GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, Venice, 7 June 1860
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, Venice, 7 June 1860
Title
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, Venice, 7 June 1860
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Francois D'Albert-Durade
Date(s)
- 1860-06-07
Place
Venice
Letter Content
GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, Venice, 7 June 1860
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade, Tinker Collection. Yale.
Venice | June 7. 60.
My dear Friend
I received your kind letter on our arrival here a few days ago, but I have been too busy enjoying the wonders of Venice to find any time for writing until this evening, when the rain has shortened our excursions in the gondola.
First, let me solve your literary difficulties. The Egyptian Sorcerer 551 is a personage much spoken of in modern books of travel, and for aught I know to the contrary, still living in Cairo. He professes to call a boy out of the street (having no previous knowledge of him); he then drops ink into the palm of the said boy, commands him to gaze earnestly into the black drop, and gradually elicits from him descriptions of persons or scenes chosen by the spectator -- for example, Napoleon the First, or some passage of his life -- which the boy is supposed to see in the ink drop through some magical influence exerted on him by the sorcerer. Accounts vary, some explaining the whole affair as "humbug," others as one of the phenomena of mesmeric influence. Thus "necromancier Egyptien" will be the right translation.
Your difficulty No. 2. is easily solved. "The Floss" is simply the name of a river.
When I wrote to you from Rome, 552 I think we did not contemplate extending our journey as far as Naples -- at least we hardly thought that we should not have ended our stay in Florence till the end of May. Once at Naples in delicious weather, the temptation to spend an additional week there for the sake of seeing at our leisure Salerno, Paestum, Amalfi, and Sorrento was made all the stronger because we both needed that more quiet pleasure for our health's sake, after the excitement of Rome.
And so it has turned out that we have robbed ourselves of another pleasure we had counted on, for Mr. Lewes tells me I must prepare myself to find that our time will not allow of our seeing Geneva on our way home. The disappointment is not absolutely certain yet; and it is still possible that we may find our remaining days of absence from home suffice for a flying visit. But that would hardly be for more than a day and a half, and it would be a pity on every account for us to disturb you by telegraphing or otherwise. I know how Maman's kind hospitality would make her desire to receive us, but in our uncertainty and in the scantiness of our time, it will [be] really the simplest and best plan for us to determine on going to the H'f4tel des Bergues, without preliminary question -- if indeed destiny should prove so friendly as to let us see Geneva after all. Mr. Lewes unites with me in thanking you and Madame D'Albert for your kind proposal, but he can only know from me how pleasant a home Maman makes for those whom she welcomes under her roof. I should love to be seated by her side once more! -- But do not expect us -- only be glad to see us if we do present ourselves and ask for two or three hours of your society. We shall have all the more freedom for enjoying that, if we give Maman no anxiety about luggage and other material affairs. We could hardly, in any case, arrive much before the 20th.
Pray, never write to me again about criticism or remarks in French journals or reviews. 553 I have desired my publisher not to forward any newspaper critiques to me, for I make it a rule never to read any, except such as occur in the "Times" or a leading quart[er]ly Review. Journalistic criticism does good to no author; it is written by incompetent men who are not even doing their best, and it is utterly indecisive as to the ultimate rank of any book. The Am'e9d'e9e Pichaud, who imparts his inaccuracies concerning English matters to the readers of la Revue Britannique, probably made his acquaintance with "Adam Bede" six months after it was published, i.e. nine months after it was written, and on that basis he jauntily affirms that I have been in a hurry to produce my new book for the sake of making capital out of the fame acquired by "Adam Bede." 554 The simple fact is that "The Mill on the Floss" has had much more time and labour bestowed on it than "Adam Bede." But the most ignorant journalist in England would hardly think of calling me a rival of Miss Mulock 555 -- a writer who is read only by novel readers, pure and simple, never by people of high culture. A very excellent woman she is, I believe -- but we belong to an entirely different order of writers. So much and no more for the sake of indicating what I dare say you already know, that the Revue Britannique is not to be swallowed without several grains of salt.
You will like to hear that the "Mill" sold 6000 of the three-volume edition in the first seven weeks after its appearance. I hope the French edition of "Adam Bede" will have its share of good fortune too. If there is any other question you wish to ask me, a letter addressed to Milan would find me, not later than the 15th.
I am writing in rather a headachy condition. Pray pardon me if I have left unsaid anything I ought to have said and beg Maman to accept my affectionate thanks.
