GE to John Chapman, East Sheen, 25 June [1855]
Title
GE to John Chapman, East Sheen, 25 June [1855]
Title
GE to John Chapman, East Sheen, 25 June [1855]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Chapman
Date(s)
- 1855-06-25
Place
East Sheen
Letter Content
GE to John Chapman, East Sheen, 25 June [1855]
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Endorsed: Marian Evans. 55. Published: B. C. Williams, George Eliot, 1936, pp. 111-113.
East Sheen | June 25.
Dear Friend
I have just finished an attentive reading of your article, 606 and I write down the remarks that occur to me while they are fresh in my mind. You seem to have a decided faculty for digesting facts as evidence. I was particularly struck with this in your account of the Martineau and Hodgson affair. 607 In that part of your article which consists of digested narrative your style is on the whole clear, easy, and forcible; but whenever you pass from narrative to dissertation, certain old faults reappear -- inexactness of expression, triads and duads of verbs and adjectives, mixed metaphors and a sort of watery volume that requires to be reduced by evaporation. Passages with these characteristics chiefly occur in the manuscript sheets and I have marked most of them with a pencil line by the side; but by and bye I will specify one or two.
I have a logical objection to the phrases "it would seem," "it would appear," "we would remark." Would -- under what condition? The real meaning is -- it does seem, it does appear, we do remark. These phrases are rarely found in good writers, and ought never to be found.
"Suffice it to say" is the peculiar property of hack writers. Don't infringe on their domain.
"On the one hand" and "on the other hand" are rather too frequent. They should never be used except when they are necessary for the sake of clearness, and this necessity is often produced purely by the awkward and heavy structure of the sentence.
As cannot properly correspond to equally.
Such sentences as, "Wishing to connect himself with, and consequently to secure the countenance of, some of the most influential," etc. are only admissible under inexorable necessity. They make a style seem operose and unwieldy. Ease is the grand desideratum, next to clearness.
You cannot properly say that a law obtains -- but only that a custom or practice obtains. In general, "obtain" in this sense is not elegant.
So much for little points of style which I commend to your attention. "Progressive improvement" (2d page of manuscript) is a questionable phrase. You mean gradual improvement. To "emerge from a catalepsy" is also questionable. The sentence on the same page which I have marked with a pencil line and star is bad. Pray rewrite it. "Stepping stones" cannot be "forged into fetters."
Your sentences would often be much improved by being broken up. That plan of linking propositions together into unvarying, long sentences gives your style a tough, gutta percha sort of consistence. It should be more brittle -- as most clear and bright things are. The sentence on page g of manuscript is an example of this. The main proposition of this sentence is, that the practice of confining women prevailed in Greece; but by your mode of weaving the sentence you make this a subordinate proposition. The principal statement in your sentence is, that the confinement of woman is a usual attendant on polygamy in an early stage of civilization, and your statements about Greece are dragged after this in clauses beginning with [which,] [while,] and [so that.]
The repetition of a phrase is frequently necessary in order to give force and clearness to a sentence. You seem to shun this repetition as if it were a vice. For example, on page h your sentence is limping and feeble for want of such repetition. It would be greatly strengthened if you were to say [how much the male population were wanting in,] etc. -- and how much the legislators were wanting in wisdom. [Affectionate enlightenment] is a questionable phrase.
There seems to be a chronological confusion on the last page of your manuscript. Feudalism did not rise, but began to decay, with the Revival of Learning. Do you mean by this phrase, what is generally meant by it -- the revival of learning in the 15th century -- or the grand culture of the Middle Ages which had its commencement with the Crusades? In either case, there remains a confusion.
The account of Greece is, as you say, rather meagre. I think it would be desirable to notice that in Greece, as in England, the position of woman was practically ameliorated and her power practically increased without any corresponding advance in legislation. 608 Under the Macedonian rule, wives were powerful enough to make their husbands groan out terrible complaints in their 'e9panchement to confidential friends -- as the fragments of the comic writers show. 609
The article is very interesting and able. The manuscript portion, with the exception of what relates to Rome, seems to me very inferior to the slips, and I think it is quite worth your while to revise it thoroughly, with a view to force, point, and clearness.
