GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth], 19 May 1859
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth], 19 May 1859
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth], 19 May 1859
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1859-05-19
Place
[Wandsworth]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth], 19 May 1859
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 109.
May 19. 59.
Dear Sara
You live -- all of you -- and "make no sign," 135 which is far more inexcusable than dying with the same omission. Why do you all collapse into utter silence? I hope, because you have a great many other friends that you are very fond of writing to. I have never heard yet whether Cara is comfortable with her servant. I am, at last. And what are you all doing? Is Mr. Bray swearing at May, because it is wet and cloudy, as I remember he did many years ago? Is he building his new house at Sydenham? Are you all happy, or all miserable, or neither one nor the other, but middling?
Are you coming to town this season? We have no spare bed in our own house but we can get you one for a night in Mr. Congreve's, which is empty of all but servants. Mr. and Mrs. Congreve kindly begged me to make that use of their room, during their absence, which in other respects is a loss to us (they are gone into France until September). Mrs. Congreve is a sweet woman, and I feel that I have acquired a friend in her -- after recently declaring that we would never have any friends again, only acquaintances who are obliged to conceal their nasty feelings and make themselves civil. I allude to friends of another calibre than yours.
I had a terrible alarm three weeks ago in Mr. Lewes's fainting and falling with his head on the edge of his bath. Happily his dressing gown collar protected his head from injury, and the event had the good effect of making him go to Mr. Simon 136 and be stethoscoped. Simon pronounced him sound in heart and lungs -- only suffering from debility -- the one cause of all his symptoms.
We were sorry that Mr. and Mrs. Call had a disappointment about Hofwyl. Frank, it seems, is too delicate for ordinary boys' diet and treatment, and Mr. Call objected to the religious instruction, a point on which we differ from him.
Do write and let me know that you think of
Your affectionate
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 109.
May 19. 59.
Dear Sara
You live -- all of you -- and "make no sign," 135 which is far more inexcusable than dying with the same omission. Why do you all collapse into utter silence? I hope, because you have a great many other friends that you are very fond of writing to. I have never heard yet whether Cara is comfortable with her servant. I am, at last. And what are you all doing? Is Mr. Bray swearing at May, because it is wet and cloudy, as I remember he did many years ago? Is he building his new house at Sydenham? Are you all happy, or all miserable, or neither one nor the other, but middling?
Are you coming to town this season? We have no spare bed in our own house but we can get you one for a night in Mr. Congreve's, which is empty of all but servants. Mr. and Mrs. Congreve kindly begged me to make that use of their room, during their absence, which in other respects is a loss to us (they are gone into France until September). Mrs. Congreve is a sweet woman, and I feel that I have acquired a friend in her -- after recently declaring that we would never have any friends again, only acquaintances who are obliged to conceal their nasty feelings and make themselves civil. I allude to friends of another calibre than yours.
I had a terrible alarm three weeks ago in Mr. Lewes's fainting and falling with his head on the edge of his bath. Happily his dressing gown collar protected his head from injury, and the event had the good effect of making him go to Mr. Simon 136 and be stethoscoped. Simon pronounced him sound in heart and lungs -- only suffering from debility -- the one cause of all his symptoms.
We were sorry that Mr. and Mrs. Call had a disappointment about Hofwyl. Frank, it seems, is too delicate for ordinary boys' diet and treatment, and Mr. Call objected to the religious instruction, a point on which we differ from him.
Do write and let me know that you think of
Your affectionate
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth], 19 May 1859, 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/93879