Lord Lytton to GHL, Knebworth, 13 June 1874
Title
Lord Lytton to GHL, Knebworth, 13 June 1874
Title
Lord Lytton to GHL, Knebworth, 13 June 1874
Sender
Lord Lytton
Recipient
M
Date(s)
- 1874-06-13
Place
Knebworth
Letter Content
Lord Lytton to GHL, Knebworth, 13 June 1874
MS: Mr. James L. Harlan.
Knebworth 13 June | 1874.
My dear Lewes
Your kind and charming letter 244 was thrice welcome. I hope that, before we leave England, we may both of us be able to pay you a visit, but my poor wife will not yet a while be able to creep out of her shell here. I wish I could give you a better report of her health.
If however you will tell me how to get to you from town, I think I shall very probably before long ask you to give me a day's hospitality at Redhill and there [delight my soul with talk] 245 -- neither of knightly nor of nightly deeds -- but of all those things in heaven and earth which are dreamed of in your philosophy. 246
Your disbelief in the rumoured Browning marriage I rejoice to know -- and indeed I feel that I ought not, by alluding to it, to have given currency to a story which I myself have refused to credit -- But . . . but -- well, it distresses me that his numerous new acquaintances should regard as probable or actual, many doings and sayings of his, which I should have once believed -- more firmly than I do now -- to be impossible.
How well I appreciate the impatience with which you must listen to the folks who wish that Geo. Elliot [would only write novels]! If genius listened to such folks (whose advice must be one of the drawbacks of a great popularity) its work would be like that of the village painter in Canning's 247 capital story of the Red Lion. His only idea of decorative variety was to paint little red lions for the small pannels because a big red lion was so effective in the large ones.
Your liking for the fables gives me more pleasure than anything else in connection with them. I see you mention the possibility of riding from Knebworth to Redhill -- I should like that very much if it be possible. Can it really be done? I would prefer a long and a hard day's ride to an hour's rail, if there be any inn at Redhill where I could put up my horse -- and if the distance be within a day's ride.
Ever dear friends
Your most affectionate
Lytton.
MS: Mr. James L. Harlan.
Knebworth 13 June | 1874.
My dear Lewes
Your kind and charming letter 244 was thrice welcome. I hope that, before we leave England, we may both of us be able to pay you a visit, but my poor wife will not yet a while be able to creep out of her shell here. I wish I could give you a better report of her health.
If however you will tell me how to get to you from town, I think I shall very probably before long ask you to give me a day's hospitality at Redhill and there [delight my soul with talk] 245 -- neither of knightly nor of nightly deeds -- but of all those things in heaven and earth which are dreamed of in your philosophy. 246
Your disbelief in the rumoured Browning marriage I rejoice to know -- and indeed I feel that I ought not, by alluding to it, to have given currency to a story which I myself have refused to credit -- But . . . but -- well, it distresses me that his numerous new acquaintances should regard as probable or actual, many doings and sayings of his, which I should have once believed -- more firmly than I do now -- to be impossible.
How well I appreciate the impatience with which you must listen to the folks who wish that Geo. Elliot [would only write novels]! If genius listened to such folks (whose advice must be one of the drawbacks of a great popularity) its work would be like that of the village painter in Canning's 247 capital story of the Red Lion. His only idea of decorative variety was to paint little red lions for the small pannels because a big red lion was so effective in the large ones.
Your liking for the fables gives me more pleasure than anything else in connection with them. I see you mention the possibility of riding from Knebworth to Redhill -- I should like that very much if it be possible. Can it really be done? I would prefer a long and a hard day's ride to an hour's rail, if there be any inn at Redhill where I could put up my horse -- and if the distance be within a day's ride.
Ever dear friends
Your most affectionate
Lytton.
Signature
Lytton.
Citation
Lord Lytton, Lord Lytton to GHL, Knebworth, 13 June 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/95529