A History of England in the Eighteenth Century

A History of England in the Eighteenth Century

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole

London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1878

HathiTrust

1878

George Eliot to Barbara Bodichon, London, 17 January 1878. "I think we know no reading more amusing than the Times just now. ‘Les Épreuves de Raïssa’ by Henry Gréville, is a French novel turning on Russian life which we have just had from the London Library, but it has no merit beyond theatrical cleverness. We are deep among the gravities now. I have been reading aloud Green's first vol. of his new, larger History of the English People, and this evening have begun Lecky's Hist. of England in the XVIIIth century -- in fact we are dull old fogies who are ill-informed about anything that is going on of an amusing kind. On Monday we took a youth to the Pantomime, but I found it a melancholy business. The dear old story of Puss in Boots was mishandled in an exasperating way, and every incident as well as pretence of a character turned into a motive for the most vulgar kind of dancing. I came away with a sick headache from which I am only today recovered. It is too cruel that one can't get anything innocent as a spectacle for the children!" GEL 7: 6

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole, A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57115

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/313806679bceb2cf6d4b8aac74806906.pdf