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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43043 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+This is Volume I of a three volume set:
+
+  Volume I--Unknown
+  Volume II--Famous
+  Volume III--Sunset
+
+A combined index to the entire set is located at the end of Volume III.
+
+Narrative content written by J. Cross and material quoted from writers
+other than George Eliot are interspersed throughout the text. Their
+content is placed in block quotes.
+
+Remaining transcriber's notes are located at the end of the text.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE
+
+VOL. I.--UNKNOWN
+
+
+"OUR FINEST HOPE IS FINEST MEMORY"
+
+
+[Illustration: Portrait of George Eliot. Etched by M. Rajon.]
+
+
+
+
+            GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE
+  _as related in her Letters and Journals_
+
+     ARRANGED AND EDITED BY HER HUSBAND
+                J. W. CROSS
+
+             WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+         IN THREE VOLUMES.--VOLUME I
+
+
+                 NEW YORK
+     HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE ELIOT'S WORKS.
+
+_LIBRARY EDITION._
+
+     ADAM BEDE. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     DANIEL DERONDA. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2.50.
+
+     ESSAYS and LEAVES FROM A NOTE-BOOK. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     FELIX HOLT, THE RADICAL. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     MIDDLEMARCH. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2.50.
+
+     ROMOLA. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE, and SILAS MARNER. Illustrated.
+     12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     THE IMPRESSIONS OF THEOPHRASTUS SUCH. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+     THE MILL ON THE FLOSS. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS _will send any of the above volumes by mail, postage
+prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the
+price. For other editions of George Eliot's works published by Harper
+& Brothers see advertisement at end of third volume_.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+With the materials in my hands I have endeavored to form an
+_autobiography_ (if the term may be permitted) of George Eliot. The
+life has been allowed to write itself in extracts from her letters and
+journals. Free from the obtrusion of any mind but her own, this method
+serves, I think, better than any other open to me, to show the
+development of her intellect and character.
+
+In dealing with the correspondence I have been influenced by the
+desire to make known the woman, as well as the author, through the
+presentation of her daily life.
+
+On the intellectual side there remains little to be learned by those
+who already know George Eliot's books. In the twenty volumes which she
+wrote and published in her lifetime will be found her best and ripest
+thoughts. The letters now published throw light on another side of her
+nature--not less important, but hitherto unknown to the public--the
+side of the affections.
+
+The intimate life was the core of the root from which sprung the
+fairest flowers of her inspiration. Fame came to her late in life,
+and, when it presented itself, was so weighted with the sense of
+responsibility that it was in truth a rose with many thorns, for
+George Eliot had the temperament that shrinks from the position of a
+public character. The belief in the wide, and I may add in the
+beneficent, effect of her writing was no doubt the highest happiness,
+the reward of the artist which she greatly cherished: but the joys of
+the hearthside, the delight in the love of her friends, were the
+supreme pleasures in her life.
+
+By arranging all the letters and journals so as to form one connected
+whole, keeping the order of their dates, and with the least possible
+interruption of comment, I have endeavored to combine a narrative of
+day-to-day life, with the play of light and shade which only letters,
+written in various moods, can give, and without which no portrait can
+be a good likeness. I do not know that the particular method in which
+I have treated the letters has ever been adopted before. Each letter
+has been pruned of everything that seemed to me irrelevant to my
+purpose--of everything that I thought my wife would have wished to be
+omitted. Every sentence that remains adds, in my judgment, something
+(however small it may be) to the means of forming a conclusion about
+her character. I ought perhaps to say a word of apology for what may
+appear to be undue detail of travelling experiences; but I hope that
+to many readers these will be interesting, as reflected through George
+Eliot's mind. The remarks on works of art are only meant to be records
+of impressions. She would have deprecated for herself the attitude of
+an art critic.
+
+Excepting a slight introductory sketch of the girlhood, up to the time
+when letters became available, and a few words here and there to
+elucidate the correspondence, I have confined myself to the work of
+selection and arrangement.
+
+I have refrained almost entirely from quoting remembered sayings by
+George Eliot, because it is difficult to be certain of complete
+accuracy, and everything depends upon accuracy. Recollections of
+conversation are seldom to be implicitly trusted in the absence of
+notes made at the time. The value of spoken words depends, too, so
+much upon the _tone_, and on the circumstances which gave rise to
+their utterance, that they often mislead as much as they enlighten,
+when, in the process of repetition, they have taken color from another
+mind. "All interpretations depend upon the interpreter," and I have
+judged it best to let George Eliot be her own interpreter, as far as
+possible.
+
+I owe thanks to Mr. Isaac Evans, the brother of my wife, for much of
+the information in regard to her child-life; and the whole book is a
+long record of debts due to other friends for letters. It is not,
+therefore, necessary for me to recapitulate the list of names in this
+place. My thanks to all are heartfelt. But there is a very special
+acknowledgment due to Miss Sara Hennell, to Mrs. Bray, and to the late
+Mr. Charles Bray of Coventry, not only for the letters which they
+placed at my disposal, but also for much information given to me in
+the most friendly spirit. The very important part of the life from
+1842 to 1854 could not possibly have been written without their
+contribution.
+
+To Mr. Charles Lewes, also, I am indebted for some valuable letters
+and extracts from the journals of his father, besides the letters
+addressed to himself. He also obtained for me an important letter
+written by George Eliot to Mr. R. H. Hutton; and throughout the
+preparation of the book I have had the advantage of his sympathetic
+interest, and his concurrence in the publication of all the
+materials.
+
+Special thanks are likewise due to Messrs. Wm. Blackwood & Sons for
+having placed at my disposal George Eliot's long correspondence with
+the firm. The letters (especially those addressed to her friend the
+late Mr. John Blackwood) throw a light, that could not otherwise have
+been obtained, on the most interesting part of her literary career.
+
+To the legal representatives of the late Charles Dickens, of the late
+Lord Lytton, and of Mrs. Carlyle; to Mr. J. A. Froude, and to Mr.
+Archer Gurney, I owe thanks for leave to print letters written by
+them.
+
+For all the defects that there may be in the plan of these volumes I
+alone am responsible. The lines were determined and the work was
+substantially put into shape before I submitted the manuscript to any
+one. While passing the winter in the south of France I had the good
+fortune at Cannes to find, in Lord Acton, not only an enthusiastic
+admirer of George Eliot, but also a friend always most kindly ready to
+assist me with valuable counsel and with cordial, generous sympathy.
+He was the first reader of the manuscript, and whatever accuracy may
+have been arrived at, particularly in the names of foreign books,
+foreign persons, and foreign places, is in great part due to his
+friendly, careful help. But of course he has no responsibility
+whatever for any of my sins of omission or commission.
+
+By the kind permission of Sir Frederic Burton, I have been enabled to
+reproduce as a frontispiece M. Rajon's etching of the beautiful
+drawing, executed in 1864, now in the National Portrait Gallery, South
+Kensington.
+
+The view of the old house at Rosehill is from a drawing by Mrs. Bray.
+It is connected with some of George Eliot's happiest experiences, and
+with the period of her most rapid intellectual development.
+
+For permission to use the sketch of the drawing-room at the Priory I
+am indebted to the Messrs. Harpers, of New York.
+
+In conclusion, it is in no conventional spirit, but from my heart,
+that I bespeak the indulgence of readers for my share of this work. Of
+its shortcomings no one can be so convinced as I am myself.
+
+                                                    J. W. C.
+
+  CAMDEN HILL, _December, 1884_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
+
+
+     Introductory Sketch of Childhood.                     Page 1
+
+
+     CHAPTER I.
+     AUGUST, 1838, TO MARCH, 1841.
+
+       Life at Griff                                           28
+
+
+     CHAPTER II.
+     MARCH, 1841, TO APRIL, 1846.
+
+       Coventry--Translation of Strauss                        61
+
+
+     CHAPTER III.
+     MAY, 1846, TO MAY, 1849.
+
+       Life in Coventry till Mr. Evans's Death                106
+
+
+     CHAPTER IV.
+     JUNE, 1849, TO MARCH, 1850.
+
+       Geneva                                                 150
+
+
+     CHAPTER V.
+     MARCH, 1850, TO JULY, 1854.
+
+       Work in London--Union with Mr. Lewes                   181
+
+
+     CHAPTER VI.
+     JULY, 1854, TO MARCH, 1855.
+
+       Germany                                                239
+
+
+     CHAPTER VII.
+     MARCH, 1855, TO DECEMBER, 1857.
+
+       Richmond--"Scenes of Clerical Life"                    273
+
+
+     APPENDIX                                                 349
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.
+
+
+     PORTRAIT OF GEORGE ELIOT.
+       Etched by M. Rajon                         _Frontispiece._
+
+     GRIFF--FRONT VIEW                        _To face p_.      6
+
+     GRIFF--WITH THE FARM OFFICES                  "           12
+
+     HOUSE IN FOLESHILL ROAD, COVENTRY             "           62
+
+     PORTRAIT OF MR. ROBERT EVANS                  "          148
+
+     ROSEHILL                                      "          182
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE.
+
+
+
+
+_INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF CHILDHOOD._
+
+
+"_Nov. 22, 1819._--Mary Ann Evans was born at Arbury Farm,[1] at five
+o'clock this morning."
+
+This is an entry, in Mr. Robert Evans's handwriting, on the page of an
+old diary that now lies before me, and records, with characteristic
+precision, the birth of his youngest child, afterwards known to the
+world as George Eliot. Let us pause for a moment to pay its due homage
+to the precision, because it was in all probability to this most
+noteworthy quality of her father's nature that the future author was
+indebted for one of the principal elements of her own after-success--the
+enormous faculty for taking pains. The baby was born on St. Cecilia's
+day, and Mr. Evans, being a good churchman, takes her, on the 29th
+November, to be baptized in the church at Chilvers Coton--the parish in
+which Arbury Farm lies--a church destined to impress itself strongly on
+the child's imagination, and to be known by many people in many lands
+afterwards as Shepperton Church. The father was a remarkable man, and
+many of the leading traits in his character are to be found in Adam Bede
+and in Caleb Garth--although, of course, neither of these is a portrait.
+He was born in 1773, at Ellaston, in Staffordshire, son of a George
+Evans, who carried on the business of builder and carpenter there: the
+Evans family having come originally from Northop, in Flintshire. Robert
+was brought up to the business; but about 1799, or a little before, he
+held a farm of Mr. Francis Newdigate at Kirk Hallam, in Derbyshire, and
+became his agent. On Sir Roger Newdigate's death the Arbury estate came
+to Mr. Francis Newdigate for his life, and Mr. Evans accompanied him
+into Warwickshire, in 1806, in the capacity of agent. In 1801 he had
+married Harriott Poynton, by whom he had two children--Robert, born
+1802, at Ellaston, and Frances Lucy, born 1805, at Kirk Hallam. His
+first wife died in 1809; and on 8th February, 1813, he married
+Christiana Pearson, by whom he had three children--Christiana, born
+1814; Isaac, born 1816, and Mary Ann, born 1819. Shortly after the last
+child's birth, Robert, the son, became the agent, under his father, for
+the Kirk Hallam property, and lived there with his sister Frances, who
+afterwards married a Mr. Houghton. In March, 1820, when the baby girl
+was only four months old, the Evans family removed to Griff, a charming
+red-brick, ivy-covered house on the Arbury estate--"the warm little nest
+where her affections were fledged"--and there George Eliot spent the
+first twenty-one years of her life.
+
+Let us remember what the England was upon which this observant child
+opened her eyes.
+
+The date of her birth was removed from the beginning of the French
+Revolution by just the same period of time as separates a child, born
+this year, 1884, from the beginning of the Crimean War. To a man of
+forty-six to-day, the latter event seems but of yesterday. It took
+place at a very impressionable period of his life, and the remembrance
+of every detail is perfectly vivid. Mr. Evans was forty-six when his
+youngest child was born. He was a youth of sixteen when the Revolution
+began, and that mighty event, with all its consequences, had left an
+indelible impression on him, and the convictions and conclusions it
+had fostered in his mind permeated through to his children, and
+entered as an indestructible element into the susceptible soul of his
+youngest daughter. There are bits in the paper "Looking Backward," in
+"Theophrastus Such," which are true autobiography.
+
+"In my earliest remembrance of my father his hair was already gray,
+for I was his youngest child, and it seemed to me that advanced age
+was appropriate to a father, as, indeed, in all respects I considered
+him a parent so much to my honor that the mention of my relationship
+to him was likely to secure me regard among those to whom I was
+otherwise a stranger--his stories from his life including so many
+names of distant persons that my imagination placed no limit to his
+acquaintanceship.... Nor can I be sorry, though myself given to
+meditative if not active innovation, that my father was a Tory who had
+not exactly a dislike to innovators and dissenters, but a slight
+opinion of them as persons of ill-founded self-confidence.... And I
+often smile at my consciousness that certain Conservative
+prepossessions have mingled themselves for me with the influences of
+our Midland scenery, from the tops of the elms down to the buttercups
+and the little wayside vetches. Naturally enough. That part of my
+father's prime to which he oftenest referred had fallen on the days
+when the great wave of political enthusiasm and belief in a speedy
+regeneration of all things had ebbed, and the supposed millennial
+initiative of France was turning into a Napoleonic empire.... To my
+father's mind the noisy teachers of revolutionary doctrine were, to
+speak mildly, a variable mixture of the fool and the scoundrel; the
+welfare of the nation lay in a strong government which could maintain
+order; and I was accustomed to hear him utter the word 'government' in
+a tone that charged it with awe, and made it part of my effective
+religion, in contrast with the word 'rebel,' which seemed to carry the
+stamp of evil in its syllables, and, lit by the fact that Satan was
+the first rebel, made an argument dispensing with more detailed
+inquiry."
+
+This early association of ideas must always be borne in mind, as it is
+the key to a great deal in the mental attitude of the future thinker
+and writer. It is the foundation of the latent Conservative bias.
+
+The year 1819 is memorable as a culminating period of bad times and
+political discontent in England. The nation was suffering acutely from
+the reaction after the excitement of the last Napoleonic war. George
+IV. did not come to the throne till January, 1820, so that George
+Eliot was born in the reign of George III. The trial of Queen Caroline
+was the topic of absorbing public interest. Waterloo was not yet an
+affair of five years old. Byron had four years, and Goethe had
+thirteen years, still to live. The last of Miss Austen's novels had
+been published only eighteen months, and the first of the Waverley
+series only six years before. Thackeray and Dickens were boys at
+school, and George Sand, as a girl of fifteen, was leaving her loved
+freedom on the banks of the Indre for the Convent des Anglaises at
+Paris. That "Greater Britain" (Canada and Australia), which to-day
+forms so large a reading public, was then scarcely more than a
+geographical expression, with less than half a million of inhabitants,
+all told, where at present there are eight millions; and in the United
+States, where more copies of George Eliot's books are now sold than in
+any other quarter of the world, the population then numbered less than
+ten millions where to-day it is fifty-five millions. Including Great
+Britain, these English-speaking races have increased from thirty
+millions in 1820 to one hundred millions in 1884; and with the
+corresponding increase in education we can form some conception how a
+popular English writer's fame has widened its circle.
+
+There was a remoteness about a detached country-house, in the England
+of those days, difficult for us to conceive now, with our railways,
+penny-post, and telegraphs; nor is the Warwickshire country about
+Griff an exhilarating surrounding. There are neither hills nor vales,
+no rivers, lakes, or sea--nothing but a monotonous succession of green
+fields and hedgerows, with some fine trees. The only water to be seen
+is the "brown canal." The effect of such a landscape on an ordinary
+observer is not inspiring, but "effective magic is transcendent
+nature;" and with her transcendent nature George Eliot has
+transfigured these scenes, dear to Midland souls, into many an idyllic
+picture, known to those who know her books. In her childhood the great
+event of the day was the passing of the coach before the gate of Griff
+House, which lies at a bend of the high-road between Coventry and
+Nuneaton, and within a couple of miles of the mining village of
+Bedworth, "where the land began to be blackened with coal-pits, the
+rattle of hand-looms to be heard in hamlets and villages. Here were
+powerful men walking queerly, with knees bent outward from squatting
+in the mine, going home to throw themselves down in their blackened
+flannel and sleep through the daylight, then rise and spend much of
+their high wages at the alehouse with their fellows of the Benefit
+Club; here the pale, eager faces of hand-loom weavers, men and women,
+haggard from sitting up late at night to finish the week's work,
+hardly begun till the Wednesday. Everywhere the cottages and the small
+children were dirty, for the languid mothers gave their strength to
+the loom; pious Dissenting women, perhaps, who took life patiently,
+and thought that salvation depended chiefly on predestination, and not
+at all on cleanliness. The gables of Dissenting chapels now made a
+visible sign of religion, and of a meeting-place to counterbalance the
+alehouse, even in the hamlets.... Here was a population not convinced
+that old England was as good as possible; here were multitudinous men
+and women aware that their religion was not exactly the religion of
+their rulers, who might therefore be better than they were, and who,
+if better, might alter many things which now made the world perhaps
+more painful than it need be, and certainly more sinful. Yet there
+were the gray steeples too, and the churchyards, with their grassy
+mounds and venerable headstones, sleeping in the sunlight; there were
+broad fields and homesteads, and fine old woods covering a rising
+ground, or stretching far by the roadside, allowing only peeps at the
+park and mansion which they shut in from the working-day world. In
+these midland districts the traveller passed rapidly from one phase of
+English life to another; after looking down on a village dingy with
+coal-dust, noisy with the shaking of looms, he might skirt a parish
+all of fields, high hedges, and deep-rutted lanes; after the coach had
+rattled over the pavement of a manufacturing town, the scene of riots
+and trades-union meetings, it would take him in another ten minutes
+into a rural region, where the neighborhood of the town was only felt
+in the advantages of a near market for corn, cheese, and hay, and
+where men with a considerable banking account were accustomed to say
+that 'they never meddled with politics themselves.'"[2]
+
+[Illustration: Griff House--Front view.]
+
+We can imagine the excitement of a little four-year-old girl and her
+seven-year-old brother waiting, on bright frosty mornings, to hear the
+far-off ringing beat of the horses' feet upon the hard ground, and
+then to see the gallant appearance of the four grays, with coachman
+and guard in scarlet, outside passengers muffled up in furs, and
+baskets of game and other packages hanging behind the boot, as his
+majesty's mail swung cheerily round on its way from Birmingham to
+Stamford. Two coaches passed the door daily--one from Birmingham at 10
+o'clock in the morning, the other from Stamford at 3 o'clock in the
+afternoon. These were the chief connecting links between the household
+at Griff and the outside world. Otherwise life went on with that
+monotonous regularity which distinguishes the country from the town.
+And it is to these circumstances of her early life that a great part
+of the quality of George Eliot's writing is due, and that she holds
+the place she has attained in English literature. Her roots were down
+in the pre-railroad, pre-telegraphic period--the days of fine old
+leisure--but the fruit was formed during an era of extraordinary
+activity in scientific and mechanical discovery. Her genius was the
+outcome of these conditions. It would not have existed in the same
+form deprived of either influence. Her father was busy both with his
+own farm-work and increasing agency business. He was already remarked
+in Warwickshire for his knowledge and judgment in all matters relating
+to land, and for his general trustworthiness and high character, so
+that he was constantly selected as arbitrator and valuer. He had a
+wonderful eye, especially for valuing woods, and could calculate with
+almost absolute precision the quantity of available timber in a
+standing tree. In addition to his merits as a man of business, he had
+the good fortune to possess the warm friendship and consistent support
+of Colonel Newdigate of Astley Castle, son of Mr. Francis Newdigate of
+Arbury, and it was mainly through the colonel's introduction and
+influence that Mr. Evans became agent also to Lord Aylesford, Lord
+Lifford, Mr. Bromley Davenport, and several others.
+
+His position cannot be better summed up than in the words of his
+daughter, writing to Mr. Bray on 30th September, 1859, in regard to
+some one who had written of her, after the appearance of "Adam Bede,"
+as a "self-educated farmer's daughter."
+
+"My father did not raise himself from being an artisan to be a farmer;
+he raised himself from being an artisan to be a man whose extensive
+knowledge in very varied practical departments made his services
+valued through several counties. He had large knowledge of building,
+of mines, of plantations, of various branches of valuation and
+measurement--of all that is essential to the management of large
+estates. He was held by those competent to judge as _unique_ among
+land-agents for his manifold knowledge and experience, which enabled
+him to save the special fees usually paid by landowners for special
+opinions on the different questions incident to the proprietorship of
+land. So far as I am personally concerned I should not write a stroke
+to prevent any one, in the zeal of antithetic eloquence, from calling
+me a tinker's daughter; but if my father is to be mentioned at all--if
+he is to be identified with an imaginary character--my piety towards
+his memory calls on me to point out to those who are supposed to speak
+with information what he really achieved in life."
+
+Mr. Evans was also, like Adam Bede, noteworthy for his extraordinary
+physical strength and determination of character. There is a story
+told of him, that one day when he was travelling on the top of a
+coach, down in Kent, a decent woman sitting next him complained that a
+great hulking sailor on her other side was making himself offensive.
+Mr. Evans changed places with the woman, and, taking the sailor by the
+collar, forced him down under the seat, and held him there with an
+iron hand for the remainder of the stage: and at Griff it is still
+remembered that the master, happening to pass one day while a couple
+of laborers were waiting for a third to help to move the high, heavy
+ladder used for thatching ricks, braced himself up to a great effort,
+and carried the ladder alone and unaided from one rick to the other,
+to the wide-eyed wonder and admiration of his men. With all this
+strength, however, both of body and of character, he seems to have
+combined a certain self-distrust, owing, perhaps, to his early
+imperfect education, which resulted in a general submissiveness in his
+domestic relations, more or less portrayed in the character of Mr.
+Garth.
+
+His second wife was a woman with an unusual amount of natural force; a
+shrewd, practical person, with a considerable dash of the Mrs. Poyser
+vein in her. Hers was an affectionate, warm-hearted nature, and her
+children, on whom she cast "the benediction of her gaze," were
+thoroughly attached to her. She came of a race of yeomen, and her
+social position was, therefore, rather better than her husband's at
+the time of their marriage. Her family are, no doubt, prototypes of
+the Dodsons in the "Mill on the Floss." There were three other sisters
+married, and all living in the neighborhood of Griff--Mrs. Everard,
+Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Garner--and probably Mr. Evans heard a good
+deal about "the traditions in the Pearson family." Mrs. Evans was a
+very active, hard-working woman, but shortly after her last child's
+birth she became ailing in health, and consequently her eldest girl,
+Christiana, was sent to school, at a very early age, to Miss Lathom's,
+at Attleboro, a village a mile or two from Griff, while the two
+younger children spent some part of their time every day at the
+cottage of a Mrs. Moore, who kept a dame's school close to Griff
+gates. The little girl very early became possessed with the idea that
+she was going to be a personage in the world; and Mr. Charles Lewes
+has told me an anecdote which George Eliot related of herself as
+characteristic of this period of her childhood. When she was only four
+years old she recollected playing on the piano, of which she did not
+know one note, in order to impress the servant with a proper notion of
+her acquirements and generally distinguished position. This was the
+time when the love for her brother grew into the child's affections.
+She used always to be at his heels, insisting on doing everything he
+did. She was not, in these baby-days, in the least precocious in
+learning. In fact, her half-sister, Mrs. Houghton, who was some
+fourteen years her senior, told me that the child learned to read
+with some difficulty; but Mr. Isaac Evans says that this was not from
+any slowness in apprehension, but because she liked playing so much
+better. Mere sharpness, however, was not a characteristic of her mind.
+Hers was a large, slow-growing nature; and I think it is, at any rate,
+certain that there was nothing of the infant phenomenon about her. In
+her moral development she showed, from the earliest years, the trait
+that was most marked in her all through life, namely, the absolute
+need of some one person who should be all in all to her, and to whom
+she should be all in all. Very jealous in her affections, and easily
+moved to smiles or tears, she was of a nature capable of the keenest
+enjoyment and the keenest suffering, knowing "all the wealth and all
+the woe" of a pre-eminently exclusive disposition. She was
+affectionate, proud, and sensitive in the highest degree.
+
+The sort of happiness that belongs to this budding-time of life, from
+the age of three to five, is apt to impress itself very strongly on
+the memory; and it is this period which is referred to in the Brother
+and Sister Sonnet, "But were another childhood's world my share, I
+would be born a little sister there." When her brother was eight years
+old he was sent to school at Coventry, and, her mother continuing in
+very delicate health, the little Mary Ann, now five years of age, went
+to join her sister at Miss Lathom's school, at Attleboro, where they
+continued as boarders for three or four years, coming, occasionally,
+home to Griff on Saturdays. During one of our walks at Witley, in
+1880, my wife mentioned to me that what chiefly remained in her
+recollection about this very early school-life was the difficulty of
+getting near enough the fire in winter to become thoroughly warmed,
+owing to the circle of girls forming round too narrow a fireplace.
+This suffering from cold was the beginning of a low general state of
+health; also at this time she began to be subject to fears at
+night--"the susceptibility to terror"--which she has described as
+haunting Gwendolen Harleth in her childhood. The other girls in the
+school, who were all, naturally, very much older, made a great pet of
+the child, and used to call her "little mamma," and she was not
+unhappy except at nights; but she told me that this liability to have
+"all her soul become a quivering fear," which remained with her
+afterwards, had been one of the supremely important influences
+dominating at times her future life. Mr. Isaac Evans's chief
+recollection of this period is the delight of the little sister at his
+home-coming for holidays, and her anxiety to know all that he had been
+doing and learning. The eldest child, who went by the name of
+Chrissey, was the chief favorite of the aunts, as she was always neat
+and tidy, and used to spend a great deal of her time with them, while
+the other two were inseparable playfellows at home. The boy was his
+mother's pet and the girl her father's. They had everything to make
+children happy at Griff--a delightful old-fashioned garden, a pond and
+the canal to fish in, and the farm-offices close to the house, "the
+long cow-shed, where generations of the milky mothers have stood
+patiently, the broad-shouldered barns, where the old-fashioned flail
+once made resonant music," and where butter-making and cheese-making
+were carried on with great vigor by Mrs. Evans.
+
+[Illustration: Griff--with the Farm Offices.]
+
+Any one, about this time, who happened to look through the window on
+the left-hand side of the door of Griff House would have seen a pretty
+picture in the dining-room on Saturday evenings after tea. The
+powerful, middle-aged man with the strongly marked features sits in
+his deep, leather-covered arm-chair, at the right-hand corner of the
+ruddy fireplace, with the head of "the little wench" between his
+knees. The child turns over the book with pictures that she wishes her
+father to explain to her--or that perhaps she prefers explaining to
+him. Her rebellious hair is all over her eyes, much vexing the pale,
+energetic mother who sits on the opposite side of the fire, cumbered
+with much service, letting no instant of time escape the inevitable
+click of the knitting-needles, accompanied by epigrammatic speech. The
+elder girl, prim and tidy, with her work before her, is by her
+mother's side; and the brother, between the two groups, keeps assuring
+himself by perpetual search that none of his favorite means of
+amusement are escaping from his pockets. The father is already very
+proud of the astonishing and growing intelligence of his little girl.
+From a very early age he has been in the habit of taking her with him
+in his drives about the neighborhood, "standing between her father's
+knees as he drove leisurely," so that she has drunk in knowledge of
+the country and of country folk at all her pores. An old-fashioned
+child, already living in a world of her own imagination, impressible
+to her finger-tips, and willing to give her views on any subject.
+
+The first book that George Eliot read, so far as I have been able to
+ascertain, was a little volume published in 1822, entitled "The
+Linnet's Life," which she gave to me in the last year of her life, at
+Witley. It bears the following inscription, written some time before
+she gave it to me:
+
+"This little book is the first present I ever remember having received
+from my father. Let any one who thinks of me with some tenderness
+after I am dead take care of this book for my sake. It made me very
+happy when I held it in my little hands, and read it over and over
+again; and thought the pictures beautiful, especially the one where
+the linnet is feeding her young."
+
+It must, I think, have been very shortly after she received this
+present that an old friend of the family, who was in the habit of
+coming as a visitor to Griff from time to time, used occasionally to
+bring a book in his hand for the little girl. I very well remember her
+expressing to me deep gratitude for this early ministration to her
+childish delights; and Mr. Burne Jones has been kind enough to tell me
+of a conversation with George Eliot about children's books, when she
+also referred to this old gentleman's kindness. They were agreeing in
+disparagement of some of the books that the rising generation take
+their pleasure in, and she recalled the dearth of child-literature in
+her own home, and her passionate delight and total absorption in
+Æsop's Fables (given to her by the aforesaid old gentleman), the
+possession of which had opened new worlds to her imagination. Mr.
+Burne Jones particularly remembers how she laughed till the tears ran
+down her face in recalling her infantine enjoyment of the humor in the
+fable of Mercury and the Statue-seller. Having so few books at this
+time, she read them again and again, until she knew them by heart. One
+of them was a Joe Miller jest-book, with the stories from which she
+used greatly to astonish the family circle. But the beginning of her
+serious reading-days did not come till later. Meantime her talent for
+observation gained a glorious new field for employment in her first
+journey from home, which took place in 1826. Her father and mother
+took her with them on a little trip into Derbyshire and Staffordshire,
+where she saw Mr. Evans's relations, and they came back through
+Lichfield, sleeping at the Swan.[3] They were away only a week, from
+the 18th to the 24th of May; but "what time is little" to an
+imaginative, observant child of seven on her first journey? About this
+time a deeply felt crisis occurred in her life, as her brother had a
+pony given to him, to which he became passionately attached. He
+developed an absorbing interest in riding, and cared less and less to
+play with his sister. The next important event happened in her eighth
+or ninth year, when she was sent to Miss Wallington's school at
+Nuneaton with her sister. This was a much larger school than Miss
+Lathom's, there being some thirty girls, boarders. The principal
+governess was Miss Lewis, who became then, and remained for many years
+after, Mary Ann Evans's most intimate friend and principal
+correspondent, and I am indebted to the letters addressed to her from
+1836 to 1842 for most of the information concerning that period. Books
+now became a passion with the child; she read everything she could lay
+hands on, greatly troubling the soul of her mother by the consumption
+of candles as well as of eyesight in her bedroom. From a subsequent
+letter it will be seen that she was "early supplied with works of
+fiction by those who kindly sought to gratify her appetite for
+reading."
+
+It must have been about this time that the episode occurred in
+relation to "Waverley" which is mentioned by Miss Simcox in her
+article in the June, 1881, number of the _Nineteenth Century Review_.
+It was quite new to me, and, as it is very interesting, I give it in
+Miss Simcox's own words: "Somewhere about 1827 a friendly neighbor
+lent 'Waverley' to an elder sister of little Mary Ann Evans. It was
+returned before the child had read to the end, and, in her distress at
+the loss of the fascinating volume, she began to write out the story
+as far as she had read it for herself, beginning naturally where the
+story begins with Waverley's adventures at Tully Veolan, and
+continuing until the surprised elders were moved to get her the book
+again." Miss Simcox has pointed out the reference to this in the motto
+of the 57th chapter of "Middlemarch:"
+
+       "They numbered scarce eight summers when a name
+         Rose on their souls and stirred such motions there
+       As thrill the buds and shape their hidden frame
+         At penetration of the quickening air:
+     His name who told of loyal Evan Dhu,
+       Of quaint Bradwardine, and Vich Ian Vor,
+     Making the little world their childhood knew
+       Large with a land of mountain, lake, and scaur,
+     And larger yet with wonder, love, belief
+       Towards Walter Scott, who, living far away,
+     Sent them this wealth of joy and noble grief.
+       The book and they must part, but, day by day,
+           In lines that thwart like portly spiders ran,
+           They wrote the tale, from Tully Veolan."
+
+Miss Simcox also mentions that "Elia divided her childish allegiance
+with Scott, and she remembered feasting with singular pleasure upon an
+extract in some stray almanac from the essay in commemoration of
+'Captain Jackson and his slender ration of Single Gloucester.' This is
+an extreme example of the general rule that a wise child's taste in
+literature is sounder than adults generally venture to believe."
+
+We know, too, from the "Mill on the Floss" that the "History of the
+Devil," by Daniel Defoe, was a favorite. The book is still religiously
+preserved at Griff, with its pictures just as Maggie looked at them.
+"The Pilgrim's Progress," also, and "Rasselas" had a large share of
+her affections.
+
+At Miss Wallington's the growing girl soon distinguished herself by an
+easy mastery of the usual school-learning of her years, and there,
+too, the religious side of her nature was developed to a remarkable
+degree. Miss Lewis was an ardent Evangelical Churchwoman, and exerted
+a strong influence on her young pupil, whom she found very
+sympathetically inclined. But Mary Ann Evans did not associate freely
+with her schoolfellows, and her friendship with Miss Lewis was the
+only intimacy she indulged in.
+
+On coming home for their holidays the sister and brother began, about
+this time, the habit of acting charades together before the Griff
+household and the aunts, who were greatly impressed with the
+cleverness of the performance; and the girl was now recognized in the
+family circle as no ordinary child.
+
+Another epoch presently succeeded, on her removal to Miss Franklin's
+school at Coventry, in her thirteenth year. She was probably then very
+much what she has described her own Maggie at the age of thirteen:
+
+"A creature full of eager, passionate longings for all that was
+beautiful and glad; thirsty for all knowledge; with an ear straining
+after dreamy music that died away and would not come near to her; with
+a blind, unconscious yearning for something that would link together
+the wonderful impressions of this mysterious life, and give her soul a
+sense of home in it. No wonder, when there is this contrast between
+the outward and the inward, that painful collisions come of it."
+
+In _Our Times_ of June, 1881, there is a paper by a lady whose mother
+was at school with Mary Ann Evans, which gives some interesting
+particulars of the Miss Franklins.
+
+"They were daughters of a Baptist minister who had preached for many
+years in Coventry, and who inhabited, during his pastorate, a house in
+the chapel-yard almost exactly resembling that of Rufus Lyon in 'Felix
+Holt.' For this venerable gentleman Miss Evans, as a schoolgirl, had a
+great admiration, and I, who can remember him well, can trace in Rufus
+Lyon himself many slight resemblances, such as the 'little legs,' and
+the habit of walking up and down when composing. Miss Rebecca Franklin
+was a lady of considerable intellectual power, and remarkable for her
+elegance in writing and conversation, as well as for her beautiful
+calligraphy. In her classes for English Composition Mary Ann Evans
+was, from her first entering the school, far in advance of the rest;
+and while the themes of the other children were read, criticised, and
+corrected in class, hers were reserved for the private perusal and
+enjoyment of the teacher, who rarely found anything to correct. Her
+enthusiasm for music was already very strongly marked, and her
+music-master, a much-tried man, suffering from the irritability
+incident to his profession, reckoned on his hour with her as a
+refreshment to his wearied nerves, and soon had to confess that he had
+no more to teach her. In connection with this proficiency in music, my
+mother recalls her sensitiveness at that time as being painfully
+extreme. When there were visitors, Miss Evans, as the best performer
+in the school, was sometimes summoned to the parlor to play for their
+amusement, and though suffering agonies from shyness and reluctance,
+she obeyed with all readiness, but, on being released, my mother has
+often known her to rush to her room and throw herself on the floor in
+an agony of tears. Her schoolfellows loved her as much as they could
+venture to love one whom they felt to be so immeasurably superior to
+themselves, and she had playful nicknames for most of them. My mother,
+who was delicate, and to whom she was very kind, was dubbed by her
+'Miss Equanimity.' A source of great interest to the girls, and of
+envy to those who lived farther from home, was the weekly cart which
+brought Miss Evans new-laid eggs and other delightful produce of her
+father's farm."
+
+In talking about these early days, my wife impressed on my mind the
+debt she felt that she owed to the Miss Franklins for their excellent
+instruction, and she had also the very highest respect for their moral
+qualities. With her chameleon-like nature she soon adopted their
+religious views with intense eagerness and conviction, although she
+never formally joined the Baptists or any other communion than the
+Church of England. She at once, however, took a foremost place in the
+school, and became a leader of prayer-meetings among the girls. In
+addition to a sound English education the Miss Franklins managed to
+procure for their pupils excellent masters for French, German, and
+music; so that, looking to the lights of those times, the means of
+obtaining knowledge were very much above the average for girls. Her
+teachers, on their side, were very proud of their exceptionally gifted
+scholar; and years afterwards, when Miss Evans came with her father to
+live in Coventry, they introduced her to one of their friends, not
+only as a marvel of mental power, but also as a person "sure to get
+something up very soon in the way of clothing-club or other charitable
+undertaking."
+
+This year, 1832, was not only memorable for the change to a new and
+superior school, but it was also much more memorable to George Eliot
+for the riot which she saw at Nuneaton, on the occasion of the
+election for North Warwickshire, after the passing of the great Reform
+Bill, and which subsequently furnished her with the incidents for the
+riot in "Felix Holt." It was an event to lay hold on the imagination
+of an impressionable girl of thirteen, and it is thus described in the
+local newspaper of 29th December, 1832:
+
+"On Friday, the 21st December, at Nuneaton, from the commencement of
+the poll till nearly half-past two, the Hemingites[4] occupied the
+poll; the numerous plumpers for Sir Eardley Wilmot and the adherents
+of Mr. Dugdale being constantly interrupted in their endeavors to go
+to the hustings to give an honest and conscientious vote. The
+magistrates were consequently applied to, and from the representations
+they received from all parties, they were at length induced to call in
+aid a military force. A detachment of the Scots Greys accordingly
+arrived; but it appearing that that gallant body was not sufficiently
+strong to put down the turbulent spirit of the mob, a reinforcement
+was considered by the constituted authorities as absolutely necessary.
+The tumult increasing, as the detachment of the Scots Greys were
+called in, the Riot Act was read from the windows of the Newdigate
+Arms; and we regret to add that both W. P. Inge, Esq., and Colonel
+Newdigate, in the discharge of their magisterial duties, received
+personal injuries.
+
+"On Saturday the mob presented an appalling appearance, and but for
+the forbearance of the soldiery numerous lives would have fallen a
+sacrifice. Several of the officers of the Scots Greys were materially
+hurt in their attempt to quell the riotous proceedings of the mob.
+During the day the sub-sheriffs at the different booths received
+several letters from the friends of Mr. Dugdale, stating that they
+were outside of the town, and anxious to vote for that gentleman, but
+were deterred from entering it from fear of personal violence. Two or
+three unlucky individuals, drawn from the files of the military on
+their approach to the poll, were cruelly beaten, and stripped
+literally naked. We regret to add that one life has been sacrificed
+during the contest, and that several misguided individuals have been
+seriously injured."
+
+The term ending Christmas, 1835, was the last spent at Miss
+Franklin's. In the first letter of George Eliot's that I have been
+able to discover, dated 6th January, 1836, and addressed to Miss
+Lewis, who was at that time governess in the family of the Rev. L.
+Harper, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, she speaks of her mother
+having suffered a great increase of pain, and adds--
+
+"We dare not hope that there will be a permanent improvement. Our
+anxieties on my mother's account, though so great, have been since
+Thursday almost lost sight of in the more sudden, and consequently
+more severe, trial which we have been called on to endure in the
+alarming illness of my dear father. For four days we had no cessation
+of our anxiety; but I am thankful to say that he is now considered out
+of danger, though very much reduced by frequent bleeding and very
+powerful medicines."
+
+In the summer of this year--1836--the mother died, after a long,
+painful illness, in which she was nursed with great devotion by her
+daughters. It was their first acquaintance with death; and to a highly
+wrought, sensitive girl of sixteen such a loss seems an unendurable
+calamity. "To the old, sorrow is sorrow; to the young, it is despair."
+Many references will be found in the subsequent correspondence to what
+she suffered at this time, all summed up in the old popular phrase,
+"We can have but one mother." In the following spring Christiana was
+married to Mr. Edward Clarke, a surgeon practising at Meriden, in
+Warwickshire. One of Mr. Isaac Evans's most vivid recollections is
+that on the day of the marriage, after the bride's departure, he and
+his younger sister had "a good cry" together over the break-up of the
+old home-life, which of course could never be the same with the mother
+and the elder sister wanting.
+
+Twenty-three years later we shall find George Eliot writing, on the
+death of this sister, that she "had a very special feeling for
+her--stronger than any third person would think likely." The relation
+between the sisters was somewhat like that described as existing
+between Dorothea and Celia in "Middlemarch"--no intellectual affinity,
+but a strong family affection. In fact, my wife told me, that although
+Celia was not in any sense a portrait of her sister, she "had Chrissey
+continually in mind" in delineating Celia's character. But we must be
+careful not to found too much on such _suggestions_ of character in
+George Eliot's books; and this must particularly be borne in mind in
+the "Mill on the Floss." No doubt the early part of Maggie's
+portraiture is the best autobiographical representation we can have of
+George Eliot's own feelings in her childhood, and many of the
+incidents in the book are based on real experiences of family life,
+but so mixed with fictitious elements and situations that it would be
+absolutely misleading to trust to it as a true history. For instance,
+all that happened in real life between the brother and sister was, I
+believe, that as they grew up their characters, pursuits, and tastes
+diverged more and more widely. He took to his father's business, at
+which he worked steadily, and which absorbed most of his time and
+attention. He was also devoted to hunting, liked the ordinary
+pleasures of a young man in his circumstances, and was quite satisfied
+with the circle of acquaintance in which he moved. After leaving
+school at Coventry he went to a private tutor's at Birmingham, where
+he imbibed strong High-Church views. His sister had come back from the
+Miss Franklins' with ultra-Evangelical tendencies, and their
+differences of opinion used to lead to a good deal of animated
+argument. Miss Evans, as she now was, could not rest satisfied with a
+mere profession of faith without trying to shape her own life--and, it
+may be added, the lives around her--in accordance with her
+convictions. The pursuit of pleasure was a snare; dress was vanity;
+society was a danger.
+
+"From what you know of her, you will not be surprised that she threw
+some exaggeration and wilfulness, some pride and impetuosity, even
+into her self-renunciation: her own life was still a drama for her, in
+which she demanded of herself that her part should be played with
+intensity. And so it came to pass that she often lost the spirit of
+humility by being excessive in the outward act; she often strove after
+too high a flight, and came down with her poor little half-fledged
+wings dabbled in the mud.... That is the path we all like when we set
+out on our abandonment of egoism--the path of martyrdom and endurance,
+where the palm-branches grow, rather than the steep highway of
+tolerance, just allowance, and self-blame, where there are no leafy
+honors to be gathered and worn."[5]
+
+After Christiana's marriage the entire charge of the Griff
+establishment devolved on Mary Ann, who became a most exemplary
+housewife, learned thoroughly everything that had to be done, and,
+with her innate desire for perfection, was never satisfied unless her
+department was administered in the very best manner that circumstances
+permitted. She spent a great deal of time in visiting the poor,
+organizing clothing-clubs, and other works of active charity. But over
+and above this, as will be seen from the following letters, she was
+always prosecuting an active intellectual life of her own. Mr. Brezzi,
+a well-known master of modern languages at Coventry, used to come over
+to Griff regularly to give her lessons in Italian and German. Mr.
+M'Ewen, also from Coventry, continued her lessons in music, and she
+got through a large amount of miscellaneous reading by herself. In the
+evening she was always in the habit of playing to her father, who was
+very fond of music. But it requires no great effort of imagination to
+conceive that this life, though full of interests of its own, and the
+source from whence the future novelist drew the most powerful and the
+most touching of her creations, was, as a matter of fact, very
+monotonous, very difficult, very discouraging. It could scarcely be
+otherwise to a young girl with a full, passionate nature and hungry
+intellect, shut up in a farmhouse in the remote country. For there was
+no sympathetic human soul near with whom to exchange ideas on the
+intellectual and spiritual problems that were beginning to agitate her
+mind. "You may try, but you can never imagine what it is to have a
+man's force of genius in you, and yet to suffer the slavery of being a
+girl."[6] This is a point of view that must be distinctly recognized
+by any one attempting to follow the development of George Eliot's
+character, and it will always be corrected by the other point of view
+which she has made so prominent in all her own writing--the soothing,
+strengthening, sacred influences of the home life, the home loves, the
+home duties. Circumstances in later life separated her from her
+kindred, but among her last letters it will be seen that she wrote to
+her brother in May, 1880, that "our long silence has never broken the
+affection for you that began when we were little ones"[7]--and she
+expresses her satisfaction in the growing prosperity of himself and
+all his family. It was a real gratification to her to hear from some
+Coventry friends that her nephew, the Rev. Frederic Evans, the present
+rector of Bedworth, was well spoken of as a preacher in the old
+familiar places, and in our last summer at Witley we often spoke of a
+visit to Warwickshire, that she might renew the sweet memories of her
+child-days. No doubt, the very monotony of her life at Griff, and the
+narrow field it presented for observation of society, added
+immeasurably to the intensity of a naturally keen mental vision,
+concentrating into a focus what might perhaps have become dissipated
+in more liberal surroundings. And though the field of observation was
+narrow in one sense, it included very various grades of society. Such
+fine places as Arbury, and Packington, the seat of Lord Aylesford,
+where she was being constantly driven by her father, affected the
+imagination and accentuated the social differences--differences which
+had a profound significance for such a sensitive and such an
+intellectually commanding character, and which left their mark on it.
+
+"No one who has not a strong natural prompting and susceptibility
+towards such things [the signs and luxuries of ladyhood] and has, at
+the same time, suffered from the presence of opposite conditions, can
+understand how powerfully those minor accidents of rank which please
+the fastidious sense can preoccupy the imagination."[8]
+
+The tone of her mind will be seen from the letters written during the
+following years, and I remember once, after we were married, when I
+was urging her to write her autobiography, she said, half sighing,
+half smiling, "The only thing I should care much to dwell on would be
+the absolute despair I suffered from of ever being able to achieve
+anything. No one could ever have felt greater despair, and a knowledge
+of this might be a help to some other struggler"--adding, with a
+smile, "but, on the other hand, it might only lead to an increase of
+bad writing."
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+NOVEMBER 22, 1819, TO END OF 1837.
+
+     Birth at Arbury Farm--Baptism--Character of father--His first
+     marriage and children--Second marriage and children--Removal
+     to Griff--Events at time of birth--Character of country
+     about Griff--Coach communication--Father's
+     position--Anecdotes of father--Character of mother--Mother's
+     family and delicacy--Dame's school--Companionship with
+     brother--Miss Lathom's school at Attleboro--Suffers from
+     fear--Father's pet--Drives with him--First books read--First
+     journey to Staffordshire--Miss Wallington's school at
+     Nuneaton--Miss Lewis, governess--Books read--Religious
+     impressions--Charade acting--Miss Franklin's school at
+     Coventry--Riot at Nuneaton--First letter to Miss
+     Lewis--Mother's illness--Mother's death--Sister Christiana
+     married to Mr. Clarke--Relations with brother--Housekeeper at
+     Griff--Life and studies there.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The farm is also known as the South Farm, Arbury.
+
+[2] "Felix Holt"--Introduction.
+
+[3] See vol. ii. p. 96.
+
+[4] A Mr. Heming was the Radical candidate.
+
+[5] "Mill on the Floss," chap. iii. book iv.
+
+[6] "Daniel Deronda."
+
+[7] See vol. iii.
+
+[8] "Felix Holt," chap. xxxviii. p. 399.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In the foregoing introductory sketch I have endeavored to present the
+influences to which George Eliot was subjected in her youth, and the
+environment in which she grew up; I am now able to begin the
+fulfilment of the promise on the titlepage, that the life will be
+related in her own letters; or, rather, in extracts from her own
+letters, for no single letter is printed entire from the beginning to
+the end. I have not succeeded in obtaining any between 6th January,
+1836, and 18th August, 1838; but from the latter date the
+correspondence becomes regular, and I have arranged it as a continuous
+narrative, with the names of the persons to whom the letters are
+addressed in the margin. The slight thread of narrative or explanation
+which I have written to elucidate the letters, where necessary, will
+hereafter occupy an inside margin, so that the reader will see at a
+glance what is narrative and what is correspondence, and will be
+troubled as little as possible with marks of quotation or changes of
+type.
+
+     The following opening letter of the series to Miss Lewis
+     describes a first visit to London with her brother:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 18th Aug. 1838.]
+
+Let me tell you, though, that I was not at all delighted with the stir
+of the great Babel, and the less so, probably, owing to the
+circumstances attending my visit thither. Isaac and I went alone (that
+seems rather Irish), and stayed only a week, every day of which we
+worked hard at seeing sights. I think Greenwich Hospital interested me
+more than anything else.
+
+     Mr. Isaac Evans himself tells me that what he remembers
+     chiefly impressed her was the first hearing the great bell of
+     St. Paul's. It affected her deeply. At that time she was so
+     much under the influence of religious and ascetic ideas that
+     she would not go to any of the theatres with her brother, but
+     spent all her evenings alone, reading. A characteristic
+     reminiscence is that the chief thing she wanted to buy was
+     Josephus's "History of the Jews;" and at the same bookshop
+     her brother got her this he bought for himself a pair of
+     hunting sketches. In the same letter, alluding to the
+     marriage of one of her friends, she says:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 18th Aug. 1838.]
+
+For my part, when I hear of the marrying and giving in marriage that
+is constantly being transacted, I can only sigh for those who are
+multiplying earthly ties which, though powerful enough to detach their
+hearts and thoughts from heaven, are so brittle as to be liable to be
+snapped asunder at every breeze. You will think that I need nothing
+but a tub for my habitation to make me a perfect female Diogenes; and
+I plead guilty to occasional misanthropical thoughts, but not to the
+indulgence of them. Still, I must believe that those are happiest who
+are not fermenting themselves by engaging in projects for earthly
+bliss, who are considering this life merely a pilgrimage, a scene
+calling for diligence and watchfulness, not for repose and amusement.
+I do not deny that there may be many who can partake with a high
+degree of zest of all the lawful enjoyments the world can offer, and
+yet live in near communion with their God--who can warmly love the
+creature, and yet be careful that the Creator maintains his supremacy
+in their hearts; but I confess that, in my short experience and narrow
+sphere of action, I have never been able to attain to this. I find, as
+Dr. Johnson said respecting his wine, total abstinence much easier
+than moderation. I do not wonder you are pleased with Pascal;[9] his
+thoughts may be returned to the palate again and again with increasing
+rather than diminished relish. I have highly enjoyed Hannah More's
+letters; the contemplation of so blessed a character as hers is very
+salutary. "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who, through
+faith and patience, inherit the promises," is a valuable admonition. I
+was once told that there was nothing out of myself to prevent my
+becoming as eminently holy as St. Paul; and though I think that is too
+sweeping an assertion, yet it is very certain we are generally too low
+in our aims, more anxious for safety than sanctity, for place than
+purity, forgetting that each involves the other, and that, as
+Doddridge tells us, to rest satisfied with any attainments in religion
+is a fearful proof that we are ignorant of the very first principles
+of it. O that we could live only for eternity! that we could realize
+its nearness! I know you do not love quotations, so I will not give
+you one; but if you do not distinctly remember it, do turn to the
+passage in Young's "Infidel Reclaimed," beginning, "O vain, vain, vain
+all else eternity," and do love the lines for my sake.
+
+I really feel for you, sacrificing, as you are, your own tastes and
+comforts for the pleasure of others, and that in a manner the most
+trying to rebellious flesh and blood; for I verily believe that in
+most cases it requires more of a martyr's spirit to endure, with
+patience and cheerfulness, daily crossings and interruptions of our
+petty desires and pursuits, and to rejoice in them if they can be made
+to conduce to God's glory and our own sanctification, than even to lay
+down our lives for the truth.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 6th Nov. 1838.]
+
+I can hardly repress a sort of indignation towards second causes. That
+your time and energies should be expended in ministering to the petty
+interests of those far beneath you in all that is really elevating is
+about as _bienséant_ as that I should set fire to a goodly volume to
+light a match by! I have had a very unsettled life lately--Michaelmas,
+with its onerous duties and anxieties, much company (for us) and
+little reading, so that I am ill prepared for corresponding with
+profit or pleasure. I am generally in the same predicament with books
+as a glutton with his feast, hurrying through one course that I may be
+in time for the next, and so not relishing or digesting either; not a
+very elegant illustration, but the best my organs of ideality and
+comparison will furnish just now.
+
+I have just begun the "Life of Wilberforce," and I am expecting a rich
+treat from it. There is a similarity, if I may compare myself with
+such a man, between his temptations, or rather _besetments_, and my
+own, that makes his experience very interesting to me. O that I might
+be made as useful in my lowly and obscure station as he was in the
+exalted one assigned to him! I feel myself to be a mere cumberer of
+the ground. May the Lord give me such an insight into what is truly
+good that I may not rest contented with making Christianity a mere
+addendum to my pursuits, or with tacking it as a fringe to my
+garments! May I seek to be sanctified wholly! My nineteenth birthday
+will soon be here (the 22d)--an awakening signal. My mind has been
+much clogged lately by languor of body, to which I am prone to give
+way, and for the removal of which I shall feel thankful.
+
+We have had an oratorio at Coventry lately, Braham, Phillips, Mrs.
+Knyvett, and Mrs. Shaw--the last, I think, I shall attend. I am not
+fitted to decide on the question of the propriety or lawfulness of
+such exhibitions of talent and so forth, because I have no soul for
+music. "Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he
+alloweth." I am a tasteless person, but it would not cost me any
+regrets if the only music heard in our land were that of strict
+worship, nor can I think a pleasure that involves the devotion of all
+the time and powers of an immortal being to the acquirement of an
+expertness in so useless (at least in ninety-nine cases out of a
+hundred) an accomplishment, can be quite pure or elevating in its
+tendency.
+
+     The above remarks on oratorio are the more surprising
+     because, two years later, when Miss Evans went to the
+     Birmingham festival, in September, 1840, previous to her
+     brother's marriage, she was affected to an extraordinary
+     degree, so much so that Mrs. Isaac Evans--then Miss
+     Rawlins--told me that the attention of people sitting near
+     was attracted by her hysterical sobbing. And in all her later
+     life music was one of the chiefest delights to her, and
+     especially oratorio.
+
+"Not that her enjoyment of music was of the kind that indicates a
+great specific talent; it was rather that her sensibility to the
+supreme excitement of music was only one form of that passionate
+sensibility which belonged to her whole nature, and made her faults
+and virtues all merge in each other--made her affections sometimes an
+impatient demand, but also prevented her vanity from taking the form
+of mere feminine coquetry and device, and gave it the poetry of
+ambition."[10]
+
+     The next two letters, dated from Griff--February 6th and
+     March 5th, 1839--are addressed to Mrs. Samuel Evans, a
+     Methodist preacher, the wife of a younger brother of Mr.
+     Robert Evans. They are the more interesting from the fact,
+     which will appear later, that an anecdote related by this
+     aunt during her visit to Griff in 1839 was the germ of "Adam
+     Bede." To what extent this Elizabeth Evans resembled the
+     ideal character of Dinah Morris will also be seen in its
+     place in the history of "Adam Bede."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Samuel Evans, 6th Feb. 1839.]
+
+I am so unwilling to believe that you can forget a promise, or to
+entertain fears respecting your health, that I persuade myself I must
+have mistaken the terms of the agreement between us, and that I ought
+to have sent you a letter before I considered myself entitled to one
+from Wirksworth. However this may be, I feel so anxious to hear of
+your well-being in every way, that I can no longer rest satisfied
+without using my only means of obtaining tidings of you. My dear
+father is not at home to-night, or I should probably have a message of
+remembrance to give you from him, in addition to the good news that he
+is as well as he has been for the last two years, and even, I think,
+better, except that he feels more fatigue after exertion of mind or
+body than formerly. If you are able to fill a sheet, I am sure both
+uncle and you would in doing so be complying with the precept, "Lift
+up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees." I need
+not tell you that this is a dry and thirsty land, and I shall be as
+grateful to you for a draught from your fresh spring as the traveller
+in the Eastern desert is to the unknown hand that digs a well for him.
+"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel," seems to be my character,
+instead of that regular progress from strength to strength that marks,
+even in this world of mistakes, the people that shall, in the heavenly
+Zion, stand before God. I shall not only suffer, but be delighted to
+receive, the word of exhortation, and I beg you not to withhold it. If
+I did not know how little you need human help, I should regret that my
+ignorance and want of deep feeling in spiritual things prevent me from
+suggesting profitable or refreshing thoughts; but I dare say I took
+care to tell you that my desire for correspondence with you was quite
+one of self-interest.
+
+I am thankful to tell you that my dear friends here are all well. I
+have a faint hope that the pleasure and profit I have felt in your
+society may be repeated in the summer: there is no place I would
+rather visit than Wirksworth, or the inhabitants of which have a
+stronger hold on my affections.
+
+     In the next letter the touch about Mrs. Fletcher's life is
+     characteristic.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Samuel Evans, 5th Mch. 1839.]
+
+My dear father is just now so plunged in business, and that of a
+fatiguing kind, that I should put your confidence in my love and
+gratitude to an unreasonably severe trial if I waited until he had
+leisure to unite with me in filling a sheet. You were very kind to
+remember my wish to see "Mrs. Fletcher's Life:" I only desire such a
+spiritual digestion as has enabled _you_ to derive so much benefit
+from its perusal. I am truly glad to hear that you are less
+embarrassed with respect to your congregation, etc., than you were
+when we saw you. I must protest against your making apologies for
+speaking of yourself, for nothing that relates to you can be
+uninteresting to me.
+
+The unprofitableness you lament in yourself, during your visit to us,
+had its true cause, not in your lukewarmness, but in the little
+improvement I sought to derive from your society, and in my lack of
+humility and Christian simplicity, that makes me willing to obtain
+credit for greater knowledge and deeper feeling than I really possess.
+Instead of putting my light under a bushel, I am in danger of
+ostentatiously displaying a false one. You have much too high an
+opinion, my dear aunt, of my spiritual condition, and of my personal
+and circumstantial advantages. My soul seems for weeks together
+completely benumbed, and when I am aroused from this torpid state, the
+intervals of activity are comparatively short. I am ever finding
+excuses for this in the deprivation of outward excitement and the
+small scope I have for the application of my principles, instead of
+feeling self-abasement under the consciousness that I abuse precious
+hours of retirement, which would be eagerly employed in spiritual
+exercises by many a devoted servant of God who is struggling with
+worldly cares and occupations. I feel that my besetting sin is the one
+of all others most destroying, as it is the fruitful parent of them
+all--ambition, a desire insatiable for the esteem of my
+fellow-creatures. This seems the centre whence all my actions proceed.
+But you will perhaps remember, my dear aunt, that I do not attach
+much value to a disclosure of religious feelings, owing probably to
+the dominant corruption I have just been speaking of, which "turns the
+milk of my good purpose all to curd."
+
+     On 16th March, 1839, in a letter to Miss Lewis, there is a
+     reference to good spirits, which is of the rarest occurrence
+     all through the correspondence:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 16th Mch. 1839.]
+
+I am this morning hardly myself, owing to the insuppressible rising of
+my animal spirits on a deliverance from sick headache;
+
+     and then the letter continues as to the expediency of reading
+     works of fiction, in answer to a question Miss Lewis had
+     asked:
+
+I put out of the question all persons of perceptions so quick, memories
+so eclectic and retentive, and minds so comprehensive that nothing less
+than omnivorous reading, as Southey calls it, can satisfy their
+intellectual man; for (if I may parody the words of Scripture without
+profaneness) they will gather to themselves all facts, and heap unto
+themselves all ideas. For such persons we cannot legislate. Again, I
+would put out of the question standard works, whose contents are matter
+of constant reference, and the names of whose heroes and heroines
+briefly, and therefore conveniently, describe characters and ideas--such
+are "Don Quixote," Butler's "Hudibras," "Robinson Crusoe," "Gil Blas,"
+Byron's Poetical Romances, Southey's ditto, etc. Such, too, are Walter
+Scott's novels and poems. Such allusions as "He is a perfect Dominie
+Sampson," "He is as industrious in finding out antiquities, and about as
+successful, as Jonathan Oldbuck," are likely to become so common in
+books and conversation that, _always providing_ our leisure is not
+circumscribed by duty within narrow bounds, we should, I think, qualify
+ourselves to understand them. Shakespeare has a higher claim than this
+on our attention; but we have need of as nice a power of distillation as
+the bee, to suck nothing but honey from his pages. However, as in life
+we must be exposed to malign influences from intercourse with others, if
+we would reap the advantages designed for us by making us social beings,
+so in books. Having cleared our way of what would otherwise have
+encumbered us, I would ask why is one engaged in the instruction of
+youth to read, as a purely conscientious and self-denying performance of
+duty, works whose value to others is allowed to be doubtful? I can only
+imagine two shadows of reasons. Either that she may be able
+experimentally to decide on their desirableness for her pupils, or else
+that there is a certain power exerted by them on the mind that would
+render her a more efficient "tutress" by their perusal. I would not
+depreciate the disinterestedness of those who will make trial of the
+effect on themselves of a cup suspected poisonous, that they may deter
+another from risking life; but it appears to me a work of
+supererogation, since there are enough witnesses to its baneful effect
+on themselves already to put an end to all strife in the matter. The
+Scriptural declaration, "As face answereth to face in a glass, so the
+heart of man to man," will exonerate me from the charge of
+uncharitableness, or too high an estimation of myself, if I venture to
+believe that the same causes which exist in my own breast to render
+novels and romances pernicious have their counterpart in that of every
+fellow-creature. I am, I confess, not an impartial member of a jury in
+this case; for I owe the culprits a grudge for injuries inflicted on
+myself. When I was quite a little child I could not be satisfied with
+the things around me; I was constantly living in a world of my own
+creation, and was quite contented to have no companions, that I might be
+left to my own musings, and imagine scenes in which I was chief actress.
+Conceive what a character novels would give to these Utopias. I was
+early supplied with them by those who kindly sought to gratify my
+appetite for reading, and of course I made use of the materials they
+supplied for building my castles in the air. But it may be said--"No one
+ever dreamed of recommending children to read them: all this does not
+apply to persons come to years of discretion, whose judgments are in
+some degree matured." I answer that men and women are but children of a
+larger growth: they are still imitative beings. We cannot (at least
+those who ever read to any purpose at all)--we cannot, I say, help being
+modified by the ideas that pass through our minds. We hardly wish to lay
+claim to such elasticity as retains no impress. We are active beings
+too. We are each one of the _dramatis personæ_ in some play on the stage
+of life; hence our actions have their share in the effects of our
+reading. As to the discipline our minds receive from the perusal of
+fictions, I can conceive none that is beneficial but may be attained by
+that of history. It is the merit of fictions to come within the orbit of
+probability: if unnatural they would no longer please. If it be said the
+mind must have relaxation, "Truth is strange--stranger than fiction."
+When a person has exhausted the wonders of truth there is no other
+resort than fiction: till then, I cannot imagine how the adventures of
+some phantom conjured up by fancy can be more entertaining than the
+transactions of real specimens of human nature, from which we may
+safely draw inferences. I dare say Mr. James's "Huguenot" would be
+recommended as giving an idea of the times of which he writes; but as
+well may one be recommended to look at landscapes for an idea of English
+scenery. The real secret of the relaxation talked of is one that would
+not generally be avowed; but an appetite that wants seasoning of a
+certain kind cannot be indicative of health. Religious novels are more
+hateful to me than merely worldly ones: they are a sort of centaur or
+mermaid, and, like other monsters that we do not know how to class,
+should be destroyed for the public good as soon as born. The weapons of
+the Christian warfare were never sharpened at the forge of romance.
+Domestic fictions, as they come more within the range of imitation, seem
+more dangerous. For my part, I am ready to sit down and weep at the
+impossibility of my understanding or barely knowing a fraction of the
+sum of objects that present themselves for our contemplation in books
+and in life. Have I, then, any time to spend on things that never
+existed?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 20th May, 1839.]
+
+You allude to the religious, or rather irreligious, contentions that
+form so prominent a feature in the aspect of public affairs--a
+subject, you will perhaps be surprised to hear me say, full of
+interest to me, and on which I am unable to shape an opinion for the
+satisfaction of my mind. I think no one feels more difficulty in
+coming to a decision on controverted matters than myself. I do not
+mean that I have not preferences; but, however congruous a theory may
+be with my notions, I cannot find that comfortable repose that others
+appear to possess after having made their election of a class of
+sentiments. The other day Montaigne's motto came to my mind (it is
+mentioned by Pascal) as an appropriate one for me--"Que
+sais-je?"--beneath a pair of balances, though, by-the-bye, it is an
+ambiguous one, and may be taken in a sense that I desire to reprobate,
+as well as in a Scriptural one, to which I do not refer. I use it in a
+limited sense as a representation of my oscillating judgment. On no
+subject do I veer to all points of the compass more frequently than on
+the nature of the visible Church. I am powerfully attracted in a
+certain direction, but, when I am about to settle there,
+counter-assertions shake me from my position. I cannot enter into
+details, but when we are together I will tell you all my
+difficulties--that is, if you will be kind enough to listen. I have
+been reading the new prize essay on "Schism," by Professor Hoppus, and
+Milner's "Church History," since I last wrote to you: the former ably
+expresses the tenets of those who deny that any form of Church
+government is so clearly dictated in Scripture as to possess a divine
+right, and, consequently, to be binding on Christians; the latter, you
+know, exhibits the views of a moderate Evangelical Episcopalian on the
+inferences to be drawn from ecclesiastical remains. He equally
+repudiates the loud assertion of a _jus divinum_, to the exclusion of
+all separatists from the visible Church, though he calmly maintains
+the superiority of the evidence in favor of Episcopacy, of a moderate
+kind both in power and extent of diocese, as well as the benefit of a
+national establishment. I have been skimming the "Portrait of an
+English Churchman," by the Rev. W. Gresley: this contains an outline
+of the system of those who exclaim of the Anglican Church as the Jews
+did of their sacred building (that they do it in as reprehensible a
+spirit I will not be the judge), "the temple of the Lord, the temple
+of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" is exclusively theirs; while the
+authors of the Oxford Tracts go a step further, and evince by their
+compliments to Rome, as a dear though erring sister, and their
+attempts to give a Romish color to our ordinance, with a very confused
+and unscriptural statement of the great doctrine of justification, a
+disposition rather to fraternize with the members of a Church carrying
+on her brow the prophetical epithets applied by St. John to the
+scarlet beast, the mystery of iniquity, than with pious
+Nonconformists. It is true they disclaim all this, and that their
+opinions are seconded by the extensive learning, the laborious zeal,
+and the deep devotion of those who propagate them; but a reference to
+facts will convince us that such has generally been the character of
+heretical teachers. Satan is too crafty to commit his cause into the
+hands of those who have nothing to recommend them to approbation.
+According to their dogmas, the Scotch Church and the foreign
+Protestant Churches, as well as the non-Episcopalians of our own land,
+are wanting in the essentials of existence as part of the Church.
+
+     In the next letter there is the first allusion to authorship,
+     but, from the wording of the sentence, the poem referred to
+     has evidently not been a first attempt.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 17th July, 1839.]
+
+I send you some doggerel lines, the crude fruit of a lonely walk last
+evening when the words of one of our martyrs occurred to me. You must
+be acquainted with the idiosyncrasy of my authorship, which is, that
+my effusions, once committed to paper, are like the laws of the Medes
+and Persians, that alter not.
+
+"_Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle._"
+
+                                            --2 PETER i. 14.
+
+     "As o'er the fields by evening's light I stray
+     I hear a still, small whisper--Come away;
+     Thou must to this bright, lovely world soon say
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "The mandate I'd obey, my lamp prepare,
+     Gird up my garments, give my soul to pray'r,
+     And say to earth, and all that breathe earth's air,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "Thou sun, to whose parental beam I owe
+     All that has gladden'd me while here below,
+     Moon, stars, and covenant-confirming bow,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "Ye verdant meads, fair blossoms, stately trees,
+     Sweet song of birds and soothing hum of bees,
+     Refreshing odors wafted on the breeze,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "Ye patient servants of creation's Lord,
+     Whose mighty strength is govern'd by his word,
+     Who raiment, food, and help in toil afford,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "Books that have been to me as chests of gold,
+     Which, miserlike, I secretly have told,
+     And for them love, health, friendship, peace have sold,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "Blest volume! whose clear truth-writ page once known,
+     Fades not before heaven's sunshine or hell's moan,
+     To thee I say not, of earth's gifts alone,
+                                               Farewell!
+
+     "There shall my new-born senses find new joy,
+     New sounds, new sights, my eyes and ears employ,
+     Nor fear that word that here brings sad alloy,
+                                               Farewell!"
+
+     I had a dim recollection that my wife had told me that this
+     poem had been printed somewhere. After a long search I found
+     it in the _Christian Observer_ for January, 1840. The version
+     there published has the two following additional verses, and
+     is signed M. A. E.:
+
+          "Ye feebler, freer tribes that people air,
+          Ye gaudy insects, making buds your lair,
+          Ye that in water shine and frolic there,
+                                                    Farewell!
+
+          "Dear kindred, whom the Lord to me has given,
+          Must the strong tie that binds us now be riven?
+          No! say I--only till we meet in heaven,
+                                                    Farewell!"
