GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 26 December 1867
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 26 December 1867
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 26 December 1867
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1867-12-26
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 26 December 1867
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 28-29.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 26. 67.
My dear Sara
Thanks for the pretty remembrance. You were not unthought of before it came, but a mucous membrane out of sorts has of late made it difficult for my thoughts to pass into expression. Now, however, I rouse all my courage under the thick fog to tell you my inward wish -- which is, that the New Year as it travels on towards its old age may bring you many satisfactions undisturbed by bodily ailment.
Mr. Spencer was here yesterday and told me of your letter about the worm. I imagined you well, stooping to investigate and checked suddenly by the sense of a Coventry lady's severe eye on you.
Mr. Lewes is going tomorrow on an unprecedented expedition -- a rapid run to Bonn to make some anatomical researches with Prof. Schulze 712 there. If he needs more than he can get at Bonn he may go to Heidelberg and Wurzburg. But in any case he will not take more than a fortnight. The weather is not encouraging but he has been much better lately, and the scamper, with the intense interest of a great subject in his mind, will be likely to do him good.
Public questions, which by a sad process of reduction become piteous private questions, hang cloudily over all prospects. The state of Europe, the threat of a general war, the starvation of multitudes -- one can't help thinking of these things at one's breakfast. Nevertheless there is much enjoyment going on, and abundance of rosy children's parties. 713 I dare say you have had one.
Please offer my loving greetings to Cara and Mr. Bray.
Always your faithful
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 28-29.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 26. 67.
My dear Sara
Thanks for the pretty remembrance. You were not unthought of before it came, but a mucous membrane out of sorts has of late made it difficult for my thoughts to pass into expression. Now, however, I rouse all my courage under the thick fog to tell you my inward wish -- which is, that the New Year as it travels on towards its old age may bring you many satisfactions undisturbed by bodily ailment.
Mr. Spencer was here yesterday and told me of your letter about the worm. I imagined you well, stooping to investigate and checked suddenly by the sense of a Coventry lady's severe eye on you.
Mr. Lewes is going tomorrow on an unprecedented expedition -- a rapid run to Bonn to make some anatomical researches with Prof. Schulze 712 there. If he needs more than he can get at Bonn he may go to Heidelberg and Wurzburg. But in any case he will not take more than a fortnight. The weather is not encouraging but he has been much better lately, and the scamper, with the intense interest of a great subject in his mind, will be likely to do him good.
Public questions, which by a sad process of reduction become piteous private questions, hang cloudily over all prospects. The state of Europe, the threat of a general war, the starvation of multitudes -- one can't help thinking of these things at one's breakfast. Nevertheless there is much enjoyment going on, and abundance of rosy children's parties. 713 I dare say you have had one.
Please offer my loving greetings to Cara and Mr. Bray.
Always your faithful
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 26 December 1867, 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/94038