GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 7 December 1866
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 7 December 1866
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 7 December 1866
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1866-12-07
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 7 December 1866
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 446-447.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 7. 66.
Dear Sara
I am quite ashamed that we talk of our movements so long beforehand as to lead our friends into continual mistakes. We are not gone, or going, just yet. Mr. Lewes has still a month's work to do, 544 and he is obliged to take frequent intervals of ch'f4mage. Thank you for sending me that old letter of '57 which I had quite forgotten. But it is rather saddening to know that the new edition of the History will be still further beyond the purchasing reach of the men referred to in the letter: I believe it is to cost a guinea, being in two large volumes. The copyright has never been in Mr. Lewes's hands, and he works at the book for love, not for money; the £150 which he receives for revision bearing no appreciable proportion to his work. 545 The book-trade in this country is in a sad condition, in many ways, especially in the enforced dearness of good books.
We have been to Tunbridge Wells for a week, 546 hoping to get plenty of fresh air and walking in that sandy undulating country. But for three days it rained incessantly!
No, I don't feel as if my faculties were failing me. On the contrary, I enjoy all subjects -- all study, more than I ever did in my life before. But that very fact makes me more in need of resignation to the certain approach of age and death. Science, history, poetry 547 -- I don't know which draws me most. And there is little time left me for any one of them. I learned Spanish last year but one, and see new vistas everywhere. That makes me think of time thrown away when I was young -- time that I should be so glad of now. I could enjoy everything, from arithmetic to antiquarianism, if I had large spaces of life before me. But instead of that, I have a very small space. Unfeigned, unselfish, cheerful resignation is difficult. But I strive to get it. Tell Cara, with my love, that I believe in her unwritten letters.
Always yours affectionately
Pollian.
My affectionate remembrances to Mrs. J. Cash when you see her.
MS: Yale. Extract published: Cross, II, 446-447.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 7. 66.
Dear Sara
I am quite ashamed that we talk of our movements so long beforehand as to lead our friends into continual mistakes. We are not gone, or going, just yet. Mr. Lewes has still a month's work to do, 544 and he is obliged to take frequent intervals of ch'f4mage. Thank you for sending me that old letter of '57 which I had quite forgotten. But it is rather saddening to know that the new edition of the History will be still further beyond the purchasing reach of the men referred to in the letter: I believe it is to cost a guinea, being in two large volumes. The copyright has never been in Mr. Lewes's hands, and he works at the book for love, not for money; the £150 which he receives for revision bearing no appreciable proportion to his work. 545 The book-trade in this country is in a sad condition, in many ways, especially in the enforced dearness of good books.
We have been to Tunbridge Wells for a week, 546 hoping to get plenty of fresh air and walking in that sandy undulating country. But for three days it rained incessantly!
No, I don't feel as if my faculties were failing me. On the contrary, I enjoy all subjects -- all study, more than I ever did in my life before. But that very fact makes me more in need of resignation to the certain approach of age and death. Science, history, poetry 547 -- I don't know which draws me most. And there is little time left me for any one of them. I learned Spanish last year but one, and see new vistas everywhere. That makes me think of time thrown away when I was young -- time that I should be so glad of now. I could enjoy everything, from arithmetic to antiquarianism, if I had large spaces of life before me. But instead of that, I have a very small space. Unfeigned, unselfish, cheerful resignation is difficult. But I strive to get it. Tell Cara, with my love, that I believe in her unwritten letters.
Always yours affectionately
Pollian.
My affectionate remembrances to Mrs. J. Cash when you see her.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, London, 7 December 1866, 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/94058