GE to Robert Lytton, London, 26 September 1870
Title
GE to Robert Lytton, London, 26 September 1870
Title
GE to Robert Lytton, London, 26 September 1870
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Robert Lyt
Date(s)
- 1870-09-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Robert Lytton, London, 26 September 1870
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
September 26. 70.
Dear Mr. Lytton
The photographs are lovely, and I am grateful. But my gratitude includes some anticipation. I think Mrs. Lytton promised me the complete group -- parents as well as children. Still I should not like to be troublesome, so you must let the fulfilment of the pretty promise depend on your convenience.
I am getting more and more gloomy about the War. It seems as if every one were getting the worse for it (I mean morally worse), spectators as well as agents. In my intense dislike of vague blame, it is always a satisfaction to me when any one will speak who (like Sir Henry Bulwer) 930 is practically acquainted with affairs. If you were here I should ask you whether there is any real authority, any evidence beyond Parisian conceptions for the statement that the other neutral Powers hold back from recognition of the French Republic because they wait for England to take the initiative. I find excellent people, in talking of such matters, as free as savages from the need of any evidence for a statement which falls in with their dominant mood. Those who sympathize with the French believe what is discreditable to the Germans, and vice versa. This is to me the most pitiable weakness, and precisely that slavery of the judgment which it is one end of life-discipline to get rid of. To keep the temper also is an accomplishment which people are fast letting slip in this War discussion. Perhaps the aristocratic regions are more serious than the mid-air we are breathing. After all, one is glad that any public question should be a matter of general interest, and hot temper about them is better than the indifference of philistinism.
Mr. Lewes is going to Tunbridge Wells on this beautiful day to visit some friends 931 of ours who have a country paradise there. I was to have gone with him, but have been entered by a demon of tooth-ache and general misery, and am glad to hide myself from the world like a sick crab. This demon, of course, has written a muddled letter, and not allowed me to guide my own pen.
Mrs. Congreve sent me a note the day you were with us, 932 hoping that it would reach us in time for us to convey her thanks to you for the note you had sent to her.
The demon allows me to feel lovingly, though not to write clearly, and much of that lovingness goes out towards Mrs. Lytton. To her other self also I am always
His affectionately
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
September 26. 70.
Dear Mr. Lytton
The photographs are lovely, and I am grateful. But my gratitude includes some anticipation. I think Mrs. Lytton promised me the complete group -- parents as well as children. Still I should not like to be troublesome, so you must let the fulfilment of the pretty promise depend on your convenience.
I am getting more and more gloomy about the War. It seems as if every one were getting the worse for it (I mean morally worse), spectators as well as agents. In my intense dislike of vague blame, it is always a satisfaction to me when any one will speak who (like Sir Henry Bulwer) 930 is practically acquainted with affairs. If you were here I should ask you whether there is any real authority, any evidence beyond Parisian conceptions for the statement that the other neutral Powers hold back from recognition of the French Republic because they wait for England to take the initiative. I find excellent people, in talking of such matters, as free as savages from the need of any evidence for a statement which falls in with their dominant mood. Those who sympathize with the French believe what is discreditable to the Germans, and vice versa. This is to me the most pitiable weakness, and precisely that slavery of the judgment which it is one end of life-discipline to get rid of. To keep the temper also is an accomplishment which people are fast letting slip in this War discussion. Perhaps the aristocratic regions are more serious than the mid-air we are breathing. After all, one is glad that any public question should be a matter of general interest, and hot temper about them is better than the indifference of philistinism.
Mr. Lewes is going to Tunbridge Wells on this beautiful day to visit some friends 931 of ours who have a country paradise there. I was to have gone with him, but have been entered by a demon of tooth-ache and general misery, and am glad to hide myself from the world like a sick crab. This demon, of course, has written a muddled letter, and not allowed me to guide my own pen.
Mrs. Congreve sent me a note the day you were with us, 932 hoping that it would reach us in time for us to convey her thanks to you for the note you had sent to her.
The demon allows me to feel lovingly, though not to write clearly, and much of that lovingness goes out towards Mrs. Lytton. To her other self also I am always
His affectionately
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Robert Lytton, London, 26 September 1870, 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/93785