+
+     The editor of the _Christian Observer_ has added this note:
+     "We do not often add a note to a poem: but if St. John found
+     no temple in the New Jerusalem, neither will there be any
+     need of a Bible; for we shall not then see through a glass
+     darkly--through the veil of sacraments or the written
+     Word--but face to face. The Bible is God's gift, but not for
+     heaven's use. Still, on the very verge of heaven we may cling
+     to it, after we have bid farewell to everything earthly: and
+     this, perhaps, is what M. A. E. means."
+
+     In the following letter we already see the tendency to draw
+     illustrations from science:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 4th Sept. 1839.]
+
+I have lately led so unsettled a life, and have been so desultory in
+my employments, that my mind, never of the most highly organized
+genus, is more than usually chaotic, or, rather, it is like a stratum
+of conglomerated fragments, that shows here a jaw and rib of some
+ponderous quadruped, there a delicate alto-relievo of some fern-like
+plant, tiny shells and mysterious nondescripts incrusted and united
+with some unvaried and uninteresting but useful stone. My mind
+presents just such an assemblage of disjointed specimens of history,
+ancient and modern; scraps of poetry picked up from Shakespeare,
+Cowper, Wordsworth, and Milton; newspaper topics; morsels of Addison
+and Bacon, Latin verbs, geometry, entomology, and chemistry; reviews
+and metaphysics--all arrested and petrified and smothered by the
+fast-thickening every-day accession of actual events, relative
+anxieties, and household cares and vexations. How deplorably and
+unaccountably evanescent are our frames of mind, as various as the
+forms and hues of the summer clouds! A single word is sometimes enough
+to give an entirely new mould to our thoughts--at least, I find myself
+so constituted; and therefore to me it is pre-eminently important to
+be anchored within the veil, so that outward things may be unable to
+send me adrift. Write to me as soon as you can. Remember Michaelmas is
+coming, and I shall be engaged in matters so nauseating to me that it
+will be a charity to console me; to reprove and advise me no less.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 22d Nov. 1839.]
+
+I have emerged from the slough of domestic troubles, or, rather, to
+speak quite clearly, "malheurs de cuisine," and am beginning to take a
+deep breath in my own element, though with a mortifying consciousness
+that my faculties have become superlatively obtuse during my
+banishment from it. I have been so self-indulgent as to possess myself
+of Wordsworth at full length, and I thoroughly like much of the
+contents of the first three volumes, which I fancy are only the low
+vestibule of the three remaining ones. I never before met with so many
+of my own feelings expressed just as I could like them. The distress
+of the lower classes in our neighborhood is daily increasing, from the
+scarcity of employment for weavers, and I seem sadly to have
+handcuffed myself by unnecessary expenditure. To-day is my 20th
+birthday.
+
+     This allusion to Wordsworth is interesting, as it entirely
+     expresses the feeling she had to him up to the day of her
+     death. One of the very last books we read together at Cheyne
+     Walk was Mr. Frederick Myers's "Wordsworth" in the "English
+     Men of Letters," which she heartily enjoyed.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 23d Mch. 1840.]
+
+I have just received my second lesson in German.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 2d May, 1840, Friday evening.]
+
+I know you will be glad to think of me as thoroughly employed, as,
+indeed, I am to an extent that makes me fear I shall not be able to
+accomplish everything well. I have engaged, if possible, to complete
+the chart,[11] the plan of which I sketched out last year, by November
+next, and I am encouraged to believe that it will answer my purpose to
+print it. The profits arising from its sale, if any, will go partly to
+Attleboro Church, and partly to a favorite object of my own. Mrs.
+Newdigate is very anxious that I should do this, and she permits me to
+visit her library when I please, in search of any books that may
+assist me. Will you ask Mr. Craig what he considers the best authority
+for the date of the apostolical writings? I should like to carry the
+chart down to the Reformation, if my time and resources will enable me
+to do so. We are going to have a clothing-club, the arrangement and
+starting of which are left to me. I am ashamed to run the risk of
+troubling you, but I should be very grateful if you could send me an
+abstract of the rules by which yours is regulated.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 21st May, 1840.]
+
+Our house is now, and will be for the next two months, miserably noisy
+and disorderly with the musical operations of masons, carpenters, and
+painters. You know how abhorrent all this is to my tastes and
+feelings, taking all the spice out of my favorite little epithet,
+"this working-day world:" I can no longer use it figuratively. How
+impressive must the gradual rise of Solomon's Temple have been! each
+prepared mass of virgin marble laid in reverential silence. I fancy
+Heber has compared it to the growth of a palm. Your nice miniature
+chart, which I shall carefully treasure up, has quite satisfied me
+that Dr. Pearson, at least, has not realized my conceptions, though it
+has left me still dubious as to my own power of doing so. I will just
+(if you can bear to hear more of the matter) give you an idea of the
+plan, which may have partly faded from your memory. The series of
+perpendicular columns will successively contain the Roman emperors,
+with their dates, the political and religious state of the Jews, the
+bishops, remarkable men, and events in the several churches, a column
+being devoted to each of the chief ones, the aspect of heathenism and
+Judaism towards Christianity, the chronology of the apostolical and
+patristical writings, schisms, and heresies, General Councils, eras of
+corruption (under which head the remarks would be general), and I
+thought possibly an application of the apocalyptic prophecies, which
+would merely require a few figures and not take up room. I think there
+must be a break in the chart after the establishment of Christianity
+as the religion of the empire, and I have come to a determination not
+to carry it beyond the first acknowledgment of the supremacy of the
+Pope by Phocas, in 606, when Mohammedanism became a besom of
+destruction in the hand of the Lord, and completely altered the aspect
+of ecclesiastical history. So much for this, at present, airy
+project, about which I hope never to tease you more. Mr. Harper[12]
+lent me a little time ago a work by the Rev. W. Gresley, begging me to
+read it, as he thought it was calculated to make me a proselyte to the
+opinions it advocates. I had skimmed the book before ("Portrait of an
+English Churchman"), but I read it attentively a second time, and was
+pleased with the spirit of piety that breathes throughout. His last
+work is one in a similar style ("The English Citizen"), which I have
+cursorily read; and, as they are both likely to be seen by you, I want
+to know your opinion of them. Mine is this: that they are sure to have
+a powerful influence on the minds of small readers and shallow
+thinkers, as, from the simplicity and clearness with which the author,
+by his _beau-idéal_ characters, enunciates his sentiments, they
+furnish a magazine of easily wielded weapons for _morning-calling_ and
+_evening-party_ controversialists, as well as that really honest minds
+will be inclined to think they have found a resting-place amid the
+footballing of religious parties. But it appears to me that there is
+unfairness in arbitrarily selecting a train of circumstances and a set
+of characters as a development of a class of opinions. In this way we
+might make atheism appear wonderfully calculated to promote social
+happiness. I remember, as I dare say you do, a very amiable atheist
+depicted by Bulwer in "Devereux;" and for some time after the perusal
+of that book, which I read seven or eight years ago,[13] I was
+considerably shaken by the impression that religion was not a
+requisite to moral excellence.
+
+Have you not alternating seasons of mental stagnation and activity?
+just such as the political economists say there must be in a nation's
+pecuniary condition--all one's precious specie, Time, going out to
+procure a stock of commodities, while one's own manufactures are too
+paltry to be worth vending. I am just in that condition--partly, I
+think, owing to my not having met with any steel to sharpen my edge
+against for the last three weeks. I am going to read a volume of the
+Oxford Tracts and the "Lyra Apostolica;" the former I almost shrink
+from the labor of conning, but the other I confess I am attracted
+towards by some highly poetical extracts that I have picked up in
+various quarters. I have just bought Mr. Keble's "Christian Year," a
+volume of sweet poetry that perhaps you know. The fields of poesy look
+more lovely than ever, now I have hedged myself in the geometrical
+regions of fact, where I can do nothing but draw parallels and measure
+differences in a double sense.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 26th May, 1840.]
+
+[14]I will only hint that there seems a probability of my being an
+unoccupied damsel, of my being severed from all the ties that have
+hitherto given my existence the semblance of a usefulness beyond that
+of making up the requisite quantum of animal matter in the universe. A
+second important intimation respecting my worthy self is one that, I
+confess, I impart without one sigh, though perhaps you will think my
+callousness discreditable. It is that Seeley & Burnside have just
+published a Chart of Ecclesiastical History, doubtless giving to my
+airy vision a local habitation and a name. I console all my little
+regrets by thinking that what is thus evidenced to be a desideratum
+has been executed much better than if left to my slow fingers and
+slower head. I fear I am laboriously doing nothing, for I am beguiled
+by the fascination that the study of languages has for my capricious
+mind. I could e'en give myself up to making discoveries in the world
+of words.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, in London, Whit-Wednesday, June,
+1840.]
+
+May I trouble you to procure for me an Italian book recommended by Mr.
+Brezzi--Silvio Pellico's "Le mie Prigioni;" if not, "Storia d'Italia"?
+If they are cheap, I should like both.
+
+I shall have, I hope, a little trip with my father next week into
+Derbyshire, and this "lark" will probably be beneficial to me; so do
+not imagine I am inviting you to come and hear moaning, when you need
+all attainable relaxation.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 23d June, 1840.]
+
+Your letter greeted me last night on my arrival from Staffordshire.
+The prospectus of Mr. Henslow's work is as marvellous to my ignorant
+conceptions as the prophecies of the wonders of the steam-engine would
+have been to some British worthy in the days of Caractacus. I can only
+gape as he would probably have done. I hope Mr. H. has not imitated
+certain show-keepers, who give so exaggerated a representation of
+their giantess, on the outside, that the spectators have
+disappointment for their cash within.
+
+If I do not see you, how shall I send your "Don Quixote," which I hope
+soon to finish? I have been sadly interrupted by other books that have
+taken its scanty allowance of time, or I should have made better haste
+with it. Will you try to get me Spenser's "Faery Queen"? the cheapest
+edition, with a glossary, which is quite indispensable, together with
+a clear and correct type. I have had some treats on my little
+excursion, not the least of which was the gazing on some--albeit the
+smallest--of the "everlasting hills," and on those noblest children
+of the earth, fine, healthy trees, as independent in their beauty as
+virtue; set them where you will, they adorn, and need not adornment.
+Father indulged me with a sight of Ashborne Church, the finest mere
+parish church in the kingdom--in the _interior_; of Alton Gardens,
+where I saw actually what I have often seen mentally--the bread-fruit
+tree, the fan-palm, and the papyrus; and last, of Lichfield Cathedral,
+where, besides the exquisite architectural beauties, both external and
+internal, I saw Chantrey's famous monument of the Sleeping Children.
+There is a tasteless monument to the learned and brilliant female
+pedant of Lichfield, Miss Seward, with a poor epitaph by Sir Walter
+Scott. In the town we saw a large monument erected to Johnson's
+memory, showing his Titanic body, in a sitting posture, on the summit
+of a pedestal which is ornamented with bas-reliefs of three passages
+in his life: his penance in Uttoxeter Market, his chairing on the
+shoulders of his schoolmates, and his listening to the preaching of
+Sacheverel. The statue is opposite to the house in which Johnson was
+born--altogether inferior to that in St. Paul's, which shook me almost
+as much as a real glance from the literary monarch. I am ashamed to
+send you so many ill-clothed nothings. My excuse shall be a state of
+head that calls for four leeches before I can attack Mrs. Somerville's
+"Connection of the Physical Sciences."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, July, Monday morning, 1840.]
+
+I write with a very tremulous hand, as you will perceive; both this,
+and many other defects in my letter, are attributable to a very mighty
+cause--no other than the boiling of currant jelly! I have had much of
+this kind of occupation lately, and I grieve to say I have not gone
+through it so cheerfully as the character of a Christian who
+professes to do _all_, even the most trifling, duty, as the Lord
+demands. My mind is consequently run all wild, and bears nothing but
+_dog-roses_. I am truly obliged to you for getting me Spenser. How
+shall I send to you "Don Quixote," which I have quite finished?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 8th July, 1840.]
+
+I believe it is decided that father and I should leave Griff and take
+up our residence somewhere in the neighborhood of Coventry, if we can
+obtain a suitable house, and this is at present a matter of anxiety.
+So you see I am likely still to have a home where I can independently
+welcome you. I am really so plunged in an abyss of books, preserves,
+and sundry _important trivialities_, that I must send you this bare
+proof that I have not cast the remembrance of you to a dusty corner of
+my heart. Ever believe that "my heart is as thy heart," that you may
+rely on me as a second self, and that I shall, with my usual
+selfishness, lose no opportunity of gratifying my duplicate.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 12th Aug. 1840.]
+
+The Epistle to the Colossians is pre-eminently rich in the coloring
+with which it portrays the divine fulness contained in the Saviour,
+contrasted with the beggarly elements that a spirit of self-righteousness
+would, in some way, mingle with the light of life, the filthy rags it
+would tack round the "fine raiment" of his righteousness. I have been
+reading it in connection with a train of thought suggested by the reading
+of "Ancient Christianity and the Oxford Tracts," by Isaac Taylor, one
+of the most eloquent, acute, and pious of writers. Five numbers only
+have yet appeared. Have you seen them? If not, I should like to send you
+an abstract of his argument. I have gulped it (pardon my coarseness) in a
+most reptile-like fashion. I must _chew_ it thoroughly to facilitate its
+assimilation with my mental frame. When your pupils can relish Church
+history, I venture to recommend the chart lately published by Seeley &
+Burnside--far superior in conception to mine--as being more compendious,
+yet answering the purpose of presenting epochs as nuclei round which less
+important events instinctively cluster.
+
+     Mrs. John Cash of Coventry, who was then Miss Mary Sibree,
+     daughter of a Nonconformist minister there, and whose
+     acquaintance Miss Evans made a year or two later in Coventry,
+     writes in regard to this book of Isaac Taylor's: "In her
+     first conversations with my father and mother, they were much
+     interested in learning in what high estimation she held the
+     writings of Isaac Taylor. My father _thought_ she was a
+     little disappointed on hearing that he was a Dissenter. She
+     particularly enjoyed his 'Saturday Evening,' and spoke in
+     years after to me of his 'Physical Theory of Another Life,'
+     as exciting thought and leading speculation further than he
+     would have desired. When his 'Ancient Christianity' was
+     published in numbers, Miss Evans took it in, and kindly
+     forwarded the numbers to us. From the impression made on my
+     own mind by unfavorable facts about 'The Fathers,' and from
+     her own subsequent references to this work, I am inclined to
+     think it had its influence in unsettling her views of
+     Christianity."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 17th Sept. 1840.]
+
+I have thought of you as _the_ one who has ever shown herself so
+capable of consideration for my weakness and sympathy in my warm and
+easily fastened affections. My imagination is an enemy that must be
+cast down ere I can enjoy peace or exhibit uniformity of character.
+I know not which of its caprices I have most to dread--that which
+incites it to spread sackcloth "above, below, around," or that
+which makes it "cheat my eye with blear illusion, and beget strange
+dreams" of excellence and beauty in beings and things of only
+working-day price. The beautiful heavens that we have lately enjoyed
+awaken in me an indescribable sensation of exultation in existence,
+and aspiration after all that is suited to engage an immaterial
+nature. I have not read very many of Mr. B.'s poems, nor any with much
+attention. I simply declare my determination not to feed on the broth
+of literature when I can get strong soup--such, for instance, as
+Shelley's "Cloud," the five or six stanzas of which contain more
+poetic metal than is beat out in all Mr. B.'s pages. You must know I
+have had bestowed on me the very pretty cognomen of Clematis, which,
+in the floral language, means "mental beauty." I cannot find in my
+heart to refuse it, though, like many other appellations, it has
+rather the appearance of a satire than a compliment. _Addio!_ I will
+send your floral name in my next, when I have received my dictionary.
+My hand and mind are wearied with writing four pages of German and a
+letter of business.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 1st Oct. 1840.]
+
+My dear Veronica--which, being interpreted, is "fidelity in
+friendship"--Last week I was absent from home from Wednesday to
+Saturday, in quest of the "coy maiden," Pleasure--at least, nominally
+so, the real motive being rather to gratify another's feeling.[15] I
+heard the "Messiah" on Thursday morning at Birmingham, and some
+beautiful selections from other oratories of Handel and Haydn on
+Friday. With a stupid, drowsy sensation, produced by standing sentinel
+over damson cheese and a warm stove, I cannot do better than ask you
+to read, if accessible, Wordsworth's short poem on the "Power of
+Sound," with which I have just been delighted. I have made an
+alteration in my plans with Mr. Brezzi, and shall henceforward take
+Italian and German alternately, so that I shall not be liable to the
+consciousness of having imperative employment for every interstice of
+time. There seems a greater affinity between German and my mind than
+Italian, though less new to me, possesses.
+
+I am reading Schiller's "Maria Stuart," and Tasso.
+
+I was pleased with a little poem I learned a week or two ago in
+German; and, as I want you to like it, I have just put the idea it
+contains into English doggerel, which quite fails to represent the
+beautiful simplicity and nature of the original, but yet, I hope, will
+give you sufficiently its sense to screen the odiousness of the
+translation. _Eccola_:
+
+QUESTION AND ANSWER.
+
+     "'Where blooms, O my father, a thornless rose?'
+       'That can I not tell thee, my child;
+     Not one on the bosom of earth e'er grows
+       But wounds whom its charms have beguiled.'
+
+     "'Would I'd a rose on my bosom to lie,
+       But I shrink from the piercing thorn:
+     I long, but I dare not its point defy;
+       I long, and I gaze forlorn.'
+
+     "'Not so, O my child--round the stem again
+       Thy resolute fingers entwine;
+     Forego not the joy for its sister, pain--
+       Let the rose, the sweet rose, be thine.'"
+
+Would not a parcel reach you by railway?
+
+     This is the first allusion to the new means of locomotion,
+     which would, no doubt, be attracting much interest in the
+     Griff household, as valuation was a large part of Mr. Evans's
+     business. Long years after, George Eliot wrote:
+
+"Our midland plains have never lost their familiar expression and
+conservative spirit for me; yet at every other mile, since I first
+looked on them, some sign of world-wide change, some new direction of
+human labor, has wrought itself into what one may call the speech of
+the landscape.... There comes a crowd of burly navvies with pickaxes
+and barrows, and while hardly a wrinkle is made in the fading mother's
+face, or a new curve of health in the blooming girl's, the hills are
+cut through, or the breaches between them spanned, we choose our
+level, and the white steam-pennon flies along it."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 27th Oct. 1840.]
+
+My only reason for writing is to obtain a timely promise that you will
+spend your holidays chiefly with me, that we may once more meet among
+scenes which, now I am called on to leave them, I find to have _grown
+in_ to my affections. Carlyle says that to the artisans of Glasgow the
+world is not one of blue skies and a green carpet, but a world of
+copperas-fumes, low cellars, hard wages, "striking," and whiskey; and
+if the recollection of this picture did not remind me that gratitude
+should be my reservoir of feeling, that into which all that comes from
+above or around should be received as a source of fertilization for my
+soul, I should give a lachrymose parody of the said description, and
+tell you all-seriously what I now tell you playfully, that mine is too
+often a world such as Wilkie can so well paint, a walled-in world
+furnished with all the details which he remembers so accurately, and
+the least interesting part whereof is often what I suppose must be
+designated the intelligent; but I deny that it has even a comparative
+claim to the appellation, for give me a three-legged stool, and it
+will call up associations--moral, poetical, mathematical--if I do but
+ask it, while some human beings have the odious power of contaminating
+the very images that are enshrined as our soul's arcana. Their baleful
+touch has the same effect as would a uniformity in the rays of
+light--it turns all objects to pale lead-color. O how luxuriously
+joyous to have the wind of heaven blow on one after being _stived_ in
+a human atmosphere--to feel one's heart leap up after the pressure
+that Shakespeare so admirably describes: "When a man's wit is not
+seconded by the forward chick understanding, it strikes a man as dead
+as a large reckoning in a small room." But it is time I check this
+Byronic invective, and, in doing so, I am reminded of Corinne's, or
+rather Oswald's, reproof--"La vie est un _combat_ pas un _hymne_." We
+should aim to be like a plant in the chamber of sickness--dispensing
+purifying air even in a region that turns all pale its verdure, and
+cramps its instinctive propensity to expand. Society is a wide nursery
+of plants, where the hundreds decompose to nourish the future ten,
+after giving collateral benefits to their contemporaries destined for
+a fairer garden. An awful thought! one so heavy that if our souls
+could once sustain its whole weight, or, rather, if its whole weight
+were once to drop on them, they would break and burst their tenements.
+How long will this continue? The cry of the martyrs heard by St. John
+finds an echo in every heart that, like Solomon's, groans under "the
+outrage and oppression with which earth is filled." Events are now so
+momentous, and the elements of society in so chemically critical a
+state, that a drop seems enough to change its whole form.
+
+I am reading Harris's "Great Teacher," and am _innig bewegt_, as a
+German would say, by its stirring eloquence, which leaves you no time
+or strength for a cold estimate of the writer's strict merits. I wish
+I could read some extracts to you. Isaac Taylor's work is not yet
+complete. When it is so, I hope to reperuse it. Since I wrote to you I
+have had Aimé Martin's work, "L'Education des Mères," lent to me, and
+I have found it to be the real Greece whence "Woman's Mission" has
+only imported to us a few marbles--but! Martin is a _soi-disant_
+rational Christian, if I mistake him not. I send you an epitaph which
+he mentions on a tomb in Paris--that of a mother: "Dors en paix, O ma
+mère, ton fils t'obeira toujours." I am reading eclectically Mrs.
+Hemans's poems, and venture to recommend to your perusal, if unknown
+to you, one of the longest ones--"The Forest Sanctuary." I can give it
+my pet adjective--exquisite.
+
+I have adopted as my motto, "_Certum pete finem_"--seek a sure
+end.[16]
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 5th Dec. 1840.]
+
+Come when you would best like to do so: if my heart beat at all at the
+time, it will be with a more rapid motion than the general, from the
+joy of seeing you. I cannot promise you more than calmness when that
+flush is past, for I am aweary, aweary--longing for rest, which seems
+to fly from my very anticipations. But this wrought-up sensitiveness
+which makes me shrink from all contact is, I know, not for
+communication or sympathy, and is, from that very character, a kind of
+trial best suited for me. Whatever tends to render us ill-contented
+with ourselves, and more earnest aspirants after perfect truth and
+goodness, is gold, though it come to us all molten and burning, and we
+know not our treasure until we have had long smarting.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 21st Dec. 1840.]
+
+It is impossible, to me at least, to be poetical in cold weather. I
+understand the Icelanders have much national poetry, but I guess it
+was written in the neighborhood of the boiling springs. I will promise
+to be as cheerful and as Christmas-like as my rickety body and
+chameleon-like spirits will allow. I am about to commence the making
+of mince-pies, with all the interesting sensations characterizing
+young enterprise or effort.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 27th Jan. 1841.]
+
+Happily, the moody, melancholy temperament has some counterbalancing
+advantages to those of the sanguine: it _does_ sometimes meet with
+results more favorable than it expected, and by its knack of imagining
+the pessimus, cheats the world of its power to disappoint. The very
+worm-like originator of this coil of sentiment is the fact that you
+write more cheerfully of yourself than I had been thinking of you, and
+that, _ergo_, I am pleased.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 11th Feb. 1841.]
+
+On Monday and Tuesday my father and I were occupied with the sale of
+furniture at our new house: it is probable that we shall migrate
+thither in a month. I shall be incessantly hurried until after our
+departure, but at present I have to be grateful for a smooth passage
+through contemplated difficulties. Sewing is my staple article of
+commerce with the hard trader, Time. Now the wind has veered to the
+south I hope to do much more, and that with greater zest than I have
+done for many months--I mean, of all kinds.
+
+I have been reading the three volumes of the "Life and Times of Louis
+the Fourteenth," and am as eagerly waiting for the fourth and last as
+any voracious novel-reader for Bulwer's last. I am afraid I am
+getting quite martial in my spirit, and, in the warmth of my sympathy
+for Turenne and Condé, losing my hatred of war. Such a conflict
+between _individual_ and _moral_ influence is no novelty. But
+certainly war, though the heaviest scourge with which the divine wrath
+against sin is manifested in Time, has been a necessary vent for
+impurities and a channel for tempestuous passions that must have
+otherwise made the whole earth, like the land of the devoted
+Canaanites, to vomit forth the inhabitants thereof. Awful as such a
+sentiment appears, it seems to me that in the present condition of man
+(and I do not mean this in the sense that Cowper does), such a
+purgation of the body politic is probably essential to its health. A
+foreign war would soon put an end to our national humors, that are
+growing to so alarming a head.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 8th Mch. 1841.]
+
+What do you think of the progress of architecture as a subject for
+poetry?
+
+I am just about to set out on a purchasing expedition to Coventry: you
+may therefore conceive that I am full of little plans and anxieties,
+and will understand why I should be brief. I hope by the close of next
+week that we and our effects shall be deposited at Foleshill, and
+until then and afterwards I shall be fully occupied, so that I am sure
+you will not expect to hear from me for the next six weeks. One little
+bit of unreasonableness you must grant me--the request for a letter
+from yourself within that time.
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+AUGUST 18, 1838, TO MARCH 8, 1841.
+
+     Letters to Miss Lewis--First visit to London--Religious
+     asceticism--Pascal--Hannah More's letters--Young's "Infidel
+     Reclaimed"--Michaelmas visitors--"Life of
+     Wilberforce"--Nineteenth birthday--Oratorio at
+     Coventry--Religious objections to music--Letters to Mrs.
+     Samuel Evans--Religious reflections--Besetting sin
+     ambition--Letters to Miss Lewis--Objections to
+     fiction-reading--Religious contentions on the nature of the
+     visible Church--First poem--Account of books read and studies
+     pursued--Wordsworth--Twentieth birthday--German begun--Plan
+     of Chart of Ecclesiastical History--Religious
+     controversies--Oxford Tracts--"Lyra Apostolica"--"Christian
+     Year"--Chart of Ecclesiastical History forestalled--Italian
+     begun--Trip to Derbyshire and Staffordshire--"Don
+     Quixote"--Spenser's "Faery Queen"--Mrs. Somerville's
+     "Connection of the Physical Sciences"--Dislike of
+     housekeeping work--Removal to Coventry decided--"Ancient
+     Christianity and the Oxford Tracts," by Isaac Taylor, and
+     Mrs. John Cash's impression of its effect--Determination not
+     to feed on the broth of literature--Visit to Birmingham to
+     hear the "Messiah"--Reading Schiller's "Maria Stuart," and
+     Tasso--Translation of German poem--Depression of surroundings
+     at Griff--Reading Harris's "Great Teacher," Aimé Martin's
+     "L'Education des Mères," and Mrs. Hemans's Poems--Selling
+     furniture at new house--Sewing--Reading "Life and Times of
+     Louis XIV."--Removal to Foleshill road, Coventry.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] Given to her as a school prize when she was fourteen.
+
+[10] "Mill on the Floss," chap. v. book vi.
+
+[11] Of ecclesiastical history.
+
+[12] The Squire of Coton.
+
+[13] When she would be thirteen years old.
+
+[14] Written probably in view of her brother's marriage.
+
+[15] Visit to Miss Rawlins, her brother's _fiancée_.
+
+[16] By a curious coincidence, when she became Mrs. Cross, this
+actually was her motto.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+     New circumstances now created a change almost amounting to a
+     revolution in Miss Evans's life. Mr. Isaac Evans, who had
+     been associated for some time with his father in the
+     land-agency business, married, and it was arranged that he
+     should take over the establishment at Griff. This led to the
+     removal in March, 1841, of Mr. Robert Evans and his daughter
+     to a house on the Foleshill road, in the immediate
+     neighborhood of Coventry. The house is still standing,
+     although considerably altered--a semi-detached house with a
+     good bit of garden round it, and from its upper windows a
+     wide view over the surrounding country, the immediate
+     foreground being unfortunately, however, disfigured by the
+     presence of mills and chimneys. It is town life now instead
+     of country life, and we feel the effects at once in the tone
+     of the subsequent letters. The friendships now formed with
+     Mr. and Mrs. Bray and Miss Sara Hennell particularly, and the
+     being brought within reach of a small circle of cultivated
+     people generally, render this change of residence an
+     exceedingly important factor in George Eliot's development.
+     It chanced that the new house was next door to Mrs. Pears', a
+     sister of Mr. Bray, and as there had been some acquaintance
+     in days gone by between him and the family at Griff, this
+     close neighborhood led to an exchange of visits. The
+     following extracts from letters to Miss Lewis show how the
+     acquaintance ripened, and will give some indications of the
+     first impressions of Coventry life:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, Saturday evening, April, 1841.]
+
+Last evening I mentioned you to my neighbor (Mrs. Pears), who is
+growing into the more precious character of a friend. I have seriously
+to be thankful for far better health than I have possessed, I think,
+for years, and I am imperatively called on to trade diligently with
+this same talent. I am likely to be more and more busy, if I succeed
+in a project that is just now occupying my thoughts and feelings. I
+seem to be tried in a contrary mode to that in which most of my
+dearest friends are being tutored--tried in the most dangerous way--by
+prosperity. Solomon says, "In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in
+the day of adversity consider." It seems to me that a transposition,
+_vice versâ_, of the admonitions would be equally salutary and just.
+Truly, as the prophet of Selwyn has told us, "Heaven is formidable in
+its favors." Not that a wise and grateful reception of blessings
+obliges us to stretch our faces to the length of one of Cromwell's
+Barebones; nor to shun that joyous, bird-like enjoyment of things
+(which, though perishable as to their actual existence, will be
+embalmed to eternity in the precious spices of gratitude) that is
+distinct from levity and voluptuousness. I am really crowded with
+engagements just now, and I have added one to the number of my
+correspondents.
+
+[Illustration: House in Foleshill Road, Coventry.]
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, April, 1841]
+
+The whole of last week was devoted to a bride's-maid's[17] duties, and
+each day of this has been partially occupied in paying or receiving
+visits. I have a calm in sea and sky that I doubt not will ere long be
+interrupted. This is not our rest, if we are among those for whom
+there remaineth one, and to pass through life without tribulation (or,
+as Jeremy Taylor beautifully says, with only such a measure of it as
+may be compared to an artificial discord in music, which nurses the
+ear for the returning harmony) would leave us destitute of one of the
+marks that invariably accompany salvation, and of that fellowship in
+the sufferings of the Redeemer which can alone work in us a
+resemblance to one of the most prominent parts of his divinely perfect
+character, and enable us to obey the injunction, "In patience possess
+your souls." I have often observed how, in secular things, active
+occupation in procuring the necessaries of life renders the character
+indifferent to trials not affecting that one object. There is an
+analogous influence produced in the Christian by a vigorous pursuit of
+duty, a determination to work while it is day.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 28th April, 1841.]
+
+One of the penalties women must pay for modern deference to their
+intellect is, I suppose, that they must give reasons for their
+conduct, after the fashion of men. The days are past for pleading a
+woman's reason. The truth is, that the hinderances to my writing have
+been like the little waves of the brooks that look so lovely just
+now--they have arisen one after another close to my side, but when I
+have looked back I have found the ripples too insignificant to be
+marked in the distance. My father's longer _séjours_ at home than
+formerly, and multiplied acquaintances and engagements, are really
+valid excuses for me hitherto, but I do not intend to need them in
+future; I hope to be a "snapper-up of unconsidered" moments. I have
+just been interrupted by a visit from a lass of fourteen, who has
+despoiled me of half an hour, and I am going out to dinner, so that I
+cannot follow the famous advice, "Hasten slowly." I suppose that you
+framed your note on the principle that a sharp and sudden sound is the
+most rousing, but there are _addenda_ about yourself that I want to
+know, though I dare not ask for them. I do not feel settled enough to
+write more at present. How is it that Erasmus could write volumes on
+volumes and multifarious letters besides, while I, whose labors hold
+about the same relation to his as an ant-hill to a pyramid or a drop
+of dew to the ocean, seem too busy to write a few? A most posing
+query!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, Thursday morning, June, 1841.]
+
+I have of late felt a depression that has disordered the vision of my
+mind's eye and made me _alive_ to what is certainly a fact (though my
+imagination when I am in health is an adept at concealing it), that I
+am _alone_ in the world. I do not mean to be so sinful as to say that
+I have not friends _most_ undeservedly kind and tender, and disposed
+to form a far too favorable estimate of me, but I mean that I have no
+one who enters into my pleasures or my griefs, no one with whom I can
+pour out my soul, no one with the same yearnings, the same
+temptations, the same delights as myself. I merely mention this as the
+impression that obtrudes itself when my body tramples on its
+keeper--(a metaphor borrowed from a menagerie of wild beasts, if it
+should happen to puzzle you!)--mysterious "connection exquisite of
+distant worlds" that we present! A few drops of steel will perhaps
+make me laugh at the simple objects that, in gloom and mist, I conjure
+into stalking apparitions.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, at Margate, 31st July, 1841.]
+
+I am beginning to be interlaced with multiplying ties of duty and
+affection, that, while they render my new home happier, forbid me to
+leave it on a pleasure-seeking expedition. I think, indeed, that both
+my heart and limbs would leap to behold the great and wide sea--that
+old ocean on which man can leave no trace.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 3d Sept. 1841.]
+
+I have been revelling in Nichol's "Architecture of the Heavens and
+Phenomena of the Solar System," and have been in imagination winging
+my flight from system to system, from universe to universe, trying to
+conceive myself in such a position and with such a visual faculty as
+would enable me to enjoy what Young enumerates among the novelties of
+the "Stranger" man when he bursts the shell to
+
+     "Behold an infinite of floating worlds
+     Divide the crystal waves of ether pure
+     In endless voyage without port."
+
+"Hospitable infinity!" Nichol beautifully says. How should I love to
+have a thorough-going student with me, that we might read together! We
+might each alternately employ the voice and the fingers, and thus
+achieve just twice as much as a poor solitary. I am more impressed
+than ever with a truth beautifully expressed in "Woman's
+Mission"--"Learning is only so far valuable as it serves to enlarge
+and enlighten the bounds of conscience." This I believe it eminently
+does when pursued humbly and piously, and from a belief that it is a
+solemn duty to cultivate every faculty of our nature so far as primary
+obligations allow. There is an exhortation of St. Paul's that I should
+love to take as my motto: "Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are
+honest" (you know the continuation)--"if there be _any_ virtue, and if
+there be any praise, think on these things." I have had to lament
+lately that mine is not a _hard-working_ mind--it requires frequent
+rest. I am violently in love with the Italian fashion of repeating an
+adjective or adverb, and even noun, to give force to expression:
+there is so much more fire in it than in our circumlocutory phrases,
+our dull "verys" and "exceedinglys" and "extremelys." I strongly
+recommend Hallam to you. I shall read it again if I live. When a sort
+of haziness comes over the mind, making one feel weary of articulated
+or written signs of ideas, does not the notion of a less laborious
+mode of communication, of a perception approaching more nearly to
+intuition, seem attractive? Nathless, I love words: they are the
+quoits, the bows, the staves that furnish the gymnasium of the mind.
+Without them, in our present condition, our intellectual strength
+would have no implements. I have been rather humbled in thinking that
+if I were thrown on an uncivilized island, and had to form a
+literature for its inhabitants from my own mental stock, how very
+fragmentary would be the information with which I could furnish them!
+It would be a good mode of testing one's knowledge to set one's self
+the task of writing sketches of all subjects that have entered into
+one's studies entirely from the chronicles of memory. The prevalence
+of misery and want in this boasted nation of prosperity and glory is
+appalling, and really seems to call us away from mental luxury. O to
+be doing some little towards the regeneration of this groaning,
+travailing creation! I am supine and stupid--overfed with
+favors--while the haggard looks and piercing glance of want and
+conscious hopelessness are to be seen in the streets.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 1st Oct. 1841.]
+
+Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I
+love--that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting
+about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the
+pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very
+footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give
+us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious
+autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly
+about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 2d Nov. 1841.]
+
+I am going, I hope, to-day to effect a breach in the thick wall of
+indifference behind which the denizens of Coventry seem inclined to
+intrench themselves; but I fear I shall fail.
+
+     This probably refers to the first visit paid by Miss Evans to
+     Mr. and Mrs. Bray at their house. They had met in the
+     previous May at Mrs. Pears'; but although they were at once
+     mutually attracted, the acquaintance does not seem to have
+     been immediately prosecuted further. Now, however, any time
+     lost in the beginning was quickly made up, and it is
+     astonishing how rapidly the most intimate relations were
+     formed. Mr. Bray was a ribbon-manufacturer, well-to-do at
+     that time, and had a charming house, Rosehill, with a
+     beautiful lawn and garden, in the outskirts of Coventry. Only
+     a part of his time was occupied with his business, and he had
+     much leisure and opportunity, of which he availed himself,
+     for liberal self-education and culture. His was a robust,
+     self-reliant mind. Already, in 1839, he had published a work
+     on the "Education of the Feelings," viewed from the
+     phrenological standpoint; and in this year, 1841, appeared
+     his most important book, "The Philosophy of Necessity." He
+     always remained a sincere and complete believer in the
+     science of phrenology. He had married Miss Caroline Hennell,
+     sister of the Mr. Charles Hennell who published, in 1838, "An
+     Inquiry Concerning the Origin of Christianity"--a remarkable
+     book, which was translated into German, Strauss contributing
+     a preface to the translation. It will be seen from subsequent
+     letters how greatly Miss Evans was interested in this
+     book--how much she admired it; and the reading of it,
+     combined with the association with her new friends--with the
+     philosophical speculations of Mr. Bray, and with Mrs. Bray's
+     sympathy in her brother's critical and sceptical
+     standpoint--no doubt hastened the change in her attitude
+     towards the dogmas of the old religion. In the Analytical
+     Catalogue of Mr. Chapman's publications, issued in 1852,
+     there is an analysis of Hennell's "Inquiry," done by Miss
+     Evans, which may be inserted here, as giving her idea of the
+     book eleven years later.
+
+"The first edition of this work appeared in 1838, when the present
+strong current of public opinion in favor of free religious discussion
+had not yet set in; and it probably helped to generate the tone of
+thought exhibited in more recent works of the same class, to which
+circumstances have given a wider fame--works which, like the above, in
+considering questions of Biblical criticism and the philosophy of
+Christianity, combine high refinement, purity of aim, and candor, with
+the utmost freedom of investigation, and with a popularity of style
+which wins them the attention not only of the learned but of the
+practical.
+
+"The author opens his inquiry with an historical sketch, extending
+from the Babylonish Captivity to the end of the first century, the
+design of which is to show how, abstracting the idea of the
+miraculous, or any speciality of divine influence, the gradual
+development of certain elements in Jewish character, and the train of
+events in Jewish history, contributed to form a suitable _nidus_ for
+the production of a character and career like that of Jesus, and how
+the devoted enthusiasm generated by such a career in his immediate
+disciples, rendering it easier for them to modify their ideas of the
+Messiah than to renounce their belief in their Master's
+Messiahship--the accession of Gentile converts and the destruction of
+the last remnant of theocracy, necessitating a wider interpretation of
+Messianic hopes--the junction of Christian ideas with Alexandrian
+Platonism, and the decrepitude of polytheism, combined to associate
+the name of Jesus, his Messiahship, his death and his resurrection,
+with a great moral and religious revolution. This historical sketch,
+which is under the disadvantage of presenting, synthetically, ideas
+based on a subsequent analysis, is intended to meet the difficulty so
+often urged, and which might be held to nullify the value of a
+critical investigation, that Christianity is a fact for which, if the
+supposition of a miraculous origin be rejected, no adequate and
+probable causes can be assigned, and that thus, however defective may
+be the evidence of the New-Testament history, its acceptance is the
+least difficult alternative.
+
+"In the writer's view, the characteristics of the Essene sect, as
+traced by Josephus and Philo, justify the supposition that Jesus was
+educated in their school of philosophy; but with the elevated belief
+and purity of life which belonged to this sect he united the ardent
+patriotic ideas which had previously animated Judas of Galilee, who
+resisted the Roman authority on the ground that God was the only ruler
+and lord of the Jews. The profound consciousness of genius, a
+religious fervor which made the idea of the divine ever present to
+him, patriotic zeal, and a spirit of moral reform, together with a
+participation in the enthusiastic belief of his countrymen that the
+long-predicted exaltation of Israel was at hand, combined to produce
+in the mind of Jesus the gradual conviction that he was himself the
+Messiah, with whose reign that exaltation would commence. He began, as
+John the Baptist had already done, to announce 'the kingdom of
+heaven,' a phrase which, to the Jewish mind, represented the national
+glorification of Israel; and by his preaching, and the influence of
+his powerful personality, he won multitudes in Galilee to a
+participation in his belief that he was the expected Son of David. His
+public entrance into Jerusalem in the guise which tradition associated
+with the Messiah, when he sanctioned the homage of the multitude, was
+probably the climax of his confidence that a great demonstration of
+divine power, in concurrence with popular enthusiasm, would seat him
+triumphantly on the throne of David. No such result appearing, his
+views of the divine dispensation with respect to himself began to
+change, and he felt the presentiment that he must enter on his
+Messianic reign through the gates of suffering and death. Viewing
+Jesus as a pretender not only to spiritual but to political power, as
+one who really expected the subversion of the existing government to
+make way for his own kingship (though he probably relied on divine
+rather than on human means), he must necessarily have appeared in a
+dangerous light to those of his countrymen who were in authority, and
+who were anxious at any price to preserve public tranquillity in the
+presence of the Roman power, ready to visit with heavy vengeance any
+breach of order, and to deprive them of the last remnants of their
+independence; and hence the motives for his arrest and execution. To
+account for the belief of the disciples in the resurrection of their
+Master--a belief which appears to have been sincere--the author thinks
+it necessary to suppose a certain nucleus of fact, and this he finds
+in the disappearance of the body of Jesus, a point attested by all the
+four evangelists. The secret of this disappearance probably lay with
+Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus, who were anxious to avoid
+implicating themselves with that fermentation of regretful enthusiasm
+to which a resort of the disciples to the grave might give rise.
+Animated by a belief in the resurrection, which, being more harmless
+in the eyes of the authorities than that in a living Messiah, they
+were permitted to preach with little molestation; the zeal of the
+disciples won many converts; a new impulse was given to their cause by
+the accession of Paul, who became the chief missionary of the new
+faith, as construed by himself, to the Gentiles; and the concurrence
+of the causes indicated above, modifying the early creed of the
+apostles, and blending it with trains of thought already prevalent,
+bore along Christianity in its conquest over the minds of men until it
+became the dominant religion of the Roman world.
+
+"Having sought to show, in this preliminary sketch, that a belief in
+miracles is not entailed on us by the fact of the early growth of
+Christianity, the author enters on the inquiry whether the claims of
+the evangelical writers on our credence are such as to sustain the
+miraculous part of their narratives. The answer is in the negative. He
+discusses, first, the date and credibility of each Gospel, and
+concludes that while Matthew has many marvellous stories, incongruous
+in themselves, and not only unsupported but contradicted by the other
+evangelists, he nevertheless presents the most comprehensible account
+of the career of Jesus; that in Mark, evidently more remote in time
+and circumstances, both from his events and from Jewish modes of
+thought, the idea conveyed of Jesus is much vaguer and less
+explicable; that in Luke there is a still further modification of his
+character, which has acquired a tinge of asceticism; while in John the
+style of his teaching is wholly changed, and instead of the graphic
+parable and the pithy apothegm, he utters long, mystical discourses in
+the style of the first epistle bearing the name of the same
+evangelist. Mr. Hennell, however, adheres to the conclusion that the
+substance of this Gospel came from the apostle John at an advanced
+age, when both the events of his early manhood and the scenes of his
+native land lay in the far distance. The writer then enters on a
+special examination of the Resurrection and Ascension, and the other
+miracles in the Gospels and the Acts, and inquires how far they are
+sustained by the apostolic Epistles. He examines the prophecies of the
+Old Testament supposed to have been fulfilled in Jesus, and also the
+predictions of Jesus himself concerning his death and resurrection;
+and, finally, he considers the character, views, and doctrine of
+Christ. According to him, an impartial study of the conduct and
+sayings of Jesus, as exhibited in the Gospels, produces the conviction
+that he was an enthusiast and a revolutionist, no less than a reformer
+and a moral and religious teacher. Passages are adduced from the Old
+Testament, and from the apocryphal and rabbinical writings, to show
+that there is scarcely anything absolutely original in the teaching of
+Jesus; but, in the opinion of the author, he manifests a freedom and
+individuality in the use of his materials, and a general superiority
+of tone and selection, which, united with the devotion of his life to
+what he held the highest purpose, mark him to be of an order of minds
+occurring but at rare intervals in the history of our race.
+
+"Shortly after the appearance of this work it was translated into
+German through the instrumentality of Dr. Strauss, who, in the preface
+he prefixed to it, says: 'Not sufficiently acquainted with German to
+read continuously a learned work in that language, the labors of our
+theologians were only accessible to him' (the author of the 'Inquiry')
+'so far as they were written in Latin, or translated into English, or
+treated of in English writings or periodicals: especially he is
+unacquainted with what the Germans have effected in the criticism of
+the gospels since Schleiermacher's work on Luke, and even the earlier
+commentators he knows but imperfectly. Only so much the more
+remarkable is it, however, that both in the principles and in the main
+results of his investigation, he is on the very track which has been
+entered on among us in recent years.... That at certain periods,
+certain modes of thought lie as it were in the atmosphere, ... and
+come to light in the most remote places without perceptible media of
+communication, is shown, not only by the contents, but by the spirit,
+of Mr. Hennell's work. No further traces of the ridicule and scorn
+which characterize his countrymen of the deistical school; the subject
+is treated in the earnest and dignified tone of the truth-seeker, not
+with the rancor of a passionate polemic; we nowhere find him deriving
+religion from priestcraft, but from the tendencies and wants of human
+nature.... These elevated views, which the learned German of our day
+appropriates as the fruit of the religious and scientific advancement
+of his nation, this Englishman, to whom most of the means at our
+command were wanting, has been able to educe entirely from himself....
+An Englishman, a merchant, a man of the world, he possesses, both by
+nature and by training, the practical insight, the sure tact, which
+lays hold on realities. The solution of problems over which the German
+flutters with many circuits of learned formulæ, our English author
+often succeeds in seizing at one spring.... To the learned he often
+presents things under a surprisingly new aspect; to the unlearned,
+invariably under that which is the most comprehensible and
+attractive.'"
+
+     The reading of Mr. Hennell's book no doubt marks an epoch in
+     George Eliot's development; but probably there had been a
+     good deal of half-unconscious preparation beforehand (as
+     indicated by Mrs. Cash's remarks on Isaac Taylor's work, in
+     the last chapter), which was greatly stimulated now by the
+     contact with new minds. The following extract from a letter
+     to Miss Lewis, dated 13th November, 1841, accurately fixes
+     the date of the first acknowledgment by herself that her
+     opinions were undergoing so momentous a change.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 13th Nov. 1841.]
+
+My whole soul has been engrossed in the most interesting of all
+inquiries for the last few days, and to what result my thoughts may
+lead, I know not--possibly to one that will startle you; but my only
+desire is to know the truth, my only fear to cling to error. I venture
+to say our love will not decompose under the influence of separation,
+unless you excommunicate me for differing from you in opinion.
+Think--is there any _conceivable_ alteration in me that would prevent
+your coming to me at Christmas? I long to have a friend such as you
+are, I think I may say, alone to me, to unburden every thought and
+difficulty--for I am still a solitary, though near a city. But we have
+the universe to talk with, infinity in which to stretch the gaze of
+hope, and an all-bountiful, all-wise Creator in whom to confide--he
+who has given us the untold delights of which our reason, our emotion,
+our sensations, are the ever-springing sources.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 8th Dec. 1841.]
+
+What a pity that while mathematics are indubitable, immutable, and no
+one doubts the properties of a triangle or a circle, doctrines
+infinitely important to man are buried in a charnel-heap of bones over
+which nothing is heard but the barks and growls of contention! "Unto
+their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united."
+
+     It was impossible for such a nature as Miss Evans's, in the
+     enthusiasm of this first great change, to rest satisfied in
+     compliance with the old forms, and she was so uneasy in an
+     equivocal position that she determined to give up going to
+     church. This was an unforgivable offence in the eyes of her
+     father, who was a Churchman of the old school, and nearly led
+     to a family rupture. He went so far as to put into an agent's
+     hands the lease of the house in the Foleshill road, with the
+     intention of going to live with his married daughter. Upon
+     this, Miss Evans made up her mind to go into lodgings at
+     Leamington, and to try to support herself by teaching. The
+     first letter to Mrs. Bray refers to this incident:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Jan. 1842.]
+
+My guardian angel, Mrs. Pears, has just sent for me to hear your kind
+note, which has done my aching limbs a little good. I shall be most
+thankful for the opportunity of going to Leamington, and Mrs. Pears is
+willing to go too. There is but _one_ woe, that of leaving my dear
+father--all else, doleful lodgings, scanty meals, and _gazing-stockism_,
+are quite indifferent to me. Therefore do not fear for me when I am
+once settled in my home--wherever it may be--and freed from wretched
+suspense.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Pears, Friday evening, Feb. 1842.]
+
+Far from being weary of your dear little Henry, his matin visits are
+as cheering to me as those of any little bird
+
+         "that comes in spite of sorrow,
+     And at my window bids good-morrow."
+
+We have not, perhaps, been so systematic as a regular tutor and pupil
+would have been, but we crave indulgence for some laxity. I was really
+touched that you should think of _me_ while among friends more closely
+linked with you in every way. I was beginning to get used to the
+conviction that, ivy-like as I am by nature, I must (as we see ivy do
+sometimes) shoot out into an isolated tree. Never again imagine that
+you need ask forgiveness for speaking or writing to me on subjects to
+me more interesting than aught else; on the contrary, believe that I
+really enjoy conversation of this nature: blank silence and cold
+reserve are the only bitters I care for in my intercourse with you. I
+can rejoice in all the joys of humanity; in all that serves to elevate
+and purify feeling and action; nor will I quarrel with the million
+who, I am persuaded, are with me in intention, though our dialects
+differ. Of course, I must desire the ultimate downfall of error, for
+no error is innocuous; but this assuredly will occur without my
+proselytizing aid, and the best proof of a real love of the
+truth--that freshest stamp of divinity--is a calm confidence in its
+intrinsic power to secure its own high destiny, that of universal
+empire. Do not fear that I will become a stagnant pool by a
+self-sufficient determination only to listen to my own echo; to read
+the yea, yea, on my own side, and be most comfortably deaf to the nay,
+nay. Would that all rejected _practically_ this maxim! To _fear_ the
+examination of any proposition appears to me an intellectual and a
+moral palsy that will ever hinder the firm grasping of any substance
+whatever. For my part, I wish to be among the ranks of that glorious
+crusade that is seeking to set Truth's Holy Sepulchre free from a
+usurped domination. We shall then see her resurrection! Meanwhile,
+although I cannot rank among my principles of action a fear of
+vengeance eternal, gratitude for predestined salvation, or a
+revelation of future glories as a reward, I fully participate in the
+belief that the only heaven here, or hereafter, is to be found in
+conformity with the will of the Supreme; a continual aiming at the
+attainment of the perfect ideal, the true _logos_ that dwells in the
+bosom of the one Father. I hardly know whether I am ranting after the
+fashion of one of the Primitive Methodist prophetesses, with a cart
+for her rostrum, I am writing so fast. Good-bye, and blessings on you,
+as they will infallibly be on the children of peace and virtue.
+
+     Again about the same date in 1842 she writes to Mrs. Bray:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Feb. 1842.]
+
+A heart full of love and gratitude to you for all your kindness in
+thought and act to me, undeserving. I dare say my manner belies my
+feelings: but friendship must live by faith and not by sight, and I
+shall be a great gainer by leaving you to interpret my mystic
+character without any other key than your own goodness.
+
+     The last letter of the series to Miss Lewis also refers to
+     the difficulties of the situation:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Lewis, 19th Feb. 1842.]
+
+I dare say you have added, subtracted, and divided suppositions until
+you think you have a sure product--viz., a good quantum, or, rather,
+a bad one, of indifference and forgetfulness, as the representation of
+my conduct towards you. If so, revise your arithmetic, for be it known
+to you that, having had my propensities, sentiments, and intellect
+gauged a second time, I am pronounced to possess a large organ of
+"adhesiveness," a still larger one of "firmness," and as large of
+"conscientiousness"--hence, if I should turn out a very weathercock
+and a most pitiful truckler, you will have data for the exercise of
+faith maugre common-sense, common justice, and the testimony of your
+eyes and ears.
+
+How do you go on for society, for communion of spirit, the drop of
+nectar in the cup of mortals? But why do I say the drop? The mind that
+feels its value will get large draughts from some source, if denied it
+in the most commonly chosen way.
+
+     "'Mid the rich store of nature's gifts to man
+     Each has his loves, close wedded to his soul
+     By fine association's golden links.
+     As the Great Spirit bids creation teem
+     With conscious being and intelligence,
+     So man, his miniature resemblance, gives
+     To matter's every form a speaking soul,
+     An emanation from his spirit's fount,
+     The impress true of its peculiar seal.
+     Here finds he thy best image, sympathy."
+
+Beautiful egoism, to quote one's own. But where is not this same ego?
+The martyr at the stake seeks its gratification as much as the court
+sycophant, the difference lying in the comparative dignity and beauty
+of the two egos. People absurdly talk of self-denial. Why, there is
+none in virtue, to a being of moral excellence: the greatest torture
+to such a soul would be to run counter to the dictates of conscience;
+to wallow in the slough of meanness, deception, revenge, or
+sensuality. This was Paul's idea in the first chapter of 2d Epistle to
+Timothy (I think that is the passage).
+
+I have had a weary week. At the beginning more than the usual amount
+of _cooled_ glances, and exhortations to the suppression of
+self-conceit. The former are so many hailstones that make me wrap more
+closely around me the mantle of determinate purpose: the latter are
+needful, and have a tendency to exercise forbearance, that well repays
+the temporary smart. The heart knoweth its own, whether bitterness or
+joy: let us, dearest, beware how we, _even with good intentions_,
+press a finger's weight on the already bruised.
+
+     And about the same date she writes to Mrs. Bray:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, end of Feb. 1842.]
+
+I must relieve my conscience before I go to bed by entering a protest
+against every word or accent of discontent that I uttered this
+morning. If I have ever complained of any person or circumstance, I do
+penance by eating my own words. When my real self has regained its
+place, I can shake off my troubles "like dewdrops from the lion's
+mane," and then I feel the baseness of imputing my sorrows to others
+rather than to my own pitiful weakness. But I do not write for your
+forgiveness; that I know I have. I only want to satisfy my indignation
+against myself.
+
+     The conclusion of the matter was that Mr. Evans withdrew his
+     house from the agent's hands, and his daughter went to stay
+     at Griff, with Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Evans, whence she writes
+     the following letter to Mrs. Pears:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Pears, Thursday, Mch. 1842.]
+
+I have just been climbing up some favorite old hills, or rather
+hillocks, and if I could see you I should find myself in high
+preparation for one of my thorough chats. Oh, if I could transport
+myself to your dining-room, where I guess you and Mr. Pears are
+sitting in anticipation of tea--carrying on no "holy war," but at
+peace with the world and its opinions, or, if ever you do battle, in
+the happy ranks of the majority--I could kiss you into sublime
+liberality! How are you and your dear husband and children? It seems a
+week of years instead of days since you said to me your kind good-bye,
+and as I have tried your magnanimity quite long enough to be assured
+that you will not let me hear of you without a beseeching letter from
+me, I snatch half an hour from a too short day for the generous
+purpose of doubly qualifying myself, first, by pouring out the
+contents of my gossip-wallet, and then quietly awaiting the news I
+want to hear of you. I have here, in every way, abundant and
+unlooked-for blessings--delicacy and consideration from all whom I
+have seen; and I really begin to recant my old belief about the
+indifference of all the world towards me, for my acquaintances of this
+neighborhood seem to seek an opportunity of smiling on me in spite of
+my heresy. All these things, however, are but the fringe and ribbons
+of happiness. They are _ad_herent, not _in_herent; and, without any
+affectation, I feel myself to be acquiring what I must hold to be a
+precious possession, an independence of what is baptized by the world
+external good. There are externals (at least, they are such in common
+thought) that I could ill part with--the deep, blue, glorious heavens,
+bending as they do over all, presenting the same arch, emblem of a
+truer omnipresence, wherever we may be chased, and all the sweet,
+peace-breathing sights and sounds of this lovely earth. These, and the
+thoughts of the good and great, are an inexhaustible world of delight;
+and the felt desire to be one in will and design with the great mind
+that has laid open to us these treasures is the sun that warms and
+fructifies it. I am more and more impressed with the duty of _finding_
+happiness. On a retrospection of the past month, I regret nothing so
+much as my own impetuosity both of feeling and judging. I am not
+inclined to be sanguine as to my dear father's future determination,
+and I sometimes have an intensely vivid consciousness, which I only
+allow to be a fleeting one, of all that is painful and that has been
+so. I can only learn that my father has commenced his alterations at
+Packington, but he only appears to be temporarily acquiescing in my
+brother's advice "not to be in a hurry." I do not intend to remain
+here longer than three weeks, or, at the very farthest, a month; and,
+if I am not then recalled, I shall write for definite directions. I
+must have a _home_, not a visiting-place. I wish you would learn
+something from my father, and send me word how he seems disposed. I
+hope you get long walks on these beautiful days. You would love to
+hear the choristers we have here; they are hymning away incessantly.
+Can you not drive over and see me? Do come by hook or by crook. Why,
+Mr. Pears could almost walk hither. I am becoming very hurried, for
+most welcome tea is in the vicinity, and I must be busy after I have
+imbibed its inspiration. You will write to me to-morrow, will you not?
+and pray insist on Mr. Pears writing an appendix. I had a note from
+Mrs. Bray this morning, and I liked it better than my breakfast. So do
+give me a little treat on Saturday. Blessings on you and yours, as all
+forlorn beggars have said from time immemorial to their benefactors;
+but real feeling, you know, will sometimes slip into a hackneyed
+guise.
+
+     Miss Evans remained for about three weeks at Griff, at the
+     end of which time, through the intervention of her brother,
+     the Brays, and Miss Rebecca Franklin, the father was very
+     glad to receive her again, and she resumed going to church as
+     before.
+
+     It will be seen from a subsequent noteworthy letter to Miss
+     Sara Hennell, dated 19th October, 1843, that Miss Evans's
+     views of the best course to be pursued under similar
+     circumstances had already undergone considerable
+     modifications, and in the last year of her life she told me
+     that, although she did not think she had been to blame, few
+     things had occasioned her more regret than this temporary
+     collision with her father, which might, she thought, have
+     been avoided with a little management.
+
+     In July of this year (1842) Miss Sara Hennell--the gifted
+     sister of Mrs. Bray--came to Rosehill, and completed the trio
+     destined to exert the most important influence over the life
+     of George Eliot. The individual characters of these three
+     friends, and the relations each bore to their correspondent,
+     will unfold themselves in the letters. It is only necessary
+     here to say that the two ladies--Cara and Sara, as they are
+     always addressed--now became like sisters to Miss Evans, and
+     Mr. Bray her most intimate male friend, and the letters to
+     them form an almost unbroken chain during all the remainder
+     of George Eliot's life.
+
+     To us Miss Sara Hennell is the most important correspondent,
+     for it is to her that Miss Evans mainly turns now for
+     intellectual sympathy; to Mrs. Bray when she is in pain or
+     trouble, and wants affectionate companionship; with Mr. Bray
+     she quarrels, and the humorous side of her nature is brought
+     out. Every good story goes to him, with a certainty that it
+     will be appreciated. With all three it is a beautiful and
+     consistent friendship, running like a thread through the woof
+     of the coming thirty-eight years. For the next twelve years,
+     as will be seen, it is quite the most important thread; and
+     although later it naturally became very much less important,
+     it was never dropped except for a moment, in 1854, owing to a
+     brief misunderstanding of letters, which will appear in its
+     due place.
+
+     The following letters to Miss Sara Hennell show what was
+     passing from 30th August, 1842, to April, 1843:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 30th Aug. 1842.]
+
+How I have delighted in the thought that there are beings who are
+better than their promises, beyond the regions of waking and sleeping
+dreams.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Friday, Sept. 1842.]
+
+I have not yet accounted for my tardiness in writing, which, I assure
+you, is no representation of my usual habit, and has been occasioned
+only by a week's indisposition, the foster-parent to the ill-favored
+offspring of my character and circumstances, gloom and stolidity, and
+I could not write to you with such companions to my thought. I am
+anxious that you should not imagine me unhappy even in my most
+melancholy moods, for I hold all indulgence of sadness that has the
+slightest tincture of discontent to be a grave delinquency. I think
+there can be few who more truly feel than I that this is a world of
+bliss and beauty--that is, that bliss and beauty are the end, the
+tendency of creation; and evils are the shadows that are the only
+conditions of light in the picture, and I live in much, much
+enjoyment.
+
+I am beginning to enjoy the "Eneid," though, I suppose, much in the
+same way as the uninitiated enjoy wine, compared with the
+connoisseurs.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 3d Nov. 1842.]
+
+I have been in high displeasure with myself, have thought my soul only
+fit for limbo, to keep company with other abortions, and my life the
+shallowest, muddiest, most unblessing stream. Having got my head above
+this slough of despond, I feel quite inclined to tell you how much
+pleasure your letter gave me. You observe in your note that some
+persons say the unsatisfied longing we feel in ourselves for something
+better than the greatest perfection to be found on earth is a proof
+that the true object of our desires lies beyond it. Assuredly, this
+earth is not the home of the spirit--it will rest only in the bosom of
+the Infinite. But the non-satisfaction of the affections and intellect
+being inseparable from the unspeakable advantage of such a mind as
+that of man in connection with his corporal condition and _terrene_
+destiny, forms not at present an argument with me for the realization
+of particular desires.
+
+     The next letter refers to Miss Mary Hennell's[18] last
+     illness:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 7th Jan. 1843.]
+
+I cannot help wishing to tell you, now that you are in trouble and
+anxiety, how dear you are to me, and how the recollection of you is
+ever freshening in my mind. You have need of all your cheeriness and
+energy; and if they do not fail, I think it almost enviable, as far as
+one's self is concerned (not, of course, when the sufferer is
+remembered), to have the care of a sick-room, with its twilight and
+tiptoe stillness and helpful activity. I have always had a peculiarly
+peaceful feeling in such a scene.
+
+     Again, after the death of Miss Mary Hennell, there is a
+     letter to her sister Sara:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, April, 1843.]
+
+We always find that our stock of appreciated good can never be really
+diminished. When the chief desire of the eyes is taken, we can afford
+a gaze to hitherto unnoticed possessions; and even when the topmost
+boughs are lopped, a thousand shoots spring from below with the energy
+of new life. So it will be with you; but you cannot yet look beyond
+the present, nor is it desirable that you should. It would not be well
+for us to overleap one grade of joy or suffering: our life would lose
+its completeness and beauty.
+
+     Rosehill not only afforded a pleasant variety in the Coventry
+     life, as most visitors to the town, of any note, found their
+     way there, but the Brays were also frequently in the habit of
+     making little holiday excursions, in many of which Miss Evans
+     now joined. Thus we find them in May, 1843, all going to
+     Stratford and Malvern, together with Mr. Charles Hennell and
+     Miss Sara Hennell, for a week; and again, in July of that
+     year the same party, accompanied by Miss Brabant, daughter of
+     Dr. Brabant of Devizes, went on a fortnight's tour, visiting
+     Tenby, among other places. This trip is chiefly memorable
+     from the fact that it was indirectly responsible for Miss
+     Evans undertaking the translation of Strauss's "Leben Jesu."
+     For Miss Brabant (to whom the translation had been confided
+     by Mr. Joseph Parkes of Birmingham and a group of friends)
+     became engaged to be married to Mr. Charles Hennell; and
+     shortly after her marriage she handed the work over to Miss
+     Evans.
+
+     In the next two letters to Miss Sara Hennell there are
+     allusions to the approaching marriage, which took place in
+     London on 1st November, 1843, the Brays and Miss Evans being
+     present.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Sept. 1843.]
+
+Many thanks for procuring me the hymns and anthems. I was right glad
+to play "Ancient of Ages" again, and I shall like still better to sing
+it with you when we meet. That that is to be so soon, and under
+circumstances so joyful, are among the _mirabilia_ of this changing
+world. To see and re-see such a cluster of not indifferent persons as
+the programme for the wedding gives, will be almost too large a
+_bonne-bouche_.
+
+I saw Robert Owen yesterday, Mr. and Mrs. Bray having kindly asked me
+to dine with him, and I think if his system prosper it will be in
+spite of its founder, and not because of his advocacy.
+
+     The next letter to Mrs. Bray gives a pleasant glimpse of
+     their studies together, and of the little musical society
+     that was in the habit of meeting at Rosehill to play
+     concerted pieces.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, no date, 1843.]
+
+I only wish you would change houses with the mayor, that I might get
+to you when I would. I send you the first part of "Wallenstein," with
+the proposition that we should study that in conjunction with the
+"Thirty Years' War," as I happen to have a loose copy. We had better
+omit the "Lager," and begin "Die Piccolomini." You shall have "Joan of
+Arc," my grand favorite, as a _bonne-bouche_ when you have got through
+"Wallenstein," which will amply repay you for any trouble in
+translating it, and is not more difficult than your reading ought to
+be now. I have skimmed Manzoni, who has suffered sadly in being poured
+out of silver into pewter. The chapter on Philosophy and Theology is
+worth reading. Miss Brabant sent me my "Hyperion" with a note, the
+other day. She had put no direction besides Coventry, and the parcel
+had consequently been sent to some other Miss Evans, and my choice
+little sentimental treasures, alas! exposed to vulgar gaze. Thank you
+for the manual, which I have had so long. I trust I did not bestow
+those scratches on the cover. I have been trying to find a French book
+that you were not likely to have read, but I do not think I have one,
+unless it be "Gil Blas," which you are perhaps too virtuous to have
+read, though how any one can opine it to have a vicious tendency I am
+at a loss to conjecture. They might as well say that to condemn a
+person to eat a whole plum-pudding would deprive him of all future
+relish for plain food. I have had a visitor ever since Saturday, and
+she will stay till Saturday again. I cannot desire that you should
+_un_ask Violin and Flute, unless a postponement would be in every way
+as agreeable to you and them. If you have them, you will give them
+much more pleasure as Piano than I, so do not think of me in the
+matter for a moment. Good-bye; and remember to treat your cold as if
+it were an orphan's cold, or a widow's cold, or any one's cold but
+your own.
+
+     The following is the letter before referred to as containing
+     an important and noteworthy declaration of opinion on the
+     very interesting question of conformity:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 9th Oct. 1843.]
+
+The first thing I have to say to you is to entreat that you and Mrs.
+Hennell will not perplex yourselves for a moment about my
+accommodation during the night. I am so well now that a hearthrug
+would be as luxurious a couch as I should need, and I defy anything
+short of a kettledrum or my conscience to keep me awake after a long
+day.
+
+The subject of your conversation with Miss D---- is a very important
+one, and worth an essay. I will not now inflict one of mine on you,
+but I will tell you, as briefly as possible, my present opinion, which
+you know is contrary to the one I held in the first instance. I am
+inclined to think that such a change of sentiment is likely to happen
+to most persons whose views on religious matters undergo a change
+early in life. The first impulse of a young and ingenuous mind is to
+withhold the slightest sanction from all that contains even a mixture
+of supposed error. When the soul is just liberated from the wretched
+giant's bed of dogmas on which it has been racked and stretched ever
+since it began to think, there is a feeling of exultation and strong
+hope. We think we shall run well when we have the full use of our
+limbs and the bracing air of independence, and we believe that we
+shall soon obtain something positive, which will not only more than
+compensate us for what we have renounced, but will be so well worth
+offering to others that we may venture to proselytize as fast as our
+zeal for truth may prompt us. But a year or two of reflection, and the
+experience of our own miserable weakness, which will ill afford to
+part even with the crutch of superstition, must, I think, effect a
+change. Speculative truth begins to appear but a shadow of individual
+minds. Agreement between intellects seems unattainable, and we turn to
+the _truth of feeling_ as the only universal bond of union. We find
+that the intellectual errors which we once fancied were a mere
+incrustation have grown into the living body, and that we cannot, in
+the majority of cases, wrench them away without destroying vitality.
