Chapter XVII · (continued 2)

Journal, 1875.

Oct. 10.—On the 15th June, we went to a house we had taken at Rickmansworth. Here, in the end of July, we received the news that our dear Bertie had died on June 29th. Our stay at Rickmansworth, though otherwise peaceful, was not marked by any great improvement in health from the change to country instead of town—rather the contrary. We left on 23d September, and then set off on a journey into Wales, which was altogether unfortunate on account of the excessive rain.

Letter to John Blackwood, 10th Oct. 1875.

I behaved rather shabbily in not thanking you otherwise than by proxy for the kind letter you sent me to Rickmansworth, but I had a bad time down there, and did less of everything than I desired. Last night we returned from our trip—a very lively word for a journey made in the worst weather; and since I am, on the whole, the better for a succession of small discomforts in hotels, and struggling walks taken under an umbrella, I have no excuse for not writing a line to my neglected correspondents.

You will laugh at our nervous caution in depositing our MSS. at the Union Bank before we set out. We could have borne to hear that our house had been burned down, provided no lives were lost, and our unprinted matter, our œuvres inédites, were safe out of it.

About my unprinted matter, Mr. Lewes thinks it will not be well to publish the first part till February. The four first monthly parts are ready for travelling now. It will be well to begin the printing in good time, so that I may not be hurried with the proofs; and I must beg Mr. Simpson to judge for me in that matter with kind carefulness.

I can't say that I am at all satisfied with the book, or that I have a comfortable sense of doing in it what I want to do; but Mr. Lewes is satisfied with it, and insists that since he is as anxious as possible for it to be fine, I ought to accept his impressions as trustworthy. So I resign myself.

I read aloud the "Abode of Snow" at Rickmansworth, to our mutual delight; and we are both very much obliged to you for the handsome present. But what an amazing creature is this Andrew Wilson to have kept pluck for such travelling while his body was miserably ailing! One would have said that he had more than the average spirit of hardy men to have persevered even in good health after a little taste of the difficulties he describes.

Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 20th Oct. 1875.

The arrangements as to the publication of my next book are already determined on. Ever since "Adam Bede" appeared I have been continually having proposals from the proprietors or editors of periodicals, but I have always declined them, except in the case of "Romola," which appeared in the Cornhill, and was allowed to take up a varying and unusual number of pages. I have the strongest objection to cutting up my work into little bits; and there is no motive to it on my part, since I have a large enough public already. But, even apart from that objection, it would not now be worth the while of any magazine or journal to give me a sum such as my books yield in separate publication. I had £7000 for "Romola," but the mode in which "Middlemarch" was issued brings in a still larger sum. I ought to say, however, that the question is not entirely one of money with me: if I could gain more by splitting my writing into small parts, I would not do it, because the effect would be injurious as a matter of art. So much detail I trouble you with to save misapprehension.

Letter to John Blackwood, 18th Nov. 1875.

Your enjoyment of the proofs cheers me greatly; and pray thank Mrs. Blackwood for her valuable hints on equine matters. I have not only the satisfaction of using those hints, I allow myself the inference that where there is no criticism on like points I have made no mistake.

I should be much obliged to Mr. Simpson—whom I am glad that Gwendolen has captivated—if he would rate the printers a little about their want of spacing. I am anxious that my poor heroes and heroines should have all the advantage that paper and print can give them.

It will perhaps be a little comfort to you to know that poor Gwen is spiritually saved, but "so as by fire." Don't you see the process already beginning? I have no doubt you do, for you are a wide-awake reader.

But what a climate to expect good writing in! Skating in the morning and splashy roads in the afternoon is just typical of the alternation from frigid to flaccid in the author's bodily system, likely to give a corresponding variety to the style.

Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Nov. 1875.

I got my head from under the pressure of other matters, like a frog from under the water, to send you my November greeting. My silence through the rest of the months makes you esteem me the more, I hope, seeing that you yourself hate letter-writing—a remarkable exception to the rule that people like doing what they can do well, if one can call that a rule of which the reverse seems more frequent—namely, that they like doing what they do ill.

