GE to John Gwyther, Wandsworth, [15 June 1859]
Title
GE to John Gwyther, Wandsworth, [15 June 1859]
Title
GE to John Gwyther, Wandsworth, [15 June 1859]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Gwyther
Date(s)
- 1859-06-15
Place
Wandsworth
Letter Content
GE to John Gwyther, Wandsworth, [15 June 1859]
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
The author of the "Scenes of Clerical Life" and "Adam Bede" begs me 159 to inform you that he is not the Rev. W. H. King, but a much younger person, who wrote "Amos Barton" under the impression that the clergyman whose long past trial suggested the groundwork of the story was no longer living, and that the incidents, not only through the license and necessities of artistic writing, but in consequence of the writer's imperfect knowledge, must have been so varied from the actual facts, that any one who discerned the core of truth must also recognize the large amount of arbitrary, imaginative addition.
But for any annoyance, even though it may have been brief and not well-founded, which the appearance of the story may have caused Mr. Gwyther, the writer is sincerely sorry.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
The author of the "Scenes of Clerical Life" and "Adam Bede" begs me 159 to inform you that he is not the Rev. W. H. King, but a much younger person, who wrote "Amos Barton" under the impression that the clergyman whose long past trial suggested the groundwork of the story was no longer living, and that the incidents, not only through the license and necessities of artistic writing, but in consequence of the writer's imperfect knowledge, must have been so varied from the actual facts, that any one who discerned the core of truth must also recognize the large amount of arbitrary, imaginative addition.
But for any annoyance, even though it may have been brief and not well-founded, which the appearance of the story may have caused Mr. Gwyther, the writer is sincerely sorry.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Gwyther, Wandsworth, [15 June 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/92809