GE to John Blackwood, Shottermill, 15 July 1871
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Shottermill, 15 July 1871
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Shottermill, 15 July 1871
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1871-07-15
Place
Shottermill
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Shottermill, 15 July 1871
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, III, 135-137.
Shottermill | near Petersfield | July 15. 71.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I still feel that I owe you my thanks for your kind letter, 319 although Mr. Lewes undertook to deliver them in the first instance. You certainly made a seat at the Commemoration Table 320 look more tempting to me than it had done before, but I think that prudence advises me to abstain from the fatigue and excitement of a long railway journey with a great gathering at the end of it. If there is a chance that "Middle-march" will be good for anything, I don't want to break down and die without finishing it. And whatever "the tow on my distaff" may be, my strength to unwind it has not been abundant lately.
Apropos of bodily prosperity, I am sincerely rejoiced to know by your postscript this morning that Mr. Simpson is recovered. 321 I hope he will not object to my considering him a good friend of mine, though it is so long since I saw him. The blank that is left when thorough workers like him are disabled, is felt not only near at hand but a great way off. I often say -- after the fashion of people who are getting older -- that the capacity for good work of the kind that goes on without trumpets is diminishing in the world.
The continuous absence of sunshine 322 is depressing in every way, and makes one fear for the harvest -- so grave a fear that one is ashamed of mentioning one's private dreariness. You cannot play golf in the rain, and I cannot feel hopeful without the sunlight; but I daresay you work all the more, whereas when my spirits flag my work flags too.
I should have liked to see Principal Tulloch 323 again, and to have made the acquaintance of Captain Lockhart, 324 whose writing is so jaunty and cheery, yet so thoroughly refined in feeling. Perhaps I may still have this pleasure in town, when he comes up at the same time with you?
Please give my kind regards to Mr. William Blackwood, and believe me
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Published: Cross, III, 135-137.
Shottermill | near Petersfield | July 15. 71.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I still feel that I owe you my thanks for your kind letter, 319 although Mr. Lewes undertook to deliver them in the first instance. You certainly made a seat at the Commemoration Table 320 look more tempting to me than it had done before, but I think that prudence advises me to abstain from the fatigue and excitement of a long railway journey with a great gathering at the end of it. If there is a chance that "Middle-march" will be good for anything, I don't want to break down and die without finishing it. And whatever "the tow on my distaff" may be, my strength to unwind it has not been abundant lately.
Apropos of bodily prosperity, I am sincerely rejoiced to know by your postscript this morning that Mr. Simpson is recovered. 321 I hope he will not object to my considering him a good friend of mine, though it is so long since I saw him. The blank that is left when thorough workers like him are disabled, is felt not only near at hand but a great way off. I often say -- after the fashion of people who are getting older -- that the capacity for good work of the kind that goes on without trumpets is diminishing in the world.
The continuous absence of sunshine 322 is depressing in every way, and makes one fear for the harvest -- so grave a fear that one is ashamed of mentioning one's private dreariness. You cannot play golf in the rain, and I cannot feel hopeful without the sunlight; but I daresay you work all the more, whereas when my spirits flag my work flags too.
I should have liked to see Principal Tulloch 323 again, and to have made the acquaintance of Captain Lockhart, 324 whose writing is so jaunty and cheery, yet so thoroughly refined in feeling. Perhaps I may still have this pleasure in town, when he comes up at the same time with you?
Please give my kind regards to Mr. William Blackwood, and believe me
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Shottermill, 15 July 1871, 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/92726