Anthony Trollope to GE, Waltham Cross, 28 June 1862
Title
Anthony Trollope to GE, Waltham Cross, 28 June 1862
Title
Anthony Trollope to GE, Waltham Cross, 28 June 1862
Sender
Anthony Trollope
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1862-06-28
Place
Waltham Cross
Letter Content
Anthony Trollope to GE, Waltham Cross, 28 June 1862
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 115-116.
Waltham Cross | June 28. 1862.
My dear Mrs. Lewes.
I have just read the first number of Romola and I cannot refrain from congratulating you. If you can, or have, kept it up so to the end you will have done a great work. Adam Bede, Mrs. Poyser, and Marner have been very dear to me; but excellent as they are, I am now compelled to see that you can soar above even their heads. The descriptions of Florence, -- little bits of Florence down to a door nail, and great facts of Florence up to the very fury of life among those full living nobles, -- are wonderful in their energy and in their accuracy. The character of Romola is artistically beautiful, -- a picture exceeded by none that I know of any girl in any novel. It is the perfection of pen painting; -- and you have been nobly aided by your artist. I take it for granted that it is Leighton. The father also of Romola is excellent.
Do not fire too much over the heads of your readers. You have to write to tens of thousands, and not to single thousands. I say this, not because I would have you alter ought of your purpose. That were not worth your while, even though the great numbers should find your words too hard. But because you may make your full purpose compatible with their taste.
I wonder at the toil you must have endured in getting up your work, -- wonder and envy. But I shall never envy your success, or the great appreciation of what you have done that will certainly come, -- probably today, but if not, then tomorrow.
Yours very heartily
Anthony Trollope.
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 115-116.
Waltham Cross | June 28. 1862.
My dear Mrs. Lewes.
I have just read the first number of Romola and I cannot refrain from congratulating you. If you can, or have, kept it up so to the end you will have done a great work. Adam Bede, Mrs. Poyser, and Marner have been very dear to me; but excellent as they are, I am now compelled to see that you can soar above even their heads. The descriptions of Florence, -- little bits of Florence down to a door nail, and great facts of Florence up to the very fury of life among those full living nobles, -- are wonderful in their energy and in their accuracy. The character of Romola is artistically beautiful, -- a picture exceeded by none that I know of any girl in any novel. It is the perfection of pen painting; -- and you have been nobly aided by your artist. I take it for granted that it is Leighton. The father also of Romola is excellent.
Do not fire too much over the heads of your readers. You have to write to tens of thousands, and not to single thousands. I say this, not because I would have you alter ought of your purpose. That were not worth your while, even though the great numbers should find your words too hard. But because you may make your full purpose compatible with their taste.
I wonder at the toil you must have endured in getting up your work, -- wonder and envy. But I shall never envy your success, or the great appreciation of what you have done that will certainly come, -- probably today, but if not, then tomorrow.
Yours very heartily
Anthony Trollope.
Signature
Anthony Trollope.
Citation
Anthony Trollope, Anthony Trollope to GE, Waltham Cross, 28 June 1862, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91703