GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [17 May 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [17 May 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [17 May 1854]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1854-05-17
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [17 May 1854]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: May 17. Hitherto unpublished.
Cambridge Street | Wednesday.
Dear Sara
I hope you have not thought me ungrateful for not writing before this to thank you for your last kind service. The fact is, at the end of last week I felt regularly "done up" both in body and mind, so I have sent them word at the Leader office that they must expect nothing from me this week, 465 and I am idling about, looking at pictures and Nature -- in Kensington Gardens. 466 I am terribly out of spirits just now and the pleasantest thought I have is that whatever I may feel affects no one else -- happens in a little "island cut off from other lands."
The proof-reading of Feuerbach is really a pleasure to me and opens up afresh to me what there is of truth and beauty in the book. I find scarcely any need of italics -- hardly one instance in 20 pages. I am more and more convinced that a good style not only does not require them, but excludes them. But at present I intend to have the first sentence or par[agraph] in every 'a7 of the appendix in italics, just to indicate what is the text of the 'a7. 467 In the original there is no numbering of the different parts in the appendix.
On Monday I went to look at the French pictures among which is that unforgettable Francesca di Rimini of Ary Scheffer's. 468 It surpasses one's expectations from the engraving. I could look at it for hours. There is nothing at the Royal Acad[emy] to affect one in the same way -- or indeed at all. I never was less interested in the exhibition there. But perhaps this was owing to my mood and my aching legs. I have been there ever since breakfast time this morning and am come back in a miserably uninspired state -- which is rarely the case with me after seeing pictures.
I had a very kind letter from Mr. Combe the other day, and it really did me good. Kindness becomes more and more precious to one in proportion as one learns not to expect it.
There is enough about myself to last for the next three months. How are you? What are you enjoying or not enjoying? I hope Mr. Bray will have imbibed some good hope for trade by his visit to London, and so put you all in spirits to receive the Combes. 469 Love to you all from
Your ever affectionate
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: May 17. Hitherto unpublished.
Cambridge Street | Wednesday.
Dear Sara
I hope you have not thought me ungrateful for not writing before this to thank you for your last kind service. The fact is, at the end of last week I felt regularly "done up" both in body and mind, so I have sent them word at the Leader office that they must expect nothing from me this week, 465 and I am idling about, looking at pictures and Nature -- in Kensington Gardens. 466 I am terribly out of spirits just now and the pleasantest thought I have is that whatever I may feel affects no one else -- happens in a little "island cut off from other lands."
The proof-reading of Feuerbach is really a pleasure to me and opens up afresh to me what there is of truth and beauty in the book. I find scarcely any need of italics -- hardly one instance in 20 pages. I am more and more convinced that a good style not only does not require them, but excludes them. But at present I intend to have the first sentence or par[agraph] in every 'a7 of the appendix in italics, just to indicate what is the text of the 'a7. 467 In the original there is no numbering of the different parts in the appendix.
On Monday I went to look at the French pictures among which is that unforgettable Francesca di Rimini of Ary Scheffer's. 468 It surpasses one's expectations from the engraving. I could look at it for hours. There is nothing at the Royal Acad[emy] to affect one in the same way -- or indeed at all. I never was less interested in the exhibition there. But perhaps this was owing to my mood and my aching legs. I have been there ever since breakfast time this morning and am come back in a miserably uninspired state -- which is rarely the case with me after seeing pictures.
I had a very kind letter from Mr. Combe the other day, and it really did me good. Kindness becomes more and more precious to one in proportion as one learns not to expect it.
There is enough about myself to last for the next three months. How are you? What are you enjoying or not enjoying? I hope Mr. Bray will have imbibed some good hope for trade by his visit to London, and so put you all in spirits to receive the Combes. 469 Love to you all from
Your ever affectionate
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [17 May 1854], 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/93945