GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 11 December 1857
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 11 December 1857
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 11 December 1857
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1857-12-11
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 11 December 1857
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, I, 476-477.
Richmond | December 11th 57.
My dear Sir
Lewes has read to me your last kind letter, and I am not insensible to the "practical cheerer" it contains. But I rejoice with trembling at the additional 250, lest you should have to repent of them. 1031
I have certainly had a good deal of encouragement to believe that there are many minds, both of the more cultured sort and of the common novel-reading class, likely to be touched by my stories, but the word "many" is very elastic, and often shrinks frightfully when measured by a financial standard.
When one remembers how long it was before Charles Lamb's Essays were known familiarly to any but the elect few, the very strongest assurance of merit or originality -- supposing one so happy as to have that assurance -- could hardly do more than give the hope of ultimate recognition.
With thanks for the good news you send me, I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, I, 476-477.
Richmond | December 11th 57.
My dear Sir
Lewes has read to me your last kind letter, and I am not insensible to the "practical cheerer" it contains. But I rejoice with trembling at the additional 250, lest you should have to repent of them. 1031
I have certainly had a good deal of encouragement to believe that there are many minds, both of the more cultured sort and of the common novel-reading class, likely to be touched by my stories, but the word "many" is very elastic, and often shrinks frightfully when measured by a financial standard.
When one remembers how long it was before Charles Lamb's Essays were known familiarly to any but the elect few, the very strongest assurance of merit or originality -- supposing one so happy as to have that assurance -- could hardly do more than give the hope of ultimate recognition.
With thanks for the good news you send me, I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
George Eliot.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
George Eliot.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Richmond, 11 December 1857, 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/92705