We stayed till nearly the end of September at the house we had taken in Hertfordshire. After that we went into Wales for a fortnight, and were under umbrellas nearly the whole time.

I wonder if you all remember an old governess of mine who used to visit me at Foleshill—a Miss Lewis? I have found her out. She is living at Leamington, very poor as well as old, but cheerful, and so delighted to be remembered with gratitude. How very old we are all getting! But I hope you don't mind it any more than I do. One sees so many contemporaries that one is well in the fashion. The approach of parting is the bitterness of age.

Letter to John Blackwood, 15th Dec. 1875.

Your letter is an agreeable tonic, very much needed, for that wretched hinderance of a cold last week has trailed after it a series of headaches worse than itself. An additional impression, like Mr. Langford's, of the two volumes is really valuable, as a sign that I have not so far failed in relation to a variety of readers. But you know that in one sense I count nothing done as long as anything remains to do; and it always seems to me that the worst difficulty is still to come. In the sanest, soberest judgment, however, I think the third volume (which I have not yet finished) would be regarded as the difficult bridge. I will not send you any more MS. until I can send the whole of vol. iii.

We think that Mr. Simpson has conducted our Australian business admirably. Remembering that but for his judgment and consequent activity we might have got no publication at all in that quarter, we may well be content with £200.

Mr. Lewes has not got the Life of Heine, and will be much pleased and obliged by your gift.

Major Lockhart's lively letter gives one a longing for the fresh, breezy life and fine scenery it conjures up. You must let me know when there is a book of his, because when I have done my own I shall like to read something else by him. I got much pleasure out of the two books I did read. But when I am writing, or only thinking of writing, fiction of my own, I cannot risk the reading of other English fiction. I was obliged to tell Anthony Trollope so when he sent me the first part of his "Prime Minister," though this must seem sadly ungracious to those who don't share my susceptibilities.

Apparently there are wild reports about the subject-matter of "Deronda"—among the rest, that it represents French life! But that is hardly more ridiculous than the supposition that after refusing to go to America, I should undertake to describe society there! It is wonderful how "Middlemarch" keeps afloat in people's minds. Somebody told me that Mr. Henry Sidgwick said it was a bold thing to write another book after "Middlemarch," and we must prepare ourselves for the incalculableness of the public reception in the first instance. I think I have heard you say that the chief result of your ample experience has been to convince you of that incalculableness.

What a blow for Miss Thackeray—the death of that sister to whom she was so closely bound in affection.

Journal, 1875.

Dec. 25.—After our return from Wales in October I grew better and wrote with some success. For the last three weeks, however, I have been suffering from a cold and its effects so as to be unable to make any progress. Meanwhile the two first volumes of "Daniel Deronda" are in print, and the first book is to be published on February 1st. I have thought very poorly of it myself throughout, but George and the Blackwoods are full of satisfaction in it. Each part as I see it before me im werden seems less likely to be anything else than a failure; but I see on looking back this morning—Christmas Day—that I really was in worse health and suffered equal depression about "Romola;" and, so far as I have recorded, the same thing seems to be true of "Middlemarch."

I have finished the fifth book, but am not far on in the sixth, as I hoped to have been; the oppression under which I have been laboring having positively suspended my power of writing anything that I could feel satisfaction in.

SUMMARY.

JANUARY, 1873, TO DECEMBER, 1875.