+We begin to find that with individuals, as with nations, the only safe
+revolution is one arising out of the wants which their own progress
+has generated. It is the quackery of infidelity to suppose that it has
+a nostrum for all mankind, and to say to all and singular, "Swallow my
+opinions and you shall be whole." If, then, we are debarred by such
+considerations from trying to reorganize opinions, are we to remain
+aloof from our fellow-creatures on occasions when we may fully
+sympathize with the feelings exercised, although our own have been
+melted into another mould? Ought we not on every opportunity to seek
+to have our feelings in harmony, though not in union, with those who
+are often richer in the fruits of faith, though not in reason, than
+ourselves? The results of nonconformity in a family are just an
+epitome of what happens on a larger scale in the world. An influential
+member chooses to omit an observance which, in the minds of all the
+rest, is associated with what is highest and most venerable. He cannot
+make his reasons intelligible, and so his conduct is regarded as a
+relaxation of the hold that moral ties had on him previously. The rest
+are infected with the disease they imagine in him. All the screws by
+which order was maintained are loosened, and in more than one case a
+person's happiness may be ruined by the confusion of ideas which took
+the form of principles. But, it may be said, how then are we to do
+anything towards the advancement of mankind? Are we to go on
+cherishing superstitions out of a fear that seems inconsistent with
+any faith in a Supreme Being? I think the best and the only way of
+fulfilling our mission is to sow good seed in good (_i.e._, prepared)
+ground, and not to root up tares where we must inevitably gather all
+the wheat with them. We cannot fight and struggle enough for freedom
+of inquiry, and we need not be idle in imparting all that is pure and
+lovely to children whose minds are unbespoken. Those who can write,
+let them do it as boldly as they like; and let no one hesitate at
+proper seasons to make a full _con_fession (far better than
+_pro_fession). St. Paul's reasoning about the conduct of the strong
+towards the weak, in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of Romans,
+is just in point. But I have not said half what I meant to say. There
+are so many aspects in which the subject might be presented that it is
+useless to attempt to exhaust it. I fear I have written very
+unintelligibly, for it is rather late, and I am so cold that my
+thoughts are almost frozen.
+
+     After Miss Brabant's marriage to Mr. Charles Hennell, Miss
+     Evans went to stay for a week or two with Dr. Brabant at
+     Devizes, and some time about the beginning of January, 1844,
+     the proposition was made for the transfer of the translation
+     of Strauss from Mrs. Charles Hennell. At the end of April,
+     1844, Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Sara Hennell that Miss Evans
+     is "working away at Strauss six pages a day," and the next
+     letter from Miss Evans refers to the beginning of the
+     undertaking.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Sunday, May, 1844.]
+
+To begin with business, I send you on the other side the translations
+you wished (Strauss), but they are perhaps no improvements on what you
+had done. I shall be very glad to learn from you the particulars as to
+the mode of publication--who are the parties that will find the funds,
+and whether the manuscripts are to be put into the hands of any one
+when complete, or whether they are to go directly from me to the
+publishers? I was very foolish not to imagine about these things in
+the first instance, but ways and means are always afterthoughts with
+me.
+
+You will soon be settled and enjoying the blessed spring and summer
+time. I hope you are looking forward to it with as much delight as I.
+One has to spend so many years in learning how to be happy. I am just
+beginning to make some progress in the science, and I hope to disprove
+Young's theory that "as soon as we have found the key of life it opes
+the gates of death." Every year strips us of at least one vain
+expectation, and teaches us to reckon some solid good in its stead. I
+never will believe that our youngest days are our happiest. What a
+miserable augury for the progress of the race and the destination of
+the individual if the more matured and enlightened state is the less
+happy one! Childhood is only the beautiful and happy time in
+contemplation and retrospect: to the child it is full of deep sorrows,
+the meaning of which is unknown. Witness colic and whooping-cough and
+dread of ghosts, to say nothing of hell and Satan, and an offended
+Deity in the sky, who was angry when I wanted too much plumcake. Then
+the sorrows of older persons, which children see but cannot
+understand, are worse than all. All this to prove that we are happier
+than when we were seven years old, and that we shall be happier when
+we are forty than we are now, which I call a comfortable doctrine, and
+one worth trying to believe! I am sitting with father, who every now
+and then jerks off my attention to the history of Queen Elizabeth,
+which he is reading.
+
+     On the 1st July, 1844, there was another little trip with the
+     Brays to the Cumberland lakes, this time returning by
+     Manchester and Liverpool; and on reaching home, about the
+     beginning of August, there is the following letter:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Friday, Aug. 1844.]
+
+Can I have the remaining volumes of Strauss, excepting any part that
+you may choose to keep for your own use? If you could also send me
+such parts of the introduction and first section as you wish me to
+look over, I should like to despatch that business at intervals, when
+I am not inspired for more thorough labor. Thank you for the
+encouragement you sent me. I only need it when my head is weak and I
+am unable to do much. Then I sicken at the idea of having Strauss in
+my head and on my hands for a lustrum, instead of saying good-bye to
+him in a year. When I can work fast I am never weary, nor do I regret
+either that the work has been begun or that I have undertaken it. I am
+only inclined to vow that I will never translate again, if I live to
+correct the sheets for Strauss. My first page is 257.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 31st Oct. 1844.]
+
+Pray tell Mrs. C. Hennell that no apology was needed for the very good
+translation she has sent me. I shall be glad to avail myself of it to
+the last word, for I am thoroughly tired of my own garb for Strauss's
+thoughts. I hope the introduction, etc., will be ready by the end of
+November, when I hope to have put the last words to the first volume.
+I am awfully afraid of my own translation, and I want you to come and
+comfort me. I am relapsing into heathen darkness about everything but
+Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. "Heaven has sent leanness into my
+soul"--for reviling them, I suppose. This lovely autumn! Have you
+enjoyed its long shadows and fresh breezes?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, end of 1844.]
+
+I do not think it was kind to Strauss (I knew he was handsome) to tell
+him that a young lady was translating his book. I am sure he must have
+some twinges of alarm to think he was dependent on that most
+contemptible specimen of the human being for his English reputation.
+By the way, I never said that the Canons of the Council of Nice, or
+the Confession of Augsburg, or even the Thirty-nine Articles, are
+suggestive of poetry. I imagine no _dogmas_ can be. But surely
+Christianity, with its Hebrew retrospect and millennial hopes, the
+heroism and divine sorrow of its founder, and all its glorious army of
+martyrs, might supply, and has supplied, a strong impulse not only to
+poetry, but to all the Fine Arts. Mr. Pears is coming home from
+Malvern to-night, and the children are coming to tea with me, so that
+I have to make haste with my afternoon matters. Beautiful little Susan
+has been blowing bubbles, and looking like an angel at sport. I am
+quite happy, only sometimes feeling "the weight of all this
+unintelligible world."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Sunday, beginning of 1845.]
+
+Your books are come for the school, and I have covered them--at least
+those that I think you will like for the children; two or three are
+quite for grown-up people. What an exquisite little thing that is of
+Harriet Martineau's--"The Crofton Boys"! I have had some delightful
+crying over it. There are two or three lines in it that would feed
+one's soul for a month. Hugh's mother says to him, speaking of people
+who have permanent sorrow, "They soon had a new and delicious
+pleasure, which none but the bitterly disappointed can feel--the
+pleasure of rousing their souls to bear pain, and of _agreeing with
+God silently_, when nobody knows what is in their hearts." I received
+"Sybil" yesterday quite safely. I am not utterly disgusted with
+D'Israeli. The man hath good veins, as Bacon would say, but there is
+not enough blood in them.
+
+     The 17th April this year was an interesting day, as Miss
+     Evans went with the Brays to Atherstone Hall, and met Harriet
+     Martineau for the first time. It will be seen that in later
+     years there was considerable intimacy between them.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th April, 1845.]
+
+If you think any of my future manuscript too untidy for the printer,
+only mark it to that effect, and I will rewrite it, for I do not mind
+that mechanical work; and my conscience is rather uneasy lest the
+illegibility of my hand should increase materially the expense of the
+publication. Do not be alarmed because I am not well just now: I shall
+be better very soon, and I am not really disgusted with Strauss. I
+only fancy so sometimes, as I do with all earthly things.
+
+     In June Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Hennell that Miss Evans
+     "looks all the better of her London trip. I never saw her so
+     blooming and buoyant;" but the two next letters show a
+     relapse.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of June, (?) 1845.]
+
+Glad am I that some one can enjoy Strauss! The million certainly will
+not, and I have ceased to sit down to him with any relish. I should
+work much better if I had some proof-sheets coming in to assure me
+that my soul-stupefying labor is not in vain. I am more grateful to
+you than I can tell you for taking the trouble you do. If it had not
+been for your interest and encouragement I should have been almost in
+despair by this time.
+
+     And again, a little later:
+
+I begin utterly to despair that Strauss will ever be published, unless
+I can imitate the Rev. Mr. Davis, and print it myself. At the very
+best, if we go on according to the rate of procedure hitherto, the
+book will not be published within the next two years. This seems
+dolorous enough to me, whose only real satisfaction just now is some
+hope that I am not sowing the wind. It is very laughable that I should
+be irritated about a thing in itself so trifling as a translation, but
+it is the very triviality of the thing that makes delays provoking.
+The difficulties that attend a really grand undertaking are to be
+borne, but things should run smoothly and fast when they are not
+important enough to demand the sacrifice of one's whole soul. The
+second volume is quite ready. The last few sections were written under
+anything but favorable circumstances. They are not Strauss's best
+thoughts, nor are they put into his translator's best language; but I
+have not courage to imitate Gibbon--put my work in the fire and begin
+again.
+
+     In July, 1845, there seems to have arisen some difficulty in
+     getting in the cash subscriptions for the publication. Mr.
+     Charles Hennell and Mr. Joseph Parkes, however, exerted
+     themselves in the matter, and £300 was collected, and the
+     following letter shows the relief it was to Miss Evans:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Hennell, Friday evening, July, 1845.]
+
+Thank you for sending me the good news so soon, and for sympathizing
+in my need of encouragement. I have all I want now, and shall go
+forward on buoyant wing. I am glad for the work's sake, glad for your
+sake, and glad for "the honorable gentleman's" sake, that matters have
+turned out so well. Pray think no more of my pens, ink, and paper. I
+would gladly give much more towards the work than these and my
+English, if I could do so consistently with duty.
+
+     The book now got into the hands of the printers, as will be
+     seen from the next letter:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Aug. 1845.]
+
+I have just been looking over some of the _revise_, and reading again
+your sweet letter to me from Hastings, and an impulse of gratitude
+and love will not let me rest without writing you a little note,
+though my hand has almost done its possible for the day under this
+intense heat. You do not guess how much pleasure it gives me to look
+over your pencillings, they prove so clearly that you have really
+entered into the meaning of every sentence, and it always gives one
+satisfaction to see the evidence of brain-work. I am quite indebted to
+you for your care, and I feel greatly the advantage of having a friend
+to undertake the office of critic. There is one word I must
+mention--Azazel is the word put in the original of the Old Testament
+for the scapegoat: now I imagine there is some dubiousness about the
+meaning, and that Strauss would not think it right to translate
+_scapegoat_, because, from the tenor of his sentence, he appears to
+include Azazel with the evil demons. I wonder if it be supposed by any
+one that Azazel is in any way a distinct being from the goat. I know
+no Hebrew scholar, and have access to no Hebrew lexicon. Have you
+asked Mr. Hennell about it?
+
+Your letter describes what I _have_ felt rather than what I feel. It
+seems as if my affections were quietly sinking down to temperate, and
+I every day seem more and more to value thought rather than feeling. I
+do not think this is man's best estate, but it is better than what I
+have sometimes known.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Friday evening, autumn of
+1845.]
+
+I am not ashamed to confess that I should like to be idle with you for
+a little while, more than anything else I can think of just now. But,
+alas! leathery brain must work at leathery Strauss for a short time
+before my butterfly days come. O, how I shall spread my wings then!
+Anent the Greek, it would produce very dreadful cold perspirations
+indeed in me, if there were anything amounting to a serious error,
+but this, I trust, there will not be. You must really expect me, if
+not to sleep and snore _aliquando_, at least to nod in the course of
+some thousand pages. I should like you to be deliberate over the
+_Schluss Abhandlung_. It is the only part on which I have bestowed
+much pains, for the difficulty was _piquing_, not piquant.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, no date, 1845.]
+
+I am never pained when I think Strauss right; but in many cases I
+think him wrong, as every man must be in working out into detail an
+idea which has general truth, but is only one element in a perfect
+theory--not a perfect theory in itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 25th Sept. 1845.]
+
+I am delighted with the proof. The type and everything else are just
+what I wished. To see the first sheet is the next best thing to seeing
+the last, which I hope we shall all have done this time next year.
+There is a very misty vision of a trip to the Highlands haunting us in
+this quarter. The vision would be much pleasanter if Sara were one of
+the images in it. You would surely go if we went, and then the thing
+would be perfect. I long to see you, for you are becoming a sort of
+transfigured existence, a mere ideal to me, and I have nothing to tell
+me of your real flesh-and-blood self but sundry very useful little
+pencil-marks, and a scrap of Mrs. Bray's notes now and then. So, if
+you would have me bear in my memory your own self, and not some aerial
+creation that I call by your name, you must make your appearance.
+
+     In October "the misty vision" took palpable shape, and the
+     Brays, Miss Hennell, and Miss Evans had a delightful
+     fortnight in Scotland, visiting Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine,
+     The Trossachs, Stirling, Edinburgh, Melrose, and Abbotsford.
+     They were away from the 14th to the 28th, and on returning to
+     Coventry Strauss was taken up again. Miss Hennell was reading
+     the translation, and aiding with suggestions and corrections.
+     The next letter to her seems to be dated in November.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Nov. 1845.]
+
+Please to tell Mr. Hennell that "habits of thought" is not a
+translation of the word _particularismus_. This does not mean national
+idiosyncrasy, but is a word which characterizes that idiosyncrasy. If
+he decidedly objects to particularism, ask him to be so good as
+substitute _exclusiveness_, though there is a shade of meaning in
+_particularismus_ which even that does not express. It was because the
+word could only be translated by a circumlocution that I ventured to
+Anglicize it.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Tuesday morning, Dec. (?)
+1845.]
+
+I have been idle, and have not done a stroke to the prefaces, but they
+shall be sent as soon as possible. Thanks for the copy of the Latin
+preface and letter. They are in preconceived harmony with my ideas of
+the appropriate.
+
+I will leave the titlepage to you and Mr. Hennell. Thanks for the news
+in your last _extra Blatt_. I am glad to find that the theological
+organs are beginning to deal with philosophy, but I can hardly imagine
+your writer to be a friend with a false cognizance on his shield.
+These dear orthodox people talk so simply sometimes that one cannot
+help fancying them satirists of their own doctrines and fears, though
+they mean manfully to fight against the enemy. I should like if
+possible to throw the emphasis on _critically_ in the titlepage.
+Strauss means it to be so: and yet I do not know how we can put
+anything better than what you say.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Dec. 1845.]
+
+I send you to-day the conclusion of the chapter you are reading, and,
+unless you find anything of importance to be rectified, you need not
+return this to me, but may forward the whole to the printer as soon as
+you have read it. I am not altogether satisfied with the use of the
+word sacrament as applied specifically to the _Abendmahl_. It seems
+like a vulgarism to say _the_ sacrament for one thing, and for another
+it does not seem _ab_original enough in the life of Jesus; but I know
+of no other word that can be substituted. I have altered passover to
+paschal meal, but [Greek: tho pascha] is used in the New Testament of
+the eating of the lamb _par excellence_. You remember, in the title of
+the first section in the _Schluss_--which I had been so careless as to
+omit--the expression is "Nothwendiger Uebergang der Kritik in das
+Dogma." Now, dogmatism will not do, as that would represent
+_Dogmatismus_. "Dogmatik" is the idea, I believe--_i.e._, positive
+theology. Is it allowable to say _dogmatics_, think you? I do not
+understand how the want of manuscript can be so pressing, as I have
+only had one proof for the last fortnight. It seems quite dispiriting
+to me now not to see the proofs regularly. I have had a miserable week
+of headache, but am better now, and ready for work, to which I must
+go.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 1st Jan. 1846.]
+
+I do pity you, with the drunken Christmas workmen keeping you in this
+uncomfortable interregnum. But do not go distraught; the spring will
+really come and the birds--many having had to fly across the Atlantic,
+which is farther than you have to go to establish yourself. I could
+easily give the meaning of the Hebrew word in question, as I know
+where to borrow a lexicon. But observe, there are two Hebrew words
+untranslated in this proof. I do not think it will do to give the
+English in one place and not in another, where there is no reason for
+such a distinction, and there is not here, for the note in this proof
+sounds just as fee-fo-fum-ish as the other without any translation. I
+could not alter the "troublesome," because it is the nearest usable
+adjective for _schwierig_, which stands in the German. I am tired of
+inevitable _importants_, and cannot bear to put them when they do not
+represent the German.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 26th Jan. 1846.]
+
+I have been sadly occupied for the last ten days. My father has been
+ill, and has required much attention, and my own head was very
+middling for some days, so that I send you but a poor cargo of new
+manuscript. Indeed, on looking through the last quire of paper this
+morning for the purpose of putting in the Greek, it seemed all very
+poor to me, but the subject is by no means inspiring, and no muse
+would condescend to visit such an uncertain votary as I have been for
+the last week or so. How is it that I have only had one proof this
+week? You know we are five hundred pages in advance of the printer, so
+you need not be dreadfully alarmed. I have been so pleased to hear
+some of your letters read to me, but, alas! I can reflect no pleasure
+at this moment, for I have a woful pain and am in a desperate hurry.
+
+     On 14th February, 1846, Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Sara Hennell
+     that Miss Evans "says she is Strauss-sick--it makes her ill
+     dissecting the beautiful story of the Crucifixion, and only
+     the sight of the Christ-image[19] and picture make her endure
+     it. Moreover, as her work advances nearer its public
+     appearance, she grows dreadfully nervous. Poor thing, I do
+     pity her sometimes, with her pale, sickly face and dreadful
+     headaches, and anxiety, too, about her father. This illness
+     of his has tried her so much, for all the time she had for
+     rest and fresh air she had to read to him. Nevertheless, she
+     looks very happy and satisfied sometimes in her work."
+
+     And about the end of February there is the following letter
+     from Miss Evans:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Feb. 1846.]
+
+Health and greeting, my Achates, in this veritable spring month. I
+shall send you a parcel on Monday with sixty-four new pages of German
+for your intellectual man. The next parcel, which will be the LAST, I
+shall send on the Monday following, and when you have read to the end,
+you may, if you think it desirable, send the whole to me. Your dull
+ass does not mend his pace for beating; but he _does_ mend it when he
+finds out that he is near his journey's end, and makes you wonder how
+he could pretend to find all the previous drawing so hard for him. I
+plead guilty to having set off in a regular scamper: but be lenient
+and do not scold me if you find all sorts of carelessnesses in these
+last hundred pages.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Feb. 1846.]
+
+I have been guilty of the most unpardonable piece of carelessness, for
+which I am stretched on a rack of anxiety and mortification. In the
+proof that came on Thursday I unwittingly drew out a quarter sheet
+with the blotting-paper, and did not discover the mistake until
+Saturday morning, when about to correct the last proof. Surely the
+printer would discover the absence of the four pages and wait for
+them--otherwise I would rather have lost one of my fingers, or all the
+hair from my head, than have committed such a _faux pas_. For there
+were three very awkward blunders to be corrected. All this vexation
+makes a cold and headache doubly intolerable, and I am in a most
+purgatorial state on this "good Sunday." I shall send the proofs, with
+the unfortunate quarter sheet and an explanation, to-night to Mr.
+Chapman, and prithee do thou inquire and see that the right thing is
+done. The tears are streaming from my smarting eyes--so farewell.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Mch. 1846.]
+
+I wish we could get the book out in May--why not? I suppose the
+binding could not be all got through--the printing and writing I
+should think might be managed in time. Shouldn't I like to fleet the
+time away with thee as they did in the Golden Age--after all our toils
+to lie reclined on the hills (spiritually), like gods together,
+careless of mankind. Sooth to speak, idleness, and idleness with thee,
+is just the most tempting mirage you could raise before my mind's
+eye--I say mirage, because I am determined from henceforth to believe
+in no substantiality for future time, but to live in and love the
+present--of which I have done too little. Still, the thought of being
+with you in your own home will attract me to that future; for without
+all controversy I love thee and miss thee.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Mch. 1846.]
+
+My soul kisses thee, dear Sara, in gratitude for those dewy thoughts
+of thine in this morning's note. My poor adust soul wants such
+refreshment. Continue to do me good--hoping for nothing again. I have
+had my sister with me all day--an interruption, alas! I cannot write
+more, but I should not be happy to let the day pass without saying one
+word to thee.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Mch. 1846.]
+
+The last hundred pages have certainly been totally uninteresting to
+me, considered as matter for translation. Strauss has inevitably
+anticipated in the earlier part of his work all the principles and
+many of the details of his criticism, and he seems fagged himself.
+_Mais courage!_ the neck of the difficulty is broken, and there is
+really very little to be done now. If one's head would but keep in
+anything like thinking and writing order! Mine has robbed me of half
+the last fortnight; but I am a little better now, and am saying to
+myself _Frisch zu!_ The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are, at all
+events, better than the bursting asunder of Judas. I am afraid I have
+not made this dull part of Strauss even as tolerable as it might be,
+for both body and mind have recoiled from it. Thank you, dearest, for
+all your love and patience for me and with me. I have nothing on earth
+to complain of but subjective maladies. Father is pretty well, and I
+have not a single excuse for discontent through the livelong day.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Mch. 1846.]
+
+As I believe that even your kindness cannot overcome your sincerity, I
+will cast aside my fear that your wish to see me in your own home is
+rather a plan for my enjoyment than for yours. I believe it would be
+an unmixed pleasure to me to be your visitor, and one that I would
+choose among a whole bouquet of agreeable possibilities; so I will
+indulge myself, and accept the good that the heavens and you offer me.
+I am miserably in want of you to stir up my soul and make it shake its
+wings, and begin some kind of flight after something good and noble,
+for I am in a grovelling, slothful condition, and you are the _only_
+friend I possess who has an animating influence over me. I have
+written to Mr. Hennell anent the titlepage, and have voted for
+_critically examined_, from an entire conviction of its
+preferableness.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, beginning of April, 1846.]
+
+See what it is to have a person _en rapport_ with you, that knows all
+your thoughts without the trouble of communication! I am especially
+grateful to you for restoring the "therefore" to its right place. I
+was about to write to you to get you to remonstrate about this and the
+"dispassionate calmness," which I did not at all like; but I thought
+you had corrected the prefaces, as the marks against the Latin looked
+like yours, so I determined to indulge my _laissez-faire_
+inclinations, for I hate stickling and debating unless it be for
+something really important. I do really like reading our Strauss--he
+is so _klar und ideenvoll_; but I do not know _one_ person who is
+likely to read the book through--do you? Next week we will be merry
+and sad, wise and nonsensical, devout and wicked, together.
+
+     On 19th April, 1846, Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Hennell that
+     Miss Evans is "as happy as you may imagine at her work being
+     done. She means to come and read Shakespeare through to us as
+     her first enjoyment." And again, on 27th April, that she "is
+     delighted beyond measure with Strauss's elegant preface. It
+     is just what she likes. And what a nice letter too! The Latin
+     is quite beyond me, but the letter shows how neatly he can
+     express himself."
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+MARCH, 1841, TO APRIL, 1846.
+
+     Foleshill--New friends--Mrs. Pears--Coventry life and
+     engagements--Letters to Miss Lewis--Brother's
+     marriage--Mental depression--Reading Nichol's "Architecture
+     of the Heavens and Phenomena of the Solar System"--Makes
+     acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Bray--Reads Charles Hennell's
+     book, "An Inquiry Concerning the Origin of
+     Christianity"--Effect of this book--Gives up going to
+     church--Family difficulties--Letters to Mrs. Pears--Visit to
+     Griff--Returns to Foleshill and resumes going to
+     church--Acquaintance with Miss Sara Hennell, and development
+     of friendship with her and Mr. and Mrs. Bray--Letters to Miss
+     Sara Hennell describing mental characteristics--Attitude
+     towards immortality--Death of Miss Mary Hennell--Excursion
+     with the Brays, Mr. Charles Hennell, and Miss Hennell to
+     Stratford and Malvern, and to Tenby with same party and Miss
+     Brabant--Meets Robert Owen--Studies German and music with
+     Mrs. Bray--Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, with important
+     declaration of opinion in regard to conformity--Mr. Charles
+     Hennell's marriage--Stay with Dr. Brabant at
+     Devizes--Arrangement for translation of Strauss's "Leben
+     Jesu"--Excursion with Brays to the Cumberland lakes,
+     returning by Manchester and Liverpool--Weary of
+     Strauss--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Poetry of
+     Christianity--Admiration of Harriet Martineau's "The Crofton
+     Boys"--Trip to London--Despair about publication of
+     Strauss--Subscription of £300 for the work--In better
+     heart--Minutiæ of Strauss translation--Pains taken with the
+     _Schluss Abhandlung_--Opinion of Strauss's work--The book in
+     print--Trip to the Highlands--Strauss difficulties--Miss
+     Hennell reads the translation and makes
+     suggestions--Suffering from headaches and "Strauss-sick"--The
+     last MS. of the translation sent to Miss Hennell--Joy at
+     finishing--Delighted with Strauss's Preface.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] Brother's marriage.
+
+[18] Miss Mary Hennell was the author of "An Outline of the Various
+Social Systems founded on the Principle of Co-operation," published in
+1841.
+
+[19] This was an ivory image she had of the Crucified Christ over the
+desk in her study at Foleshill, where she did all her work at that
+time--a little room on the first floor, with a charming view over the
+country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+     The completion of the translation of Strauss is another
+     milestone passed in the life journey of George Eliot, and the
+     comparatively buoyant tone of the letters immediately
+     following makes us feel that the galled neck is out of the
+     yoke for a time. In May, Mrs. Bray had gone away from home
+     for a visit, and the next letter is addressed to her.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Sunday (probably about 6th May),
+1846.]
+
+Do not stay any longer than is necessary to do you good, lest I should
+lose the pleasure of loving you, for my affections are always the
+warmest when my friends are within an attainable distance. I think I
+can manage to keep respectably warm towards you for three weeks
+without seeing you, but I cannot promise more. Tell Mr. Bray I am
+getting too amiable for this world, and Mr. Donovan's wizard hand
+would detect a slight corrugation of the skin on my organs 5 and
+6;[20] they are so totally without exercise. I had a lecture from Mr.
+Pears on Friday, as well as a sermon this morning, so you need be in
+no alarm for my moral health. Do you never think of those Caribs who,
+by dint of flattening their foreheads, can manage to see
+perpendicularly above them without so much as lifting their heads?
+There are some good people who remind me of them. They see everything
+so clearly and with so little trouble, but at the price of sad
+self-mutilation.
+
+     On the 26th May Miss Evans went to pay a visit to Mrs. and
+     Miss Hennell at Hackney, and she writes from there to Mrs.
+     Bray, who was expected to join them in London.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, end of May, 1846.]
+
+I cannot deny that I am very happy without you, but perhaps I shall be
+happier with you, so do not fail to try the experiment. We have been
+to town only once, and are saving all our strength to "rake" with you;
+but we are as ignorant as Primitive Methodists about any of the
+amusements that are going. Please to come in a very mischievous,
+unconscientious, theatre-loving humor. Everybody I see is very kind to
+me, and therefore I think them all very charming; and, having
+everything I want, I feel very humble and self-denying. It is only
+rather too great a bore to have to write to my friends when I am half
+asleep, and I have not yet reached that pitch of amiability that makes
+such magnanimity easy. Don't bring us any bad news or any pains, but
+only nods and becks and wreathèd smiles.
+
+     They stayed in London till the 5th June, and on the 15th of
+     that month the translation of Strauss was published. On the
+     2d July Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Hennell that Miss Evans "is
+     going to Dover with her father, for a fortnight." In passing
+     through Dover on our way to the Continent, in 1880, after our
+     marriage, we visited the house they stayed at in 1846, and my
+     wife then told me that she had suffered a great deal there,
+     as her father's health began to show signs of breaking up. On
+     returning to Coventry there is the following letter referring
+     to Wicksteed's review of the translation of Strauss, which
+     was advertised for the forthcoming number of the _Prospective
+     Review_.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Thursday, Aug. (?) 1846.]
+
+Do you think it worth my while to buy the _Prospective_ for the sake
+of Wicksteed's review--is there anything new in it? Do you know if Mr.
+Chapman has any unusual facilities for obtaining cheap classics? Such
+things are to be got handsome and second-hand in London--if one knew
+but the way. I want to complete Xenophon's works. I have the
+"Anabasis," and I might, perhaps, get a nice edition of the
+"Memorabilia" and "Cyropædia" in a cheaper way than by ordering them
+directly from our own bookseller. I have been reading the "Fawn of
+Sertorius."[21] I think you would like it, though the many would not.
+It is pure, chaste, and classic, beyond any attempt at fiction I ever
+read. If it be Bulwer's, he has been undergoing a gradual
+transfiguration, and is now ready to be exalted into the assembly of
+the saints. The professor's (Strauss's) letter, transmitted through
+you, gave me infinite consolation, more especially the apt and
+pregnant quotation from Berosus. Precious those little hidden lakelets
+of knowledge in the high mountains, far removed from the vulgar eye,
+only visited by the soaring birds of love.
+
+     On 25th September, 1846, Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Hennell
+     that Miss Evans "looks very brilliant just now. We fancy she
+     must be writing her novel;" and then come the following
+     letters, written in October and November:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Oct. 1846.]
+
+All the world is bathed in glory and beauty to me now, and thou
+sharest in the radiance. Tell me whether I live for you as you do for
+me, and tell me how gods and men are treating you. You must send me a
+scrap every month--only a scrap with a dozen words in it, just to
+prevent me from starving on faith alone--of which you know I have the
+minimum of endowment. I am sinning against my daddy by yielding to the
+strong impulse I felt to write to you, for he looks at me as if he
+wanted me to read to him.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th Oct. 1846.]
+
+I do not know whether I can get up any steam again on the subject of
+Quinet; but I will try--when Cara comes back, however, for she has run
+away with "Christianity" into Devonshire, and I must have the book as
+a springing-board. When does the _Prospective_ come out?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 1st Nov. 1846.]
+
+The review of Strauss contains some very just remarks, though, on the
+whole, I think it shallow, and in many cases unfair. The praise it
+gives to the translation is just what I should have wished; indeed, I
+cannot imagine anything more gratifying in the way of laudation. Is it
+not droll that Wicksteed should have chosen one of my interpolations,
+or rather paraphrases, to dilate on. The expression "granite," applied
+to the sayings of Jesus, is nowhere used by Strauss, but is an
+impudent addition of mine to eke out his metaphor. Did you notice the
+review of Foster's Life?[22] I am reading the Life, and thinking all
+the time how you would like it. It is deeply interesting to study the
+life of a genius under circumstances amid which genius is so seldom to
+be found. Some of the thoughts in his journal are perfect gems.
+
+     The words of the reviewer of the Strauss translation in the
+     _Prospective_ are worth preserving: "A faithful, elegant, and
+     scholarlike translation. Whoever reads these volumes without
+     any reference to the German must be pleased with the easy,
+     perspicuous, idiomatic, and harmonious force of the English
+     style. But he will be still more satisfied when, on turning
+     to the original, he finds that the rendering is word for
+     word, thought for thought, and sentence for sentence. In
+     preparing so beautiful a rendering as the present, the
+     difficulties can have been neither few nor small in the way
+     of preserving, in various parts of the work, the exactness of
+     the translation, combined with that uniform harmony and
+     clearness of style which imparts to the volumes before us the
+     air and spirit of an original. Though the translator never
+     obtrudes himself upon the reader with any notes or comments
+     of his own, yet he is evidently a man who has a familiar
+     knowledge of the whole subject; and if the work be the joint
+     production of several hands, moving in concert, the passages
+     of a specially scholastic character, at least, have received
+     their version from a discerning and well-informed theologian.
+     Indeed, Strauss may well say, as he does in the notice which
+     he writes for the English edition, that, as far as he has
+     examined it, the translation is 'et accurata et perspicua.'"
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Nov. 1846.]
+
+Many things, both outward and inward, have concurred to make this
+November far happier than the last. One's thoughts
+
+     "Are widened with the process of the suns;"
+
+and if one is rather doubtful whether one is really wiser or better,
+it is some comfort to know that the desire to be so is more pure and
+dominant. I have been thinking of that most beautiful passage in
+Luke's Gospel--the appearance of Jesus to the disciples at Emmaus. How
+universal in its significance! The soul that has hopelessly followed
+its Jesus--its impersonation of the highest and best--all in
+despondency; its thoughts all refuted, its dreams all dissipated. Then
+comes another Jesus--another, but the same--the same highest and best,
+only chastened--crucified instead of triumphant--and the soul learns
+that this is the true way to conquest and glory. And then there is the
+burning of the heart, which assures that "this was the Lord!"--that
+this is the inspiration from above, the true comforter that leads unto
+truth. But I am not become a Methodist, dear Sara; on the contrary, if
+I am pious one day, you may be sure I was very wicked the day before,
+and shall be so again the next.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Dec. 1846.]
+
+I have been at Griff for the last week, or I should have written
+before. I thank you most heartily for sending me "Heliados"--first,
+because I admire it greatly in itself; and, secondly, because it is a
+pretty proof that I am not dissociated from your most hallowed
+thoughts. As yet I have read it only once, but I promise myself to
+read it again and again. I shall not show it to any one, for I hate
+"friendly criticism," as much for you as for myself; but you have a
+better spirit than I, and when you come I will render "Heliados" up to
+you, that others may have the pleasure of reading it.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 18th Feb. 1847.]
+
+Lying in bed this morning, grievously tormented, your "Heliados"
+visited me and revealed itself to me more completely than it had ever
+done before. How true that "it is only when all portions of an
+individual nature, or all members of society, move forward
+harmoniously together that religious progress is calm and beneficial!"
+I imagine the sorrowful amaze of a child who had been dwelling with
+delight on the idea that the stars were the pavement of heaven's
+court, and that there above them sat the kind but holy God, looking
+like a venerable Father who would smile on his good little ones--when
+it was cruelly told, before its mind had substance enough to bear such
+tension, that the sky was not real, that the stars were worlds, and
+that even the sun could not be God's dwelling, because there were
+many, many suns. These ideas would introduce atheism into the child's
+mind, instead of assisting it to form a nobler conception of God (of
+course I am supposing the bare information given, and left to the
+child to work upon); whereas the idea it previously had of God was
+perfectly adapted to its intellectual condition, and formed to the
+child as perfect an embodiment of the all-good, all-wise, and
+all-powerful as the most enlightened philosopher ever formed to
+himself.
+
+     On 21st April Miss Evans went to London with the Brays, and,
+     among other things, heard "Elijah" at Exeter Hall. On
+     returning to Coventry she writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 30th April, 1847.]
+
+I did so long to see you after hearing "Elijah," just to exchange an
+exclamation of delight. Last night I had a perfect treat, too, in "I
+Puritani." Castellar was admirable as Elvira, and Gardoni as a seraph.
+N.B.--I liked the Babel less--another sign of age.
+
+     Mention has already been made of Miss Mary Sibree (now Mrs.
+     John Cash of Coventry), and as the following genial letter is
+     addressed to her, it gives an opportunity for mentioning here
+     that Miss Evans had a high regard for all the members of the
+     Sibree family. At the end of this year (1847) and the
+     beginning of 1848 there will be found an interesting
+     correspondence with Miss Sibree's brother, Mr. John Sibree,
+     who, in 1849, published a translation of Hegel's "Lectures
+     on the Philosophy of History," and in 1880 a volume of poems
+     entitled "Fancy, and other Rhymes." The subjoined extract
+     from a communication from Mrs. Cash will show upon what terms
+     Miss Evans was with the family:
+
+     "It was in the early part of the year 1841 that Miss Franklin
+     came to see my mother at our house on the Foleshill
+     road--about a mile and a half from Coventry--to tell her, as
+     a piece of most interesting news, that an old pupil, of whom
+     she herself and her sister Rebecca had always been very
+     proud, was coming at the Lady-Day quarter to live at a house
+     on the same road--within five minutes' walk of ours. This was
+     Miss Evans, then twenty-one years of age. Miss Franklin dwelt
+     with much pride on Miss Evans's mental power, on her skill in
+     music, etc.; but the great recommendation to my mother's
+     interest was the zeal for others which had marked her earnest
+     piety at school, where she had induced the girls to come
+     together for prayer, and which had led her to visit the poor
+     most diligently in the cottages round her own home. Many
+     years after, an old nurse of mine told me that these poor
+     people had said, after her removal, 'We shall never have
+     another Mary Ann Evans.'
+
+     "My mother was asked to second and help her in work of this
+     kind. 'She will be sure to get something up very soon,' was
+     the last remark I can recall; and on her first visit to us I
+     well remember she told us of a club for clothing, set going
+     by herself and her neighbor Mrs. Pears, in a district to
+     which she said 'the euphonious name of the Pudding-Pits had
+     been given.' It was not until the winter of 1841, or early
+     in 1842, that my mother first received (not from Miss Evans's
+     own lips, but through a mutual friend) the information that a
+     total change had taken place in this gifted woman's mind with
+     respect to the evangelical religion, which she had evidently
+     believed in up to the time of her coming to Coventry, and for
+     which, she once told me, she had at one time sacrificed the
+     cultivation of her intellect, and a proper regard to personal
+     appearance. 'I used,' she said, 'to go about like an owl, to
+     the great disgust of my brother; and I would have denied him
+     what I now see to have been quite lawful amusements.' My
+     mother's grief, on hearing of this change in one whom she had
+     begun to love, was very great; but she thought argument and
+     expostulation might do much, and I well remember a long
+     evening devoted to it, but no more of the subject-matter than
+     her indignant refusal to blame the Jews for not seeing in a
+     merely spiritual Deliverer a fulfilment of promises of a
+     temporal one; and a still more emphatic protest against my
+     father's assertion that we had no claim on God. To Miss
+     Evans's affectionate and pathetic speech to my mother, 'Now,
+     Mrs. Sibree, you won't care to have anything more to do with
+     me,' my mother rejoined, 'On the contrary, I shall feel more
+     interested in you than ever.' But it was very evident at this
+     time that she stood in no _need_ of sympathizing friends;
+     that the desire for congenial society, as well as for books
+     and larger opportunities for culture, which had led her most
+     eagerly to seek a removal from Griff to a home near Coventry,
+     had been met beyond her highest expectations. In Mr. and Mrs.
+     Bray, and in the Hennell family, she had found friends who
+     called forth her interest and stimulated her powers in no
+     common degree. This was traceable even in externals--in the
+     changed tone of voice and manner--from formality to a
+     geniality which opened my heart to her, and made the next
+     five years the most important epoch in my life. She gave me
+     (as yet in my teens) weekly lessons in German, speaking
+     freely on all subjects, but with no attempt to directly
+     unsettle my evangelical beliefs, confining herself in these
+     matters to a steady protest against the claim of the
+     Evangelicals to an exclusive possession of higher motives to
+     morality--or even to religion. Speaking to my mother of her
+     dearest friend, Mrs. Bray, she said, 'She is the most
+     religious person I know.' Of Mr. Charles Hennell, in whose
+     writings she had great interest, she said, 'He is a perfect
+     model of manly excellence.'
+
+     "On one occasion, at Mr. Bray's house at Rosehill, roused by
+     a remark of his on the beneficial influence exercised by
+     evangelical beliefs on the moral feelings, she said
+     energetically, 'I say it now, and I say it once for all, that
+     I am influenced in my own conduct at the present time by far
+     higher considerations, and by a nobler idea of duty, than I
+     ever was while I held the evangelical beliefs.' When, at
+     length, after my brother's year's residence at the Hallé
+     University (in 1842-43), my own mind having been much
+     exercised in the matter of religion, I felt the moral
+     difficulties press heavily on my conscience, and my whole
+     heart was necessarily poured out to my 'guide, philosopher,
+     and friend,' the steady turning of my attention from
+     theoretical questions to a confession of my own want of
+     thoroughness in arithmetic, which I pretended to teach; and
+     the request that I would specially give attention to this
+     study and get my conscience clear about it, and that I would
+     not come to her again until my views of religion were also
+     clear, is too characteristic of Miss Evans, as I knew her
+     during those years, and too much in harmony with the moral
+     teaching of George Eliot, to be omitted in reminiscences by
+     one to whom that wholesome advice proved a turning-point in
+     life. Two things more I cannot omit to mention: one, the
+     heightened sense given to me by her of the duty of making
+     conversation profitable, and, in general, of using time for
+     serious purposes--of the positive immorality of frittering it
+     away in ill-natured or in poor, profitless talk; another, the
+     debt (so frequently acknowledged by Miss Evans to me) which
+     she owed, during the years of her life with her father, to
+     the intercourse she enjoyed with her friends at Rosehill. Mr.
+     and Mrs. Bray and Miss Hennell, with their friends, were
+     _her_ world; and on my saying to her once, as we closed the
+     garden-door together, that we seemed to be entering a
+     paradise, she said, 'I do indeed feel that I shut the world
+     out when I shut that door.' It is consoling to me now to feel
+     that in her terrible suffering through her father's illness
+     and death, which were most trying to witness, she had such
+     alleviations."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Mary Sibree, 10th May, 1847.]
+
+It is worth while to forget a friend for a week or ten days, just for
+the sake of the agreeable kind of startle it gives one to be reminded
+that one has such a treasure in reserve--the same sort of pleasure, I
+suppose, that a poor body feels who happens to lay his hand on an
+undreamed-of sixpence which had sunk to a corner of his pocket. When
+Mr. Sibree brought me your parcel, I had been to London for a week;
+and having been full of Mendelssohn oratorios and Italian operas, I
+had just this kind of delightful surprise when I saw your note and the
+beautiful purse. Not that I mean to compare you to a sixpence; you are
+a bright, golden sovereign to me, with edges all unrubbed, fit to
+remind a poor, tarnished, bruised piece, like me, that there are ever
+fresh and more perfect coinages of human nature forthcoming. I am very
+proud of my purse--first, because I have long had to be ashamed of
+drawing my old one out of my pocket; and, secondly, because it is a
+sort of symbol of your love for me--and who is not proud to be loved?
+For there is a beautiful kind of pride at which no one need frown--I
+may call it a sort of impersonal pride--a thrill of exultation at all
+that is good and lovely and joyous as a possession of our human
+nature.
+
+I am glad to think of all your pleasure among friends new and old.
+Mrs. D----'s mother is, I dare say, a valuable person; but do not, I
+beseech thee, go to old people as oracles on matters which date any
+later than their thirty-fifth year. Only trust them, if they are good,
+in those practical rules which are the common property of long
+experience. If they are governed by one special idea which
+circumstances or their own mental bias have caused them to grasp with
+peculiar firmness, and to work up into original forms, make yourself
+master of their thoughts and convictions, the residuum of all that
+long travail which poor mortals have to encounter in their threescore
+years and ten, but do not trust their application of their gathered
+wisdom; for however just old people may be their _principles_ of
+judgment, they are often wrong in their application of them, from an
+imperfect or unjust conception of the matter to be judged. Love and
+cherish and venerate the old; but never imagine that a worn-out,
+dried-up organization can be so rich in inspiration as one which is
+full fraught with life and energy. I am not talking like one who is
+superlatively jealous for the rights of the old; yet such I am, I
+assure thee. I heard Mendelssohn's new oratorio, "Elijah," when I was
+in London. It has been performed four times in Exeter Hall to as large
+an audience as the building would hold--Mendelssohn himself the
+conductor. It is a glorious production, and altogether I look upon it
+as a kind of sacramental purification of Exeter Hall, and a
+proclamation of indulgence for all that is to be perpetrated there
+during this month of May. This is a piece of impiety which you may
+expect from a lady who has been guanoing her mind with French novels.
+This is the impertinent expression of D'Israeli, who, writing himself
+much more detestable stuff than ever came from a French pen, can do
+nothing better to bamboozle the unfortunates who are seduced into
+reading his "Tancred" than speak superciliously of all other men and
+things--an expedient much more successful in some quarters than one
+would expect. But _au fond_, dear Mary, I have no impiety in my mind
+at this moment, and my soul heartily responds to your rejoicing that
+society is attaining a more perfect idea and exhibition of Paul's
+exhortation--"Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ
+Jesus." I believe the Amen to this will be uttered more and more
+fervently, "Among all posterities for evermore."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th June, 1847.]
+
+Ask me not why I have never written all this weary time. I can only
+answer, "All things are full of labor--man cannot utter it"--_et seq._
+See the first chapter of Ecclesiastes for my experience.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Sept. 1847.]
+
+I have read the "Inquiry" again with more than interest--with delight
+and high admiration. My present impression from it far surpasses the
+one I had retained from my two readings about five years ago. With the
+exception of a few expressions which seem too little discriminating in
+the introductory sketch, there is nothing in its whole tone, from
+beginning to end, that jars on my moral sense; and apart from any
+opinion of the book as an explanation of the existence of Christianity
+and the Christian documents, I am sure that no one, fit to read it at
+all, could read it without being intellectually and morally
+stronger--the reasoning is so close, the induction so clever, the
+style so clear, vigorous, and pointed, and the animus so candid and
+even generous. Mr. Hennell ought to be one of the happiest of men that
+he has done such a life's work. I am sure if I had written such a book
+I should be invulnerable to all the arrows of all spiteful gods and
+goddesses. I should say, "None of these things move me, neither count
+I my life dear unto myself," seeing that I have delivered such a
+message of God to men. The book is full of _wit_, to me. It gives me
+that exquisite kind of laughter which comes from the gratification of
+the reasoning faculties. For instance: "If some of those who were
+actually at the mountain doubted whether they saw Jesus or not, we may
+reasonably doubt whether he was to be seen at all there: especially as
+the words attributed to him do not seem at all likely to have been
+said, from the disciples paying no attention to them." "The disciples
+considered her (Mary Magdalene's) words idle tales, and believed them
+not." We have thus their example for considering her testimony alone
+as insufficient, and for seeking further evidence. To say "Jewish
+philosopher" seems almost like saying a round square; yet those two
+words appear to me the truest description of Jesus. I think the
+"Inquiry" furnishes the utmost that can be done towards obtaining a
+_real_ view of the life and character of Jesus, by rejecting as little
+as possible from the Gospels. I confess that I should call many things
+"shining ether," to which Mr. Hennell allows the solid angularity of
+facts; but I think he has thoroughly worked out the problem--subtract
+from the New Testament the miraculous and highly improbable, and what
+will be the remainder?
+
+     At the end of September Miss Evans and her father went for a
+     little trip to the Isle of Wight, and on their return there
+     is the following letter:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 13th Oct. 1847.]
+
+I heartily wish you had been with me to see all the beauties which
+have gladdened my soul and made me feel that this earth is as good a
+heaven as I ought to dream of. I have a much greater respect for the
+Isle of Wight, now I have seen it, than when I knew it only by
+report--a compliment which one can seldom very sincerely pay to things
+and people that one has heard puffed and bepraised. I do long for you
+to see Alum Bay. Fancy a very high precipice, the strata upheaved
+perpendicularly in rainbow-like streaks of the brightest maize,
+violet, pink, blue, red, brown, and brilliant white, worn by the
+weather into fantastic fretwork, the deep blue sky above, and the
+glorious sea below. It seems an enchanted land, where the earth is of
+more delicate, refined materials than this dingy planet of ours is
+wrought out of. You might fancy the strata formed of the compressed
+pollen of flowers, or powder from bright insects. You can think of
+nothing but Calypsos, or Prosperos and Ariels, and such-like beings.
+
+I find one very great spiritual good attendant on a quiet, meditative
+journey among fresh scenes. I seem to have removed to a distance from
+myself when I am away from the petty circumstances that make up my
+ordinary environment. I can take myself up by the ears and inspect
+myself, like any other queer monster on a small scale. I have had many
+thoughts, especially on a subject that I should like to work out--"The
+superiority of the consolations of philosophy to those of (so-called)
+religion." Do you stare?
+
+Thank you for putting me on reading Sir Charles Grandison. I have read
+five volumes, and am only vexed that I have not the two last on my
+table at this moment, that I might have them for my _convives_. I had
+no idea that Richardson was worth so much. I have had more pleasure
+from him than from all the Swedish novels together. The morality is
+perfect--there is nothing for the new lights to correct.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 27th Nov. 1847.]
+
+How do you like "Lelia," of which you have never spoken one word? I am
+provoked with you for being in the least pleased with "Tancred;" but
+if you have found out any lofty meaning in it, or any true picturing
+of life, tell it me, and I will recant. I have found two new readers
+of Strauss. One, a lady at Leamington, who is also reading the
+"Inquiry," but likes Strauss better! The other is a gentleman here in
+Coventry; he says "it is most clever and ingenious, and that no one
+whose faith rests only on the _common_ foundation can withstand it." I
+think he may safely say that his faith rests on an _un_common
+foundation. The book will certainly give him a lift in the right
+direction, from its critical, logical character--just the opposite of
+his own. I was interested the other day in talking to a young lady who
+lives in a nest of clergymen, her brothers, but not of the evangelical
+school. She had been reading Blanco White's life, and seems to have
+had her spirit stirred within her, as every one's must be who reads
+the book with any power of appreciation. She is unable to account to
+herself for the results at which Blanco White arrived with his
+earnestness and love of truth; and she asked me if I had come to the
+same conclusions.
+
+I think "Live and teach" should be a proverb as well as "Live and
+learn." We must teach either for good or evil; and if we use our
+inward light as the Quaker tells us, always taking care to feed and
+trim it well, our teaching must, in the end, be for good. We are
+growing old together--are we not? I am growing happier too. I am
+amusing myself with thinking of the prophecy of Daniel as a sort of
+allegory. All those monstrous, "rombustical" beasts with their
+horns--the horn with eyes and a mouth speaking proud things, and the
+little horn that waxed rebellious and stamped on the stars, seem like
+my passions and vain fancies, which are to be knocked down one after
+the other, until all is subdued into a universal kingdom over which
+the Ancient of Days presides--the spirit of love--the Catholicism of
+the Universe--if you can attach any meaning to such a phrase. It _has_
+a meaning for my sage noddle.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Jan. 1848.]
+
+I am reading George Sand's "Lettres d'un Voyageur" with great delight,
+and hoping that they will some time do you as much good as they do me.
+In the meantime, I think the short letter about "Lelia" will interest
+you. It has a very deep meaning to my apprehension. You can send back
+the pages when you have duly digested them. I once said of you that
+yours was a sort of alkali nature which would detect the slightest acid
+of falsehood. You began to phiz-z-z directly it approached you. I want
+you as a test. I now begin to see the necessity of the arrangement (a
+bad word) that love should determine people's fate while they are
+young. It is so impossible to admire--"_s'enthousiasmer_" of--an
+_individual_ as one gets older.
+
+     Here follows the interesting correspondence, referred to
+     before, with Mr. John Sibree:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to J. Sibree, beginning of 1848.]
+
+Begin your letter by abusing me, according to my example. There is
+nothing like a little gunpowder for a damp chimney; and an explosion
+of that sort will set the fire of your ideas burning to admiration. I
+hate bashfulness and modesties, as Sir Hugh Evans would say; and I
+warn you that I shall make no apologies, though, from my habit of
+writing only to people who, rather than have nothing from me, will
+tolerate nothings, I shall be very apt to forget that you are not one
+of those amiably silly individuals. I must write to you _more meo_,
+without taking pains or laboring to be _spirituelle_ when Heaven never
+meant me to be so; and it is your own fault if you bear with my
+letters a moment after they become an infliction. I am glad you detest
+Mrs. Hannah More's letters. I like neither her letters, nor her books,
+nor her character. She was that most disagreeable of all monsters, a
+blue-stocking--a monster that can only exist in a miserably false
+state of society, in which a woman with but a smattering of learning
+or philosophy is classed along with singing mice and card-playing
+pigs. It is some time since I read "Tancred," so that I have no very
+vivid recollection of its details; but I thought it very "thin," and
+inferior in the working up to "Coningsby" and "Sybil." Young
+Englandism is almost as remote from my sympathies as Jacobitism, as
+far as its force is concerned, though I love and respect it as an
+effort on behalf of the people. D'Israeli is unquestionably an able
+man, and I always enjoy his tirades against liberal principles as
+opposed to popular principles--the name by which he distinguishes his
+own. As to his theory of races, it has not a leg to stand on, and can
+only be buoyed up by such windy eloquence as--You chubby-faced,
+squabby-nosed Europeans owe your commerce, your arts, your religion,
+to the Hebrews--nay, the Hebrews lead your armies: in proof of which
+he can tell us that Massena, a second-rate general of Napoleon's, was
+a Jew, whose real name was Manasseh. Extermination up to a certain
+point seems to be the law for the inferior races--for the rest fusion,
+both for physical and moral ends. It appears to me that the law by
+which privileged classes degenerate, from continual intermarriage,
+must act on a larger scale in deteriorating whole races. The nations
+have been always kept apart until they have sufficiently developed
+their idiosyncrasies, and then some great revolutionary force has been
+called into action, by which the genius of a particular nation becomes
+a portion of the common mind of humanity. Looking at the matter
+æsthetically, our idea of beauty is never formed on the
+characteristics of a single race. I confess the types of the pure
+races, however handsome, always impress me disagreeably; there is an
+undefined feeling that I am looking not at _man_, but at a specimen of
+an order under Cuvier's class Bimana. The negroes certainly puzzle me.
+All the other races seem plainly destined to extermination, not
+excepting even the Hebrew Caucasian. But the negroes are too
+important, physiologically and geographically, for one to think of
+their extermination; while the repulsion between them and the other
+races seems too strong for fusion to take place to any great extent.
+On one point I heartily agree with D'Israeli as to the superiority of
+the Oriental races--their clothes are beautiful and their manners are
+agreeable. Did you not think the picture of the Barroni family
+interesting? I should like to know who are the originals. The
+fellowship of race, to which D'Israeli so exultingly refers the
+munificence of Sidonia, is so evidently an inferior impulse, which
+must ultimately be superseded, that I wonder even he, Jew as he is,
+dares to boast of it. My Gentile nature kicks most resolutely against
+any assumption of superiority in the Jews, and is almost ready to echo
+Voltaire's vituperation. I bow to the supremacy of Hebrew poetry, but
+much of their early mythology, and almost all their history, is
+utterly revolting. Their stock has produced a Moses and a Jesus; but
+Moses was impregnated with Egyptian philosophy, and Jesus is venerated
+and adored by us only for that wherein he transcended or resisted
+Judaism. The very exaltation of their idea of a national deity into a
+spiritual monotheism seems to have been borrowed from the other
+Oriental tribes. Everything specifically Jewish is of a low grade.
+
+And do you really think that sculpture and painting are to die out of
+the world? If that be so, let another deluge come as quickly as
+possible, that a new race of Glums and Gowries may take possession of
+this melancholy earth. I agree with you as to the inherent superiority
+of music--as that questionable woman, the Countess Hahn-Hahn, says
+painting and sculpture are but an idealizing of our actual existence.
+Music arches over this existence with another and a diviner. Amen,
+too, to that _ideenvoll_ observation of Hegel's. "We hardly know what
+it is to feel for human misery until we have heard a shriek; and a
+more perfect hell might be made out of sound than out of any
+preparation of fire and brimstone." When the tones of our voice have
+betrayed peevishness or harshness, we seem to be doubly haunted by the
+ghost of our sin; we are doubly conscious that we have been untrue to
+our part in the great Handel chorus. But I cannot assent to the notion
+that music is to supersede the other arts, or that the highest minds
+must necessarily aspire to a sort of Milton blindness, in which the
+_tiefste der Sinne_ is to be a substitute for all the rest. I cannot
+recognize the truth of all that is said about the necessity of
+religious fervor to high art. I am sceptical as to the real existence
+of such fervor in any of the greatest artists. Artistic power seems to
+me to resemble dramatic power--to be an intimate perception of the
+varied states of which the human mind is susceptible, with ability to
+give them out anew in intensified expression. It is true that the
+older the world gets originality becomes less possible. Great subjects
+are used up, and civilization tends evermore to repress individual
+predominance, highly wrought agony, or ecstatic joy. But all the
+gentler emotions will be ever new, ever wrought up into more and more
+lovely combinations, and genius will probably take their direction.
+
+Have you ever seen a head of Christ taken from a statue, by
+Thorwaldsen, of Christ scourged? If not, I think it would almost
+satisfy you. There is another work of his, said to be very sublime,
+of the Archangel waiting for the command to sound the last trumpet.
+Yet Thorwaldsen came at the fag end of time.
+
+I am afraid you despise landscape painting; but to me even the works
+of our own Stanfield, and Roberts, and Creswick bring a whole world of
+thought and bliss--"a sense of something far more deeply interfused."
+The ocean and the sky and the everlasting hills are spirit to me, and
+they will never be robbed of their sublimity.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to J. Sibree, beginning of 1848.]
+
+I have tired myself with trying to write cleverly, _invitâ Minervâ_,
+and having in vain endeavored to refresh myself by turning over
+Lavater's queer sketches of physiognomies, and still queerer judgments
+on them, it is a happy thought of mine that I have a virtuous reason
+for spending my _ennui_ on you.
+
+I send you a stanza I picked up the other day in George Sand's
+"Lettres d'un Voyageur," which is almost the ultimatum of human wisdom
+on the question of human sorrow.
+
+     "Le bonheur et le malheur,
+     Nous viennent du même auteur,
+     Voilà la _ressemblance_.
+     Le bonheur nous rend heureux,
+     Et le malheur malheureux,
+     Voilà la différence."
+
+Ah, here comes a cup of coffee to console me! When I have taken it I
+will tell you what George Sand says: "Sais tu bien que tout est dit
+devant Dieu et devant les hommes quand l'homme infortuné demande
+compte de ses maux et qu'il obtient cette réponse? Qu'y a-t-il de
+plus? Rien." But I am not a mocking pen, and if I were talking to you
+instead of writing, you would detect some falsity in the ring of my
+voice. Alas! the atrabiliar patient you describe is first cousin to
+me in my very worst moods, but I have a profound faith that the
+serpent's head will be bruised. This conscious kind of false life that
+is ever and anon endeavoring to form itself within us and eat away our
+true life, will be overcome by continued accession of vitality, by our
+perpetual increase in "quantity of existence," as Foster calls it.
+Creation is the superadded life of the intellect; sympathy,
+all-embracing love, the superadded moral life. These given more and
+more abundantly, I feel that all the demons, which are but my own
+egotism mopping and mowing and gibbering, would vanish away, and there
+would be no place for them,
+
+     "For every gift of noble origin
+     Is breathed upon by hope's perpetual breath."
+
+Evils, even sorrows, are they not all negations? Thus matter is in a
+perpetual state of decomposition; superadd the principle of life, and
+the tendency to decomposition is overcome. Add to this consciousness,
+and there is a power of self-amelioration. The passions and senses
+decompose, so to speak. The intellect, by its analytic power,
+restrains the fury with which they rush to their own destruction; the
+moral nature purifies, beautifies, and at length transmutes them. But
+to whom am I talking? You know far more _sur ce chapitre_ than I.
+
+Every one talks of himself or herself to me, and I beg you will follow
+every one's example in this one thing only. Individuals are precious
+to me in proportion as they unfold to me their intimate selves. I have
+just had lent me the journal of a person who died some years ago. When
+I was less venerable I should have felt the reading of such a thing
+insupportable; now it interests me, though it is the simplest record
+of events and feelings.
+
+Mary says she has told you about Mr. Dawson and his lecture--miserably
+crude and mystifying in some parts, but with a few fine passages. He
+is a very delightful man, but not (at least so say my impressions) a
+great man. How difficult it is to be great in this world, where there
+is a tariff for spiritualities as well as for beeves and cheese and
+tallow. It is scarcely possible for a man simply to give out his true
+inspiration--the real, profound conviction which he has won by hard
+wrestling, or the few-and-far-between pearls of imagination; he must
+go on talking or writing by rote, or he must starve. Would it not be
+better to take to tent-making with Paul, or to spectacle-making with
+Spinoza?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to J. Sibree, Feb. 1848.]
+
+Write and tell you that I join you in your happiness about the French
+Revolution? Very fine, my good friend. If I made you wait for a letter
+as long as you do me, our little _échantillon_ of a millennium would
+be over, Satan would be let loose again, and I should have to share
+your humiliation instead of your triumph.
+
+Nevertheless I absolve you, for the sole merit of thinking rightly
+(that is, of course, just as I do) about _la grande nation_ and its
+doings. You and Carlyle (have you seen his article in last week's
+_Examiner_?) are the only two people who feel just as I would have
+them--who can glory in what is actually great and beautiful without
+putting forth any cold reservations and incredulities to save their
+credit for wisdom. I am all the more delighted with your enthusiasm
+because I didn't expect it. I feared that you lacked revolutionary
+ardor. But no--you are just as _sans-culottish_ and rash as I would
+have you. You are not one of those sages whose reason keeps so tight
+a rein on their emotions that they are too constantly occupied in
+calculating consequences to rejoice in any great manifestation of the
+forces that underlie our every-day existence. I should have written a
+soprano to your jubilate the very next day, but that, lest I should be
+exalted above measure, a messenger of Satan was sent in the form of a
+headache, and directly on the back of that a face-ache, so that I have
+been a mere victim of sensations, memories, and visions for the last
+week. I am even now, as you may imagine, in a very shattered,
+limbo-like mental condition.
+
+I thought we had fallen on such evil days that we were to see no
+really great movement; that ours was what St. Simon calls a purely
+critical epoch, not at all an organic one; but I begin to be glad of
+my date. I would consent, however, to have a year clipped off my life
+for the sake of witnessing such a scene as that of the men of the
+barricades bowing to the image of Christ, "who first taught fraternity
+to men." One trembles to look into every fresh newspaper lest there
+should be something to mar the picture; but hitherto even the scoffing
+newspaper critics have been compelled into a tone of genuine respect
+for the French people and the Provisional Government. Lamartine can
+act a poem if he cannot write one of the very first order. I hope that
+beautiful face given to him in the pictorial newspaper is really his;
+it is worthy of an aureole. I am chiefly anxious about Albert, the
+operative, but his picture is not to be seen. I have little patience
+with people who can find time to pity Louis Philippe and his
+moustachioed sons. Certainly our decayed monarchs should be pensioned
+off; we should have a hospital for them, or a sort of zoological
+garden, where these worn-out humbugs may be preserved. It is but
+justice that we should keep them, since we have spoiled them for any
+honest trade. Let them sit on soft cushions, and have their dinner
+regularly, but, for Heaven's sake, preserve me from sentimentalizing
+over a pampered old man when the earth has its millions of unfed souls
+and bodies. Surely he is not so Ahab-like as to wish that the
+revolution had been deferred till his son's days: and I think that the
+shades of the Stuarts would have some reason to complain if the
+Bourbons, who are so little better than they, had been allowed to
+reign much longer.
+
+I should have no hope of good from any imitative movement at home. Our
+working classes are eminently inferior to the mass of the French
+people. In France the _mind_ of the people is highly electrified; they
+are full of ideas on social subjects; they really desire social
+_reform_--not merely an acting out of Sancho Panza's favorite proverb,
+"Yesterday for you, to-day for me." The revolutionary animus extended
+over the whole nation, and embraced the rural population--not merely,
+as with us, the artisans of the towns. Here there is so much larger a
+proportion of selfish radicalism and unsatisfied brute sensuality (in
+the agricultural and mining districts especially) than of perception
+or desire of justice that a revolutionary movement would be simply
+destructive, not constructive. Besides, it would be put down. Our
+military have no notion of "fraternizing." They have the same sort of
+inveteracy as dogs have for the ill-dressed _canaille_. They are as
+mere a brute force as a battering-ram; and the aristocracy have got
+firm hold of them. And there is nothing in our constitution to
+obstruct the slow progress of _political_ reform. This is all we are
+fit for at present. The social reform which may prepare us for great
+changes is more and more the object of effort both in Parliament and
+out of it. But we English are slow crawlers. The sympathy in Ireland
+seems at present only of the water-toast kind. The Glasgow riots are
+more serious; but one cannot believe in a Scotch Reign of Terror in
+these days. I should not be sorry to hear that the Italians had risen
+_en masse_, and chased the odious Austrians out of beautiful Lombardy.
+But this they could hardly do without help, and that involves another
+European war.
+
+Concerning the "tent-making," there is much more to be said, but am I
+to adopt your rule and never speak of what I suppose we agree about?
+It is necessary to me, not simply to _be_ but to _utter_, and I
+require utterance of my friends. What is it to me that I think the
+same thoughts? I think them in a somewhat different fashion. No mind
+that has any _real_ life is a mere echo of another. If the perfect
+unison comes occasionally, as in music, it enhances the harmonies. It
+is like a diffusion or expansion of one's own life to be assured that
+its vibrations are repeated in another, and words are the media of
+those vibrations. Is not the universe itself a perpetual utterance of
+the one Being? So I say again, utter, utter, utter, and it will be a
+deed of mercy twice blessed, for I shall be a safety-valve for your
+communicativeness and prevent it from splitting honest people's brains
+who don't understand you; and, moreover, it will be fraught with
+ghostly comfort to me.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to J. Sibree, Sunday evening, later in 1848.]
+
+I might make a very plausible excuse for not acknowledging your kind
+note earlier by telling you that I have been both a nurse and invalid;
+but, to be thoroughly ingenuous, I must confess that all this would
+not have been enough to prevent my writing but for my chronic disease
+of utter idleness. I have heard and thought of you with great
+interest, however. You have my hearty and not inexperienced sympathy;
+for, to speak in the style of Jonathan Oldbuck, I am _haud ignara
+mali_. I have gone through a trial of the same genus as yours, though
+rather differing in species. I sincerely rejoice in the step you have
+taken; it is an absolutely necessary condition for any true
+development of your nature. It was impossible to think of your career
+with hope, while you tacitly subscribed to the miserable _etiquette_
+(it deserves no better or more spiritual name) of sectarianism. Only
+persevere; be true, firm, and loving; not too anxious about immediate
+usefulness to others--that can only be a result of justice to
+yourself. Study mental hygiene. Take long doses of _dolce far niente_,
+and be in no great hurry about anything in this 'varsal world! Do we
+not commit ourselves to sleep, and so resign all care for ourselves
+every night; lay ourselves gently on the bosom of Nature or God? A
+beautiful reproach to the spirit of some religionists and ultra good
+people.
+
+I like the notion of your going to Germany, as good in every way, for
+yourself, body and mind, and for all others. Oh, the bliss of having a
+very high attic in a romantic Continental town, such as Geneva, far
+away from morning callers, dinners, and decencies, and then to pause
+for a year and think _de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis_, and then
+to return to life, and work for poor stricken humanity, and never
+think of self again![23]
+
+I am writing nearly in the dark, with the post-boy waiting. I fear I
+shall not be at home when you come home, but surely I shall see you
+before you leave England. However that may be, I shall utter a genuine
+_Lebewohl_.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 1st Feb. 1848.]
+
+In my view there are but two kinds of _regular_ correspondence
+possible--one of simple affection, which gives a picture of all the
+details, painful and pleasurable, that a loving heart pines after, and
+this we carry on through the medium of Cara; or one purely moral and
+intellectual, carried on for the sake of ghostly edification, in which
+each party has to put salt on the tails of all sorts of ideas on all
+sorts of subjects, in order to send a weekly or fortnightly packet, as
+so much duty and self-castigation. I have always been given to
+understand that such Lady-Jane-Grey-like works were your abhorrence.
+However, let me know what you _would_ like--what would make you
+continue to hold me in loving remembrance or convince you that you are
+a bright evergreen in my garden of pleasant plants. Behold me ready to
+tear off my right hand or pluck out my right eye (metaphorically, of
+course--I speak to an experienced exegetist, _comme dirait notre_
+Strauss), or write reams of letters full of interesting falsehoods or
+very dull truths. We have always concluded that our correspondence
+should be of the _third_ possible kind--one of impulse, which is
+necessarily irregular as the Northern Lights.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 14th April, 1848.]
+
+I am a miserable wretch, with aching limbs and sinking spirits, but
+still alive enough to feel the kindness of your last note. I
+thoroughly enjoyed your delight in Emerson. I should have liked to see
+you sitting by him "with awful eye," for once in your life feeling all
+the bliss of veneration. I am quite uncertain about our movements.
+Dear father gets on very slowly, if at all. You will understand the
+impossibility of my forming any plans for my own pleasure. Rest is
+the only thing I can think of with pleasure now.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th April, 1848.]
+
+Dear father is so decidedly progressing towards recovery that I am
+full of quiet joy--a gentle dawning light after the moonlight of
+sorrow. I have found already some of the "sweet uses" that belong only
+to what is called trouble, which is, after all, only a deepened gaze
+into life, like the sight of the darker blue and the thickening host
+of stars when the hazy effect of twilight is gone--as our dear Blanco
+White said of death. I shall have less time than I have had at my own
+disposal, probably; but I feel prepared to accept life, nay, lovingly
+to embrace it, in any form in which it shall present itself.
+
+     Some time in May Mr. Evans and his daughter went to St.
+     Leonard's, and remained there till near the end of June. His
+     mortal illness had now taken hold of him, and this was a
+     depressing time, both for him and for her, as will be seen
+     from the following letters:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, May, 1848.]
+
+Your words of affection seem to make this earthly atmosphere sit less
+heavily on my shoulders, and in gratitude I must send you my thanks
+before I begin to read of Henry Gow and Fair Catharine for father's
+delectation. In truth, I have found it somewhat difficult to live for
+the last week--conscious all the time that the only additions to my
+lot worth having must be more strength to love in my own nature; but
+perhaps this very consciousness has an irritating rather than a
+soothing effect. I have a fit of sensitiveness upon me, which, after
+all, is but egotism and mental idleness. The enthusiasm without which
+one cannot even pour out breakfast well (at least _I_ cannot) has
+forsaken me. You may laugh, and wonder when my enthusiasm has
+displayed itself, but that will only prove that you are no seer. I can
+never live long without it in some form or other. I possess my soul in
+patience for a time, believing that this dark, damp vault in which I
+am groping will soon come to an end, and the fresh, green earth and
+the bright sky be all the more precious to me. But for the present my
+address is Grief Castle, on the River of Gloom, in the Valley of
+Dolor. I was amused to find that Castle Campbell in Scotland was
+called so. Truly for many seasons in my life I should have been an
+appropriate denizen of such a place; but I have faith that unless I am
+destined to insanity, I shall never again abide long in that same
+castle. I heartily say Amen to your dictum about the cheerfulness of
+"large moral regions." Where _thought_ and _love_ are active--thought
+the formative power, love the vitalizing--there can be no sadness.
