Item 119 - Letter from J. Sully to Nora Sidgwick

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Does not expect to find much that is worth keeping in his letters to Henry Sidgwick, but there may be some cases in which Henry's letter is an answer to one from Sully, and that this 'might make his reply more fully intelligible.' Asks Nora, therefore, to send on to him any letters 'which look as if they might be important in this way'. Is 'deeply absorbed in the reading of Henry Sidgwick: A Memoir: the early part of the life is of great interest to him, since he knew very little of Henry's youth and early adulthood.

Recalls a letter he received while studying in Göttingen in 1867 from an 'undergraduate friend at Trinity in which he spoke enthusiastically of Sidgwick's lectures and of his Aristotelian way of setting out his problems.' Refers to Professor Benfey and his daughters and to 'the walk [Henry] writes of under the [?Suidenbäume]'and to Professor Ewald, whose lectures Sully attended, and at whose house he was often a visitor. There was an interval of two years and three months between their visits. Declares that Henry's life 'seems to have been almost a perfect realization of Aristotle's ideal of the perfect life.' Remarks on his deep insight, and maturity of thought, which were reached at such an early age. Thanks Nora for the pleasure she has given him.