GE to Alexander Main, [Shottermill], 9 August 1871
Title
GE to Alexander Main, [Shottermill], 9 August 1871
Title
GE to Alexander Main, [Shottermill], 9 August 1871
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Alexander Main
Date(s)
- 1871-08-09
Place
[Shottermill]
Letter Content
GE to Alexander Main, [Shottermill], 9 August 1871
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, New Edition, pp. 475-476.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | Regents Park | August 9. 71.
My dear Sir
I am grateful for -- indeed, deeply affected by your assurance that my writings have been long precious to you and others.
I like to tell you that my worship for Scott is peculiar. I began to read him when I was seven years old, and afterwards when I was grown up and living alone with my Father, I was able to make the evenings cheerful for him during the last five or six years of his life by reading aloud to him Scott's novels. No other writer would serve as a substitute for Scott, and my life at that time would have been much more difficult without him. It is a personal grief, a heart-wound to me when I hear a depreciating or slighting word about Scott.
I have not much strength and time for correspondence, but I shall always be glad to hear from you when you have anything in your mind which it will be a solace to you to say to me.
Yours very sincerely,
M. E. Lewes.
I was especially gratified to know that the "Life of Goethe" had been a long companion of yours. But my dear husband almost forgets his own books in the sympathy he gives to all that concerns mine.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, New Edition, pp. 475-476.
The Priory | 21 North Bank | Regents Park | August 9. 71.
My dear Sir
I am grateful for -- indeed, deeply affected by your assurance that my writings have been long precious to you and others.
I like to tell you that my worship for Scott is peculiar. I began to read him when I was seven years old, and afterwards when I was grown up and living alone with my Father, I was able to make the evenings cheerful for him during the last five or six years of his life by reading aloud to him Scott's novels. No other writer would serve as a substitute for Scott, and my life at that time would have been much more difficult without him. It is a personal grief, a heart-wound to me when I hear a depreciating or slighting word about Scott.
I have not much strength and time for correspondence, but I shall always be glad to hear from you when you have anything in your mind which it will be a solace to you to say to me.
Yours very sincerely,
M. E. Lewes.
I was especially gratified to know that the "Life of Goethe" had been a long companion of yours. But my dear husband almost forgets his own books in the sympathy he gives to all that concerns mine.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Alexander Main, [Shottermill], 9 August 1871, 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/91980