GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Torquay, 22 March 1868
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Torquay, 22 March 1868
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Torquay, 22 March 1868
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1868-03-22
Place
Torquay
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Torquay, 22 March 1868
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 35.
Carclew | Torquay | S. Devon March 22. 68.
My dear Sara
I don't know whether you have ever seen Torquay. It is pretty, but not comparable to Ilfracombe, and like all other easily accessible sea-places it is sadly spoiled by wealth and fashion, which leave no secluded walks and tattoo all the hills with ugly patterns of roads and villagardens. Our selfishness does not adapt itself well to these on-comings of the Millennium. We came here for lack of courage to take a longer journey, and because we needed the certainty of finding comfortable accommodation. 729 And Mr. Lewes is very happy with a room quite consecrated to microscopy and dissection.
I was very glad to hear both from Miss Marshall and Mrs. Call that they thought you looking well and bright. And Cara seemed to have drunk at the fountain of Jouvence since her previous visit. So I think of you both very cheerfully, except that poor Harriet's increasing infirmities must be an increasing anxiety for you. I brought down Miss Collet's "Confession of Faith" 730 with me (by permission) and have been reading it with much interest, because of the evident desire to be truthful which inspires it all through. But I think she is wise to keep it in manuscript.
Mr. Morley asked Mr. Lewes to write on Darwin for the Fortnightly Review, so, having something that he wanted to say on Darwin and Darwinism, he is finishing two long articles on the subject: -- the first will appear in the next Fortnightly. 731
I am reading about savages and semi-savages, 732 and think that our religious oracles would do well to study savage ideas by a method of comparison with their own. Also I am studying that semi-savage poem, the Iliad. How enviable it is to be a classic. When a verse in the Iliad bears six different meanings and nobody knows which is the right, a commentator finds this equivocalness in itself admirable!
Farewell. You see, I had nothing to say, but I wished to make a sign that I had received your note.
Ever yours
Pollian.
MS: Yale. Extracts published: Cross, III, 35.
Carclew | Torquay | S. Devon March 22. 68.
My dear Sara
I don't know whether you have ever seen Torquay. It is pretty, but not comparable to Ilfracombe, and like all other easily accessible sea-places it is sadly spoiled by wealth and fashion, which leave no secluded walks and tattoo all the hills with ugly patterns of roads and villagardens. Our selfishness does not adapt itself well to these on-comings of the Millennium. We came here for lack of courage to take a longer journey, and because we needed the certainty of finding comfortable accommodation. 729 And Mr. Lewes is very happy with a room quite consecrated to microscopy and dissection.
I was very glad to hear both from Miss Marshall and Mrs. Call that they thought you looking well and bright. And Cara seemed to have drunk at the fountain of Jouvence since her previous visit. So I think of you both very cheerfully, except that poor Harriet's increasing infirmities must be an increasing anxiety for you. I brought down Miss Collet's "Confession of Faith" 730 with me (by permission) and have been reading it with much interest, because of the evident desire to be truthful which inspires it all through. But I think she is wise to keep it in manuscript.
Mr. Morley asked Mr. Lewes to write on Darwin for the Fortnightly Review, so, having something that he wanted to say on Darwin and Darwinism, he is finishing two long articles on the subject: -- the first will appear in the next Fortnightly. 731
I am reading about savages and semi-savages, 732 and think that our religious oracles would do well to study savage ideas by a method of comparison with their own. Also I am studying that semi-savage poem, the Iliad. How enviable it is to be a classic. When a verse in the Iliad bears six different meanings and nobody knows which is the right, a commentator finds this equivocalness in itself admirable!
Farewell. You see, I had nothing to say, but I wished to make a sign that I had received your note.
Ever yours
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Torquay, 22 March 1868, 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/94118