GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 15? March 1843]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 15? March 1843]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 15? March 1843]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1843-03-15
Place
[FOLESHILL]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 15? March 1843]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: April 1843. Extract published: Cross, 1, 117-118.
My dearest Friend,
You had my sympathy before you asked for it, and you have a large share of my thoughts. 478 You are right in believing that experience has taught me to understand your trial and I know that in the present stage of grief your comfort must come to you from within and not from without -- all the eloquence of friendship reaches no farther than the ear. Let feeling have its course, and there will not fail to be seen a green tract of peaceful joy after the streams of sorrow. We always find that our stock of appreciated good can never be really diminished. When the chief desire of the eyes is taken, we can afford a gaze to hitherto unnoticed possessions, and even when the topmost boughs are lopped a thousand shoots spring from below with the energy of new life. So it will be with you, but you cannot yet look beyond the present, nor it is desirable that you should. It would not be well for us to overleap one grade of joy or suffering -- our life would lose its completeness and beauty.
I am afraid of writing for I know not what may have occurred since yesterday. Only let me remind you of the single duty you are apt to forget -- care of yourself for the sake of others. I wish I could be helpful to you, and I long for a time when I can prove by more than words that I am wholly yours.
Mary Ann.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: April 1843. Extract published: Cross, 1, 117-118.
My dearest Friend,
You had my sympathy before you asked for it, and you have a large share of my thoughts. 478 You are right in believing that experience has taught me to understand your trial and I know that in the present stage of grief your comfort must come to you from within and not from without -- all the eloquence of friendship reaches no farther than the ear. Let feeling have its course, and there will not fail to be seen a green tract of peaceful joy after the streams of sorrow. We always find that our stock of appreciated good can never be really diminished. When the chief desire of the eyes is taken, we can afford a gaze to hitherto unnoticed possessions, and even when the topmost boughs are lopped a thousand shoots spring from below with the energy of new life. So it will be with you, but you cannot yet look beyond the present, nor it is desirable that you should. It would not be well for us to overleap one grade of joy or suffering -- our life would lose its completeness and beauty.
I am afraid of writing for I know not what may have occurred since yesterday. Only let me remind you of the single duty you are apt to forget -- care of yourself for the sake of others. I wish I could be helpful to you, and I long for a time when I can prove by more than words that I am wholly yours.
Mary Ann.
Signature
Mary Ann.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, 15? March 1843], 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/93805