+They are in themselves a more intense and extended participation of a
+divine existence. As they grow, the highest species of faith grows
+too, and all things are possible. I don't know why I should prose in
+this way to you. But I wanted to thank you for your note, and all this
+selfish grumbling was at my pen's end. And now I have no time to
+redeem myself. We shall not stay long away from home, I feel sure.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 31st May, 1848.]
+
+Father has done wonders in the way of walking and eating--for him--but
+he makes not the slightest attempt to amuse himself, so that I
+scarcely feel easy in following my own bent even for an hour. I have
+told you everything now, except that I look amiable in spite of a
+strong tendency to look black, and speak gently, though with a strong
+propensity to be snappish. Pity me, ye happier spirits that look
+amiable and speak gently because ye _are_ amiable and gentle.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 4th June, 1848.]
+
+Alas for the fate of poor mortals, which condemns them to wake up some
+fine morning and find all the poetry in which their world was bathed
+only the evening before utterly gone!--the hard, angular world of
+chairs and tables and looking-glasses staring at them in all its naked
+prose! It is so in all the stages of life; the poetry of girlhood
+goes, the poetry of love and marriage, the poetry of maternity, and at
+last the very poetry of duty forsakes us for a season, and we see
+ourselves, and all about us, as nothing more than miserable
+agglomerations of atoms--poor tentative efforts of the _Natur Princip_
+to mould a personality. This is the state of prostration, the
+self-abnegation, through which the soul must go, and to which perhaps
+it must again and again return, that its poetry or religion, which is
+the same thing, may be a real, ever-flowing river, fresh from the
+windows of heaven and the fountains of the great deep--not an
+artificial basin, with grotto-work and gold-fish. I feel a sort of
+madness growing upon me, just the opposite of the delirium which makes
+people fancy that their bodies are filling the room. It seems to me as
+if I were shrinking into that mathematical abstraction, a point. But I
+am wasting this "good Sunday morning" in grumblings.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 8th June, 1848.]
+
+Poor Louis Blanc! The newspapers make me melancholy; but shame upon me
+that I say "poor." The day will come when there will be a temple of
+white marble, where sweet incense and anthems shall rise to the memory
+of every man and woman who has had a deep _Ahnung_--a presentiment, a
+yearning, or a clear vision--of the time when this miserable reign of
+Mammon shall end; when men shall be no longer "like the fishes of the
+sea," society no more like a face one half of which--the side of
+profession, of lip-faith--is fair and God-like; the other half--the
+side of deeds and institutions--with a hard, old, wrinkled skin
+puckered into the sneer of a Mephistopheles. I worship the man who has
+written as the climax of his appeal against society, "L'inegalité des
+talents _doit aboutir_ non à l'inegalité des retributions mais à
+l'inegalité des devoirs." You will wonder what has wrought me up into
+this fury. It is the loathsome fawning, the transparent hypocrisy, the
+systematic giving as little as possible for as much as possible that
+one meets with here at every turn. I feel that society is training men
+and women for hell.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 23d June, 1848.]
+
+All creatures about to moult, or to cast off an old skin, or enter on
+any new metamorphosis, have sickly feelings. It was so with me. But
+now I am set free from the irritating, worn-out integument. I am
+entering on a new period of my life, which makes me look back on the
+past as something incredibly poor and contemptible. I am enjoying
+repose, strength, and ardor in a greater degree than I have ever
+known, and yet I never felt my own insignificance and imperfection so
+completely. My heart bleeds for dear father's pains, but it is blessed
+to be at hand to give the soothing word and act needed. I should not
+have written this description of myself but that I felt your
+affectionate letter demanded some I-ism, which, after all, is often
+humility rather than pride. Paris, poor Paris--alas! alas!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, June, 1848.]
+
+I have read "Jane Eyre," and shall be glad to know what you admire in
+it. All self-sacrifice is good, but one would like it to be in a
+somewhat nobler cause than that of a diabolical law which chains a man
+soul and body to a putrefying carcass. However, the book _is_
+interesting; only I wish the characters would talk a little less like
+the heroes and heroines of police reports.
+
+     About the beginning of July Miss Evans and her father
+     returned to Coventry; and the 13th July was a memorable day,
+     as Emerson came to visit the Brays, and she went with them to
+     Stratford. All she says herself about it is in this note.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Friday, July, 1848.]
+
+I have seen Emerson--the first _man_ I have ever seen. But you have
+seen still more of him, so I need not tell you what he is. I shall
+leave Cara to tell how the day--the Emerson day--was spent, for I have
+a swimming head from hanging over the desk to write business letters
+for father. Have you seen the review of Strauss's pamphlet in the
+_Edinburgh_? The title is "Der Romantiker auf dem Throne der Cäsaren,
+oder Julian der Abtrünnige"--a sort of erudite satire on the King of
+Prussia; but the reviewer pronounces it to have a permanent value
+quite apart from this fugitive interest. The "Romantiker," or
+Romanticist, is one who, in literature, in the arts, in religion or
+politics, endeavors to revive the dead past. Julian was a romanticist
+in wishing to restore the Greek religion and its spirit, when mankind
+had entered on the new development. But you have very likely seen the
+review. I must copy one passage, translated from the conclusion of
+Strauss's pamphlet, lest you should not have met with it. "Christian
+writers have disfigured the death-scene of Julian. They have
+represented him as furious, blaspheming, despairing, and in his
+despair exclaiming, _Thou_ hast conquered, O Galilean!--'[Greek:
+nenikekas Galilaie].' This phrase, though false as history, has a
+truth in it. It contains a prophecy--to us a consoling prophecy--and
+it is this: Every Julian--_i.e._, every great and powerful man--who
+would attempt to resuscitate a state of society which has died, will
+infallibly be vanquished by the Galilean--for the Galilean is nothing
+less than the genius of the future!"
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Dec. 1848.]
+
+Father's tongue has just given utterance to a thought which has been
+very visibly radiating from his eager eyes for some minutes. "I
+thought you were going on with the book." I can only bless you for
+those two notes, which have emanated from you like so much ambrosial
+scent from roses and lavender. Not less am I grateful for the Carlyle
+eulogium.[24] I have shed some quite delicious tears over it. This is
+a world worth abiding in while one man can thus venerate and love
+another. More anon--this from my doleful prison of stupidity and
+barrenness, with a yawning trapdoor ready to let me down into utter
+fatuity. But I can even yet feel the omnipotence of a glorious chord.
+Poor pebble as I am, left entangled among slimy weeds, I can yet hear
+from afar the rushing of the blessed torrent, and rejoice that it is
+there to bathe and brighten other pebbles less unworthy of the
+polishing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of 1848.]
+
+Thank you for a sight of our blessed St. Francis's[25] letter. There
+is no imaginable moment in which the thought of such a being could be
+an intrusion. His soul is a blessed _yea_. There is a sort of
+blasphemy in that proverbial phrase, "Too good to be true." The
+highest inspiration of the purest, noblest human soul, is the nearest
+expression of the truth. Those extinct volcanoes of one's spiritual
+life--those eruptions of the intellect and the passions which have
+scattered the lava of doubt and negation over our early faith--are
+only a glorious Himalayan chain, beneath which new valleys of
+undreamed richness and beauty will spread themselves. Shall we poor
+earthworms have sublimer thoughts than the universe, of which we are
+poor chips--mere effluvia of mind--shall we have sublimer thoughts
+than that universe can furnish out into reality? I am living
+unspeakable moments, and can write no more.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Jan. 1849.]
+
+I think of you perpetually, but my thoughts are all aqueous; they will
+not crystallize--they are as fleeting as ripples on the sea. I am
+suffering perhaps as acutely as ever I did in my life. Breathe a wish
+that I may gather strength--the fragrance of your wish will reach me
+somehow.
+
+     The next letter is to Mrs. Houghton, who, it will be
+     remembered, was the only daughter by Mr. Evans's first
+     marriage. Miss Evans had more intellectual sympathy with this
+     half-sister Fanny than with any of the other members of her
+     family, and it is a pity that more of the letters to her have
+     not been preserved.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, Sunday evening, 1849.]
+
+I have been holding a court of conscience, and I cannot enjoy my
+Sunday's music without restoring harmony, without entering a protest
+against that superficial soul of mine which is perpetually
+contradicting and belying the true inner soul. I am in that mood
+which, in another age of the world, would have led me to put on
+sackcloth and pour ashes on my head, when I call to mind the sins of
+my tongue--my animadversions on the faults of others, as if I thought
+myself to be something when I am nothing. When shall I attain to the
+true spirit of love which Paul has taught for all the ages? I want no
+one to excuse me, dear Fanny; I only want to remove the shadow of my
+miserable words and deeds from before the divine image of truth and
+goodness, which I would have all beings worship. I need the Jesuits'
+discipline of silence, and though my "evil speaking" issues from the
+intellectual point of view rather than the moral--though there may be
+gall in the thought while there is honey in the feeling, yet the evil
+speaking is wrong. We may satirize character and qualities in the
+abstract without injury to our moral nature, but persons hardly ever.
+Poor hints and sketches of souls as we are--with some slight,
+transient vision of the perfect and the true--we had need help each
+other to gaze at the blessed heavens instead of peering into each
+other's eyes to find out the motes there.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Sunday morning, 4th Feb. 1849.]
+
+I have not touched the piano for nearly two months until this morning,
+when, father being better, I was determined to play a mass before the
+piano is utterly out of tune again. _Write, asking for nothing again_,
+like a true disciple of Jesus. I am still feeling rather shattered in
+brain and limbs; but do not suppose that I lack inward peace and
+strength. My body is the defaulter--_consciously_ so. I triumph over
+all things in the spirit, but the flesh is weak, and disgraces itself
+by headaches and backaches. I am delighted to find that you mention
+Macaulay, because that is an indication that Mr. Hennell has been
+reading him. I thought of Mr. H. all through the book, as the only
+person I could be quite sure would enjoy it as much as I did myself. I
+did not know if it would interest you: tell me more explicitly that it
+does. Think of Babylon being unearthed in spite of the prophecies?
+Truly we are looking before and after, "au jour d'aujourd'hui," as
+Monsieur Bricolin says. Send me the criticism of Jacques the morn's
+morning--only beware there are not too many blasphemies against my
+divinity.
+
+Paint soap-bubbles--and never fear but I will find _a_ meaning, though
+very likely not your meaning. Paint the Crucifixion in a bubble--after
+Turner--and then the Resurrection: I see them now.
+
+There has been a vulgar man sitting by while I have been writing, and
+I have been saying parenthetical bits of civility to him to help out
+poor father in his conversation, so I have not been quite sure what I
+have been saying to you. I have woful aches which take up half my
+nervous strength.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 9th Feb. 1849.]
+
+My life is a perpetual nightmare, and always haunted by something to
+be done, which I have never the time, or, rather, the energy, to do.
+Opportunity is kind, but only to the industrious, and I, alas! am not
+one of them. I have sat down in desperation this evening, though dear
+father is very uneasy, and his moans distract me, just to tell you
+that you have full absolution for your criticism, which I do not
+reckon of the impertinent order. I wish you thoroughly to understand
+that the writers who have most profoundly influenced me--who have
+rolled away the waters from their bed, raised new mountains and spread
+delicious valleys for me--are not in the least oracles to me. It is
+just possible that I may not embrace one of their opinions; that I may
+wish my life to be shaped quite differently from theirs. For instance,
+it would signify nothing to me if a very wise person were to stun me
+with proofs that Rousseau's views of life, religion, and government
+are miserably erroneous--that he was guilty of some of the worst
+_bassesses_ that have degraded civilized man. I might admit all this:
+and it would be not the less true that Rousseau's genius has sent that
+electric thrill through my intellectual and moral frame which has
+awakened me to new perceptions; which has made man and nature a fresh
+world of thought and feeling to me; and this not by teaching me any
+new belief. It is simply that the rushing mighty wind of his
+inspiration has so quickened my faculties that I have been able to
+shape more definitely for myself ideas which had previously dwelt as
+dim _Ahnungen_ in my soul; the fire of his genius has so fused
+together old thoughts and prejudices that I have been ready to make
+new combinations.
+
+It is thus with George Sand. I should never dream of going to her
+writings as a moral code or text-book. I don't care whether I agree
+with her about marriage or not--whether I think the design of her plot
+correct, or that she had no precise design at all, but began to write
+as the spirit moved her, and trusted to Providence for the
+catastrophe, which I think the more probable case. It is sufficient
+for me, as a reason for bowing before her in eternal gratitude to that
+"great power of God manifested in her," that I cannot read six pages
+of hers without feeling that it is given to her to delineate human
+passion and its results, and (I must say, in spite of your judgment)
+some of the moral instincts and their tendencies, with such
+truthfulness, such nicety of discrimination, such tragic power, and,
+withal, such loving, gentle humor, that one might live a century with
+nothing but one's own dull faculties, and not know so much as those
+six pages will suggest. The psychological anatomy of Jacques and
+Fernande in the early days of their marriage seems quite
+preternaturally true--I mean that her power of describing it is
+preternatural. Fernande and Jacques are merely the feminine and the
+masculine nature, and their early married life an every-day tragedy;
+but I will not dilate on the book or on your criticism, for I am so
+sleepy that I should write nothing but _bêtises_. I have at last the
+most delightful "De imitatione Christi," with quaint woodcuts. One
+breathes a cool air as of cloisters in the book--it makes one long to
+be a saint for a few months. Verily its piety has its foundations in
+the depth of the divine-human soul.
+
+     In March Miss Evans wrote a short notice of the "Nemesis of
+     Faith" for the _Coventry Herald_, in which she says:
+
+"We are sure that its author is a bright, particular star, though he
+sometimes leaves us in doubt whether he be not a fallen 'son of the
+morning.'"
+
+     The paper was sent to Mr. Froude, and on 23d March Mrs. Bray
+     writes to Miss Hennell: "Last night at dusk M. A. came
+     running in in high glee with a most charming note from
+     Froude, naïvely and prettily requesting her to reveal
+     herself. He says he recognized her hand in the review in the
+     _Coventry Herald_, and if she thinks him a fallen star she
+     might help him to rise, but he 'believes he has only been
+     dipped in the Styx, and is not much the worse for the bath.'
+     Poor girl, I am so pleased she should have this little
+     episode in her dull life."
+
+     The next letter again refers to Mr. Froude's books.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Wednesday, April, 1849.]
+
+Tell me not that I am a mere prater--that feeling never talks. I will
+talk, and caress, and look lovingly, until death makes me as stony as
+the Gorgon-like heads of all the judicious people I know. What is
+anything worth until it is uttered? Is not the universe one great
+utterance? Utterance there must be in word or deed to make life of any
+worth. Every true pentecost is a gift of utterance. Life is too short
+and opportunities too meagre for many deeds--besides, the best
+friendships are precisely those where there is no possibility of
+material helpfulness--and I would take no deeds as an adequate
+compensation for the frigid, glassy eye and hard, indifferent tones
+of one's very solid and sensible and conscientious friend. You will
+wonder of what this is _à propos_--only of a little bitterness in my
+own soul just at this moment, and not of anything between you and me.
+I have nothing to tell you, for all the "haps" of my life are so
+indifferent. I spin my existence so entirely out of myself that there
+is a sad want of proper names in my conversation, and I am becoming a
+greater bore than ever. It is a consciousness of this that has kept me
+from writing to you. My letters would be a sort of hermit's diary. I
+have so liked the thought of your enjoying the "Nemesis of Faith." I
+quote Keats's sonnet, _à propos_ of that book. It has made me feel--
+
+           "Like some watcher of the skies
+     When a new planet swims into his ken;
+     Or like stout Cortez--when with eagle eyes
+     He stared at the Pacific, and all his men
+     Look'd at each other with a wild surmise--
+     Silent, upon a peak in Darien."
+
+You must read "The Shadows of the Clouds." It produces a sort of
+palpitation that one hardly knows whether to call wretched or
+delightful. I cannot take up the book again, though wanting very much
+to read it more closely. Poor and shallow as one's own soul is, it is
+blessed to think that a sort of transubstantiation is possible by
+which the greater ones can live in us. Egotism apart, another's
+greatness, beauty, or bliss is one's own. And let us sing a
+_Magnificat_ when we are conscious that this power of expansion and
+sympathy is growing, just in proportion as the individual
+satisfactions are lessening. Miserable dust of the earth we are, but
+it is worth while to be so, for the sake of the living soul--the
+breath of God within us. You see I can do nothing but scribble my own
+prosy stuff--such chopped straw as my soul is foddered on. I am
+translating the "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" of Spinoza, and seem
+to want the only friend that knows how to praise or blame. How
+exquisite is the satisfaction of feeling that another mind than your
+own sees precisely where and what is the difficulty--and can exactly
+appreciate the success with which it is overcome. One knows--_sed
+longo intervallo_--the full meaning of the "fit audience though few."
+How an artist must hate the noodles that stare at his picture, with a
+vague notion that it _is_ a clever thing to be able to paint.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Pears, 10th May, 1849.]
+
+I know it will gladden your heart to hear that father spoke of you the
+other day with affection and gratitude. He remembers you as one who
+helped to strengthen that beautiful spirit of resignation which has
+never left him through his long trial. His mind is as clear and
+rational as ever, notwithstanding his feebleness, and he gives me a
+thousand little proofs that he understands my affection and responds
+to it. These are very precious moments to me; my chair by father's
+bedside is a very blessed seat to me. My delight in the idea that you
+are being benefited after all, prevents me from regretting you, though
+you are just the friend that would complete my comfort. Every addition
+to your power of enjoying life is an expansion of mine. I partake of
+your ebb and flow. I am going to my post now. I have just snatched an
+interval to let you know that, though you have taken away a part of
+yourself from me, neither you nor any one else can take the whole.
+
+     It will have been seen from these late letters, that the last
+     few months of her father's illness had been a terrible strain
+     on his daughter's health and spirits. She did all the nursing
+     herself, and Mrs. Congreve (who was then Miss Bury, daughter
+     of the doctor who was attending Mr. Evans--and who, it will
+     be seen, subsequently became perhaps the most intimate and
+     the closest of George Eliot's friends) tells me that her
+     father told her at the time that he never saw a patient more
+     admirably and thoroughly cared for. The translating was a
+     great relief when she could get to it. Under date of 19th
+     April, 1849, Mrs. Bray writes to Miss Hennell, "M. A. is
+     happy now with this Spinoza to do: she says it is such a rest
+     for her mind."
+
+     The next letter to Rosehill pathetically describes how the
+     end came at last to Mr. Evans's sufferings:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, half-past nine, Wednesday morning, 31st
+May, 1849.]
+
+Dear friends, Mr. Bury told us last night that he thought father would
+not last till morning. I sat by him with my hand in his till four
+o'clock, and he then became quieter and has had some comfortable
+sleep. He is obviously weaker this morning, and has been for the last
+two or three days so painfully reduced that I dread to think what his
+dear frame may become before life gives way. My brother slept here
+last night, and will be here again to-night. What shall I be without
+my father? It will seem as if a part of my moral nature were gone. I
+write when I can, but I do not know whether my letter will do to send
+this evening.
+
+_P.S._--Father is very, very much weaker this evening.
+
+     Mr. Evans died during that night, 31st May, 1849.
+
+[Illustration: Portrait of Mr. Robert Evans.]
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+MAY, 1846, TO MAY, 1849.
+
+     Visit to Mrs. Hennell at Hackney--Letters to Mrs.
+     Bray--Strauss translation published--Visit to Dover with
+     father--Classical books wanted--Pleasure in Strauss's
+     letter--Brays suspect novel-writing--Letters to Miss Sara
+     Hennell--Good spirits--Wicksteed's review of the Strauss
+     translation--Reading Foster's life--Visit to Griff--Child's
+     view of God (_à propos_ of Miss Hennell's "Heliados")--Visit
+     to London--"Elijah"--Likes London less--The Sibree family and
+     Mrs. John Cash's reminiscences--Letter to Miss Mary
+     Sibree--Letters to Miss Sara Hennell--Mental
+     depression--Opinion of Charles Hennell's "Inquiry"--Visit to
+     the Isle of Wight with father--Admiration of
+     Richardson--Blanco White--Delight in George Sand's "Lettres
+     d'un Voyageur"--Letters to Mr. John Sibree--Opinion of Mrs.
+     Hannah More's letters--"Tancred," "Coningsby," and
+     "Sybil"--D'Israeli's theory of races--Gentile nature kicks
+     against superiority of Jews--Bows only to the supremacy of
+     Hebrew poetry--Superiority of music among the arts--Relation
+     of religion to art--Thorwaldsen's Christ--Admiration of
+     Roberts and Creswick--The intellect and moral nature restrain
+     the passions and senses--Mr. Dawson the
+     lecturer--Satisfaction in French Revolution of '48--The men
+     of the barricade bowing to the image of Christ--Difference
+     between French and English working-classes--The need of
+     utterance--Sympathy with Mr. Sibree in religious
+     difficulties--Longing for a high attic in Geneva--Letters to
+     Miss Sara Hennell--Views on correspondence--Mental
+     depression--Father's illness--Father better--Goes with him to
+     St. Leonard's--Letter to Charles Bray--Depression to be
+     overcome by thought and love--Admiration of Louis
+     Blanc--Recovery from depression--"Jane Eyre"--Return to
+     Coventry--Meets Emerson--Strauss's pamphlet on Julian the
+     Apostate--Carlyle's eulogium on Emerson--Francis
+     Newman--Suffering from depression--Letter to Mrs.
+     Houghton--Self-condemnation for evil speaking--Letters to
+     Miss Hennell--Macaulay's History--On the influence of George
+     Sand's and Rousseau's writing--Writes review of the "Nemesis
+     of Faith" for the _Coventry Herald_--Opinion of the "Nemesis"
+     and the "Shadows of the Clouds"--Translating Spinoza's
+     "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus"--Letter to Mrs. Pears--The
+     consolations of nursing--Strain of father's illness--Father's
+     death.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] Organs of Combativeness.
+
+[21] Afterwards acknowledged by the author, Robert Landor (brother of
+Walter Savage Landor), who also wrote the "Fountain of Arethusa," etc.
+
+[22] John Foster, Baptist minister, born 1770, died 1843.
+
+[23] An _Ahnung_--a presentiment--of her own future.
+
+[24] On Emerson.
+
+[25] Francis Newman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+     It fortunately happened that the Brays had planned a trip to
+     the Continent for this month of June, 1849, and Miss Evans,
+     being left desolate by the death of her father, accepted
+     their invitation to join them. On the 11th June they started,
+     going by way of Paris, Lyons, Avignon, Marseilles, Nice,
+     Genoa, Milan, Como, Lago Maggiore, Martigny, and Chamounix,
+     arriving at Geneva in the third week of July. Here Miss Evans
+     determined to remain for some months, the Brays returning
+     home. Before they went, however, they helped her to settle
+     herself comfortably _en pension_, and, as will be seen from
+     the following letters, the next eight months were quietly and
+     peacefully happy. The _pension_ selected in the first
+     instance was the Campagne Plongeon, which stands on a slight
+     eminence a few hundred yards back from the road on the route
+     d'Hermance, some ten minutes' walk from the Hôtel Métropole.
+     From the Hôtel National on the Quai de Mont Blanc one catches
+     a pleasant glimpse of it nestling among its trees. A
+     good-sized, gleaming white house, with a centre, and gables
+     at each side, a flight of steps leading from the middle
+     window to the ground. A meadow in front, nicely planted,
+     slopes charmingly down to the blue lake, and behind the
+     house, on the left-hand side, there is an avenue of
+     remarkably fine chestnut-trees, whence there is a magnificent
+     view of the Jura mountains on the opposite side of the lake.
+     The road to Geneva is very beautiful, by the lake-side,
+     bordered with plane-trees. It was a delightful, soothing
+     change after the long illness and the painful death of her
+     father--after the monotonous dulness, too, of an English
+     provincial town like Coventry, where there is little beauty
+     of any sort to gladden the soul. In the first months
+     following a great loss it is good to be alone for a
+     time--alone, especially amidst beautiful scenes--and alone in
+     the sense of being removed from habitual associations, but
+     yet constantly in the society of new acquaintances, who are
+     sufficiently interesting, but not too intimate. The Swiss
+     correspondence which follows is chiefly addressed to the
+     Brays collectively, and describes the life minutely.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 27th July, 1840.]
+
+About my comfort here, I find no disagreeables, and have every
+physical comfort that I care about. The family seems well-ordered and
+happy. I have made another friend, too--an elderly English lady, a
+Mrs. Locke, who used to live at Ryde--a pretty old lady with plenty of
+shrewdness and knowledge of the world. She began to say very kind
+things to me in rather a waspish tone yesterday morning at breakfast.
+I liked her better at dinner and tea, and to-day we are quite
+confidential. I only hope she will stay; she is just the sort of
+person I shall like to have to speak to--not at all "congenial," but
+with a character of her own. The going down to tea bores me, and I
+shall get out of it as soon as I can, unless I can manage to have the
+newspapers to read. The American lady embroiders slippers--the mamma
+looks on and does nothing. The marquis and his friends play at whist;
+the old ladies sew; and madame says things so true that they are
+insufferable. She is obliged to talk to all, and cap their
+_niaiseries_ with some suitable observation. She has been very kind
+and motherly to me. I like her better every time I see her. I have
+quiet and comfort--what more can I want to make me a healthy,
+reasonable being once more? I will never go near a friend again until
+I can bring joy and peace in my heart and in my face--but remember
+that friendship will be easy then.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 5th Aug. 1849.]
+
+I hope my imagination paints truly when it shows me all of you seated
+with beaming faces round the tea-table at Rosehill. I shall be
+yearning to know that things as well as people are smiling on you; but
+I am sure you will not let me wait for news of you longer than is
+necessary. My life here would be delightful if we could always keep
+the same set of people; but, alas! I fear one generation will go and
+another come so fast that I shall not care to become acquainted with
+any of them. My good Mrs. Locke is not going, that is one comfort. She
+is quite a mother to me--helps me to buy my candles and do all my
+shopping--takes care of me at dinner, and quite rejoices when she sees
+me enjoy conversation or anything else. The St. Germains are
+delightful people--the marquise really seems to me the most charming
+person I ever saw, with kindness enough to make the ultra-politeness
+of her manners quite genuine. She is very good to me, and says of me,
+"Je m'interesse vivement à mademoiselle." The marquis is the most
+well-bred, harmless of men. He talks very little--every sentence seems
+a terrible gestation, and comes forth _fortissimo_; but he generally
+bestows one on me, and seems especially to enjoy my poor tunes (mind
+you, all these trivialities are to satisfy your vanity, not
+mine--because you are beginning to be ashamed of having loved me).
+The gray-headed gentleman got quite fond of talking philosophy with me
+before he went; but, alas! he and a very agreeable young man who was
+with him are gone to Aix les Bains. The young German is the Baron de
+H----. I should think he is not more than two or three and twenty,
+very good-natured, but a most determined enemy to all gallantry. I
+fancy he is a Communist; but he seems to have been joked about his
+opinions by madame and the rest until he has determined to keep a
+proud silence on such matters. He has begun to talk to me, and I think
+we should become good friends; but he, too, is gone on an expedition
+to Monte Rosa. He is expecting his brother to join him here on his
+return, but I fear they will not stay long. The _gouvernante_ is a
+German, with a moral region that would rejoice Mr. Bray's eyes. Poor
+soul, she is in a land of strangers, and often seems to feel her
+loneliness. Her situation is a very difficult one; and "_die Angst_,"
+she says, often brings on a pain at her heart. Madame is a woman of
+some reading and considerable talent--very fond of politics, a
+devourer of the journals, with an opinion ready for you on any subject
+whatever. It will be a serious loss to her to part with the St.
+Germain family. I fear that they will not stay longer than this month.
+I should be quite indifferent to the world that comes or goes if once
+I had my boxes with all my books. Last Sunday I went with madame to a
+small church near Plongeon, and I could easily have fancied myself in
+an Independent chapel at home. The spirit of the sermon was not a whit
+more elevated than that of our friend Dr. Harris; the text, "What
+shall I do to be saved?" the answer of Jesus being blinked as usual.
+
+To-day I have been to hear one of the most celebrated preachers, M.
+Meunier. His sermon was really eloquent--all written down, but
+delivered with so much energy and feeling that you never thought of
+the book. It is curious to notice how patriotism--_dévouement à la
+patrie_--is put in the sermons as the first of virtues, even before
+devotion to the Church. We never hear of it in England after we leave
+school. The good marquis goes with his family and servants, all nicely
+dressed, to the Catholic Church. They are a most orderly set of
+people: there is nothing but their language and their geniality and
+politeness to distinguish them from one of the best of our English
+aristocratic families. I am perfectly comfortable; every one is kind
+to me and seems to like me. Your kind hearts will rejoice at this, I
+know. Only remember that I am just as much interested in all that
+happens to you at Rosehill as you are in what happens to me at
+Plongeon. Pray that the motto of Geneva may become mine--"_Post
+tenebras lux_."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 20th Aug. 1849.]
+
+I have no head for writing to-day, for I have been keeping my bed for
+the last three days; but I must remember that writing to you is like
+ringing a bell hung in the planet Jupiter--it is so weary a while
+before one's letters reach. I have been positively sickening for want
+of my boxes, and anxiety to hear of my relations. Your kind letter of
+this morning has quieted the latter a little; but my boxes, alas! have
+not appeared. Do not be alarmed about my health. I have only had a
+terrible headache--prolonged, in fact, by the assiduities of the good
+people here; for the first day I lay in my bed I had the whole female
+world of Plongeon in my bedroom, and talked so incessantly that I was
+unable to sleep after it; the consequence, as you may imagine, was
+that the next day I was very much worse; but I am getting better, and
+indeed it was worth while to be ill to have so many kind attentions.
+There is a fresh German family from Frankfurt here just now--Madame
+Cornelius and her children. She is the daughter of the richest banker
+in Frankfurt, and, what is better, full of heart and mind, with a face
+that tells you so before she opens her lips. She has more reading than
+the marquise, being German and Protestant; and it is a real
+refreshment to talk with her for half an hour. The dear marquise is a
+truly devout Catholic. It is beautiful to hear her speak of the
+comfort she has in the confessional--for our _têtes-à-tête_ have
+lately turned on religious matters. She says I am in a "mauvaise voie
+sous le rapport de la religion. Peut être vous vous marierez, et le
+mariage, chère amie, sans la foi religieuse!..." She says I have
+isolated myself by my studies--that I am too cold and have too little
+confidence in the feelings of others towards me--that I do not believe
+how deep an interest she has conceived in my lot. She says Signor
+Goldrini (the young Italian who was here for a week) told her, when he
+had been talking to me one evening, "Vous aimerez cette demoiselle,
+j'en suis sûr"--and she has found his prediction true. They are
+leaving for their own country on Wednesday. She hopes I shall go to
+Italy and see her; and when I tell her that I have no faith that she
+will remember me long enough for me to venture on paying her a visit
+if ever I should go to Italy again, she shakes her head at my
+incredulity. She was born at Genoa. Her father was three years
+Sardinian Minister at Constantinople before she was married, and she
+speaks with enthusiasm of her life there--"C'est là le pays de la
+vraie poésie ou l'on sent ce que c'est que de vivre par le coeur." M.
+de H---- is returned from Monte Rosa. He would be a nice person if he
+had another soul added to the one he has by nature--the soul that
+comes by sorrow and love. I stole his book while he was gone--the
+first volume of Louis Blanc's "History of Ten Years." It contains a
+very interesting account of the three days of July, 1830. His brother
+is coming to join him, so I hope he will not go at present. Tell Miss
+Sibree my address, and beg her to write to me all about herself, and
+to write on thin paper. I hardly know yet whether I shall like this
+place well enough to stay here through the winter. I have been under
+the disadvantage of wanting all on which I chiefly depend, my books,
+etc. When I have been here another month I shall be better able to
+judge. I hope you managed to get in the black velvet dress. The people
+dress, and think about dressing, here more even than in England. You
+would not know me if you saw me. The marquise took on her the office
+of _femme de chambre_ and dressed my hair one day. She has abolished
+all my curls, and made two things stick out on each side of my head
+like those on the head of the Sphinx. All the world says I look
+infinitely better; so I comply, though to myself I seem uglier than
+ever--if possible. I am fidgeted to death about my boxes, and that
+tiresome man not to acknowledge the receipt of them. I make no apology
+for writing all my peevishness and follies, because I want you to do
+the same--to let me know everything about you, to the aching of your
+fingers--and you tell me very little. My boxes, my boxes! I dream of
+them night and day. Dear Mr. Hennell! Give him my heartiest
+affectionate remembrances. Tell him I find no one here so spirited as
+he: there are no better jokes going than I can make myself. Mrs.
+Hennell and Mrs. C. Hennell, too, all are remembered--if even I have
+only seen them in England.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 28th Aug. 1849.]
+
+Mme. de Ludwigsdorff, the wife of an Austrian baron, has been here for
+two days, and is coming again. She is handsome, spirited, and
+clever--pure English by birth, but quite foreign in manners and
+appearance. She, and all the world besides, are going to winter in
+Italy. Nothing annoys me now; I feel perfectly at home, and shall
+really be comfortable when I have all my little matters about me. This
+place looks more lovely to me every day--the lake, the town, the
+_campagnes_, with their stately trees and pretty houses, the glorious
+mountains in the distance; one can hardly believe one's self on earth;
+one might live here, and forget that there is such a thing as want or
+labor or sorrow. The perpetual presence of all this beauty has
+somewhat the effect of mesmerism or chloroform. I feel sometimes as if
+I were sinking into an agreeable state of numbness, on the verge of
+unconsciousness, and seem to want well pinching to rouse me. The other
+day (Sunday) there was a _fête_ held on the lake--the _fête_ of
+Navigation. I went out, with some other ladies, in M. de H----'s boat,
+at sunset, and had the richest draught of beauty. All the boats of
+Geneva turned out in their best attire. When the moon and stars came
+out there were beautiful fireworks sent up from the boats. The
+mingling of the silver and the golden rays on the rippled lake, the
+bright colors of the boats, the music, the splendid fireworks, and the
+pale moon looking at it all with a sort of grave surprise, made up a
+scene of perfect enchantment; and our dear old Mont Blanc was there,
+in his white ermine robe. I rowed all the time, and hence comes my
+palsy. I can perfectly fancy dear Mrs. Pears in her Leamington house.
+How beautiful all that Foleshill life looks now, like the distant Jura
+in the morning! She was such a sweet, dear, good friend to me. My
+walks with her, my little visits to them in the evening--all is
+remembered. I am glad you have seen Fanny again; any attention you
+show her is a real kindness to me, and I assure you she is worth it.
+You know, or, you do not know, that my nature is so chameleon-like I
+shall lose all my identity unless you keep nourishing the old self
+with letters; so, pray, write as much and as often as you can. It
+jumps admirably with my humor to live in two worlds at once in this
+way. I possess my dearest friends and my old environment in my
+thoughts, and another world of novelty and beauty in which I am
+actually moving, and my contrariety of disposition always makes the
+world that lives in my thoughts the dearer of the two, the one in
+which I more truly dwell. So, after all, I enjoy my friends most when
+I am away from them. I shall not say so, though, if I should live to
+rejoin you six or seven months hence. Keep me for seven[26] years
+longer, and you will find out the use of me, like all other pieces of
+trumpery.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 6th Sept. 1849.]
+
+Have I confided too much in your generosity in supposing that you
+would write to me first? or is there some other reason for your
+silence? I suffer greatly from it--not entirely from selfish reasons,
+but in great part because I am really anxious to know all about you,
+your state of health and spirits, the aspect of things within and
+without you. Did Mr. Bray convey to you my earnest request that you
+would write to me? You know of my whereabouts and circumstances from
+my good friends at Rosehill, so that I have little to tell you; at
+least, I have not spirit to write of myself until I have heard from
+you, and have an assurance from yourself that you yet care about me.
+Sara (Mrs. Isaac Evans) has sent me word of the sad, sad loss that has
+befallen poor Chrissey and Edward--a loss in which I feel that I have
+a share; for that angelic little being had great interest for me; she
+promised to pay so well for any care spent on her. I can imagine poor
+Edward's almost frantic grief, and I dread the effect on Chrissey's
+weak frame of her more silent suffering. Anything you can tell me
+about them will be read very eagerly. I begin to feel the full value
+of a letter; so much so that, if ever I am convinced that any one has
+the least anxiety to hear from me, I shall always reckon it among the
+first duties to sit down without delay, giving no ear to the
+suggestions of my idleness and aversion to letter-writing. Indeed, I
+am beginning to find it really pleasant to write to my friends, now
+that I am so far away from them; and I could soon fill a sheet to you,
+if your silence did not weigh too heavily on my heart. My health is by
+no means good yet; seldom good enough not to be a sort of drag on my
+mind; so you must make full allowance for too much egotism and
+susceptibility in me. It seems to be three years instead of three
+months since I was in England and amongst you, and I imagine that all
+sorts of revolutions must have taken place in the interim; whereas to
+you, I dare say, remaining in your old home and among your every-day
+duties, the time has slipped away so rapidly that you are unable to
+understand my anxiety to hear from you. I think the climate here is
+not particularly healthy; I suppose, from the vicinity of the lake,
+which, however, becomes so dear to me that one cannot bear to hear it
+accused. Good-bye, dear Fanny; a thousand blessings to you, whether
+you write to me or not, and much gratitude if you do.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 13th Sept. 1849.]
+
+My boxes arrived last Friday. The expense was fr. 150--perfectly
+horrible! Clearly, I must give myself for food to the fowls of the air
+or the fishes of the lake. It is a consolation to a mind imbued with a
+lofty philosophy that, when one can get nothing to eat, one can still
+be eaten--the evil is only apparent. It is quite settled that I cannot
+stay at Plongeon; I must move into town. But, alas! I must pay fr. 200
+per month. If I were there I should see more conversable people than
+here. Do you think any one would buy my "Encyclopædia Britannica" at
+half-price, and my globes? If so, I should not be afraid of exceeding
+my means, and I should have a little money to pay for my piano, and
+for some lessons of different kinds that I want to take. The
+"Encyclopædia" is the last edition, and cost £42, and the globes
+£8 10_s._ I shall never have anywhere to put them, so it is folly to
+keep them, if any one will buy them. No one else has written to me,
+though I have written to almost all. I would rather have it so than
+feel that the debt was on my side. When will you come to me for help,
+that I may be able to hate you a little less? I shall leave here as
+soon as I am able to come to a decision, as I am anxious to feel
+settled, and the weather is becoming cold. This house is like a
+bird-cage set down in a garden. Do not count this among my letters. I
+am good for nothing to-day, and can write nothing well but bitterness,
+so that I will not trust myself to say another word. The Baronne de
+Ludwigsdorff seems to have begun to like me very much, and is really
+kind; so you see Heaven sends kind souls, though they are by no means
+kindred ones. Poor Mrs. Locke is to write to me--has given me a little
+ring; says, "Take care of yourself, my child--have some tea of your
+own--you'll be quite another person if you get some introductions to
+clever people; you'll get on well among a certain set--that's true;"
+it is her way to say "that's true" after all her affirmations. She
+says, "You won't find any kindred spirits at Plongeon, my dear."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 20th Sept. 1849.]
+
+I am feeling particularly happy because I have had very kind letters
+from my brother and sisters. I am ashamed to fill sheets about myself,
+but I imagined that this was precisely what you wished. Pray correct
+my mistake, if it be one, and then I will look over the Calvin
+manuscripts, and give you some information of really general interest,
+suited to our mutual capacities. Mme. Ludwigsdorff is so good to me--a
+charming creature--so anxious to see me comfortably settled--petting
+me in all sorts of ways. She sends me tea when I wake in the
+morning--orange-flower water when I go to bed--grapes--and her maid to
+wait on me. She says if I like she will spend the winter after this at
+Paris with me, and introduce me to her friends there; but she does not
+mean to attach herself to me, because I shall never like her long. I
+shall be tired of her when I have sifted her, etc. She says I have
+more intellect than _morale_, and other things more true than
+agreeable; however, she is "greatly interested" in me; has told me her
+troubles and her feelings, she says, in spite of herself; for she has
+never been able before in her life to say so much even to her old
+friends. It is a mystery she cannot unravel. She is a person of high
+culture, according to the ordinary notions of what feminine culture
+should be. She speaks French and German perfectly, plays well, and has
+the most perfect polish of manner--the most thorough refinement, both
+socially and morally. She is tall and handsome, a striking-looking
+person, but with a sweet feminine expression when she is with those
+she likes; dresses exquisitely; in fine, is all that I am not. I shall
+tire you with all this, but I want you to know what good creatures
+there are here as elsewhere. Miss F. tells me that the first day she
+sat by my side at dinner she looked at me and thought to herself,
+"That is a grave lady; I do not think I shall like her much;" but as
+soon as I spoke to her, and she looked into my eyes, she felt she
+could love me. Then she lent me a book written by her cousin--a
+religious novel--in which there is a fearful infidel who will not
+believe, and hates all who do, etc. Then she invited me to walk with
+her, and came to talk in my room; then invited me to go to the
+Oratoire with them, till I began to be uncomfortable under the idea
+that they fancied I was evangelical, and that I was gaining their
+affection under false pretences; so I told Miss F. that I was going to
+sacrifice her good opinion, and confess my heresies. I quite expected,
+from their manner and character, that they would forsake me in
+horror--but they are as kind as ever. They never go into the _salon_
+in the evening, and I have almost forsaken it, spending the evening
+frequently in Mme. de Ludwigsdorff's room, where we have some
+delightful tea. The tea of the house here is execrable; or, rather, as
+Mrs. A. says, "How glad we ought to be that it has no taste at all; it
+might have a very bad one!" I like the A.'s; they are very
+good-natured. Mrs. A., a very ugly but lady-like little woman, who is
+under an infatuation "as it regards" her caps--always wearing the
+brightest rose-color or intensest blue--with a complexion not unlike a
+dirty primrose glove. The rest of the people are nothing to me,
+except, indeed, dear old Mlle. de Phaisan, who comes into my room when
+I am ill, with "Qu'est ce que vous avez, ma bonne?" in the tone of the
+kindest old aunt, and thinks that I am the most amiable douce
+creature, which will give you a better opinion of her charity than her
+penetration.
+
+Dear creatures! no one is so good as you yet. I have not yet found any
+one who can bear comparison with you; not in kindness to me--_ça va
+sans dire_--but in solidity of mind and in expansion of feeling. This
+is a very coarse thing to say, but it came to the end of my pen, and
+_litera scripta manet_--at least, when it comes at the end of the
+second page. I shall certainly stay at Geneva this winter, and shall
+return to England as early as the spring weather will permit, always
+supposing that nothing occurs to alter my plans. I am still thin; so
+how much will be left of me next April I am afraid to imagine. I shall
+be length without breadth. Cara's assurance that you are well and
+comfortable is worth a luncheon to me, which is just the thing I am
+generally most in want of, for we dine at six now. I love to imagine
+you in your home; and everything seems easy to me when I am not
+disturbed about the health or well-being of my loved ones. It is
+really so; I do not say it out of any sort of affectation, benevolent
+or otherwise. I am without carefulness, alas! in more senses than one.
+Thank Sara very heartily for her letter. I do not write a special
+sheet for her to-day, because I have to write to two or three other
+people, but she must not the less believe how I valued a little
+private morsel from her; and also that I would always rather she wrote
+"from herself" than "to me"--that is my theory of letter-writing. Your
+letters are as welcome as Elijah's ravens--I thought of saying the
+dinner-bell, only that would be too gross! I get impatient at the end
+of the ten days which it takes for our letters to go to and fro; and I
+have not the least faith in the necessity for keeping the sheet three
+or four days before Mr. Bray can find time to write his meagre bit. If
+you see the Miss Franklins, give my love to them; my remembrances to
+Mr. and Mrs. Whittem; love to Miss Sibree always. Hearty love to
+Clapton[27] and Woodford;[28] and a very diffusive benevolence to the
+world in general, without any particular attachment to A or B. I am
+trying to please Mr. Bray. Good-bye, dear souls. _Dominus vobiscum._
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Thursday, 4th Oct. 1849.]
+
+I am anxious for you to know my new address, as I shall leave here on
+Tuesday. I think I have at last found the very thing. I shall be the
+only lodger. The _appartement_ is _assez joli_, with an alcove, so
+that it looks like a sitting-room in the daytime--the people, an
+artist of great respectability, and his wife, a most kind-looking,
+lady-like person, with two boys, who have the air of being well
+educated. They seem very anxious to have me, and are ready to do
+anything to accommodate me. I shall live with them--that is, dine with
+them; breakfast in my own room. The terms are fr. 150 per month, light
+included. M. and Mme. d'Albert are middle-aged, musical, and, I am
+told, have _beaucoup d'esprit_. I hope this will not exceed my means
+for four or five months. There is a nice, large _salon_ and a good
+_salle à manger_. I am told that their society is very good. Mme. de
+Ludwigsdorff was about going there a year ago, and it was she who
+recommended it to me.
+
+I hope Sara's fears are supererogatory--a proof of a too nervous
+solicitude about me, for which I am grateful, though it does me no
+good to hear of it. I want encouraging rather than warning and
+checking. I believe I am so constituted that I shall never be cured of
+my faults except by God's discipline. If human beings would but
+believe it, they do me the most good by saying to me the kindest
+things truth will permit; and really I cannot hope those will be
+superlatively kind. The reason I wished to raise a little extra money
+is that I wanted to have some lessons and other means of culture--not
+for my daily bread, for which I hope I shall have enough; but, since
+you think my scheme impracticable, we will dismiss it. _Au reste_, be
+in no anxiety about me. Nothing is going wrong that I know of. I am
+not an absolute fool and weakling. When I am fairly settled in my new
+home I will write again. My address will be--M. d'Albert Durade, Rue
+des Chanoines, No. 107.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 4th Oct. 1849.]
+
+The blessed compensation there is in all things made your letter
+doubly precious for having been waited for, and it would have inspired
+me to write to you again much sooner, but that I have been in
+uncertainty about settling myself for the winter, and I wished to send
+you my future address. I am to move to my new home on Tuesday the 9th.
+I shall not at all regret leaving here; the season is beginning to be
+rather sombre, though the glorious chestnuts here are still worth
+looking at half the day. You have heard of some of the people whom I
+have described in my letters to Rosehill. The dear little old maid,
+Mlle. de Phaisan, is quite a good friend to me--extremely prosy, and
+full of tiny details; but really people of that calibre are a comfort
+to one occasionally, when one has not strength enough for more
+stimulating things. She is a sample of those happy souls who ask for
+nothing but the work of the hour, however trivial; who are contented
+to live without knowing whether they effect anything, but who do
+really effect much good, simply by their calm and even _maintien_. I
+laugh to hear her say in a tone of remonstrance--"Mme. de Ludwigsdorff
+dit qu'elle s'ennuie quand les soirées sont longues: moi, je ne
+conçois pas comment on peut s'ennuyer quand on a de l'ouvrage ou des
+jeux ou de la conversation." When people who are dressing elegantly
+and driving about to make calls every day of their life have been
+telling me of their troubles--their utter hopelessness of ever finding
+a vein worth working in their future life--my thoughts have turned
+towards many whose sufferings are of a more tangible character, and I
+have really felt all the old commonplaces about the equality of human
+destinies, always excepting those spiritual differences which are
+apart not only from poverty and riches, but from individual
+affections. Dear Chrissey has found time and strength to write to me,
+and very precious her letter was, though I wept over it. "Deep,
+abiding grief must be mine," she says, and I know well it must be. The
+mystery of trial! It falls with such avalanche weight on the head of
+the meek and patient. I wish I could do something of more avail for my
+friends than love them and long for their happiness.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 11th Oct. 1849.]
+
+M. and Mme. d'Albert are really clever people--people worth sitting up
+an hour longer to talk to. This does not hinder madame from being an
+excellent manager--dressing scrupulously, and keeping her servants in
+order. She has hung my room with pictures, one of which is the most
+beautiful group of flowers conceivable thrown on an open Bible,
+painted by herself. I have a piano which I hire. There is also one in
+the _salon_. M. d'Albert plays and sings, and in the winter he tells
+me they have parties to sing masses and do other delightful things. In
+fact, I think I am just in the right place. I breakfast in my own room
+at half-past eight, lunch at half-past twelve, and dine at four or a
+little after, and take tea at eight. From the tea-table I have gone
+into the _salon_ and chatted until bedtime. It would really have been
+a pity to have stayed at Plongeon, out of reach of everything, and
+with people so little worth talking to. I have not found out the
+_desagrémens_ here yet. It is raining horribly, but this just saves me
+from the regret I should have felt at having quitted the chestnuts of
+Plongeon. That _campagne_ looked splendid in its autumn dress.
+
+     George Eliot retained so warm an admiration and love for M.
+     d'Albert Durade to the end of her life that it seems fitting
+     here to mention that he still lives, carrying well the weight
+     of eighty winters. He is _conservateur_ of the Athénée--a
+     permanent exhibition of works of art in Geneva; and he
+     published only last year (1883) a French translation of the
+     "Scenes of Clerical Life," having already previously
+     published translations of "Adam Bede," "Felix Holt," "Silas
+     Marner," and "Romola." The description of his personal
+     appearance, in the following letter, still holds good, save
+     that the gray hair has become quite white. He lost his wife
+     in 1873; and it will be seen from subsequent letters that
+     George Eliot kept up a faithful attachment to her to the
+     end. They were both friends after her own heart. The old
+     apartment is now No. 18, instead of No. 107, Rue des
+     Chanoines, and is occupied as the printing-office of the
+     _Journal de Genève_. But half of the rooms remain just as
+     they were five-and-thirty years ago. The _salon_, wainscoted
+     in imitation light-oak panels, with a white China stove, and
+     her bedroom opening off it--as she had often described it to
+     me; and M. d'Albert has still in his possession the painting
+     of the bunch of beautiful flowers thrown on an open Bible
+     mentioned in the last letter. He told me that when Miss Evans
+     first came to look at the house she was so horrified with the
+     forbidding aspect of the stairs that she declared she would
+     not go up above the first floor; but when she got inside the
+     door she was reconciled to her new quarters. Calvin's house
+     is close to the Rue des Chanoines, and she was much
+     interested in it. It will be seen that she did some work in
+     physics under Professor de la Rive; but she principally
+     rested and enjoyed herself during the stay at Geneva. It was
+     exactly the kind of life she was in need of at the time, and
+     the letters show how much she appreciated it.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 26th Oct. 1849.]
+
+I languished for your letter before it came, and read it three times
+running--judge whether I care less for you than of old. It is the best
+of blessings to know that you are well and cheerful; and when I think
+of all that might happen in a fortnight to make you otherwise,
+especially in these days of cholera and crises, I cannot help being
+anxious until I get a fresh assurance that at least five days ago all
+was well. Before I say anything about myself, I must contradict your
+suspicion that I paint things too agreeably for the sake of giving
+you pleasure. I assure you my letters are subjectively true; the
+falsehood, if there be any, is in my manner of seeing things. But I
+will give you some _vérités positives_, in which, alas! poor
+imagination has hitherto been able to do little for the world. Mme.
+d'Albert anticipates all my wants, and makes a spoiled child of me. I
+like these dear people better and better--everything is so in harmony
+with one's moral feeling that I really can almost say I never enjoyed
+a more complete _bien être_ in my life than during the last fortnight.
+For M. d'Albert, I love him already as if he were father and brother
+both. His face is rather haggard-looking, but all the lines and the
+wavy gray hair indicate the temperament of the artist. I have not
+heard a word or seen a gesture of his yet that was not perfectly in
+harmony with an exquisite moral refinement--indeed, one feels a better
+person always when he is present. He sings well, and plays on the
+piano a little. It is delightful to hear him talk of his friends--he
+admires them so genuinely--one sees so clearly that there is no reflex
+egotism. His conversation is charming. I learn something every
+dinner-time. Mme. d'Albert has less of genius and more of
+cleverness--a really lady-like person, who says everything well. She
+brings up her children admirably--two nice, intelligent boys;[29]--the
+youngest, particularly, has a sort of Lamartine expression, with a
+fine head. It is so delightful to get among people who exhibit no
+meannesses, no worldlinesses, that one may well be enthusiastic. To me
+it is so blessed to find any departure from the rule of giving as
+little as possible for as much as possible. Their whole behavior to me
+is as if I were a guest whom they delighted to honor. Last night we
+had a little knot of their most intimate musical friends, and M. and
+Mme. d'Albert introduced me to them as if they wished me to know
+them--as if they wished me to like their friends and their friends to
+like me. The people and the evening would have been just after your
+own hearts. In fact, I have not the slightest pretext for being
+discontented--not the shadow of a discomfort. Even the little
+housemaid Jeanne is charming; says to me every morning, in the
+prettiest voice: "Madame a-t-elle bien dormi cette nuit?"--puts fire
+in my _chauffe-pied_ without being told--cleans my rooms most
+conscientiously. There--I promise to weary you less for the future
+with my descriptions. I could not resist the temptation to speak
+gratefully of M. and Mme. d'Albert.
+
+Give my love to Mrs. Pears--my constant, ever-fresh remembrance. My
+love to Miss Rebecca Franklin--tell her I have only spun my web to
+Geneva; it will infallibly carry me back again across the gulf, were
+it twice as great. If Mr. Froude preach the new word at Manchester, I
+hope he will preach it so as to do without an after-explanation, and
+not bewilder his hearers in the manner of Mephistopheles when he dons
+the doctor's gown of Faust. I congratulate you on the new edition,[30]
+and promise to read it with a disposition to admire when I am at
+Rosehill once more. I am beginning to lose respect for the petty
+acumen that sees difficulties. I love the souls that rush along to
+their goal with a full stream of sentiment--that have too much of the
+positive to be harassed by the perpetual negatives--which, after all,
+are but the disease of the soul, to be expelled by fortifying the
+principle of vitality.
+
+Good-bye, dear loves; sha'n't I kiss you when I am in England
+again--in England! I already begin to think of the journey as an
+impossibility. Geneva is so beautiful now, the trees have their
+richest coloring. Coventry is a fool to it--but, then, you are at
+Coventry, and you are better than lake, trees, and mountains.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 28th Oct. 1849.]
+
+We have had some delicious autumn days here. If the fine weather last,
+I am going up the Salève on Sunday with M. d'Albert. On one side I
+shall have a magnificent view of the lake, the town, and the Jura; on
+the other, the range of Mont Blanc. The walks about Geneva are
+perfectly enchanting. "Ah!" says poor Mlle. de Phaisan, "nous avons un
+beau pays si nous n'avions pas ces Radicaux!" The election of the
+Conseil d'État is to take place in November, and an _émeute_ is
+expected. The actual government is Radical, and thoroughly detested by
+all the "respectable" classes. The vice-president of the Conseil and
+the virtual head of the government is an unprincipled, clever fellow,
+horribly in debt himself, and on the way to reduce the government to
+the same position.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 28th Oct. 1849.]
+
+I like my town life vastly. I shall like it still better in the
+winter. There is an indescribable charm to me in this form of human
+nest-making. You enter a by no means attractive-looking house, you
+climb up two or three flights of cold, dark-looking stone steps, you
+ring at a very modest door, and you enter a set of rooms, snug, or
+comfortable, or elegant. One is so out of reach of intruders, so
+undiverted from one's occupations by externals, so free from cold,
+rushing winds through hall doors--one feels in a downy nest high up
+in a good old tree. I have always had a hankering after this sort of
+life, and I find it was a true instinct of what would suit me. Just
+opposite my windows is the street in which the Sisters of Charity
+live, and, if I look out, I generally see either one of them or a
+sober-looking ecclesiastic. Then a walk of five minutes takes me out
+of all streets, within sight of beauties that I am sure you too would
+love, if you did not share my enthusiasm for the town. I have not
+another minute, having promised to go out before dinner--so, dearest,
+take my letter as a hasty kiss, just to let you know how constantly I
+love you--how, the longer I live and the more I have felt, the better
+I know how to value you.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 4th Dec. 1849.]
+
+I write at once to answer your questions about business. Spinoza and I
+have been divorced for several months. My want of health has obliged
+me to renounce all application. I take walks, play on the piano, read
+Voltaire, talk to my friends, and just take a dose of mathematics
+every day to prevent my brain from becoming quite soft. If you are
+anxious to publish the translation in question I could, after a few
+months, finish the "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" to keep it
+company; but I confess to you that I think you would do better to
+abstain from printing a translation. What is wanted in English is not
+a translation of Spinoza's works, but a true estimate of his life and
+system. After one has rendered his Latin faithfully into English, one
+feels that there is another yet more difficult process of translation
+for the reader to effect, and that the only mode of making Spinoza
+accessible to a larger number is to study his books, then shut them,
+and give an analysis. For those who read the very words Spinoza wrote
+there is the same sort of interest in his style as in the conversation
+of a person of great capacity who has led a solitary life, and who
+says from his own soul what all the world is saying by rote; but this
+interest hardly belongs to a translation.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 4th Dec. 1849.]
+
+Your letter is very sweet to me, giving me a picture of your quiet
+life. How shall I enable you to imagine mine, since you know nothing
+of the localities? My good friends here only change for the better.
+Mme. d'Albert is all affection; M. d'Albert all delicacy and
+intelligence; the friends to whom they have introduced me very kind in
+their attentions. In fact, I want nothing but a little more money, to
+feel more at ease about my fires, etc. I am in an atmosphere of love
+and refinement; even the little servant Jeanne seems to love me, and
+does me good every time she comes into the room. I can say anything to
+M. and Mme. d'Albert. M. d'A. understands everything, and if madame
+does not understand, she believes--that is, she seems always sure that
+I mean something edifying. She kisses me like a mother, and I am baby
+enough to find that a great addition to my happiness. _Au reste_, I am
+careful for nothing; I am a sort of supernumerary spoon, and there
+will be no damage to the set if I am lost. My heart-ties are not
+loosened by distance--it is not in the nature of ties to be so; and
+when I think of my loved ones as those to whom I can be a comforter, a
+help, I long to be with them again. Otherwise, I can only think with a
+shudder of returning to England. It looks to me like a land of gloom,
+of _ennui_, of platitude; but in the midst of all this it is the land
+of duty and affection, and the only ardent hope I have for my future
+life is to have given to me some woman's duty--some possibility of
+devoting myself where I may see a daily result of pure, calm
+blessedness in the life of another.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 4th Dec. 1849.]
+
+How do you look? I hope that _bandeau_ of silvery locks is not
+widening too fast on the head I love so well--that the eyes are as
+bright as ever. Your letter tells me they will beam as kindly as ever
+when I see them once more. Never make apologies about your letters, or
+your words, or anything else. It is your soul to which I am wedded;
+and do I not know too well how the soul is doubly belied--first, by
+the impossibility of being in word and act as great, as loving, as
+good as it wills to be; and again, by the miserable weaknesses of the
+friends who see the words and acts through all sorts of mists raised
+by their own passions and preoccupations? In all these matters I am
+the chief of sinners, and I am tempted to rejoice in the offences of
+my friends, because they make me feel less humiliation. I am quite
+satisfied to be at Geneva instead of Paris; in fact, I am becoming
+passionately attached to the mountains, the lake, the streets, my own
+room, and, above all, the dear people with whom I live.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 23d Dec. 1849.]
+
+A thousand Christmas pleasures and blessings to you--good resolutions
+and bright hopes for the New Year! Amen. People who can't be witty
+exert themselves to be pious or affectionate. Henceforth I tell you
+nothing whatever about myself; for if I speak of agreeables, and say I
+am contented, Mr. Bray writes me word that you are all trying to
+forget me. If I were to tell you of disagreeables and privations and
+sadness, Sara would write: "If you are unhappy now, you will be so _à
+fortiori_ ten years hence." Now, since I have a decided objection to
+doses sent by post which upset one's digestion for a fortnight, I am
+determined to give you no pretext for sending them. You shall not know
+whether I am well or ill, contented or discontented, warm or cold,
+fat or thin. But remember that I am so far from being of the same mind
+as Mr. Bray, that good news of you is necessary to my comfort. I walk
+more briskly, and jump out of bed more promptly, after a letter that
+tells me you are well and comfortable, that business is promising,
+that men begin to speak well of you, etc. "I am comforted in your
+comfort," as saith St. Paul to the troublesome Corinthians. When one
+is cabined, cribbed, confined in one's self, it is good to be enlarged
+in one's friends. Good Mr. Marshall! We wish to keep even unamiable
+people when death calls for them, much more good souls like him. I am
+glad he had had one more pleasant visit to Cara for her to think of.
+Dear Sara's letter is very charming--not at all physicky--rather an
+agreeable draught of _vin sucré_. Dear Mr. Hennell, we shall never
+look upon his like.
+
+I am attending a course of lectures on Experimental Physics by M. le
+Professeur de la Rive, the inventor, among other things, of
+electroplating. The lectures occur every Wednesday and Saturday. It is
+time for me to go. I am distressed to send you this shabby last
+fragment of paper, and to write in such a hurry, but the days are
+really only two hours long, and I have so many things to do that I go
+to bed every night miserable because I have left out something I meant
+to do. Good-bye, dear souls. Forget me if you like, you cannot oblige
+me to forget you; and the active is worth twice of the passive all the
+world over! The earth is covered with snow, and the government is
+levelling the fortifications.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 28th Jan. 1850.]
+
+You leave me a long time without news of you, though I told you they
+were necessary as a counteractive to the horrors of this terrible
+winter. Are you really so occupied as to have absolutely no time to
+think of me? I console myself, at least to-day, now we have a blue sky
+once more after two months of mist, with thinking that I am excluded
+by pleasanter ideas--that at least you are well and comfortable, and I
+ought to content myself with that. The fact is, I am much of
+Touchstone's mind--in respect my life is at Geneva, I like it very
+well, but in respect it is not with you, it is a very vile life. I
+have no yearnings to exchange lake and mountains for Bishop Street and
+the Radford Fields, but I have a great yearning to kiss you all and
+talk to you for three days running. I do not think it will be possible
+for me to undertake the journey before the end of March. I look
+forward to it with great dread. I see myself looking utterly
+miserable, ready to leave all my luggage behind me at Paris for the
+sake of escaping the trouble of it. We have had Alboni here--a very
+fat siren. There has been some capital acting of comedies by friends
+of M. d'Albert--one of them is superior to any professional actor of
+comedy I have ever seen. He reads _vaudevilles_ so marvellously that
+one seems to have a whole troupe of actors before one in his single
+person. He is a handsome man of fifty, full of wit and talent, and he
+married about a year ago.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 9th Feb. 1850.]
+
+It is one of the provoking contrarieties of destiny that I should have
+written my croaking letter when your own kind, consolatory one was on
+its way to me. I have been happier ever since it came. After mourning
+two or three months over Chrissey's account of your troubles, I can
+only dwell on that part of your letter which tells that there is a
+little more blue in your sky--that you have faith in the coming
+spring. Shall you be as glad to see me as to hear the cuckoo? I mean
+to return to England as soon as the Jura is passable without
+sledges--probably the end of March or beginning of April. I have a
+little _Heimweh_ "as it regards" my friends. I yearn to see those I
+have loved the longest, but I shall feel real grief at parting from
+the excellent people with whom I am living. I feel they are my
+_friends_; without entering into or even knowing the greater part of
+my views, they understand my character and have a real interest in me.
+I have infinite tenderness from Mme. d'Albert. I call her always
+"maman;" and she is just the creature one loves to lean on and be
+petted by. In fact, I am too much indulged, and shall go back to
+England as undisciplined as ever. This terribly severe winter has been
+a drawback on my recovering my strength. I have lost whole weeks from
+headache, etc., but I am certainly better now than when I came to Mme.
+d'Albert. You tell me to give you these details, so I obey. Decidedly
+England is the most comfortable country to be in in winter--at least,
+for all except those who are rich enough to buy English comforts
+everywhere. I hate myself for caring about carpets, easy-chairs, and
+coal fires--one's soul is under a curse, and can preach no truth while
+one is in bondage to the flesh in this way; but, alas! habit is the
+purgatory in which we suffer for our past sins. I hear much music. We
+have a reunion of musical friends every Monday. For the rest, I have
+refused _soirées_, which are as stupid and unprofitable at Geneva as
+in England. I save all more interesting details, that I may have them
+to tell you when I am with you. I am going now to a _séance_ on
+Experimental Physics by the celebrated Professor de la Rive. This
+letter will at least convince you that I am not eaten up by wolves, as
+they have been fearing at Rosehill. The English papers tell of wolves
+descending from the Jura and devouring the inhabitants of the
+villages, but we have been in happy ignorance of these editors'
+horrors.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 15th Feb. 1850.]
+
+If you saw the Jura to-day! The snow reveals its forests, ravines, and
+precipices, and it stands in relief against a pure blue sky. The snow
+is on the mountains only, now, and one is tempted to walk all day,
+particularly when one lies in bed till ten, as your exemplary friend
+sometimes does. I have had no discipline, and shall return to you more
+of a spoiled child than ever. Indeed, I think I am destined to be so
+to the end--one of the odious swarm of voracious caterpillars soon to
+be swept away from the earth by a tempest. I am getting better bodily.
+I have much less headache, but the least excitement fatigues me.
+Certainly, if one cannot have a malady to carry one off rapidly, the
+only sensible thing is to get well and fat; and I believe I shall be
+driven to that alternative. You know that George Sand writes for the
+theatre? Her "François le Champi--une Comédie," is simplicity and
+purity itself. The seven devils are cast out. We are going to have
+more acting here on Wednesday. M. Chamel's talent makes maman's
+_soirées_ quite brilliant. You will be amused to hear that I am
+sitting for my portrait--at M. d'Albert's request, not mine. If it
+turns out well, I shall long to steal it to give to you; but M.
+d'Albert talks of painting a second, and in that case I shall
+certainly beg one. The idea of making a study of my visage is droll
+enough. I have the kindest possible letters from my brother and
+sisters, promising me the warmest welcome. This helps to give me
+courage for the journey; but the strongest magnet of all is a certain
+little group of three persons whom I hope to find together at
+Rosehill. Something has been said of M. d'Albert accompanying me to
+Paris. I am saddened when I think of all the horrible anxieties of
+trade. If I had children, I would make them carpenters and shoemakers;
+that is the way to make them Messiahs and Jacob Boehms. As for us, who
+are dependent on carpets and easy-chairs, we are reprobates, and shall
+never enter into the kingdom of heaven. I go to the Genevese churches
+every Sunday, and nourish my heterodoxy with orthodox sermons.
+However, there are some clever men here in the Church, and I am
+fortunate in being here at a time when the very cleverest is giving a
+series of conferences. I think I have never told you that we have a
+long German lad of seventeen in the house--the most taciturn and
+awkward of lads. He said very naïvely, when I reproached him for not
+talking to a German young lady at a _soirée_, when he was seated next
+her at table--"Je ne savais que faire de mes jambes." They had placed
+the poor _garçon_ against one of those card-tables--all legs, like
+himself.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 1st March, 1850.]
+
+The weather is so glorious that I think I may set out on my journey
+soon after the 15th. I am not quite certain yet that M. d'Albert will
+not be able to accompany me to Paris; in any case, a package of so
+little value will get along safely enough. I am so excited at the idea
+of the time being so near when I am to leave Geneva--a real grief--and
+see my friends in England--a perfectly overwhelming joy--that I can do
+nothing. I am frightened to think what an idle wretch I am become. And
+you all do not write me one word to tell me you long for me. I have a
+great mind to elope to Constantinople, and never see any one any
+more!
+
+     It is with a feeling of regret that we take leave of the
+     pleasant town of Geneva, its lake and mountains, and its
+     agreeable little circle of acquaintance. It was a peacefully
+     happy episode in George Eliot's life, and one she was always
+     fond of recurring to, in our talk, up to the end of her life.
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+JUNE, 1849, TO MARCH, 1850.
+
+     Goes abroad with Mr. and Mrs. Bray--Geneva--Life at Campagne
+     Plongeon--Letters to Brays describing surroundings--Mrs.
+     Locke--The St. Germain family--Anxiety about her boxes with
+     books, etc.--Hears M. Meunier preach--Patriotism the first of
+     virtues--Mme. Cornelius--Mme. de Ludwigsdorff--"_Fête_ of
+     Navigation" on the lake--Demand for letters--Prophetic
+     anticipation of position seven years later--Wishes to sell
+     some of her books and globes to get music lessons--Letter to
+     Mrs. Houghton--Loss of Mrs. Clarke's child--Love of Lake of
+     Geneva--Letters to Brays--Mme. Ludwigsdorff wishes her to
+     spend winter in Paris--Mlle. de Phaisan--Finds apartment in
+     Geneva, No. 107 Rue des Chanoines, with M. and Mme.
