GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [12 February 1866]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [12 February 1866]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [12 February 1866]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1866-02-12
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [12 February 1866]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 12, 1866-80. Extracts published: Cross, II, 423-424.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Monday.
Dear Sara
Thanks for your kind letter. Alas -- we had chiefly bad weather in the country, and the latter part of our time I was pulled down by a bilious attack. George, whose state is of more importance, was a little benefited, but only a little. He is too far "run down" to be wound up in a very short time. We enjoyed our return to our comfortable home, and perhaps that freshness of home was the chief gain from our absence. You see, to counterbalance all the great and good things that life has given us beyond what our fellows have, we hardly know now what it is to be free from bodily malaise.
The symptoms you mention seem to me to be alarming in a constitution like Mr. Bray's. Let me know when he is freed from them again, for even if they indicated nothing seriously wrong, they must be distressing to bear. Palpitations are horrible.
After the notion I have given you of my health, you will not wonder if I say that I don't know when anything of mine will appear. I can never reckon on myself. 417
Our Bertie is gone into Warwickshire, to be under the tutelage of a Mr. Hollins of Snitterfield near Stratford on Avon. He was much pleased to see a country less black, and people a little less harsh, than he has been used to in Scotland. Yet Scotland was a better preparation for roughing it in a colony. Best love to all from
Yours ever
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: Feb. 12, 1866-80. Extracts published: Cross, II, 423-424.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Monday.
Dear Sara
Thanks for your kind letter. Alas -- we had chiefly bad weather in the country, and the latter part of our time I was pulled down by a bilious attack. George, whose state is of more importance, was a little benefited, but only a little. He is too far "run down" to be wound up in a very short time. We enjoyed our return to our comfortable home, and perhaps that freshness of home was the chief gain from our absence. You see, to counterbalance all the great and good things that life has given us beyond what our fellows have, we hardly know now what it is to be free from bodily malaise.
The symptoms you mention seem to me to be alarming in a constitution like Mr. Bray's. Let me know when he is freed from them again, for even if they indicated nothing seriously wrong, they must be distressing to bear. Palpitations are horrible.
After the notion I have given you of my health, you will not wonder if I say that I don't know when anything of mine will appear. I can never reckon on myself. 417
Our Bertie is gone into Warwickshire, to be under the tutelage of a Mr. Hollins of Snitterfield near Stratford on Avon. He was much pleased to see a country less black, and people a little less harsh, than he has been used to in Scotland. Yet Scotland was a better preparation for roughing it in a colony. Best love to all from
Yours ever
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [12 February 1866], 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/93936