I have written as unceremoniously as I used to do in the old days, believing that you will like that best.
Ever yours truly
Marian Evans.
MS: Berg Collection, New York Public Library. Endorsed: Marian Evans. 55. Published: B. C. Williams, George Eliot, 1936, pp. 111-113.
East Sheen | June 25.
Dear Friend
I have just finished an attentive reading of your article, 606 and I write down the remarks that occur to me while they are fresh in my mind. You seem to have a decided faculty for digesting facts as evidence. I was particularly struck with this in your account of the Martineau and Hodgson affair. 607 In that part of your article which consists of digested narrative your style is on the whole clear, easy, and forcible; but whenever you pass from narrative to dissertation, certain old faults reappear -- inexactness of expression, triads and duads of verbs and adjectives, mixed metaphors and a sort of watery volume that requires to be reduced by evaporation. Passages with these characteristics chiefly occur in the manuscript sheets and I have marked most of them with a pencil line by the side; but by and bye I will specify one or two.
I have a logical objection to the phrases "it would seem," "it would appear," "we would remark." Would -- under what condition? The real meaning is -- it does seem, it does appear, we do remark. These phrases are rarely found in good writers, and ought never to be found.
"Suffice it to say" is the peculiar property of hack writers. Don't infringe on their domain.
"On the one hand" and "on the other hand" are rather too frequent. They should never be used except when they are necessary for the sake of clearness, and this necessity is often produced purely by the awkward and heavy structure of the sentence.
As cannot properly correspond to equally.
Such sentences as, "Wishing to connect himself with, and consequently to secure the countenance of, some of the most influential," etc. are only admissible under inexorable necessity. They make a style seem operose and unwieldy. Ease is the grand desideratum, next to clearness.
You cannot properly say that a law obtains -- but only that a custom or practice obtains. In general, "obtain" in this sense is not elegant.
So much for little points of style which I commend to your attention. "Progressive improvement" (2d page of manuscript) is a questionable phrase. You mean gradual improvement. To "emerge from a catalepsy" is also questionable. The sentence on the same page which I have marked with a pencil line and star is bad. Pray rewrite it. "Stepping stones" cannot be "forged into fetters."
Your sentences would often be much improved by being broken up. That plan of linking propositions together into unvarying, long sentences gives your style a tough, gutta percha sort of consistence. It should be more brittle -- as most clear and bright things are. The sentence on page g of manuscript is an example of this. The main proposition of this sentence is, that the practice of confining women prevailed in Greece; but by your mode of weaving the sentence you make this a subordinate proposition. The principal statement in your sentence is, that the confinement of woman is a usual attendant on polygamy in an early stage of civilization, and your statements about Greece are dragged after this in clauses beginning with [which,] [while,] and [so that.]
The repetition of a phrase is frequently necessary in order to give force and clearness to a sentence. You seem to shun this repetition as if it were a vice. For example, on page h your sentence is limping and feeble for want of such repetition. It would be greatly strengthened if you were to say [how much the male population were wanting in,] etc. -- and how much the legislators were wanting in wisdom. [Affectionate enlightenment] is a questionable phrase.
There seems to be a chronological confusion on the last page of your manuscript. Feudalism did not rise, but began to decay, with the Revival of Learning. Do you mean by this phrase, what is generally meant by it -- the revival of learning in the 15th century -- or the grand culture of the Middle Ages which had its commencement with the Crusades? In either case, there remains a confusion.
The account of Greece is, as you say, rather meagre. I think it would be desirable to notice that in Greece, as in England, the position of woman was practically ameliorated and her power practically increased without any corresponding advance in legislation. 608 Under the Macedonian rule, wives were powerful enough to make their husbands groan out terrible complaints in their 'e9panchement to confidential friends -- as the fragments of the comic writers show. 609
The article is very interesting and able. The manuscript portion, with the exception of what relates to Rome, seems to me very inferior to the slips, and I think it is quite worth your while to revise it thoroughly, with a view to force, point, and clearness.
I have written as unceremoniously as I used to do in the old days, believing that you will like that best.
Ever yours truly
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Chapman, East Sheen, 25 June [1855], 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/92788