GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 10 June 1863
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 10 June 1863
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 10 June 1863
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1863-06-10
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 10 June 1863
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 354.
Blandford Sq. | June 10. 63.
Dear Sara
In a general routing of papers such as comes after a release from preoccupying work, I have alighted on an autograph of Montalembert which I put by for you two years and more ago. I don't know whether your zeal as a collector is still alive: if it is, Montalembert is one of the men who will be historical, and is therefore worth a place in your book.
I had cut off the signature, not meaning to send you the letter. But, on second thought, it may amuse you, in the dearth of variety at Coventry, to see what the brilliant Frenchman happens to say in English about an English book. You can read the letter and then burn it -- don't put it away without that -- and the signature may go among your autographs.
I trust you can tell me now that your head is better than when Cara wrote. How impossible it is for strong people to understand the way in which bodily malaise and suffering eats at the root of one's life! The philosophy that is true -- the religion that is strength to the healthy -- is constantly emptiness to one when the head is distracted and every sensation is oppressive.
We intend to have a run to the Isle of Wight next week -- to take a carriage and go round the island, and so get a breath of freshness before Thornie comes to demand our presence at home.
At a little gathering we had on Saturday Miss Marshall and Mrs. W. Marshall joined us, and the latter delighted us very much with her excellent piano-playing.
Don't write to me unless you feel the prompting. Only when you do, I shall be glad to know something more of you than my own rather sombre imaginations.
Ever yours affectionately
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 354.
Blandford Sq. | June 10. 63.
Dear Sara
In a general routing of papers such as comes after a release from preoccupying work, I have alighted on an autograph of Montalembert which I put by for you two years and more ago. I don't know whether your zeal as a collector is still alive: if it is, Montalembert is one of the men who will be historical, and is therefore worth a place in your book.
I had cut off the signature, not meaning to send you the letter. But, on second thought, it may amuse you, in the dearth of variety at Coventry, to see what the brilliant Frenchman happens to say in English about an English book. You can read the letter and then burn it -- don't put it away without that -- and the signature may go among your autographs.
I trust you can tell me now that your head is better than when Cara wrote. How impossible it is for strong people to understand the way in which bodily malaise and suffering eats at the root of one's life! The philosophy that is true -- the religion that is strength to the healthy -- is constantly emptiness to one when the head is distracted and every sensation is oppressive.
We intend to have a run to the Isle of Wight next week -- to take a carriage and go round the island, and so get a breath of freshness before Thornie comes to demand our presence at home.
At a little gathering we had on Saturday Miss Marshall and Mrs. W. Marshall joined us, and the latter delighted us very much with her excellent piano-playing.
Don't write to me unless you feel the prompting. Only when you do, I shall be glad to know something more of you than my own rather sombre imaginations.
Ever yours affectionately
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 10 June 1863, 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/93984