+     d'Albert--Enjoyment of their society--Remarks on translations
+     of Spinoza--Hope of a woman's duty--Attachment to
+     Geneva--Yearning for friends at home--Alboni--Private
+     theatricals--Portrait by M. d'Albert--Remarks on education of
+     children--Leaves Geneva by Jura.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] It may be noted as a curious verification of this presentiment
+that "Scenes of Clerical Life" were published in 1856--just seven
+years later.
+
+[27] Mrs. Hennell.
+
+[28] Mr. and Mrs. C. Hennell.
+
+[29] Mr. Charles Lewes tells me that when he went to stay with the
+d'Alberts at Geneva, many years afterwards, they mentioned how much
+they had been struck by her extraordinary discernment of the character
+of these two boys.
+
+[30] "Philosophy of Necessity," by Charles Bray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+     M. d'Albert and his charge left Geneva towards the end of
+     March, and as the railway was not yet opened all the way to
+     France, they had to cross the Jura in sledges, and suffered
+     terribly from the cold. They joined the railway at Tonnerre,
+     and came through Paris, arriving in England on the 23d of
+     March. After a day in London, Miss Evans went straight to her
+     friends at Rosehill, where she stayed for a few days before
+     going on to Griff. It will have been seen that she had set
+     her hopes high on the delights of home-coming, and with her
+     too sensitive, impressionable nature, it is not difficult to
+     understand, without attributing blame to any one, that she
+     was pretty sure to be laying up disappointment for herself.
+     All who have had the experience of returning from a bright,
+     sunny climate to England in March will recognize in the next
+     letters the actual presence of the east wind, the leaden sky,
+     the gritty dust, and _le spleen_.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Mch. 1850, from
+Rosehill.]
+
+No; I am not in England--I am only nearer the beings I love best. I
+try to forget all geography, and that I have placed myself
+irretrievably out of reach of nature's brightest glories and beauties
+to shiver in a wintry flat. I am unspeakably grateful to find these
+dear creatures looking well and happy, in spite of worldly cares, but
+your clear face and voice are wanting to me. But I must wait with
+patience, and perhaps by the time I have finished my visits to my
+relations you will be ready to come to Rosehill again. I want you to
+scold me, and make me good. I am idle and naughty--_on ne peut
+plus_--sinking into heathenish ignorance and woman's frivolity.
+Remember, you are one of my guardian angels.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, beginning of April, 1850, from
+Griff.]
+
+Will you send the enclosed note to Mrs. C. Hennell? I am not quite
+sure about her direction, but I am anxious to thank her for her
+kindness in inviting me. Will you also send me an account of Mr.
+Chapman's prices for lodgers, and if you know anything of other
+boarding-houses, etc., in London? Will you tell me what you can? I am
+not asking you merely for the sake of giving you trouble. I am really
+anxious to know. Oh, the dismal weather and the dismal country and the
+dismal people. It was some envious demon that drove me across the
+Jura. However, I am determined to sell everything I possess, except a
+portmanteau and carpet-bag and the necessary contents, and be a
+stranger and a foreigner on the earth for evermore. But I must see you
+first; that is a yearning I still have in spite of disappointments.
+
+     From Griff she went to stay with her sister, Mrs. Clarke, at
+     Meriden, whence she writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 24th April, 1850.]
+
+Have you any engagement for the week after next? If not, may I join
+you on Saturday the 4th, and invite M. d'Albert to come down on the
+following Monday? It appears he cannot stay in England longer than
+until about the second week in May. I am uncomfortable at the idea of
+burdening even your friendship with the entertainment of a person
+purely for my sake. It is indeed the greatest of all the great
+kindnesses you have shown me. Write me two or three kind words, dear
+Cara. I have been so ill at ease ever since I have been in England
+that I am quite discouraged. Dear Chrissey is generous and
+sympathizing, and really cares for my happiness.
+
+[Illustration: Rosehill.]
+
+     On the 4th of May Miss Evans went to Rosehill, and on the 7th
+     M. d'Albert joined the party for a three days' visit. The
+     strong affection existing between Mr. and Mrs. Bray and their
+     guest, and the more congenial intellectual atmosphere
+     surrounding them, led Miss Evans to make her home practically
+     at Rosehill for the next sixteen months. She stayed there
+     continuously till the 18th November, and, among other things,
+     wrote a review of Mackay's "Progress of the Intellect." In
+     October Mr. Mackay and Mr. Chapman, the editor of the
+     _Westminster Review_, came to stay at Rosehill, and there was
+     probably some talk then about her assisting in the editorial
+     work of the _Review_, but it was not until the following
+     spring that any definite understanding on this subject was
+     arrived at. Meantime the article on Mackay's "Progress of the
+     Intellect" came out in the January, 1851, number of the
+     _Westminster_. It contains the following remarkable passages:
+
+"Our civilization, and yet more, our religion, are an anomalous
+blending of lifeless barbarisms, which have descended to us like so
+many petrifactions from distant ages, with living ideas, the offspring
+of a true process of development. We are in bondage to terms and
+conceptions, which, having had their roots in conditions of thought no
+longer existing, have ceased to possess any vitality, and are for us
+as spells which have lost their virtue. The endeavor to spread
+enlightened ideas is perpetually counteracted by these _idola
+theatri_, which have allied themselves, on the one hand, with men's
+better sentiments, and, on the other, with institutions in whose
+defence are arrayed the passions and the interests of dominant
+classes. Now, although the teaching of positive truth is the grand
+means of expelling error, the process will be very much quickened if
+the negative argument serve as its pioneer; if, by a survey of the
+past, it can be shown how each age and each race has had a faith and a
+symbolism suited to its need and its stage of development, and that
+for succeeding ages to dream of retaining the spirit, along with the
+forms, of the past, is as futile as the embalming of the dead body in
+the hope that it may one day be resumed by the living soul.... It is
+Mr. Mackay's faith that divine revelation is not contained exclusively
+or pre-eminently in the facts and inspirations of any one age or
+nation, but is coextensive with the history of human development, and
+is perpetually unfolding itself to our widened experience and
+investigation, as firmament upon firmament becomes visible to us in
+proportion to the power and range of our exploring-instruments. The
+master-key to this revelation is the recognition of the presence of
+undeviating law in the material and moral world--of that invariability
+of sequence which is acknowledged to be the basis of physical science,
+but which is still perversely ignored in our social organization, our
+ethics, and our religion. It is this invariability of sequence which
+can alone give value to experience, and render education, in the true
+sense, possible. The divine yea and nay, the seal of prohibition and
+of sanction, are effectually impressed on human deeds and aspirations,
+not by means of Greek and Hebrew, but by that inexorable law of
+consequences whose evidence is confirmed instead of weakened as the
+ages advance; and human duty is comprised in the earnest study of this
+law and patient obedience to its teaching. While this belief sheds a
+bright beam of promise on the future career of our race, it lights up
+what once seemed the dreariest region of history with new interest;
+every past phase of human development is part of that education of the
+race in which we are sharing; every mistake, every absurdity, into
+which poor human nature has fallen, may be looked on as an experiment
+of which we may reap the benefit. A correct generalization gives
+significance to the smallest detail, just as the great inductions of
+geology demonstrate in every pebble the working of laws by which the
+earth has become adapted for the habitation of man. In this view
+religion and philosophy are not merely conciliated, they are
+identical; or, rather, religion is the crown and consummation of
+philosophy--the delicate corolla which can only spread out its petals
+in all their symmetry and brilliance to the sun when root and branch
+exhibit the conditions of a healthy and vigorous life."
+
+     Miss Evans seems to have been in London from the beginning of
+     January till the end of March, 1851; and Mr. Chapman made
+     another fortnight's visit to Rosehill at the end of May and
+     beginning of June. It was during this period that, with Miss
+     Evans's assistance, the prospectus of the new series of the
+     _Westminster Review_ was determined on and put in shape. At
+     the end of July she went with Mrs. Bray to visit Mr. and Mrs.
+     Robert Noel, at Bishop Steignton, in Devonshire. Mrs. Bray
+     had some slight illness there, and Miss Evans writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 5th Aug. 1851.]
+
+I am grieved indeed if anything might have been written, which has not
+been written, to allay your anxiety about Cara. Her letter yesterday
+explained what has been the matter. I knew her own handwriting would
+be pleasanter to you than any other. I have been talking to her this
+morning about the going to London or to Rosehill. She seems to prefer
+London. A glance or two at the Exposition, she thinks, would do her no
+harm. To-day we are all going to Teignmouth. She seems to like the
+idea of sitting by the waves. The sun is shining gloriously, and all
+things are tolerably promising. I am going to walk on before the rest
+and have a bath.
+
+     They went to London on the 13th of August, saw the Crystal
+     Palace, and returned to Rosehill on the 16th. At the end of
+     that month, Mr. George Combe (the distinguished phrenologist)
+     arrived on a visit, and he and Mrs. Combe became good friends
+     to Miss Evans, as will be seen from the subsequent
+     correspondence. They came on a second visit to Rosehill the
+     following month--Mr. Chapman being also in the house at the
+     same time--and at the end of September Miss Evans went to
+     stay with the Chapmans at No. 142 Strand, as a boarder, and
+     as assistant editor of the _Westminster Review_. A new period
+     now opens in George Eliot's life, and emphatically the most
+     important period, for now she is to be thrown in contact with
+     Mr. Lewes, who is to exercise so paramount an influence on
+     all her future, with Mr. Herbert Spencer, and with a number
+     of writers then representing the most fearless and advanced
+     thought of the day. Miss Frederica Bremer, the authoress, was
+     also boarding with the Chapmans at this time, as will be seen
+     from the following letters:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, end of Sept. 1851.]
+
+Mr. Mackay has been very kind in coming and walking out with me, and
+that is the only variety I have had. Last night, however, we had an
+agreeable enough gathering. Foxton[31] came, who, you know, is
+trying, with Carlyle and others, to get a chapel for Wilson at the
+West End--in which he is to figure as a seceding clergyman. I enclose
+you two notes from Empson (he is the editor of the _Edinburgh Review_)
+as a guarantee that I have been trying to work. Again, I proposed to
+write a review of Greg for the _Westminster_, not for money, but for
+love of the subject as connected with the "Inquiry." Mr. Hickson
+referred the matter to Slack again, and he writes that he shall not
+have room for it, and that the subject will not suit on this occasion,
+so you see I am obliged to be idle, and I like it best. I hope Mr.
+Bray is coming soon to tell me everything about you. I think I shall
+cry for joy to see him. But do send me a little note on Monday
+morning. Mrs. Follen called the other day, in extreme horror at Miss
+Martineau's book.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, end of Sept. 1851.]
+
+Dr. Brabant returned to Bath yesterday. He very politely took me to
+the Crystal Palace, the theatre, and the Overland Route. On Friday we
+had Foxton, Wilson, and some other nice people, among others a Mr.
+Herbert Spencer, who has just brought out a large work on "Social
+Statics," which Lewes pronounces the best book he has seen on the
+subject. You must see the book, if possible. Mr. Chapman is going to
+send you Miss Martineau's work, or rather Mr. Atkinson's,[32] which
+you must review in the _Herald_. Whatever else one may think of the
+book, it is certainly the boldest I have seen in the English language.
+I get nothing done here, there are so many _distractions_--moreover, I
+have hardly been well a day since I came. I wish I were rich enough
+to go to the coast, and have some plunges in the sea to brace me.
+Nevertheless do not suppose that I don't enjoy being here. I like
+seeing the new people, etc., and I am afraid I shall think the country
+rather dull after it. I am in a hurry to-day. I must have two hours'
+work before dinner, so imagine everything I have not said, or, rather,
+reflect that this scrap is quite as much as you deserve after being so
+slow to write to me.
+
+     The reference, in the above letter, to Mr. Lewes must not be
+     taken as indicating personal acquaintance yet. It is only a
+     quotation of some opinion heard or read. Mr. Lewes had
+     already secured for himself a wide reputation in the literary
+     world by his "Biographical History of Philosophy," his two
+     novels, "Ranthorpe," and "Rose, Blanche, and Violet"--all of
+     which had been published five or six years before--and his
+     voluminous contributions to the periodical literature of the
+     day. He was also, at this time, the literary editor of the
+     _Leader_ newspaper, so that any criticism of his would carry
+     weight, and be talked about. Much has already been written
+     about his extraordinary versatility, the variety of his
+     literary productions, his social charms, his talent as a
+     _raconteur_, and his dramatic faculty; and it will now be
+     interesting, for those who did not know him personally, to
+     learn the deeper side of his character, which will be seen,
+     in its development, in the following pages.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, end of Sept. 1851.]
+
+I don't know how long Miss Bremer will stay, but you need not wish to
+see her. She is to me equally unprepossessing to eye and ear. I never
+saw a person of her years who appealed less to my purely instinctive
+veneration. I have to reflect every time I look at her that she is
+really Frederica Bremer.
+
+Fox is to write the article on the Suffrage, and we are going to try
+Carlyle for the Peerage, Ward refusing, on the ground that he thinks
+the improvement of the physical condition of the people so
+all-important that he must give all his energies to that. He says,
+"Life is a bad business, but we must make the best of it;" to which
+philosophy I say Amen. Dr. Hodgson is gone, and all the fun with him.
+
+I was introduced to Lewes the other day in Jeff's shop--a sort of
+miniature Mirabeau in appearance.[33]
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 2d Oct. (?) 1851.]
+
+Professor Forbes is to write us a capital scientific article, whereat
+I rejoice greatly. The Peerage apparently will not "get itself done,"
+as Carlyle says. It is not an urgent question, nor does one see that,
+if the undue influence of the Peers on the elections for the Commons
+were done away with, there would be much mischief from the House of
+Lords remaining for some time longer _in statu quo_. I have been
+reading Carlyle's "Life of Sterling" with great pleasure--not for its
+presentation of Sterling, but of Carlyle. There are racy bits of
+description in his best manner, and exquisite touches of feeling.
+Little rapid characterizations of living men too--of Francis Newman,
+for example--"a man of fine university and other attainments, of the
+sharpest cutting and most restlessly advancing intellect, and of the
+mildest pious enthusiasm." There is an inimitable description of
+Coleridge and his eternal monologue--"To sit as a passive bucket and
+be pumped into, whether one like it or not, can in the end be
+exhilarating to no creature."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th Oct. 1851.]
+
+All the world is doing its _devoir_ to the great little authoress
+(Miss Bremer). I went to the exhibition on Saturday to hear the final
+"God save the Queen" and the three times three--"C'êtait un beau
+moment." Mr. Greg thought the review "well done, and in a kindly
+spirit," but thought there was not much in it--dreadfully true, since
+there was only all his book. I think he did not like the apology for
+his want of theological learning, which, however, was just the thing
+most needed, for the _Eclectic_ trips him up on that score. Carlyle
+was very amusing the other morning to Mr. Chapman about the
+Exhibition. He has no patience with the prince and "that Cole"
+assembling Sawneys from all parts of the land, till you can't get
+along Piccadilly. He has been worn to death with bores all summer, who
+present themselves by twos and threes in his study, saying, "Here we
+are," etc., etc.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Oct. 1851.]
+
+I wish you could see Miss Bremer's albums, full of portraits, flowers,
+and landscapes, all done by herself. A portrait of Emerson,
+marvellously like; one of Jenny Lind, etc. Last night we had quite a
+charming _soirée_--Sir David Brewster and his daughter; Mackay, author
+of a work on popular education you may remember to have seen reviewed
+in the _Leader_; the Ellises, the Hodgsons, and half a dozen other
+nice people. Miss Bremer was more genial than I have seen her--played
+on the piano, and smiled benevolently. Altogether, I am beginning to
+repent of my repugnance. Mackay approves our prospectus _in toto_. He
+is a handsome, fine-headed man, and a "good opinion." We are getting
+out a circular to accompany the prospectus. I have been kept
+down-stairs by Mr. Mackay for the last two hours, and am hurried, but
+it was a necessity to write _ein paar Worte_ to you. Mr. Mackay has
+written an account of his book for the catalogue. I have been using my
+powers of eloquence and flattery this morning to make him begin an
+article on the "Development of Protestantism." Mr. Ellis was
+agreeable--really witty. He and Mrs. Ellis particularly cordial to me,
+inviting me to visit them without ceremony. I love you all better
+every day, and better the more I see of other people. I am going to
+one of the Birkbeck schools.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 3rd Nov. 1851.]
+
+I must tell you a story Miss Bremer got from Emerson. Carlyle was very
+angry with him for not believing in a devil, and to convert him took
+him amongst all the horrors of London--the gin-shops, etc.--and
+finally to the House of Commons, plying him at every turn with the
+question, "Do you believe in a devil noo?" There is a severe attack on
+Carlyle's "Life of Sterling" in yesterday's _Times_--unfair as an
+account of the book, but with some truth in its general remarks about
+Carlyle. There is an article, evidently by James Martineau, in the
+_Prospective_, which you must read, "On the Unity of the Logical and
+Intuitive in the Ultimate Grounds of Religious Belief." I am reading
+with great amusement (!) J. H. Newman's "Lectures on the Position of
+Catholics." They are full of clever satire and description. My table
+is groaning with books, and I have done very little with them yet, but
+I trust in my star, which has hitherto helped me, to do all I have
+engaged to do. Pray remember to send the MS. translation of
+Schleiermacher's little book, and also the book itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 15th Nov. 1851.]
+
+When Mr. Noel had finished his farewell visit to-day, Mr. Flower was
+announced, so my morning has run away in chat. Time wears, and I don't
+get on so fast as I ought, but I must scribble a word or two, else
+you will make my silence an excuse for writing me no word of
+yourselves. I am afraid Mr. Noel and Mr. Bray have given you a poor
+report of me. The last two days I have been a little better, but I
+hardly think existing arrangements can last beyond this quarter. Mr.
+Noel says Miss L. is to visit you at Christmas. I hope that is a
+mistake, as it would deprive me of my hoped-for rest amongst you.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Monday, 23d Nov. 1851.]
+
+On Saturday afternoon came Mr. Spencer to ask Mr. Chapman and me to go
+to the theatre; so I ended the day in a godless manner, seeing the
+"Merry Wives of Windsor." You must read Carlyle's denunciation of the
+opera, published in the _Keepsake_! The _Examiner_ quotes it at
+length. I send you the enclosed from Harriet Martineau. Please to
+return it. The one from Carlyle you may keep till I come. He is a
+naughty fellow to write in the _Keepsake_, and not for us, after I
+wrote him the most insinuating letter, offering him three glorious
+subjects. Yesterday we went to Mr. Mackay's, Dr. Brabant being there.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 27th Nov. 1851.]
+
+Carlyle called the other day, strongly recommending Browning, the
+poet, as a writer for the _Review_, and saying, "We shall see," about
+himself. In other respects we have been stagnating since Monday, and
+now I must work, work, work, which I have scarcely done two days
+consecutively since I have been here. Lewes says his article on "Julia
+von Krüdener"[34] will be glorious. He sat in the same box with us at
+the "Merry Wives of Windsor," and helped to carry off the dolorousness
+of the play.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Tuesday, 22d Dec. 1851.]
+
+Alas! the work is so heavy just for the next three days, all the
+revises being yet to come in, and the proof of my own article;[35] and
+Mr. Chapman is so overwhelmed with matters of detail, that he has
+earnestly requested me to stay till Saturday, and I cannot refuse, but
+it is a deep disappointment to me. My heart will yearn after you all.
+It is the first Christmas Day I shall have passed without any
+Christmas feeling. On Saturday, if you will have me, nothing shall
+keep me here any longer. I am writing at a high table, on a low seat,
+in a great hurry. Don't you think my style is editorial?
+
+     Accordingly, on Saturday, the 29th December, 1851, she did go
+     down to Rosehill, and stayed there till 12th January, when
+     she returned to London, and writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 12th Jan. 1852.]
+
+I had a comfortable journey all alone, except from Weedon to
+Blisworth. When I saw a coated animal getting into my carriage, I
+thought of all horrible stories of madmen in railways; but his white
+neckcloth and thin, mincing voice soon convinced me that he was one of
+those exceedingly tame animals, the clergy.
+
+A kind welcome and a good dinner--that is the whole of my history at
+present. I am in anything but company trim, or spirits. I can do
+nothing in return for all your kindness, dear Cara, but love you, as I
+do most heartily. You and all yours, for their own sake first, but if
+it were not so, for yours.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 21st Jan. 1852.]
+
+Harriet Martineau called on Monday morning with Mr. Atkinson. Very
+kind and cordial. I honor her for her powers and industry, and should
+be glad to think highly of her. I have no doubt that she is
+fascinating when there is time for talk. We have had two agreeable
+_soirées_. Last Monday I was talking and listening for two hours to
+Pierre Leroux--a dreamy genius. He was expounding to me his ideas. He
+belongs neither to the school of Proudhon, which represents Liberty
+only--nor to that of Louis Blanc, which represents Equality only--nor
+to that of Cabet, which represents Fraternity. Pierre Leroux's system
+is the _synthèse_ which combines all three. He has found the true
+_pont_ which is to unite the love of self with love of one's neighbor.
+He is, you know, a very voluminous writer. George Sand has dedicated
+some of her books to him. He dilated on his views of the "Origin of
+Christianity." Strauss deficient, because he has not shown the
+_identity of the teaching of Jesus with that of the Essenes_. This is
+Leroux's favorite idea. I told him of your brother. He, moreover,
+traces Essenism back to Egypt, and thence to India--the cradle of all
+religions, etc., etc., with much more, which he uttered with an
+unction rather amusing in a _soirée tête-à-tête_. "Est ce que nous
+sommes faits pour chercher le bonheur? Est ce là votre idée--dites
+moi." "Mais non--nous sommes faits, je pense, pour nous développer le
+plus possible." "Ah! c'est ça." He is in utter poverty, going to
+lecture--_autrement il faut mourir_. Has a wife and children with him.
+He came to London in his early days, when he was twenty-five, to find
+work as a printer. All the world was in mourning for the Princess
+Charlotte. "Et moi, je me trouvais avoir _un habit vert-pomme_." So he
+got no work; went back to Paris; by hook or by crook founded the
+_Globe_ journal; knew St. Simon; disagrees with him entirely, as with
+all other theorists except Pierre Leroux.
+
+We are trying Mazzini to write on "Freedom _v._ Despotism," and have
+received an admirable article on "The New Puritanism,"[36] _i.e._,
+"Physical Puritanism," from Dr. Browne, the chemist of Edinburgh,
+which, I think, will go in the next number.
+
+I am in a miserable state of languor and low spirits, in which
+everything is a trouble to me. I must tell you a bit of Louis Blanc's
+English, which Mr. Spencer was reciting the other night. The _petit
+homme_ called on some one, and said, "I come to tell you how you are.
+I was at you the other day, but you were not."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 2d Feb. 1852.]
+
+We went to quite a gay party at Mrs. Mackay's on Saturday. Good Mr.
+Mackay has been taking trouble to get me to Hastings for my
+health--calling on Miss Fellowes, daughter of the "Religion of the
+Universe," and inducing her to write me a note of invitation. Sara
+will be heartily welcome. Unfortunately, I had an invitation to the
+Parkes's, to meet Cobden, on Saturday evening. I was sorry to miss
+that. Miss Parkes[37] is a dear, ardent, honest creature; and I hope
+we shall be good friends. I have nothing else to tell you. I am
+steeped in dulness within and without. Heaven send some lions to-night
+to meet Fox, who is coming. An advertisement we found in the _Times_
+to-day--"To gentlemen. A _converted_ medical man, of gentlemanly
+habits and fond of Scriptural conversation, wishes to meet with a
+gentleman of Calvinistic views, thirsty after truth, in want of a
+daily companion. A little temporal aid will be expected in return.
+Address, Verax!"
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 8th Feb. 1852.]
+
+We are going to Mr. Ellis's, at Champion Hill, to-morrow evening. I am
+better now. Have rid myself of all distasteful work, and am trying to
+love the glorious destination of humanity, looking before and after.
+We shall be glad to have Sara.
+
+     Miss Sara Hennell arrived on a visit to the Strand next
+     day--the 9th February--and stayed till the 17th.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 16th Feb. 1852.]
+
+I have not merely had a headache--I have been really ill, and feel
+very much shattered. We (Miss Evans and Miss Sara Hennell) dined
+yesterday at Mrs. Peter Taylor's,[38] at Sydenham. I was not fit to
+go, especially to make my _début_ at a strange place; but the country
+air was a temptation. The thick of the work is just beginning, and I
+am bound in honor not to run away from it, as I have shirked all labor
+but what is strictly editorial this quarter.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 20th Feb. 1852.]
+
+We went to the meeting of the Association for the Abolition of the
+Taxes on Knowledge on Wednesday, that I might hear Cobden, in whom I
+was wofully disappointed. George Dawson's speech was admirable. I
+think it undesirable to fix on a London residence at present, as I
+want to go to Brighton for a month or two next quarter. I am seriously
+concerned at my languid body, and feel the necessity of taking some
+measures to get vigor. Lewes inquired for Sara last Monday, in a tone
+of interest. He was charmed with her, as who would not be that has any
+taste? Do write to me, dear Cara; I want comforting: this world looks
+ugly just now; all people rather worse than I have been used to think
+them. Put me in love with my kind again, by giving me a glimpse of
+your own inward self, since I cannot see the outer one.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 6th Mch. 1852.]
+
+I can sympathize with you in your troubles, having been a housekeeper
+myself, and known disappointment in trusted servants. Ah, well! we
+have a good share of the benefits of our civilization, it is but fair
+that we should feel some of the burden of its imperfections.
+
+Thank you a thousand times for wishing to see me again. I should
+really like to see you in your own nice, fresh, healthy-looking home
+again; but until the end of March I fear I shall be a prisoner, from
+the necessity for constant work. Still, it is possible that I may have
+a day, though I am quite unable to say when.
+
+You will be still more surprised at the notice of the _Westminster_ in
+_The People_, when you know that Maccoll himself wrote it. I have not
+seen it, but had been told of its ill-nature. However, he is too good
+a man to write otherwise than sincerely; and our opinion of a book
+often depends on the state of the liver!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 25th Mch. 1852.]
+
+I had two offers last night--not of marriage, but of music--which I
+find it impossible to resist. Mr. Herbert Spencer proposed to take me
+on Thursday to hear "William Tell," and Miss Parkes asked me to go
+with her to hear the "Creation" on Friday. I have had so little music
+this quarter, and these two things are so exactly what I should like,
+that I have determined to put off, for the sake of them, my other
+pleasure of seeing you. So, pray, keep your precious welcome warm for
+me until Saturday, when I shall positively set off by the two o'clock
+train. Harriet Martineau has written me a most cordial invitation to
+go to see her before July, but that is impossible.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 27th Mch. 1852.]
+
+I am grieved to find that you have to pay for that fine temperament
+of yours in attacks of neuralgia. Your silence did not surprise me,
+after the account you had given me of your domestic circumstances, but
+I have wished for you on Monday evenings. Your cordial assurance that
+you shall be glad to see me sometimes is one of those pleasant
+things--those life-preservers--which relenting destiny sends me now
+and then to buoy me up. For you must know that I am not a little
+desponding now and then, and think that old friends will die off,
+while I shall be left without the power to make new ones. You know how
+sad one feels when a great procession has swept by one, and the last
+notes of its music have died away, leaving one alone with the fields
+and sky. I feel so about life sometimes. It is a help to read such a
+life as Margaret Fuller's. How inexpressibly touching that passage
+from her journal--"I shall always reign through the intellect, but the
+life! the life! O my God! shall that never be sweet?" I am thankful,
+as if for myself, that it was sweet at last. But I am running on about
+feelings when I ought to tell you facts. I am going on Wednesday to my
+friends in Warwickshire for about ten days or a fortnight. When I come
+back, I hope you will be quite strong and able to receive visitors
+without effort--Mr. Taylor too.
+
+I _did_ go to the _conversazione_; but you have less to regret than
+you think. Mazzini's speeches are better read than heard. Proofs are
+come, demanding my immediate attention, so I must end this hasty
+scribble.
+
+     On the 3d April Miss Evans went to Rosehill, and stayed till
+     the 14th. On her return she writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 17th April, 1852.]
+
+There was an article on the bookselling affair in the _Times_ of
+yesterday, which must be the knell of the Association. Dickens is to
+preside at a meeting in this house on the subject some day next week.
+The opinions on the various articles in the _Review_ are, as before,
+ridiculously various. The _Economist_ calls the article on Quakerism
+"admirably written." Greg says the article on India is "very
+masterly;" while he calls Mazzini's "sad stuff--mere verbiage."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 21st April, 1852.]
+
+If there is any change in my affection for you it is that I love you
+more than ever, not less. I have as perfect a friendship for you as my
+imperfect nature can feel--a friendship in which deep respect and
+admiration are sweetened by a sort of flesh-and-blood sisterly feeling
+and the happy consciousness that I have your affection, however
+undeservedly, in return. I have confidence that this friendship can
+never be shaken; that it must last while I last, and that the
+supposition of its ever being weakened by a momentary irritation is
+too contemptibly absurd for me to take the trouble to deny it. As to
+your whole conduct to me, from the first day I knew you, it has been
+so generous and sympathetic that, if I did not heartily love you, I
+should feel deep gratitude--but love excludes gratitude. It is
+impossible that I should ever love two women better than I love you
+and Cara. Indeed, it seems to me that I can never love any so well;
+and it is certain that I can never have any friend--not even a
+husband--who would supply the loss of those associations with the past
+which belong to you. Do believe in my love for you, and that it will
+remain as long as I have my senses, because it is interwoven with my
+best nature, and is dependent, not on any accidents of manner, but on
+long experience, which has confirmed the instinctive attraction of
+earlier days.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 22d April, 1852.]
+
+Our fortunes here are, as usual, checkered--
+
+     "Twist ye, twine ye, even so
+     Mingle human weal and woe."
+
+Grote is very friendly, and has propitiated J. S. Mill, who will write
+for us when we want him. We had quite a brilliant _soirée_ yesterday
+evening. W. R. Greg, Forster (of Rawdon), Francis Newman, the Ellises,
+and Louis Blanc, were the stars of greatest magnitude. I had a
+pleasant talk with Greg and Forster. Greg was "much pleased to have
+made my acquaintance." Forster, on the whole, appeared to think that
+people should be glad to make _his_ acquaintance. Greg is a short man,
+but his brain is large, the anterior lobe very fine, and a moral
+region to correspond. Black, wiry, curly hair, and every indication of
+a first-rate temperament. We have some very nice Americans here--the
+Pughs--friends of the Parkes's, really refined, intellectual people.
+Miss Pugh, an elderly lady, is a great abolitionist, and was one of
+the Women's Convention that came to England in 1840, and was not
+allowed to join the Men's Convention. But I suppose we shall soon be
+able to say, _nous avons changé tout cela_.
+
+I went to the opera on Saturday--"I Martiri," at Covent Garden--with
+my "excellent friend, Herbert Spencer," as Lewes calls him. We have
+agreed that we are not in love with each other, and that there is no
+reason why we should not have as much of each other's society as we
+like. He is a good, delightful creature, and I always feel better for
+being with him.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 2d May, 1852.]
+
+I like to remind you of me on Sunday morning, when you look at the
+flowers and listen to music; so I send a few lines, though I have not
+much time to spare to-day. After Tuesday I will write you a longer
+letter, and tell you all about everything. I am going to the opera
+to-night to hear the "Huguenots." See what a fine thing it is to pick
+up people who are short-sighted enough to like one.
+
+     On the 4th of May a meeting, consisting chiefly of authors,
+     was held at the house in the Strand, for the purpose of
+     hastening the removal of the trade restrictions on the
+     Commerce of Literature, and it is thus described in the
+     following letter:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 5th May, 1852.]
+
+The meeting last night went off triumphantly, and I saluted Mr.
+Chapman with "See the Conquering Hero Comes" on the piano at 12
+o'clock; for not until then was the last magnate, except Herbert
+Spencer, out of the house. I sat at the door for a short time, but
+soon got a chair within it, and heard and saw everything.
+
+Dickens in the chair--a position he fills remarkably well, preserving
+a courteous neutrality of eyebrows, and speaking with clearness and
+decision. His appearance is certainly disappointing--no benevolence in
+the face, and, I think, little in the head; the anterior lobe not by
+any means remarkable. In fact, he is not distinguished-looking in any
+way--neither handsome nor ugly, neither fat nor thin, neither tall nor
+short. Babbage moved the first resolution--a bad speaker, but a great
+authority. Charles Knight is a beautiful, elderly man, with a modest
+but firm enunciation; and he made a wise and telling speech which
+silenced one or two vulgar, ignorant booksellers who had got into the
+meeting by mistake. One of these began by complimenting
+Dickens--"views held by such worthy and important gentlemen, _which is
+your worthy person in the chair_." Dickens looked respectfully
+neutral. The most telling speech of the evening was Prof. Tom
+Taylor's--as witty and brilliant as one of George Dawson's. Prof.
+Owen's, too, was remarkably good. He had a resolution to move as to
+the bad effect of the trade restrictions on scientific works, and gave
+his own experience in illustration. Speaking of the slow and small
+sale of scientific books of a high class, he said, in his silvery,
+bland way--alluding to the boast that the retail booksellers
+_recommended_ the works of less known authors--"for which limited sale
+we are doubtless indebted to the kind recommendation of our friends,
+the retail booksellers"--whereupon these worthies, taking it for a
+_bonâ fide_ compliment, cheered enthusiastically. Dr. Lankester, Prof.
+Newman, Robert Bell, and others, spoke well. Owen has a tremendous
+head, and looked, as he was, the greatest celebrity of the meeting.
+George Cruikshank, too, made a capital speech, in an admirable moral
+spirit. He is the most homely, genuine-looking man; not unlike the
+pictures of Captain Cuttle.
+
+I went to hear the "Huguenots" on Saturday evening. It was a rich
+treat. Mario and Grisi and Formes, and that finest of orchestras under
+Costa. I am going to a concert to-night. This is all very fine, but,
+in the meantime, I am getting as haggard as an old witch under London
+atmosphere and influences. I shall be glad to have sent me my
+Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, and Wordsworth, if you will be so good as
+to take the trouble of packing them.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Monday, 12th(?) May, 1852.]
+
+My days have slipped away in a most mysterious fashion
+lately--chiefly, I suppose, in long walks and long talks. Our Monday
+evenings are dying off--not universally regretted--but we are
+expecting one or two people to-night. I have nothing to tell except
+that I went to the opera on Thursday, and heard "La Juive," and,
+moreover, fell in love with Prince Albert, who was unusually animated
+and prominent. He has a noble, genial, intelligent expression, and is
+altogether a man to be proud of. I am going next Thursday to see Grisi
+in "Norma." She is quite beautiful this season, thinner than she was,
+and really younger looking.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 27th May, 1852.]
+
+My brightest spot, next to my love of _old_ friends, is the
+deliciously calm, _new_ friendship that Herbert Spencer gives me. We
+see each other every day, and have delightful _camaraderie_ in
+everything. But for him my life would be desolate enough. What a
+wretched lot of old, shrivelled creatures we shall be by and by. Never
+mind, the uglier we get in the eyes of others the lovelier we shall be
+to each other; that has always been my firm faith about friendship,
+and now it is in a slight degree my experience. Mme. d'Albert has sent
+me the sweetest letter, just like herself; and I feel grateful to have
+such a heart remembering and loving me on the other side of the Jura.
+They are very well and flourishing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Wednesday, 2d June, 1852.]
+
+I am bothered to death with article-reading and scrap-work of all
+sorts: it is clear my poor head will never produce anything under
+these circumstances; _but I am patient_. I am ashamed to tease you so,
+but I must beg of you to send me George Sand's works; and also I shall
+be grateful if you will lend me--what I think you have--an English
+edition of "Corinne," and Miss Austen's "Sense and Sensibility."
+Harriet Martineau's article on "Niebuhr" will not go in the July
+number. I am sorry for it; it is admirable. After all, she is a
+_trump_--the only Englishwoman that possesses thoroughly the art of
+writing.
+
+On Thursday morning I went to St. Paul's to see the charity children
+assembled, and hear their singing. Berlioz says it is the finest thing
+he has heard in England; and this opinion of his induced me to go. I
+was not disappointed; it is worth doing once, especially as we got out
+before the sermon. I had a long call from George Combe yesterday. He
+says he thinks the _Westminster_, under _my_ management, the most
+important means of enlightenment of a literary nature in existence;
+the _Edinburgh_, under Jeffrey, nothing to it, etc.!!! I wish _I_
+thought so too.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 21st June, 1852.]
+
+Your joint assurance of welcome strengthens the centripetal force that
+would carry me to you; but, on the other hand, sundry considerations
+are in favor of the centrifugal force, which, I suppose, will carry me
+to Broadstairs or Ramsgate. On the whole, I prefer to keep my visit to
+you as a _bonne-bouche_, when I am just in the best physical and
+mental state for enjoying it. I hope to get away on Saturday, or on
+Wednesday at the latest. I think the third number of the _Review_ will
+be capital; thoroughly readable, and yet not frothy.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 23d June, 1852.]
+
+I have assured Herbert Spencer that you will think it a sufficiently
+formal answer to the invitation you sent him through Mr. Lewes, if I
+tell you that he will prefer waiting for the pleasure of a visit to
+you until I am with you--if you will have him then. I spent the
+evening at Mr. Parkes's on Monday. Yesterday Herbert Spencer brought
+his father to see me--a large-brained, highly informed man, with a
+certain quaintness and simplicity, altogether very pleasing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 25th June, (?) 1852.]
+
+After all, I begin to hope that our next number will be the best yet.
+Forbes is good; Froude ditto; and James Martineau, if I may judge from
+a glance at a few of his pages, admirable. Lewes has written us an
+agreeable article on "Lady Novelists." There is a mysterious
+contribution to the independent section. We are hoping that an
+article on "Edinburgh Literary Men," yet to come, will be very good.
+If not, we shall put in "Niebuhr;" it is capital.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, end of June, 1852.]
+
+The opera, Chiswick Flower Show, the French play, and the Lyceum, all
+in one week, brought their natural consequences of headache and
+hysterics--all yesterday. At five o'clock I felt quite sure that life
+was unendurable. This morning, however, the weather and I are both
+better, having cried ourselves out and used up all our clouds; and I
+can even contemplate living six months longer. Was there ever anything
+more dreary than this June?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Friday morning, 2d July,
+1852.]
+
+I am busy packing to-day, and am going to Mr. Parkes's to dinner. Miss
+Parkes has introduced me to Barbara Smith,[39] whose expression I like
+exceedingly, and hope to know more of her. I go to Broadstairs on
+Saturday. I am sadly in want of the change, and would much rather
+present myself to you all when I can do you more credit as a friend.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 4th July, 1852.]
+
+I warn you against Ramsgate, which is a strip of London come out for
+an airing. Broadstairs is perfect; and I have the snuggest little
+lodging conceivable, with a motherly good woman and a nice little
+damsel of fourteen to wait on me. There are only my two rooms in this
+cottage, but lodgings are plentiful in the place. I have a
+sitting-room about eight feet by nine, and a bedroom a little larger;
+yet in that small space there is almost every comfort. I pay a guinea
+a week for my rooms, so I shall not ruin myself by staying a month,
+unless I commit excesses in coffee and sugar. I am thinking whether it
+would not be wise to retire from the world and live here for the rest
+of my days. With some fresh paper on the walls, and an easy-chair, I
+think I could resign myself. Come and tell me your opinion.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th July, 1852.]
+
+I thought of you last night, when I was in a state of mingled rapture
+and torture--rapture at the sight of a glorious evening sky, torture
+at the sight and hearing of the belaboring given to the poor donkey
+which was drawing me from Ramsgate home.
+
+I had a note from Miss Florence Nightingale yesterday. I was much
+pleased with her. There is a loftiness of mind about her which is well
+expressed by her form and manner. Glad you are pleased with the
+_Westminster_. I do think it a rich number--matter for a fortnight's
+reading and thought. Lewes has not half done it justice in the
+_Leader_. To my mind the "Niebuhr" article is as good as any of them.
+If you could see me in my quiet nook! I am half ashamed of being in
+such clover, both spiritually and materially, while some of my friends
+are on the dusty highways, without a tuft of grass or a flower to
+cheer them. A letter from you will be delightful. We seem to have said
+very little to each other lately. But I always know--rejoice to
+know--that there is the same Sara for me as there is the same green
+earth and arched sky, when I am good and wise enough to like the best
+thing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 21st July, 1852.]
+
+Do not be anxious about me--there is no cause. I am profiting, body
+and mind, from quiet walks and talks with nature, gathering "lady's
+bedstraw" and "rest-harrow," and other pretty things; picking up
+shells (not in the Newtonian sense, but literally); reading Aristotle,
+to find out what is the chief good; and eating mutton-chops, that I
+may have strength to pursue it. If you insist on my writing about
+"emotions," why, I must get some up expressly for the purpose. But I
+must own I would rather not, for it is the grand wish and object of my
+life to get rid of them as far as possible, seeing they have already
+had more than their share of my nervous energy. I shall not be in town
+on the 2d of August--at least, I pray Heaven to forbid it.
+
+     Mrs. Bray paid a visit to Broadstairs from the 3d to the 12th
+     August, and the next letter is addressed to her.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Thursday, 14th (?) Aug. 1852.]
+
+Are you really the better for having been here? Since you left I have
+been continually regretting that I could not make your visit
+pleasanter. I was irritable and out of sorts; but you have an
+apparatus for secreting happiness--that's it. Providence, seeing that
+I wanted weaning from this place, has sent a swarm of harvest-bugs and
+lady-birds. These, with the half-blank, half-dissipated feeling which
+comes on after having companions and losing them, make me think of
+returning to London on Saturday week with more resignation than I have
+felt before. I am very well and "plucky"--a word which I propose to
+substitute for happy, as more truthful.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 19th Aug. 1852.]
+
+For the last two months I have been at this pretty, quiet place, which
+"David Copperfield" has made classic, far away from London noise and
+smoke.
+
+I am sorry now that I brought with me Fox's "Lectures," which I had
+not managed to read before I left town. But I shall return thither at
+the end of next week, and I will at once forward the volume to Gary
+Lane.
+
+One sees no novels less than a year old at the sea-side, so I am
+unacquainted with the "Blithedale Romance," except through the
+reviews, which have whetted my curiosity more than usual. Hawthorne
+is a grand favorite of mine, and I shall be sorry if he do not go on
+surpassing himself. It is sad to hear of your only going out to
+consult a physician. Illness seems to me the one woe for which there
+is no comfort--no compensation. But perhaps you find it otherwise, for
+you have a less rebellious spirit than I, and suffering seems to make
+you look all the more gentle.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 22d Aug. 1852.]
+
+Thinking of you this morning--as I often do, though you may not
+suppose so--it was "borne in on my mind" that I must write to you, and
+I obey the inspiration without waiting to consider whether there may
+be a corresponding desire on your part to hear from me. I live in a
+world of cares and joys so remote from the one in which we used to
+sympathize with each other that I find positive communication with you
+difficult. But I am not unfaithful to old loves--they were sincere,
+and they are lasting. I hope you will not think it too much trouble to
+write me a little news of yourself. I want very much to know if your
+health continues good, and if there has been any change in your
+circumstances, that I may have something like a true conception of
+you. All is well with me so far as my individuality is concerned, but
+I have plenty of friends' troubles to sorrow over. I hope you have
+none to add to the number.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Aug. 1852.]
+
+I celebrated my return to London by the usual observance--that is to
+say, a violent headache, which is not yet gone, and of course I am in
+the worst spirits, and my opinion of things is not worth a straw. I
+tell you this that you may know why I only send you this scrap instead
+of the long letter which I have _in petto_ for you, and which would
+otherwise have been written yesterday.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 2d Sept. 1852.]
+
+Somehow my letters--except those which come under the inexorable
+imperative _must_ (the "ought" I manage well enough to shirk)--will
+not get written. The fact is, I am in a croaking mood, and I am
+waiting and waiting for it to pass by, so if my pen croaks in spite of
+my resolutions to the contrary, please to take no notice of it. Ever
+since I came back I have felt something like the madness which
+imagines that the four walls are contracting and going to crush one.
+Harriet Martineau (in a private letter shown to me), with
+incomprehensible ignorance, jeers at Lewes for introducing
+_psychology_ as a science in his Comte papers. Why, Comte himself
+holds psychology to be a necessary link in the chain of science. Lewes
+only suggests a change in its relations. There is a great, dreary
+article on the Colonies by my side, asking for reading and abridgment,
+so I cannot go on scribbling--indeed, my hands are so hot and
+tremulous this morning that it will be better for you if I leave off.
+Your little loving notes are very precious to me; but I say nothing
+about matters of feeling till my good genius has returned from his
+excursions; the evil one has possession just now.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 11th Sept. 1852.]
+
+The week has really yielded nothing worth telling you. I am a few
+degrees more wizened and muddle-headed; and the articles for the
+_Review_ are, on the whole, unsatisfactory. I fear a discerning public
+will think this number a sad falling-off. This is the greater pity,
+that said public is patronizing us well at present. Scarcely a day
+passes that some one does not write to order the _Review_, as a
+permanent subscriber. You may as well expect news from an old spider
+or bat as from me. I can only tell you what I think of the "Blithedale
+Romance," of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and the American Fishery
+Dispute--all which, I am very sure, you don't want to know. Do have
+pity on me, and make a little variety in my life, by all sending me a
+scrap--never mind if it be only six lines apiece. Perhaps something
+will befall me one day or other. As it is, nothing happens to me but
+the ringing of the dinner-bell and the arrival of a proof. I have no
+courage to walk out.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 18th Sept. 1852.]
+
+Lewes called on me the other day and told me of a conversation with
+Professor Owen, in which the latter declared his conviction that the
+cerebrum was not the organ of the mind, but the cerebellum rather. He
+founds on the enormous comparative size of brain in the grampus! The
+professor has a huge anterior lobe of his own. What would George Combe
+say if I were to tell him? But every great man has his paradox, and
+that of the first anatomist in Europe ought to be a startling one.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Saturday, Sept. 1852.]
+
+We shall make a respectable figure after all--nine articles, and two
+or three of them good, the rest not bad. The _Review_ has been selling
+well lately, in spite of its being the end of the quarter. We have
+made splendid provision for January--Froude, Harriet Martineau,
+Theodore Parker, Samuel Brown, etc., etc. The autumnal freshness of
+the mornings makes me dream of mellowing woods and gossamer threads. I
+am really longing for my journey. Bessie Parkes spent last evening
+with me, chatting of experience.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 2d Oct. 1852.]
+
+Pity me--I have had the headache for four days incessantly. But now I
+am well, and even the Strand seems an elysium by contrast. I set off
+on Tuesday for Edinburgh by express. This is awfully expensive, but it
+seems the only way of reaching there alive with my frail body. I have
+had the kindest notes from the Combes and from Harriet Martineau.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 7th Oct. 1852.]
+
+Here I am in this beautiful Auld Reekie once more--hardly recognizing
+myself for the same person as the _damozel_ who left it by the coach
+with a heavy heart some six years ago. The Combes are all kindness,
+and I am in clover--an elegant house, glorious fires, and a
+comfortable carriage--in short, just in the circumstances to nourish
+sleek optimism, convince one that this is _le meilleur des mondes
+possibles_, and make one shudder at the impiety of all who doubt it.
+Last evening Mr. Robert Cox came to tea, to be introduced to me as my
+_cicerone_ through the lions of Edinburgh. The talk last night was
+pleasant enough, though, of course, all the interlocutors besides Mr.
+Combe have little to do but shape elegant modes of negation and
+affirmation, like the people who are talked to by Socrates in Plato's
+dialogues--"Certainly," "that I firmly believe," etc. I have a
+beautiful view from my room window--masses of wood, distant hills, the
+Firth, and four splendid buildings, clotted far apart--not an ugly
+object to be seen. When I look out in the morning, it is as if I had
+waked up in Utopia or Icaria, or one of Owen's parallelograms. The
+weather is perfect--all the more delightful to me for its northern
+sharpness, which is just what I wanted to brace me. I have been out
+walking and driving all day, and have only time before dinner to send
+this _paar Worte_, but I may have still less time to-morrow.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 12th Oct. 1852.]
+
+Between the beauty of the weather and the scenery, and the kindness of
+good people, I am tipsy with pleasure. But I shall tell you nothing of
+what I see and do, because that would be taking off some of the edge
+from your pleasure in seeing me. One's dear friend who has nothing at
+all to tell one is a bore. Is it not so, honor bright? I enjoy talking
+to Mr. Combe; he can tell me many things, especially about men in
+America and elsewhere, which are valuable; and, besides, I sometimes
+manage to get in more than a negative or affirmative. He and Mrs.
+Combe are really affectionate to me, and the mild warmth of their
+regard, with the perfect order and elegance of everything about me,
+are just the soothing influence to do me good. They urge me to stay
+longer, but I shall adhere to my original determination of going to
+Miss Martineau's on the 20th, and I do not _mean_ to stay with her
+longer than the 25th. We are going to-day to Craigcrook (Jeffrey's
+place), a beautiful spot, which old October has mellowed into his
+richest tints. Such a view of Edinburgh from it!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 12th Oct. 1852.]
+
+Those who know the article on Whewell to be Mill's, generally think it
+good, but I confess to me it is unsatisfactory. The sun _does_ shine
+here, albeit this is the 12th October. I wish you could see the view
+from Salisbury Crag.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Oct. 1852.]
+
+Yes, he is an apostle. An apostle, it is true, with a back and front
+drawing-room, but still earnest, convinced, consistent, having fought
+a good fight, and now peacefully enjoying the retrospect of it. I
+shall leave these good friends with regret, almost with repentings,
+that I did not determine to pay them a longer visit. I have had a
+pleasant note from Miss Martineau this morning, with a vignette of her
+house--I suppose to make me like all the better the idea of going
+there.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Thursday night, 22d Oct. 1852.]
+
+The coach brought me to Miss Martineau's gate at half-past six
+yesterday evening, and she was there, with a beaming face, to welcome
+me. Mr. Atkinson joined us this morning, and is a very agreeable
+addition. There has been an intelligent gentleman visitor to-day, who
+is interested in Miss Martineau's building society; and we have been
+trudging about, looking at cottages and enjoying the sight of the
+mountains, spite of the rain and mist. The weather is not promising,
+that is the worst of it. Miss M. is charming in her own home--quite
+handsome from her animation and intelligence. She came behind me, put
+her hands round me, and kissed me in the prettiest way this evening,
+telling me she was so glad she had got me here. I send you her note
+that you may have an idea of "The Knoll."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 24th Oct. 1852.]
+
+We had a fine day yesterday, and went to Borrowdale. I have not been
+well since I have been here. Still I manage to enjoy, certainly not
+myself, but my companions and the scenery. I shall set off from here
+on Tuesday morning, and shall be due at the Coventry station, I
+believe, at 5.50.
+
+     After a pleasant ten days' visit to Rosehill, Miss Evans
+     returned to London on the 3d November.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 6th Nov. 1852.]
+
+To get into a first-class carriage, fall asleep, and awake to find
+one's self where one would be, is almost as good as having Prince
+Hussein's carpet. This was my easy way of getting to London on
+Thursday. By 5 o'clock I had unpacked my boxes and made my room tidy,
+and then I began to feel some satisfaction in being settled down where
+I am of most use just now. After dinner came Herbert Spencer, and
+spent the evening. Yesterday morning Mr. Greg called on his way to
+Paris, to express his regret that he did not see me at Ambleside. He
+is very pleasing, but somehow or other he frightens me dreadfully. I
+am going to plunge into Thackeray's novel now ("Esmond").
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Saturday, Nov. (?) 1852.]
+
+Oh, this hideous fog! Let me grumble, for I have had headache the last
+three days, and there seems little prospect of anything else in such
+an atmosphere. I am ready to vow that I will not live in the Strand
+again after Christmas. If I were not choked by the fog, the time would
+trot pleasantly withal, but of what use are brains and friends when
+one lives in a light such as might be got in the chimney? "Esmond" is
+the most uncomfortable book you can imagine. You remember how you
+disliked "François le Champi." Well, the story of "Esmond" is just the
+same. The hero is in love with the daughter all through the book, and
+marries the mother at the end. You should read the debates on the
+opening of Parliament in the _Times_. Lord Brougham, the greatest of
+English orators, perpetrates the most delicious _non sequitur_ I have
+seen for a long time. "My Lords, I believe that any disturbance of the
+repose of the world is very remote, _because it is our undeniable
+right and an unquestionable duty_ to be prepared with the means of
+defence, should such an event occur." These be thy gods, O Israel!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Monday, 20th Nov. 1852.]
+
+I perceive your reading of the golden rule is "Do as you are done by;"
+and I shall be wiser than to expect a letter from you another Monday
+morning, when I have not earned it by my Saturday's billet. The fact
+is, both callers and work thicken--the former sadly interfering with
+the latter. I will just tell you how it was last Saturday, and that
+will give you an idea of my days. My task was to read an article of
+Greg's in the _North British_ on "Taxation," a heap of newspaper
+articles, and all that J. S. Mill says on the same subject. When I had
+got some way into this _magnum mare_, in comes Mr. Chapman, with a
+thick German volume. "Will you read enough of this to give me your
+opinion of it?" Then of course I must have a walk after lunch, and
+when I had sat down again, thinking that I had two clear hours before
+dinner, rap at the door--Mr. Lewes, who, of course, sits talking till
+the second bell rings. After dinner another visitor, and so behold me,
+at 11 P.M., still very far at sea on the subject of Taxation, but too
+tired to keep my eyes open. We had Bryant the poet last evening--a
+pleasant, quiet, elderly man. Do you know of this second sample of
+plagiarism by D'Israeli, detected by the _Morning Chronicle_?[40] It
+is worth sending for its cool impudence. Write me some news about
+trade, at all events. I could tolerate even Louis Napoleon, if somehow
+or other he could have a favorable influence on the Coventry trade.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 4th Dec. 1852.]
+
+Another week almost "with the years beyond the flood." What has it
+brought you? To me it has brought articles to read--for the most part
+satisfactory--new callers, and letters to nibble at my time, and a
+meeting of the Association for the Abolition of Taxes on Knowledge. I
+am invited to go to the Leigh Smiths on Monday evening to meet Mr.
+Robert Noel. Herbert Spencer is invited, too, because Mr. Noel wants
+especially to see him. Barbara Smith speaks of Mr. R. Noel as their
+"dear German friend." So the Budget is come out, and I am to pay
+income-tax. All very right, of course. An enlightened personage like
+me has no "ignorant impatience of taxation." I am glad to hear of the
+Lectures to Young Men and the banquet of the Laborers' Friend Society.
+"Be not weary in well-doing." Thanks to Sara for her letter. She must
+not mind paying the income-tax; it is a right principle that Dizzy is
+going upon; and with her great conscientiousness she ought to enjoy
+being flayed on a right principle.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 10th Dec. 1852.]
+
+I am not well--all out of sorts--and what do you think I am minded to
+do? Take a return ticket, and set off by the train to-morrow 12
+o'clock, have a talk with you and a blow over the hill, and come back
+relieved on Monday. I the rather indulge myself in this, because I
+think I shall not be able to be with you until some time after
+Christmas. Pray forgive me for not sending you word before. I have
+only just made up my mind.
+
+     This visit to Rosehill lasted only from the 11th to 13th
+     December, and the following short note is the next
+     communication:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 19th (?) Dec. 1852.]
+
+I am very wretched to-day on many accounts, and am only able to write
+you two or three lines. I have heard this morning that Mr. Clarke is
+dangerously ill. Poor Chrissey and her children. Thank you for your
+kind letter.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 21st Dec. 1852.]
+
+I dare say you will have heard, before you receive this, that Edward
+Clarke is dead. I am to go to the funeral, which will take place on
+Friday. I am debating with myself as to what I ought to do now for
+poor Chrissey, but I must wait until I have been on the spot and seen
+my brother. If you hear no more from me, I shall trust to your
+goodness to give me a bed on Thursday night.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Christmas Day, 25th Dec. 1852, from
+Meriden.]
+
+Your love and goodness are a comforting presence to me everywhere,
+whether I am ninety or only nine miles away from you. Chrissey bears
+her trouble much better than I expected. We hope that an advantageous
+arrangement may be made about the practice; and there is a
+considerable sum in debts to be collected. I shall return to town on
+Wednesday. It would have been a comfort to see you again before going
+back, but there are many reasons for not doing so. I am satisfied now
+that my duties do not lie _here_, though the dear creatures here will
+be a constant motive for work and economy.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 31st Dec. 1852.]
+
+I arrived here only yesterday. I had agreed with Chrissey that, all
+things considered, it was wiser for me to return to town; that I could
+do her no substantial good by staying another week, while I should be
+losing time as to other matters.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 7th Jan. 1853.]
+
+I am out of spirits about the _Review_. I should be glad to run away
+from it altogether. But one thing is clear, that it would be a great
+deal worse if I were not here. This is the only thought that consoles
+me. We are thinking of sending Chrissey's eldest boy to Australia. A
+patient of his father's has offered to place him under suitable
+protection at Adelaide, and I strongly recommend Chrissey to accept
+her offer--that is, if she will let it be available a year hence; so I
+have bought Sidney's book on Australia, and am going to send it to
+Chrissey, to enlighten her about matters there, and accustom her mind
+to the subject. You are "jolly," I dare say, as good people have a
+right to be. Tell me as much of your happiness as you can, that I may
+rejoice in your joy, having none of my own.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, Jan. 1853.]
+
+I begin to feel for other people's wants and sorrows a little more
+than I used to do. Heaven help us! said the old religion; the new one,
+from its very lack of that faith, will teach us all the more to help
+one another. Tell Sara she is as good as a group of spice-islands to
+me; she wafts the pleasantest influences, even from a distance.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 10th Jan. 1853.]
+
+Pray do not lay the sins of the article on the "Atomic Theory" to poor
+Lewes's charge. How you could take it for his I cannot conceive. It is
+as remote from his style, both of thinking and writing, as anything
+can be.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 18th Jan. 1853.]
+
+This week has yielded nothing to me but a crop of very large
+headaches. The pain has gone from my head at last, but I am feeling
+very much shattered, and find it easier to cry than to do anything
+else.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 1st Feb. 1853.]
+
+My complaint, of which I am now happily rid, was rheumatism in the
+right arm; a sufficient reason, you will see, for my employing a
+scribe to write that promise which I now fulfil. I am going into the
+country, perhaps for a fortnight, so that, if you are kind enough to
+come here on Wednesday evening, I shall not have the pleasure of
+seeing you. All the more reason for writing to you, in spite of cold
+feet and the vilest pens in the world.
+
+Francis Newman is likely to come once or twice in the season; not
+more. He has, of course, a multitude of engagements, and many more
+attractive ones than a _soirée_ in the Strand.
+
+Never mention me to him in the character of editress. I think--at
+least, I am told--that he has no high estimate of woman's powers and
+functions. But let that pass. He is a very pure, noble being, and it
+is good only to look at such.
+
+The article on "Slavery," in the last number of the
+_Westminster_--which I think the best article of them all--is by W. E.
+Forster, a Yorkshire manufacturer, who married Dr. Arnold's daughter.
+He is a very earnest, independent thinker, and worth a gross of
+literary hacks who have the "trick" of writing.
+
+I hope you are interested in the Slavery question, and in America
+generally--that cradle of the future. I used resolutely to turn away
+from American politics, and declare that the United States was the
+last region of the world I should care to visit. Even now I almost
+loathe the _common_ American type of character. But I am converted to
+a profound interest in the history, the laws, the social and religious
+phases of North America, and long for some knowledge of them.
+
+Is it not cheering to think of the youthfulness of this little planet,
+and the immensely greater youthfulness of our race upon it? to think
+that the higher moral tendencies of human nature are yet only in their
+germ? I feel this more thoroughly when I think of that great western
+continent, with its infant cities, its huge, uncleared forests, and
+its unamalgamated races.
+
+I dare say you have guessed that the article on "Ireland" is Harriet
+Martineau's. Herbert Spencer did _not_ contribute to the last number.
+
+_À propos_ of articles, do you see the _Prospective Review_? There is
+an admirable critique of Kingsley's "Phaethon" in it, by James
+Martineau. But perhaps you may not be as much in love with Kingsley's
+genius, and as much "riled" by his faults, as I am.
+
+Of course you have read "Ruth" by this time. Its style was a great
+refreshment to me, from its finish and fulness. How women have the
+courage to write, and publishers the spirit to buy, at a high price,
+the false and feeble representations of life and character that most
+feminine novels give, is a constant marvel to me. "Ruth," with all its
+merits, will not be an enduring or classical fiction--will it? Mrs.
+Gaskell seems to me to be constantly misled by a love of sharp
+contrasts--of "dramatic" effects. She is not contented with the
+subdued coloring, the half-tints, of real life. Hence she agitates one
+for the moment, but she does not secure one's lasting sympathy; her
+scenes and characters do not become typical. But how pretty and
+graphic are the touches of description! That little attic in the
+minister's house, for example, which, with its pure white dimity
+bed-curtains, its bright-green walls, and the rich brown of its
+stained floor, remind one of a snowdrop springing out of the soil.
+Then the rich humor of Sally, and the sly satire in the description of
+Mr. Bradshaw. Mrs. Gaskell has, certainly, a charming mind, and one
+cannot help loving her as one reads her books.
+
+A notable book just come out is Wharton's "Summary of the Laws
+relating to Women." "Enfranchisement of women" only makes creeping
+progress; and that is best, for woman does not yet deserve a much
+better lot than man gives her.
+
+I am writing to you the last thing, and am so tired that I am not
+quite sure whether I finish my sentences. But your divining power will
+supply their deficiencies.
+
+     The first half of February was spent in visits to the Brays
+     and to Mrs. Clarke, at Attleboro, and on returning to London
+     Miss Evans writes:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 15th Feb. 1853.]
+
+I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me, for I
+have been reading "Villette," a still more wonderful book than "Jane
+Eyre." There is something almost preternatural in its power.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 19th Feb. 1853.]
+
+Mrs. Follen showed me a delightful letter which she has had from Mrs.
+Stowe, telling all about herself. She begins by saying: "I am a little
+bit of a woman, rather more than forty, as withered and dry as a pinch
+of snuff; never very well worth looking at in my best days, and now a
+decidedly used-up article." The whole letter is most fascinating, and
+makes one love her.
+
+"Villette," "Villette"--have you read it?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 25th Feb. 1853.]
+
+We had an agreeable evening on Wednesday--a Mr. Huxley being the
+centre of interest. Since then I have been headachy and in a perpetual
+rage over an article that gives me no end of trouble, and will not be
+satisfactory after all. I should like to stick red-hot skewers through
+the writer, whose style is as sprawling as his handwriting. For the
+rest, I am in excellent spirits, though not in the best health or
+temper. I am in for loads of work next quarter, but I shall not tell
+you what I am going to do.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 19th Mch. 1853.]
+
+I have been ready to tear my hair with disappointment about the next
+number of the _Review_. In short, I am a miserable editor. I think I
+shall never have the energy to move--it seems to be of so little
+consequence where I am or what I do.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 28th Mch. 1853.]
+
+On Saturday I was correcting proofs literally from morning till night;
+yesterday ditto. The _Review_ will be better than I once feared, but
+not so good as I once hoped. I suppose the weather has chilled your
+charity as well as mine. I am very hard and Mephistophelian just now,
+but I lay it all to this second winter. We had a pleasant evening last
+Wednesday. Lewes, as always, genial and amusing. He has quite won my
+liking, in spite of myself. Of course, Mr. Bray highly approves the
+recommendation of the Commissioners on _Divorce_. I have been to
+Blandford Square (Leigh Smith's) to an evening party this week. Dined
+at Mr. Parkes's on Sunday, and am invited to go there again to-night
+to meet the Smiths. Lewes was describing Currer Bell to me yesterday
+as a little, plain, provincial, sickly looking old maid. Yet what
+passion, what fire in her! Quite as much as in George Sand, only the
+clothing is less voluptuous.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 11th April, 1853.]
+
+What do you think of my going to Australia with Chrissey and all her
+family?--to settle them, and then come back. I am just going to write
+to her, and suggest the idea. One wants _something_ to keep up one's
+faith in happiness--a ray or two for one's friends, if not for one's
+self.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 16th April, 1853.]
+
+We had an agreeable _soirée_ last Wednesday. I fell in love with Helen
+Faucit. She is the most poetic woman I have seen for a long time;
+there is the ineffable charm of a fine character which makes itself
+felt in her face, voice, and manner. I am taking doses of agreeable
+follies, as you recommend. Last night I went to the French theatre,
+and to-night I am going to the opera to hear "William Tell." People
+are very good to me. Mr. Lewes, especially, is kind and attentive, and
+has quite won my regard, after having had a good deal of my
+vituperation. Like a few other people in the world, he is much better
+than he seems. A man of heart and conscience, wearing a mask of
+flippancy. When the warm days come, and the bearskin is under the
+acacia, you must have me again.
+
+     6th May.--Went to Rosehill and returned on 23d to Strand.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 17th June, 1853.]
+
+On Wednesday I dined at Sir James Clark's, where the Combes are
+staying, and had a very pleasant evening. The Combes have taken
+lodgings in Oxford Terrace, where I mean to go. It is better than the
+Strand--trees waving before the windows, and no noise of omnibuses.
+Last Saturday evening I had quite a new pleasure. We went to see
+Rachel again, and sat on the stage between the scenes. When the
+curtain fell we walked about and saw the green-room, and all the
+dingy, dusty paraphernalia that make up theatrical splendor. I have
+not yet seen the "Vashti" of Currer Bell in Rachel, though there was
+some approach to it in Adrienne Lecouvreur.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 28th June, 1853.]
+
+On Saturday we will go to Ockley, near Dorking, where are staying Miss
+Julia Smith, Barbara Smith, and Bessie Parkes. I shall write to the
+Ockley party to-day and tell them of the probability that they will
+see you.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 3d Aug. 1853, from St. Leonards.]
+
+I never felt the delight of the thorough change that the coast gives
+one so much as now, and I shall be longing to be off with you again in
+October. I am on a delightful hill looking over the heads of the
+houses, and having a vast expanse of sea and sky for my only view. The
+bright weather and genial air--so different from what I have had for a
+year before--make me feel as happy and stupid as a well-conditioned
+cow. I sit looking at the sea and the sleepy ships with a purely
+animal _bien être_.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 9th Aug. 1853.]
+
+It would have been a satisfaction to your benevolence to see me
+sitting on the beach laughing at the _Herald's_ many jokes, and
+sympathizing with your indignation against Judge Maule. It always
+helps me to be happy when I know that you are so; but I do not choose
+to vindicate myself against doubts of that, because it is unworthy of
+you to entertain them. I am going on as well as possible
+physically--really getting stout. I should like to have a good laugh
+with you immensely. How nice it would be to meet you and Cara on the
+beach this evening, and instead of sending you such a miserable
+interpreter of one's feelings as a letter, give you the look and the
+hand of warm affection! This British Channel really looks as blue as
+the Mediterranean to-day. What weather!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 18th Aug. 1853.]
+
+For the first time in my experience I am positively revelling in the
+_Prospective_. James Martineau transcends himself in beauty of imagery
+in the article on Sir William Hamilton, but I have not finished him
+yet. Yesterday it rained _sans_ intermission, and of course I said
+_cui bono?_ and found my troubles almost more than I could bear; but
+to-day the sun shines, and there is blue above and blue below,
+consequently I find life very glorious, and myself a particularly
+fortunate _diavolessa_. The landlord of my lodgings is a German, comes
+from Saxe-Weimar, knows well the Duchess of Orleans, and talked to me
+this morning of _Mr._ Schiller and _Mr._ Goethe. _À propos_ of Goethe,
+there is a most true, discriminating passage about him in the article
+on Shakespeare in the _Prospective_. _Mr._ Goethe is one of my
+companions here, and I had felt some days before reading the passage
+the truth which it expresses.
+
+     Subjoined is the passage from the _Prospective Review_ of
+     August, 1853:
+
+     "Goethe's works are too much in the nature of literary
+     studies; the mind is often deeply impressed by them, but one
+     doubts if the author was. He saw them as he saw the houses of
+     Weimar and the plants in the act of metamorphosis. He had a
+     clear perception of their fixed condition and their
+     successive transitions, but he did not really (at least so it
+     seems to us) comprehend their motive power. In a word, he
+     appreciated their life but not their liveliness.... And we
+     trace this not to a defect in imaginative power--a defect
+     which it would be a simple absurdity to impute to Goethe--but
+     to the tone of his character and the habits of his mind. He
+     moved hither and thither through life, but he was always a
+     man apart. He mixed with unnumbered kinds of men, with courts
+     and academies, students and women, camps and artists, but
+     everywhere he was with them, yet not of them. In every scene
+     he was there, and he made it clear that he was there with a
+     reserve and as a stranger. He went there _to experience_. As
+     a man of universal culture, and well skilled in the order
+     and classification of human life, the fact of any one class
+     or order being beyond his reach or comprehension seemed an
+     absurdity; and it was an absurdity. He thought that he was
+     equal to moving in any description of society, and he was
+     equal to it; but then, on that account, he was absorbed in
+     none."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Sept. 1853.]
