GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [3 June 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [3 June 1854]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [3 June 1854]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1854-06-03
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [3 June 1854]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 3. Brief extract published: George Eliot and John Chapman, p. 87.
Cambridge Street | Saturday Morning.
Dear Sara
Thanks in the first place for the better news about business. It is a ray of sunshine to me this morning which finds me on the whole in a cloudy state.
The printers have been so dilatory with Feuerbach, that I am only just going to correct what I think will be the last sheet but one. I am sorry to find that they have put into italics all the large type of the latin quotations in the appendix, which I had not thought of giving directions about, and Mr. Chapman shudders at the expense of alteration. 481 Perhaps there is an advantage in typographical emphasis in Latin -- it may help to attract or to fix the reader's attention.
How came you to imagine that I did the Belles Lettres in the West[minste]r? Mrs. Sinnett did them as usual -- and she begs Mr. Chapman not to take this work from her at present, as the loss of it would make a serious deficit in her income. I am glad to tell you that one of her daughters is engaged to young Ellis, only son of Mr. Ellis of Champion Hill. 482 One likes to think of the rich and the poor coming together.
I went to the Strand last night and found Mr. and Mrs. Chapman already in the bustle of their double removal. 483 A well-to-do brother of Miss Tilley's is come from Australia and will do something for her, I hope.
Mr. Lewes is still suffering from his head and is ordered to go into the country again. He sets off on a visit to Oxford this morning and from there he will go to Malvern to see Mr. Bray's acquaintance, Dr. Balbirnie, 484 of whom I have not a pleasant recollection.
Brain and legs and fingers all move heavily with me. I do nothing well but idling, and the consciousness of this is like a garment of lead about me. If I could only fancy myself clever, it would be better, but to be a failure of Nature and to know it is not a comfortable lot. It is the last lesson one learns, to be contented with one's inferiority -- but it must be learned. In haste ever
Your
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 3. Brief extract published: George Eliot and John Chapman, p. 87.
Cambridge Street | Saturday Morning.
Dear Sara
Thanks in the first place for the better news about business. It is a ray of sunshine to me this morning which finds me on the whole in a cloudy state.
The printers have been so dilatory with Feuerbach, that I am only just going to correct what I think will be the last sheet but one. I am sorry to find that they have put into italics all the large type of the latin quotations in the appendix, which I had not thought of giving directions about, and Mr. Chapman shudders at the expense of alteration. 481 Perhaps there is an advantage in typographical emphasis in Latin -- it may help to attract or to fix the reader's attention.
How came you to imagine that I did the Belles Lettres in the West[minste]r? Mrs. Sinnett did them as usual -- and she begs Mr. Chapman not to take this work from her at present, as the loss of it would make a serious deficit in her income. I am glad to tell you that one of her daughters is engaged to young Ellis, only son of Mr. Ellis of Champion Hill. 482 One likes to think of the rich and the poor coming together.
I went to the Strand last night and found Mr. and Mrs. Chapman already in the bustle of their double removal. 483 A well-to-do brother of Miss Tilley's is come from Australia and will do something for her, I hope.
Mr. Lewes is still suffering from his head and is ordered to go into the country again. He sets off on a visit to Oxford this morning and from there he will go to Malvern to see Mr. Bray's acquaintance, Dr. Balbirnie, 484 of whom I have not a pleasant recollection.
Brain and legs and fingers all move heavily with me. I do nothing well but idling, and the consciousness of this is like a garment of lead about me. If I could only fancy myself clever, it would be better, but to be a failure of Nature and to know it is not a comfortable lot. It is the last lesson one learns, to be contented with one's inferiority -- but it must be learned. In haste ever
Your
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, [3 June 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/93968