John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 26 October 1871
Title
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 26 October 1871
Title
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 26 October 1871
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1871-10-26
Place
St. Andrews
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 26 October 1871
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Strathtyrum | St. Andrews | N.B.
October 26/71.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
Thanks for your kind expressions regarding the death of my brother. He was a most sterling fellow with an immense deal of character about him, such an one as you would have liked. My real moan was made for him some years ago when his health broke, but the final blow tells. I have seen six brothers, all strong able men, go down almost in the prime of life, and I am now the last of seven. Blessed as I am in my own immediate family, I feel that I have no right to repine.
Mr. Main came here the day before yesterday and I am happy to tell you that I was very much pleased with him. He is a little fellow, dark with bright clear-looking eyes. He had been intended for "The Ministry" but it did not suit him, and he left Glasgow without going into the Clerical course. He does a little in the way of teaching, in reading with lads, and has apparently some little means. He seems about 30 and has evidently seen nothing of the world or scarcely, but there is something interesting in his manners and the ladies like him. He bears the mark of enthusiast about with him and you are his particular idol.
He is in the habit of reading your works aloud on the seashore, and when he was telling this at lunch I made my little joke about his having been nearly caught by the tide. He replied "Well, I have no doubt she would have made a fine poem about it, and if she could have sent it after me that would have been something." His accent I take to be a kind of mixture between Arbroath and Glasgow, but the voice is euphonious. He is getting on with his work.
Tell Lewes that I think he should register the Title Middlemarch and Miss Brooke at Stationers' Hall, but Langford will know whether this is necessary or can be done before publication. You will be amused to hear that the General 388 has taken to Middlemarch. He is taking it in small doses at a time, with apparent satisfaction and benefit. This letter has been written under difficulty as the good fellow has been sitting opposite me putting up a packet of pipes to go by post to my nephew George in India, and the process has lasted more than an hour.
I do hope that you are better and with best regards to Lewes I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Strathtyrum | St. Andrews | N.B.
October 26/71.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
Thanks for your kind expressions regarding the death of my brother. He was a most sterling fellow with an immense deal of character about him, such an one as you would have liked. My real moan was made for him some years ago when his health broke, but the final blow tells. I have seen six brothers, all strong able men, go down almost in the prime of life, and I am now the last of seven. Blessed as I am in my own immediate family, I feel that I have no right to repine.
Mr. Main came here the day before yesterday and I am happy to tell you that I was very much pleased with him. He is a little fellow, dark with bright clear-looking eyes. He had been intended for "The Ministry" but it did not suit him, and he left Glasgow without going into the Clerical course. He does a little in the way of teaching, in reading with lads, and has apparently some little means. He seems about 30 and has evidently seen nothing of the world or scarcely, but there is something interesting in his manners and the ladies like him. He bears the mark of enthusiast about with him and you are his particular idol.
He is in the habit of reading your works aloud on the seashore, and when he was telling this at lunch I made my little joke about his having been nearly caught by the tide. He replied "Well, I have no doubt she would have made a fine poem about it, and if she could have sent it after me that would have been something." His accent I take to be a kind of mixture between Arbroath and Glasgow, but the voice is euphonious. He is getting on with his work.
Tell Lewes that I think he should register the Title Middlemarch and Miss Brooke at Stationers' Hall, but Langford will know whether this is necessary or can be done before publication. You will be amused to hear that the General 388 has taken to Middlemarch. He is taking it in small doses at a time, with apparent satisfaction and benefit. This letter has been written under difficulty as the good fellow has been sitting opposite me putting up a packet of pipes to go by post to my nephew George in India, and the process has lasted more than an hour.
I do hope that you are better and with best regards to Lewes I am
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 26 October 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/95332