Thomas Clifford Allbutt to GE, Leeds, 19 January 1879
Title
Thomas Clifford Allbutt to GE, Leeds, 19 January 1879
Title
Thomas Clifford Allbutt to GE, Leeds, 19 January 1879
Sender
Thomas Clifford Allbutt
Recipient
George Eliot
Date(s)
- 1879-01-19
Place
Leeds
Letter Content
Thomas Clifford Allbutt to GE, Leeds, 19 January 1879
MS: Mrs. Carrington Ouvry. Hitherto unpublished.
Lyddon House, | Leeds.
January 19. 1879.
My dear Mrs. Lewes
It is not too late, I trust, for me to add my single voice to the many which have sought to console you in your great bereavement. How strange it is that the blows which fall upon others seem far from us till they fall. You knew more than I that dear life was in jeopardy yet even I saw anxiously the wan face and the frail body and wondered at the bright spirit which seemed to live in defiance of death. And thus the shock was as great to me when I read that sad announcement as if a hale man had fallen. It seemed that an indomitable and noble spirit ought to outlive a merely healthy body.
I did not dare to write to you at that time; nor could I write in the midst of the common cares of life; but only when some quiet time should come.
May I hope that the eloquent and heartfelt lament of the English people has in some measure supported you in this trial and this also -- that the place his friends claimed for him as a thinker -- a place among the very foremost -- has been readily admitted -- more readily admitted than some of us anticipated. The old schools of philosophy were very powerful when he began to write and if they now admit his transcendent powers it is because they have felt them and have fallen back before them.
It is now seen that his was no unstable genius but that in its splendid variety it corresponded with the wealth of that Nature which he loved and interpreted. If ever any man lived in his followers it is George Henry Lewes. More than one of our best young biologists have said to me, "Other books on Physiology may be more learned or at any rate more comprehensive but although I knew all school physiology as a lesson this knowledge never sprang into life within me until I read Lewes. From him I date my real beginnings." 170
Before a sorrow like yours we can only be silent -- you only knew him fully as he was and you only know his loss. Yet we believe that as you knew this you know also the rich memories which live in your heart and none better than you can rejoice in the work he has done and in his light which you will see reflected in the faces of those who follow him. We ask only to say that our hearts are with yours.
I remain Dear Mrs. Lewes
Always most truly and gratefully Yours
T. Clifford Allbutt.
MS: Mrs. Carrington Ouvry. Hitherto unpublished.
Lyddon House, | Leeds.
January 19. 1879.
My dear Mrs. Lewes
It is not too late, I trust, for me to add my single voice to the many which have sought to console you in your great bereavement. How strange it is that the blows which fall upon others seem far from us till they fall. You knew more than I that dear life was in jeopardy yet even I saw anxiously the wan face and the frail body and wondered at the bright spirit which seemed to live in defiance of death. And thus the shock was as great to me when I read that sad announcement as if a hale man had fallen. It seemed that an indomitable and noble spirit ought to outlive a merely healthy body.
I did not dare to write to you at that time; nor could I write in the midst of the common cares of life; but only when some quiet time should come.
May I hope that the eloquent and heartfelt lament of the English people has in some measure supported you in this trial and this also -- that the place his friends claimed for him as a thinker -- a place among the very foremost -- has been readily admitted -- more readily admitted than some of us anticipated. The old schools of philosophy were very powerful when he began to write and if they now admit his transcendent powers it is because they have felt them and have fallen back before them.
It is now seen that his was no unstable genius but that in its splendid variety it corresponded with the wealth of that Nature which he loved and interpreted. If ever any man lived in his followers it is George Henry Lewes. More than one of our best young biologists have said to me, "Other books on Physiology may be more learned or at any rate more comprehensive but although I knew all school physiology as a lesson this knowledge never sprang into life within me until I read Lewes. From him I date my real beginnings." 170
Before a sorrow like yours we can only be silent -- you only knew him fully as he was and you only know his loss. Yet we believe that as you knew this you know also the rich memories which live in your heart and none better than you can rejoice in the work he has done and in his light which you will see reflected in the faces of those who follow him. We ask only to say that our hearts are with yours.
I remain Dear Mrs. Lewes
Always most truly and gratefully Yours
T. Clifford Allbutt.
Signature
T. Clifford Allbutt.
Citation
Thomas Clifford Allbutt, Thomas Clifford Allbutt to GE, Leeds, 19 January 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/95607