GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 8 February 1861
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 8 February 1861
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 8 February 1861
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1861-02-08
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 8 February 1861
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1861. Extracts published: Cross, II, 286-287.
Blandford Square, | N.W.
February 8. 61.
My dear Sara
Miss Marshall called yesterday and I delivered over to her the "Strauss letters." 691 I have not read them since you gave them to me, years ago, and I would rather not know what is in them since I have not the right to destroy them. The knowledge would only give a more definite repugnance to the idea of their falling into other hands after your death.
I have destroyed almost all my friends' letters to me, simply on that ground -- because they were only intended for my eyes, and could only fall into the hands of persons who knew little of the writers, if I allowed them to remain till after my death. In proportion as I love every form of piety -- which is venerating love -- I hate hard curiosity; and unhappily my experience has impressed me with the sense that hard curiosity is the more common temper of mind. But enough of that.
The reminders I am getting from time to time of Coventry distress 692 have made me think very often, yearningly and painfully, of the friends who are more immediately affected by it, and I often wonder if more definite information would increase or lessen my anxiety for them. Send me what word you can from time to time, that there may be some reality in my image of things round your hearth. Give my best love to Cara and Mr. Bray, and tell Cara I often have a longing to write, and yet feel a letter hardly justifiable with so little to say as I have.
We have been anything but brilliant in health since we saw you, but in other respects are as flourishing as possible. I was rather glad you escaped the long-legged gentlemen who came the next Saturday after your visit; but Mr. Spencer, longest-legged of all, was sorry not to have seen you. 693
Ever yours
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1861. Extracts published: Cross, II, 286-287.
Blandford Square, | N.W.
February 8. 61.
My dear Sara
Miss Marshall called yesterday and I delivered over to her the "Strauss letters." 691 I have not read them since you gave them to me, years ago, and I would rather not know what is in them since I have not the right to destroy them. The knowledge would only give a more definite repugnance to the idea of their falling into other hands after your death.
I have destroyed almost all my friends' letters to me, simply on that ground -- because they were only intended for my eyes, and could only fall into the hands of persons who knew little of the writers, if I allowed them to remain till after my death. In proportion as I love every form of piety -- which is venerating love -- I hate hard curiosity; and unhappily my experience has impressed me with the sense that hard curiosity is the more common temper of mind. But enough of that.
The reminders I am getting from time to time of Coventry distress 692 have made me think very often, yearningly and painfully, of the friends who are more immediately affected by it, and I often wonder if more definite information would increase or lessen my anxiety for them. Send me what word you can from time to time, that there may be some reality in my image of things round your hearth. Give my best love to Cara and Mr. Bray, and tell Cara I often have a longing to write, and yet feel a letter hardly justifiable with so little to say as I have.
We have been anything but brilliant in health since we saw you, but in other respects are as flourishing as possible. I was rather glad you escaped the long-legged gentlemen who came the next Saturday after your visit; but Mr. Spencer, longest-legged of all, was sorry not to have seen you. 693
Ever yours
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 8 February 1861, 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/94059