GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 August 1869
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 August 1869
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 August 1869
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1869-08-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 August 1869
MS: Nuneaton Public Library. The engraved heading has been cut out. Hitherto unpublished.
August 5. 69.
My dear Sir
Thanks for your kind inquiries. Thornie has had much wearisome suffering since we saw you, 92 and for a long time after his spine showed signs of being better, we were discouraged by his growing torpor and weakness, probably due to indigestion. He is even thinner than he was when he came home, but he is now out of visible danger, and on favourable days, he is carried down to the lawn, where we have an iron bedstead for him. He is there now, and sleeping. 93 If he were awake, he would be glad to send you his thanks for remembering him.
I am trying to make the best use of my time. But the hours are not long enough for all I want to do in them. The bit of M.S. you have sent me might really pass for mine, as it is in certain moods. I trust the writer 94 may prove a satisfactory Master for your Boy, whose future will probably make a large part of yours. Sons are heavy hostages to the powers at work in our lives.
London is a quiet place now, but its quiet is not of so delightful a sort as that to be had at Strathtyrum. In these days when all the world is rushing along railways to German Baths or Swiss Valleys, the only way of enjoying a holiday is to have a place of your own in the country. I wish my fellow-creatures well, but I cannot enjoy being in a stream of them at holiday time. So we do not mind staying in town when other people leave it -- if only the reason for staying were less melancholy.
Mr. Lewes gets some mornings of enjoyment in study and writing, when the too frequent headaches do not come in the way. He was a good deal shattered in May, and will want some large draughts of mental ease, to make him quite well.
With best regards to Mr. William Blackwood,
Yours always truly
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Nuneaton Public Library. The engraved heading has been cut out. Hitherto unpublished.
August 5. 69.
My dear Sir
Thanks for your kind inquiries. Thornie has had much wearisome suffering since we saw you, 92 and for a long time after his spine showed signs of being better, we were discouraged by his growing torpor and weakness, probably due to indigestion. He is even thinner than he was when he came home, but he is now out of visible danger, and on favourable days, he is carried down to the lawn, where we have an iron bedstead for him. He is there now, and sleeping. 93 If he were awake, he would be glad to send you his thanks for remembering him.
I am trying to make the best use of my time. But the hours are not long enough for all I want to do in them. The bit of M.S. you have sent me might really pass for mine, as it is in certain moods. I trust the writer 94 may prove a satisfactory Master for your Boy, whose future will probably make a large part of yours. Sons are heavy hostages to the powers at work in our lives.
London is a quiet place now, but its quiet is not of so delightful a sort as that to be had at Strathtyrum. In these days when all the world is rushing along railways to German Baths or Swiss Valleys, the only way of enjoying a holiday is to have a place of your own in the country. I wish my fellow-creatures well, but I cannot enjoy being in a stream of them at holiday time. So we do not mind staying in town when other people leave it -- if only the reason for staying were less melancholy.
Mr. Lewes gets some mornings of enjoyment in study and writing, when the too frequent headaches do not come in the way. He was a good deal shattered in May, and will want some large draughts of mental ease, to make him quite well.
With best regards to Mr. William Blackwood,
Yours always truly
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 5 August 1869, 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/92685