GE to John Blackwood, London, 26 January 1878
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 26 January 1878
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 26 January 1878
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1878-01-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 26 January 1878
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 326-327.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
January 26. 78.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I must tell you, please, that I like to think of you and Mrs. Blackwood taking your daughter to Rome. It will be a delightful way of reviving memories, to mingle and compare them with her fresh impressions, and in a spiritual sense to have what Shakspeare says is the joy of having offspring -- "to see your blood warm while you feel it cold." 17 I wish that and all other prospects were not marred by the threat of widening war.
Last night I finished reading Principal Tulloch's small but full volume on Pascal 18 -- a present for which I am much obliged. It is admirably fair and dispassionate and I should think will be an acceptable piece of instruction to many readers. The brief and graphic way in which he has made present and intelligible the position of the Port-Royalists is an example of just what is needed in such a series as the Foreign Classics. But of course they are the most fortunate contributors who have to write about the authors less commonly treated of and especially when they are prepared to write by an early liking and long familiarity -- as in the present case. I have read every line of appreciation with interest.
My first acquaintance with Pascal came from his Pens'e9es being given to me as a school prize when I was fourteen, and I am continually turning to them now to revive my sense of their deep though broken wisdom. It is a pity that La Bruy'e8re cannot be done justice to by any merely English presentation. There is a sentence of his which touches with the finest point the diseased spot in the literary culture of our time -- "Le plaisir de la critique nous 'f4te celui d''eatre vivement touch'e9s de tr'e8s belles choses." 19 We see that our present fashions are old, but there is this difference, that they are followed by a greater multitude.
You may be sure that I was very much cheered by your last despatch -- the solid unmistakable proof that my books are not yet superfluous. Mr. Lewes received this morning Mr. Simpson's explanation about Australia. Something said or written had conjured up a wrong vision of adventurous campaigning in that region.
We shall soon, I hope, see you, and under good auspices as to weather for your long journey.
Always yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 326-327.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
January 26. 78.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I must tell you, please, that I like to think of you and Mrs. Blackwood taking your daughter to Rome. It will be a delightful way of reviving memories, to mingle and compare them with her fresh impressions, and in a spiritual sense to have what Shakspeare says is the joy of having offspring -- "to see your blood warm while you feel it cold." 17 I wish that and all other prospects were not marred by the threat of widening war.
Last night I finished reading Principal Tulloch's small but full volume on Pascal 18 -- a present for which I am much obliged. It is admirably fair and dispassionate and I should think will be an acceptable piece of instruction to many readers. The brief and graphic way in which he has made present and intelligible the position of the Port-Royalists is an example of just what is needed in such a series as the Foreign Classics. But of course they are the most fortunate contributors who have to write about the authors less commonly treated of and especially when they are prepared to write by an early liking and long familiarity -- as in the present case. I have read every line of appreciation with interest.
My first acquaintance with Pascal came from his Pens'e9es being given to me as a school prize when I was fourteen, and I am continually turning to them now to revive my sense of their deep though broken wisdom. It is a pity that La Bruy'e8re cannot be done justice to by any merely English presentation. There is a sentence of his which touches with the finest point the diseased spot in the literary culture of our time -- "Le plaisir de la critique nous 'f4te celui d''eatre vivement touch'e9s de tr'e8s belles choses." 19 We see that our present fashions are old, but there is this difference, that they are followed by a greater multitude.
You may be sure that I was very much cheered by your last despatch -- the solid unmistakable proof that my books are not yet superfluous. Mr. Lewes received this morning Mr. Simpson's explanation about Australia. Something said or written had conjured up a wrong vision of adventurous campaigning in that region.
We shall soon, I hope, see you, and under good auspices as to weather for your long journey.
Always yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 26 January 1878, 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/92660