GE to John Blackwood, London, 7 March 1870
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 7 March 1870
Title
GE to John Blackwood, London, 7 March 1870
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1870-03-07
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, London, 7 March 1870
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
North Bank | March 7. 70.
My dear Sir
Many thanks for the cheque announced by your letter which Mr. Lewes has just brought up to me. We were afraid that you might write, or come up to town during our absence, and did not therefore like the thought of going away without sending you word of our movements. You are one of the voices of my conscience asking me, "What have you been doing?" I am obliged to tell my conscience that I have been suffering, in order to apologize for the small doing. But I am now in decidedly better health, and hope to have a tolerably long release from tooth-torments.
My novel, I suppose, will be finished some day: it creeps on. A rather long poem which I finished about Christmas I have been induced to accept an offer for from Mr. Macmillan, who has behaved very handsomely to me. I did not mention it (the poem) to you because I know that you do not care to have exceptional contributions to Maga. 133 And the English worship of Quantity does not allow the separate publication of 800 lines, after the fashion of America (for example, Lowell's "Cathedral"). 134 My poem is not to be published until May, the announcement for April being a mistake.
I am a good deal alarmed lest Mr. Lewes's nervous system should break down, as is the case so often with men who at any time in their life have been overdone with work and anxiety. But he has had the wisdom to cease writing entirely on finding that it left him in a state of nervous exhaustion. An interesting journey in which we shall see many acquaintances and be within reach of amusements, will be the best thing for him. He looks better than usual, but he is conscious of a marked diminution in his power of brain-work and I observe, in everything that he undertakes, that while there is the same intensity as of old, he is more quickly fatigued.
Apart from this, all is well with us. Dickens, who was with us the other day, 135 says that he immediately gave up his Readings, on a warning as to his nervous condition, which Watson 136 told him he must not disregard. The constant journeys by express train must contribute to the terrible wear and tear of his work.
I don't know whether Mr. Lewes told you that we intend to start on Monday next. We are unfortunate in circumstances that again and again have urged us to move across the Channel at the equinox or near it. But our experience tells us that there are more comforts for cold weather in northern countries than in southern, and we were once a whole winter in Berlin. If we are able to go on to Vienna in the middle of April, we shall probably find some delights of spring in its pretty neighbourhood.
I am glad that you have got through this severe winter (or latter-winter) without worse evils than a cough. The last time you were with us I thought you looked more robust than I had ever seen you look.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
North Bank | March 7. 70.
My dear Sir
Many thanks for the cheque announced by your letter which Mr. Lewes has just brought up to me. We were afraid that you might write, or come up to town during our absence, and did not therefore like the thought of going away without sending you word of our movements. You are one of the voices of my conscience asking me, "What have you been doing?" I am obliged to tell my conscience that I have been suffering, in order to apologize for the small doing. But I am now in decidedly better health, and hope to have a tolerably long release from tooth-torments.
My novel, I suppose, will be finished some day: it creeps on. A rather long poem which I finished about Christmas I have been induced to accept an offer for from Mr. Macmillan, who has behaved very handsomely to me. I did not mention it (the poem) to you because I know that you do not care to have exceptional contributions to Maga. 133 And the English worship of Quantity does not allow the separate publication of 800 lines, after the fashion of America (for example, Lowell's "Cathedral"). 134 My poem is not to be published until May, the announcement for April being a mistake.
I am a good deal alarmed lest Mr. Lewes's nervous system should break down, as is the case so often with men who at any time in their life have been overdone with work and anxiety. But he has had the wisdom to cease writing entirely on finding that it left him in a state of nervous exhaustion. An interesting journey in which we shall see many acquaintances and be within reach of amusements, will be the best thing for him. He looks better than usual, but he is conscious of a marked diminution in his power of brain-work and I observe, in everything that he undertakes, that while there is the same intensity as of old, he is more quickly fatigued.
Apart from this, all is well with us. Dickens, who was with us the other day, 135 says that he immediately gave up his Readings, on a warning as to his nervous condition, which Watson 136 told him he must not disregard. The constant journeys by express train must contribute to the terrible wear and tear of his work.
I don't know whether Mr. Lewes told you that we intend to start on Monday next. We are unfortunate in circumstances that again and again have urged us to move across the Channel at the equinox or near it. But our experience tells us that there are more comforts for cold weather in northern countries than in southern, and we were once a whole winter in Berlin. If we are able to go on to Vienna in the middle of April, we shall probably find some delights of spring in its pretty neighbourhood.
I am glad that you have got through this severe winter (or latter-winter) without worse evils than a cough. The last time you were with us I thought you looked more robust than I had ever seen you look.
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, London, 7 March 1870, 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/92695