GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 4 December 1880
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 4 December 1880
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 4 December 1880
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1880-12-04
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 4 December 1880
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Cheyne Walk, | Chelsea, S.W.
December 4. 1880.
My dear Sara
I did absolutely, totally, and up to the arrival of your letter, forget my custom of writing to you in November! I would not beforehand have believed that such oblivion was possible to me while I retained my rational and representative faculties. But so it was, and I think that you would enter with some compassion into this lapse if I could possibly paint to you all that has been going on inwardly and outwardly for me at this epoch. Certainly I have in no way deserved that you should write me one of your charming letters as of old -- perfect letters that tell one what one wants to know without asking. But with my usual perversity of dwelling on what is least pleasurable, I find myself noting especially the [boiling] of your head, and the deafness, and the feebleness of dear Cara's eyes. O dear, I find an excuse for speaking ill of this planet when I hear that my friends have so many infirmities to struggle with. These things touch one's imagination more than the wrongs done by the tyrant of Thibet. The death of Annie Whittem 500 affected me with a pang of memory. I had never seen her since she was a most interesting
I wish you did not find yourself so repelled by Herbert Spencer's writing. He has so much teaching which the world needs, and with all systems one is justified in doing what Goethe mentions satirically in relation to dramatic or other art as the universal practice of audiences -- "If you give them a whole they will straightway take it to pieces. Each seeks what is adapted to him." 501
About Mozart, I am at one with you when I think of him in comparison with Handel, Beethoven and Schubert and some more modern composers -- that is, I feel his kinship to the Italian [sugared] view. But I find him, Haydn, and the Italians a welcome rest from more searching music.
About Cara's rheumatism -- is it at all an indication to think of hopefully, that many years ago, I had a beginning of rheumatism in my wrists? But it has never got worse, and for long spaces of time I have hardly felt it at all. I wish I could believe that her visitation of it is not worse than mine, but I fear it is rather severe since it keeps her awake.
Thank you, dear Sara, for taking the trouble to write when I am sure it is rather trying to you to do so.
Your ever affectionate
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Cheyne Walk, | Chelsea, S.W.
December 4. 1880.
My dear Sara
I did absolutely, totally, and up to the arrival of your letter, forget my custom of writing to you in November! I would not beforehand have believed that such oblivion was possible to me while I retained my rational and representative faculties. But so it was, and I think that you would enter with some compassion into this lapse if I could possibly paint to you all that has been going on inwardly and outwardly for me at this epoch. Certainly I have in no way deserved that you should write me one of your charming letters as of old -- perfect letters that tell one what one wants to know without asking. But with my usual perversity of dwelling on what is least pleasurable, I find myself noting especially the [boiling] of your head, and the deafness, and the feebleness of dear Cara's eyes. O dear, I find an excuse for speaking ill of this planet when I hear that my friends have so many infirmities to struggle with. These things touch one's imagination more than the wrongs done by the tyrant of Thibet. The death of Annie Whittem 500 affected me with a pang of memory. I had never seen her since she was a most interesting
I wish you did not find yourself so repelled by Herbert Spencer's writing. He has so much teaching which the world needs, and with all systems one is justified in doing what Goethe mentions satirically in relation to dramatic or other art as the universal practice of audiences -- "If you give them a whole they will straightway take it to pieces. Each seeks what is adapted to him." 501
About Mozart, I am at one with you when I think of him in comparison with Handel, Beethoven and Schubert and some more modern composers -- that is, I feel his kinship to the Italian [sugared] view. But I find him, Haydn, and the Italians a welcome rest from more searching music.
About Cara's rheumatism -- is it at all an indication to think of hopefully, that many years ago, I had a beginning of rheumatism in my wrists? But it has never got worse, and for long spaces of time I have hardly felt it at all. I wish I could believe that her visitation of it is not worse than mine, but I fear it is rather severe since it keeps her awake.
Thank you, dear Sara, for taking the trouble to write when I am sure it is rather trying to you to do so.
Your ever affectionate
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 4 December 1880, 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/94051