John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 5 March 1879
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 5 March 1879
Title
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 5 March 1879
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1879-03-05
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 5 March 1879
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
March 5/79.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
We ordered the two errata on Self and Life to be cancelled and the stereotype plates to be altered so that the mistakes cannot recur.
Your young friends at Natal will be all safe now. 189 I do not think Sir Bartle Frere has sufficiently counted the cost of the war either in blood or treasure. We shall doubtless slaughter those wretched Zulus in any number but that is no satisfaction. One is ashamed to look at the illustrated papers and see the portraits of ourang outangs with whom we are fighting.
There is here at present a young Mr. Conder R. E. who was at the head of the Palestine exploring expedition and wrote the account of what they did. 190 He is sanguine of something being done or rather tried in Palestine and he had heard of Oliphant's expedition. He is at present employed in fortifying Inch Keith with guns which will secure the firth of Forth against all comers. This great National boon which Scotland has prayed for ever since I can remember and long before was secured when Mr. Hardy 191 then War Minister was staying with us last winter. The house at Randolph Cres[cen]t was filled by the meeting. Conder writes a little for me and the paper on the climate of the Levant this month is his. I have reports from the best authorities in Cyprus directly contradicting each other as to the climate and this paper of Conder's holds I think the golden medium. We have very high winds here now but there is something of a soft pleasant air at last.
From what you say I hope your health is indeed better. I wish I heard of the year looking a shade brighter to you. A heavy heart casts a shadow on everything. My nephew is feeling his leg better and hopes to be in London about the end of next week. I am not feeling quite so well today but still I have nothing to complain of only I do not feel fit to run a race and certainly shall never rejoice in that prospect but luckily there is no occasion.
Pray let me hear from you when you can, and believe me
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
March 5/79.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
We ordered the two errata on Self and Life to be cancelled and the stereotype plates to be altered so that the mistakes cannot recur.
Your young friends at Natal will be all safe now. 189 I do not think Sir Bartle Frere has sufficiently counted the cost of the war either in blood or treasure. We shall doubtless slaughter those wretched Zulus in any number but that is no satisfaction. One is ashamed to look at the illustrated papers and see the portraits of ourang outangs with whom we are fighting.
There is here at present a young Mr. Conder R. E. who was at the head of the Palestine exploring expedition and wrote the account of what they did. 190 He is sanguine of something being done or rather tried in Palestine and he had heard of Oliphant's expedition. He is at present employed in fortifying Inch Keith with guns which will secure the firth of Forth against all comers. This great National boon which Scotland has prayed for ever since I can remember and long before was secured when Mr. Hardy 191 then War Minister was staying with us last winter. The house at Randolph Cres[cen]t was filled by the meeting. Conder writes a little for me and the paper on the climate of the Levant this month is his. I have reports from the best authorities in Cyprus directly contradicting each other as to the climate and this paper of Conder's holds I think the golden medium. We have very high winds here now but there is something of a soft pleasant air at last.
From what you say I hope your health is indeed better. I wish I heard of the year looking a shade brighter to you. A heavy heart casts a shadow on everything. My nephew is feeling his leg better and hopes to be in London about the end of next week. I am not feeling quite so well today but still I have nothing to complain of only I do not feel fit to run a race and certainly shall never rejoice in that prospect but luckily there is no occasion.
Pray let me hear from you when you can, and believe me
ever yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, Edinburgh, 5 March 1879, 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/95281