GE to John Blackwood, Florence, 18 May 1860
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Florence, 18 May 1860
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Florence, 18 May 1860
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1860-05-18
Place
Florence
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Florence, 18 May 1860
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 229-230.
H'f4tel de la Pension Suisse | Florence | May 18. 1860.
My dear Sir
We arrived here yesterday, 537 and of course our first thought was the Post, but as we find nothing from you this morning I am beginning to have evil visions. Your letter to Rome was forwarded to us at Naples, having as you would perceive, crossed Mr. Lewes's, to which it sufficed as an answer. But now I am anxious to know whether Mudie has actually taken the 3d thousand, and whether Simpkins have got rid of their copies. We don't wish to remain here more than a fortnight, and as it will take at least that time for an interchange of letters, i.e. for you to receive this letter and for me to get one in return, I shall be much obliged if you will write on the receipt of this (supposing you have not already written) and address to us here, where we shall await news from you.
We have had delicious weather ever since we left Rome, and you know what Naples is in delicious weather. Surely no place in the world can be much more beautiful, and Pompeii, 538 with the remains collected in the Museo Borbonico creates an historical interest equal to almost anything one felt in Rome. We spent our second week in excursions to Paestum, Amalfi, and Sorrento, and I think that one week has done us more good physical[ly] than all the rest of our travelling. I have a shameful tendency always to flourish on idleness and indulgence, and am feeling thoroughly strong; Mr. Lewes is in nothing like so good condition, but I am thankful to hear him say that he really is better in spite of frequent headaches and deafness. This news is naturally more important to us than the politics of Sicily, and so I am apt to write of it to our friends, rather than of Garibaldi and Tuscan filibusters; but things really look so threatening in the Neapolitan kingdom that we began to think ourselves fortunate in having got our visit done. Tuscany is in the highest political spirits for the moment, and of course Victor Emanuel stares at us at every turn here, with the most loyal exaggeration of moustache and intelligent meaning. But we are selfishly careless about dynasties just now, caring more for the doings of Giotto and Brunelleschi, than for those of Count Cavour. On a first journey to the greatest centres of art, one must be excused for letting one's public spirit go to sleep a little. As for me, I am thrown into a state of humiliating passivity by the sight of the great things done in the far past -- it seems as if life were not long enough to learn, and as if my own activity were so completely dwarfed by comparison that I should never have courage for more creation of my own. There is only one thing that has an opposite and stimulating effect: it is, the comparative rarity even here of great and truthful art, and the abundance of wretched imitation and falsity. Every hand is wanted in the world that can do a little genuine, sincere work.
We are at the quietest hotel in Florence, having sought it out for the sake of getting clear of the stream of English and Americans in which one finds oneself in all the main tracks of travel, so that one seems at last to be in a perpetual noisy pic-nic, obliged to be civil though with a strong inclination to be sullen. My philanthropy rises several degrees as soon as we are alone. Mr. Lewes is more sociable than I am, but finds travelling society rather too strongly American in its flavour to be quite desirable, and so we concur in the disposition to know nobody.
He unites with me in kind regards, and wants me to tell you that he read the story of the Great Fight 539 -- every round, as described in Bell's Life -- at Amalfi! Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
J. Blackwood Esq.
P.S. Remember that with me, "No news is bad news."
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 229-230.
H'f4tel de la Pension Suisse | Florence | May 18. 1860.
My dear Sir
We arrived here yesterday, 537 and of course our first thought was the Post, but as we find nothing from you this morning I am beginning to have evil visions. Your letter to Rome was forwarded to us at Naples, having as you would perceive, crossed Mr. Lewes's, to which it sufficed as an answer. But now I am anxious to know whether Mudie has actually taken the 3d thousand, and whether Simpkins have got rid of their copies. We don't wish to remain here more than a fortnight, and as it will take at least that time for an interchange of letters, i.e. for you to receive this letter and for me to get one in return, I shall be much obliged if you will write on the receipt of this (supposing you have not already written) and address to us here, where we shall await news from you.
We have had delicious weather ever since we left Rome, and you know what Naples is in delicious weather. Surely no place in the world can be much more beautiful, and Pompeii, 538 with the remains collected in the Museo Borbonico creates an historical interest equal to almost anything one felt in Rome. We spent our second week in excursions to Paestum, Amalfi, and Sorrento, and I think that one week has done us more good physical[ly] than all the rest of our travelling. I have a shameful tendency always to flourish on idleness and indulgence, and am feeling thoroughly strong; Mr. Lewes is in nothing like so good condition, but I am thankful to hear him say that he really is better in spite of frequent headaches and deafness. This news is naturally more important to us than the politics of Sicily, and so I am apt to write of it to our friends, rather than of Garibaldi and Tuscan filibusters; but things really look so threatening in the Neapolitan kingdom that we began to think ourselves fortunate in having got our visit done. Tuscany is in the highest political spirits for the moment, and of course Victor Emanuel stares at us at every turn here, with the most loyal exaggeration of moustache and intelligent meaning. But we are selfishly careless about dynasties just now, caring more for the doings of Giotto and Brunelleschi, than for those of Count Cavour. On a first journey to the greatest centres of art, one must be excused for letting one's public spirit go to sleep a little. As for me, I am thrown into a state of humiliating passivity by the sight of the great things done in the far past -- it seems as if life were not long enough to learn, and as if my own activity were so completely dwarfed by comparison that I should never have courage for more creation of my own. There is only one thing that has an opposite and stimulating effect: it is, the comparative rarity even here of great and truthful art, and the abundance of wretched imitation and falsity. Every hand is wanted in the world that can do a little genuine, sincere work.
We are at the quietest hotel in Florence, having sought it out for the sake of getting clear of the stream of English and Americans in which one finds oneself in all the main tracks of travel, so that one seems at last to be in a perpetual noisy pic-nic, obliged to be civil though with a strong inclination to be sullen. My philanthropy rises several degrees as soon as we are alone. Mr. Lewes is more sociable than I am, but finds travelling society rather too strongly American in its flavour to be quite desirable, and so we concur in the disposition to know nobody.
He unites with me in kind regards, and wants me to tell you that he read the story of the Great Fight 539 -- every round, as described in Bell's Life -- at Amalfi! Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
J. Blackwood Esq.
P.S. Remember that with me, "No news is bad news."
Signature
Marian Evans Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Florence, 18 May 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/92578