+
+As for me, I am in the best health and spirits. I have had a letter
+from Mr. Combe to-day, urging me to go to Edinburgh, but I have made
+an engagement with Mr. Chapman to do work which will oblige me to
+remain in London. Mrs. P. is a very bonny, pleasant-looking woman,
+with a smart drawing-room and liberal opinions--in short, such a
+friend as self-interest, well understood, would induce one to
+cultivate. I find it difficult to meet with any lodgings at once
+tolerable and cheap. My theory is to _live_ entirely--that is, pay
+rent and find food--out of my positive income, and then work for as
+large a surplus as I can get. The next number of the _Review_ will be
+better than usual. Froude writes on the "Book of Job"! He at first
+talked of an article on the three great _subjective_ poems--Job,
+Faust, and Hamlet--an admirable subject--but it has shrunk to the Book
+of Job alone.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 1st Oct. 1853.]
+
+I have been busied about my lodgings all afternoon. I am not going to
+Albion Street, but to 21 Cambridge Street, Hyde Park Square. I hope
+you will be pleased with our present number. If you don't think the
+"Universal Postulate" first-rate, I shall renounce you as a critic.
+Why don't you write grumbling letters to me when you are out of humor
+with life, instead of making me ashamed of myself for ever having
+grumbled to you? I have been a more good-for-nothing correspondent
+than usual lately; this affair of getting lodgings, added to my other
+matters, has taken up my time and thoughts. I have promised to do some
+work to-night and to-morrow for a person[41] who is rather more idle
+than myself, so I have not a moment to spare.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Oct. 1853.]
+
+I am reading "The Religion of the Heart" (Leigh Hunt's), and am far
+more pleased with it than I expected to be. I have just fallen on two
+passages with which you will agree. "Parker ... is full of the poetry
+of religion; Martineau equally so, with a closer style and incessant
+eloquence of expression, perhaps a perilous superabundance of it as
+regards the claims of matter over manner; and his assumptions of
+perfection in the character of Jesus are so reiterated and peremptory
+that in a man of less evident heart and goodness they might almost
+look like a very unction of insincerity or of policy, of doubt forcing
+itself to seem undoubting. Hennell's 'Christian Theism' is one long,
+beautiful discourse proclaiming the great Bible of Creation, and
+reconciling Pagan and Christian Philosophy."
+
+Good Sir James Clark stopped me in the Park yesterday, as I was
+sauntering along with eyes on the clouds, and made very fatherly
+inquiries about me, urging me to spend a quiet evening with him and
+Lady Clark next week--which I will certainly do; for they are two
+capital people, without any snobbery. I like my lodgings--the
+housekeeper cooks charming little dinners for me, and I have not one
+disagreeable to complain of at present, save such as are inseparable
+from a ground-floor.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 29th Oct. 1853.]
+
+Last night I saw the first fine specimen of a man in the shape of a
+clergyman that I ever met with--Dawes, the Dean of Hereford. He is the
+man who has been making the experiment of mingling the middle and
+lower classes in schools. He has a face so intelligent and benignant
+that children might grow good by looking at it. Harriet Martineau
+called yesterday. She is going to her brother's at Birmingham soon.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 3d Nov. 1853.]
+
+Mr. Lewes was at Cambridge about a fortnight ago, and found that
+Herbert Spencer was a great deal talked of there for the article on
+the "Universal Postulate," as well as other things. Mr. Lewes himself
+has a knot of devotees there who make his "History of Philosophy" a
+private text-book. Miss Martineau's "Comte" is out now. Do you mean to
+_do_ it? or Mr. Lewes's? We can get no one to write an article on
+Comte for the next number of the _Westminster_--Bain, our last hope,
+refusing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 5th Nov. 1853.]
+
+I think you would find some capital extracts for the _Herald_
+(Coventry), in the article on "Church Parties" in the _Edinburgh_. The
+_Record_ is attempting a reply to it, in which it talks of the
+truculent infidelity of _Voltaire_ AND _Robespierre_! Has A. sent you
+his book on the Sabbath? If ever I write a book I will make a present
+of it to nobody; it is the surest way of taking off the edge of
+appetite for it, if no more. I am as well as possible; and certainly,
+when I put my head into the house in the Strand, I feel that I have
+gained, or, rather, escaped, a great deal physically by my change.
+Have you known the misery of writing with a _tired_ steel pen, which
+is reluctant to make a mark? If so, you will know why I leave off.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 7th Nov. 1853.]
+
+Chrissey has just sent me a letter, which tells that you have been
+suffering severely, and that you are yet very ill. I must satisfy my
+own feelings by telling you that I grieve at this, though it will do
+you little good to know it. Still, when _I_ am suffering, I do care
+for sympathy, and perhaps you are of the same mind. If so, think of me
+as your loving sister, who remembers all your kindness to her, all the
+pleasant hours she has had with you, and every little particular of
+her intercourse with you, however long and far she may have been
+removed from you. Dear Fanny, I can never be indifferent to your
+happiness or sorrow, and in this present sad affliction my thoughts
+and love are with you. I shall tease you with no words about myself
+_now_--perhaps by and by it will amuse you to have a longer letter.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Bray, 8th Nov. 1853.]
+
+Hitherto I have been spending £9 per month--at least after that
+rate--but I have had frequent guests. I am exceedingly comfortable,
+and feel quite at home now. Harriet Martineau has been very
+kind--called again on Tuesday, and yesterday sent to invite me to go
+to Lady Compton's, where she is staying, on Saturday evening. This,
+too, in spite of my having vexed her by introducing Mr. Lewes to her,
+which I did as a desirable bit of peacemaking.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1853 (thirty-fourth
+birthday).]
+
+I begin this year more happily than I have done most years of my life.
+"Notre vraie destinée," says Comte, "se compose de _resignation_ et
+_d'activité_"--and I seem more disposed to both than I have ever been
+before. Let us hope that we shall both get stronger by the year's
+activity--calmer by its resignation. I know it may be just the
+contrary--don't suspect me of being a canting optimist. We _may_ both
+find ourselves at the end of the year going faster to the hell of
+conscious moral and intellectual weakness. Still, there is a
+possibility--even a probability--the other way. I have not seen
+Harriet Martineau's "Comte" yet--she is going to give me a copy--but
+Mr. Lewes tells me it seems to him admirably well done. I told Mr.
+Chapman yesterday that I wished to give up my connection with the
+editorship of the _Westminster_. He wishes me to continue the present
+state of things until April. I shall be much more satisfied on many
+accounts to have done with that affair; but I shall find the question
+of supplies rather a difficult one this year, as I am not likely to
+get any money either for "Feuerbach" or for "The Idea of a Future
+Life,"[42] for which I am to have "half profits"=0/0!
+
+I hope you will appreciate this _bon-mot_ as I do--"C'est un homme
+admirable--il se tait en sept langues!"[43]
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 2d Dec. 1853.]
+
+I am going to detail all my troubles to you. In the first place, the
+door of my sitting-room doesn't quite fit, and a draught is the
+consequence. Secondly, there is a piano in the house which has
+decidedly entered on its second childhood, and this piano is
+occasionally played on by Miss P. with a really enviable _aplomb_.
+Thirdly, the knocks at the door startle me--an annoyance inseparable
+from a ground-floor room. Fourthly, Mrs. P. scolds the servants
+_stringendo e fortissimo_ while I am dressing in the morning.
+Fifthly--there is no fifthly. I really have not another discomfort
+when I am well, which, alas! I have not been for the last ten days;
+so, while I have been up to the chin in possibilities of enjoyment, I
+have been too sick and headachy to use them. One thing is needful--a
+good digestion.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 28th Dec. 1853.]
+
+Spent Christmas Day alone at Cambridge Street. How shall I thank you
+enough for sending me that splendid barrel of beet-root, so nicely
+packed? I shall certainly eat it and enjoy it, which, I fancy, is the
+end you sought, and not thanks. Don't suppose that I am looking
+miserable--_au contraire_. My only complaints just now are idleness
+and dislike-to-getting-up-in-the-morningness, whereby the day is made
+too short for what I want to do. I resolve every day to conquer the
+flesh the next, and, of course, am a little later in consequence. I
+dined with Arthur Helps yesterday at Sir James Clark's--very
+snug--only he and myself. He is a sleek man, with close-snipped hair;
+has a quiet, humorous way of talking, like his books.
+
+     At the beginning of January, 1854, there was another visit to
+     Mrs. Clarke, at Attleboro, for ten days.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 6th Feb. 1854.]
+
+In the last number of the _Scotsman_ which I sent you there was a
+report of a speech by Dr. Guthrie at the Education meeting, containing
+a passage which I meant to have copied. He is speaking of the
+impossibility of teaching morality with the "Bible shut," and says
+that in that case the teacher would be obliged to resort to "congruity
+and the fitness of things," about which the boy knows nothing more
+than that the apple is _fit_ for his mouth. What is wanted to convince
+the boy of his sin is, "Thou God seest me," and "Thou bleeding Lamb,
+the best morality is love of thee!" Mr. Lewes came a few minutes after
+you left, and desired me to tell you that he was sorry to miss you.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Houghton, 6th April, 1854.]
+
+Thank you for your very kind letter, which I received this morning. It
+is pleasant to think of you as quite well, and enjoying your
+sea-breezes.
+
+But do you imagine me sitting with my hands crossed, ready to start
+for any quarter of the world at the shortest notice. It is not on
+those terms that people, not rich, live in London. I shall be deep in
+proof-sheets till the end of May, and shall only dismiss them to make
+material for new ones. I dare say you will pity me. But, as one of
+Balzac's characters says, after maturity, "La vie n'est que l'exercice
+d'une habitude dans un milieu préféré;" and I could no more live out
+of my _milieu_ than the haddocks I dare say you are often having for
+dinner.
+
+My health is better. I had got into a labyrinth of headaches and
+palpitations, but I think I am out of it now, and I hope to keep well.
+I am not the less obliged to you, dear Fanny, for wishing to have me
+with you. But to leave London now would not be agreeable to me, even
+if it were morally possible. To see you again would certainly be a
+pleasure, but I hope that will come to pass without my crossing the
+Irish Channel.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Saturday, 18th April, 1854.]
+
+I am rather overdone with the week's work, and the prospect of what is
+to come next. Poor Lewes is ill, and is ordered not to put pen to
+paper for a month; so I have something to do for him in addition to my
+own work, which is rather pressing. He is gone to Arthur Helps, in
+Hampshire, for ten days, and I really hope this total cessation from
+work, in obedience to a peremptory order, will end in making him
+better than he has been for the last year. No opera and no fun for me
+for the next month. Happily, I shall have no time to regret it. Plenty
+of bright sun on your anemone bed. How lovely your place must look,
+with its fresh leaves!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 23d May, 1854.]
+
+It is quite possible that I may wish to go to the Continent, or twenty
+other things. Mr. Lewes is going on a walking excursion to Windsor
+to-day with his doctor, who pronounces him better, but not yet fit
+for work. However, he is obliged to do a little, and must content
+himself with an _approximation_ to his doctor's directions. In this
+world all things are approximations, and in the system of the Dog Star
+too, in spite of Dr. Whewell.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Friday, no date, 1854.]
+
+My troubles are purely psychical--self-dissatisfaction, and despair of
+achieving anything worth the doing. I can truly say they vanish into
+nothing before any fear for the happiness of those I love. Thank you
+for letting me know how things are, for indeed I could not bear to be
+shut out from your anxieties. When I spoke of myself as an island, I
+did not mean that I was so exceptionally. We are all islands--
+
+     "Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe,
+       Our hermit spirits dwell and roam apart"--
+
+and this seclusion is sometimes the most intensely felt at the very
+moment your friend is caressing you or consoling you. But this
+gradually becomes a source of satisfaction instead of repining. When
+we are young we think our troubles a mighty business--that the world
+is spread out expressly as a stage for the particular drama of our
+lives, and that we have a right to rant and foam at the mouth if we
+are crossed. I have done enough of that in my time. But we begin at
+last to understand that these things are important only to our own
+consciousness, which is but as a globule of dew on a rose-leaf, that
+at mid-day there will be no trace of. This is no high-flown
+sentimentality, but a simple reflection, which I find useful to me
+every day. I expect to see Mr. Lewes back again to-day. His poor
+head--his only fortune--is not well yet; and he has had the misery of
+being _ennuyé_ with idleness, without perceiving the compensating
+physical improvement. Still, I hope the good he has been getting has
+been greater than he has been conscious of. I expect "Feuerbach" will
+be all in print by the end of next week, and there are no skippings,
+except such as have been made on very urgent grounds.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Tuesday, 6th June, 1854.]
+
+Thanks for your assurance of welcome. I will trust to it when the gods
+send favorable circumstances. But I see no probability of my being
+able to be with you before your other midsummer visitors arrive. I
+delight to think that you are all a little more cheery.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Wednesday, 28th June, 1854.]
+
+I reached the Euston Station as dusty as an old ledger, but with no
+other "incommodity." I went to the Lyceum last night to see "Sunshine
+through the Clouds,"[44] a wonderfully original and beautiful piece by
+Mme. de Girardin, which makes one cry rather too much for pleasure.
+Vestris acts finely the bereaved mother, passing through all the
+gradations of doubt and hope to the actual recovery of her lost son.
+My idea of you is rather bright just now, and really helps to make me
+enjoy all that is enjoyable. That is part of the benefit I have had
+from my pleasant visit, which was made up of sunshine, green fields,
+pleasant looks, and good eatables--an excellent compound. Will you be
+so kind as to send my books by railway, _without_ the Shelley?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, Monday, 4th July, 1854.]
+
+Pray consider the Strauss MSS. waste paper. _I_ shall never want them
+again. I dined with your old acquaintance, Dr. Conolly, at Sir James
+Clark's, the other day. He took me down to dinner, and we talked of
+you.
+
+     The translation of Ludwig Feuerbach's "Wesen des
+     Christenthums" was published in July in "Chapman's Quarterly
+     Series," with Miss Evans's name on the titlepage as the
+     translator, the first and only time her real name appeared in
+     print.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 10th July, 1854.]
+
+I am going to pack up the Hebrew Grammar, the Apocryphal Gospels, and
+your pretty Titian, to be sent to you. Shall I despatch them by rail
+or deposit them with Mr. Chapman, to be asked for by Mr. Bray when he
+comes to town? I shall soon send you a good-bye, for I am preparing to
+go abroad (?). Herbert Spencer's article on the "Genesis of Science"
+is a good one. He will stand in the Biographical Dictionaries of 1854
+as "Spencer, Herbert, an original and profound philosophical writer,
+especially known by his great work, ... which gave a new impulse to
+psychology, and has mainly contributed to the present advanced
+position of that science, compared with that which it had attained in
+the middle of the last century. The life of this philosopher, like
+that of the great Kant, offers little material for the narrator. Born
+in the year 1820," etc.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 20th July, 1854.]
+
+Dear friends--all three--I have only time to say good-bye, and God
+bless you. _Poste Restante_, Weimar, for the next six weeks, and
+afterwards Berlin. Ever your loving and grateful Marian.
+
+     We have now been led up to the most important event in George
+     Eliot's life--her union with Mr. George Henry Lewes. Here, as
+     elsewhere, it seems to me to be of the first importance that
+     she should speak for herself; and there is, fortunately, a
+     letter to Mrs. Bray, dated in September, 1855--fourteen
+     months after the event--which puts on record the point of
+     view from which she regarded her own action. I give this
+     letter here (out of its place as to date); and I may add,
+     what, I think, has not been mentioned before, that not only
+     was Mr. Lewes's previous family life irretrievably spoiled,
+     but his home had been wholly broken up for nearly two years.
+     In forming a judgment on so momentous a question, it is,
+     above all things, necessary to understand what was actually
+     undertaken, what was actually achieved; and, in my opinion,
+     this can best be arrived at, not from any outside statement
+     or arguments, but by consideration of the whole tenor of the
+     life which follows, in the development of which Mr. Lewes's
+     true character, as well as George Eliot's, will unfold
+     itself. No words that any one else can write, no arguments
+     any one else can use, will, I think, be so impressive as the
+     life itself.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 4th Sept. 1855.]
+
+If there is any one action or relation of my life which is, and always
+has been, profoundly serious, it is my relation to Mr. Lewes. It is,
+however, natural enough that you should mistake me in many ways, for
+not only are you unacquainted with Mr. Lewes's real character and the
+course of his actions, but also it is several years now since you and
+I were much together, and it is possible that the modifications my
+mind has undergone may be quite in the opposite direction of what you
+imagine. No one can be better aware than yourself that it is possible
+for two people to hold different opinions on momentous subjects with
+equal sincerity, and an equally earnest conviction that their
+respective opinions are alone the truly moral ones. If we differ on
+the subject of the marriage laws, I at least can believe of you that
+you cleave to what you believe to be good; and I don't know of
+anything in the nature of your views that should prevent you from
+believing the same of me. _How far_ we differ I think we neither of us
+know, for I am ignorant of your precise views; and, apparently, you
+attribute to me both feelings and opinions which are not mine. We
+cannot set each other quite right in this matter in letters, but one
+thing I can tell you in few words. Light and easily broken ties are
+what I neither desire theoretically nor could live for practically.
+Women who are satisfied with such ties do _not_ act as I have done.
+That any unworldly, unsuperstitious person who is sufficiently
+acquainted with the realities of life can pronounce my relation to Mr.
+Lewes immoral, I can only understand by remembering how subtile and
+complex are the influences that mould opinion. But I _do_ remember
+this: and I indulge in no arrogant or uncharitable thoughts about
+those who condemn us, even though we might have expected a somewhat
+different verdict. From the majority of persons, of course, we never
+looked for anything but condemnation. We are leading no life of
+self-indulgence, except, indeed, that, being happy in each other, we
+find everything easy. We are working hard to provide for others better
+than we provide for ourselves, and to fulfil every responsibility that
+lies upon us. Levity and pride would not be a sufficient basis for
+that. Pardon me if, in vindicating myself from some unjust
+conclusions, I seem too cold and self-asserting. I should not care to
+vindicate myself if I did not love you and desire to relieve you of
+the pain which you say these conclusions have given you. Whatever I
+may have misinterpreted before, I do not misinterpret your letter this
+morning, but read in it nothing else than love and kindness towards
+me, to which my heart fully answers yes. I should like never to write
+about myself again; it is not healthy to dwell on one's own feelings
+and conduct, but only to try and live more faithfully and lovingly
+every fresh day. I think not one of the endless words and deeds of
+kindness and forbearance you have ever shown me has vanished from my
+memory. I recall them often, and feel, as about everything else in the
+past, how deficient I have been in almost every relation of my life.
+But that deficiency is irrevocable, and I can find no strength or
+comfort except in "pressing forward towards the things that are
+before," and trying to make the present better than the past. But if
+we should never be very near each other again, dear Cara, do bear this
+faith in your mind, that I was not insensible or ungrateful to all
+your goodness, and that I am one among the many for whom you have not
+lived in vain. I am very busy just now, and have been obliged to write
+hastily. Bear this in mind, and believe that no meaning is mine which
+contradicts my assurance that I am your affectionate and earnest
+friend.
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+MARCH, 1850, TO JULY, 1854.
+
+     Return to England with M. d'Albert--Depressing effect of
+     change--Visit to Rosehill--Visit to brother and sister at
+     Griff and Meriden--Deeper depression--To Rosehill again with
+     M. d'Albert--Makes her home there for sixteen months--Reviews
+     Mackay's "Progress of the Intellect" in _Westminster_--Meets
+     Mr. Chapman, the editor of the _Westminster_--Helps to settle
+     Prospectus of new series of the _Review_--Visits Robert Noel
+     at Bishop Steignton with Mrs. Bray--Visit to London--Crystal
+     Palace--Returns to Rosehill, and meets Mr. and Mrs. George
+     Combe--Goes to London as assistant editor of the _Westminster
+     Review_--Letters to Brays--Review writing: Dr. Brabant,
+     Foxton, Wilson--Meets Mr. Herbert Spencer--Miss
+     Martineau--Distractions of London--Low health--Miss
+     Bremer--Introduction to Mr. Lewes--Opinion of House of
+     Lords--Carlyle's "Life of Sterling"--Carlyle
+     anecdotes--Mackay--James Martineau--J. H. Newman's
+     Lectures--Translation of Schleiermacher--Letter from
+     Carlyle--Intimacy begins with Mr. Lewes--Reviews Carlyle's
+     "Sterling" in _Westminster_--Visit to Rosehill--Returns to
+     Strand--Harriet Martineau--Pierre Leroux--Louis Blanc--Miss
+     Bessie Parkes--Mrs. Peter Taylor--"Margaret Fuller's
+     Life"--Description of _Westminster_ reviewers--Growing
+     intimacy with Mr. Herbert Spencer--Meeting of authors and
+     booksellers at Mr. Chapman's--Admiration of Prince
+     Albert--Grisi--Hack work of _Review_--Appreciation of Miss
+     Martineau's writings--Singing of charity children at St.
+     Paul's--George Combe's opinion of _Westminster_
+     editing--Barbara Leigh Smith--Visit to Broadstairs--Florence
+     Nightingale--Return to Strand--Depression--Professor Owen on
+     the Cerebellum--Visit to Combes at Edinburgh, and to Harriet
+     Martineau at Ambleside--Return to London--Reading
+     "Esmond"--Lord Brougham's speech--Work in
+     Strand--Bryant--Visit to Rosehill--Death of Edward
+     Clarke--Visit to widowed sister at Meriden--Return to
+     Strand--Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor--Views on
+     America--"Ruth"--Visit to Rosehill, and to Mrs. Clarke at
+     Attleboro--Return to Strand--Reading "Villette"--Letter from
+     Mrs. Stowe to Mrs. Follen--Meets Huxley--Thinks of going to
+     Australia to settle Mrs. Clarke--Admiration of Helen
+     Faucit--Growing regard for Mr. Lewes--Kindness of Sir James
+     Clark--Visit to Ockley--Change to St. Leonard's--Improvement
+     in health--Return to Strand--Spencer's "Universal
+     Postulate"--Removal to 21 Cambridge Street--Leigh Hunt's
+     "Religion of the Heart"--Dawes, Dean of Hereford--Harriet
+     Martineau--Comte--Contemplates publishing "The Idea of a
+     Future Life"--Meets Arthur Helps--Intimate relations with Mr.
+     Lewes--Translation of Feuerbach--Visit to Rosehill--Return to
+     London--Feuerbach completed--Estimate of Herbert
+     Spencer--Good-bye to Brays--Union with Mr. Lewes--Letter to
+     Mrs. Bray thereon.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] Frederick Foxton, author of "Popular Christianity: its Transition
+State and Probable Development."
+
+[32] "Man's Nature and Development," by Martineau and Atkinson.
+
+[33] This was a merely formal and casual introduction. That George
+Eliot was ever brought into close relations with Mr. Lewes was due to
+Mr. Herbert Spencer having taken him to call on her in the Strand
+later in this year.
+
+[34] Appeared in January, 1852, number of the _Westminster Review_,
+No. 1 of the New Series.
+
+[35] Review of Carlyle's "Life of Sterling" in _Westminster_, Jan.
+1852.
+
+[36] Published in the April, 1852, number of the _Westminster_.
+
+[37] Now Madame Belloc, who remained to the end one of George Eliot's
+closest friends.
+
+[38] Mrs. Peter Taylor remained a lifelong and a valued friend of
+George Eliot's, and many interesting letters in this volume are
+addressed to her. I am glad also to take this opportunity of
+expressing my thanks to her for procuring for me two other sets of
+correspondence--the letters addressed to Mrs. Beecher Stowe and to
+Mrs. William Smith.
+
+[39] Afterwards Madame Bodichon--one of the three or four most
+intimate friends of George Eliot, whose name will very often appear in
+subsequent pages.
+
+[40] Funeral oration on the Duke of Wellington.
+
+[41] Correcting _Leader_ proofs for Mr. Lewes.
+
+[42] Advertised in 1853-54 as to appear by "Marian Evans" in
+"Chapman's Quarterly Series," but never published.
+
+[43] Lord Acton tells me he first heard this _bon-mot_, in 1855,
+related of Immanuel Bekker, the philologist.
+
+[44] Translated and adapted from the French, "La joie fait peur," by
+Mr. Lewes, under the name of Slingsby Lawrence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 20th July, 1854.]
+
+I said a last farewell to Cambridge Street on 20th July, 1854, and
+found myself on board the _Ravensbourne_, bound for Antwerp. The day
+was glorious, and our passage perfect. The sunset was lovely, but
+still lovelier the dawn as we were passing up the Scheldt between two
+and three in the morning. The crescent moon, the stars, the first
+faint blush of the dawn reflected in the glassy river, the dark mass
+of clouds on the horizon, which sent forth flashes of lightning, and
+the graceful forms of the boats and sailing-vessels, painted in
+jet-black on the reddish gold of the sky and water, made up an
+unforgettable picture. Then the sun rose and lighted up the sleepy
+shores of Belgium, with their fringe of long grass, their rows of
+poplars, their church spires and farm buildings.
+
+[Sidenote: 21st July.]
+
+The great treat at Antwerp was the sight of the Descent from the
+Cross, which, with its pendant, the Elevation of the Cross, has been
+undergoing restoration. In the latter the face of Jesus is sublime in
+its expression of agony and trust in the Divine. It is certainly the
+finest conception of the suffering Christ I have ever seen. The rest
+of the picture gave me no pleasure. But in the Descent from the Cross,
+color, form, and expression alike impressed me with the sense of
+grandeur and beauty. A little miserable copy of the picture placed
+near it served as an admirable foil.
+
+[Sidenote: 22d July.]
+
+We went to the museum and saw Rubens's Crucifixion, even more
+beautiful to me than the Descent from the Cross. These two pictures
+profoundly impressed me with the miserable lack of breadth and
+grandeur in the conceptions of our living artists. The reverence for
+the old masters is not all humbug and superstition.
+
+[Sidenote: 30th July.]
+
+We breakfasted in the public room at the hotel at Cologne, and were
+joined there by Dr. Brabant and Strauss. After a short interview with
+them we went on board the steamboat which was to take us to Coblentz.
+
+[Sidenote: Weimar, Description, Aug.-Oct. 1854.]
+
+It was very pretty to look out of the window, when dressing, on a
+garden that reminded one of an English village: the town is more like
+a huge village, or market-town, than the precincts of a court.
+
+G. called on Schöll, and in the afternoon he (Schöll) came and took us
+to the _Schloss_, where we saw the Dichter Zimmer--a suite of rooms
+dedicated to Goethe, Schiller, and Wieland. In each room there is the
+bust of the poet who is its presiding genius; and the walls of the
+Goethe and Schiller rooms are decorated with frescoes representing
+scenes from their works. The Wieland room is decorated with arabesques
+only. The idea of these rooms is a very pretty one, but the frescoes
+are badly executed. I am delighted with Schöll. He is a
+bright-looking, well-made man, with his head finely set on his
+shoulders, very little like a German. We discovered, after we had
+known him some time, that he is an Austrian, and so has more southern
+blood in his veins than the heavy Thuringians. His manners are hearty
+and cordial, and his conversation really instructive: his ideas are so
+thoroughly shaped and so admirably expressed. Sauppe is also a
+_Gelehrter_, director of the gymnasium, and editor of a series of
+classics which are being brought out; and he is evidently thought a
+great deal of in Weimar. We went with the Schölls and Sauppes to
+Tiefurt, and saw the queer little _Schloss_ which used to be Amalia's
+residence. Tiefurt was a favorite resort of ours, for the walk to it
+is a very pleasant one, and the Tiefurt park is a little paradise. The
+Ilm is seen here to the best advantage: it is clearer than at Weimar,
+and winds about gracefully among fine trees. One of the banks is a
+high, steep declivity, which shows the trees in all their perfection.
+In autumn, when the yellow and scarlet were at their brightest, these
+banks were fairy-like in their beauty. It was here that Goethe and his
+court friends got up the performance of "Die Fischerin" by torchlight.
+
+About ten days after our arrival at Weimar we made an excursion to
+Ettersburg, one of the duke's summer residences, interesting to us
+beforehand as the scene of private theatricals and _sprees_ in the
+Goethe days. We carried provisions with us, and Keats's poems. The
+morning was one of the brightest and hottest that August ever
+bestowed, and it required some resolution to trudge along the
+shadeless _chaussée_, which formed the first two or three miles of our
+way. One compensating pleasure was the sight of the beautiful mountain
+ashes in full berry, which, alternately with cherry-trees, border the
+road for a considerable distance. I felt a child's love for the
+bunches of coral standing out against the blue sky. The _Schloss_ is a
+house of very moderate size, and no pretension of any kind. Two
+flights of steps lead up to the door, and the balustrades are
+ornamented with beautiful creepers. A tiny sort of piazza under the
+steps is ornamented with creepers too, and has pretty earthenware
+vases filled with plants hanging from the ceiling. We felt how much
+beauty might be procured at small expense in looking at these things.
+A beautiful walk through a beech wood took us to the _Mooshütte_,
+before which stands the beech whereon Goethe and his friends cut their
+names, and from which Goethe denounced Waldemar. We could recognize
+some of the initials. With Ettersburg I shall always associate Arthur
+Helps, for he was with us on the second and last time we saw it. He
+came to Weimar quite unexpectedly on the 29th August, and the next
+evening we all three drove to Ettersburg. He said the country just
+round Weimar reminded him of Spain. This led him to talk of his
+Spanish travels, and he told us some delightful stories in a
+delightful way. At one inn he was considerably embarrassed in eating
+his dinner by the presence of a handsome woman, who sat directly
+opposite to him, resting on her elbows, and fixing her dark eyes on
+him with a fearful intensity of interest. This woman was the cook,
+anxious to know that her dishes were acceptable to the stranger. Under
+this terrible surveillance he did not dare to omit a single dish,
+though sorely longing to do so.
+
+Our greatest expedition from Weimar was to Ilmenau. We set out with a
+determination to find the Gabel-Bach and Kickel-hahn (Goethe's
+residence) without the encumbrance of a guide. We found the man who
+inhabits the simple wooden house which used to be Carl August's
+hunting-box. He sent a man on with us to show us the way to the
+Kickel-hahn, which we at last reached--I with weary legs. There is a
+magnificent view of hills from this spot; but Goethe's tiny wooden
+house is now closely shut in by fir-trees, and nothing can be seen
+from the windows. His room, which forms the upper floor of the house,
+is about ten or twelve feet square. It is now quite empty, but there
+is an interesting memorial of his presence in these wonderful lines,
+written by his own hand, near the window-frame:
+
+     "Ueber allen Gipfeln
+     Ist Ruh,
+     In allen Wipfeln
+     Spürest du
+     Kaum einen Hauch;
+     Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
+     Warte nur, balde
+     Ruhest du auch."
+
+We wrote our names near one of the windows.
+
+About the middle of September the theatre opened, and we went to hear
+"Ernani." Liszt looked splendid as he conducted the opera. The grand
+outline of his face and floating hair were seen to advantage as they
+were thrown into dark relief by the stage lamps. We were so fortunate
+as to have all three of Wagner's most celebrated operas while we were
+at Weimar. G., however, had not patience to sit out more than two acts
+of "Lohengrin;" and, indeed, I too was weary. The declamation appeared
+to me monotonous, and situations, in themselves trivial or
+disagreeable, were dwelt on fatiguingly. Without feeling competent to
+pass a judgment on this opera as music, one may venture to say that it
+fails in one grand requisite of art, based on an unchangeable element
+in human nature--the need for contrast. With the "Fliegender
+Holländer" I was delighted; the poem and the music were alike
+charming. The "Tannhäuser," too, created in me a great desire to hear
+it again. Many of the situations, and much of the music, struck me as
+remarkably fine. And I appreciated these operas all the better
+retrospectively when we saw "Der Freischütz," which I had never
+before heard and seen on the stage. The effect of the delicious music,
+with which one is so familiar, was completely spoiled by the absence
+of recitative, and the terrible _lapsus_ from melody to ordinary
+speech. The bacchanalian song seemed simply ridiculous, sung at a
+little pot-house table at a party of _two_, one of whom was sunk in
+melancholy; and the absurdity reached a _ne plus ultra_ when Caspar
+climbed the tree, apparently with the sole purpose of being shot. _À
+propos_ of the theatre, we were immensely amused to learn that a fair,
+small-featured man, who somehow always looked to me as if he had just
+come out of the shell, had come to Weimar to fit himself for a
+dramatic writer by going behind the scenes! He had as yet written
+nothing, but was going to work in what he considered a _gründlich_
+way.
+
+When we passed along the Schiller Strasse, I used to be very much
+thrilled by the inscription, "Hier wohnte Schiller," over the door of
+his small house. Very interesting it is to see his study, which is
+happily left in its original state. In his bedroom we saw his skull
+for the first time, and were amazed at the smallness of the
+intellectual region. There is an intensely interesting sketch of
+Schiller lying dead, which I saw for the first time in the study; but
+all pleasure in thinking of Schiller's portraits and bust is now
+destroyed to me by the conviction of their untruthfulness. Rauch told
+us that he had a _miserabled Stirne_.[45] Waagen says that Tieck the
+sculptor told him there was something in Schiller's whole person which
+reminded him of a _camel_.
+
+Goethe's house is much more important-looking, but, to English eyes,
+far from being the palatial residence which some German writers think
+it. The entrance-hall is certainly rather imposing, with its statues
+in niches, and broad staircase. The latter was made after his own
+design, and was an "after-shine" of Italian tastes. The pictures are
+wretched, the casts not much better--indeed, I remember nothing which
+seemed intrinsically worth looking at. The MS. of his "Römische
+Elegien," written by himself in the Italian character, is to be seen
+here; and one likes to look at it better than at most of the other
+things. G. had obtained permission from Frau v. Goethe to see the
+studio and Schlafzimmer, which are not open to the public, and here
+our feelings were deeply moved. We entered first a small room
+containing drawers and shelves devoted to his mineralogical
+collections. From these we passed into the study. It is rather a dark
+room, for there are only two small windows--German windows. A plain
+deal table stands in the middle, and near the chair, against this
+table, is a high basket, where, I was afterwards told, Goethe used to
+put his pocket-handkerchief. A long sort of writing-table and bookcase
+united stands against one wall. Here hangs the pin-cushion, just as he
+left it, with visiting-cards suspended on threads, and other trifles
+which greatness and death have made sacred. Against the opposite wall,
+where you enter the bedroom, there is a high writing-desk, on which
+stands a little statue of Napoleon in creamy glass. The bedroom is
+very small. By the side of the bed stands a stuffed arm-chair, where
+he used to sit and read while he drank his coffee in the morning. It
+was not until very late in his life that he adopted the luxury of an
+arm-chair. From the other side of the study one enters the library,
+which is fitted up in a very makeshift fashion, with rough deal
+shelves, and bits of paper, with Philosophy, History, etc., written on
+them, to mark the classification of the books. Among such memorials
+one breathes deeply, and the tears rush to one's eyes. There is one
+likeness of Goethe that is really startling and thrilling from the
+idea it gives one of perfect resemblance. It is painted on a cup, and
+is a tiny miniature, but the execution is so perfect that, on applying
+a magnifying glass, every minute stroke has as natural an appearance
+as the texture of a flower or the parts of an insect under the
+microscope.
+
+Equally interesting is the _Gartenhaus_, which we used to see almost
+every day in our walks. Within, it is a not uncomfortable, homely sort
+of cottage; no furniture is left in it, and the family want to sell
+it. It stands on a pleasant slope fronting the west, and there is a
+charming bit of garden and orchard attached to it. Close to the garden
+hedge runs the road which leads to Ober Weimar, and on the other side
+of this road a meadow stretches to the trees which border the Ilm. A
+bridge nearly opposite the Gartenhaus takes one to the Borkenhaus,
+Carl August's little retreat, from which he used to telegraph to
+Goethe. The road to Ober Weimar was one of our favorite walks,
+especially towards the end of our stay at Weimar, when we were glad of
+all the sunshine we could get. Sometimes we used to turn out of it, up
+a grove of weeping birches, into the ploughed fields at the top of the
+slope on which the Gartenhaus and other little villas stand. Here we
+enjoyed many a lovely sunset; one, in particular, was marvellously
+splendid. The whole hemisphere was golden, towards the east tinted
+with rose-color. From this little height we looked on the plantations
+of the park, in their autumnal coloring, the town, with its
+steep-roofed church and its castle tower, colored a gay green, the
+line of chestnuts along the Belvedere Chaussée, and Belvedere itself
+peeping from its nest of trees.
+
+Another very favorite walk of mine was the _Webicht_, a beautiful wood
+through which ran excellent carriage-roads and grassy footpaths. How
+richly have I enjoyed skirting this wood and seeing, on the other
+side, the sky arching grandly down over the open fields, the evening
+red flushing the west over the town, and the bright stars come out as
+if to relieve the sun in his watch over mortals. And then the winding
+road through the Webicht on the side towards Tiefurt, with its tall,
+overarching trees now bending their mossy trunks forward, now standing
+with stately erectness like lofty pillars; and the charming grassy
+paths through the heart of the wood, among its silvery-barked birches!
+The Webicht lies towards Tiefurt, and one side of it is bordered by
+the road thither. I remember, as we were returning from Tiefurt one
+evening, a beautiful effect of the setting sunlight pouring itself
+under the trees, and making the road before us almost crimson.
+
+One of our pleasantest acquaintances at Weimar was the French
+ambassador, the Marquis de Ferrière, a very favorable specimen of a
+Frenchman, but intensely French. His genial soul and perfect
+good-humor gave one the same sort of _bien-être_ as a well-stuffed
+arm-chair and a warm hearthrug. In the course of conversation,
+speaking of Yvan's accounts of his travels (the marquis was first
+secretary to the Chinese embassy which Yvan accompanied), he said,
+"C'était faux d'un bout à l'autre; mais c'était spirituel, paradoxal,
+amusant--enfin _tout ce qu'il fallait pour un journal_." Another day
+he observed that the famous words of Napoleon to his Egyptian army,
+"Forty centuries look down on you from the summits of these pyramids,"
+were characteristic of the French national feeling, as those of
+Nelson, "England expects the man to make his duty" were of the
+English. This is a fair specimen of the correctness with which one
+generally hears English quoted; and we often reminded ourselves that
+it was a mirror in which we might see our own German.
+
+Liszt's conversation is charming. I never met with a person whose
+manner of telling a story was so piquant. The last evening but one
+that he called on us, wishing to express his pleasure in G.'s article
+about him, he very ingeniously conveyed that expression in a story
+about Spontini and Berlioz. Spontini visited Paris while Liszt was
+living there, and haunted the opera--a stiff, self-important
+personage, with high shirt-collars, the least attractive individual
+imaginable; Liszt turned up his own collars, and swelled out his
+person, so as to give us a vivid idea of the man. Every one would have
+been glad to get out of Spontini's way--indeed, elsewhere "on feignait
+de le croire mort," but at Paris, as he was a member of the Institute,
+it was necessary to recognize his existence. Liszt met him at Erard's
+more than once. On one of these occasions Liszt observed to him that
+Berlioz was a great admirer of his (Spontini's), whereupon Spontini
+burst into a terrible invective against Berlioz as a man who, with the
+like of him, was ruining art, etc. Shortly after the "Vestale" was
+performed, and forthwith appeared an enthusiastic article by Berlioz
+on Spontini's music. The next time Liszt met him of the high collars
+he said, "You see I was not wrong in what I said about Berlioz's
+admiration of you." Spontini swelled in his collars, and replied,
+"Monsieur, Berlioz a du talent comme critique!"
+
+Liszt's replies were always felicitous and characteristic. Talking of
+Mme. d'Agoult, he told us that when her novel "Nelida" appeared, in
+which Liszt himself is pilloried as a delinquent, he asked her, "Mais
+pourquoi avez-vous tellement maltraité ce pauvre Lehmann?" The first
+time we were asked to breakfast at his house, the Altenburg, we were
+shown into the garden, where, in a saloon formed by overarching trees,
+the _déjeuner_ was set out. We found Hoffmann von Fallersleben, the
+lyric poet, Dr. Schade--a _Gelehrter_, and Cornelius. Presently came a
+Herr--or Doctor--Raff, a musician, who has recently published a volume
+called "Wagnerfrage." Soon after we were joined by Liszt and the
+Princess Marie, an elegant, gentle-looking girl of seventeen, and last
+by the Princess Wittgenstein, with her nephew, Prince Eugène, and a
+young French artist, a pupil of Scheffer. The princess was tastefully
+dressed in a morning-robe of some semi-transparent white material,
+lined with orange-color, which formed the bordering and ornamented the
+sleeves, a black lace jacket, and a piquant cap set on the summit of
+her comb, and trimmed with violet color. When the cigars came, Hoffman
+was requested to read some of his poetry, and he gave us a
+bacchanalian poem with great spirit. I sat next to Liszt, and my great
+delight was to watch him and observe the sweetness of his expression.
+Genius, benevolence, and tenderness beam from his whole countenance,
+and his manners are in perfect harmony with it. Then came the thing I
+had longed for--his playing. I sat near him, so that I could see both
+his hands and face. For the first time in my life I beheld real
+inspiration--for the first time I heard the true tones of the piano.
+He played one of his own compositions--one of a series of religious
+fantasies. There was nothing strange or excessive about his manner.
+His manipulation of the instrument was quiet and easy, and his face
+was simply grand--the lips compressed, and the head thrown a little
+backward. When the music expressed quiet rapture or devotion a smile
+flitted over his features; when it was triumphant the nostrils
+dilated. There was nothing petty or egoistic to mar the picture. Why
+did not Scheffer paint him thus, instead of representing him as one of
+the three Magi? But it just occurs to me that Scheffer's idea was a
+sublime one. There are the two aged men who have spent their lives in
+trying to unravel the destinies of the world, and who are looking for
+the Deliverer--for the light from on high. Their young fellow-seeker,
+having the fresh inspiration of early life, is the first to discern
+the herald star, and his ecstasy reveals it to his companions. In this
+young Magus, Scheffer has given a portrait of Liszt; but even here,
+where he might be expected to idealize unrestrainedly, he falls short
+of the original. It is curious that Liszt's face is the type that one
+sees in all Scheffer's pictures; at least, in all I have seen.
+
+In a little room which terminates the suite at the Altenburg there is
+a portrait of Liszt, also by Scheffer--the same of which the engraving
+is familiar to every one. This little room is filled with memorials of
+Liszt's triumphs and the worship his divine talent has won. It was
+arranged for him by the princess, in conjunction with the Arnims, in
+honor of his birthday. There is a medallion of him by Schwanthaler, a
+bust by an Italian artist, also a medallion by Rietschl--very
+fine--and cabinets full of jewels and precious things--the Weimar
+gifts of the great. In the music _salon_ stand Beethoven's and
+Mozart's pianos. Beethoven's was a present from Broadwood, and has a
+Latin inscription intimating that it was presented as a tribute to his
+illustrious genius. One evening Liszt came to dine with us at the Erb
+Prinz, and introduced M. Rubinstein, a young Russian, who is about to
+have an opera of his performed in Weimar. Our expenses at Weimar,
+including wine and washing, were £2 6_s._ per week. Dear Weimar! We
+were sorry to say good-bye to it, with its pleasant group of friends.
+On the 4th of November, after a stay of just three months, we turned
+our backs on it "to seek fresh streets and faces new" at Berlin.
+
+[Sidenote: Berlin, Recollections, Nov. 1854 to Mch. 1855.]
+
+There are certain persons without any physiognomy, the catalogue of
+whose features, as, item, a Roman nose, item, a pair of black eyes,
+etc., gives you the entire contents of their faces. There is no
+difference of opinion about the looks of such people. All the world is
+agreed either that they are pretty or ugly. So it is with Berlin.
+Every one tells you it is an uninteresting modern city, with broad,
+monotonous streets; and when you see it, you cannot for the life of
+you get up an emotion of surprise, or make a remark about the place
+which you have not heard before.
+
+The day after our arrival was Sunday, 6th November; the sun shone
+brightly, and we went to walk in the Linden, elbowing our way among
+the _promeneurs endimanchés_, who looked remarkably smart and handsome
+after the Thuringians. We had not gone far when we met a nice-looking
+old gentleman, with an order round his neck, and a gold-headed cane in
+his hand, who exclaimed, on seeing G., "Ist's möglich?" and then bade
+him heartily welcome. I saw at once it was the Varnhagen of whom I
+had heard so often. His niece, arrayed in smiles and a pink bonnet,
+was with him.
+
+For the first six weeks, when the weather permitted, we took long
+walks in the Thiergarten, where the straight and uniform avenues of
+insignificant trees contrasted very disadvantageously with the
+charming variety of our beloved park at Weimar. Still, we now and then
+noticed a beautiful wintry effect, especially in the part most remote
+from the town, where the trees are finer and the arrangements more
+varied. One walk, which skirted the Thiergarten on the right-hand side
+coming from the town, we were particularly fond of, because it gave us
+on one side an open view, with water and a boat or two, which, touched
+by the magic of sunshine, was pleasant to see. At Berlin it was "a day
+of small things" with regard to the beautiful, and we made much of
+little.
+
+Our little circle of acquaintances was very agreeable and varied.
+Varnhagen was a real treasure to G., for his library supplied all the
+deficiencies of the public one, where to ask for books was generally
+like "sinking buckets into empty wells." He is a man of real culture,
+kindliness, and polish (Germanly speaking); and he has besides that
+thorough liberalism, social, religious, and political, which sets the
+mind at ease in conversation, and delivers it from the fear of running
+against some prejudice, or coming suddenly on the sunk fence of some
+miserable limitation. The first morning he called on us he talked of
+his terrible disappointment in Carlyle, a subject to which he often
+returned. He evidently felt an antipathy to the "Teufelsdröckh,"
+which, indeed, it was not difficult to understand from the mere
+_manière d'étre_ of the two men. They had corresponded for years
+before they saw each other; and Varnhagen was, and is, a great
+admirer of Carlyle's best work, but he was thoroughly repelled by his
+rough, paradoxical talk, and, more justifiably, by the despotic
+doctrines which it has been his humor to teach of late. We were amused
+to hear that Carlyle said he should think no one could die at Berlin,
+"for in beds _without curtains_ what Christian could give up the
+ghost?"
+
+At Varnhagen's we met, for the first time, Professor Stahr, who was
+there with Fanny Lewald, Fräulein Solmar, Frau Muisch, Dr. Ring, Dr.
+Vehse, Gräfin von Kalkreuth, and Director Wilhelm Schadow, author of
+"Der Moderne Vasari." We talked of Goethe. Varnhagen brought out
+autographs and portraits, and read us an epigram of his own on the
+want of liberality which Goethe's family show about opening his house
+to the public. He showed us a portrait of Kleist, who shot himself, in
+company with Frau Vogel, near an inn on the way to Potsdam. There was
+no love-affair between them; they were both thoroughly unhappy--he
+poor and hopeless for the future; and she suffering from an incurable
+disease. In the evening they both wrote, on a single sheet of paper,
+letters to their friends, communicating their intention (this sheet
+Varnhagen possesses). Early in the morning they rose, took a cup of
+coffee, went to the brink of a piece of water in the neighborhood of
+the inn, and there shot themselves.
+
+Du Bois Reymond spoke very decidedly of the German civilization as
+inferior to the English.
+
+Varnhagen, when well, is a regular visitor at Fräulein Solmar's, who
+for many years has kept an open _salon_ for her friends every evening
+but one in the week. Here the three-cornered chair next the sofa was
+reserved for him, except when General Pfuhl was there. This General
+Pfuhl is a fine specimen of an old soldier, who is at the same time a
+man of instruction and of strong social sympathies. He has been in the
+service of Prussia, has been within a hair's-breadth of being frozen
+to death, "and so following." He spoke French admirably, and always
+had something interesting and characteristic to tell or say. His
+appreciatory groans, always in the right place, when G. was reading
+"Shylock" did us both good, under the chills of a German audience.
+Fräulein Solmar is a remarkably accomplished woman--probably between
+fifty and sixty, but of that agreeable _Wesen_ which is so free from
+anything startling in person or manner, and so at home in everything
+one can talk of, that you think of her simply as a delightful
+presence, and not as a woman of any particular age. She converses
+perfectly in French, well in English, and well also, as we were told,
+in Italian. There is not the slightest warmth of manner or expression
+in her, but always the same even cheerfulness and intelligence--in
+fact, she is the true type of the mistress of the _salon_. During the
+first half of our stay in Berlin we went about once a week to her
+house; but bad health and bad weather kept us away during the last six
+weeks, except for one or two evenings. Baron Sternberg, the novelist,
+used frequently to glide in when we were there, and cast strange, cold
+glances around, talking quietly to Fräulein Assing or some other lady
+who sat in a distant parallel of latitude.
+
+One evening a Frenchman there amused us by saying that he found in
+Meyerbeer's "Huguenots" the whole spirit of the epoch of Charles IX.
+"Lisez les Chroniques"--"de Froissart?" suggested Mlle. Solmar. "Oui,
+quelque chose comme ça; ou bien les Chroniques de Brantôme ou de
+_Mérimée_, et vous trouverez que Meyerbeer a parfaitement exprimé tout
+cela; du moins c'est ce que je trouve, moi." I said, "Mais peut-être,
+Monsieur, c'est votre génie à vous qui a fait entrer les idées dans la
+musique." He answered with complacent deprecation. G. looked immovably
+serious, but was inwardly tickled by the audacity of my compliment,
+and the evident acceptance of it.
+
+A still more interesting acquaintance was Professor Gruppe, who has
+written great books on the Greek drama and on Philosophy; has been a
+political writer; is a lyric and epic poet; has invented a beautiful
+kind of marbled paper for binding books; is an enthusiastic huntsman,
+and, withal, the most simple, kind-hearted creature in the world. His
+little wife, who is about twenty years younger than himself, seems to
+adore him, and it is charming to see the group they and their two
+little children make in their dwelling, up endless flights of stairs
+in the Leipziger Platz. Very pleasant evenings we had there, chatting
+or playing whist, or listening to readings of Gruppe's poems. We used
+to find him in a gray cloth _Schlafrock_, which I fancy was once a
+great-coat, and a brown velvet cap surmounting his thin gray hairs. I
+never saw a combination at all like that which makes up Gruppe's
+character. Talent, fertility, and versatility that seem to indicate a
+fervid temperament, and yet no scintillation of all this in his talk
+and manner; on the contrary, he seems slow at apprehending other
+people's ideas, and is of an almost childish _naiveté_ in the value he
+attaches to poor jokes, and other trivialities. _À propos_ of jokes,
+we noticed that during the whole seven months of our stay in Germany
+we never heard one witticism, or even one felicitous idea or
+expression, from a German!
+
+Gruppe has a delightful library, with rare books, and books too good
+to be rare; and we often applied to him for some of them. He lent me
+"Lessing," and that is an additional circumstance to remember with
+pleasure in connection with the Laocoon. He one evening gave us an
+interesting account of his work on the cosmic system of the Greeks,
+and read us a translation, by himself, of one of the Homeric
+hymns--Aphrodite--which is very beautiful, a sort of _Gegenstück_ to
+"Der Gott und die Bajadere:" and generally we were glad when he took
+up the book. He read us a specimen of his epic poem, "Firdusi," which
+pleased us. The fable on which this poem is founded is fine. The
+sultan had engaged Firdusi to write a great poem on his exploits, and
+had promised to pay for this one hundred thousand pieces (gold being
+understood). Firdusi had delighted in the thought of this sum, which
+he intended to devote to the benefit of his native city. When the poem
+was delivered, and the sack of money given to Firdusi, he found that
+the pieces were silver! He burst into a song of scorn against the
+sultan, and paid the miserable sum to his bath-man. Gruppe thinks
+Shakespeare more extensively sold in Germany than any other book,
+except the Bible and Schiller! One night we attempted "Brag" or
+"Pocher," but Gruppe presently became alarmed at G.'s play, and said
+"Das würde an zwölf Groschen reichen." He drew some Jews' faces with a
+pen admirably.
+
+We were invited to meet Waagen, whom we found a very intelligent and
+amusing man. He told us a story about Goethe, who said of some one, "I
+thank thee, Almighty God, that thou hast produced no second edition of
+this man!" and an amusing judgment passed on Goethe himself, that he
+was "Kein dummer Mann!" Also a story of a lady who went to see him,
+as an intellectual adorer, and began to spout to him, as his
+masterpiece, "Fest gemauert in der Erden,"[46] etc.
+
+Another pleasant friend was Edward Magnus, the portrait-painter, an
+acute, intelligent, kind-hearted man, with real talent in his art. He
+was the only German we met with who seemed conscious of his
+countrymen's deficiencies. He showed in every possible way a hearty
+desire to do us service--sent us books, came to chat with us, showed
+us his portraits, and, when we were going away, brought us lithographs
+of some paintings of his, that we might carry away a remembrance of
+him. He has travelled very extensively, and had much intercourse with
+distinguished people, and these means of culture have had some of
+their best effects on his fine temperament and direct, truthful mind.
+He told us a rich story about Carlyle. At a dinner-party, given by
+Magnus in his honor, Wiese and Cornelius were deploring Goethe's want
+of evangelical sentiment. Carlyle was visibly uneasy, fumbling with
+his dinner-napkin. At last he broke out thus: "Meine Herren kennen sie
+die Anekdote von dem Manne der die Sonne lästerte weil sie ihm sein
+Cigarre nicht anstecken liess?"[47]
+
+In the little room where we used to be ushered to wait for him there
+was a portrait of Thorwaldsen and one of Mendelssohn, both of whom he
+knew well. I was surprised to find in his _atelier_ the original of the
+portrait of Jenny Lind, with which I was so familiar. He was going to
+send it, together with Sontag's portrait, to the exhibition at Paris.
+His brother, the chemist, was also a bright, good-natured-looking man.
+We were invited to a large evening party at his house, and found very
+elegant rooms, with a remarkable assemblage of celebrated men--Johannes
+Müller, Du Bois Reymond, Rose, Ehrenberg, etc. Some of the women were
+very pretty and well dressed. The supper, brought round on trays, was
+well appointed; and altogether the party was well managed.
+
+We spent one evening with Professor Stahr and his wife--Fanny
+Lewald--after their marriage. Stahr has a copy of the charming
+miniature of Schiller, taken when he was about thirty--a miniature in
+the possession of a certain Madame von Kalb. There are the long
+_Gänsehals_,[48] the aquiline nose, the blue eyes and auburn hair. It
+is a most real and striking portrait. I saw also a portrait and bust of
+Madame d'Agoult here, both rather handsome. The first evening Stahr
+told us some of the grievances which the Prussians have to bear from
+their government, and among the rest the vexatious necessity for a
+"concession" or license, before any, the simplest vocation, can be
+entered on. He observed, with justice, that the English are apt to
+suppose the German Revolution of '48 was mere restlessness and aping of
+other nations, when in fact there were real oppressions which the
+Germans had to bear, and which they had borne with a patience that
+the English would not imitate for a month. By far the most
+distinguished-looking man we saw at Berlin, and, indeed, next to Liszt,
+in Germany, was Rauch the sculptor. Schöll had given G. a letter for
+him, and soon after it had been left at his house he called on us in
+the evening, and at once won our hearts by his beautiful person and the
+benignant and intelligent charm of his conversation. He is indeed the
+finest old man I ever saw--more than seventy-six, I believe, but
+perfectly upright, even stately, in his carriage. His features are
+harmonious, his complexion has a delicate freshness, his silky white
+hair waves gracefully round his high forehead, and his brown eyes beam
+with benevolence and intelligence. He is above the common height, and
+his stature and beauty together ennoble the gray working surtout and
+cap which he wears in his _atelier_ into a picturesque and
+distinguished costume. The evening he was with us he talked
+delightfully of Goethe, dwelling especially on his lovable nature. He
+described very graphically Goethe's way of introducing subjects,
+showing plates, etc., bringing in the cast of Schiller's skull, and
+talking of it and other little particulars of interest. We went one
+morning to his _atelier_, and found him superintending his pupil's work
+at a large group representing Moses with his hands held up by Aaron and
+Hur. It was extremely interesting to me to see Rauch's original little
+clay model of this group, for I had never seen statuary in that first
+stage before. The intense expression of entreaty in the face of the
+Moses was remarkable. But the spirit of this group is so alien to my
+sympathies that I could feel little pleasure in the idea of its
+production. On the other hand, my heart leaped at the sight of old
+Kant's quaint figure, of which Rauch is commissioned to produce a
+colossal statue for Königsberg. In another _atelier_, where the work is
+in a different stage, we saw a splendid marble monument, nearly
+completed, of the late king of Hanover. Pitiable that genius and
+spotless white marble should be thrown away on such human trash! Our
+second visit to Rauch's _atelier_ was paid shortly before we left
+Berlin. The group of Moses, Aaron, and Hur was clothed up, and the
+dark-eyed, olive-complexioned pupil was at work on a pretty little
+figure of Hope--a child stepping forward with upturned face, a bunch of
+flowers in her hand. In the other _atelier_ we saw a bust of
+Schleiermacher, which, with the equestrian statue of Fritz, and its
+pedestal, Rauch was going to send to the Paris Exhibition.
+Schleiermacher's face is very delicately cut, and indicates a highly
+susceptible temperament. The colossal head of Fritz, seen on a level
+with one's eye, was perfectly startling from its living expression. One
+can't help fancying that the head is thinking and that the eyes are
+seeing.
+
+Dessoir the actor was another pleasant variety in our circle of
+acquaintance. He created in us a real respect and regard for him, not
+only by his sincere devotion to his art, but by the superiority of
+feeling which shone through all the little details of his conduct and
+conversation. Of lowly birth, and entirely self-taught, he is by
+nature a gentleman. Without a single physical gift as an actor, he
+succeeds, by force of enthusiasm and conscientious study, in arriving
+at a representation which commands one's attention and feelings. I was
+very much pleased by the simplicity with which he one day said,
+"Shakespeare ist mein Gott; ich habe keinen anderen Gott:" and indeed
+one saw that his art was a religion to him. He said he found himself
+inevitably led into singsong declamation by Schiller, but with
+Shakespeare it was impossible to be declamatory. It was very agreeable
+to have him as a companion now and then in our walks, and to have him
+read or discuss Shakespeare for an hour or two in the evening. He told
+us an amusing story about his early days. When he was a youth of
+sixteen or seventeen, acting at Spandau, he walked to Berlin (about
+nine miles) and back in the evening, accompanied by a watchmaker
+named Naundorff, an enthusiast for the theatre. On their way Dessoir
+declaimed at the top of his voice, and was encouraged by the applause
+of his companion to more and more exertion of lungs and limbs, so that
+people stared at them, and followed them, as if they thought them two
+madmen. This watchmaker was Louis XVII.! Dessoir also imitated
+admirably Aldridge's mode of advancing to kill Duncan--like a wild
+Indian lurking for a not much wilder beast. He paid us the very pretty
+attention of getting up a dinner for us at Dietz's, and inviting
+Rötscher and Förster to meet us; and he supplied us with tickets for
+the theatre, which, however, was a pleasure we used sparingly. The
+first time we went was to see "Nathan der Weise"--a real enjoyment,
+for the elegant theatre was new to us, and the scenery was excellent;
+better than I saw there on any subsequent occasion. Döring performed
+Nathan, and we thus saw him for the first time to great advantage;
+for, though he drags down this part, as he does all others, the
+character of Nathan sets limits which he cannot overstep; and though
+we lose most of its elevation in Döring's acting, we get, _en
+revanche_, an admirable ease and naturalness. His fine, clear voice
+and perfect enunciation told excellently in the famous monologue, and
+in the whole scene with Saladin. Our hearts swelled and the tears came
+into our eyes as we listened to the noble words of dear Lessing, whose
+great spirit lives immortally in this crowning work of his.
+
+Our great anxiety was to see and hear Johanna Wagner, so we took
+tickets for the "Orpheus," which Mlle. Solmar told us she thought her
+best part. We were thoroughly delighted both with her and her music.
+The caricatures of the Furies, the ballet-girls, and the butcher-like
+Greek shades in Elysium, the ugly, screaming Eurydice, and the droll
+appearance of Timzek as Amor, in which she looked like a shop-girl who
+has donned a masquerade dress impromptu, without changing her
+headdress--all these absurdities were rather an amusement than a
+drawback to our pleasure; for the Orpheus was perfect in himself, and
+looked like a noble horse among mules and donkeys.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 9th Jan. 1855.]
+
+Our days are so accurately parcelled out that my time for
+letter-writing is rather restricted, and for every letter I write I
+have to leave out something which we have learned to think necessary.
+We have been to hear "Fidelio" this evening--not well executed, except
+so far as the orchestra was concerned; but the divine music positively
+triumphs over the defects of execution. One is entirely wrapped in the
+_idea_ of the composer. Last week we had "Orpheus and Eurydice," and I
+heard, for the first time, at once an opera of Gluck's and Johanna
+Wagner. It is one of the glories of Berlin to give Gluck's operas, and
+it is also something of a glory to have "die Wagner." She is really a
+fine actress and a fine singer; her voice is not ravishing, but she is
+mistress of it. I thought of you that evening, and wished you could
+hear and see what I know would interest you greatly--I refer rather to
+Gluck's opera than to Johanna Wagner. The scene in which Orpheus
+(Johanna Wagner) enters Tartarus, is met by the awful Shades, and
+charms them into ecstatic admiration till they make way for him to
+pass on, is very fine. The voices--except in the choruses--are all
+women's voices; and there are only three characters--Orpheus, Amor,
+and Eurydice. One wonders that Pluto does not come as a basso; and one
+would prefer Mercury as a tenor to Amor in the shape of an ugly
+German soprano; but Gluck wished it otherwise, and the music is
+delightful. I am reading a charming book by Professor Stahr--who is
+one of our acquaintances here--"Torso: Kunst, Künstler, und Kunst
+Werke der Alten." It feeds the fresh interest I am now feeling in art.
+Professor Stahr is a very erudite man, and, what is very much rarer
+among Germans, a good writer, who knows how to select his materials,
+and has, above all, a charming talent for description. We saw at his
+house the other night the first portrait of Schiller which _convinces_
+me of a likeness to him. It is the copy of a miniature which has never
+been engraved. The face is less beautiful than that of the ordinary
+busts and portraits, but is very remarkable--the eyes blue, the
+complexion very fair (the picture was taken in his youth), and the
+hair sunny. He has the long "goose-neck" which he describes as
+belonging to Carl Moor in the "Robbers," and the forehead is _fuyant_
+in correspondence with the skull. The piteous contrast there is
+between the anxiety poor Schiller is constantly expressing about a
+livelihood--about the thalers he has to pay for this and the thalers
+he has to receive for that--and Goethe's perfect ease in that respect!
+For the "History of the Netherlands" he got little more than fifteen
+shillings per sheet. I am very much interested in Professor Gruppe as
+a type of the German _Gelehrter_. He has written books on
+everything--on the Greek drama, a great book on the cosmic system of
+the Greeks, an epic, numberless lyric poems, etc.; he has a
+philosophical work and a history of literature in the press; is
+professor of philosophy at the university; is enthusiastic about
+boar-hunting, and has written a volume of hunting poems--and _ich
+weiss nicht was_. Withal he is as simple as a child. When we go to
+see them in the evening we find him wrapped in a moth-eaten gray coat
+and a cap on his head. Then he reads us a translation of one of the
+Homeric hymns, and goes into the most naïve _impersonal_ ecstasy at
+the beauty of his own poetry (which is really good). The other night
+he read us part of an epic which is still in MS., and is to be read
+before the king--such is the fashion here. And his little wife, who is
+about twenty years younger than himself, listens with loving
+admiration. Altogether, they and their two little children are a
+charming picture.
+
+[Sidenote: Berlin, Recollections, 1854-55.]
+
+We went to only one concert, for which Vivier was kind enough to send
+us tickets. It was given by him and Roger, assisted by Arabella
+Goddard and Johanna Wagner. Roger's singing of the "Erl King" was a
+treat not to be forgotten. He gave the full effect to Schubert's
+beautiful and dramatic music; and his way of falling from melody into
+awe-struck speech in the final words "_War todt_" abides with one. I
+never felt so thoroughly the beauty of that divine ballad before. The
+king was present in all his toothlessness and blinkingness; and the
+new princess from Anhalt Dessau, young and delicate-looking, was there
+too. Arabella Goddard played the "Harmonious Blacksmith" charmingly,
+and then Wagner sang badly two ineffective German songs, and Halévy's
+duet from the "Reine de Chypre" with Roger.
+
+Vivier is amusing. He says Germans take off their hats on all possible
+pretexts--not for the sake of politeness, but _pour être
+embarrassants_. They have wide streets, simply to embarrass you, by
+making it impossible to descry a shop or a friend. A German always has
+_three_ gloves--"On ne sait pas pourquoi." There is a dog-tax in order
+to maintain a narrow _trottoir_ in Berlin, and every one who keeps a
+dog feels authorized to keep the _trottoir_ and move aside for no one.
+If he has two dogs he drives out of the _trottoir_ the man who has
+only one: the very dogs begin to be aware of it. If you kick one when
+he is off the _trottoir_ he will bear it patiently, but on the
+_trottoir_ he resents it vehemently. He gave us quite a bit of Molière
+in a description of a mystification at a restaurant. He says to the
+waiter--"Vous voyez ce monsieur là. C'est le pauvre M. Colignon." (Il
+faut qu'il soit quelq'un qui prend très peu--une tasse de café ou
+comme ça, et qui ne dépense pas trop.) "Je suis son ami. Il est fou.
+Je le garde. Combien doit-il payer?" "Un franc." "Voilà." Then Vivier
+goes out. Presently the so-called M. Colignon asks how much he has to
+pay, and is driven to exasperation by the reiterated assurance of the
+waiter--"C'est payé, M. Colignon."
+
+The first work of art really worth looking at that one sees at Berlin
+is the "Rosse-bändiger" in front of the palace. It is by a sculptor
+named Cotes, who made horses his especial study; and certainly, to us,
+they eclipsed the famous Colossi at Monte Cavallo, casts of which are
+in the new museum.
+
+The collection of pictures at the old museum has three gems, which
+remain in the imagination--Titian's Daughter, Correggio's Jupiter and
+Io, and his Head of Christ on the Handkerchief. I was pleased also to
+recognize among the pictures the one by Jan Steen, which Goethe
+describes in the "Wahlverwandschaften" as the model of a _tableau
+vivant_, presented by Luciane and her friends. It is the daughter
+being reproved by her father, while the mother is emptying her
+wine-glass. It is interesting to see the statue of Napoleon, the
+worker of so much humiliation to Prussia, placed opposite that of
+Julius Cæsar.
+
+They were very happy months we spent at Berlin, in spite of the bitter
+cold which came on in January and lasted almost till we left. How we
+used to rejoice in the idea of our warm room and coffee as we battled
+our way from dinner against the wind and snow! Then came the
+delightful long evening, in which we read Shakespeare, Goethe, Heine,
+and Macaulay, with German _Pfefferkuchen_ and _Semmels_ at the end to
+complete the _noctes cenæque deûm_.
+
+We used often to turn out for a little walk in the evening, when it
+was not too cold, to refresh ourselves by a little pure air as a
+change from the stove-heated room. Our favorite walk was along the
+Linden, in the broad road between the trees. We used to pace to old
+Fritz's monument, which loomed up dark and mysterious against the sky.
+Once or twice we went along the gas-lighted walk towards Kroll's. One
+evening in our last week we went on to the bridge leading to the
+Wilhelm Stadt, and there by moon and gas light saw the only bit of
+picturesqueness Berlin afforded us. The outline of the Schloss towards
+the water is very varied, and a light in one of the windows near the
+top of a tower was a happy accident. The row of houses on the other
+side of the water was shrouded in indistinctness, and no ugly object
+marred the scene. The next day, under the light of the sun, it was
+perfectly prosaic.
+
+Our _table d'hôte_ at the Hotel de l'Europe was so slow in its
+progress from one course to another, and there was so little
+encouragement to talk to our neighbors, that we used to take our books
+by way of beguiling the time. Lessing's "Hamburgische Briefe," which I
+am not likely to take up again, will thus remain associated in my
+memory with my place at the _table d'hôte_. The company here, as
+almost everywhere else in Berlin, was sprinkled with officers. Indeed,
+the swords of officers threaten one's legs at every turn in the
+streets, and one sighs to think how these unproductive consumers of
+_Wurst_, with all their blue and scarlet broadcloth, are maintained
+out of the pockets of the community. Many of the officers and privates
+are startlingly tall; indeed, some of them would match, I should
+think, with the longest of Friedrich Wilhelm's _lange Kerle_.
+
+It was a bitterly cold, sleety morning--the 11th of March--when we set
+out from Berlin, leaving behind us, alas! G.'s rug, which should have
+kept his feet warm on the journey. Our travelling companions to
+Cologne were fat Madame Roger, her little daughter, and her dog, and a
+queen's messenger--a very agreeable man, who afterwards persuaded
+another of the same vocation to join us for the sake of warmth. This
+poor man's teeth were chattering with cold, though he was wrapped in
+fur; and we, all furless as we were, pitied him, and were thankful
+that at least we were not feverish and ill, as he evidently was. We
+saw the immortal old town of Wolfenbüttel at a distance, as we rolled
+along; beyond this there was nothing of interest in our first day's
+journey, and the only incident was the condemnation of poor Madame
+Roger's dog to the dog-box, apart from its mistress with her warm
+cloaks. She remonstrated in vain with a brutal German official, and it
+was amusing to hear him say to her in German, "Wenn sie Deutsch nicht
+verstehen können." "Eh bien--prenez la." "Ah! quel satan de pays!" was
+her final word, as she held out the shivering little beast.
