GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [London, 21 April 1852]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [London, 21 April 1852]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [London, 21 April 1852]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1852-04-21
Place
[London]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [London, 21 April 1852]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: April 21. Extracts published: Cross, I, 275-276.
Wednesday Morning.
My dear Sara
I am lost in amazement at your letter and cannot rest without writing an answer before I do anything else, though alas! that answer cannot reach you till tomorrow.
It is perhaps vain to inquire what fancied foundation Mr. Bray may have had for his assertion about me. I hope it is enough to say that he was never more completely in error. If there is any change in my affection for you, it is that I love you more than ever, not less. I have as perfect a friendship for you as my imperfect nature can feel -- a friendship in which deep respect and admiration are sweetened by a sort of flesh-and-blood sisterly feeling and the happy consciousness that I have your affection, however undeservedly, in return. I have confidence that this friendship can never be shaken -- that it must last while I last, and that the supposition of its ever being weakened by a momentary irritation is too contemptibly absurd for me to take the trouble to deny it. I am not conscious of having felt even that transient irritation towards you for a long, long time on my own account. I have admitted to Mr. Bray that I perceived what it was in you that frequently repelled him and chilled his affection for you, but as far as I can remember, I have chiefly to repent of having been too severe upon him rather than upon you in relation to this matter.
As to your whole conduct to me from the first day I knew you, it has been so generous and sympathetic, that if I did not heartily love you I should feel deep gratitude -- but love excludes gratitude. It would be a sad day indeed for me in which I was "alienated" from you, for I should never replace you. It is impossible that I should ever love two women better than I love you and Cara -- indeed it seems to me that I can never love any so well, and it is certain that I can never have any friend -- not even a husband -- who would supply the loss of those associations with the past which belong to you.
I have been interrupted two or three times, and I feel that I have not written as I should have liked. But, dear Sara, do believe in my love for you and that it will remain as long as I have my senses, because it is interwoven with my best nature and is dependent, not on any accidents of manner but on long experience which has confirmed the instinctive attraction of earlier days.
No more this morning -- for I am busy, but I will write again soon.
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: April 21. Extracts published: Cross, I, 275-276.
Wednesday Morning.
My dear Sara
I am lost in amazement at your letter and cannot rest without writing an answer before I do anything else, though alas! that answer cannot reach you till tomorrow.
It is perhaps vain to inquire what fancied foundation Mr. Bray may have had for his assertion about me. I hope it is enough to say that he was never more completely in error. If there is any change in my affection for you, it is that I love you more than ever, not less. I have as perfect a friendship for you as my imperfect nature can feel -- a friendship in which deep respect and admiration are sweetened by a sort of flesh-and-blood sisterly feeling and the happy consciousness that I have your affection, however undeservedly, in return. I have confidence that this friendship can never be shaken -- that it must last while I last, and that the supposition of its ever being weakened by a momentary irritation is too contemptibly absurd for me to take the trouble to deny it. I am not conscious of having felt even that transient irritation towards you for a long, long time on my own account. I have admitted to Mr. Bray that I perceived what it was in you that frequently repelled him and chilled his affection for you, but as far as I can remember, I have chiefly to repent of having been too severe upon him rather than upon you in relation to this matter.
As to your whole conduct to me from the first day I knew you, it has been so generous and sympathetic, that if I did not heartily love you I should feel deep gratitude -- but love excludes gratitude. It would be a sad day indeed for me in which I was "alienated" from you, for I should never replace you. It is impossible that I should ever love two women better than I love you and Cara -- indeed it seems to me that I can never love any so well, and it is certain that I can never have any friend -- not even a husband -- who would supply the loss of those associations with the past which belong to you.
I have been interrupted two or three times, and I feel that I have not written as I should have liked. But, dear Sara, do believe in my love for you and that it will remain as long as I have my senses, because it is interwoven with my best nature and is dependent, not on any accidents of manner but on long experience which has confirmed the instinctive attraction of earlier days.
No more this morning -- for I am busy, but I will write again soon.
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [London, 21 April 1852], 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/93853