GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 13 June 1870
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 13 June 1870
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 13 June 1870
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1870-06-13
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 13 June 1870
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, III, 113-114.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
June 13. 1870.
My dear Sara
Our programme, of which I told you, is disturbed. Dr. Reynolds advises Mr. Lewes to leave London again and go to the bracing air of the Yorkshire coast. So we must pack again! I am unwilling to go without letting you know, because I had hoped that some journey of yours might bring you to London, and I had said that we should be here till the beginning of August. But the Internal Order proposes and the External Order disposes -- if we are to be so priggish as to alter all our old proverbs into agreement with new formulas.
If you or Cara should have any occasion to write to me, a letter addressed to this house will always reach me, with the words "to be forwarded" on the cover.
Dickens's death 196 came as a great shock to us. He lunched with us just before we went abroad and was telling us a story of President Lincoln having told the Council on the day he was shot, that something remarkable would happen, because he had just dreamt for the third time a dream which twice before had preceded events momentous to the nation. The dream was, that he was in a boat on a great river all alone -- and he ended with the words "I drift -- I drift -- I drift." 197
Dickens told this very finely. I thought him looking dreadfully shattered then. It is probable that he never recovered from the effect of the terrible railway accident. 198
With love, always dear Sara
Your faithful
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, III, 113-114.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
June 13. 1870.
My dear Sara
Our programme, of which I told you, is disturbed. Dr. Reynolds advises Mr. Lewes to leave London again and go to the bracing air of the Yorkshire coast. So we must pack again! I am unwilling to go without letting you know, because I had hoped that some journey of yours might bring you to London, and I had said that we should be here till the beginning of August. But the Internal Order proposes and the External Order disposes -- if we are to be so priggish as to alter all our old proverbs into agreement with new formulas.
If you or Cara should have any occasion to write to me, a letter addressed to this house will always reach me, with the words "to be forwarded" on the cover.
Dickens's death 196 came as a great shock to us. He lunched with us just before we went abroad and was telling us a story of President Lincoln having told the Council on the day he was shot, that something remarkable would happen, because he had just dreamt for the third time a dream which twice before had preceded events momentous to the nation. The dream was, that he was in a boat on a great river all alone -- and he ended with the words "I drift -- I drift -- I drift." 197
Dickens told this very finely. I thought him looking dreadfully shattered then. It is probable that he never recovered from the effect of the terrible railway accident. 198
With love, always dear Sara
Your faithful
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 13 June 1870, 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/93990