John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 7 September 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 7 September 1876
Title
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 7 September 1876
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1876-09-07
Place
St. Andrews
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 7 September 1876
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Strathtyrum | St. Andrews | N.B.
September 7/76.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I am so glad to think of you safe and well in England again and to hear that you have both enjoyed and benefited by your expedition. Your walking feats are worthy of Golfers. The details you will have got of the sales of Deronda would I think assist to make your return home pleasant. They are indeed most satisfactory and have I trust come up to Lewes' expectations and yours. The sale in the 4 vols. has not been large, but after such a triumphant run in the Numbers, that was not to be expected in the present form.
The praise of the Chief Rabbi is truly gratifying and the most convincing evidence that your intuitions as to Jewish character are as true as all the world admit them to be when you are painting your own countrymen and women. It is almost impossible to make a strong Jewish element popular in this country and it was perfectly marvellous to see how in your transitions you kept your public together. Anti-Jews grumbled but went on. I could not hear whether Disraeli gave any utterances on the subject.
We have had a wonderfully fine summer here but of late Scotland has been asserting herself and rain, cold winds, and fog have reappeared among us. You give a most enticing description of St. Blazien but St. Andrews Links on a fine day leave no room for envy at least in a Golfer's mind.
We are all very well and regret that the pleasant summer is slipping away from us, but we generally have a fine autumn and there are to be extra festivities at the end of the month, as Prince Leopold 521 is coming to take the chair as Captain of the Club. The discussions at the Club as to how things are to be arranged would make a play. The main difficulty is want of room, as you cannot dine 200 men with a Club room that will only dine 95. Mr. Melville aged 79 has solved this as to the dinner by deciding that senior members are to have the preference. The young ladies wonder whether this is to hold good as to the Ball.
I am writing a line to Lewes and believe me
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
I hope the suffering eye lid is better. Such little things do worry. You would have the ardent sympathy of my son Jack, the close of whose holidays have been darkened by the dentist and a swelled face.
I inclose a note which came yesterday from Mrs. W. Smith. She evidently feels the Book. Look at the Wordsworth Strathmore narratives to which she alludes in present month's Magazine. 522 Mrs. Wordsworth is a delicate, still pretty looking woman. How she survived those horrible hardships is a miracle. I never saw a more remarkable case of "the back being made for the burden."
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
Strathtyrum | St. Andrews | N.B.
September 7/76.
My Dear Mrs. Lewes
I am so glad to think of you safe and well in England again and to hear that you have both enjoyed and benefited by your expedition. Your walking feats are worthy of Golfers. The details you will have got of the sales of Deronda would I think assist to make your return home pleasant. They are indeed most satisfactory and have I trust come up to Lewes' expectations and yours. The sale in the 4 vols. has not been large, but after such a triumphant run in the Numbers, that was not to be expected in the present form.
The praise of the Chief Rabbi is truly gratifying and the most convincing evidence that your intuitions as to Jewish character are as true as all the world admit them to be when you are painting your own countrymen and women. It is almost impossible to make a strong Jewish element popular in this country and it was perfectly marvellous to see how in your transitions you kept your public together. Anti-Jews grumbled but went on. I could not hear whether Disraeli gave any utterances on the subject.
We have had a wonderfully fine summer here but of late Scotland has been asserting herself and rain, cold winds, and fog have reappeared among us. You give a most enticing description of St. Blazien but St. Andrews Links on a fine day leave no room for envy at least in a Golfer's mind.
We are all very well and regret that the pleasant summer is slipping away from us, but we generally have a fine autumn and there are to be extra festivities at the end of the month, as Prince Leopold 521 is coming to take the chair as Captain of the Club. The discussions at the Club as to how things are to be arranged would make a play. The main difficulty is want of room, as you cannot dine 200 men with a Club room that will only dine 95. Mr. Melville aged 79 has solved this as to the dinner by deciding that senior members are to have the preference. The young ladies wonder whether this is to hold good as to the Ball.
I am writing a line to Lewes and believe me
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
I hope the suffering eye lid is better. Such little things do worry. You would have the ardent sympathy of my son Jack, the close of whose holidays have been darkened by the dentist and a swelled face.
I inclose a note which came yesterday from Mrs. W. Smith. She evidently feels the Book. Look at the Wordsworth Strathmore narratives to which she alludes in present month's Magazine. 522 Mrs. Wordsworth is a delicate, still pretty looking woman. How she survived those horrible hardships is a miracle. I never saw a more remarkable case of "the back being made for the burden."
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GE, St. Andrews, 7 September 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/95344