Reception of "Middlemarch"—Letter to John Blackwood—Mr. Anthony Trollope—Dutch translation of George Eliot's novels—Letter to Mrs. Cross—Evening drives at Weybridge—Letter to John Blackwood—German reprint of "Spanish Gypsy"—"The Lifted Veil"—"Kenelm Chillingly"—Letter to Mrs. William Smith on her Memoir of her husband—Pleasure in young life—Letter to John Blackwood—Want of a Conservative leader—Letter to Mr. Burne-Jones—The function of art—Purpose in art—"Iphigenia in Aulis"—Letter to Mrs. Congreve—Welcoming her home—Letter to Mrs. William Smith on women at Cambridge—Visit to Mr. Frederic Myers at Cambridge—Meets Mr. Henry Sidgwick, Mr. Jebb, Mr. Edmund Gurney, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Lyttelton, and Mrs. and Miss Huth—Letter to Mrs. Bray—Death of Miss Rebecca Franklin—Visit to the Master of Balliol—Meets Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roundell—Professor Green—Max Müller—Thomson, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge—Nine-weeks' trip to the Continent—Letter to Mrs. Congreve from Homburg—Fontainebleau, Plombières, and Luxeuil—Two months' stay at Bickley—Letter to Mrs. Cross on journey abroad and Blackbrook—Letter to John Blackwood—New edition of "Middlemarch"—A real Lowick in a Midland county—Cheap editions—Letter to Mrs. Cross on the pleasures of the country and on Mr. Henry Sidgwick—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor—House in the country—Letter to J. W. Cross on conformity—Letter to John Blackwood—Interruptions of town life—Simmering towards another book—Berlin reading "Middlemarch"—Ashantee war—Letter to Madame Bodichon—The George Howards—John Stuart Mill's Autobiography—Letter to Mrs. Cross on Christmas invitation—Dr. Andrew Clark—Letter to Mrs. Bray on stupidity of readers—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor—Retrospect of 1873—Sales of "Middlemarch" and "Spanish Gypsy"—Letter to Mrs. William Smith—"Plain living and high thinking"—Letter to John Blackwood—Conservative reaction—Cheaper edition of novels—Lord Lytton's "Fables"—Dickens's Life and biography in general—Letter to John Blackwood—Volume of poems—Letter to Mrs. Bray—Motives for children—Letter to Miss Hennell—Francis Newman—George Dawson—"The Legend of Jubal and other Poems" published—"Symposium" written—Letter to Miss Mary Cross thanking her for a vase—Letter to Mrs. Cross—Delight in country—Letter to John Blackwood—Threatened restoration of the empire in France—"Brewing" "Deronda"—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor on Mrs. Nassau Senior's report—Letter to Mrs. William Smith on consolations in loss—Letter to Madame Bodichon—No disposition to melancholy—Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones—The serious view of life—Letter to John Blackwood—Justifications for writing—Dean Liddell—Letter to Mrs. Stowe—Goethe's mysticism—Letter to Miss Hennell—Visit to Six-Mile Bottom—Paris and the Ardennes—Bank of England and Woolwich Arsenal—Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby—The idea of God an exaltation of human goodness—Vision of others' needs—Ground of moral action—Need of altruism—The power of the will—Difficulties of thought—Sales of books—Retrospect of 1874—Letter to Francis Otter on his engagement—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor—Note-writing—Home for girls—Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby—Value of early religious experience—Limitations of scientists—Letter to John Blackwood—Kinglake's "Crimea"—Discipline of war—"Rasselas"—Miss Thackeray—Anthony Trollope—Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby—Desire to know the difficulties of others—Companion in the struggle of thought—Mr. Spencer's teaching—The value of poets—Emotion blending with thought—Letter to Mrs. William Smith—Her memoir—Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones—The world of light and speech—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor—Rickmansworth—Letter to F. Harrison asking for consultation—Letter to J. W. Cross—"The Elms"—Depression—Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby—The Brewing interest—Conciliation of necessitarianism with will—Innate ideas—Death of Herbert Lewes—Trip to Wales—Letter to John Blackwood—Not satisfied with "Deronda"—Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor—Mode of publication of books—Letter to John Blackwood—Gwendolen—Letter to Miss Hennell—Miss Lewis—Letter to John Blackwood—Impressions of "Deronda"—Major Lockhart—Depression about "Deronda."