GE to Frederic Leighton, London, [26 May 1862]
Title
GE to Frederic Leighton, London, [26 May 1862]
Title
GE to Frederic Leighton, London, [26 May 1862]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Frederic Leigh
Date(s)
- 1862-05-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Frederic Leighton, London, [26 May 1862]
Text: Mrs. Russell Barrington, The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton, 2 vols., George Allen and Unwin, 1906, II, 97-98.
Blandford Square, N.W.
Monday.
Dear Mr. Leighton,
Your letter 75 comforts me particularly. I am so glad to think you find subjects to your mind. I have no especial desire for the view from S. Miniato, and indeed a plan we started in conversation with Mr. Smith this morning, namely, to have moderately sized initial letters -- the opening one being an old Florentine in his Lucco 76 and generally the subjects being bits of landscape or Florentine building -- seems to do away with any reason for having the landscape to begin with. The idea of having Tessa and the mules, or Nello's sanctum, 77 smiles upon me, so pray feel free to choose the impression that urges itself most strongly. Your observation about the "che, che" 78 is just the aid I besought from you. With that exception, I have confined myself, I believe, to such interjections as I find in the writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in them, curiously enough, this exclamation now said to be so constant and "to mean everything" (according to our authority) does not seem to occur.
Thank you. Pray let me have as many criticisms of that kind as you can. I am more gratified, I think, by your liking these opening chapters than I have yet been by anything in these nervous anxious weeks of decision about publication.
Very truly yours,
M. E. Lewes.
F. Leighton, Esq.
Text: Mrs. Russell Barrington, The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton, 2 vols., George Allen and Unwin, 1906, II, 97-98.
Blandford Square, N.W.
Monday.
Dear Mr. Leighton,
Your letter 75 comforts me particularly. I am so glad to think you find subjects to your mind. I have no especial desire for the view from S. Miniato, and indeed a plan we started in conversation with Mr. Smith this morning, namely, to have moderately sized initial letters -- the opening one being an old Florentine in his Lucco 76 and generally the subjects being bits of landscape or Florentine building -- seems to do away with any reason for having the landscape to begin with. The idea of having Tessa and the mules, or Nello's sanctum, 77 smiles upon me, so pray feel free to choose the impression that urges itself most strongly. Your observation about the "che, che" 78 is just the aid I besought from you. With that exception, I have confined myself, I believe, to such interjections as I find in the writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and in them, curiously enough, this exclamation now said to be so constant and "to mean everything" (according to our authority) does not seem to occur.
Thank you. Pray let me have as many criticisms of that kind as you can. I am more gratified, I think, by your liking these opening chapters than I have yet been by anything in these nervous anxious weeks of decision about publication.
Very truly yours,
M. E. Lewes.
F. Leighton, Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Frederic Leighton, London, [26 May 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/92429