John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 22 April 1875
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 22 April 1875
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 22 April 1875
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1875-04-22
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 22 April 1875
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extract published: John Blackwood, p. 387.
Randolph Crescent
April 22/75.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
Willie tells me he has had a long and most interesting visit at the Priory, the only drawback to which was that you were complaining of not feeling well and being depressed. I have seen that depression on you before at periods when other authors would have been crowing and flapping their wings without the solid reason which I am sure you have for doing so. I am quite elated at the prospect of Willie bringing down so large a portion of your new Novel and I feel your sending the M.S. to me in this way as a thing to be proud of. Curiously enough I was walking about with Theodore Martin yesterday when talking about you and Lewes; he mentioned how devoted the Queen was to your works, especially Adam Bede. 236 So I told him how you had given me the M.S. of first volume of Adam with strict injunctions not to read it until I could do so quietly at home and how I utterly disobeyed orders by peeping into the first pages on the top of the omnibus where Lewes deposited me at Kew and fastening upon it the moment I left King's Cross next morning until I finished my reading with delight before I reached Newcastle when night was setting in.
This is what is called Preaching Thursday here, and Edinburgh is not a lively place to me when 45 George St. is shut up, and although my wife and daughter have been affable and kind they evidently feel me a sort of intruder.
I shall go now and have a walk into the country which is beginning at last to look bright and spring like. I hardly expect to be up in London until after the middle of May. One reason of my detention strikes me as peculiarly ludicrous. Our old butler who has been with us for 15 years is leaving us, and it is thought that I should be here when his successor comes. Now I am utterly useless about household affairs and would be most justly sat upon if I attempted to lift up my voice on the subject. With best regards to Lewes
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Extract published: John Blackwood, p. 387.
Randolph Crescent
April 22/75.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
Willie tells me he has had a long and most interesting visit at the Priory, the only drawback to which was that you were complaining of not feeling well and being depressed. I have seen that depression on you before at periods when other authors would have been crowing and flapping their wings without the solid reason which I am sure you have for doing so. I am quite elated at the prospect of Willie bringing down so large a portion of your new Novel and I feel your sending the M.S. to me in this way as a thing to be proud of. Curiously enough I was walking about with Theodore Martin yesterday when talking about you and Lewes; he mentioned how devoted the Queen was to your works, especially Adam Bede. 236 So I told him how you had given me the M.S. of first volume of Adam with strict injunctions not to read it until I could do so quietly at home and how I utterly disobeyed orders by peeping into the first pages on the top of the omnibus where Lewes deposited me at Kew and fastening upon it the moment I left King's Cross next morning until I finished my reading with delight before I reached Newcastle when night was setting in.
This is what is called Preaching Thursday here, and Edinburgh is not a lively place to me when 45 George St. is shut up, and although my wife and daughter have been affable and kind they evidently feel me a sort of intruder.
I shall go now and have a walk into the country which is beginning at last to look bright and spring like. I hardly expect to be up in London until after the middle of May. One reason of my detention strikes me as peculiarly ludicrous. Our old butler who has been with us for 15 years is leaving us, and it is thought that I should be here when his successor comes. Now I am utterly useless about household affairs and would be most justly sat upon if I attempted to lift up my voice on the subject. With best regards to Lewes
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 22 April 1875, 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/95227