Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Mary Hennell, [Coventry], 17 March 1842
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Mary Hennell, [Coventry], 17 March 1842
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Mary Hennell, [Coventry], 17 March 1842
Sender
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Recipient
Mary Hennell
Date(s)
- 1842-03-17
Place
Coventry
Letter Content
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Mary Hennell, [Coventry], 17 March 1842
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
You will be glad to hear that Miss Evans' affairs seem coming round all right again. I met her in the street yesterday with a face very different from the long dismal one she has lately worn, and she tells me of a letter from her brother Isaac, (in reply to one in which she had explained her motives) saying that great minds are never ashamed of owning that they have been in fault; that since she did not wish to set herself up against the family, and only wished for liberty to act according to her present convictions, he thought that she had been treated very harshly; that the sending her away was entirely the father's doing, not from economy, 416 but because he could not bear the place after what had happened; and ended with begging that she would not think of going into lodgings but would go to him at Griff, not doubting but that Mr. Evans would send for her back again very soon. Miss E. had begun quite to long for her solitary lodgings at Leamington, but she rightly judges that it will be a pacific measure to go to her brother's and so goes there next Wednesday. Mr. E. has cancelled his orders for the sale and letting the house, 417 and will stay there till Michaelmas; and before that time we quite expect that his daughter will be reinstated and all right again. The poor old gentleman, it seems, has been quite puzzled about this new case of conscience, and has not known how to act. Miss Rebecca 418 and Mrs. Pears have a little enlightened him by telling how wrong he has been, and how the world would condemn him. He expressed a fear that Mrs. Bray had influenced his daughter, but Miss Rebecca said she did not think Mrs. B. had shown any disposition to proselytize -- so Satan has all the credit, and it is well he should perhaps.
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
You will be glad to hear that Miss Evans' affairs seem coming round all right again. I met her in the street yesterday with a face very different from the long dismal one she has lately worn, and she tells me of a letter from her brother Isaac, (in reply to one in which she had explained her motives) saying that great minds are never ashamed of owning that they have been in fault; that since she did not wish to set herself up against the family, and only wished for liberty to act according to her present convictions, he thought that she had been treated very harshly; that the sending her away was entirely the father's doing, not from economy, 416 but because he could not bear the place after what had happened; and ended with begging that she would not think of going into lodgings but would go to him at Griff, not doubting but that Mr. Evans would send for her back again very soon. Miss E. had begun quite to long for her solitary lodgings at Leamington, but she rightly judges that it will be a pacific measure to go to her brother's and so goes there next Wednesday. Mr. E. has cancelled his orders for the sale and letting the house, 417 and will stay there till Michaelmas; and before that time we quite expect that his daughter will be reinstated and all right again. The poor old gentleman, it seems, has been quite puzzled about this new case of conscience, and has not known how to act. Miss Rebecca 418 and Mrs. Pears have a little enlightened him by telling how wrong he has been, and how the world would condemn him. He expressed a fear that Mrs. Bray had influenced his daughter, but Miss Rebecca said she did not think Mrs. B. had shown any disposition to proselytize -- so Satan has all the credit, and it is well he should perhaps.
Citation
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Mary Hennell, [Coventry], 17 March 1842, 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/95548