GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Niton, 21 June [1863]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Niton, 21 June [1863]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Niton, 21 June [1863]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1863-06-21
Place
Niton
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Niton, 21 June [1863]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 21, 1863. Extracts published: Cross, II, 355.
Post Office, Niton | Sunday, June 21.
Dear Sara
Your letter telling that the Sydenham house is let for a good long space was a welcome addition to our sunshine this Sabbath morning. For in this particular we seem to have been more fortunate than you, having had almost constant sunshine since we arrived at Sandown on Tuesday evening. 165
This place is perfect, reminding me of Jersey in its combination of luxuriant greenth with the delights of a sandy beach. You see we are at
Mrs. Blythe's, recommended to us by Mr. Bray and Miss Marshall. Unfortunately for us, her best rooms were all occupied, but we have a tolerable sitting room and bedroom, and don't mind making shift a little for a week. At the end of our week, if the weather is warmer we shall go on to Freshwater for our remaining few days. But the wind at present is a little colder than one desires it when the object is to get rid of a cough, and unless it gets milder, we shall not venture to go to Freshwater but shall go back to Shanklin.
I imagine you pleasing yourself with your tiny photos. That little one you gave me, in a frame, is a very good one for some points of your face and expression to any one who knows you, but in general strangers would imagine you quite a different person from that small-featured delicate-faced thing you really are, if they saw nothing but your photographs. As for Cara, they alter her face much as the moon is altered when it looks very large, white and weightless, hanging low in the sky.
I am enjoying the hedgerow grasses and flowers with something like a released prisoner's feeling -- it is so long since I had a bit of real English country when I could give myself up to it without distraction. No more now. With love to all
Your
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 21, 1863. Extracts published: Cross, II, 355.
Post Office, Niton | Sunday, June 21.
Dear Sara
Your letter telling that the Sydenham house is let for a good long space was a welcome addition to our sunshine this Sabbath morning. For in this particular we seem to have been more fortunate than you, having had almost constant sunshine since we arrived at Sandown on Tuesday evening. 165
This place is perfect, reminding me of Jersey in its combination of luxuriant greenth with the delights of a sandy beach. You see we are at
Mrs. Blythe's, recommended to us by Mr. Bray and Miss Marshall. Unfortunately for us, her best rooms were all occupied, but we have a tolerable sitting room and bedroom, and don't mind making shift a little for a week. At the end of our week, if the weather is warmer we shall go on to Freshwater for our remaining few days. But the wind at present is a little colder than one desires it when the object is to get rid of a cough, and unless it gets milder, we shall not venture to go to Freshwater but shall go back to Shanklin.
I imagine you pleasing yourself with your tiny photos. That little one you gave me, in a frame, is a very good one for some points of your face and expression to any one who knows you, but in general strangers would imagine you quite a different person from that small-featured delicate-faced thing you really are, if they saw nothing but your photographs. As for Cara, they alter her face much as the moon is altered when it looks very large, white and weightless, hanging low in the sky.
I am enjoying the hedgerow grasses and flowers with something like a released prisoner's feeling -- it is so long since I had a bit of real English country when I could give myself up to it without distraction. No more now. With love to all
Your
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Niton, 21 June [1863], 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/94070