GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Richmond, 1 September [1857]
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Richmond, 1 September [1857]
Title
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Richmond, 1 September [1857]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Bessie Rayner Parkes
Date(s)
- 1857-09-01
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Richmond, 1 September [1857]
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss B. R. Parkes | 14A Princes Street | Cavendish Square | London. Postmarks: RICHMOND | EV | SP 1 | 1857; 8NT | SP 1 | 57. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Richmond | September 1.
Dear Bessie
Thanks for the Journals. 959 I found a great deal that interested me in them. Especially the account of Miss Carpenter's school, and that touching little paper "East and West" signed E.F. 960 (surely I recognise those initials.) I am very fond of reading about other people's good works, though I have none of my own, and I should think that for the public whom you most desire to address that sort of information will be decidedly the most valuable part of the journal.
It is a doctrine of Mr. Lewes's, which I think recommends itself to one's reason, that every new or renovated periodical should have a specialit'e9 -- do something not yet done, fill up a gap, and so give people a motive for taking it. But I do not at all like the specialit'e9 that consists in the inscription "Conducted by Women," and I am very glad you are going to do away with it. For my own taste, I should say, the more business you can get into the journal -- the more statements of philanthropic movements and social facts, and the less literature, the better. Not because I like philanthropy and hate literature, but because I want to know about philanthropy and don't care for second-rate literature. However, I am a wretchedly bad judge of what a newspaper should be -- a person who dislikes wine can never be a good [taster] and I only read newspapers as a hard duty. So my personal impressions are really of no value.
My heart was warmed by that letter of Barbara's about Miss J. M. White, 961 and I wished it had been in large print.
I shall see you, I hope, some day before very long. We have a call to make in town and -- topography being willing -- I shall look in at 14A Princes Street.
Ever your affectionate
Marian.
MS: The Countess of Iddesleigh. Envelope: Miss B. R. Parkes | 14A Princes Street | Cavendish Square | London. Postmarks: RICHMOND | EV | SP 1 | 1857; 8NT | SP 1 | 57. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Richmond | September 1.
Dear Bessie
Thanks for the Journals. 959 I found a great deal that interested me in them. Especially the account of Miss Carpenter's school, and that touching little paper "East and West" signed E.F. 960 (surely I recognise those initials.) I am very fond of reading about other people's good works, though I have none of my own, and I should think that for the public whom you most desire to address that sort of information will be decidedly the most valuable part of the journal.
It is a doctrine of Mr. Lewes's, which I think recommends itself to one's reason, that every new or renovated periodical should have a specialit'e9 -- do something not yet done, fill up a gap, and so give people a motive for taking it. But I do not at all like the specialit'e9 that consists in the inscription "Conducted by Women," and I am very glad you are going to do away with it. For my own taste, I should say, the more business you can get into the journal -- the more statements of philanthropic movements and social facts, and the less literature, the better. Not because I like philanthropy and hate literature, but because I want to know about philanthropy and don't care for second-rate literature. However, I am a wretchedly bad judge of what a newspaper should be -- a person who dislikes wine can never be a good [taster] and I only read newspapers as a hard duty. So my personal impressions are really of no value.
My heart was warmed by that letter of Barbara's about Miss J. M. White, 961 and I wished it had been in large print.
I shall see you, I hope, some day before very long. We have a call to make in town and -- topography being willing -- I shall look in at 14A Princes Street.
Ever your affectionate
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Bessie Rayner Parkes, Richmond, 1 September [1857], 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/92066