GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 16 October 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 16 October 1859
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 16 October 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1859-10-16
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 16 October 1859
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 137-139.
Holly Lodge | October 16. 59.
My dear Sir
The other day, happening to take up the 2 volume edition of "Adam," I read on a good way, and shuddered not a little, every now and then, to find how many misprints had crept even into this first of the 2 volume editions. Unless something can be done to refresh the official Reader's care, the text will become corrupt to an extent that will really mar many passages of the book. Conceive an author's feelings at finding such changes as "vale" for "veil," making him guilty of bad metaphors! Will you "sharpen it into" the right persons, that in correcting the press a copy of the first 3 volume edition must be used, and that great care must be taken of the dialect, though this is less vital than nouns and verbs. Still it is a blemish, to see such things as "theed'st" constantly printed for "thee'dst."
I wish you had read the letter you enclosed to me -- it is really curious. The writer, an educated person, asks me to "perfect and extend" the benefit Adam Bede has "conferred on society," by writing a sequel to it, in which I am to tell all about Hetty after her reprieve -- "Arthur's efforts to obtain the reprieve and his desperate ride after obtaining it -- Dinah on board the convict ship -- Dinah's letters to Hetty -- and whatever the author might choose to reveal concerning Hetty's years of banishment." "Minor instances of the incompleteness which induces an unsatisfactory feeling may be alleged in the disposal of the locket and ear-rings -- which everybody expects to re-appear -- and in the incident of the pink silk neckerchief, of which all would like to hear a little more"!! 352
I do feel more than I ought about outside sayings and doings, such as Mr. Bracebridge's, and I constantly rebuke myself for all that part of my susceptibility which I know to be weak and egoistic; still, what is said about one's art is not merely a personal matter -- it touches the very highest things one lives for. Having discovered that I had an aunt who was a Wesleyan, Mr. B. leaped to the statement that I must have seen journals and notes of sermons by my aunt, and that these were the foundation of Dinah's sermons etc.! Whereupon other people echo -- "O, to be sure, no one but a Dinah herself could have produced such a sermon, such prayers etc. etc." Now this supposition is simply a proof of the low conceptions of art that are prevalent, and the narrow, ignorant views of religious history and religious life. Truth in art is so startling, that no one can believe in it as art; and the specific forms of religious life which have made some of the grandest elements in human history are looked down upon as if they were not within the artist's sympathy and veneration and intensely dramatic reproduction. "I do well to be angry," 353 on that ground, don't I? The simple fact is, that I never saw anything of my aunt's writing -- I don't believe she could write; and Dinah's words came from me, "as the tears come, because our heart is full and we can't help them."
If you were living in London instead of at Edinburgh, I should ask you to read the first volume of "Sister Maggie" at once, for the sake of having your impressions; but it is inconvenient to me to part with the M.S. The great success of "Adam" makes my writing a matter of more anxiety than ever: I suppose there is a little sense of responsibility mixed up with a great deal of pride. And I think I should worry myself still more if I began to print before the thing is essentially complete. So on all grounds it is better to wait.
How clever and picturesque the Horse dealer in Syria 354 is! I read him with keen interest, only wishing that he saw the seamy side of things rather less habitually. Excellent Captain Speke can't write so well, but one follows him out of grave sympathy. 355 That a man should live through such things as that beetle in his ear! Such papers as these make the specialit'e9 of "Blackwood": one sees them nowhere else.
You must no longer believe in Pug's portrait -- he is so much handsomer, to say nothing of the new "mind, the music breathing from his face." 356 Considering that when he came, he was a sort of cr'e9tin, fit for Dr. Guggenb'fchl's establishment, 357 I am proud of the advance he has made in three months of our intellectual society. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 137-139.
Holly Lodge | October 16. 59.
My dear Sir
The other day, happening to take up the 2 volume edition of "Adam," I read on a good way, and shuddered not a little, every now and then, to find how many misprints had crept even into this first of the 2 volume editions. Unless something can be done to refresh the official Reader's care, the text will become corrupt to an extent that will really mar many passages of the book. Conceive an author's feelings at finding such changes as "vale" for "veil," making him guilty of bad metaphors! Will you "sharpen it into" the right persons, that in correcting the press a copy of the first 3 volume edition must be used, and that great care must be taken of the dialect, though this is less vital than nouns and verbs. Still it is a blemish, to see such things as "theed'st" constantly printed for "thee'dst."
I wish you had read the letter you enclosed to me -- it is really curious. The writer, an educated person, asks me to "perfect and extend" the benefit Adam Bede has "conferred on society," by writing a sequel to it, in which I am to tell all about Hetty after her reprieve -- "Arthur's efforts to obtain the reprieve and his desperate ride after obtaining it -- Dinah on board the convict ship -- Dinah's letters to Hetty -- and whatever the author might choose to reveal concerning Hetty's years of banishment." "Minor instances of the incompleteness which induces an unsatisfactory feeling may be alleged in the disposal of the locket and ear-rings -- which everybody expects to re-appear -- and in the incident of the pink silk neckerchief, of which all would like to hear a little more"!! 352
I do feel more than I ought about outside sayings and doings, such as Mr. Bracebridge's, and I constantly rebuke myself for all that part of my susceptibility which I know to be weak and egoistic; still, what is said about one's art is not merely a personal matter -- it touches the very highest things one lives for. Having discovered that I had an aunt who was a Wesleyan, Mr. B. leaped to the statement that I must have seen journals and notes of sermons by my aunt, and that these were the foundation of Dinah's sermons etc.! Whereupon other people echo -- "O, to be sure, no one but a Dinah herself could have produced such a sermon, such prayers etc. etc." Now this supposition is simply a proof of the low conceptions of art that are prevalent, and the narrow, ignorant views of religious history and religious life. Truth in art is so startling, that no one can believe in it as art; and the specific forms of religious life which have made some of the grandest elements in human history are looked down upon as if they were not within the artist's sympathy and veneration and intensely dramatic reproduction. "I do well to be angry," 353 on that ground, don't I? The simple fact is, that I never saw anything of my aunt's writing -- I don't believe she could write; and Dinah's words came from me, "as the tears come, because our heart is full and we can't help them."
If you were living in London instead of at Edinburgh, I should ask you to read the first volume of "Sister Maggie" at once, for the sake of having your impressions; but it is inconvenient to me to part with the M.S. The great success of "Adam" makes my writing a matter of more anxiety than ever: I suppose there is a little sense of responsibility mixed up with a great deal of pride. And I think I should worry myself still more if I began to print before the thing is essentially complete. So on all grounds it is better to wait.
How clever and picturesque the Horse dealer in Syria 354 is! I read him with keen interest, only wishing that he saw the seamy side of things rather less habitually. Excellent Captain Speke can't write so well, but one follows him out of grave sympathy. 355 That a man should live through such things as that beetle in his ear! Such papers as these make the specialit'e9 of "Blackwood": one sees them nowhere else.
You must no longer believe in Pug's portrait -- he is so much handsomer, to say nothing of the new "mind, the music breathing from his face." 356 Considering that when he came, he was a sort of cr'e9tin, fit for Dr. Guggenb'fchl's establishment, 357 I am proud of the advance he has made in three months of our intellectual society. Ever, my dear Sir,
Yours very truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
John Blackwood Esq.
Signature
Marian Evans Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 16 October 1859, 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/92736