GE to Alexander Main, Blackbrook, 18 September 1873
Title
GE to Alexander Main, Blackbrook, 18 September 1873
Title
GE to Alexander Main, Blackbrook, 18 September 1873
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Alexander Main
Date(s)
- 1873-09-18
Place
Blackbrook
Letter Content
GE to Alexander Main, Blackbrook, 18 September 1873
Text: Main's copy owned by Mr. John R. Sprunt. Hitherto unpublished.
Blackbrook | Bickley | Kent | September 18. 73.
Dear Mr. Main
Never think that I am unmindful of you because I do not write you letters. I am sure you will not wish me to do so, when I tell you that the letter or note-writing which is obligatory -- which is a part of duty not to be argued away -- is felt by me as an oppression, and really subtracts more of my nervous strength than I like to give to it. I think you are aware that Mr. Lewes, in his goodness, adds to his own letter writing as much as he can take of mine, in order to save my faulty organism which cannot take these small matters lightly.
I hope that by this time the proofs of your Johnson have recovered from their "stasis." I feel for you under these inexplicable delays, which however are hardly ever escaped by writers who get their writing printed at all. We each of us have interests that the rest of the universe from the stars downward is comparatively indifferent about. I should think that Christmas would be the time that Chapman would probably choose for the publication.
There is one disadvantage among the many advantages of stereotyping, that the form of book becomes irrevocable. It seems to me undesirable that the bulk of the volume of "Sayings" should be much increased, and with the additions made from "Middlemarch" there might have been a coincident deduction -- certain extracts less easily appreciable without the content might have been "kaimed off," so as to keep the volume at its present size. But stereotyping is a reduction of expense that could hardly be parted with, and I have nothing to do with the finance of the matter.
Perhaps you are just now enjoying an excursion and taking holiday.
So much the better -- if one's cheerfulness in sight of the country were not sadly dashed by the thought that the corn not yet ingathered has been injured by the heavy rains. And in the North I fear that the harvest must be still chiefly to be got.
You will be sympathetically glad to hear that Mr. Lewes's health, after a series of depressing little attacks, is beginning to improve. While we were abroad he had deafness and pain in one ear, happily from a cause which has proved to be temporary. After that, a cold turned into a troublesome cough, and since that, a general malaise and want of appetite. But the last few mornings he has returned to his desk with the old enjoyment.
Yesterday we had a visit from Dr. Anton Dohrn 845 who has succeeded by great energy and the expenditure of his own fortune in establishing a great Zoological Station at Naples to which all nations by contributing something yearly, may have a right to send their students. Naples was chosen of course for the wealth of its zoological coast, and now during the hot months when it would be impossible to carry forward the investigation of the important specimens without protection, the studies can be carried forward in a magnificent building with loggie which secure constant coolness. That is a fine bit of work to have done, is it not? Dr. Dohrn has an English friend now living with him at Naples, who in some respects reminds me of you. He is about your age, and some 7 or 8 years ago wrote me a letter from Jena where he was getting his poor bread as a teacher of English. He is a most industrious student and only wants to get modest pay for writing of which his mind is full. At the same time he so painfully shy and diffident that without the encouragement of Dr. Dohrn's friendship I imagine he would, so to speak, secrete a shell something like the King Crab's, and die without being believed in.
Farewell. Pray never want me to write letters, unless I can answer some definite question which needs answering. But believe in me always as
Your faithful friend
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Main's copy owned by Mr. John R. Sprunt. Hitherto unpublished.
Blackbrook | Bickley | Kent | September 18. 73.
Dear Mr. Main
Never think that I am unmindful of you because I do not write you letters. I am sure you will not wish me to do so, when I tell you that the letter or note-writing which is obligatory -- which is a part of duty not to be argued away -- is felt by me as an oppression, and really subtracts more of my nervous strength than I like to give to it. I think you are aware that Mr. Lewes, in his goodness, adds to his own letter writing as much as he can take of mine, in order to save my faulty organism which cannot take these small matters lightly.
I hope that by this time the proofs of your Johnson have recovered from their "stasis." I feel for you under these inexplicable delays, which however are hardly ever escaped by writers who get their writing printed at all. We each of us have interests that the rest of the universe from the stars downward is comparatively indifferent about. I should think that Christmas would be the time that Chapman would probably choose for the publication.
There is one disadvantage among the many advantages of stereotyping, that the form of book becomes irrevocable. It seems to me undesirable that the bulk of the volume of "Sayings" should be much increased, and with the additions made from "Middlemarch" there might have been a coincident deduction -- certain extracts less easily appreciable without the content might have been "kaimed off," so as to keep the volume at its present size. But stereotyping is a reduction of expense that could hardly be parted with, and I have nothing to do with the finance of the matter.
Perhaps you are just now enjoying an excursion and taking holiday.
So much the better -- if one's cheerfulness in sight of the country were not sadly dashed by the thought that the corn not yet ingathered has been injured by the heavy rains. And in the North I fear that the harvest must be still chiefly to be got.
You will be sympathetically glad to hear that Mr. Lewes's health, after a series of depressing little attacks, is beginning to improve. While we were abroad he had deafness and pain in one ear, happily from a cause which has proved to be temporary. After that, a cold turned into a troublesome cough, and since that, a general malaise and want of appetite. But the last few mornings he has returned to his desk with the old enjoyment.
Yesterday we had a visit from Dr. Anton Dohrn 845 who has succeeded by great energy and the expenditure of his own fortune in establishing a great Zoological Station at Naples to which all nations by contributing something yearly, may have a right to send their students. Naples was chosen of course for the wealth of its zoological coast, and now during the hot months when it would be impossible to carry forward the investigation of the important specimens without protection, the studies can be carried forward in a magnificent building with loggie which secure constant coolness. That is a fine bit of work to have done, is it not? Dr. Dohrn has an English friend now living with him at Naples, who in some respects reminds me of you. He is about your age, and some 7 or 8 years ago wrote me a letter from Jena where he was getting his poor bread as a teacher of English. He is a most industrious student and only wants to get modest pay for writing of which his mind is full. At the same time he so painfully shy and diffident that without the encouragement of Dr. Dohrn's friendship I imagine he would, so to speak, secrete a shell something like the King Crab's, and die without being believed in.
Farewell. Pray never want me to write letters, unless I can answer some definite question which needs answering. But believe in me always as
Your faithful friend
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Alexander Main, Blackbrook, 18 September 1873, 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/91981