GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 5 February 1877
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 5 February 1877
Title
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 5 February 1877
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Elma Stuart
Date(s)
- 1877-02-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 5 February 1877
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 75-77.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 5. 77.
Dearest Elma
I think I should not tell you that Mr. Lewes is ill with a severe attack of rheumatism in the left leg, if it were not that we long for you to know how precious your beautiful Highland stick is to us now that his dear legs will not carry him along even for a few steps without its help. 604
But what immediately urges me not to delay writing you just a few lines is your having told us that you have been troubled in mind by that article of W. H. Mallock's in the Contemp. Rev. 605 -- an article which I must think unworthy of the respect implied in your perturbation. Only turn to the page (I think, 182) where he writes of virtue being rendered void and needless by perfect government, and your strong sense will surely guide you into further criticism of a writer who can vent such nonsense as the supposition that a perfect government can arise or be sustained through any other means than the growing virtues of mankind -- and who moreover throughout his article rests on the conception that apart from two doctrines there is nothing in the constitution of things to produce, to favour, or to demand a course of action called right. What kind of God can he boast himself to believe in, on that basis? -- I hope I do no injustice to his writing, which I have no time to give any particular attention to. And I wish
I could say more to help you than my present troubled distraction of mind will let me. I can only suggest to you that you should put the words [cleanliness] and [uncleanliness] for [virtue] and [vice,] and consider fully how you have come not only to regard cleanliness as a duty, but to shudder at uncleanliness; and what are the doctrines which, if taken from you, would make you at once sink into uncleanly habits yourself, and think it indifferent to the health of mankind whether such a habit as that of cleanliness existed in the world or not.
This analogy is 'abvery'bb imperfect, but its very imperfection will serve to throw the more light on the wide-spreading roots of social and personal good.
No more at present from your sadly troubled but always loving
Mother.
MS: British Museum. Published: Stuart, pp. 75-77.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
February 5. 77.
Dearest Elma
I think I should not tell you that Mr. Lewes is ill with a severe attack of rheumatism in the left leg, if it were not that we long for you to know how precious your beautiful Highland stick is to us now that his dear legs will not carry him along even for a few steps without its help. 604
But what immediately urges me not to delay writing you just a few lines is your having told us that you have been troubled in mind by that article of W. H. Mallock's in the Contemp. Rev. 605 -- an article which I must think unworthy of the respect implied in your perturbation. Only turn to the page (I think, 182) where he writes of virtue being rendered void and needless by perfect government, and your strong sense will surely guide you into further criticism of a writer who can vent such nonsense as the supposition that a perfect government can arise or be sustained through any other means than the growing virtues of mankind -- and who moreover throughout his article rests on the conception that apart from two doctrines there is nothing in the constitution of things to produce, to favour, or to demand a course of action called right. What kind of God can he boast himself to believe in, on that basis? -- I hope I do no injustice to his writing, which I have no time to give any particular attention to. And I wish
I could say more to help you than my present troubled distraction of mind will let me. I can only suggest to you that you should put the words [cleanliness] and [uncleanliness] for [virtue] and [vice,] and consider fully how you have come not only to regard cleanliness as a duty, but to shudder at uncleanliness; and what are the doctrines which, if taken from you, would make you at once sink into uncleanly habits yourself, and think it indifferent to the health of mankind whether such a habit as that of cleanliness existed in the world or not.
This analogy is 'abvery'bb imperfect, but its very imperfection will serve to throw the more light on the wide-spreading roots of social and personal good.
No more at present from your sadly troubled but always loving
Mother.
Signature
Mother.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Elma Stuart, London, 5 February 1877, 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/93417