Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 22 February 1843
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 22 February 1843
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 22 February 1843
Sender
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1843-02-22
Place
Coventry
Letter Content
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 22 February 1843
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
I was very anxious Sunday and Monday -- so vexed about poor Mary Ann, and it rained incessantly, but on Tuesday morning she came with a face about two inches shorter, and said all was right again, at least with her father. Elizabeth, 470 who is a great favorite with the old man, went and talked at him for 2 hours on the absurdity of such interference and he said that it was not his doing but all Isaac's. It seems that brother Isaac with real fraternal kindness thinks that his sister has no chance of getting the one thing needful -- i.e. a husband and a settlement, unless she mixes more in society, and complains that since she has known us she has hardly been anywhere else; that Mr.
Bray, being only a leader of mobs, can only introduce her to Chartists and Radicals, 471 and that such only will ever fall in love with her if she does not belong to the Church. So his plan is to induce his father to remove to Meriden where being away from us and under the guardianship of her sister she may be brought back to her senses. 472 M.A. is sure there is no interested motive in it, but a pure zeal for her welfare. But Mr. Evans says he does not wish to leave Coventry, and does not mind her coming here; so Isaac must be quiet again for the present.
Mrs. Hooten, 473 M.A.'s sister at Baginton, is a clever sort of person, and told her some time ago that she always had regarded the miraculous part of Christianity as purely mythical. She has read the "Inquiry" by stealth, and is most delighted with it, but rather prefers Strauss's notion, which corresponds with her own previous one. But the good lady has no idea of making herself singular and obnoxious by an avowal of her opinions, and thinks M.A. very foolish not to keep her notions snugly to herself. I hope there will be no farther blow-up before C.C. comes, 474 as she will help to make his visit agreeable and to amuse the youth. She expects to fall desperately in love with Uncle W. 475
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
I was very anxious Sunday and Monday -- so vexed about poor Mary Ann, and it rained incessantly, but on Tuesday morning she came with a face about two inches shorter, and said all was right again, at least with her father. Elizabeth, 470 who is a great favorite with the old man, went and talked at him for 2 hours on the absurdity of such interference and he said that it was not his doing but all Isaac's. It seems that brother Isaac with real fraternal kindness thinks that his sister has no chance of getting the one thing needful -- i.e. a husband and a settlement, unless she mixes more in society, and complains that since she has known us she has hardly been anywhere else; that Mr.
Bray, being only a leader of mobs, can only introduce her to Chartists and Radicals, 471 and that such only will ever fall in love with her if she does not belong to the Church. So his plan is to induce his father to remove to Meriden where being away from us and under the guardianship of her sister she may be brought back to her senses. 472 M.A. is sure there is no interested motive in it, but a pure zeal for her welfare. But Mr. Evans says he does not wish to leave Coventry, and does not mind her coming here; so Isaac must be quiet again for the present.
Mrs. Hooten, 473 M.A.'s sister at Baginton, is a clever sort of person, and told her some time ago that she always had regarded the miraculous part of Christianity as purely mythical. She has read the "Inquiry" by stealth, and is most delighted with it, but rather prefers Strauss's notion, which corresponds with her own previous one. But the good lady has no idea of making herself singular and obnoxious by an avowal of her opinions, and thinks M.A. very foolish not to keep her notions snugly to herself. I hope there will be no farther blow-up before C.C. comes, 474 as she will help to make his visit agreeable and to amuse the youth. She expects to fall desperately in love with Uncle W. 475
Citation
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 22 February 1843, 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/95552