GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, May 1849]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, May 1849]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, May 1849]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1849-05
Place
[FOLESHILL]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, May 1849]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1849? Published: Cross, I, 193-194.
Thank you beloved for a sight of our blessed Saint Francis's 790 letter. There is no imaginable moment in which the thought of such a being could be an intrusion. His soul is a blessed yea. There is a sort of blasphemy in that proverbial phrase "too good to be true." The highest inspiration of the purest, noblest human soul is the nearest expression of the truth. Those extinct volcanos of one's spiritual life, those eruptions of the intellect and the passions which have scattered the lava of doubt and negation over our early faith are only a glorious Himmalayan chain beneath which new vallies of undreamed richness and beauty will spread themselves. Shall we poor earthworms have sublimer thoughts than the universe of which we are poor chips -- mere effluvia of mind -- shall we have sublimer thoughts than that universe can furnish out into reality?
I am living unspeakable moments and can write no more.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1849? Published: Cross, I, 193-194.
Thank you beloved for a sight of our blessed Saint Francis's 790 letter. There is no imaginable moment in which the thought of such a being could be an intrusion. His soul is a blessed yea. There is a sort of blasphemy in that proverbial phrase "too good to be true." The highest inspiration of the purest, noblest human soul is the nearest expression of the truth. Those extinct volcanos of one's spiritual life, those eruptions of the intellect and the passions which have scattered the lava of doubt and negation over our early faith are only a glorious Himmalayan chain beneath which new vallies of undreamed richness and beauty will spread themselves. Shall we poor earthworms have sublimer thoughts than the universe of which we are poor chips -- mere effluvia of mind -- shall we have sublimer thoughts than that universe can furnish out into reality?
I am living unspeakable moments and can write no more.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Foleshill, May 1849], 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/93845