John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 16 January 1877
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 16 January 1877
Title
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 16 January 1877
Sender
John Blackwood
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1877-01-16
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 16 January 1877
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
January 16/77.
My Dear Lewes
By a curious coincidence the inclosed from Mr. Dowden came by the same post as your pleasant letter. I wish he had sent the paper to me and I wonder he did not after my note.
I thought I had sent back The Contemporary to you but it goes by this post certainly. Simpson had not forgot the Advertiser in Deronda, but had to postpone settlement owing to difficulties with some of the advertisers. 595
I feel for you both in the troubles of moving and furnishing but I trust the move will be to a pleasant anchorage for life, and I am sure her heart has always been in the country.
I have some experience of furnishing troubles, of late our house having been re-done up. I had staved off this operation for years telling my wife that "her auld hoose looked better than mony ane's new" but she stuck at it and trained her visitors to remark on the seediness of the fittings, as to which there was some truth after 20 years' service. We have one visitor at present a stern old Scotch country wife who used to take care of the house at Strathtyrum in winter. From the state of the house here there was nothing for it but to put her into the best spare bed room. She remonstrated vehemently against such grandeur saying "Oo I'll just creep in beside onybody." Worthy Mrs. Hunter is 5 feet 9 at least and fully built to match. The idea of her creeping in beside any body utterly upset me and if you saw her would make you roar with laughing.
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
MS: National Library of Scotland. Hitherto unpublished.
George Street, | Edinburgh.
January 16/77.
My Dear Lewes
By a curious coincidence the inclosed from Mr. Dowden came by the same post as your pleasant letter. I wish he had sent the paper to me and I wonder he did not after my note.
I thought I had sent back The Contemporary to you but it goes by this post certainly. Simpson had not forgot the Advertiser in Deronda, but had to postpone settlement owing to difficulties with some of the advertisers. 595
I feel for you both in the troubles of moving and furnishing but I trust the move will be to a pleasant anchorage for life, and I am sure her heart has always been in the country.
I have some experience of furnishing troubles, of late our house having been re-done up. I had staved off this operation for years telling my wife that "her auld hoose looked better than mony ane's new" but she stuck at it and trained her visitors to remark on the seediness of the fittings, as to which there was some truth after 20 years' service. We have one visitor at present a stern old Scotch country wife who used to take care of the house at Strathtyrum in winter. From the state of the house here there was nothing for it but to put her into the best spare bed room. She remonstrated vehemently against such grandeur saying "Oo I'll just creep in beside onybody." Worthy Mrs. Hunter is 5 feet 9 at least and fully built to match. The idea of her creeping in beside any body utterly upset me and if you saw her would make you roar with laughing.
always yours truly
John Blackwood.
Signature
John Blackwood.
Citation
John Blackwood, John Blackwood to GHL, Edinburgh, 16 January 1877, 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/95370