GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Witley, 15 October 1878
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Witley, 15 October 1878
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Witley, 15 October 1878
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1878-10-15
Place
Witley
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Witley, 15 October 1878
MS: Coventry and Warwick Collection, Coventry City Libraries. Envelope: Miss Hennell | 3 Barrs Hill Terrace | Coventry. Postmark: GODALMING | B | OC 1[5] | 78. Hitherto unpublished.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
October 15. 78.
My dear Sara
Affectionate thanks for your remembrance and gift with the sweet inscription, full of memories much more important to me than any difference of opinion, which is frequently due to the disguises of statement rather than to any substantial disagreement. I hope that the parting with work which has been so long a companionship may not leave a sense of void, but rather give you the persistent comfort of thinking that you have achieved what you began so long ago and have worked at with arduous perseverance. [To leave undone] is the most painful of all results to a worker. And I often tell my husband that it is necessary to cultivate a power of being happily idle, when once the work is done. I hope you share both points of view, and will feel on the whole glad that you have virtually finished what you meant to finish.
The old trouble of bronchial irritation is a sad drawback on the sense of benefit from the change at Llandudno. I can enter into that difficulty of guarding against the malignant effect of cold, though with me it is the liver and mucous membrane of the stomach that cause me days of such miseries from incurring the least draught. But in spite of our imperfect health, we have had great happiness in our country life amid the endless beauties of Surrey and with the more than usual number of clear, mild days. One's worst trouble seems to be brought by the reading of the Times, with its pictures of actual calamity at home and abroad and the sad overhanging threat of worse things soon to come.
We hope to stay among the fields and commons till after the beginning of November, if the season keeps benignant. The autumnal tints are worth staying for. Do you remember once giving me a little water-colour of your own, because of my fondness for autumn, and propping it up on my bedroom mantelpiece at Foleshill? O, how long ago! And you wore a bronze-coloured dress at that time.
Please tell Cara I shall like to hear from her whenever she has anything to say that will come easily to the end of her pen. With best love
Your ever faithful
Pollian.
MS: Coventry and Warwick Collection, Coventry City Libraries. Envelope: Miss Hennell | 3 Barrs Hill Terrace | Coventry. Postmark: GODALMING | B | OC 1[5] | 78. Hitherto unpublished.
The Heights, Witley, | Nr. Godalming.
October 15. 78.
My dear Sara
Affectionate thanks for your remembrance and gift with the sweet inscription, full of memories much more important to me than any difference of opinion, which is frequently due to the disguises of statement rather than to any substantial disagreement. I hope that the parting with work which has been so long a companionship may not leave a sense of void, but rather give you the persistent comfort of thinking that you have achieved what you began so long ago and have worked at with arduous perseverance. [To leave undone] is the most painful of all results to a worker. And I often tell my husband that it is necessary to cultivate a power of being happily idle, when once the work is done. I hope you share both points of view, and will feel on the whole glad that you have virtually finished what you meant to finish.
The old trouble of bronchial irritation is a sad drawback on the sense of benefit from the change at Llandudno. I can enter into that difficulty of guarding against the malignant effect of cold, though with me it is the liver and mucous membrane of the stomach that cause me days of such miseries from incurring the least draught. But in spite of our imperfect health, we have had great happiness in our country life amid the endless beauties of Surrey and with the more than usual number of clear, mild days. One's worst trouble seems to be brought by the reading of the Times, with its pictures of actual calamity at home and abroad and the sad overhanging threat of worse things soon to come.
We hope to stay among the fields and commons till after the beginning of November, if the season keeps benignant. The autumnal tints are worth staying for. Do you remember once giving me a little water-colour of your own, because of my fondness for autumn, and propping it up on my bedroom mantelpiece at Foleshill? O, how long ago! And you wore a bronze-coloured dress at that time.
Please tell Cara I shall like to hear from her whenever she has anything to say that will come easily to the end of her pen. With best love
Your ever faithful
Pollian.
Signature
Pollian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, Witley, 15 October 1878, 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/94139