GE to Martha Jackson, Foleshill, 16 December 1841
Title
GE to Martha Jackson, Foleshill, 16 December 1841
Title
GE to Martha Jackson, Foleshill, 16 December 1841
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Martha Jackson
Date(s)
- 1841-12-16
Place
FOLESHILL
Letter Content
GE to Martha Jackson, Foleshill, 16 December 1841
Text: Composite from Bookman, 3 (January 1893), 118-119, and Poet-Lore, 6 (February 1894), 59-60.
Foleshill, | December 16th, 1841.
. . . Have you, dear Patty, read any of T. Carlyle's books? He is a grand favourite of mine, and I venture to recommend to you his [Sartor Resartus.] 393 I dare say a barrister of your acquaintance has it.
His soul is a shrine of the brightest and purest philanthropy, kindled by the live coal of gratitude and devotion to the Author of all things. I should observe that he is not "orthodox."
Mr. Adams, 394 who, I dare say, gave lectures at Coventry when you were at school, is delivering a course on chemistry to enlighten us poor smatterers. The labour of acquiring knowledge is, I grant, its own reward, but should you not like a little more intuition, or rather intuitive power, just to enable one to take a sort of seven-leagued-boot stride that would make up for girlish miseducation and girlish idleness? This is the fool's hectic of wishing, 395 which must give place to a determination in the view of all past truant-playing, to enjoy and improve to the utmost the treasures of earth, air, and sky through the rest of our journey. This is true gratitude and its last expression. This beautiful world is given to us children of men as a trial-field indeed, a gymnasium wherein temperance and self-government are both means and ends, but withal as an Eden to dress and to keep with songs of adoration to the Giver. Each little plant, the very lichens that clothe the dead boughs, are lovely and useful, and a link that would be missed in the chain of being. And so we, dear Martha, have our place of usefulness and fitness, and cannot fail if we are true to the indications of His will who has originated and sustains our existence to be harmonizing notes in the great chorus of praise ever ascending from every part of the universe. I have written a very hasty, worthless letter, but you will not be hyper-critical, and you will believe that I am as ever
Your true and affectionate
Mary Ann.
Text: Composite from Bookman, 3 (January 1893), 118-119, and Poet-Lore, 6 (February 1894), 59-60.
Foleshill, | December 16th, 1841.
. . . Have you, dear Patty, read any of T. Carlyle's books? He is a grand favourite of mine, and I venture to recommend to you his [Sartor Resartus.] 393 I dare say a barrister of your acquaintance has it.
His soul is a shrine of the brightest and purest philanthropy, kindled by the live coal of gratitude and devotion to the Author of all things. I should observe that he is not "orthodox."
Mr. Adams, 394 who, I dare say, gave lectures at Coventry when you were at school, is delivering a course on chemistry to enlighten us poor smatterers. The labour of acquiring knowledge is, I grant, its own reward, but should you not like a little more intuition, or rather intuitive power, just to enable one to take a sort of seven-leagued-boot stride that would make up for girlish miseducation and girlish idleness? This is the fool's hectic of wishing, 395 which must give place to a determination in the view of all past truant-playing, to enjoy and improve to the utmost the treasures of earth, air, and sky through the rest of our journey. This is true gratitude and its last expression. This beautiful world is given to us children of men as a trial-field indeed, a gymnasium wherein temperance and self-government are both means and ends, but withal as an Eden to dress and to keep with songs of adoration to the Giver. Each little plant, the very lichens that clothe the dead boughs, are lovely and useful, and a link that would be missed in the chain of being. And so we, dear Martha, have our place of usefulness and fitness, and cannot fail if we are true to the indications of His will who has originated and sustains our existence to be harmonizing notes in the great chorus of praise ever ascending from every part of the universe. I have written a very hasty, worthless letter, but you will not be hyper-critical, and you will believe that I am as ever
Your true and affectionate
Mary Ann.
Signature
Mary Ann.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Martha Jackson, Foleshill, 16 December 1841, 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/92924