GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 15 December 1871
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 15 December 1871
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 15 December 1871
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1871-12-15
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 15 December 1871
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, III, 144-145.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 15. 71.
My dear Sara
I am very glad to think of you getting some quiet change at Ravensbourne. I hope you will spend a cheerful Christmas there, and have nice fresh weather -- not fogs, such as have weighed on us this last week.
I am concerned to gather how serious Mr. Bray's illness has been from what you say of its effects. Cara, whom we used to think a fragile creature turns out to be stronger than any of us.
If you have not yet fallen in with Dicken's Life, 423 be on the lookout for it, because of the interest there is in his boyish experience and also in his rapid development during his first travels in America. The book is ill-organized, and stuffed with criticism and other matter which would be better in limbo; but the information about the childhood, and the letters from America make it worth reading. We have just got a photo of Dickens taken when he was writing or had just written David Copperfield -- satisfactory refutation of that keepsakey, impossible face which Maclise 424 gave him and which has been engraved for the Life in all it odious 'abnamby-pambyness'bb beautification. This photograph is the young Dickens corresponding to the older Dickens whom I knew -- the same face without the unusually severe wear and tear of years which his latest looks exhibited.
I have been ailing this week and am behindhand in everything, with a muddled head which can think of nothing worth telling you. But I don't like to leave untold my pleasure in hearing of your getting the much-needed variety of being with your dear good friends a long way off Coventry, which requires the seasoning of contrast now and then. Always, dear Sara
Your loving friend
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, III, 144-145.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 15. 71.
My dear Sara
I am very glad to think of you getting some quiet change at Ravensbourne. I hope you will spend a cheerful Christmas there, and have nice fresh weather -- not fogs, such as have weighed on us this last week.
I am concerned to gather how serious Mr. Bray's illness has been from what you say of its effects. Cara, whom we used to think a fragile creature turns out to be stronger than any of us.
If you have not yet fallen in with Dicken's Life, 423 be on the lookout for it, because of the interest there is in his boyish experience and also in his rapid development during his first travels in America. The book is ill-organized, and stuffed with criticism and other matter which would be better in limbo; but the information about the childhood, and the letters from America make it worth reading. We have just got a photo of Dickens taken when he was writing or had just written David Copperfield -- satisfactory refutation of that keepsakey, impossible face which Maclise 424 gave him and which has been engraved for the Life in all it odious 'abnamby-pambyness'bb beautification. This photograph is the young Dickens corresponding to the older Dickens whom I knew -- the same face without the unusually severe wear and tear of years which his latest looks exhibited.
I have been ailing this week and am behindhand in everything, with a muddled head which can think of nothing worth telling you. But I don't like to leave untold my pleasure in hearing of your getting the much-needed variety of being with your dear good friends a long way off Coventry, which requires the seasoning of contrast now and then. Always, dear Sara
Your loving friend
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 15 December 1871, 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/93996