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 22 November 1878
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 22/78.
My Dear Lewes
I found your note and Mrs. Lewes' M.S. upon my table today and you may imagine the pleasure the sight afforded me. I sent your note along to Willie to cheer him on his sofa and I almost rose to ring the bell to call up "Simpson" but the news will comfort him at Cannes where he now is.
In spite of this being an exceptionally busy day the very nick of sending the Magazine to press I have read the first chapter of Theophrastus and am delighted with it. How true the remarks on the incompleteness of autobiography 151 both from respect to Self and justice to others. A bad orator showing the weak points of his grammar as Jean Jacques' confessions have their greatest use by unconsciously developing the weak points of his own character 152 is very fine and we all like to keep the scourge in our own hands and not to deliver ourselves up to the candid opinion of our enemies.
Theophrastus' whole picture of himself is delightful and there is something very comic in his mixed satisfaction in seeing his remarks appreciated when appropriated by others. It reminds me of my feelings when I see an article in the Magazine copied without acknowledgment. The egoist looking round the world in vain as he is only looking for some flattering unction to himself is so natural. All must have felt what she says of the right interpretation of doing as you would be done by and watch the wandering attention of a friend when you begin to talk of your own emotions instead of listening to his. Truly we cannot enjoy this world without having something of a cabbage garden in it try as we may. All through the chapter I have lingered with delight over the remarks.
I have sent the bulk of the M.S. into printing office to have quantity calculated with a view to size of page and volume. Can you give me an idea how much more M.S. there will be?
Can you send form for a little slip to be stuck into the Magazine announcing a new work in one volume by George Eliot. As we are to publish so soon it is desirable to announce at once.
Give my best regards to Mrs. Lewes and from this chapter I feel very confident that I may congratulate her. It is so readable, and clear as profound. I am so sorry that I have people dining with me tonight so that I cannot go on reading.
Since I have been in Edin[burgh] I have been fairly well and my wife says this work of Mrs. Lewes will make up for the links which I was missing.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
November 22/78.
My Dear Lewes
I found your note and Mrs. Lewes' M.S. upon my table today and you may imagine the pleasure the sight afforded me. I sent your note along to Willie to cheer him on his sofa and I almost rose to ring the bell to call up "Simpson" but the news will comfort him at Cannes where he now is.
In spite of this being an exceptionally busy day the very nick of sending the Magazine to press I have read the first chapter of Theophrastus and am delighted with it. How true the remarks on the incompleteness of autobiography 151 both from respect to Self and justice to others. A bad orator showing the weak points of his grammar as Jean Jacques' confessions have their greatest use by unconsciously developing the weak points of his own character 152 is very fine and we all like to keep the scourge in our own hands and not to deliver ourselves up to the candid opinion of our enemies.
Theophrastus' whole picture of himself is delightful and there is something very comic in his mixed satisfaction in seeing his remarks appreciated when appropriated by others. It reminds me of my feelings when I see an article in the Magazine copied without acknowledgment. The egoist looking round the world in vain as he is only looking for some flattering unction to himself is so natural. All must have felt what she says of the right interpretation of doing as you would be done by and watch the wandering attention of a friend when you begin to talk of your own emotions instead of listening to his. Truly we cannot enjoy this world without having something of a cabbage garden in it try as we may. All through the chapter I have lingered with delight over the remarks.
I have sent the bulk of the M.S. into printing office to have quantity calculated with a view to size of page and volume. Can you give me an idea how much more M.S. there will be?
Can you send form for a little slip to be stuck into the Magazine announcing a new work in one volume by George Eliot. As we are to publish so soon it is desirable to announce at once.
Give my best regards to Mrs. Lewes and from this chapter I feel very confident that I may congratulate her. It is so readable, and clear as profound. I am so sorry that I have people dining with me tonight so that I cannot go on reading.
Since I have been in Edin[burgh] I have been fairly well and my wife says this work of Mrs. Lewes will make up for the links which I was missing.
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 22 November 1878, 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/95393