Lord Lytton to GHL, Paris, 3 April 1874
Title
Lord Lytton to GHL, Paris, 3 April 1874
Title
Lord Lytton to GHL, Paris, 3 April 1874
Sender
Lord Lytton
Recipient
M
Date(s)
- 1874-04-03
Place
Paris
Letter Content
Lord Lytton to GHL, Paris, 3 April 1874
MS: Yale.
Paris, 3 April 1874.
My dear Lewes
Your kind letter was terque quaterque welcome. Now that the navette is retablie I hope it will go on spinning. Your good opinion of the Fables gives me very great pleasure. It is extraordinary what immense pleasure can be given by a word or two of approbation or sympathy at certain moments to certain temperaments. Had I been an "ancient Greek" -- and a eupatrid, I would have built a temple to the God Apropos, and invited you to become his high Priest -- a function not at all inappropriate to the investigation of "Problems of life and mind." He is the Prompter of the Muses, who do not always know the right word to say, and the younger brother of the Graces, who do not always know the right thing to do. He is nimbler than Hermes and more multiform than Proteus, and what other Divinity can always arrive just when he is wanted, in just the shape which happens to be most helpful, a bed for the weary, or a mutton chop for the hungry?
But indeed the Fables have a certain claim upon your good will since you are partly responsible for their introduction into the world. What would be said by the Tim'e9 who has not yet succeeded in doing so, if he knew they had already entered the Academy? I am most obliged to you for sending me Mr. Simcox's valuable notice of them, and very grateful for the notice itself. It is not much to say that it is the best I have seen, for in fact it is the only good one. But it is very good -- good not only as regards its appreciative generosity -- (although to appreciate generously the aim of any honest work is in my opinion the sign and mark of superiority in criticism). But good also in every way -- good thinking and good writing. I feel honoured by such candid attention on the part of so able a writer to whom I am personally unknown, and very much pleased and encouraged by his favourable verdict. As I don't know Mr. Simcox I don't like to write to him about his Paper in the Academy, since he might attribute my so doing to some interested motive. But what I say to you is no more -- indeed it is less than I feel. By the way, as for the Fables themselves, their tribe has increased beyond all bounds, and still they multiply as fast as if they were jews. Oddly enough I am able to pay you at once my debt for [the Academy] by a Promissary Note from Villers (our Vienna friend). If you have not already seen the review of G. Eliot which he mentions and if you care to see it, let me know and I will immediately get it from him and forward it to you.
My wife is only so so, our little girl much better. Ever my dear Lewes
Your affectionate
Lytton.
I hope to be in England about the beginning of June. But it depends on my being able to get finished before then some new bedrooms much wanted, which I am building at Knebworth.
L.
MS: Yale.
Paris, 3 April 1874.
My dear Lewes
Your kind letter was terque quaterque welcome. Now that the navette is retablie I hope it will go on spinning. Your good opinion of the Fables gives me very great pleasure. It is extraordinary what immense pleasure can be given by a word or two of approbation or sympathy at certain moments to certain temperaments. Had I been an "ancient Greek" -- and a eupatrid, I would have built a temple to the God Apropos, and invited you to become his high Priest -- a function not at all inappropriate to the investigation of "Problems of life and mind." He is the Prompter of the Muses, who do not always know the right word to say, and the younger brother of the Graces, who do not always know the right thing to do. He is nimbler than Hermes and more multiform than Proteus, and what other Divinity can always arrive just when he is wanted, in just the shape which happens to be most helpful, a bed for the weary, or a mutton chop for the hungry?
But indeed the Fables have a certain claim upon your good will since you are partly responsible for their introduction into the world. What would be said by the Tim'e9 who has not yet succeeded in doing so, if he knew they had already entered the Academy? I am most obliged to you for sending me Mr. Simcox's valuable notice of them, and very grateful for the notice itself. It is not much to say that it is the best I have seen, for in fact it is the only good one. But it is very good -- good not only as regards its appreciative generosity -- (although to appreciate generously the aim of any honest work is in my opinion the sign and mark of superiority in criticism). But good also in every way -- good thinking and good writing. I feel honoured by such candid attention on the part of so able a writer to whom I am personally unknown, and very much pleased and encouraged by his favourable verdict. As I don't know Mr. Simcox I don't like to write to him about his Paper in the Academy, since he might attribute my so doing to some interested motive. But what I say to you is no more -- indeed it is less than I feel. By the way, as for the Fables themselves, their tribe has increased beyond all bounds, and still they multiply as fast as if they were jews. Oddly enough I am able to pay you at once my debt for [the Academy] by a Promissary Note from Villers (our Vienna friend). If you have not already seen the review of G. Eliot which he mentions and if you care to see it, let me know and I will immediately get it from him and forward it to you.
My wife is only so so, our little girl much better. Ever my dear Lewes
Your affectionate
Lytton.
I hope to be in England about the beginning of June. But it depends on my being able to get finished before then some new bedrooms much wanted, which I am building at Knebworth.
L.
Signature
L.
Citation
Lord Lytton, Lord Lytton to GHL, Paris, 3 April 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/95533