GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 March 1860
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 March 1860
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 March 1860
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1860-03-22
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 March 1860
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 159-160.
Holly Lodge | March 22. 60.
My dear Sir
Your letter yesterday morning helped to inspire me for the last 11 pages -- if they have any inspiration in them. They were written in a furor, but I dare say there is not a word different from what it would have been if I had written them at the slowest pace. It makes me rather miserable that I can't see the proofs, for though Mr. Lewes read the last 11 pages after I had written them, I did not. Lying awake in the night and living through the scene again, three corrections occurred to me, and I hope there will be time for you to make them.
In Maggie's speech -- mental speech -- before she falls on her knees, strike out the "O God" before the words "How shall I have patience and strength?" 517 [Three words deleted.] It spoils the climax in the next paragraph.
Please to insert "wooden" before "machinery," 518 if I have not put it. I mean the machinery that upsets the boat.
In the "Conclusion," it occurs to me that I have written, "bear the stamp of the past rending." For "stamp" please put "marks." 519
We expect to start on Saturday morning, and to be in Rome by Palm Sunday -- or else by the following Tuesday. Of course we shall write to you when we know what will be our address in Rome. In the meantime news will gather. I don't mean to send the "Mill on the Floss" to any one, except to Dickens, 520 who has behaved with a delicate kindness in a recent matter, which I wish to acknowledge. Mr. Langford has had word of that, but I just mention that I don't mean to send any copies about, because, if you present any, I should be glad if you would particularly enjoin "From the Publisher" to be written in them, that they may not be imagined to come from me.
I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished -- sad that I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But it is time that I should go and absorb some new life and gather fresh ideas.
Pray give my kind remembrances to Major Blackwood and believe me
Always yours truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
J. Blackwood Esq.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, II, 159-160.
Holly Lodge | March 22. 60.
My dear Sir
Your letter yesterday morning helped to inspire me for the last 11 pages -- if they have any inspiration in them. They were written in a furor, but I dare say there is not a word different from what it would have been if I had written them at the slowest pace. It makes me rather miserable that I can't see the proofs, for though Mr. Lewes read the last 11 pages after I had written them, I did not. Lying awake in the night and living through the scene again, three corrections occurred to me, and I hope there will be time for you to make them.
In Maggie's speech -- mental speech -- before she falls on her knees, strike out the "O God" before the words "How shall I have patience and strength?" 517 [Three words deleted.] It spoils the climax in the next paragraph.
Please to insert "wooden" before "machinery," 518 if I have not put it. I mean the machinery that upsets the boat.
In the "Conclusion," it occurs to me that I have written, "bear the stamp of the past rending." For "stamp" please put "marks." 519
We expect to start on Saturday morning, and to be in Rome by Palm Sunday -- or else by the following Tuesday. Of course we shall write to you when we know what will be our address in Rome. In the meantime news will gather. I don't mean to send the "Mill on the Floss" to any one, except to Dickens, 520 who has behaved with a delicate kindness in a recent matter, which I wish to acknowledge. Mr. Langford has had word of that, but I just mention that I don't mean to send any copies about, because, if you present any, I should be glad if you would particularly enjoin "From the Publisher" to be written in them, that they may not be imagined to come from me.
I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished -- sad that I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But it is time that I should go and absorb some new life and gather fresh ideas.
Pray give my kind remembrances to Major Blackwood and believe me
Always yours truly
Marian Evans Lewes.
J. Blackwood Esq.
Signature
Marian Evans Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Wandsworth, 22 March 1860, 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/92741