GE to John Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 29 April 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 29 April 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 29 April 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-04-29
Place
[Wandsworth]
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 29 April 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, II, 103-104.
April 29. 59.
My dear Sir
Herewith the dismal story, 125 which I did not send before because I thought you were already choked with the proofs for Maga, just issued.
Thank you for sending me Sir Edward Lytton's letter, which has given me real pleasure. The praise is doubly valuable to me for the sake of the generous feeling that prompted it.
I think you judged rightly about writing to the "Times." I would abstain from the remotest appearance of a "dodge." But you alarm me about the "Critic" and "Leader." What have they been saying? I am anxious to know of any positive rumour that may get abroad, for while I would willingly, if it were possible -- which it clearly is not -- retain my incognito as long as I live, I can suffer no one to bear my arms on his shield.
There is one alteration or rather one addition -- merely of a sentence -- that I wish to make in the 12s/. edition of "Adam Bede." It is a sentence in the chapter where Adam is making the coffin at night, and hears the willow wand. Some readers seem not to have understood what I meant, namely -- that it was in Adam's peasant blood and nurture to believe in this, and that he narrated it with awed belief to his dying day. That is not a fancy of my own brain, but a matter of observation, and is in my mind an important feature in Adam's character.
There is nothing else I wish to touch. I will send you the sentence some day soon, with the page where it is to be inserted. 126
What can be the meaning of the tracts sent to Dallas? To convert him from his tolerance or to win his co-operation? One doesn't see how Tracts are a sequitur to his review.
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Mostly published: Cross, II, 103-104.
April 29. 59.
My dear Sir
Herewith the dismal story, 125 which I did not send before because I thought you were already choked with the proofs for Maga, just issued.
Thank you for sending me Sir Edward Lytton's letter, which has given me real pleasure. The praise is doubly valuable to me for the sake of the generous feeling that prompted it.
I think you judged rightly about writing to the "Times." I would abstain from the remotest appearance of a "dodge." But you alarm me about the "Critic" and "Leader." What have they been saying? I am anxious to know of any positive rumour that may get abroad, for while I would willingly, if it were possible -- which it clearly is not -- retain my incognito as long as I live, I can suffer no one to bear my arms on his shield.
There is one alteration or rather one addition -- merely of a sentence -- that I wish to make in the 12s/. edition of "Adam Bede." It is a sentence in the chapter where Adam is making the coffin at night, and hears the willow wand. Some readers seem not to have understood what I meant, namely -- that it was in Adam's peasant blood and nurture to believe in this, and that he narrated it with awed belief to his dying day. That is not a fancy of my own brain, but a matter of observation, and is in my mind an important feature in Adam's character.
There is nothing else I wish to touch. I will send you the sentence some day soon, with the page where it is to be inserted. 126
What can be the meaning of the tracts sent to Dallas? To convert him from his tolerance or to win his co-operation? One doesn't see how Tracts are a sequitur to his review.
Ever yours truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, [Wandsworth], 29 April 1859, 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/92572