GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Richmond, [24 November 1856]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Richmond, [24 November 1856]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Richmond, [24 November 1856]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1856-11-24
Place
Richmond
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Richmond, [24 November 1856]
MS: Coventry City Libraries. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Monday.
Dear Sara
I feel as if I had written very selfishly in my hasty notes to you and Cara the other day -- all about myself and my own feelings, and no word about what, nevertheless, I do care for -- you and your feelings.
I have looked so much at the little portrait since it came, and have thought how far I have been from valuing enough the dear soul that looks out from it. We are so long in this life before we learn even a little of the sacredness and preciousness of the things that are given to us. Now, on looking back to the days we have passed together, and the conversations in which you have told me something of your thoughts or of your griefs, I feel what a poor, narrow cup I held out to receive all that, and how often I wounded when I might have helped you, if I had only had a larger and more reverent heart. The cup would be a little larger now -- for after all it was not a hard porcelain cup, but one with petals that the sun has opened a little. But now we are separated, and I shall never be able to make up for my past failures. There is so little we can make up for! We repent of our errors towards one friend, and that helps us to behave better to another, but rarely to the one on whom we have learnt our lesson.
All this is scribbled hastily between washing bills and literature. It says very imperfectly what I want to say -- but it relieves my mind a little.
We are very full of our own affairs both pleasant and unpleasant just now, and that helps to make my letters bare and dry.
You must read Aurora Leigh. 766 I wish I had seen Mrs. Browning, as you have, for I love to have a distinct human being in my mind, as the medium of great and beautiful things.
Ever Thine
Marian.
MS: Coventry City Libraries. Hitherto unpublished.
Park Shot | Monday.
Dear Sara
I feel as if I had written very selfishly in my hasty notes to you and Cara the other day -- all about myself and my own feelings, and no word about what, nevertheless, I do care for -- you and your feelings.
I have looked so much at the little portrait since it came, and have thought how far I have been from valuing enough the dear soul that looks out from it. We are so long in this life before we learn even a little of the sacredness and preciousness of the things that are given to us. Now, on looking back to the days we have passed together, and the conversations in which you have told me something of your thoughts or of your griefs, I feel what a poor, narrow cup I held out to receive all that, and how often I wounded when I might have helped you, if I had only had a larger and more reverent heart. The cup would be a little larger now -- for after all it was not a hard porcelain cup, but one with petals that the sun has opened a little. But now we are separated, and I shall never be able to make up for my past failures. There is so little we can make up for! We repent of our errors towards one friend, and that helps us to behave better to another, but rarely to the one on whom we have learnt our lesson.
All this is scribbled hastily between washing bills and literature. It says very imperfectly what I want to say -- but it relieves my mind a little.
We are very full of our own affairs both pleasant and unpleasant just now, and that helps to make my letters bare and dry.
You must read Aurora Leigh. 766 I wish I had seen Mrs. Browning, as you have, for I love to have a distinct human being in my mind, as the medium of great and beautiful things.
Ever Thine
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Richmond, [24 November 1856], 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/94079