GHL to Robert Lytton, London, 4 January 1871
Title
GHL to Robert Lytton, London, 4 January 1871
Title
GHL to Robert Lytton, London, 4 January 1871
Sender
George Henry Lewes
Recipient
Robert Lyt
Date(s)
- 1871-01-04
Place
London
Letter Content
GHL to Robert Lytton, London, 4 January 1871
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
January 1871.
Dear Lytton
Your pleasant welcome greeted us on our return from the Isle of Wight where we had spent Christmas with some friends in an intensely ritualistic house (lent to our friends) where a scourge was hanging up in the study -- I hope more for show than use -- and where there was not (in an extensive collection of books) a Shakspeare or any other profane author except Haydn's Dict[ionary] of Dates, Crockford's Clerical Directory, and Scott and Liddell's Lexicon! It was quite an experience to have seen the inside of such a place.
Thank you both (from both) for your kindly thoughts of us and believe in their return.
Morier's paper 2 interested us greatly -- I advise you by all means to send your Voltaire 3 to the Fortnightly as the best vehicle. How well the review keeps up!
What you tell me of your children is not so pleasant as what you tell me of your fables. Tallow the noses of the one, and polish the verses of the other and remember that for both tonics are indispensable. You ought to do something with those fables! What you will do with your children -- or what they will do with you -- is less certain!
I must tell you that we both think that photo of your wife a horrid perversion of her sweet face -- we decline to show it to any one -- and therefore petition for a more representative one. Also for one of you, which we have not.
Mrs. Lewes is pretty well but has been shaky all the year. However she is now at work again. I have been unusually well this last few months; have just finished my History, and recur with delight to my [Problems.]
Tell Villers 4 that we are both grateful to him for holding us in remembrance and that he is often spoken of by us.
Our souls are sick of this war!
With affectionate greetings from both to both, believe me
Yours ever
G. H. L.
MS: Lady Hermione Cobbold.
January 1871.
Dear Lytton
Your pleasant welcome greeted us on our return from the Isle of Wight where we had spent Christmas with some friends in an intensely ritualistic house (lent to our friends) where a scourge was hanging up in the study -- I hope more for show than use -- and where there was not (in an extensive collection of books) a Shakspeare or any other profane author except Haydn's Dict[ionary] of Dates, Crockford's Clerical Directory, and Scott and Liddell's Lexicon! It was quite an experience to have seen the inside of such a place.
Thank you both (from both) for your kindly thoughts of us and believe in their return.
Morier's paper 2 interested us greatly -- I advise you by all means to send your Voltaire 3 to the Fortnightly as the best vehicle. How well the review keeps up!
What you tell me of your children is not so pleasant as what you tell me of your fables. Tallow the noses of the one, and polish the verses of the other and remember that for both tonics are indispensable. You ought to do something with those fables! What you will do with your children -- or what they will do with you -- is less certain!
I must tell you that we both think that photo of your wife a horrid perversion of her sweet face -- we decline to show it to any one -- and therefore petition for a more representative one. Also for one of you, which we have not.
Mrs. Lewes is pretty well but has been shaky all the year. However she is now at work again. I have been unusually well this last few months; have just finished my History, and recur with delight to my [Problems.]
Tell Villers 4 that we are both grateful to him for holding us in remembrance and that he is often spoken of by us.
Our souls are sick of this war!
With affectionate greetings from both to both, believe me
Yours ever
G. H. L.
Signature
G. H. L.
Citation
George Henry Lewes, GHL to Robert Lytton, London, 4 January 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/95008