A Welcome Compliment

Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-1863)

April 4, 1863

A friend has referred FR to an issue of The Ecclesiastic where she may read that her life's work, Mazzaroth: The Constellations, has been mentioned.

"I hear to-day that Sir George Cornewall Lewis has spoken of 'Mazzaroth' as a work of 'great learning and research.' "

The compliment is valuable in FR's efforts to get her work known. Sir George is the British Secretary of State for War. He has also written on ancient astronomy.

The previous year FR read his book and found herself "in the very thick of a tussle with Sir G. C. Lewis. His 'Ancients' and not my 'Ancients,' but the Greeks . . . . Sir G. C. L___ shows what ignorance and confusion the Greek and Roman astronomy was, while I and my party of Orientalists show the sublime simplicity of that of the Hebrew and Arabs. . . . Greece ancient! when it was uninhabited or savage when the magnificent Solomon knew the wisdom of heaven and earth, and reigned in pomp and polish, as Assyrian records now testify."

FR prepares to send Sir George some papers in response to his compliment, but that very month, before she can post them, she learns of his sudden death.

The painting of Sir George Cornewall Lewis above is by Henry Weigall, and is owned by National Museum Wales. It may be seen in the Art Collections Online.

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