GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, April? 1846](4)
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, April? 1846](4)
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, April? 1846](4)
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1846-04
Place
[FOLESHILL]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, April? 1846](4)
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Dear Achates,
I have no doubt that Paschaabend must be translated the evening of the Passover, and I think if you look at the passage again you will see that it would make nonsense of it to translate eve of the passover. "Je mehr das letzte mit ihrem Meister gehaltene Mahl den J'fcngern 'fcber alle Paschamahle gegangen sei, desto weniger sei ihnen auf die Zeit desselben, ob es am Paschaabend selbst, oder einen Tag fr'fcher gehalten worden war, angekommen." 617 Now the only question as to the time of the meal is whether it was eaten on the evening of the 14th Nisan i.e. not the eve of the passover, but the commencement of the Passover itself, or on the evening of the 13th Nisan, which would be what Strauss calls the Vorabend des Pascha.
The synoptists say that the last supper was taken at the proper time for eating the passover -- John intimates throughout his story that it was taken on the evening before (Vorabend) that of eating the passover. "Paschaabend selbst" expresses the representation of the synoptists, and the eve of the passover was not the proper time for eating the Paschal meal. I am tired and hurried, but if I have not made the matter clear, your own logical faculty will do it.
The perpetual recurrence of the stiff expression Paschal meal is very ugly, and I think passover might properly have been used interchangeably for the eating of the Paschal lamb, especially as it is so in the quotations from the New T. and as [feast of the passover] is the best way of indicating the Gesammtheit of the passover -- but this is not of much consequence. I have been hindered, and shall not be able to send the next parcel before Thursday or Friday. Do you think Mr.
Chapman is advertising sufficiently? I hope he is not so penny wise as to economize in that particular.
Thine
Pollian.
Do not ask anybody about the meaning of Paschaabend because the nature of the subject is the only evidence.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Dear Achates,
I have no doubt that Paschaabend must be translated the evening of the Passover, and I think if you look at the passage again you will see that it would make nonsense of it to translate eve of the passover. "Je mehr das letzte mit ihrem Meister gehaltene Mahl den J'fcngern 'fcber alle Paschamahle gegangen sei, desto weniger sei ihnen auf die Zeit desselben, ob es am Paschaabend selbst, oder einen Tag fr'fcher gehalten worden war, angekommen." 617 Now the only question as to the time of the meal is whether it was eaten on the evening of the 14th Nisan i.e. not the eve of the passover, but the commencement of the Passover itself, or on the evening of the 13th Nisan, which would be what Strauss calls the Vorabend des Pascha.
The synoptists say that the last supper was taken at the proper time for eating the passover -- John intimates throughout his story that it was taken on the evening before (Vorabend) that of eating the passover. "Paschaabend selbst" expresses the representation of the synoptists, and the eve of the passover was not the proper time for eating the Paschal meal. I am tired and hurried, but if I have not made the matter clear, your own logical faculty will do it.
The perpetual recurrence of the stiff expression Paschal meal is very ugly, and I think passover might properly have been used interchangeably for the eating of the Paschal lamb, especially as it is so in the quotations from the New T. and as [feast of the passover] is the best way of indicating the Gesammtheit of the passover -- but this is not of much consequence. I have been hindered, and shall not be able to send the next parcel before Thursday or Friday. Do you think Mr.
Chapman is advertising sufficiently? I hope he is not so penny wise as to economize in that particular.
Thine
Pollian.
Do not ask anybody about the meaning of Paschaabend because the nature of the subject is the only evidence.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, April? 1846](4), 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/93832