GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 20 November 1868
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 20 November 1868
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 20 November 1868
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1868-11-20
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 20 November 1868
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 65-67.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 20. 68.
My dear Sara
I think your Birthday comes after mine, but I am determined to write beforehand to prove to you that I bear you in my thoughts without any external reminder.
I suppose we are both getting too old to care about being wished many happy returns of the day. We shall be content to wish each other as many more years as can carry with them some joy and calm satisfaction in the sense of living. But there is one definite prospect for you which I may fairly hope for, as I do most tenderly -- the prospect that this time next year you will be looking back on your achieved work as a good seed-sowing. Some sadness there must always be in saying goodby to a work which is done with love, but there may -- I trust there will be a compensating good in feeling that the thing you yearned to do is done safely out of reach of casualties that might have cut it short.
Cara said you were well and enjoying your quiet companionship with your proof-sheets, but gave me the idea that these would be likely to chain you at home for some time to come, so that the possibility of my ever seeing you in the flesh again is in misty perspective, with our own habits of flitting.
Since we saw Cara we have been to Sheffield, at the seducing invitation of a friend who showed us the miraculous iron-works there; and afterwards we turned aside to beautiful Matlock, where I found again the spots, the turns of road, the rows of stone cottages, the rushing river Derwent, and the Arkwright Mills, among which I drove with my Father when I was in my teens. 837 We had glorious weather, and I was quite regenerated by the bracing air: all the molecules in my body seem to have amended their behaviour. Mr. Lewes too is a little better, though not equal to much exertion of brain.
Our friend Mr. Spencer is growing younger with the years. He really looks brighter and more enjoying than he ever did before since he was in the really young, happy time of fresh discussion and inquiry. He always asks with sympathetic interest (proportion gard'e9e, for you know his feelings are never too much for him) how you are going on. Unhappily I can never tell him much about you.
His is a friendship which wears well, because of his truthfulness: that makes amends for <other> many deficits. He is just come to ask George to walk out with him, and I wind up my hasty letter, that it may be carried to the post. All blessings to you, dear Sara!
Your ever loving
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 65-67.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
November 20. 68.
My dear Sara
I think your Birthday comes after mine, but I am determined to write beforehand to prove to you that I bear you in my thoughts without any external reminder.
I suppose we are both getting too old to care about being wished many happy returns of the day. We shall be content to wish each other as many more years as can carry with them some joy and calm satisfaction in the sense of living. But there is one definite prospect for you which I may fairly hope for, as I do most tenderly -- the prospect that this time next year you will be looking back on your achieved work as a good seed-sowing. Some sadness there must always be in saying goodby to a work which is done with love, but there may -- I trust there will be a compensating good in feeling that the thing you yearned to do is done safely out of reach of casualties that might have cut it short.
Cara said you were well and enjoying your quiet companionship with your proof-sheets, but gave me the idea that these would be likely to chain you at home for some time to come, so that the possibility of my ever seeing you in the flesh again is in misty perspective, with our own habits of flitting.
Since we saw Cara we have been to Sheffield, at the seducing invitation of a friend who showed us the miraculous iron-works there; and afterwards we turned aside to beautiful Matlock, where I found again the spots, the turns of road, the rows of stone cottages, the rushing river Derwent, and the Arkwright Mills, among which I drove with my Father when I was in my teens. 837 We had glorious weather, and I was quite regenerated by the bracing air: all the molecules in my body seem to have amended their behaviour. Mr. Lewes too is a little better, though not equal to much exertion of brain.
Our friend Mr. Spencer is growing younger with the years. He really looks brighter and more enjoying than he ever did before since he was in the really young, happy time of fresh discussion and inquiry. He always asks with sympathetic interest (proportion gard'e9e, for you know his feelings are never too much for him) how you are going on. Unhappily I can never tell him much about you.
His is a friendship which wears well, because of his truthfulness: that makes amends for <other> many deficits. He is just come to ask George to walk out with him, and I wind up my hasty letter, that it may be carried to the post. All blessings to you, dear Sara!
Your ever loving
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 20 November 1868, 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/94017