GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Foleshill, 13 October [1847]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Foleshill, 13 October [1847]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Foleshill, 13 October [1847]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1847-10-13
Place
FOLESHILL
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Foleshill, 13 October [1847]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1847. Extracts published: Cross, I, 166-167.
Foleshill | October 13.
Liebe Weib
Thy letter did not reach me by the [breezy ocean] but it smiled on me, or rather, to be more literal, I smiled on it when I reached home on Saturday evening. I am reproaching myself for letting three days pass without thanking you for it, for I see it is now nearly a fortnight since you wrote it. I heartily wish you had been with me to see all the beauties which have gladdened my soul and made me feel that this earth is as good a heaven as I ought to dream of. I have a much greater respect for the Isle of Wight now I have seen it, than when I knew it only by report -- a compliment which one can seldom very sincerely pay to things and people that one has heard puffed and bepraised. I do long for you to see Alum Bay. Though you have beheld many more beauties than I, I do believe that would be quite new to you. Fancy a very high precipice, the strata upheaved perpendicularly, in rainbowlike streaks of the brightest maize, violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white, worn by the weather into fantastic fretwork -- the deep blue sky above, and the glorious sea below. It seems an enchanted land where the earth is of more delicate, refined materials than this dingy planet of ours is wrought out of. You might fancy the strata formed of the compressed pollen of flowers, or powder from bright insects. You can think of nothing but Calypsos, or Prosperos and Ariels and such like beings and are ready to be cross with the poor little prosaic girl with her basket of [specimens.]
We staid at Brighton on our way home, and I very much enjoyed the sight of that splendid place, the only one of its kind, I suppose, in England. I find one very great spiritual good attendant on a quiet meditative journey among fresh scenes. I seem to have removed to a distance from myself when I am away from the petty circumstances that make up my ordinary environment. I can take myself up by the ears and inspect myself, like any other queer monster on a small scale. I have had many thoughts, especially on a subject that I should like to work out "The superiority of the consolations of philosophy to those of (so-called) religion." 674 Do you stare?
I have saved till last my conjugal gratitude for your affectionate wish to have me with you. It would be a real delight to me to be with my bright-eyed and klar-sprechende beloved but I fear I must not think at present of a second absence from home. Say all pretty things, for you may say them truly, to Mr. and Mrs. C. Hennell for their goodness.
Thank you for putting me on reading Sir Charles Grandison. 675 I have read five volumes and am only vexed that I have not the two last on my table at this moment that I might have them for my convives. I had no idea that Richardson was worth so much. I have had more pleasure from him than from all the Swedish novels 676 together. The morality is perfect -- there is nothing for the new lights to correct.
I seem to myself to have written very detestably, but you will rather have this disagreeable I-ish letter than think me ungrateful, which is one bad adjective that your Pollian does not deserve.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: 1847. Extracts published: Cross, I, 166-167.
Foleshill | October 13.
Liebe Weib
Thy letter did not reach me by the [breezy ocean] but it smiled on me, or rather, to be more literal, I smiled on it when I reached home on Saturday evening. I am reproaching myself for letting three days pass without thanking you for it, for I see it is now nearly a fortnight since you wrote it. I heartily wish you had been with me to see all the beauties which have gladdened my soul and made me feel that this earth is as good a heaven as I ought to dream of. I have a much greater respect for the Isle of Wight now I have seen it, than when I knew it only by report -- a compliment which one can seldom very sincerely pay to things and people that one has heard puffed and bepraised. I do long for you to see Alum Bay. Though you have beheld many more beauties than I, I do believe that would be quite new to you. Fancy a very high precipice, the strata upheaved perpendicularly, in rainbowlike streaks of the brightest maize, violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white, worn by the weather into fantastic fretwork -- the deep blue sky above, and the glorious sea below. It seems an enchanted land where the earth is of more delicate, refined materials than this dingy planet of ours is wrought out of. You might fancy the strata formed of the compressed pollen of flowers, or powder from bright insects. You can think of nothing but Calypsos, or Prosperos and Ariels and such like beings and are ready to be cross with the poor little prosaic girl with her basket of [specimens.]
We staid at Brighton on our way home, and I very much enjoyed the sight of that splendid place, the only one of its kind, I suppose, in England. I find one very great spiritual good attendant on a quiet meditative journey among fresh scenes. I seem to have removed to a distance from myself when I am away from the petty circumstances that make up my ordinary environment. I can take myself up by the ears and inspect myself, like any other queer monster on a small scale. I have had many thoughts, especially on a subject that I should like to work out "The superiority of the consolations of philosophy to those of (so-called) religion." 674 Do you stare?
I have saved till last my conjugal gratitude for your affectionate wish to have me with you. It would be a real delight to me to be with my bright-eyed and klar-sprechende beloved but I fear I must not think at present of a second absence from home. Say all pretty things, for you may say them truly, to Mr. and Mrs. C. Hennell for their goodness.
Thank you for putting me on reading Sir Charles Grandison. 675 I have read five volumes and am only vexed that I have not the two last on my table at this moment that I might have them for my convives. I had no idea that Richardson was worth so much. I have had more pleasure from him than from all the Swedish novels 676 together. The morality is perfect -- there is nothing for the new lights to correct.
I seem to myself to have written very detestably, but you will rather have this disagreeable I-ish letter than think me ungrateful, which is one bad adjective that your Pollian does not deserve.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Foleshill, 13 October [1847], 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/93913