Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 30 March 1845
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 30 March 1845
Title
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 30 March 1845
Sender
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1845-03-30
Place
Coventry
Letter Content
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 30 March 1845
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Sunday | March 30. 1845.
Dear Sara,
With regard to frames, we mean to give 2 of our old pictures and frames to the bazaar, and so shall not want any but the 5 which Charles looked out, which we shall be glad to have as soon as possible. We shall miss Mamma very much and it seems soon for her to go: the Widden 539 comes tomorrow, and so Mamma will just see her. I hope she will find CC's chest better with all this south wind.
I must give you some account of a matter which has been much in our thoughts this last week relating to Mary Ann: she wished me to tell you and has often said "How I wish Sara were here, for she knows what would be for my good!" I may as well say at the beginning though that it has all come to nothing. She says she was talking to you about a young artist 540 she was going to meet at Baginton. Well, they did meet and passed two days in each other's company, and she thought him the most interesting young man she had seen and superior to all the rest of mankind; the third morning he made proposals through her brother in law Mr. Hooton 541 -- saying, "she was the most fascinating creature he had ever beheld, that if it were not too presumptuous to hope etc. etc., a person of such superior excellence and powers of mind," etc., in short, he seemed desperately smitten and begged permission to write to her. She granted this, and came to us so brimful of happiness; -- though she said she had not fallen in love with him yet, but admired his character so much that she was sure she should: the only objections seemed to be that his profession -- a picture-restorer -- is not lucrative or over-honourable. 542 We liked his letters to her very much -- simple, earnest, unstudied. She refused anything like an engagement on so short an acquaintance, but would have much pleasure to see him as a friend etc.
So he came to see her last Wednesday evening, and owing to his great agitation, from youth -- or something or other, did not seem to her half so interesting as before, and the next day she made up her mind that she could never love or respect him enough to marry him and that it would involve too great a sacrifice of her mind and pursuits. So she wrote to him to break it off -- and there it stands now. Poor girl, it has been a trying, exciting week to her and she seemed quite spiritless this morning: and we cannot help feeling that she has been over-hasty in giving it up. And yet -- and yet -- one does not know what to advise.
Yours affectionately
Cara
Text: Bray-Hennell Extracts, Tinker Collection, Yale. Hitherto unpublished.
Sunday | March 30. 1845.
Dear Sara,
With regard to frames, we mean to give 2 of our old pictures and frames to the bazaar, and so shall not want any but the 5 which Charles looked out, which we shall be glad to have as soon as possible. We shall miss Mamma very much and it seems soon for her to go: the Widden 539 comes tomorrow, and so Mamma will just see her. I hope she will find CC's chest better with all this south wind.
I must give you some account of a matter which has been much in our thoughts this last week relating to Mary Ann: she wished me to tell you and has often said "How I wish Sara were here, for she knows what would be for my good!" I may as well say at the beginning though that it has all come to nothing. She says she was talking to you about a young artist 540 she was going to meet at Baginton. Well, they did meet and passed two days in each other's company, and she thought him the most interesting young man she had seen and superior to all the rest of mankind; the third morning he made proposals through her brother in law Mr. Hooton 541 -- saying, "she was the most fascinating creature he had ever beheld, that if it were not too presumptuous to hope etc. etc., a person of such superior excellence and powers of mind," etc., in short, he seemed desperately smitten and begged permission to write to her. She granted this, and came to us so brimful of happiness; -- though she said she had not fallen in love with him yet, but admired his character so much that she was sure she should: the only objections seemed to be that his profession -- a picture-restorer -- is not lucrative or over-honourable. 542 We liked his letters to her very much -- simple, earnest, unstudied. She refused anything like an engagement on so short an acquaintance, but would have much pleasure to see him as a friend etc.
So he came to see her last Wednesday evening, and owing to his great agitation, from youth -- or something or other, did not seem to her half so interesting as before, and the next day she made up her mind that she could never love or respect him enough to marry him and that it would involve too great a sacrifice of her mind and pursuits. So she wrote to him to break it off -- and there it stands now. Poor girl, it has been a trying, exciting week to her and she seemed quite spiritless this morning: and we cannot help feeling that she has been over-hasty in giving it up. And yet -- and yet -- one does not know what to advise.
Yours affectionately
Cara
Signature
Cara
Citation
Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Coventry], 30 March 1845, 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/95553