Ever yours with faithful regard
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Copy by D'Albert-Durade, Tinker Collection. Yale.
Venice | June 7. 60.
My dear Friend
I received your kind letter on our arrival here a few days ago, but I have been too busy enjoying the wonders of Venice to find any time for writing until this evening, when the rain has shortened our excursions in the gondola.
First, let me solve your literary difficulties. The Egyptian Sorcerer 551 is a personage much spoken of in modern books of travel, and for aught I know to the contrary, still living in Cairo. He professes to call a boy out of the street (having no previous knowledge of him); he then drops ink into the palm of the said boy, commands him to gaze earnestly into the black drop, and gradually elicits from him descriptions of persons or scenes chosen by the spectator -- for example, Napoleon the First, or some passage of his life -- which the boy is supposed to see in the ink drop through some magical influence exerted on him by the sorcerer. Accounts vary, some explaining the whole affair as "humbug," others as one of the phenomena of mesmeric influence. Thus "necromancier Egyptien" will be the right translation.
Your difficulty No. 2. is easily solved. "The Floss" is simply the name of a river.
When I wrote to you from Rome, 552 I think we did not contemplate extending our journey as far as Naples -- at least we hardly thought that we should not have ended our stay in Florence till the end of May. Once at Naples in delicious weather, the temptation to spend an additional week there for the sake of seeing at our leisure Salerno, Paestum, Amalfi, and Sorrento was made all the stronger because we both needed that more quiet pleasure for our health's sake, after the excitement of Rome.
And so it has turned out that we have robbed ourselves of another pleasure we had counted on, for Mr. Lewes tells me I must prepare myself to find that our time will not allow of our seeing Geneva on our way home. The disappointment is not absolutely certain yet; and it is still possible that we may find our remaining days of absence from home suffice for a flying visit. But that would hardly be for more than a day and a half, and it would be a pity on every account for us to disturb you by telegraphing or otherwise. I know how Maman's kind hospitality would make her desire to receive us, but in our uncertainty and in the scantiness of our time, it will [be] really the simplest and best plan for us to determine on going to the H'f4tel des Bergues, without preliminary question -- if indeed destiny should prove so friendly as to let us see Geneva after all. Mr. Lewes unites with me in thanking you and Madame D'Albert for your kind proposal, but he can only know from me how pleasant a home Maman makes for those whom she welcomes under her roof. I should love to be seated by her side once more! -- But do not expect us -- only be glad to see us if we do present ourselves and ask for two or three hours of your society. We shall have all the more freedom for enjoying that, if we give Maman no anxiety about luggage and other material affairs. We could hardly, in any case, arrive much before the 20th.
Pray, never write to me again about criticism or remarks in French journals or reviews. 553 I have desired my publisher not to forward any newspaper critiques to me, for I make it a rule never to read any, except such as occur in the "Times" or a leading quart[er]ly Review. Journalistic criticism does good to no author; it is written by incompetent men who are not even doing their best, and it is utterly indecisive as to the ultimate rank of any book. The Am'e9d'e9e Pichaud, who imparts his inaccuracies concerning English matters to the readers of la Revue Britannique, probably made his acquaintance with "Adam Bede" six months after it was published, i.e. nine months after it was written, and on that basis he jauntily affirms that I have been in a hurry to produce my new book for the sake of making capital out of the fame acquired by "Adam Bede." 554 The simple fact is that "The Mill on the Floss" has had much more time and labour bestowed on it than "Adam Bede." But the most ignorant journalist in England would hardly think of calling me a rival of Miss Mulock 555 -- a writer who is read only by novel readers, pure and simple, never by people of high culture. A very excellent woman she is, I believe -- but we belong to an entirely different order of writers. So much and no more for the sake of indicating what I dare say you already know, that the Revue Britannique is not to be swallowed without several grains of salt.
You will like to hear that the "Mill" sold 6000 of the three-volume edition in the first seven weeks after its appearance. I hope the French edition of "Adam Bede" will have its share of good fortune too. If there is any other question you wish to ask me, a letter addressed to Milan would find me, not later than the 15th.
I am writing in rather a headachy condition. Pray pardon me if I have left unsaid anything I ought to have said and beg Maman to accept my affectionate thanks.
Ever yours with faithful regard
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Francois D'Albert-Durade, Venice, 7 June 1860, 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/92374