Item 39 - Letter from Henry Sidgwick to his mother

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[Sent from Lille]:- Announces that he has left 'Arcadia [Göttingen]', and is spending the night 'in a country where they chatter a superficial language called French.' Discusses his liking for the German people, who, he believes, 'have attained the end of civilization i.e. intellectual and aesthetic development without the usual concommitent disadvantages of civilization i.e. luxury and ceremony'. Says Professor Ewald has devoted much of his time to him, and has refused to take any payment. Attended a meeting of philologers at Hanover, which was 'not bad fun'; spent his time with the 'Orientalist section, who are a sociable lot'. Objects however to German state dinners, which are very long drawn out because the speeches go on between the courses, and comments on the amount of wine consumed at the dinner he attended.

Reports that he has not learnt very much Arabic. States that Professor Ewald is not complimentary but consoles him by saying that he knows more than most Englishmen; his other Professor [Wüstenfeld] is much politer, 'but then he is at once good natured and shy'.. Praises the German people once again. Mentions that Professor Benfey is one of the founders of Comparative Philology.

Says that the King of Hanover would have asked to be remembered to her 'had he thought of it, as it was he only asked about the state of Hebrew learning in the English Universities'; he was 'on the whole very amiable and seemed to take a pleasure in talking English'. Gives the address of C.K. Paul in Dorsetshire, in case his mother intends to write to him before 18 October. Announces that he is bringing the [German] stamps to her, and mentions that she never sent him the envelope stamps. Remarks that stamp collections are beginning to have a mercantile value 'just like the Dutch tulips'.

Hopes that Arthur will have got his fellowship by the time this letter reaches her, and asks her to ask him what he is going to do about the Club and whether he has communicated his [ ] to W.G. Clark.

Part transcription in Sidgwick, Arthur, and Sidgwick, E. M, 'Henry Sidgwick'. London: Macmillan, 1906, pp 115-116.