GHL to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, London, 2 November 1871
Title
GHL to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, London, 2 November 1871
Title
GHL to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, London, 2 November 1871
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Philip Gilbert Hamer
Date(s)
- 1871-11-02
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, London, 2 November 1871
Text: Philip Gilbert Hamerton, An Autobiography and a Memoir, London, 1897, pp. 408-9.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 2. 1871.
My dear Hamerton,
We so often speak of you and your wife, and were so very anxious about you during the war, that we have asked right and left for news of you, and were delighted at last to get such good news of you both.
As to the books to be suggested for your work, 60 partly the fact that no one can really suggest food for another, partly the fact that I don't clearly understand the nature of your work -- these perhaps make a good excuse if the following list is worthless. It is all I have been able to gather together.
Littr'e9, Vie d' Auguste Comte. 61
St. Hilaire, Vie et travaux de Geoffroy St. Hilaire.
Gassendi, Vita Tychonis Brahei, Copernici.
Bertrand, Fondateurs de l' Astronomie Moderne.
Morley, Life of Palissy (passionate devotion to research).
Morley, Life of Cardan.
Berti, Vita di Giordano Bruno.
Bartholmess, Vie de Jordano Bruno.
Muir's Life of Mahomet.
Stanley's Life of Arnold.
Mazzuchelli, Vita di Archimede.
Biot's Life of Newton.
Drinkwater's Kepler and Galileo.
All these are first-rate, especially the two last, published by the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, together with some others under the title of Lives of Eminent Persons.
The Biographie Universelle will give you, no doubt, references as to the best works under each head.
We did not go abroad this year, but buried ourselves in absolute solitude in Surrey -- near Haslemere, if you know the lovely region; and there I worked like a man going in for the Senior Wranglership, and Mrs. Lewes, who was ailing most of the time, went on with her new work. This work, by the way, is a panorama of provincial life, to be published in eight parts, on alternative months, making four very thick vols. when complete. It is a new experiment in publishing. While she was at her art, I was at the higher mathematics, seduced into those regions by some considerations affecting my personal work. The solitude and the work together were perfectly blissful. Except Tennyson, who came twice to read his poems to us, we saw no one.
No sooner did we return home than Mrs. Lewes, who had been incubating an attack, hatched it -- and for five weeks she was laid up, getting horribly thin and weak. But now she is herself again (thinner self) and at work.
She begs me to remember her most kindly to you and to Mrs. Hamerton.
Ever yours truly,
G. H. Lewes.
Text: Philip Gilbert Hamerton, An Autobiography and a Memoir, London, 1897, pp. 408-9.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 2. 1871.
My dear Hamerton,
We so often speak of you and your wife, and were so very anxious about you during the war, that we have asked right and left for news of you, and were delighted at last to get such good news of you both.
As to the books to be suggested for your work, 60 partly the fact that no one can really suggest food for another, partly the fact that I don't clearly understand the nature of your work -- these perhaps make a good excuse if the following list is worthless. It is all I have been able to gather together.
Littr'e9, Vie d' Auguste Comte. 61
St. Hilaire, Vie et travaux de Geoffroy St. Hilaire.
Gassendi, Vita Tychonis Brahei, Copernici.
Bertrand, Fondateurs de l' Astronomie Moderne.
Morley, Life of Palissy (passionate devotion to research).
Morley, Life of Cardan.
Berti, Vita di Giordano Bruno.
Bartholmess, Vie de Jordano Bruno.
Muir's Life of Mahomet.
Stanley's Life of Arnold.
Mazzuchelli, Vita di Archimede.
Biot's Life of Newton.
Drinkwater's Kepler and Galileo.
All these are first-rate, especially the two last, published by the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, together with some others under the title of Lives of Eminent Persons.
The Biographie Universelle will give you, no doubt, references as to the best works under each head.
We did not go abroad this year, but buried ourselves in absolute solitude in Surrey -- near Haslemere, if you know the lovely region; and there I worked like a man going in for the Senior Wranglership, and Mrs. Lewes, who was ailing most of the time, went on with her new work. This work, by the way, is a panorama of provincial life, to be published in eight parts, on alternative months, making four very thick vols. when complete. It is a new experiment in publishing. While she was at her art, I was at the higher mathematics, seduced into those regions by some considerations affecting my personal work. The solitude and the work together were perfectly blissful. Except Tennyson, who came twice to read his poems to us, we saw no one.
No sooner did we return home than Mrs. Lewes, who had been incubating an attack, hatched it -- and for five weeks she was laid up, getting horribly thin and weak. But now she is herself again (thinner self) and at work.
She begs me to remember her most kindly to you and to Mrs. Hamerton.
Ever yours truly,
G. H. Lewes.
Signature
G. H. Lewes.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Philip Gilbert Hamerton, London, 2 November 1871, 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/94980