GE to John Blackwood, Witley, 16 July 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Witley, 16 July 1879
Title
GE to John Blackwood, Witley, 16 July 1879
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Blackwood
Date(s)
- 1879-07-16
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to John Blackwood, Witley, 16 July 1879
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 372-373.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
July 16. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I was beginning to want some news of you and was almost ready to ask for it. It is the more welcome for having had time to ripen into a decidedly good report of your condition. About myself I have a very poor story to tell, being now in the fifth week of a troublesome illness, in which like you I have been partly fed on [poisonous decoctions.] Today however happens to show a considerable improvement in my symptoms and I have been walking in the warmer air with more ease than hitherto. Driving I have not been able to manage for some time, the motion of the carriage shaking me too much. The best of care has been taken of me. I have an excellent country doctor who watches me daily, and Sir James Paget and Dr. Andrew Clarke have been down to add their supervision. 297 I begin to think that if I can avoid any evil condition such as a chill that would bring on a relapse, I may soon be pretty well again. The point to be achieved is to stop the wasting of my not too solid flesh. Imagine me having champagne "to my own cheek!" That is what I am ordered to do, and I certainly relish it better than I do the poisonous decoctions.
I am glad to hear that the third edition of Theophrastus has had so lively a movement. If the remainder should be sold off, I think it would be well just to print a small number of copies to carry on, and avoid bringing out a cheaper edition too soon after people have been paying for the expensive one. 298
The weather is a greater calamity even than the Zulu War. This 16th was to be the usher of dryness and heat, but since I came in, it has begun to rain heavily and steadily and seems intending to make a night of it.
Your specimen of the Spectator's criticism 'e0 propos of Sir Garnet Wolseley's article is worth remembering. I never see that paper now, but one of my correspondents lately wrote that he thought the Spectator was getting into its dotage. I take in the Times for news and the Athenaeum for literary advertisements and I find these as much as I need of journalism.
I have been always able to write my letters and read my proofs, usually in bed before the fatigue of dressing, but the rest of my time has been very unprofitable -- spent chiefly in pain and languor. I am feeling easy now, and you will well understand that after undergoing pain this ease is opening paradise. Invalids must be excused for being eloquent about themselves.
My congratulations to Miss Blackwood on her high American reputation! With best regards
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extracts published: Cross, III, 372-373.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
July 16. 79.
My dear Mr. Blackwood
I was beginning to want some news of you and was almost ready to ask for it. It is the more welcome for having had time to ripen into a decidedly good report of your condition. About myself I have a very poor story to tell, being now in the fifth week of a troublesome illness, in which like you I have been partly fed on [poisonous decoctions.] Today however happens to show a considerable improvement in my symptoms and I have been walking in the warmer air with more ease than hitherto. Driving I have not been able to manage for some time, the motion of the carriage shaking me too much. The best of care has been taken of me. I have an excellent country doctor who watches me daily, and Sir James Paget and Dr. Andrew Clarke have been down to add their supervision. 297 I begin to think that if I can avoid any evil condition such as a chill that would bring on a relapse, I may soon be pretty well again. The point to be achieved is to stop the wasting of my not too solid flesh. Imagine me having champagne "to my own cheek!" That is what I am ordered to do, and I certainly relish it better than I do the poisonous decoctions.
I am glad to hear that the third edition of Theophrastus has had so lively a movement. If the remainder should be sold off, I think it would be well just to print a small number of copies to carry on, and avoid bringing out a cheaper edition too soon after people have been paying for the expensive one. 298
The weather is a greater calamity even than the Zulu War. This 16th was to be the usher of dryness and heat, but since I came in, it has begun to rain heavily and steadily and seems intending to make a night of it.
Your specimen of the Spectator's criticism 'e0 propos of Sir Garnet Wolseley's article is worth remembering. I never see that paper now, but one of my correspondents lately wrote that he thought the Spectator was getting into its dotage. I take in the Times for news and the Athenaeum for literary advertisements and I find these as much as I need of journalism.
I have been always able to write my letters and read my proofs, usually in bed before the fatigue of dressing, but the rest of my time has been very unprofitable -- spent chiefly in pain and languor. I am feeling easy now, and you will well understand that after undergoing pain this ease is opening paradise. Invalids must be excused for being eloquent about themselves.
My congratulations to Miss Blackwood on her high American reputation! With best regards
Always yours truly
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Blackwood, Witley, 16 July 1879, 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/92757