+
+We stayed at Cologne, and next morning walked out to look at the
+cathedral again. Melancholy as ever in its impression upon me! From
+Cologne to Brussels we had some rather interesting companions, in two
+French artists who were on their way from Russia. Strange beings they
+looked to us at first, in their dirty linen, Russian caps, and other
+queer equipments; but in this, as in many other cases, I found that a
+first impression was an extremely mistaken one--for instead of being,
+as I imagined, common, uncultivated men, they were highly intelligent.
+
+At Brussels, as we took our supper, we had the pleasure of looking at
+Berlioz's fine head and face, he being employed in the same way on the
+other side of the table. The next morning to Calais.
+
+     They were pleasant days those at Weimar and Berlin, and they
+     were working days. Mr. Lewes was engaged in completing his
+     "Life of Goethe," which had been begun some time before, but
+     which was now for the most part rewritten. At Weimar, George
+     Eliot wrote the article on Victor Cousin's "Madame de Sablé"
+     for the _Westminster Review_. It was begun on 5th August, and
+     sent off on 8th September. At Berlin she nearly finished the
+     translation of Spinoza's "Ethics"--begun on 5th November--and
+     wrote an article on Vehse's "Court of Austria," which was
+     begun on 23d January, and finished 4th March, 1855. Besides
+     this writing, I find the following among the books that were
+     engaging their attention; and in collecting the names from
+     George Eliot's Journal, I have transcribed any remarks she
+     makes on them:
+
+Sainte-Beuve, Goethe's "Wahlverwandschaften," Rameau's "Neffe,"
+"Egmont," "The Hoggarty Diamond," Moore's "Life of Sheridan"--a
+first-rate specimen of bad biographical writing; "Götz" and the
+"Bürger General," Uhland's poems, "Wilhelm Meister," Rosenkranz on the
+Faust Sage, Heine's poems, Shakespeare's plays ("Merchant of Venice,"
+"Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Cæsar"--very much struck with the
+masculine style of this play, and its vigorous moderation, compared
+with "Romeo and Juliet"--"Antony and Cleopatra," "Henry IV.,"
+"Othello," "As You Like It," "Lear"--sublimely powerful--"Taming of
+the Shrew," "Coriolanus," "Twelfth Night," "Measure for Measure,"
+"Midsummer-Night's Dream," "Winter's Tale," "Richard III.," "Hamlet");
+Lessing's "Laocoon"--the most un-German of all the German books that
+I have ever read. The style is strong, clear, and lively; the thoughts
+acute and pregnant. It is well adapted to rouse an interest both in
+the classics and in the study of art; "Emilia Galotti" seems to me a
+wretched mistake of Lessing's. The Roman myth of Virginius is grand,
+but the situation, transported to modern times and divested of its
+political bearing, is simply shocking. Read "Briefe über Spinoza"
+(Jacobi's), "Nathan der Weise," Fanny Lewald's "Wandlungen," "Minna
+von Barnhelm," "Italiänische Reise," the "Residence in Rome;" a
+beautiful description of Rome and the Coliseum by moonlight--a fire
+made in the Coliseum sending its smoke, silvered by the moonlight,
+through the arches of the mighty walls. Amusing story of Goethe's
+landlady's cat worshipping Jupiter by licking his beard--a miracle,
+in her esteem, explained by Goethe as a discovery the cat had made of
+the oil lodging in the undulations of the beard. "Residence in
+Naples"--pretty passage about a star seen through a chink in the
+ceiling as he lay in bed. It is remarkable that when Goethe gets to
+Sicily he is, for the first time in Italy, enthusiastic in his
+descriptions of natural beauty. Read Scherr's "Geschichte Deutscher
+Cultur und Sitte"--much interested in his sketch of German poetry in
+the Middle Ages; "Iphigenia." Looked into the "Xenien," and amused
+ourselves with their pointlessness. "Hermann and Dorothea," "Tasso,"
+"Wanderjahre"--_à mourir d'ennui_; Heine's "Geständnisse"--immensely
+amused with the wit of it in the first fifty pages, but afterwards it
+burns low, and the want of principle and purpose make it wearisome.
+Lessing's "Hamburgische Briefe." Read Goethe's wonderful observations
+on Spinoza. Particularly struck with the beautiful modesty of the
+passage in which he says he cannot presume to say that he thoroughly
+understands Spinoza. Read "Dichtung und Wahrheit," Knight's "Studies
+of Shakespeare." Talked of the "Wahlverwandschaften" with Stahr--he
+finding fault with the _dénouement_, which I defended. Read Stahr's
+"Torso"--too long-winded a style for reading aloud. Knight's "History
+of Painting." Compared several scenes of "Hamlet" in Schlegel's
+translation with the original. It is generally very close, and often
+admirably well done; but Shakespeare's strong, concrete language is
+almost always weakened. For example, "Though this hand were _thicker
+than_ itself in brother's blood" is rendered, "Auch um und um in
+Bruder's Blut getauchet." The prose speeches of Hamlet lose all their
+felicity in the translation. Read Stahr on the Eginetan Sculptures,
+"Die Neue Melusine," "West-Östliche Divan," Gervinus on
+Shakespeare--found it unsatisfactory; Stahr's "Ein Jahr in
+Italien"--the description of Florence excellent. Read the wonderfully
+beautiful "Römische Elegien" again, and some of the Venetian
+epigrams, Vehse's "Court of Austria"--called on Miss Assing to try and
+borrow the book from Varnhagen. He does not possess it, so G. called
+on Vehse, and asked him to lend it to me. He was very much pleased to
+do so. Read the "Zueignung," the "Gedichte," and several of the
+ballads. Looked through Wraxall's "Memoirs." Read Macaulay's "History
+of England." Wrote article on Stahr.
+
+     This writing and reading, combined with visiting,
+     theatre-going, and opera-going, make a pretty full life for
+     these eight months--a striking contrast to the coming months
+     of complete social quietness in England. Both lives had their
+     attractions, the superficial aspects of which may be summed
+     up in a passage from the Journal, dated 13th March, 1855, on
+     arrival at the Lord Warden Hotel, at Dover:
+
+English mutton and an English fire were likely to be appreciated by
+creatures who had had eight months of Germany, with its questionable
+meat and its stove-heated rooms. The taste and quietude of a
+first-rate English hotel were also in striking contrast with the heavy
+finery, the noise, and the indiscriminate smoking of German inns. But,
+after all, Germany is no bad place to live in; and the Germans, to
+counterbalance their want of taste and politeness, are at least free
+from the bigotry of exclusiveness of their more refined cousins. I
+even long to be among them again--to see Dresden and Munich and
+Nürnberg and the Rhine country. May the day soon come!
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+JULY, 1854, TO MARCH, 1855.
+
+     Leaves London with Mr. Lewes for Antwerp--Rubens's
+     pictures--Cologne--Dr. Brabant and
+     Strauss--Weimar--Schöll--The Dichter
+     Zimmer--Sauppe--Tiefurt--Ettersburg--Arthur Helps--Gabel-Bach
+     and Kickel-hahn--Liszt--Wagner's operas--"Der
+     Freischütz"--Schiller's house--Goethe's
+     house--Gartenhaus--Ober Weimar--The Webicht--Marquis de
+     Ferrière--Liszt anecdotes--Cornelius--Raff--Princess
+     Wittgenstein--Liszt's playing--Scheffer's picture--Expenses
+     at Weimar--Leave for Berlin--Meet
+     Varnhagen--Thiergarten--Acquaintances in Berlin--Fräulein
+     Solmar--Professor Gruppe--Epic of Firdusi--Waagen--Edward
+     Magnus--Professor Stahr and Fanny Lewald--Rauch the
+     sculptor--Kant's statue--Dessoir the actor--"Nathan der
+     Weise"--Döring's acting--Johanna Wagner--Letter to Miss
+     Hennell--"Fidelio"--Reading Stahr's "Torso"--Likeness of
+     Schiller--Vivier--Roger and Arabella Goddard--The
+     Rosse-bändiger--Pictures--Cold in Berlin--View of Schloss
+     from bridge--Leave Berlin for England--Books read--Article
+     written on "Madame de Sablé"--Translation of Spinoza's
+     "Ethics"--Article on Vehse's "Court of Austria"--Article on
+     Stahr.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[45] A wretched forehead.
+
+[46] First line of Schiller's "Song of the Bell."
+
+[47] "Gentlemen, do you know the story of the man who railed at the
+sun because it would not light his cigar?"
+
+[48] Goose-neck.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, Mch. 1855.]
+
+_March 14._--Took lodgings at 1 Sydney Place, Dover.
+
+_March 15._--A lovely day. As I walked up the Castle hill this
+afternoon the town, with its background of softly rounded hills
+shrouded in sleepy haze, its little lines of water looking golden in
+the sun, made a charming picture. I have written the preface to the
+Third Book of "Ethics," read Scherr, and Shakespeare's "Venus and
+Adonis."
+
+_March 16._--I read Shakespeare's "Passionate Pilgrim" at breakfast,
+and found a sonnet in which he expresses admiration of Spenser (Sonnet
+viii.):
+
+     "Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch
+       Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;
+     Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such
+       As, passing all conceit, needs no defence."[49]
+
+I must send word of this to G., who has written in his "Goethe" that
+Shakespeare has left no line in praise of a contemporary. I could not
+resist the temptation of walking out before I sat down to work. Came
+in at half-past ten, and translated Spinoza till nearly one. Walked
+out again till two. After dinner read "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and
+some of the "Sonnets." That play disgusted me more than ever in the
+final scene, where Valentine, on Proteus's mere begging pardon, when
+he has no longer any hope of gaining his ends, says: "All that was
+mine in Sylvia, I give thee!" Silvia standing by. Walked up the Castle
+hill again, and came in at six. Read Scherr, and found an important
+hint that I have made a mistake in a sentence of my article on
+"Austria" about the death of Franz von Sickingen.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Mch. 1855.]
+
+I dare say you will be surprised to see that I write from Dover. We
+left Berlin on the 11th. I have taken lodgings here for a little
+while, until Mr. Lewes has concluded some arrangements in London; and,
+with the aid of lovely weather, am even enjoying my solitude, though I
+don't mind how soon it ends. News of you all at Rosehill--how health
+and business and all other things are faring--would be very welcome to
+me, if you can find time for a little note of homely details. I am
+well and calmly happy--feeling much stronger and clearer in mind for
+the last eight months of new experience. We were sorry to leave our
+quiet rooms and agreeable friends in Berlin, though the place itself
+is certainly ugly, and _am Ende_ must become terribly wearisome for
+those who have not a vocation there. We went again and again to the
+new museum to look at the casts of the Parthenon Sculptures, and
+registered a vow that we would go to feast on the sight of the
+originals the first day we could spare in London. I had never cast
+more than a fleeting look on them before, but now I can in some degree
+understand the effect they produced on their first discovery.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1855.]
+
+_March 25._--A note from Mr. Chapman, in which he asks me to undertake
+part of the Contemporary Literature for the _Westminster Review_.
+
+_April 18._--Came to town, to lodgings in Bayswater.
+
+_April 23._--Fixed on lodgings at East Sheen.
+
+_April 25._--Went to the British Museum.
+
+_April 28._--Finished article on "Weimar," for _Fraser_.
+
+     During this month George Eliot was finishing the translating
+     and revising of Spinoza's "Ethics," and was still reading
+     Scherr's book, Schrader's "German Mythology"--a poor
+     book--"The Tempest," "Macbeth," "Niebelungenlied," "Romeo and
+     Juliet," article on "Dryden" in the _Westminster_, "Reineke
+     Fuchs," "Genesis of Science," Gibbon, "Henry V.," "Henry
+     VIII.," first, second, and third parts of "Henry VI.,"
+     "Richard II."
+
+_May 2._--Came to East Sheen, and settled in our lodgings.
+
+_May 28._--Sent Belles-lettres section to _Westminster Review_. During
+May several articles were written for the _Leader_.
+
+_June 13._--Began Part IV. of Spinoza's "Ethics." Began also to read
+Cumming, for article in the _Westminster_. We are reading in the
+evenings now Sydney Smith's letters, Boswell, Whewell's "History of
+Inductive Sciences," "The Odyssey," and occasionally Heine's
+"Reisebilder." I began the second book of the "Iliad," in Greek, this
+morning.
+
+_June 21._--Finished article on Brougham's "Lives of Men of Letters."
+
+_June 23._--Read "Lucrezia Floriani." We are reading White's "History
+of Selborne" in the evening, with Boswell and the "Odyssey."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 23d June, 1855.]
+
+I have good hope that you will be deeply interested in the "Life of
+Goethe." It is a book full of feeling, as well as of thought and
+information, and I even think will make you love Goethe as well as
+admire him. Eckermann's is a wonderful book, but only represents
+Goethe at eighty. We were fortunate enough to be in time to see poor
+Eckermann before his _total_ death. His mind was already half gone,
+but the fine brow and eyes harmonized entirely with the interest we
+had previously felt in him. We saw him in a small lodging, surrounded
+by singing birds, and tended by his son--an intelligent youth of
+sixteen, who showed some talent in drawing. I have written a
+castigation of Brougham for the _Leader_, and shall be glad if your
+sympathy goes along with it. Varnhagen has written "Denkwurdigkeiten,"
+and all sorts of literature, and is, or, rather was, the husband of
+_Rahel_, the greatest of German women.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 21st July, 1855.]
+
+It was surely you who wrote the notice of the _Westminster_ in the
+_Herald_ (Coventry) which we received this morning. I am very much
+pleased with your appreciation of Mr. Lewes's article. You hardly do
+justice to Froude's article on "Spinoza." I don't at all agree with
+Froude's own views, but I think his account of Spinoza's doctrines
+admirable. Mr. Lewes is still sadly ailing--tormented with tooth and
+face ache. This is a terrible trial to us poor scribblers, to whom
+health is money, as well as all other things worth having. I have just
+been reading that Milton suffered from indigestion--quite an affecting
+fact to me. I send you a letter which I have had from Barbara Smith. I
+think you will like to see such a manifestation of her strong, noble
+nature.
+
+     On 1st August, 1855, Mr. Lewes went down to Ramsgate for
+     change, taking his three boys with him for a week's holiday.
+     Meantime George Eliot was continuing her article-writing, and
+     in this week wrote an article for the _Leader_, having
+     written one for the same journal three weeks before. On 22d
+     August she wrote another article for the _Leader_, and on
+     the 24th she finished the one on Cumming for the
+     _Westminster_. Mr. C. Lewes tells me that he remembers it was
+     after reading this article that his father was prompted to
+     say to George Eliot, while walking one day with her in
+     Richmond Park, that it convinced him of the true genius in
+     her writing. Mr. Lewes was not only an accomplished and
+     practised literary critic, but he was also gifted with the
+     inborn insight accompanying a fine artistic temperament,
+     which gave unusual weight to his judgment. Up to this time he
+     had not been quite sure of anything beyond great talent in
+     her productions.
+
+     The first three weeks in September were again busily occupied
+     in article-writing. She contributed three papers to the
+     _Leader_, as well as the Belles-lettres section for the
+     October number of the _Westminster_. On the 19th September
+     they left East Sheen, and after spending a couple of weeks at
+     Worthing for a sea change, they took rooms at 8 Park Shot,
+     Richmond, which remained their home for more than three
+     years. Here some of George Eliot's most memorable literary
+     work was accomplished. Both she and Mr. Lewes were now
+     working very hard for what would bring immediate profit, as
+     they had to support not only themselves but his children and
+     their mother. They had only one sitting-room between them;
+     and I remember, in a walk on St. George's Hill, near
+     Weybridge, in 1871, she told me that the scratching of
+     another pen used to affect her nerves to such an extent that
+     it nearly drove her wild. On the 9th October she finished an
+     article on Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft, and on
+     the 12th October one on Carlyle for the _Leader_, and began
+     an article on Heine for the January number of the
+     _Westminster_. In October there are the following letters to
+     the Brays:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, Monday, Oct. (?) 1855.]
+
+Since you have found out the "Cumming," I write by to-day's post just
+to say that it _is_ mine, but also to beg that you will not mention it
+as such to any one likely to transmit the information to London, as we
+are keeping the authorship a secret. The article appears to have
+produced a strong impression, and that impression would be a little
+counteracted if the author were known to be a _woman_. I have had a
+letter addressed "to the author of Article No. 4," begging me to print
+it separately "for the good of mankind in general!" It is so kind of
+you to rejoice in anything I do at all well. I am dreadfully busy
+again, for I am going to write an article for the _Westminster Review_
+again, besides my other work. We enjoy our new lodgings very
+much--everything is the pink of order and cleanliness.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Oct. 1855.]
+
+Why you should object to Herbert Spencer speaking of Sir William
+Hamilton's contributions to a theory of perception as "valuable" I am
+unable to conceive. Sir William Hamilton has been of service to him as
+well as to others; and instead of repressing acknowledgments of merit
+in others, I should like them to be more freely given. I see no
+dignity, or anything else that is good, in ignoring one's
+fellow-beings. Herbert Spencer's views, like every other man's views,
+could not have existed without the substratum laid by his
+predecessors. But perhaps you mean something that I fail to perceive.
+Your bit of theology is very fine. Here is a delicious Hibernicism in
+return. In a treatise on consumption, sent yesterday, the writer says:
+"There is now hardly any _difference_ on this subject--at least _I_
+feel none." Our life has no incidents except such as take place in
+our own brains, and the occasional arrival of a longer letter than
+usual. Yours are always read aloud and enjoyed. Nevertheless our life
+is intensely occupied, and the days are far too short. We are reading
+Gall's "Anatomie et Physiologie du Cerveau," and Carpenter's
+"Comparative Physiology," aloud in the evenings; and I am trying to
+fix some knowledge about plexuses and ganglia in my soft brain, which
+generally only serves me to remember that there is something I ought
+to remember, and to regret that I did not put the something down in my
+note-book. For "Live and learn," we should sometimes read "Live and
+grow stupid."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 21st Nov. 1855.]
+
+You will receive by rail to-morrow a copy of the "Life and Works of
+Goethe" (published on 1st November), which I hope you will accept as a
+keepsake from me. I should have been glad to send it you earlier, but
+as Mr. Lewes has sold the copyright of the first edition, he has only
+a small number of copies at his disposal, and so I doubted whether I
+ought to ask for one. I think you will find much to interest you in
+the book. I can't tell you how I value it, as the best product of a
+mind which I have every day more reason to admire and love. We have
+had much gratification in the expression of individual opinion. The
+press is very favorable, but the notices are for the most part too
+idiotic to give us much pleasure, except in a pecuniary point of view.
+I am going out to-day, for the first time for nearly a fortnight.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th Nov. 1855.]
+
+I have just finished a long article on Heine for the _Westminster
+Review_, which none of you will like. _En revanche_, Mr. Lewes has
+written one on "Lions and Lion Hunters," which you will find amusing.
+
+     On the 12th December the Belles-lettres section for the
+     January number of the _Westminster Review_ was finished and
+     sent off, and the next entry in the Journal is dated:
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1855.]
+
+_Dec. 24, 1855._--For the last ten days I have done little, owing to
+headache and other ailments. Began the "Antigone," read Von Bohlen on
+"Genesis," and Swedenborg. Mr. Chapman wants me to write an article on
+"Missions and Missionaries," for the April number of the
+_Westminster_, but I think I shall not have it ready till the July
+number. In the afternoon I set out on my journey to see my sister, and
+arrived at her house about eight o'clock, finding her and her children
+well.
+
+_Dec. 29, 1855._--Returned to Richmond. G. away at Vernon Hill (Arthur
+Helps's), having gone thither on Wednesday.
+
+_Dec. 30, 1855._--Read the "Shaving of Shagpat" (George Meredith's).
+
+_Dec. 31, 1855._--Wrote a review of "Shagpat."
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1856.]
+
+_Jan. 1, 1856._--Read Kingsley's "Greek Heroes," and began a review of
+Von Bohlen.
+
+_Jan. 5, 1856._--G. came home.
+
+_Jan. 6, 1856._--Began to revise Book IV. of Spinoza's "Ethics," and
+continued this work through the week, being able to work but slowly.
+Finished Kahnis's "History of German Protestantism."
+
+_Jan. 16, 1856._--Received a charming letter from Barbara Smith, with
+a petition to Parliament that women may have a right to their
+earnings.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 18th Jan. 1856.]
+
+I believe there have been at least a thousand copies of the "Goethe"
+sold, which is a wonderfully good sale in less than three months for a
+thirty-shilling book. We have a charming collection of letters, both
+from remarkable acquaintances and remarkable non-acquaintances,
+expressing enthusiastic delight in the book--letters all the more
+delightful because they are quite spontaneous, and spring from a
+generous wish to let the author know how highly the writers value his
+work. If you want some idle reading, get the "Shaving of Shagpat,"
+which, I think, you will say deserves all the praise I gave it.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1856.]
+
+_Feb. 19, 1856._--Since the 6th January I have been occupied with
+Spinoza; and, except a review of Griswold's "American Poets," have
+done nothing else but translate the Fifth Book of the "Ethics," and
+revise the whole of my translation from the beginning. This evening I
+have finished my revision.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Feb. 1856.]
+
+I was so glad to have a little news of you. I should like to hear much
+oftener, but our days are so accurately parcelled out among regular
+occupations that I rarely manage to do anything not included in the
+programme; and, without reading Mrs. Barbauld on the "Inconsistency of
+Human Expectations," I know that receiving letters is inconsistent
+with not writing any. Have you seen any numbers of the _Saturday
+Review_, a new journal, on which "all the talents" are engaged? It is
+not properly a newspaper, but--what its title expresses--a political
+and literary review. We are delighting ourselves with Ruskin's third
+volume, which contains some of the finest writing I have read for a
+long time (among recent books). I read it aloud for an hour or so
+after dinner; then we jump to the old dramatists, when Mr. Lewes reads
+to me as long as his voice will hold out, and after this we wind up
+the evening with Rymer Jones's "Animal Kingdom," by which I get a
+confused knowledge of branchiæ, and such things--perhaps, on the
+whole, a little preferable to total ignorance. These are our
+_noctes_--without _cenæ_ for the present--occasionally diversified by
+very dramatic singing of Figaro, etc., which, I think, must alarm
+"that good man, the clergyman," who sits below us. We have been half
+laughing, half indignant, over Alison's new volume of his "History of
+Europe," in which he undertakes to give an account of German
+literature.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 25th Feb. 1856.]
+
+What you tell me of Harriet Martineau interests me very much. I feel
+for her terrible bodily suffering, and think of her with deep respect
+and admiration. Whatever may have been her mistakes and weaknesses,
+the great and good things she has done far outweigh them; and I should
+be grieved if anything in her memoir should cast a momentary shadow
+over the agreeable image of her that the world will ultimately keep in
+its memory. I wish less of our piety were spent on imaginary perfect
+goodness, and more given to real _im_perfect goodness.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, end of Feb. 1856.]
+
+I am very happy for you to keep the sheets, and to get signatures (for
+the Women's Petition that they should have legal right to their own
+earnings). Miss Barbara Smith writes that she must have them returned
+to her before the 1st of March. I am glad you have taken up the cause,
+for I do think that, with proper provisos and safeguards, the proposed
+law would help to raise the position and character of women. It is one
+round of a long ladder stretching far beyond our lives.
+
+     During March, George Eliot wrote only the Belles-lettres
+     section for the April number of the _Westminster_, having
+     resigned the subject of "Missions" to Harriet Martineau. She
+     also wrote two articles for the _Saturday Review_, and two
+     for the _Leader_. And there are the following letters in
+     March to the Brays, in which allusion is made to their
+     leaving the old home at Rosehill, owing to the unsatisfactory
+     state of the Coventry business.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 26th Mch. 1856.]
+
+We are flourishing in every way except in health. Mr. Lewes's head is
+still infirm, but he manages, nevertheless, to do twice as much work
+as other people. I am always a croaker, you know, but my ailments are
+of a small kind, their chief symptoms being a muddled brain; and, as
+my pen is not of the true literary order which will run along without
+the help of brains, I don't get through so much work as I should like.
+By the way, when the Spinoza comes out, be so good as not to mention
+my name in connection with it. I particularly wish not to be known as
+the translator of the "Ethics," for reasons which it would be "too
+tedious to mention." You don't know what a severely practical person I
+am become, and what a sharp eye I have to the main chance. I keep the
+purse, and dole out sovereigns with all the pangs of a miser. In fact,
+if you were to feel my bump of acquisitiveness, I dare say you would
+find it in a state of inflammation, like the "veneration" of that
+clergyman to whom Mr. Donovan said, "Sir, you have recently been
+engaged in prayer." I hope you recognized your own wit about the
+one-eyed dissenters, which was quoted in the _Leader_ some time ago.
+You always said no one did so much justice to your jokes as I did.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 31st Mch. 1856.]
+
+My mind is more rebellious than yours, and I can't help being saddened
+by the idea of you and Cara being in any other home than the dear old
+one. But I know that your cheerful courage is yet stronger in deed
+than in word. Will not business or pleasure bring you to London soon,
+and will you not come to see us? We can give you a bed--not a
+sumptuous one, but one which you will perhaps not find intolerable for
+a night. I know the trip up the Thames is charming, and we should
+like to do it with you, but I don't think we can manage it this
+summer. We are going to send or take the boys (Mr. Lewes's sons) to
+school in Germany at midsummer, and are at present uncertain about our
+arrangements. If we can _send_ them, we shall go to the coast as soon
+as the warm weather comes, and remain there for three months. But our
+plans are not yet crystallized.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 1st April, 1856.]
+
+After I wrote you yesterday morning we had a letter from Germany which
+has made Mr. Lewes incline to defer sending the boys thither till next
+year. But he is anxious to remove them from their present school: and,
+in the course of our consultations on the subject, we thought of Mr.
+John Sibree as a person in whom we should feel confidence as to the
+moral influence he would exercise as a tutor. The risk of placing
+children with entire strangers is terrible. So I tease you with
+another letter to ask you if Mr. J. Sibree continues in the same
+position as formerly, and if he is still anxious to obtain pupils.
+What a delicious day! We are going to have a holiday at the Zoological
+Gardens.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 7th April, 1856.]
+
+Thank you for taking the trouble to write me a full account of matters
+so interesting to me. I hope you will be able thoroughly to enjoy this
+last precious summer on the pretty lawn, where it is one of my
+pleasures on sunshiny days to think of you all strolling about or
+seated on the Bearskin. We are very thankful for the Hofwyl circular,
+and have almost decided to send the two eldest boys there. But it is
+necessary to weigh all things carefully before coming to a
+determination; as, not being either swindlers or philanthropists, we
+don't like to incur obligations which there is not a reasonable
+certainty of our being able to meet. I am much obliged to Mr. Bray,
+too, for sending Mr. John Sibree's letter. Mr. Lewes had already
+received an answer from him declining his proposition, but we were
+interested to read his very characteristic letter to his sister, which
+proved to Mr. Lewes that I had given him a correct description of the
+man.
+
+     The next few weeks are, perhaps, the most signally important
+     and interesting of all in George Eliot's development. There
+     are unmistakable signs of the rising of the sap of creative
+     production.
+
+     In the middle of April Mr. Herbert Spencer, who had been
+     abroad for some time, returned to England, and dined with
+     them at Park Shot on the 15th, and on the 18th they went with
+     him to Sydenham. On the 22d April George Eliot began her
+     article on Young; and on the 29th she began to read Riehl's
+     book,[50] on which she was to write another article for the
+     _Westminster_. On the 8th of May they set off for Ilfracombe,
+     and we have the following "recollections" of that place:
+
+[Sidenote: Ilfracombe, Recollections, 1856.]
+
+It was a cold, unfriendly day--the 8th of May--on which we set out for
+Ilfracombe with our hamper of glass jars, which we meant for our
+sea-side vivarium. We had to get down at Windsor, and were not sorry
+that the interval was long enough to let us walk round the castle,
+which I had never seen before except from a distance. The famous
+"slopes," the avenues in the park, and the distant landscape, looked
+very lovely in the fresh and delicate greens of spring; and the castle
+is surely the most delightful royal residence in the world. We took
+our places from Windsor all the way to Exeter; and at Bristol, where
+we had to wait three hours, the misery of my terrible headache was
+mitigated by the interest we felt in seeing the grand old Church of
+St. Mary Redcliffe, forever associated with the memory of Chatterton.
+
+     "It stands, the maestrie of a human hand,
+     The pride of Bristowe and the western land."
+
+It was cheering, the next morning after our arrival at Ilfracombe, to
+get up with a head rather less aching, and to walk up and down the
+little garden of Runnymede Villa in the bright sunshine. I had a great
+deal of work before me--the writing of an article on Riehl's book,
+which I had not half read, as well as the article on Belles-lettres;
+but my head was still dizzy, and it seemed impossible to sit down to
+writing at once in these new scenes, so we determined to spend the day
+in explorations.
+
+From our windows we had a view of the higher part of the town, and
+generally it looked uninteresting enough; but what is it that light
+cannot transfigure into beauty? One evening, after a shower, as the
+sun was setting over the sea behind us, some peculiar arrangement of
+clouds threw a delicious evening light on the irregular cluster of
+houses, and merged the ugliness of their forms in an exquisite flood
+of color--as a stupid person is made glorious by a noble deed. A
+perfect rainbow arched over the picture. From one end of the Capstone
+we have an admirable bit for a picture. In the background rises old
+Helesborough, jutting out far into the sea--rugged and rocky as it
+fronts the waves, green and accessible landward; in front of this
+stands Lantern Hill, a picturesque mass of green and gray, surmounted
+by an old bit of building that looks as if it were the habitation of
+some mollusk that had secreted its shell from the material of the
+rock; and quite in the foreground, contrasting finely in color with
+the rest, are some lower perpendicular rocks of dark-brown tints,
+patched here and there with vivid green. In hilly districts, where
+houses and clusters of houses look so tiny against the huge limbs of
+mother earth, one cannot help thinking of man as a parasitic
+animal--an epizoan making his abode in the skin of the planetary
+organism. In a flat country, a house or a town looks imposing; there
+is nothing to rival it in height, and we may imagine the earth a mere
+pedestal for us. But when one sees a house stuck on the side of a
+great hill, and, still more, a number of houses, looking like a few
+barnacles, clustered on the side of a great rock, we begin to think of
+the strong family likeness between ourselves and all other building,
+burrowing, house-appropriating, and shell-secreting animals. The
+difference between a man with his house and a mollusk with its shell
+lies in the number of steps or phenomena interposed between the fact
+of individual existence and the completion of the building. Whatever
+other advantages we may have over mollusks and insects in our
+habitations, it is clear that their architecture has the advantage of
+ours in beauty--at least, considered as the architecture of the
+species. Look at man in the light of a shell-fish, and it must be
+admitted that his shell is generally ugly; and it is only after a
+great many more "steps or phenomena" that he secretes here and there a
+wonderful shell in the shape of a temple or a palace.
+
+On our first zoophyte hunt it was characteristic of the wide difference
+there is between having eyes and _seeing_, that in this region of
+sea-anemones, where the Mesembryanthemum especially is as plenty as
+blackberries, we climbed about for two hours without seeing one
+anemone, and went in again with scarcely anything but a few stones and
+weeds to put into our jars. On our next hunt, however, after we had
+been out some time, G. exclaimed, "I see an anemone!" and we were
+immensely excited by the discovery of this little red Mesembryanthemum,
+which we afterwards disdained to gather, as much as if it had been a
+nettle. It was a _crescendo_ of delight when we found a "strawberry,"
+and a _fortissimo_ when I, for the first time, saw the pale,
+fawn-colored tentacles of an _Anthea cereus_ viciously waving like
+little serpents in a low-tide pool. But not a polype for a long, long
+while could even G. detect, after all his reading; so necessary is it
+for the eye to be educated by objects as well as ideas. Every day I
+gleaned some little bit of naturalistic experience, either through G.'s
+calling on me to look through the microscope, or from hunting on the
+rocks; and this in spite of my preoccupation with my article, which I
+worked at considerably _à contre-coeur_, despairing of it ever being
+worth anything. When at last, by the 17th of June, both my articles
+were despatched, I felt delightfully at liberty, and determined to pay
+some attention to seaweeds, which I had never seen in such beauty as at
+Ilfracombe. For hitherto I had been chiefly on chalky and sandy shores,
+where there were no rock-pools to show off the lovely colors and forms
+of the algæ. There are tide-pools to be seen almost at every other step
+on the shore at Ilfracombe; and I shall never forget their appearance
+when we first arrived there. The _Corallina officinalis_ was then in
+its greatest perfection, and with its purple-pink fronds threw into
+relief the dark olive fronds of the Laminariæ on one side, and the
+vivid green of the Ulva and Enteromorpha on the other. After we had
+been there a few weeks the Corallina was faded; and I noticed the
+_Mesagloia vermicularis_ and the _M. virescens_, which look very lovely
+in the water, from the white cilia, which make the most delicate fringe
+to their yellow-brown, whip-like fronds, and some of the common
+Polysiphoniæ. These tide-pools made me quite in love with seaweeds, so
+I took up Landsborough's book and tried to get a little more light on
+their structure and history.
+
+Our zoological expeditions alternated with delicious inland walks. I
+think the country looked its best when we arrived. It was just that
+moment in spring when the leaves are in full leaf, but still keep
+their delicate varieties of coloring, and that _transparency_ which
+belongs only to this season. And the furze was in all its golden
+glory! It was almost like the fading away of the evening red, when the
+furze blossoms died off from the hills, and the only contrast left was
+that of the marly soil with the green crops and woods. The primroses
+were the contemporaries of the furze, and sprinkled the sides of the
+hills with their pale stars almost as plentifully as daisies or
+buttercups elsewhere. But the great charm of all Devonshire lanes is
+the springs that you detect gurgling in shady recesses, covered with
+liverwort, with here and there waving tufts of fern and other
+broad-leaved plants that love obscurity and moisture.
+
+We seemed to make less of our evenings at Ilfracombe than we have ever
+done elsewhere. We used often to be tired with our hunting or walking;
+and we were reading books which did not make us take them up very
+eagerly--Gosse's "Rambles on the Devonshire Coast," for example;
+Trench's "Calderon," and other volumes, taken up in a desultory way.
+One bit of reading we had there, however, which interested me deeply.
+It was Masson's "Life of Chatterton," which happily linked itself with
+the impressions I had received from the sight of the old church at
+Bristol.
+
+Mr. Tugwell's (the curate) acquaintance was a real acquisition to us,
+not only because he was a companion and helper in zoological pursuits,
+but because to know him was to know of another sweet nature in the
+world. It is always good to know, if only in passing, a charming human
+being; it refreshes one like flowers and woods and clear brooks. One
+Sunday evening we walked up to his pretty house to carry back some
+proofs of his, and he induced us to go in and have coffee with him. He
+played on his harmonium, and we chatted pleasantly. The last evening
+of our stay at Ilfracombe he came to see us in Mrs. Webster's
+drawing-room, and we had music till nearly eleven o'clock--a pleasant
+recollection!
+
+We only twice took the walk beyond Watermouth towards Berrynarbor. The
+road lies through what are called the "Meadows," which look like a
+magnificent park. A stream, fringed with wild-flowers and willows,
+runs along the valley, two or three yards from the side of the road.
+This stream is clear as crystal, and about every twenty yards it falls
+over a little artificial precipice of stones. The long grass was
+waving in all the glory of June, before the mower has come to make it
+suffer a "love change" from beauties into sweet odors; and the slopes
+on each side of us were crowned or clothed with fine trees. The last
+time we went through these meadows was on our last day at Ilfracombe.
+Such sunlight and such deep peace on the hills and by the stream!
+Coming back, we rested on a gate under the trees, and a blind man came
+up to rest also. He told us, in his slow way, what a fine, "healthy
+spot" this was--yes, a very healthy spot--a healthy spot. And then we
+went on our way, and saw his face no more.
+
+I have talked of the Ilfracombe lanes without describing them, for to
+describe them one ought to know the names of all the lovely
+wild-flowers that cluster on their banks. Almost every yard of these
+banks is a "Hunt" picture--a delicious crowding of mosses and delicate
+trefoil and wild strawberries and ferns great and small. But the
+crowning beauty of the lanes is the springs that gush out in little
+recesses by the side of the road--recesses glossy with liverwort and
+feathery with fern. Sometimes you have the spring when it has grown
+into a brook, either rushing down a miniature cataract by the
+lane-side, or flowing gently as a "braided streamlet" across your
+path. I never before longed so much to know the names of things as
+during this visit to Ilfracombe. The desire is part of the tendency
+that is now constantly growing in me to escape from all vagueness and
+inaccuracy into the daylight of distinct, vivid ideas. The mere fact
+of naming an object tends to give definiteness to our conception of
+it. We have then a sign which at once calls up in our minds the
+distinctive qualities which mark out for us that particular object
+from all others.
+
+We ascended the Tors only twice; for a tax of 3_d._ per head was
+demanded on this luxury, and we could not afford a sixpenny walk very
+frequently: yet the view is perhaps the very finest to be had at
+Ilfracombe. Bay behind bay, fringed with foam, and promontory behind
+promontory, each with its peculiar shades of purple light--the sweep
+of the Welsh coast faintly visible in the distance, and the endless
+expanse of sea, flecked with ships, stretching on our left.
+
+[Sidenote: Ilfracombe, Recollections, June, 1856.]
+
+One evening we went down to the shore through the "Tunnels" to see the
+sunset. Standing in the "Ladies' Cove," we had before us the sharp
+fragments of rock jutting out of the waves and standing black against
+the orange and crimson sky. How lovely to look into that brilliant
+distance and see the ship on the horizon seeming to sail away from the
+cold and dim world behind it right into the golden glory! I have
+always that sort of feeling when I look at sunset; it always seems to
+me that there in the West lies a land of light and warmth and love.
+
+On the 26th of June we said good-bye to Ilfracombe. The sight of the
+cockle-women at Swansea, where we had to wait, would make a fine
+subject for a painter. One of them was the grandest woman I ever
+saw--six feet high, carrying herself like a Greek warrior, and
+treading the earth with unconscious majesty. Her face was
+weather-beaten and wizened, but her eyes were bright and piercing, and
+the lines of her face, with its high cheek-bones, strong and
+characteristic. The guard at the railway station told us that one of
+the porters had been insolent the other day to a cockle-woman, and
+that she immediately pitched him off the platform into the road below!
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 6th June, 1856.]
+
+When we arrived here I had not even read a great book on which I had
+engaged to write a long article by the beginning of this month; so
+that between work and zoology and bodily ailments my time has been
+full to overflowing. We are enchanted with Ilfracombe. I really think
+it is the loveliest sea-place I ever saw, from the combination of fine
+rocky coast with exquisite inland scenery. But it would not do for any
+one who can't climb rocks and mount perpetual hills; for the
+peculiarity of this country is, that it is all hill and no valley.
+You have no sooner got to the foot of one hill than you begin to mount
+another. You would laugh to see our room decked with yellow
+pie-dishes, a _foot-pan_, glass jars and phials, all full of
+zoophytes, or mollusks, or anellides--and, still more, to see the
+eager interest with which we rush to our "preserves" in the morning to
+see if there has been any mortality among them in the night. We have
+made the acquaintance of a charming little zoological curate here, who
+is a delightful companion on expeditions, and is most good-natured in
+lending and giving apparatus and "critturs" of all sorts. Mr.
+Pigott[51] is coming here with his yacht at the end of June, and we
+hope then to go to Clovelly--Kingsley's Clovelly--and perhaps other
+places on the coast that we can't reach on foot. After this we mean to
+migrate to Tenby, for the sake of making acquaintance with its
+mollusks and medusæ.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 8th June, 1856.]
+
+I received your kind letter only yesterday, but I write a few words in
+answer at once, lest, as it so often happens, delay should beget
+delay.
+
+It is never too late to write generous words, and although
+circumstances are not likely to allow of our acquiring a more intimate
+knowledge of each other from personal intercourse, it will always be a
+pleasant thought to me that you have remembered me kindly, and
+interpreted me nobly. You are one of the minority who know how to "use
+their imagination in the service of charity."
+
+I have suffered so much from misunderstanding created by letters, even
+to old friends, that I never write on private personal matters, unless
+it be a rigorous duty or necessity to do so. Some little phrase or
+allusion is misinterpreted, and on this false basis a great fabric of
+misconception is reared, which even explanatory conversations will not
+remove. Life is too precious to be spent in this weaving and unweaving
+of false impressions, and it is better to live quietly on under some
+degree of misrepresentation than to attempt to remove it by the
+uncertain process of letter-writing.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th June, 1856.]
+
+Yes, indeed, I do remember old Tenby days, and had set my heart on
+being in the very same house again; but, alas! it had just been let.
+It is immensely smartened up, like the place generally, since those
+old times, and is proportionately less desirable for quiet people who
+have no flounces and do not subscribe to new churches. Tenby looks
+insignificant in picturesqueness after Ilfracombe; but the two objects
+that drew us hither, zoology and health, will flourish none the worse
+for the absence of tall precipices and many-tinted rocks. The air is
+delicious--soft, but not sultry--and the sands and bathing such as are
+to be found nowhere else. St. Catherine's Rock, with its caverns, is
+our paradise. We go there with baskets, hammers and chisels, and jars
+and phials, and come home laden with spoils. Altogether, we are
+contented to have been driven away from Ilfracombe by the cold wind,
+since a new place is new experience, and Mr. Lewes has never been here
+before. To me there is the additional pleasure--half melancholy--of
+recalling all the old impressions and comparing them with the new. I
+understand your wish to have as much of Rosehill as possible this
+year, and I am so glad that you will associate a visit from Herbert
+Spencer with this last summer. I suppose he is with you now. If so,
+give him my very evil regards, and tell him that because he has not
+written to us we will diligently _not_ tell him a great many things
+he would have liked to know. We have a project of going into St.
+Catherine's caverns with lanterns, some night when the tide is low,
+about eleven, for the sake of seeing the zoophytes preparing for their
+midnight revels. The Actiniæ, like other belles, put on their best
+faces on such occasions. Two things we have lost by leaving Ilfracombe
+for which we have no compensation--the little zoological curate, Mr.
+Tugwell, who is really one of the best specimens of the clergyman
+species I have seen; and the pleasure of having Miss Barbara Smith
+there for a week, sketching the rocks, and putting our love of them
+into the tangible form of a picture. We are looking out now for Mr.
+Pigott in his yacht; and his amiable face will make an agreeable
+variety on the sands. I thought "Walden"[52] (you mean "Life in the
+Woods," don't you?) a charming book, from its freshness and sincerity
+as well as for its bits of description. It is pleasant to think that
+Harriet Martineau can make so much of her last days. Her energy and
+her habit of useful work are admirable.
+
+     During the stay at Ilfracombe and Tenby not much literary
+     work was done, except the articles on Young and on Riehl's
+     book. There was a notice of Masson's Essays and the
+     Belles-lettres section for the July number of the
+     _Westminster_, and a review for the _Leader_. There is
+     mention, too, of the reading of Beaumarchais' "Memoirs,"
+     Milne Edwards's "Zoology," Harvey's sea-side book, and
+     "Coriolanus," and then comes this significant sentence in her
+     Journal:
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1856.]
+
+_July 20, 1856._--The fortnight has slipped away without my being
+able to show much result for it. I have written a review of the
+"Lover's Seat," and jotted down some recollections of Ilfracombe;
+besides these trifles, and the introduction to an article already
+written, I have done no _visible_ work. But I have absorbed many ideas
+and much bodily strength; indeed, I do not remember ever feeling so
+strong in mind and body as I feel at this moment. On Saturday, the
+12th, Barbara Smith arrived, and stayed here till Wednesday morning.
+We enjoyed her society very much, but were deeply touched to see that
+three years had made her so much older and sadder. Her activity for
+great objects is admirable; and contact with her is a fresh
+inspiration to work while it is day. We have now taken up Quatrefages
+again. The "Memoirs" of Beaumarchais yielded me little fruit. Mr.
+Chapman invites me to contribute to the _Westminster_ for this
+quarter. I am anxious to begin my fiction-writing, and so am not
+inclined to undertake an article that will give me much trouble, but,
+at all events, I will finish my article on Young.
+
+_July 21._--We had a delightful walk on the north sands, and hunted
+with success. A sunny, happy day.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th July, 1856.]
+
+Glad to hear at last some news of your Essay--hoping to hear more and
+better by and by. I didn't like to think that your labor would be
+thrown away, except so far as it must do good to yourself by clearing
+up your ideas. Not that your ideas were muddy, but the last degree of
+clearness can only come by writing. Mr. Pigott is with us just now,
+and we are meditating a nocturnal visit to St. Catherine's caves with
+him. Our visit to Tenby has been very useful zoologically, but we are
+not otherwise greatly in love with the place. It seems tame and vulgar
+after Ilfracombe.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 6th Aug. 1856.]
+
+Thank you for your kind note,[53] so like yourself. Such things
+encourage me, and help me to do better. I never think what I write is
+good for anything till other people tell me so, and even then it
+always seems to me as if I should never write anything _else_ worth
+reading. Ah, how much good we may do each other by a few friendly
+words, and the opportunities for them are so much more frequent than
+for friendly deeds! We want people to feel with us more than to act
+for us. Mr. Lewes sends his kind regards to you. He, too, was very
+pleased with your letter, for he cares more about getting approbation
+for me than for himself. _He_ can do very well without it.
+
+     On the 8th August they left Tenby, and on 9th arrived at
+     Richmond "with terrible headache, but enjoyed the sense of
+     being 'at home' again." On the 18th, "walked in Kew Park, and
+     talked with G. of my novel. Finished 'César Birotteau'
+     aloud." On the 25th August Mr. Lewes set off for Hofwyl, near
+     Berne, taking his two eldest boys, Charles and Thornton, to
+     place them at school there. He returned on 4th September, and
+     in his absence George Eliot had been busy with her article on
+     "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists." This was finished on the
+     12th September, and on the 19th she sent off the
+     Belles-lettres section for the October number of the
+     _Westminster_.
+
+     We have now arrived at the period of the new birth, and,
+     fortunately, in the following memorandum, we have George
+     Eliot's own words as to how it came about:
+
+[Sidenote: How I came to write fiction.]
+
+September, 1856, made a new era in my life, for it was then I began to
+write fiction. It had always been a vague dream of mine that some time
+or other I might write a novel; and my shadowy conception of what the
+novel was to be, varied, of course, from one epoch of my life to
+another. But I never went further towards the actual writing of the
+novel than an introductory chapter describing a Staffordshire village
+and the life of the neighboring farm-houses; and as the years passed
+on I lost any hope that I should ever be able to write a novel, just
+as I desponded about everything else in my future life. I always
+thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both of construction and
+dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease in the descriptive parts
+of a novel. My "introductory chapter" was pure description, though
+there were good materials in it for dramatic presentation. It happened
+to be among the papers I had with me in Germany, and one evening at
+Berlin something led me to read it to George. He was struck with it as
+a bit of concrete description, and it suggested to him the possibility
+of my being able to write a novel, though he distrusted--indeed,
+disbelieved in--my possession of any dramatic power. Still, he began
+to think that I might as well try some time what I could do in
+fiction, and by and by, when we came back to England, and I had
+greater success than he ever expected in other kinds of writing, his
+impression that it was worth while to see how far my mental power
+would go towards the production of a novel, was strengthened. He began
+to say very positively, "You must try and write a story," and when we
+were at Tenby he urged me to begin at once. I deferred it, however,
+after my usual fashion with work that does not present itself as an
+absolute duty. But one morning, as I was thinking what should be the
+subject of my first story, my thoughts merged themselves into a dreamy
+doze, and I imagined myself writing a story, of which the title was
+"The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton." I was soon wide awake
+again and told G. He said, "Oh, what a capital title!" and from that
+time I had settled in my mind that this should be my first story.
+George used to say, "It may be a failure--it may be that you are
+unable to write fiction. Or, perhaps, it may be just good enough to
+warrant your trying again." Again, "You may write a _chef-d'oeuvre_ at
+once--there's no telling." But his prevalent impression was, that
+though I could hardly write a _poor_ novel, my effort would want the
+highest quality of fiction--dramatic presentation. He used to say,
+"You have wit, description, and philosophy--those go a good way
+towards the production of a novel. It is worth while for you to try
+the experiment."
+
+We determined that if my story turned out good enough we would send it
+to Blackwood; but G. thought the more probable result was that I
+should have to lay it aside and try again.
+
+But when we returned to Richmond I had to write my article on "Silly
+Novels," and my review of Contemporary Literature for the
+_Westminster_, so that I did not begin my story till September 22.
+After I had begun it, as we were walking in the park, I mentioned to
+G. that I had thought of the plan of writing a series of stories,
+containing sketches drawn from my own observation of the clergy, and
+calling them "Scenes from Clerical Life," opening with "Amos Barton."
+He at once accepted the notion as a good one--fresh and striking; and
+about a week afterwards, when I read him the first part of "Amos," he
+had no longer any doubt about my ability to carry out the plan. The
+scene at Cross Farm, he said, satisfied him that I had the very
+element he had been doubtful about--it was clear I could write good
+dialogue. There still remained the question whether I could command
+any pathos; and that was to be decided by the mode in which I treated
+Milly's death. One night G. went to town on purpose to leave me a
+quiet evening for writing it. I wrote the chapter from the news
+brought by the shepherd to Mrs. Hackit, to the moment when Amos is
+dragged from the bedside, and I read it to G. when he came home. We
+both cried over it, and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying,
+"I think your pathos is better than your fun."
+
+     The story of the "Sad Fortunes of Amos Barton" was begun on
+     22d September and finished on the 5th November, and I subjoin
+     the opening correspondence between Mr. Lewes and Mr. John
+     Blackwood, to exhibit the first effect it produced:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from G. H. Lewes, to John Blackwood, 6th Nov. 1856.]
+
+     "I trouble you with a MS. of 'Sketches of Clerical Life'
+     which was submitted to me by a friend who desired my good
+     offices with you. It goes by this post. I confess that before
+     reading the MS. I had considerable doubts of my friend's
+     powers as a writer of fiction; but, after reading it, these
+     doubts were changed into very high admiration. I don't know
+     what you will think of the story, but, according to my
+     judgment, such humor, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice
+     observation have not been exhibited (in this style) since the
+     'Vicar of Wakefield;' and, in consequence of that opinion, I
+     feel quite pleased in negotiating the matter with you.
+
+     "This is what I am commissioned to say to you about the
+     proposed series. It will consist of tales and sketches
+     illustrative of the actual life of our country clergy about a
+     quarter of a century ago--but solely in its _human_, and not
+     at all in its _theological_ aspects; the object being to do
+     what has never yet been done in our literature, for we have
+     had abundant religious stories, polemical and doctrinal, but
+     since the 'Vicar' and Miss Austen, no stories representing
+     the clergy like every other class, with the humors, sorrows,
+     and troubles of other men. He begged me particularly to add,
+     that--as the specimen sent will sufficiently prove--the tone
+     throughout will be sympathetic, and not at all antagonistic.
+
+     "Some of these, if not all, you may think suitable for
+     'Maga.' If any are sent of which you do not approve, or which
+     you do not think sufficiently interesting, these he will
+     reserve for the separate republication, and for this purpose
+     he wishes to retain the copyright. Should you only print one
+     or two, he will be well satisfied; and still better, if you
+     should think well enough of the series to undertake the
+     separate republication."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from John Blackwood, to G. H. Lewes, 12th Nov.
+1856.]
+
+     "I am happy to say that I think your friend's reminiscences
+     of Clerical Life will do. If there is any more of the series
+     written I should like to see it, as, until I saw more, I
+     could not make any decided proposition for the publication of
+     the tales, in whole or in part, in the Magazine. This first
+     specimen, 'Amos Barton,' is unquestionably very pleasant
+     reading. Perhaps the author falls into the error of trying
+     too much to explain the characters of his actors by
+     description instead of allowing them to evolve in the action
+     of the story; but the descriptions are very humorous and
+     good. The death of Milly is powerfully done, and affected me
+     much. I am not sure whether he does not spoil it a little by
+     specifying so minutely the different children and their
+     names. The wind-up is perhaps the lamest part of the story;
+     and there, too, I think the defect is caused by the
+     specifications as to the fortunes of parties of whom the
+     reader has no previous knowledge, and cannot, consequently,
+     feel much interest. At first, I was afraid that in the
+     amusing reminiscences of childhood in church there was a want
+     of some softening touch, such as the remembrance of a father
+     or mother lends, in after-years, to what was at the time
+     considerable penance.
+
+     "I hate anything of a sneer at real religious feeling as
+     cordially as I despise anything like cant, and I should think
+     this author is of the same way of thinking, although his
+     clergymen, with one exception, are not very attractive
+     specimens of the body. The revulsion of feeling towards poor
+     Amos is capitally drawn, although the asinine stupidity of
+     his conduct about the countess had disposed one to kick him.
+
+     "I dare say I shall have a more decided opinion as to the
+     merits of the story when I have looked at it again and
+     thought over it; but in the meantime I am sure that there is
+     a happy turn of expression throughout, also much humor and
+     pathos. If the author is a new writer, I beg to congratulate
+     him on being worthy of the honors of print and pay. I shall
+     be very glad to hear from you or him soon."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from G. H. Lewes to John Blackwood, Saturday, Nov.
+1856.]
+
+     "I have communicated your letter to my clerical friend, who,
+     though somewhat discouraged by it, has taken my advice, and
+     will submit the second story to you when it is written. At
+     present he has only written what he sent you. His avocations,
+     he informs me, will prevent his setting to work for the next
+     three weeks or so, but as soon as he is at liberty he will
+     begin.
+
+     "I rate the story much higher than you appear to do, from
+     certain expressions in your note, though you too appreciate
+     the humor and pathos and the happy turn of expression. It
+     struck me as being fresher than any story I have read for a
+     long while, and as exhibiting, in a high degree, that faculty
+     which I find to be the rarest of all--viz., the dramatic
+     ventriloquism.
+
+     "At the same time I told him that I thoroughly understood
+     your editorial caution in not accepting from an unknown hand
+     a series on the strength of one specimen."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from John Blackwood to G. H. Lewes, 18th Nov. 1856.]
+
+     "I was very far from intending that my letter should convey
+     anything like disappointment to your friend. On the contrary,
+     I thought the tale very good, and intended to convey as much.
+     But I dare say I expressed myself coolly enough. Criticism
+     would assume a much soberer tone were critics compelled
+     _seriously to act_ whenever they expressed an opinion.
+     Although not much given to hesitate about anything, I always
+     think twice before I put the decisive mark 'In type for the
+     Magazine' on any MS. from a stranger. Fancy the intense
+     annoyance (to say nothing of more serious considerations) of
+     publishing, month after month, a series about which the
+     conviction gradually forces itself on you that you have made
+     a total blunder.
+
+     "I am sorry that the author has no more written, but if he
+     cares much about a speedy appearance, I have so high an
+     opinion of this first tale that I will waive my objections,
+     and publish it without seeing more--not, of course,
+     committing myself to go on with the other tales of the series
+     unless I approved of them. I am very sanguine that I will
+     approve, as, in addition to the other merits of 'Amos,' I
+     agree with you that there is great freshness of style. If you
+     think also that it would stimulate the author to go on with
+     the other tales with more spirit, I will publish 'Amos' at
+     once. He could divide into two parts. I am blocked up for
+     December, but I could start him in January.
+
+     "I am glad to hear that your friend is, as I supposed, a
+     clergyman. Such a subject is best in clerical hands, and some
+     of the pleasantest and least-prejudiced correspondents I have
+     ever had are English clergymen.
+
+     "I have not read 'Amos Barton' a second time, but the
+     impression on my mind of the whole character, incidents, and
+     feeling of the story is very distinct, which is an excellent
+     sign."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from G. H. Lewes to John Blackwood, Saturday, Nov.
+1856.]
+
+     "Your letter has greatly restored the shaken confidence of my
+     friend, who is unusually sensitive, and, unlike most writers,
+     is more anxious about _excellence_ than about appearing in
+     print--as his waiting so long before taking the venture
+     proves. He is consequently afraid of failure, though not
+     afraid of obscurity; and by failure he would understand that
+     which I suspect most writers would be apt to consider as
+     success--so high is his ambition.
+
+     "I tell you this that you may understand the sort of shy,
+     shrinking, ambitious nature you have to deal with. I tried
+     to persuade him that you really _did_ appreciate his story,
+     but were only hesitating about committing yourself to a
+     series; and your last letter has proved me to have been
+     right--although, as he never contemplated binding you to the
+     publication of any portion of the series to which you might
+     object, he could not at first see your position in its true
+     light.
+
+     "All is, however, clear now. He will be gratified if you
+     publish 'Amos Barton' in January, as it will give him ample
+     time to get the second story ready, so as to appear when
+     'Barton' is finished, should you wish it. He is anxious,
+     however, that you should publish the general title of 'Scenes
+     of Clerical Life;' and I think you may do this with perfect
+     safety, since it is quite clear that the writer of 'Amos
+     Barton' is capable of writing at least one more story
+     suitable to 'Maga;' and two would suffice to justify the
+     general title.
+
+     "Let me not forget to add that when I referred to 'my
+     clerical friend,' I meant to designate the writer of the
+     clerical stories--not that he was a clericus. I am not at
+     liberty to remove the veil of anonymity, even as regards
+     social position. Be pleased, therefore, to keep the whole
+     secret, and not even mention _my_ negotiation, or in any way
+     lead guessers (should any one trouble himself with such a
+     guess--_not_ very likely) to jump from me to my friend."
+
+     On Christmas Day, 1856, "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story" was begun,
+     and during December and January the following are mentioned
+     among the books read: The "Ajax" of Sophocles, Miss
+     Martineau's "History of the Peace," Macaulay's "History"
+     finished, Carlyle's "French Revolution," Burke's "Reflections
+     on the French Revolution," and "Mansfield Park."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from John Blackwood, to the author of "Amos Barton,"
+29th Dec. 1856.]
+
+     "Along with this I send a copy of the January number of the
+     Magazine, in which you will find the first part of 'Amos
+     Barton.' It gives me very great pleasure to begin the number
+     with 'Amos,' and I put him in that position because his
+     merits well entitle him to it, and also because it is a vital
+     point to attract public attention to the _first_ part of a
+     series, to which end being the first article of the first
+     number of the year may contribute.
+
+     "I have already expressed to our friend Mr. Lewes the very
+     high opinion I entertain of 'Amos,' and the expectations I
+     have formed of the series, should his successors prove equal
+     to him, which I fully anticipate.
+
+     "It is a long time since I have read anything so fresh, so
+     humorous, and so touching. The style is capital, conveying so
+     much in so few words.
+
+     "Those who have seen the tale here are chiefly members of my
+     own family, and they are all enthusiastic in praise.
+
+     "You may recollect that I expressed a fear that in the
+     affecting and highly wrought scene of poor Milly's death, the
+     attempt to individualize the children by reiterating their
+     names weakened the effect, as the reader had not been
+     prepared to care for them individually, but simply as a
+     group--the children of Milly and the sorrow-stricken curate.
+     My brother says, 'No. Do not advise the author to touch
+     anything so exquisite.' Of course you are the best judge.
+
+     "I now send proof of the conclusion of 'Amos,' in
+     acknowledgment of which, and of the first part, I have the
+     pleasure of enclosing a check for £52 10_s._--fifty guineas.
+
+     "If the series goes on as I anticipate, there is every
+     prospect that a republication as a separate book, at some
+     time or other, will be advisable. We would look upon such
+     republication as a joint property, and would either give you
+     a sum for your interest in it, or publish on the terms of one
+     half of the clear profits, to be divided between author and
+     publisher, as might be most agreeable to you.
+
+     "I shall be very glad to hear from you, either direct or
+     through Mr. Lewes; and any intelligence that the successors
+     of 'Amos' are taking form and substance will be very
+     acceptable.
+
+     "I shall let you know what the other contributors and the
+     public think of 'Amos' as far as I can gather a verdict, but
+     in the meantime I may congratulate you on having achieved a
+     preliminary success at all events."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from the author of "Amos Barton" to John Blackwood,
+Jan. 1857.]
+
+Your letter has proved to me that the generous editor and
+publisher--generous both in word and in deed--who makes the author's
+path smooth and easy, is something more than a pleasant tradition. I
+am very sensitive to the merits of checks for fifty guineas, but I am
+still more sensitive to that cordial appreciation which is a guarantee
+to me that my work was worth doing for its own sake.
+
+If the "Scenes of Clerical Life" should be republished, I have no
+doubt we shall find it easy to arrange the terms. In the meantime, the
+most pressing business is to make them worth republishing.
+
+I think the particularization of the children in the deathbed scene
+has an important effect on the imagination. But I have removed all
+names from the "conclusion" except those of Patty and Dickey, in whom,
+I hope, the reader has a personal interest.
+
+I hope to send you the second story by the beginning of February. It
+will lie, for the most part, among quite different scenes and persons
+from the last--opening in Shepperton once more, but presently moving
+away to a distant spot and new people, whom, I hope, you will not like
+less than "Amos" and his friends. But if any one of the succeeding
+stories should seem to you unsuitable to the pages of "Maga," it can
+be reserved for publication in the future volume, without creating any
+difficulty.
+
+Thank you very warmly for the hearty acceptance you have given to my
+first story.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+The first part of "Amos Barton" appeared in the January number of
+_Blackwood_. Before the appearance of the Magazine, on sending me the
+proof, Mr. John Blackwood already expressed himself with much greater
+warmth of admiration; and when the first part had appeared he sent me
+a charming letter, with a check for fifty guineas, and a proposal
+about republication of the series. When the story was concluded he
+wrote me word how Albert Smith had sent him a letter saying he had
+never read anything that affected him more than Milly's death, and,
+added Blackwood, "The men at the club seem to have mingled their tears
+and their tumblers together. It will be curious if you should be a
+member and be hearing your own praises." There was clearly no
+suspicion that I was a woman. It is interesting, as an indication of
+the value there is in such conjectural criticism generally, to
+remember that when G. read the first part of "Amos" to a party at
+Helps's, they were all sure I was a clergyman--a Cambridge man.
+Blackwood seemed curious about the author, and, when I signed my
+letter "George Eliot," hunted up some old letters from Eliot
+Warburton's brother to compare the handwritings, though, he said,
+"'Amos' seems to me not in the least like what that good artilleryman
+would write."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 4th Feb. 1857.]
+
+Thank you for fulfilling your promise to let me know something of the
+criticisms passed on my story. I have a very moderate respect for
+"opinions of the press," but the private opinions of intelligent
+people may be valuable to me.
+
+In reference to artistic presentation much adverse opinion will, of
+course, arise from a dislike to the _order_ of art rather than from a
+critical estimate of the execution. Any one who detests the Dutch
+school in general will hardly appreciate fairly the merits of a
+particular Dutch painting. And against this sort of condemnation one
+must steel one's self as one best can. But objections which point out
+to me any vice of manner, or any failure in producing an intended
+effect, will be really profitable. For example, I suppose my
+scientific illustrations must be at fault, since they seem to have
+obtruded themselves disagreeably on one of my readers. But if it be a
+sin to be at once a man of science and a writer of fiction, I can
+declare my perfect innocence on that head, my scientific knowledge
+being as superficial as that of the most "practised writers." I hope
+to send you a second story in a few days, but I am rather behindhand
+this time, having been prevented from setting to work for some weeks
+by other business.
+
+Whatever may be the success of my stories, I shall be resolute in
+preserving my _incognito_, having observed that a _nom de plume_
+secures all the advantages without the disagreeables of reputation.
+Perhaps, therefore, it will be well to give you my prospective name,
+as a tub to throw to the whale in case of curious inquiries; and
+accordingly I subscribe myself, best and most sympathizing of editors,
+yours very truly, GEORGE ELIOT.
+
+     I may mention here that my wife told me the reason she fixed
+     on this name was that George was Mr. Lewes's Christian name,
+     and Eliot was a good, mouth-filling, easily pronounced word.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 18th Feb. 1857.]
+
+First let me thank you very heartily for your letter of the 10th.
+Except your own very cordial appreciation, which is so much beyond a
+mere official acceptance, that little fact about Albert Smith has
+gratified me more than anything else in connection with the effect of
+"Amos." If you should happen to hear an opinion from Thackeray, good
+or bad, I should like to know it.
+
+You will see that I have availed myself of your suggestions on points
+of language. I quite recognize the justice of your criticisms on the
+French phrases. They are not in keeping with my story.
+
+But I am unable to alter anything in relation to the delineation or
+development of character, as my stories always grow out of my
+psychological conception of the _dramatis personæ_. For example, the
+behavior of Caterina in the gallery is essential to my conception of
+her nature, and to the development of that nature in the plot. My
+artistic bent is directed not at all to the presentation of eminently
+irreproachable characters, but to the presentation of mixed human
+beings in such a way as to call forth tolerant judgment, pity, and
+sympathy. And I cannot stir a step aside from what I _feel_ to be
+_true_ in character. If anything strikes you as untrue to human nature
+in my delineations, I shall be very glad if you will point it out to
+me, that I may reconsider the matter. But, alas! inconsistencies and
+weaknesses are not untrue. I hope that your doubts about the plot will
+be removed by the further development of the story. Meanwhile, warmest
+thanks for your encouraging letters.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 24th Feb. 1857.]
+
+I am the more inclined to think that I shall admire your book because
+you are suspected of having given undue preponderance to the Christian
+argument: for I have a growing conviction that we may measure true
+moral and intellectual culture by the comprehension and veneration
+given to all forms of thought and feeling which have influenced large
+masses of mankind--and of all intolerance the intolerance calling
+itself philosophical is the most odious to me.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 1st Mch. 1857.]
+
+Thank you for the copy of "Maga" and for the accompanying check. One
+has not many correspondents whose handwriting has such agreeable
+associations as yours.
+
+I was particularly pleased with that extract you were so good as to
+send me from Mr. Swayne's letter. Dear old "Goldie" is one of my
+earliest and warmest admirations, and I don't desire a better fate
+than to lie side by side with him in people's memories.
+
+     The Rev. Mr. Swayne had written to Blackwood saying that
+     "Amos," in its charming tendencies, reminded him of the
+     "Vicar of Wakefield." Blackwood had written, much delighted
+     with the two first parts of "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story," which
+     were sent to him together.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 2d Mch. 1857.]
+
+I began, oddly enough you will perhaps think, by reading through the
+"Answers of Infidelity,"[54] those being the most interesting parts of
+the book to me. Some of your own passages I think very admirable--some
+of them made me cry, which is always a sign of the highest pleasure
+writing can give me. But in many of the extracts, I think, Infidelity
+cuts a very poor figure. Some are feeble, some _bad_, and terribly
+discrepant in the tone of their thought and feeling from the passages
+which come fresh from your own mind. The disadvantage arising from the
+perpetual shifting of the point of view is a disadvantage, I suppose,
+inseparable from the plan, which I cannot admire or feel to be
+effective, though I can imagine it may be a serviceable form of
+presentation to some inquirers. The _execution_ I do admire. I think it
+shows very high and rare qualities of mind--a self-discipline and
+largeness of thought which are the highest result of culture. The
+"Objections of Christianity," which I have also read, are excellently
+put, and have an immense advantage over the "Answers of Infidelity" in
+their greater homogeneity. The first part I have only begun and glanced
+through, and at present have no other observation to make than that I
+think you might have brought a little more artillery to bear on
+Christian morality. But nothing is easier than to find fault--nothing
+so difficult as to _do_ some real work.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 5th Mch. 1857.]
+
+I think I wrote very brusquely and disagreeably to you the other day,
+but the impertinence was altogether in the form and not at all in
+the feeling. I always have uncomfortable sensations after writing
+objections and criticisms when they relate to things I substantially
+admire. It is inflicting a hurt on my own veneration.
+
+I showed the passage on the eye, p. 157, to Herbert Spencer, and he
+agrees with us that you have not stated your idea so as to render it a
+logical argument against design. You appear to imply that development
+and gradation in organs and functions are opposed to that conception,
+which they are not. I suppose you are aware that we all three hold the
+conception of creative design to be untenable. We only think you have
+not made out a good case against it.
+
+Thank you for sending me some news of Harriet Martineau. I have often
+said lately, "I wonder how she is."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 14th Mch. 1857.]
+
+I am glad you retain a doubt in favor of the _dagger_, and wish I
+could convert you to entire approval, for I am much more satisfied
+when your feeling is thoroughly with me. But it would be the death of
+my story to substitute a dream for the real scene. Dreams usually play
+an important part in fiction, but rarely, I think, in actual life.
+
+So many of us have reason to know that criminal impulses may be felt
+by a nature which is nevertheless guarded by its entire constitution
+from the commission of crime, that I can't help hoping that my
+Caterina will not forfeit the sympathy of all my readers.
