John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 12 December 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 12 December 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 12 December 1876
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1876-12-12
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 12 December 1876
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
December 12/76.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
It gives me the most sincere pleasure to learn by Lewes' letter today, 570 that you have bought a place in the country which seems likely to suit you both in every way.
Most heartily do I congratulate you and hope that this permanent anchorage in the country may be a long continued source of health and happiness to you such as I should ever wish your home to be. My nephew joins in congratulations and it will be a labour of love to Mr. Simpson to hasten the preparation of the statements of your books from knowing the happy end to which the results are to be applied.
The Magnate correcting you about Grandcourt and Gwendolen walking into a room arm and arm 571 amused me but after all I half think that at the date of the story you are right. The custom of the husband following the wife into a room resulted from the overflowing skirts etc. of the ladies. My wife has a favourite story of her uncle Canon Guthrie 572 who was also Vicar of Calne having been told jokingly by the Marquis of Lansdowne that it was no longer the custom for husbands to come in with their wives on their arm. This would be about 30 years ago and the change must have been new then, as the Canon was as punctilious a church dignitary as ever I saw and both he and his wife thoroughly members of the best stamp of society all their lives which made the joke against them in their nieces whom they told the story.
I am glad you like the appearance of the new edition of Deronda. Do you not wish copies to give away. As yet I fear it is not doing much but I shall let Lewes know. With all good wishes I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
December 12/76.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
It gives me the most sincere pleasure to learn by Lewes' letter today, 570 that you have bought a place in the country which seems likely to suit you both in every way.
Most heartily do I congratulate you and hope that this permanent anchorage in the country may be a long continued source of health and happiness to you such as I should ever wish your home to be. My nephew joins in congratulations and it will be a labour of love to Mr. Simpson to hasten the preparation of the statements of your books from knowing the happy end to which the results are to be applied.
The Magnate correcting you about Grandcourt and Gwendolen walking into a room arm and arm 571 amused me but after all I half think that at the date of the story you are right. The custom of the husband following the wife into a room resulted from the overflowing skirts etc. of the ladies. My wife has a favourite story of her uncle Canon Guthrie 572 who was also Vicar of Calne having been told jokingly by the Marquis of Lansdowne that it was no longer the custom for husbands to come in with their wives on their arm. This would be about 30 years ago and the change must have been new then, as the Canon was as punctilious a church dignitary as ever I saw and both he and his wife thoroughly members of the best stamp of society all their lives which made the joke against them in their nieces whom they told the story.
I am glad you like the appearance of the new edition of Deronda. Do you not wish copies to give away. As yet I fear it is not doing much but I shall let Lewes know. With all good wishes I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 12 December 1876, 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/95180