Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880
Title
Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880
Title
Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880
Sender
Frederic Harrison
Recipient
John Walter Cross
Date(s)
- 1880-05-06
Place
London
Letter Content
Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880
MS: Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Westbourne Terrace, | W.
May 1880.
My dear Cross,
I have told my wife the great piece of news which you came to announce to me yesterday, and we both wish to express to you, as strongly as words can say it, how sincerely we desire for you everything that can make you happy in your new life. No one of your many friends, believe me, can feel more real sympathy with you in all that touches it, and no one of them will be more rejoiced to hear that you have found all the happiness that you have sought. If, in our meeting yesterday, I said too little of our very deep regard for you, you will not think that I did not, and do not, feel it.
When you spoke of some well-known opinions of mine and of our school, 404 I might perhaps have said more than I was able to do under the strong impressions of the moment.
Those opinions rest upon a whole system of truly religious ideas, ways of looking at life and its meanings. And I should not presume to think of imposing such opinions on those who stand entirely aloof from our ways and our thoughts. Believe me, we look upon the married happiness of our friends from no arbitrary standard whatever. It never would occur to me to ask you to look on marriage in any other light than as the world of wise and good men about us look on it. Every marriage is in one sense a special and peculiar relation with its own conditions apart from any other marriage that ever was or will be. And this one on which you are entering is in the deepest sense a special relation standing by itself. We earnestly desire your happiness. With sincere regard
Ever yours
Frederic Harrison.
MS: Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Westbourne Terrace, | W.
May 1880.
My dear Cross,
I have told my wife the great piece of news which you came to announce to me yesterday, and we both wish to express to you, as strongly as words can say it, how sincerely we desire for you everything that can make you happy in your new life. No one of your many friends, believe me, can feel more real sympathy with you in all that touches it, and no one of them will be more rejoiced to hear that you have found all the happiness that you have sought. If, in our meeting yesterday, I said too little of our very deep regard for you, you will not think that I did not, and do not, feel it.
When you spoke of some well-known opinions of mine and of our school, 404 I might perhaps have said more than I was able to do under the strong impressions of the moment.
Those opinions rest upon a whole system of truly religious ideas, ways of looking at life and its meanings. And I should not presume to think of imposing such opinions on those who stand entirely aloof from our ways and our thoughts. Believe me, we look upon the married happiness of our friends from no arbitrary standard whatever. It never would occur to me to ask you to look on marriage in any other light than as the world of wise and good men about us look on it. Every marriage is in one sense a special and peculiar relation with its own conditions apart from any other marriage that ever was or will be. And this one on which you are entering is in the deepest sense a special relation standing by itself. We earnestly desire your happiness. With sincere regard
Ever yours
Frederic Harrison.
Signature
Frederic Harrison.
Citation
Frederic Harrison, Frederic Harrison to John Walter Cross, London, 6 May 1880, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91852