GE to The Hon. Robert Lytton, London, [8 May 1869]
Title
GE to The Hon. Robert Lytton, London, [8 May 1869]
Title
GE to The Hon. Robert Lytton, London, [8 May 1869]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
The Hon. Robert Lyt
Date(s)
- 1869-05-08
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to The Hon. Robert Lytton, London, [8 May 1869]
Text: Cross, III, 72-74 with omitted passages inserted from the MS owned by Lady Hermione Cobbold, in whose collection at Knebworth there is also a letter from GHL to Lytton dated 8 May 1869, with which I believe GE's letter was sent.
Dear Mr. Lytton
I am much obliged to you for mentioning, in your letter to Mr Lewes, the two cases of inaccuracy (I fear there may be more) which you remembered in [The Spanish Gypsy.] How I came to write Zinc'e1lo instead of Z'edncalo 59 is an instance which may be added to many sadder examples of that mental infirmity which makes our senses of little use to us in the presence of a strong prepossession. As soon as I had conceived my story with its gypsy element, I tried to learn all I could about the names by which the gypsies called themselves, feeling that I should occasionally need a musical name, remote from the vulgar English associations which cling to "gypsy." I rejected Gitana, because I found that the gypsies themselves held the name to be opprobrious; and Z'edncalo -- which, with a fine capacity for being wrong, I at once got into my head as Zinc'e1lo -- seemed to be, both in sound and meaning, just what I wanted. Among the books from which I made notes was [Pott, die Zigeuner,] 60 etc.; and in these notes I find that I have copied the sign of the tonic accent in Roman'f3, while in the very same sentence I have not copied it in Z'edncalo, though a renewed reference to Pott shows it in the one word as well as the other. But "my eyes were held" -- by a demon prepossession -- "so that I should not see it." 61 Behold the fallibility of the human brain, and especially of George Eliot's. Unhappily the cheap edition of the poem is stereotyped, so I must wait until it be published in a new form before I can correct the error.
As to Don Silva, I was aware that Silva is a family name, as in Juan de Silva, Count of Cifuentes; and I was also aware that it is not right to prefix Don to a surname; but I thought it admissible in Spanish, as in English, to use a name which in one case is a family name, as being in another case a Christian name. I intended Silva for the baptismal name of my Duke, and chose it because the easily pronounced Spanish names have been fatiguingly run upon.
I have been questioned about my use of Andalus for Andalusia, but I had a sufficient authority for that in the [Mohammedan Dynasties,] translated by Gayangos. 62
It may interest you, who are familiar with Spanish literature, to know that after the first sketch of my book was written, I read Cervantes's novel [La Gitan'e9lla,] where the hero turns gypsy for love. 63 The novel promises well in the earlier part, but falls into sad commonplace towards the end. I have written my explanation, partly to show how much I value your kind help towards correcting my error, and partly to prove that I was not careless, but simply stupid. For in authorship I hold carelessness to be a mortal sin.
We are hoping that your transplantation from Madrid to Vienna is a gain in ways that more than counterbalance any loss from the change. Perhaps there can hardly be a change without some loss. Believe me
Most sincerely yours
M. E. Lewes.
Text: Cross, III, 72-74 with omitted passages inserted from the MS owned by Lady Hermione Cobbold, in whose collection at Knebworth there is also a letter from GHL to Lytton dated 8 May 1869, with which I believe GE's letter was sent.
Dear Mr. Lytton
I am much obliged to you for mentioning, in your letter to Mr Lewes, the two cases of inaccuracy (I fear there may be more) which you remembered in [The Spanish Gypsy.] How I came to write Zinc'e1lo instead of Z'edncalo 59 is an instance which may be added to many sadder examples of that mental infirmity which makes our senses of little use to us in the presence of a strong prepossession. As soon as I had conceived my story with its gypsy element, I tried to learn all I could about the names by which the gypsies called themselves, feeling that I should occasionally need a musical name, remote from the vulgar English associations which cling to "gypsy." I rejected Gitana, because I found that the gypsies themselves held the name to be opprobrious; and Z'edncalo -- which, with a fine capacity for being wrong, I at once got into my head as Zinc'e1lo -- seemed to be, both in sound and meaning, just what I wanted. Among the books from which I made notes was [Pott, die Zigeuner,] 60 etc.; and in these notes I find that I have copied the sign of the tonic accent in Roman'f3, while in the very same sentence I have not copied it in Z'edncalo, though a renewed reference to Pott shows it in the one word as well as the other. But "my eyes were held" -- by a demon prepossession -- "so that I should not see it." 61 Behold the fallibility of the human brain, and especially of George Eliot's. Unhappily the cheap edition of the poem is stereotyped, so I must wait until it be published in a new form before I can correct the error.
As to Don Silva, I was aware that Silva is a family name, as in Juan de Silva, Count of Cifuentes; and I was also aware that it is not right to prefix Don to a surname; but I thought it admissible in Spanish, as in English, to use a name which in one case is a family name, as being in another case a Christian name. I intended Silva for the baptismal name of my Duke, and chose it because the easily pronounced Spanish names have been fatiguingly run upon.
I have been questioned about my use of Andalus for Andalusia, but I had a sufficient authority for that in the [Mohammedan Dynasties,] translated by Gayangos. 62
It may interest you, who are familiar with Spanish literature, to know that after the first sketch of my book was written, I read Cervantes's novel [La Gitan'e9lla,] where the hero turns gypsy for love. 63 The novel promises well in the earlier part, but falls into sad commonplace towards the end. I have written my explanation, partly to show how much I value your kind help towards correcting my error, and partly to prove that I was not careless, but simply stupid. For in authorship I hold carelessness to be a mortal sin.
We are hoping that your transplantation from Madrid to Vienna is a gain in ways that more than counterbalance any loss from the change. Perhaps there can hardly be a change without some loss. Believe me
Most sincerely yours
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to The Hon. Robert Lytton, London, [8 May 1869], 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/94160