GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Broadstairs, 16 July [1852]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Broadstairs, 16 July [1852]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Broadstairs, 16 July [1852]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1852-07-16
Place
Broadstairs
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Broadstairs, 16 July [1852]
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 285-286.
Broadstairs | July 16.
Dear Sara
I thought of you last night when I was in a state of mingled rapture and torture -- rapture at the sight of a glorious evening sky, torture at the sight and hearing of the belabouring given to the poor donkey which was drawing me from Ramsgate home. You will hear from Miss Field that her sister Alice has joined her.
I had a note from Miss Florence Nightingale yesterday. I was much pleased with her. There is a loftiness of mind about her which is well expressed by her form and manners. My talk the evening Miss Carter was at Mr. Chapman's 143 was chiefly with Miss Nightingale and Mrs. S. Smith. I have so profound a faith in your likings, if not in your dislikings, that I am quite sure any unfavourable impression about your Hilary is the sign of a want in me rather than in her. Had she been a person whom you had not prepared me to respect, I should have thought her rather affected and the least bit snobbish -- that is thinking of her conventional rank and afraid lest you should overlook it. I was the more surprized at this that her friends seemed so entirely the reverse. I am far more agreeably impressed with Barbara Smith -- one of the tabooed family 144 -- who is Bessie Parkes's intimate friend.
Glad you are pleased with the Westminster. I do think it a rich number -- matter for a fortnight's reading and thought. Lewes has not half done it justice in the Leader. 145 To my mind the Niebuhr article is as good as any of them.
If you could see me in my quiet nook! I am half ashamed of being in such clover both spiritually and materially while some of my friends are on the dusty highways without a tuft of grass or a flower to cheer them. A letter from you will be delightful. We seem to have said very little to each other lately. But I always know -- rejoice to know that there is the same Sara for me as there is the same green earth and arched sky when I am good and wise enough to like the best things.
Ever thine
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, 1, 285-286.
Broadstairs | July 16.
Dear Sara
I thought of you last night when I was in a state of mingled rapture and torture -- rapture at the sight of a glorious evening sky, torture at the sight and hearing of the belabouring given to the poor donkey which was drawing me from Ramsgate home. You will hear from Miss Field that her sister Alice has joined her.
I had a note from Miss Florence Nightingale yesterday. I was much pleased with her. There is a loftiness of mind about her which is well expressed by her form and manners. My talk the evening Miss Carter was at Mr. Chapman's 143 was chiefly with Miss Nightingale and Mrs. S. Smith. I have so profound a faith in your likings, if not in your dislikings, that I am quite sure any unfavourable impression about your Hilary is the sign of a want in me rather than in her. Had she been a person whom you had not prepared me to respect, I should have thought her rather affected and the least bit snobbish -- that is thinking of her conventional rank and afraid lest you should overlook it. I was the more surprized at this that her friends seemed so entirely the reverse. I am far more agreeably impressed with Barbara Smith -- one of the tabooed family 144 -- who is Bessie Parkes's intimate friend.
Glad you are pleased with the Westminster. I do think it a rich number -- matter for a fortnight's reading and thought. Lewes has not half done it justice in the Leader. 145 To my mind the Niebuhr article is as good as any of them.
If you could see me in my quiet nook! I am half ashamed of being in such clover both spiritually and materially while some of my friends are on the dusty highways without a tuft of grass or a flower to cheer them. A letter from you will be delightful. We seem to have said very little to each other lately. But I always know -- rejoice to know that there is the same Sara for me as there is the same green earth and arched sky when I am good and wise enough to like the best things.
Ever thine
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Broadstairs, 16 July [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/93883