+
+The answer you propose to give to curious inquirers is the best
+possible. For several reasons I am very anxious to retain my
+_incognito_ for some time to come, and, to an author not already
+famous, anonymity is the highest _prestige_. Besides, if George Eliot
+turns out a dull dog and an ineffective writer--a mere flash in the
+pan--I, for one, am determined to cut him on the first intimation of
+that disagreeable fact.
+
+The fates have willed that this shall be a very melancholy story, and
+I am longing to be a little merrier again.
+
+     On the 16th March Mr. Lewes and George Eliot started for
+     Plymouth, Penzance, and the Scilly Isles, and we have the
+     following recollections of their stay there:
+
+[Sidenote: Recollections, Scilly Isles, March-May, 1857.]
+
+I had never before seen a granite coast, and on the southern side of
+the island of St. Mary's one sees such a coast in its most striking
+and characteristic forms. Rectangular crevices, the edges of which
+have been rounded by weather, give many of the granite masses a
+resemblance to bales of wool or cotton heaped on each other; another
+characteristic form is the mushroom-shaped mass, often lying poised on
+the summits of more cubical bowlders or fragments; another is the
+immense flat platform stretching out like a pier into the sea; another
+the oval basins formed by the action of the rain-water on the summits
+of the rocks and bowlders. The coloring of the rocks was very various
+and beautiful; sometimes a delicate grayish-green, from the shaggy
+byssus which clothes it, chiefly high up from the water; then a light,
+warm brown; then black; occasionally of a rich yellow; and here and
+there purplish. Below the rocks, on the coast, are almost everywhere
+heaps of white bowlders, sometimes remarkably perfect ovals, and
+looking like huge eggs of some monstrous bird. Hardly any weed was to
+be seen on the granite, except here and there in a rock-pool, green
+with young ulva; and no barnacles incrust the rock, no black mussels,
+scarcely any limpets. The waves that beat on this coast are clear as
+crystal, and we used to delight in watching them rear themselves like
+the horses of a mighty sea-god as they approached the rocks on which
+they were broken into eddies of milky foam. Along a great part of this
+southern coast there stretch heathy or furzy downs, over which I used
+to enjoy rambling immensely; there is a sense of freedom in those
+unenclosed grounds that one never has in a railed park, however
+extensive. Then, on the north side of the island, above Sandy Bar,
+what a view we used to get of the opposite islands and reefs, with
+their delicious violet and yellow tints--the tall ship or two anchored
+in the Sound, changing their aspect like living things, and when the
+wind was at all high the white foam prancing round the reefs and
+rising in fountain-like curves above the screen of rocks!
+
+Many a wet and dirty walk we had along the lanes, for the weather was
+often wet and almost always blustering. Now and then, however, we had
+a clear sky and a calm sea, and on such days it was delicious to look
+up after the larks that were soaring above us, or to look out on the
+island and reef studded sea. I never enjoyed the lark before as I
+enjoyed it at Scilly--never felt the full beauty of Shelley's poem on
+it before. A spot we became very fond of towards the close of our stay
+was Carne Lea, where, between two fine, jutting piles of granite,
+there was a soft down, gay with the pretty pink flowers of the thrift,
+which, in this island, carpets the ground like greensward. Here we
+used to sit and lie in the bright afternoons, watching the silver
+sunlight on the waves--bright silver, not golden--it is the morning
+and evening sunlight that is golden. A week or two after our arrival
+we made the acquaintance of Mr. Moyle, the surgeon, who became a
+delightful friend to us, always ready to help with the contents of his
+surgery or anything else at his command. We liked to have him come and
+smoke a cigar in the evening, and look in now and then for a little
+lesson in microscopy. The little indications of the social life at
+Scilly that we were able to pick up were very amusing. I was
+repeatedly told, in order to make me aware who Mr. Hall was, that he
+married a Miss Lemon. The people at St. Mary's imagine that the
+lawyers and doctors at Penzance are a sort of European characters that
+every one knows. We heard a great deal about Mr. Quill, an Irishman,
+the Controller of the Customs; and one day, when we were making a call
+on one of the residents, our host said two or three times, at
+intervals, "I wish you knew Quill!" At last, on our farewell call, we
+saw the distinguished Quill, with his hair plastered down, his
+charming smile, and his trousers with a broad stripe down each leg.
+Our host amused us by his contempt for curs: "Oh, I wouldn't have a
+cur--there's nothing to look at in a cur!"[55]
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 5th April, 1857.]
+
+The smallest details, written in the hastiest way, that will enable me
+to imagine you as you are, are just what I want; indeed, all I care
+about in correspondence. We are more and more in love with these
+little islands. There is not a tree to be seen, but there are grand
+granite hills on the coast, such as I never saw before, and
+furze-covered hills with larks soaring and singing above them, and
+zoological wonders on the shore to fill our bottles and our souls at
+once. For some time I have been unusually weak and knock-up-able. Our
+landlady is an excellent woman, but, like almost all peculiarly
+domestic women, has not more than rudimentary ideas of cooking; and in
+an island where you can get nothing but beef, except by sending to
+Penzance, that supreme science has its maximum value. She seems to
+think eating a purely arbitrary procedure--an abnormal function of mad
+people who come to Scilly; and if we ask her what the people live on
+here, is quite at a loss to tell us, apparently thinking the question
+relates to the abstruser portion of natural history. But I insist,
+and give her a culinary lecture every morning, and we do, in the end,
+get fed. Altogether our life here is so far better than the golden age
+that we work as well as play. That is the happy side of things. But
+there is a very sad one to me which I shall not dwell upon--only tell
+you of. More than a week ago I received the news that poor Chrissey
+had lost one of her pretty little girls of fever; that the other
+little one--they were the only two she had at home with her--was also
+dangerously ill, and Chrissey herself and her servant apparently
+attacked by typhus too. The thought of her in this state is a
+perpetual shadow to me in the sunshine.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th April, 1857.]
+
+I shudder at entering on such great subjects (as "Design") in letters;
+my idle brain wants lashing to work, like a negro, and will do nothing
+under a slighter stimulus. We are enjoying a retrogression to
+old-fashioned reading. I rush on the slightest pretext to Sophocles,
+and am as excited about blind old Oedipus as any young lady can be
+about the latest hero with magnificent eyes. But there is _one_ new
+book we have been enjoying, and so, I hope, have you--the "Life of
+Charlotte Brontë." Deeply affecting throughout; in the early part
+romantic, poetic, as one of her own novels; in the later years tragic,
+especially to those who know what sickness is. Mrs. Gaskell has done
+her work admirably, both in the industry and care with which she has
+gathered and selected her material, and in the feeling with which she
+has presented it. There is one exception, however, which I regret very
+much. She sets down Branwell's conduct entirely to remorse. Remorse
+may make sad work with a man, but it will not make such a life as
+Branwell's was in the last three or four years, unless the germs of
+vice had sprouted and shot up long before, as it seems clear they had
+in him. What a tragedy!--that picture of the old father and the three
+sisters trembling, day and night, in terror at the possible deeds of
+their drunken, brutal son and brother! That is the part of the life
+which affects me most.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Isaac P. Evans, 16th April, 1857.]
+
+I have been looking anxiously for some further tidings of Chrissey
+since your last letter, which told me that she and Kate were better,
+though not out of danger. I try to hope that no news is good news; but
+if you do not think it troublesome to write, I shall be thankful to
+have that hope changed into certainty.
+
+Meanwhile, to save multiplying letters--which I know you are not fond
+of--I mention now what will take no harm from being mentioned rather
+prematurely. I should like Chrissey to have £15 of my next half-year's
+income, due at the beginning of June, to spend in taking a change of
+air as soon as she is able to do so; and perhaps, if it were desirable
+for her to leave before the money has been paid in, you would be so
+kind as to advance it for a few weeks. I am writing, of course, in
+ignorance of her actual state; but I should think it must be good for
+her, as soon as she is able to move, to leave that fever-infected
+place for a time, and I know the money must have gone very fast in
+recent expenses. I only suggest the change of air as the thing that I
+should think best for Chrissey; but, in any case, I should like her to
+have the money, to do what she pleases with it. If she is well enough
+please to give her the enclosed note, in which I have suggested to her
+what I have just written to you.
+
+I am much obliged to you for your last letter, and shall be still more
+so if you will write me word of Chrissey's present condition.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 1st May, 1857.]
+
+Thank you for the pleasant notes of impressions concerning my story,
+sent to me through Lewes.
+
+I will pay attention to your caution about the danger of huddling up
+my stories. Conclusions are the weak point of most authors, but some
+of the fault lies in the very nature of a conclusion, which is at best
+a negation.
+
+There must be something wrong in the winding-up of "Amos," for I have
+heard of two persons who are disappointed with the conclusion. But the
+story never presented itself to me as possible to be protracted after
+Milly's death. The drama ends there.
+
+I am thinking of writing a short epilogue to "Mr. Gilfil's
+Love-Story," and I will send it you with the proof from Jersey, where,
+on a strict promise that I am not to be dissected, I shall shortly
+join our friend Lewes.
+
+The third story will be very different from either of the preceding,
+which will perhaps be an advantage, as poor Tina's sad tale was
+necessarily rather monotonous in its effects.
+
+     The epilogue to "Mr. Gilfil" was written sitting on the
+     Fortification Hill, Scilly Isles, one sunshiny morning.
+
+[Sidenote: Jersey, Recollections, 1857.]
+
+It was a beautiful moment (12th May) when we came to our lodgings at
+Gorey. The orchards were all in blossom--and this is an island of
+orchards. They cover the slopes; they stretch before you in shady,
+grassy, indefinite extent through every other gateway by the roadside;
+they flourish in some spots almost close to the sea. What a contrast
+to the Scilly Isles! There you stand on the hills like a sparrow on
+the housetop; here you are like the same sparrow when he is hopping
+about on the branches with green above him, green below, and green
+all round. Gorey stands in Granville Bay, where the grand old castle
+of Mont Orgueil stands and keeps guard on a fine rocky promontory
+overlooking the little harbor dotted with fishing craft. There is a
+charming piece of common, or down, where you can have the quietest,
+easiest walking, with a carpet of minute wild-flowers that are not
+hindered from flourishing by the sandy rain of the coast. I delighted
+extremely in the brownish-green softness of this undulating common,
+here and there varied with a patch of bright green fern--all the
+prettier for two little homesteads set down upon it, with their
+garden-fence and sheltering trees. It was pretty in all lights, but
+especially the evening light, to look round at the castle and harbor,
+the village and the scattered dwellings peeping out from among trees
+on the hill. The castle is built of stone which has a beautiful
+pinkish-gray tint, and the bright green ivy hangs oblique curtains on
+its turreted walls, making it look like a natural continuation or
+outgrowth of the rocky and grassy height on which it stands. Then the
+eye wanders on to the right and takes in the church standing half-way
+down the hill, which is clothed with a plantation, and shelters the
+little village, with its cloud of blue smoke; still to the right, and
+the village breaks off, leaving nothing but meadows in front of the
+slope that shuts out the setting sun, and only lets you see a hint of
+the golden glory that is reflected in the pink, eastern clouds.
+
+The first lovely walk we found inland was the Queen's Fern Valley,
+where a broad strip of meadow and pasture lies between two high slopes
+covered with woods and ferny wilderness. When we first saw this valley
+it was in the loveliest spring-time; the woods were a delicious
+mixture of red and tender green and purple. We have watched it losing
+that spring beauty and passing into the green and flowery luxuriance
+of June, and now into the more monotonous summer tint of July.
+
+When the blossoms fell away from the orchards my next delight was to
+look at the grasses mingled with the red sorrel; then came the white
+umbelliferous plants, making a border or inner frame for them along
+the hedgerows and streams. Another pretty thing here is the luxuriance
+of the yellow iris, that covers large pieces of moist ground with its
+broad blades. Everywhere there are tethered cows, looking at you with
+meek faces--mild-eyed, sleek, fawn-colored creatures, with delicate,
+downy udders.
+
+Another favorite walk of ours was round by Mont Orgueil, along the
+coast. Here we had the green or rocky slope on one side of us, and on
+the other the calm sea stretching to the coast of France, visible on
+all but the murkiest days. But the murky days were not many during our
+stay, and our evening walks round the coast usually showed us a
+peaceful, scarcely rippled sea, plashing gently on the purple pebbles
+of the little scalloped bays. There were two such bays within the
+boundary of our sea-side walk in that direction, and one of them was a
+perpetual wonder to us, in the luxuriant verdure of meadows and
+orchards and forest-trees that sloped down to the very shore. No
+distressed look about the trees as if they were ever driven harshly
+back by the winter winds--it was like an inland slope suddenly carried
+to the coast.
+
+As for the inland walks, they are inexhaustible. The island is one
+labyrinth of delicious roads and lanes, leading you by the most
+charming nooks of houses with shady grounds and shrubberies,
+delightful farm homesteads, and trim villas.
+
+It was a sweet, peaceful life we led here. Good creatures, the Amys,
+our host and hostess, with their nice boy and girl, and the little
+white kid--the family pet. No disagreeable sounds to be heard in the
+house, no unpleasant qualities to hinder one from feeling perfect love
+to these simple people. We have had long rambles and long readings.
+But our choice of literature has been rather circumscribed in this
+out-of-the-way place. The "Life of George Stephenson" has been a real
+profit and pleasure. I have read Draper's "Physiology" aloud for grave
+evening hours, and such books as Currer Bell's "Professor," Mlle.
+d'Auny's "Mariage en Province," and Miss Ferrier's "Marriage," for
+lighter food. The last, however, we found ourselves unable to finish,
+notwithstanding Miss Ferrier's high reputation. I have been getting a
+smattering of botany from Miss Catlow and from Dr. Thomson's little
+book on wild-flowers, which have created at least a longing for
+something more complete on the subject.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d May, 1857.]
+
+Such hedgerows in this island! Such orchards, white against the green
+slopes, and shady walks by the woodside, with distracting
+wild-flowers. We enjoy the greenery and variety of this bushy island
+all the better for our stay on bare Scilly, which we had gone to and
+fro upon till we knew it by heart. Our little lodgings are very
+snug--only 13_s._ a week--a nice little sitting-room, with a workroom
+adjoining for Mr. Lewes, who is at this moment in all the bliss of
+having discovered a parasitic worm in a cuttlefish. We dine at five,
+and our afternoons are almost exhausted in rambling. I hope to get up
+my strength in this delicious quiet, and have fewer interruptions to
+work from headache than I have been having since Christmas. I wonder
+if I should have had the happiness of seeing Cara if I had been at
+Richmond now. I would rather see her than any one else in the
+world--except poor Chrissey. Tell me when you have read the life of
+Currer Bell. Some people think its revelations in bad taste--making
+money out of the dead, wounding the feelings of the living, etc. What
+book is there that some people or other will not find abominable? We
+thought it admirable, cried over it, and felt the better for it. We
+read Cromwell's letters again at Scilly with great delight.
+
+     In May Mr. Lewes writes to Mr. John Blackwood: "We were both
+     amused with the divination of the Manx seer and his friend
+     Liggers." This is the first mention of the individual, whose
+     real name was Liggins of Nuneaton, who afterwards became
+     notorious for laying claim to the authorship of the "Scenes
+     of Clerical Life" and "Adam Bede."
+
+     "Janet's Repentance" had been begun on the 18th April, and
+     the first three parts were finished in Jersey. In reference
+     to the "Scenes of Clerical Life" there are the following
+     entries in the Journal:
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+_May 2._--Received letter from Blackwood expressing his approbation of
+Part IX. of "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story." He writes very pleasantly, says
+the series is attributed by many to Bulwer, and that Thackeray thinks
+highly of it. This was a pleasant fillip to me, who am just now ready
+to be dispirited on the slightest pretext.
+
+_May 21._--The other day we had a pleasant letter from Herbert
+Spencer, saying that he had heard "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story" discussed
+by Baynes and Dallas, as well as previously by Pigott, all expressing
+warm approval, and curiosity as to the author.
+
+_May 26._--Received a pleasant letter from Blackwood, enclosing one
+from Archer Gurney to the author of "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story."
+
+     I subjoin this letter, as it is the first she received in her
+     character of a creative author, and it still bears a pencil
+     memorandum in her writing: "This letter he brought up to me
+     at Jersey after reading it, saying, with intense joy, 'Her
+     fame is beginning.'"
+
+[Sidenote: Letter from Rev. Archer Gurney, to the author of "Mr.
+Gilfil's Love-Story," 14th May, 1857.]
+
+            "BUCKINGHAM (BUCKS), _Thursday, 14th May, 1857_.
+
+     "Sir,--Will you consider it impertinent in a brother author
+     and old reviewer to address a few lines of earnest sympathy
+     and admiration to you, excited by the purity of your style,
+     originality of your thoughts, and absence of all vulgar
+     seeking for effect in those 'Scenes of Clerical Life' now
+     appearing in _Blackwood_? If I mistake not much, your muse of
+     invention is no hackneyed one, and your style is too peculiar
+     to allow of your being confounded with any of the already
+     well-known writers of the day. Your great and characteristic
+     charm is, to my mind, Nature. You frequently, indeed, express
+     what I may call brilliant ideas, but they always seem to come
+     unsought for, never, as in Lytton, for instance, to be
+     elaborated and placed in the most advantageous light. I
+     allude to such brief aphoristic sayings as 'Animals are such
+     agreeable friends, they ask no questions, they pass no
+     criticisms'--'All with that brisk and cheerful air which a
+     sermon is often observed to produce when it is quite
+     finished.' By-the-bye. I am one of the cloth, and might take
+     exception to certain hints, perhaps, but these are dubious.
+     What I see plainly I admire honestly, and trust that more
+     good remains behind. Will you always remain equally natural?
+     That is the doubt. Will the fear of the critic, or the
+     public, or the literary world, which spoils almost every one,
+     never master you? Will you always write to please yourself,
+     and preserve the true independence which seems to mark a real
+     supremacy of intellect? But these questions are, I fear,
+     impertinent. I will conclude. Pardon this word of greeting
+     from one whom you may never see or know, and believe me your
+     earnest admirer,
+
+                                              ARCHER GURNEY.
+
+     "The Author of
+       'Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story.'"
+
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+_June._--Blackwood writes from London that he hears nothing but
+approval of "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story." Lord Stanley, among other
+people, had spoken to him about the "Clerical Scenes," at Bulwer's,
+and was astonished to find Blackwood in the dark as to the author.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 2d June, 1857.]
+
+I send you by the same post with this the first part of my third
+story, which I hope will not disappoint you. The part is, I think,
+rather longer than my parts have usually been, but it would have been
+injurious to the effect of the story to pause earlier.
+
+Pleasant letters like yours are the best possible stimulus to an
+author's powers, and if I don't write better and better the fault will
+certainly not lie in my editor, who seems to have been created in
+pre-established harmony with the organization of a susceptible
+contributor.
+
+This island, too, with its grassy valleys and pretty, indented coast
+is not at all a bad haunt for the Muses, if, as one may suppose, they
+have dropped their too scanty classical attire, and appear in long
+dresses and brown hats, like decent Christian women likely to inspire
+"Clerical Scenes."
+
+Moreover, having myself a slight zoological weakness, I am less
+alarmed than most people at the society of a zoological maniac. So
+that, altogether, your contributor is in promising circumstances, and
+if he doesn't behave like an animal in good condition, is clearly
+unworthy of his keep.
+
+I am much gratified to have made the conquest of Professor Aytoun; but
+with a parent's love for the depreciated child, I can't help standing
+up for "Amos" as better than "Gilfil."
+
+Lewes seems to have higher expectations from the third story than from
+either of the preceding; but I can form no judgment myself until I
+have quite finished a thing, and see it aloof from my actual self. I
+can only go on writing what I feel, and waiting for the proof that I
+have been able to make others feel.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 5th June, 1857.]
+
+Richmond is _not_ fascinating in "the season" or through the summer.
+It is hot, noisy, and haunted with Cockneys; but at other times we
+love the Park with an increasing love, and we have such a kind, good
+landlady there, that it always seems like going home when we return to
+Park Shot. She writes to us: "I hope you will make your fortune--but
+you must always live with me," which, considering that she gets less
+out of us than other lodgers, is a proof of affection in a landlady.
+Yes! we like our wandering life at present, and it is fructifying, and
+brings us material in many ways; but we keep in perspective the idea
+of a cottage among green fields and cows, where we mean to settle
+down (after we have once been to Italy), and buy pots and kettles and
+keep a dog. Wherever we are we work hard--and at work which brings
+_present_ money; for we have too many depending on us to be
+_dilettanti_ or idlers.
+
+I wish it to be understood that I should never invite any one to come
+and see me who did not ask for the invitation.
+
+You wonder how my face has changed in the last three years. Doubtless
+it is older and uglier, but it ought not to have a bad expression, for
+I never have anything to call out my ill-humor or discontent, which
+you know were always ready enough to come on slight call, and I have
+everything to call out love and gratitude.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. John Cash (Miss Mary Sibree), 6th June,
+1857.]
+
+Your letter was very sweet to me. The sense of my deficiencies in the
+past often presses on me with a discouraging weight, and to know that
+any one can remember me lovingly, helps me to believe that there has
+been some good to balance the evil. I like to think of you as a happy
+wife and mother; and since Rosehill must have new tenants, I like to
+think that you and yours are there rather than any one else, not only
+because of my own confidence in your nature, but because our dear
+friends love you so much as a neighbor. You know I can never feel
+otherwise than sorry that they should not have ended their days in
+that pretty home; but the inevitable regret is softened as much as
+possible by the fact that the home has become yours.
+
+It is very nice to hear that Mrs. Sibree can relish anything of my
+writing. She was always a favorite with me; and I remember very
+vividly many pleasant little conversations with her. Seventy-two! How
+happy you are to have a dear, aged mother, whose heart you can
+gladden.
+
+I was a good deal touched by the letter your brother wrote to you
+about accepting, or, rather, declining, more pupils. I feel sure that
+his sensitive nature has its peculiar trials and struggles in this
+strange life of ours, which some thick-skinned mortals take so easily.
+
+I am very happy--happy in the highest blessing life can give us, the
+perfect love and sympathy of a nature that stimulates my own to
+healthful activity. I feel, too, that all the terrible pain I have
+gone through in past years, partly from the defects of my own nature,
+partly from outward things, has probably been a preparation for some
+special work that I may do before I die. That is a blessed hope, to be
+rejoiced in with trembling. But even if that hope should be
+unfulfilled, I am contented to have lived and suffered for the sake of
+what has already been. You see your kind letter has made me inclined
+to talk about myself, but, as we do not often have any communication
+with each other, I know it will be a gratification to your sympathetic
+nature to have a few direct words from me that will assure you of my
+moral well-being.
+
+I hope your little ones are just like you--just as fair and
+sweet-tempered.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, June, 1857.]
+
+I sent off the first part of "Janet's Repentance," but to my
+disappointment Blackwood did not like it so well--seemed to
+misunderstand the characters, and to be doubtful about the treatment
+of clerical matters. I wrote at once to beg him to give up printing
+the story if he felt uncomfortable about it, and he immediately sent a
+very anxious, cordial letter, saying the thought of putting a stop to
+the series "gave him quite a turn:" he "did not meet with George
+Eliots every day"--and so on.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 11th June, 1857.]
+
+I am not much surprised and not at all hurt by your letter received
+to-day with the proof. It is a great satisfaction--in fact, my only
+satisfaction--that you should give me your judgment with perfect
+frankness. I am able, I think, to enter into an editor's doubts and
+difficulties, and to see my stories in some degree from your point of
+view as well as my own. My answer is written after considering the
+question as far as possible on all sides, and as I feel that I shall
+not be able to make any other than _superficial_ alterations in the
+proof, I will, first of all, say what I can in explanation of the
+spirit and future course of the present story.
+
+The collision in the drama is not at all between "bigoted
+churchmanship" and evangelicalism, but between _ir_religion and
+religion. Religion in this case happens to be represented by
+evangelicalism; and the story, so far as regards the _persecution_, is
+a real bit in the religious history of England, that happened about
+eight-and-twenty years ago. I thought I had made it apparent in my
+sketch of Milby feelings, on the advent of Mr. Tryan, that the
+conflict lay between immorality and morality--irreligion and religion.
+Mr. Tryan will carry the reader's sympathy. It is through him that
+Janet is brought to repentance. Dempster's vices have their natural
+evolution in deeper and deeper moral deterioration (though not without
+softening touches), and death from intemperance. Everything is
+softened from the fact, so far as art is permitted to soften and yet
+to remain essentially true.
+
+My sketches, both of Churchmen and Dissenters, with whom I am almost
+equally acquainted, are drawn from close observation of them in real
+life, and not at all from hearsay or from the descriptions of
+novelists. If I were to undertake to alter language or character. I
+should be attempting to represent some vague conception of what may
+possibly exist in other people's minds, but has no existence in my
+own. Such of your marginal objections as relate to a mere detail I can
+meet without difficulty by alteration; but as an artist I should be
+utterly powerless if I departed from my own conceptions of life and
+character. There is nothing to be done with the story, but either to
+let Dempster and Janet and the rest be as I _see_ them, or to renounce
+it as too painful. I am keenly alive at once to the scruples and
+alarms an editor may feel, and to my own utter inability to write
+under cramping influence, and on this double ground I should like you
+to consider whether it will not be better to close the series for the
+Magazine _now_. I dare say you will feel no difficulty about
+publishing a volume containing the story of "Janet's Repentance," and
+I shall accept that plan with no other feeling than that you have been
+to me the most liberal and agreeable of editors, and are the man of
+all others I would choose for a publisher.
+
+My irony, so far as I understand myself, is not directed against
+opinions--against any class of religious views--but against the vices
+and weaknesses that belong to human nature in every sort of clothing.
+But it is possible that I may not affect other minds as I intend and
+wish to affect them, and you are a better judge than I can be of the
+degree in which I may occasionally be offensive. I should like _not_
+to be offensive--I should like to touch every heart among my readers
+with nothing but loving humor, with tenderness, with belief in
+goodness. But I may have failed in this case of "Janet," at least so
+far as to have made you feel its publication in the Magazine a
+disagreeable risk. If so, there will be no harm done by closing the
+series with No. 2, as I have suggested. If, however, I take your
+objections to be deeper than they really are--if you prefer inserting
+the story in spite of your partial dissatisfaction, I shall, of
+course, be happy to appear under "Maga's" wing still.
+
+When I remember what have been the successes in fiction, even as
+republications from "Maga," I can hardly believe that the public will
+regard my pictures as exceptionally coarse. But in any case there are
+too many prolific writers who devote themselves to the production of
+pleasing pictures, to the exclusion of all disagreeable truths, for me
+to desire to add to their number. In this respect, at least, I may
+have some resemblance to Thackeray, though I am not conscious of being
+in any way a disciple of his, unless it constitute discipleship to
+think him, as I suppose the majority of people with any intellect do,
+on the whole the most powerful of living novelists.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 8th June, 1857.]
+
+I feel every day a greater disinclination for theories and arguments
+about the origin of things in the presence of all this mystery and
+beauty and pain and ugliness that floods one with conflicting
+emotions.
+
+We are reading "Aurora Leigh" for the third time, with more enjoyment
+than ever. I know no book that gives me a deeper sense of communion
+with a large as well as beautiful mind. It is in process of appearing
+in a third edition, and no wonder.
+
+If I live five years longer the positive result of my existence on the
+side of truth and goodness will outweigh the small negative good that
+would have consisted in my not doing anything to shock others, and I
+can conceive no consequences that will make me repent the past. Do not
+misunderstand me, and suppose that I think myself heroic or great in
+any way. Far enough from that! Faulty, miserably faulty I am--but
+least of all faulty where others most blame.
+
+     On the 24th July the pleasant sojourn at Jersey came to an
+     end. The travellers returned to 8 Park Shot, Richmond, where
+     Miss Sara Hennell paid them a visit at the end of the month,
+     and Dr. and Mrs. Bodichon (_née_ Miss Barbara L. Smith) came
+     on the 4th of August. On the 12th August there is an entry in
+     the Journal, "Finished the 'Electra' of Sophocles, and began
+     Æschylus's 'Agamemnon,'" and then come the following letters:
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, Tuesday, 17th Aug. 1857.]
+
+Lewes has just given me your letter of the 15th, with the accompanying
+one from the Rev. W. P. Jones.
+
+Mr. Tryan is not a portrait of any clergyman, living or dead. He is an
+ideal character, but I hope probable enough to resemble more than one
+evangelical clergyman of his day.
+
+If Mr. Jones's deceased brother was like Mr. Tryan so much the better,
+for in that case he was made of human nature's finer clay. I think you
+will agree with me that there are few clergymen who would be
+depreciated by an identification with Mr. Tryan. But I should rather
+suppose that the old gentleman, misled by some similarity in outward
+circumstances, is blind to the discrepancies which must exist where no
+portrait was intended. As to the rest of my story, so far as its
+elements were suggested by real persons, those persons have been, to
+use good Mr. Jones's phrase, "long in eternity."
+
+I think I told you that a persecution of the kind I have described
+did actually take place, and belongs as much to the common store of
+our religious history as the Gorham Controversy, or as Bishop
+Blomfield's decision about wax candles. But I only know the _outline_
+of the real persecution. The details have been filled in from my
+imagination. I should consider it a fault which would cause me lasting
+regret if I had used reality in any other than the legitimate way
+common to all artists, who draw their materials from their observation
+and experience. It would be a melancholy result of my fictions if I
+gave _just_ cause of annoyance to any good and sensible person. But I
+suppose there is no perfect safeguard against erroneous impressions or
+a mistaken susceptibility. We are all apt to forget how little there
+is about us that is unique, and how very strongly we resemble many
+other insignificant people who have lived before us. I shouldn't
+wonder if several nieces of pedantic maiden ladies saw a portrait of
+their aunt in Miss Pratt, but I hope they will not think it necessary,
+on that ground, to increase the already troublesome number of your
+correspondents.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Aug. 1857.]
+
+We went to see Rosa Bonheur's picture the other day. What power! That
+is the way women should assert their rights. Writing is part of my
+religion, and I can write no word that is not prompted from within. At
+the same time I believe that almost all the best books in the world
+have been written with the hope of getting money for them.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 1st Sept. 1857.]
+
+Unless there be any strong reason to the contrary, I should like to
+close the series with this story. According to my calculation, which,
+however, may be an erroneous one, the three stories will make two good
+volumes--_i.e._, good as to bulk.
+
+I have a subject in my mind which will not come under the limitations
+of the title "Clerical Life," and I am inclined to take a large canvas
+for it and write a novel.
+
+In case of my writing fiction for "Maga" again, I should like to be
+considerably beforehand with my work, so that you can read a
+thoroughly decisive portion before beginning to print.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 21st Sept. 1857.]
+
+The days are very peaceful--peacefully busy. One always feels a deeper
+calm as autumn comes on. I should be satisfied to look forward to a
+heaven made up of long autumn afternoon walks, quite delivered from
+any necessity of giving a judgment on the woman question, or of
+reading newspapers about Indian mutinies. I am so glad there are
+thousands of good people in the world who have very decided opinions,
+and are fond of working hard to enforce them. I like to feel and think
+everything and do nothing, a pool of the "deep contemplative" kind.
+
+Some people _do_ prosper--that is a comfort. The rest of us must fall
+back on the beatitudes--"Blessed are the poor"--that is Luke's
+version, you know, and it is really, on the whole, more comforting
+than Matthew's. I'm afraid there are few of us who can appropriate the
+blessings of the "poor in spirit."
+
+We are reading one of the most wonderful books in French or any other
+literature--Monteil's "Histoire des Français des divers États"--a
+history written on an original plan. If you see any account of it,
+read that account.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, Saturday, 17th Oct. 1857.]
+
+I am very much gratified that my Janet has won your heart and kept up
+your interest in her to the end.
+
+My new story haunts me a good deal, and I shall set about it without
+delay. It will be a country story--full of the breath of cows and the
+scent of hay. But I shall not ask you to look at it till I have
+written a volume or more, and then you will be able to judge whether
+you will prefer printing it in the Magazine, or publishing it as a
+separate novel when it is completed.
+
+By the way, the sheets of the "Clerical Scenes" are not come, but I
+shall not want to make any other than verbal and literal corrections,
+so that it will hardly be necessary for me to go through the sheets
+_and_ the proofs, which I must, of course, see.
+
+I enclose a titlepage with a motto. But if you don't like the motto, I
+give it up. I've not set my heart on it.
+
+I leave the number of copies to be published, and the style of getting
+up, entirely to your discretion. As to the terms, I wish to retain the
+copyright, according to the stipulation made for me by Lewes when he
+sent "Amos Barton;" and whatever you can afford to give me for the
+first edition I shall prefer having as a definite payment rather than
+as half profits.
+
+You stated, in a letter about "Amos Barton," your willingness to
+accede to either plan, so I have no hesitation in expressing my
+wishes.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Oct. 1857.]
+
+"Open to conviction," indeed! I should think so. I am open to
+conviction on all points except dinner and debts. I hold that the one
+must be eaten and the other paid. These are my only prejudices.
+
+I _was_ pleased with Mr. Call.[56] He is a man one really cares to
+talk to--has thoughts, says what he means, and listens to what others
+say. We should quite like to see him often. And I cannot tell you how
+much I have felt Mrs. Call's graceful as well as kind behavior to me.
+Some months ago, before the new edition of the "Biographical History
+of Philosophy" came out, Mr. Lewes had a letter from a working-man at
+Leicester, I think, who said that he and some fellow-students met
+together, on a Sunday, to read the book aloud and discuss it. He had
+marked some errors of the press and sent them to Mr. Lewes for his new
+edition. Wasn't that pretty?
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 30th Oct. 1857.]
+
+"Conscience goes to the hammering in of nails" is my gospel. There can
+be no harm in preaching _that_ to women at any rate. But I should be
+sorry to undertake any more specific enunciation of doctrine on a
+question so entangled as the "woman question." The part of the
+Epicurean gods is always an easy one; but because I prefer it so
+strongly myself, I the more highly venerate those who are struggling
+in the thick of the contest. "La carrière ouverte aux taléns," whether
+the talents be feminine or masculine, I am quite confident is a right
+maxim. Whether "La carrière ouverte à la Sottise" be equally just when
+made equally universal, it would be too much like "taking sides" for
+me to say.
+
+     There are only three entries in the journal for October.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, Oct. 1857.]
+
+_Oct. 9._--Finished "Janet's Repentance." I had meant to carry on the
+series, and especially I longed to tell the story of the "Clerical
+Tutor," but my annoyance at Blackwood's want of sympathy in the first
+part (although he came round to admiration at the third part)
+determined me to close the series and republish them in two volumes.
+
+_Oct. 22._--Began my new novel, "Adam Bede."
+
+_Oct. 29._--Received a letter from Blackwood offering me £120 for the
+first edition of "Scenes of Clerical Life."
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 30th Oct. 1857.]
+
+I am quite contented with the sum (£120) you offer me for the edition,
+being thoroughly confident of your disposition to do the best you can
+for me. I perceive your hope of success for the "Scenes" is not
+strong, and you certainly have excellent means of knowing the
+probabilities in such a case.
+
+I am not aware that the motto has been used before, but if you suspect
+it, we had better leave it out altogether. A stale motto would hardly
+be an ornament to the titlepage.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 1st Nov. 1857.]
+
+How I wish I could get to you by some magic, and have one walk over
+the hill with you again. Letters are poor things compared with five
+minutes of looking and speaking, and one kiss. Nevertheless, I do like
+to have a little letter now and then, though I don't for a moment ask
+it if you have no spontaneous impulse to give it. I can't help losing
+belief that people love me--the unbelief is in my nature, and no sort
+of fork will drive it finally out. I can't help wondering that you can
+think of _me_ in the past with much pleasure. It all seems so painful
+to me--made up of blunders and selfishness--and it only comes back
+upon me as a thing to be forgiven. That is honest, painful truth, and
+not sentimentality. But I am thankful if others found more good than I
+am able to remember.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 7th Nov. 1857.]
+
+It is pleasant to have the first sheet of one's proof--to see one's
+paragraphs released from the tight-lacing of double columns, and
+expanding themselves at their ease.
+
+I perceive clearly the desirableness of the short number--for my
+observation of literary affairs has gone far enough to convince me
+that neither critical judgment nor practical experience can guarantee
+any opinion as to rapidity of sale in the case of an unknown author;
+and I shudder at the prospect of encumbering my publisher's
+bookshelves.
+
+My new story is in progress--slow progress at present. A little
+sunshine of success would stimulate its growth, I dare say. Unhappily,
+I am as impressionable as I am obstinate, and as much in need of
+sympathy from my readers as I am incapable of bending myself to their
+tastes. But if I can only find a public as cordial and agreeable in
+its treatment of me as my editor, I shall have nothing to wish. Even
+my thin skin will be comfortable then. The page is not a shabby one,
+after all; but I fear the fact of two volumes instead of three is a
+fatal feature in my style in the eyes of librarians.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 9th Nov. 1857.]
+
+One is glad to have one's book (_à propos_ of review of Lewes's
+"History of Philosophy") spoken well of by papers of good circulation,
+because it is possible, though not certain, that such praise may help
+the sale; but otherwise it is hardly worth while to trouble one's self
+about newspaper reviews, unless they point out some error, or present
+that very rare phenomenon, a true appreciation, which is the most
+delicious form in which sympathy can reach one. So much sectarian
+feeling usually arises in discussions on the subject of phrenology
+that I confess the associations of the word are not agreeable to me.
+The last refuge of intolerance is in not tolerating the intolerant;
+and I am often in danger of secreting that sort of venom.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Charles Bray, 15th Nov. 1857.]
+
+It is pleasant to have a kind word now and then, when one is not near
+enough to have a kind glance or a hearty shake by the hand. It is an
+old weakness of mine to have no faith in affection that does not
+express itself; and when friends take no notice of me for a long while
+I generally settle down into the belief that they have become
+indifferent or have begun to dislike me. That is not the best mental
+constitution; but it might be worse--for I don't feel obliged to
+dislike _them_ in consequence. I, for one, ought not to complain if
+people think worse of me than I deserve, for I have very often reason
+to be ashamed of my thoughts about others. They almost always turn out
+to be better than I expected--fuller of kindness towards me at least.
+In the fundamental doctrine of your book (the philosophy of
+necessity)--that mind presents itself under the same conditions of
+invariableness of antecedent and consequent as all other phenomena
+(the only difference being that the true antecedent and consequent are
+proportionately difficult to discover as the phenomena are more
+complex)--I think you know that I agree. And every one who knows what
+science means must also agree with you that there can be no social
+science without the admission of that doctrine. I dislike extremely a
+passage in which you appear to consider the disregard of individuals
+as a lofty condition of mind. My own experience and development deepen
+every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the
+degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual
+joy. The fact that in the scheme of things we see a constant and
+tremendous sacrifice of individuals, is, it seems to me, only one of
+the many proofs that urge upon us our total inability to find in our
+own natures a key to the Divine mystery. I could more readily turn
+Christian, and worship Jesus again, than embrace a Theism which
+professes to explain the proceedings of God. But I don't feel at all
+wise in these matters. I have a few strong impressions which serve me
+for my own support and guidance, but do not in the least qualify me to
+speak as a theorist.
+
+Mr. Lewes sends you his kind remembrances, and will not like you any
+the worse for cutting him up. He has had to perform that office for
+his own friends sometimes. I suppose phrenology is an open question,
+on which everybody has a right to speak his mind. Mr. Lewes, feeling
+the importance of the subject, desired to give it its due place in his
+"History of Philosophy," and, doing so, he must, of course, say what
+_he_ believes to be the truth, not what other people believe to be the
+truth. If you will show where he is mistaken, you will be doing him a
+service as well as phrenology. His arguments may be bad; but I will
+answer for him that he has not been guilty of any intentional
+unfairness. With regard to their system, phrenologists seem to me to
+be animated by the same sort of spirit as that of religious
+dogmatists, and especially in this--that in proportion as a man
+approximates to their opinions without identifying himself with them,
+they think him offensive and contemptible. It is amusing to read from
+the opposite side complaints against Mr. Lewes for giving too high a
+position to phrenology, and a confident opinion that "phrenologists,
+by their ridiculous pretensions, merit all the contempt that has been
+thrown on them." Thus doctors differ! But I am much less interested in
+crusades for or against phrenology than in your happiness at Ivy
+Cottage.[57] Happiness means all sorts of love and good feeling; and
+that is the best result that can ever come out of science. Do you
+know Buckle's "History of Civilization"? I think you would find it a
+suggestive book.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 24th Nov. 1857.]
+
+Anniversaries are sad things--to one who has lived long and done
+little. Herbert Spencer dined with us the other day--looks well, and
+is brimful of clever talk as usual. His volume of "Essays" is to come
+out soon. He is just now on a crusade against the notion of "species."
+We are reading Harriet Martineau's history with edification, and
+otherwise feeding our souls, which flourish very well, notwithstanding
+November weather.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+_Nov. 28._--A glorious day, still autumnal and not wintry. We have had
+a delicious walk in the Park, and I think the coloring of the scenery
+is more beautiful than ever. Many of the oaks are still thickly
+covered with leaves of a rich yellow-brown; the elms, golden
+sometimes, still with lingering patches of green. On our way to the
+Park the view from Richmond hill had a delicate blue mist over it,
+that seemed to hang like a veil before the sober brownish-yellow of
+the distant elms. As we came home, the sun was setting on a fog-bank,
+and we saw him sink into that purple ocean--the orange and gold
+passing into green above the fog-bank, the gold and orange reflected
+in the river in more sombre tints. The other day, as we were coming
+home through the Park, after having walked under a sombre, heavily
+clouded sky, the western sun shone out from under the curtain, and lit
+up the trees and grass, thrown into relief on a background of dark
+purple cloud. Then, as we advanced towards the Richmond end of the
+Park, the level, reddening rays shone on the dry fern and the distant
+oaks, and threw a crimson light on them. I have especially enjoyed
+this autumn, the delicious greenness of the turf, in contrast with
+the red and yellow of the dying leaves.
+
+_Dec. 6_ (_Sunday_).--Finished the "Agamemnon" to-day. In the evenings
+of late we have been reading Harriet Martineau's "Sketch of the
+British Empire in India," and are now following it up with Macaulay's
+articles on Clive and Hastings. We have lately read Harriet
+Martineau's Introduction to the "History of the Peace."
+
+_Dec. 8._--I am reading "Die Familie," by Riehl, forming the third
+volume of the series, the two first of which, "Land und Volk" and "Die
+Bürgerliche Gesellschaft," I reviewed for the _Westminster_.
+
+A letter from Blackwood to-day tells us that Major Blackwood, during
+his brother's absence in England, having some reasons, not specified,
+for being more hopeful about the "Clerical Scenes," resolved to
+publish 1000 instead of 750; and in consequence of this Blackwood
+promises to pay me an additional £60 when 750 shall have been sold
+off. He reports that an elderly clergyman has written to him to say
+that "Janet's Repentance" is exquisite--another vote to register along
+with that of Mrs. Nutt's rector, who "cried over the story like a
+child."
+
+_Dec. 10._--Major Blackwood called--an unaffected, agreeable man. It
+was evident to us, when he had only been in the room a few minutes,
+that he knew I was George Eliot.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 11th Dec. 1857.]
+
+Lewes has read to me your last kind letter, and I am not insensible to
+the "practical cheerer" it contains. But I rejoice with trembling at
+the additional 250, lest you should have to repent of them.
+
+I have certainly had a good deal of encouragement to believe that
+there are many minds, both of the more cultured sort and of the
+common novel-reading class, likely to be touched by my stories; but
+the word "many" is very elastic, and often shrinks frightfully when
+measured by a financial standard.
+
+When one remembers how long it was before Charles Lamb's Essays were
+known familiarly to any but the elect few, the very strongest
+assurance of merit or originality--supposing one so happy as to have
+that assurance--could hardly do more than give the hope of _ultimate_
+recognition.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 13th Dec. 1857.]
+
+Our affairs are very prosperous just now, making sunshine in a shady,
+or, rather, in a foggy place. It is a great happiness to me that Mr.
+Lewes gets more and more of the recognition he deserves; pleasant
+letters and speeches have been very numerous lately, especially about
+his "Sea-side Studies," which have appeared in _Blackwood_, and are
+soon to appear--very much improved and enlarged--in a separate volume.
+Dear Carlyle writes, _à propos_ of his "Friedrich:" "I have had such a
+fourteen months as was never appointed me before in this
+world--sorrow, darkness, and disgust my daily companions; and no
+outlook visible, except getting a detestable business turned off, or
+else being driven mad by it." That is his exaggerated way of speaking;
+and writing is always painful to him. Do you know he is sixty-two! I
+fear this will be his last book. Tell Mr. Bray I am reading a book of
+Riehl's, "The Family," forming the sequel to his other volumes. He
+will be pleased to hear that so good a writer agrees with him on
+several points about the occupations of women. The book is a good one;
+and if I were in the way of writing articles, I should write one on
+it. There is so much to read, and the days are so short! I get more
+hungry for knowledge every day, and less able to satisfy my hunger.
+Time is like the Sibylline leaves, getting more precious the less
+there remains of it. That, I believe, is the correct allusion for a
+fine writer to make on the occasion.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 15th Dec. 1857.]
+
+I give up the motto, because it struck you as having been used before;
+and though I copied it into my note-book when I was re-reading
+"Amelia" a few months ago, it is one of those obvious quotations which
+never _appear_ fresh, though they may actually be made for the first
+time.
+
+I shall be curious to know the result of the subscription.
+
+There are a few persons to whom I should like a copy of the volume to
+be sent, and I enclose a list of them.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+_Dec. 17._--Read my new story to G. this evening as far as the end of
+the third chapter. He praised it highly. I have finished "Die
+Familie," by Riehl--a delightful book. I am in the "Choephoræ" now. In
+the evenings we are reading "History of the Thirty Years' Peace" and
+Béranger. Thoroughly disappointed in Béranger.
+
+_Dec. 19_ (_Saturday_).--Alone this evening with very thankful, solemn
+thoughts--feeling the great and unhoped-for blessings that have been
+given me in life. This last year, especially, has been marked by
+inward progress and outward advantages. In the spring George's
+"History of Philosophy" appeared in the new edition; his "Sea-side
+Studies" have been written with much enjoyment, and met with much
+admiration, and now they are on the verge of being published with
+bright prospects. Blackwood has also accepted his "Physiology of
+Common Life;" the "Goethe" has passed into its third German edition;
+and, best of all, G.'s head is well. I have written the "Scenes of
+Clerical Life"--my first book; and though we are uncertain still
+whether it will be a success as a separate publication, I have had
+much sympathy from my readers in _Blackwood_, and feel a deep
+satisfaction in having done a bit of faithful work that will perhaps
+remain, like a primrose root in the hedgerow, and gladden and chasten
+human hearts in years to come.
+
+[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 23d Dec. 1857.]
+
+Buckle's is a book full of suggestive material, though there are some
+strangely unphilosophic opinions mixed with its hardy philosophy. For
+example, he holds that there is no such thing as _race_ or _hereditary
+transmission_ of qualities! (I should tell you, at the same time, that
+he is a necessitarian and a physiological-psychologist.) It is only by
+such negations as these that he can find his way to the position which
+he maintains at great length--that the progress of mankind is
+dependent entirely on the progress of knowledge, and that there has
+been no intrinsically moral advance. However, he presents that side of
+the subject which has, perhaps, been least adequately dwelt on.
+
+[Sidenote: Journal, 1857.]
+
+_Dec. 25_ (_Christmas Day_).--George and I spent this lovely day
+together--lovely as a clear spring day. We could see Hampstead from
+the Park so distinctly that it seemed to have suddenly come nearer to
+us. We ate our turkey together in a happy _solitude à deux_.
+
+_Dec. 31_ (_the last night of 1857_).--The dear old year is gone with
+all its _Weben_ and _Streben_. Yet not gone either; for what I have
+suffered and enjoyed in it remains to me an everlasting possession
+while my soul's life remains. This time last year I was alone, as I am
+now, and dear George was at Vernon Hill. I was writing the
+introduction to "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story." What a world of thoughts
+and feelings since then! My life has deepened unspeakably during the
+last year: I feel a greater capacity for moral and intellectual
+enjoyment, a more acute sense of my deficiencies in the past, a more
+solemn desire to be faithful to coming duties, than I remember at any
+former period of my life. And my happiness has deepened too; the
+blessedness of a perfect love and union grows daily. I have had some
+severe suffering this year from anxiety about my sister, and what will
+probably be a final separation from her--there has been no other real
+trouble. Few women, I fear, have had such reason as I have to think
+the long, sad years of youth were worth living for the sake of middle
+age. Our prospects are very bright too. I am writing my new novel. G.
+is full of his "Physiology of Common Life." He has just finished
+editing Johnston, for which he is to have 100 guineas, and we have
+both encouragement to think that our books just coming out, "Sea-side
+Studies" and "Scenes of Clerical Life," will be well received. So
+good-bye, dear 1857! May I be able to look back on 1858 with an equal
+consciousness of advancement in work and in heart.
+
+
+_SUMMARY._
+
+MARCH, 1855, TO DECEMBER, 1857.
+
+     Return to England--Dover--Bayswater--East Sheen--Books
+     read--Articles written--Letters to Miss Hennell--"Life of
+     Goethe"--Froude's article on
+     Spinoza--Article-writing--"Cumming"--8 Park Shot,
+     Richmond--Letter to Charles Bray--Effect of article on
+     Cumming--Letter to Miss Hennell--Reading on
+     Physiology--Article on Heine--Review for _Leader_,
+     etc.--Books read--Visit to Mrs. Clarke at Attleboro--Sale of
+     "Life of Goethe"--"Shaving of Shagpat"--Spinoza's "Ethics,"
+     translation finished--The _Saturday
+     Review_--Ruskin--Alison--Harriet Martineau--Women's
+     earnings--Articles and reviews--Wishes not to be known as
+     translator of the "Ethics"--Article on Young begun--Visit to
+     Ilfracombe--Description--Zoophyte hunting--Finished articles
+     on Young and Riehl--Naturalistic experience--Delightful
+     walks--Rev. Mr. Tugwell--Devonshire lanes and
+     springs--Tendency to scientific
+     accuracy--Sunsets--Cocklewomen at Swansea--Letters to Miss
+     Hennell and Mrs. Peter Taylor--Tenby--Zoology--Thoreau's
+     "Walden"--Feeling strong in mind and body--Barbara Leigh
+     Smith comes to Tenby--George Eliot anxious to begin her
+     fiction-writing--Mr. E. F. S. Pigott--Return to Richmond--Mr.
+     Lewes takes his boys to Hofwyl--George Eliot writes article
+     on "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists"--"How I came to write
+     fiction"--Correspondence between Mr. Lewes and Mr. John
+     Blackwood about MS. of "Amos Barton"--"Mr. Gilfil's
+     Love-Story" begun--Books read--Letter from John Blackwood to
+     the author of "Amos Barton," sending copy of the January,
+     1857, number of the Magazine and fifty
+     guineas--Reply--Blackwood's admiration--Albert Smith's
+     appreciation--Letters to Blackwood--Name of George Eliot
+     assumed--Dutch school in art--Artistic bent--Letter to Miss
+     Hennell--Intolerance--Letter to John Blackwood on Mr. Swayne
+     comparing writing to Goldsmith's--Letter to Miss Hennell on
+     essay "Christianity and Infidelity"--Letter to
+     Blackwood--Caterina and the dagger scene--Trip to Penzance
+     and the Scilly Isles--Description of St. Mary's--Mr. Moyle,
+     the surgeon--Social Life--Letter to Mrs. Bray, anxiety about
+     sister--Letter to Miss Sara Hennell--"Life of Charlotte
+     Brontë"--Letter to Isaac P. Evans--Mrs. Clarke's
+     illness--Letter to Blackwood--Conclusions of
+     stories--Jersey--Description of Gorey--Delightful
+     walks--Reading Draper's "Physiology"--Miss Catlow and Dr.
+     Thomson on wild-flowers--"Life of George Stephenson"--Letter
+     to Miss Hennell--Life in Jersey--Liggins appears on the
+     scene--"Janet's Repentance"--Series attributed to
+     Bulwer--Thackeray thinks highly of it--Letter from Herbert
+     Spencer about "Mr. Gilfil"--Letter from Archer Gurney--Lord
+     Stanley thinks highly of the "Scenes"--Letter to Blackwood,
+     with First Part of "Janet's Repentance"--Letter to Mrs.
+     Bray--Richmond--Expression of face--Letter to Mrs. John
+     Cash--Happiness in her life and hope in her work--Chilled by
+     Blackwood's want of enthusiasm about "Janet"--Letter to John
+     Blackwood on "Janet"--Letter to Miss Sarah Hennell--"Aurora
+     Leigh"--Return to Richmond--Letter to John Blackwood on
+     "Janet"--Letters to Miss Hennell--Rosa Bonheur--Thought not
+     action--Mr. and Mrs. Call--Letter to John Blackwood--Haunted
+     by new story--Letter to Charles Bray--"The Woman
+     Question"--Close of "Clerical Scenes" series--"Adam Bede"
+     begun--Receives £120 for first edition of "Scenes of Clerical
+     Life"--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Unbelief in people's love--Letter
+     to John Blackwood--Sheets of "Clerical Scenes"--Letter to
+     Miss Hennell--Newspaper criticism--Letter to Charles
+     Bray--"The Philosophy of Necessity"--Sympathy with
+     individuals--Objection to Theism--Phrenology--Happiness the
+     best result that can ever come out of science--Letters to
+     Miss Hennell--Reading Riehl's "The Family"--Hunger for
+     Knowledge--Buckle's "History of Civilization"--Autumn days at
+     Richmond--Reading the "Agamemnon"--Harriett Martineau's
+     "Sketch of the British Empire in India"--Macaulay's essays on
+     Clive and Hastings--Major Blackwood calls and suspects
+     identity of George Eliot--Reading the "Choephoræ"--"History
+     of the Thirty Years' Peace," and Béranger--Thankfulness in
+     reviewing experience of 1857.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[49] G. writes that this sonnet is Barnwell's.--[Note written later.]
+
+[50] "Land und Volk."
+
+[51] Mr. Edward Smyth Pigott, who remained to the end of their lives a
+very close and much valued friend of Mr. Lewes and George Eliot.
+
+[52] By Thoreau.
+
+[53] About the article on Riehl's book, "The Natural History of German
+Life."
+
+[54] "Baillie Prize Essay on Christianity and Infidelity: an
+Exposition of the Arguments on both Sides." By Miss Sara Hennell.
+
+[55] "Mill on the Floss," chap. iii. book iv. Bob Jakin.
+
+[56] Mr. W. M. W. Call, author of "Reverberations and other Poems,"
+who married Mr. Charles Hennell's widow--formerly Miss Brabant. As
+will be seen from the subsequent correspondence, Mr. and Mrs. Call
+remained among the Lewes's warm friends to the end, and Mr. Call is
+the author of an interesting paper on George Eliot in the _Westminster
+Review_ of July, 1881.
+
+[57] The Brays' new house at Coventry.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+As this volume is going through the press, I have to thank Mrs. John
+Cash of Coventry for the following valuable additional information in
+regard to the important subject of Miss Evans's change of religious
+belief in 1841-42, and for her further general recollections of the
+Coventry period of George Eliot's life:
+
+
+I was sixteen years of age in 1841; and, as I have already stated, my
+first remembrance of Miss Evans is of her call on my father and
+mother, with their friend and neighbor Mrs. Pears, when in
+conversation she gave expression to her great appreciation of the
+writings of Isaac Taylor. The controversy raised by the "Tracts for
+the Times," which gave occasion for the publication of Mr. Taylor's
+"Ancient Christianity," being now remote, I give the following extract
+from a footnote in Trench's "Notes on the Parables," to show the
+influence such a work as Mr. Taylor's would be likely to exercise on
+the mind of one who esteemed its author; and also the feeling it
+excited against an eminently religious man, by revelations which he
+desired and believed would serve the cause of New Testament
+Christianity. The note is on the "Tares." The quotation, containing
+the reference, is from Menken:
+
+"Many so-called Church historians (_authors of 'Ancient Christianity'
+and the like_), ignorant of the purpose and of the hidden glory of the
+Church, have their pleasure in the Tares, and imagine themselves
+wonderfully wise and useful when out of Church history (which ought to
+be the history of the Light and the Truth) they have made a shameful
+history of error and wickedness."
+
+It was upon her first or second interview with my mother that Miss
+Evans told her how shocked she had been by the apparent union of
+religious feeling with a low sense of morality among the people in the
+district she visited, who were mostly Methodists. She gave as an
+instance the case of a woman who, when a falsehood was clearly brought
+home to her by her visitors, said, "She did not feel that she had
+grieved the Spirit much." Now those readers of the letters to Miss
+Lewis who are acquainted with modern Evangelicalism, even in its
+"after-glow," especially as it was presented to the world by Church of
+England teaching and practice, will recognize its characteristics in
+the moral scrupulousness, the sense of obligation on the part of
+Christians to avoid the very appearance of evil, the practical piety,
+which those letters reveal.
+
+Mrs. Evans (Miss Lewis tells me) was a very serious, earnest-minded
+woman, anxiously concerned for the moral and religious training of her
+children: glad to place them under the care of such persons as the
+Misses Franklin, to whose school a mother of a different order
+objected, on the ground that "it was where that saint Mary Ann Evans
+had been."
+
+It is natural then that, early awed by and attracted towards beliefs
+cherished by the best persons she had known, and advocated in the best
+books she had read, the mind of Miss Evans should have been stirred by
+exhibitions of a _theoretic_ severance of religion from morality,
+whether presented among the disciples of "Ancient Christianity" or by
+the subjects of its modern revivals: it is probable that she may
+thereby have been led, as others have been, to a reconsideration of
+the creeds of Christendom, and to further inquiry concerning their
+origin.
+
+On the same grounds it is likely that the presentation of social
+virtues, apart from evangelical motives, would impress her; and I have
+authority for stating that to the inquiry of a friend in after-years,
+as to what influence she attributed the first unsettlement of her
+orthodox views, she quickly made answer: "Oh, Walter Scott's." Now I
+well remember her speaking to me of Robert Hall's confession that he
+had been made unhappy for a week by the reading of Miss Edgeworth's
+Tales, in which useful, good, and pleasant lives are lived with no
+reference to religious hopes and fears; and her drawing my attention
+to the real greatness of mind and sincerity of faith which this candid
+confession betokened. Such remarks, I think, throw light upon the
+_way_ in which her own evangelical belief had been affected by works
+in which its dogmas are not enforced as necessary springs of virtuous
+action.
+
+I give these scattered reminiscences, in evidence of the
+half-unconscious preparation (of which Mr. Cross speaks) for a change
+which was, in my judgment, more gradual in its development, as well as
+deeper in its character, than might be inferred from the record of its
+abrupt following upon Miss Evans's introduction to Mr. Hennell's
+"Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity."
+
+The evening's discussion with my father, to which I have referred in
+my previous communication in the "Life," is now vividly present to my
+mind. There was not only on her part a vehemence of tone, startling
+in one so quiet, but a crudeness in her objections, an absence of
+proposed solution of difficulties, which partly distressed and partly
+pleased me (siding as I did mentally with my father), and which was in
+strange contrast to the satisfied calm which marked her subsequent
+treatment of religious differences.
+
+Upon my father's using an argument (common enough in those days) drawn
+from the present condition of the Jews as a fulfilment of prophecy,
+and saying, "If I were tempted to doubt the truth of the Bible, I
+should only have to look at a Jew to confirm my faith in it." "Don't
+talk to me of the Jews!" Miss Evans retorted, in an irritated tone;
+"to think that they were deluded into expectations of a temporal
+deliverer, and then punished because they couldn't understand that it
+was a spiritual deliverer that was intended!" To something that
+followed from her, intimating the claim of creatures upon their
+Creator, my father objected, "But we have no claim upon God." "No
+claim upon God!" she reiterated indignantly; "we have the strongest
+possible claim upon him."
+
+I regret that I can recall nothing more of a conversation carried on
+for more than two hours; but I vividly remember how deeply Miss Evans
+was moved, and how, as she stood against the mantelpiece during the
+last part of the time, her delicate fingers, in which she held a small
+piece of muslin on which she was at work, trembled with her agitation.
+
+The impression allowed to remain upon the minds of her friends, for
+some time after she had made declaration of her heresies, was of her
+being in a troubled, unsettled state. So great were her simplicity
+and candor in acknowledging this, and so apparent was her earnest
+desire for truth, that no hesitation was felt in asking her to receive
+visits from persons of different persuasions, who were judged
+competent to bring forward the best arguments in favor of orthodox
+doctrines. One of these was a Baptist minister, introduced to her by
+Miss Franklin; he was said to be well read in divinity, and I remember
+him as an original and interesting preacher. After an interview with
+Miss Evans, meeting my father, he said: "That young lady must have had
+the devil at her elbow to suggest her doubts, for there was not a book
+that I recommended to her in support of Christian evidences that she
+had not read."
+
+Mr. Watts, one of the professors at Spring Hill College (Independent),
+Birmingham, a colleague of Mr. Henry Rogers, author of the "Eclipse of
+Faith," and who had himself studied at the Hallé University, and
+enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Tholück, was requested (I think by my
+mother) to call on Miss Evans. His acquaintance with German
+Rationalism (rare in England in those days) qualified him to enter
+into, and it was hoped to meet, difficulties raised by a critical
+study of the New Testament. After his first or second interview, my
+brother remembers his observing with emphasis, "_She_ has gone into
+the question;" and I can recall a reference made by him at a later
+date in my hearing to Miss Evans's discontent with her own
+solutions--or rather with her own standpoint at that time. This
+discontent, he said, "was so far satisfactory." Doubtless it gave him
+hope of the reconversion of one who had, as he told my mother,
+awakened deep interest in his own mind, as much by the earnestness
+which characterized her inquiries as by her exceptional attainments.
+
+From letters that passed between my brother and myself during his
+residence in Germany, I give the following extracts referring to this
+period.
+
+The first is from one of mine, dated September 2, 1842:
+
+"In my father's absence we (my mother and I) called on Miss Evans. She
+now takes up a different position. Her views are not altogether
+altered, but she says it would be extreme arrogance in so young a
+person to suppose she had obtained _yet_ any just ideas of truth. She
+had been reading Dr. Tholück's reply to Strauss's 'Life of Jesus,' but
+said Mr. Watts had advised her _not_ to read his 'Guido and Julius.'"
+
+In answer to this my brother says, in a letter dated Hallé, September
+26, 1842, "You have given, doubtless, a very accurate account of Miss
+Evans's mode of stating her present sentiments. Mr. Watts's reason for
+advising that Dr. Tholück's 'Guido and Julius' be not read is,
+perhaps, that the reasoning is not satisfactory."
+
+In another letter, addressed to my brother at Hallé, and dated October
+28, 1842, I tell him: "Last week mother and I spent an evening with
+Miss Evans. She seemed more settled in her views than ever, and rests
+her objections to Christianity on this ground, that Calvinism is
+Christianity, and, this granted, that it is a religion based on pure
+selfishness. She occupied, however, a great part of the time in
+pleading for works of imagination, maintaining that they perform an
+office for the mind which nothing else can. On the mention of
+Shakespeare, she praised him with her characteristic ardor, was
+shocked at the idea that mother should disapprove the perusal of his
+writings, and quite distressed lest, through her influence, I should
+be prevented from reading them. She could be content were she allowed
+no other book than Shakespeare; and in educating a child, this would
+be the first book she would place in its hands.
+
+"She seems to have read a great deal of Italian literature, and speaks
+with rapture of Metastasio's novels. She has lent me 'Le mie Prigioni'
+di Silvio Pellico, in his own tongue, as a book to begin with. She
+says there is a prevailing but very mistaken idea that Italian is an
+easy language, though she is exceedingly delighted with it. If at any
+time I wish to begin German, she would very much like to give me some
+instruction."
+
+In addition to the above relating to Shakespeare, I recall the protest
+that my mother's objection to his plays (my mother _had_ been an
+ardent lover of "the play"), on the ground that there were things in
+them that offended her, was as reasonable as the objection to walk in
+a beautiful garden, "because toads and weeds are to be found in it."
+
+In a letter dated March 6, 1843, I write to my brother: "Your request
+that you may be informed as to the precise nature of Miss Evans's
+philosophical views I shall find it very difficult to comply with,
+inasmuch as on our last interview she did not express herself so fully
+on this subject as formerly; indeed, I believe she is not now so
+desirous of controversy. She however appeared, to me at least, to have
+rather changed her ground on some points. For instance, she said she
+considered Jesus Christ as the embodiment of perfect love, and seemed
+to be leaning slightly to the doctrines of Carlyle and Emerson when
+she remarked that she considered the Bible a revelation in a certain
+sense, as she considered herself a revelation of the mind of Deity,
+etc. She was very anxious to know if you had heard Schelling."
+
+In a letter addressed to my brother at Spring Hill College, and dated
+October 28, 1844, I find this reference to Dr. Harris, who had been
+preaching a charity sermon in a chapel at Foleshill:
+
+"Miss Evans has just been reproaching me for not informing her of Dr.
+Harris's preaching, which she would have given anything to hear, as
+she says his 'Great Teacher' left more delightful impressions on her
+mind than anything she ever read, and is, she thinks, the best book
+that could be written by a man holding his principles."
+
+In the same letter I mention a second lesson in German given me by
+Miss Evans. In one written some time before, I tell my brother of her
+kind proposal, but add that my parents object "on account of her
+dangerous sentiments." She had, however, since called at our house one
+morning to renew it: and I well remember how eagerly I watched my
+mother, looking so affectionately at Miss Evans, and saying quietly,
+"You know, with your superior intellect, I cannot help fearing you
+might influence Mary, though you might not intend to do so. But," she
+went on to say, "her father does not agree with me: he does not see
+any danger, and thinks we ought not to refuse, as it is so very kind
+of you to be willing to take the trouble--and we know it would be a
+great advantage to her to learn German; for she will probably have to
+earn her living by teaching." Seeing at a glance how matters stood,
+Miss Evans turned round quickly to me, and said, "Come on Saturday at
+three o'clock, and bring what books you have."
+
+So I went, and began "Don Carlos," continuing to go, with some
+intervals occasioned by absence, pretty regularly on Saturday
+afternoons, for nearly two years; but it was not until the end of the
+second year, when I received Miss Evans's suggestion that the lessons
+were no longer necessary, and should be discontinued, that I fully
+realized what this companionship had been to me. The loss was like the
+loss of sunshine.
+
+No promise had been given that my religious belief should be
+undisturbed, nor was any needed. Interest was turned aside from
+Calvinism and Arminianism, which at an early age had engaged my
+attention, towards manifestations of nobility of character, and
+sympathy with human struggles and sufferings under varied conditions.
+The character of the "Marquis von Posa" (in "Don Carlos") roused an
+enthusiasm for heroism and virtue, which it was delightful to express
+to one who so fully shared it. Placing together one day the works of
+Schiller, which were in two or three volumes, Miss Evans said, "Oh, if
+_I_ had given these to the world, how happy I should be!"
+
+It must have been to confirm myself in my traditional faith by
+confession of it, that I once took upon myself to say to her how sure
+I was that there could be no true morality without evangelical belief.
+"Oh, it is so, is it?" she said, with the kindest smile, and nothing
+further passed. From time to time, however, her reverence and
+affection for the character of Christ and the Apostle Paul, and her
+sympathy with genuine religious feeling, were very clear to me.
+Expressing one day her horror of a crowd, she said, "I never would
+press through one, unless it were to see a second Jesus." The words
+startled me--the conception of Jesus Christ in my mind being so little
+associated with a human form; but they impressed me with a certain
+reality of feeling which I contrasted, as I did Miss Evans's abiding
+interest in great principles, with the somewhat factitious and
+occasional as well as fitful affection and concern manifest in many
+whom I looked up to as "converted" people.
+
+Once only do I remember such contrast being made by herself. She
+attended the service at the opening of a new church at Foleshill, with
+her father, and remarked to me the next day that, looking at the gayly
+dressed people, she could not help thinking how much easier life would
+be to her, and how much better she should stand in the estimation of
+her neighbors, if only she could take things as they did, be satisfied
+with outside pleasures, and conform to the popular beliefs without any
+reflection or examination. Once, too, after being in the company of
+educated persons "professing and calling themselves Christians," she
+commented to me on the _tone_ of conversation, often frivolous,
+sometimes ill-natured, that seemed yet to excite in no one any sense
+of impropriety.
+
+It must have been in those early days that she spoke to me of a visit
+from one of her uncles in Derbyshire, a Wesleyan, and how much she had
+enjoyed talking with him, finding she could enter into his feelings so
+much better than she had done in past times, when her views seemed
+more in accordance with his own, but were really less so.
+
+Among other books, I remember the "Life of Dr. Arnold" interested her
+deeply. Speaking of it to me one morning, she referred to a
+conversation she had had with a friend the evening before, and said
+they had agreed that it was a great good for such men to remain within
+the pale of orthodoxy, that so they might draw from the old doctrines
+the best that was to be got from them.
+
+Of criticisms on German books read with Miss Evans, I recall one or
+two. In the "Robbers," she criticised the attempt to enhance the
+horror of the situation of the abandoned father, by details of
+physical wretchedness, as a mistake in Art. "Wallenstein" she ranked
+higher from an intellectual point of view than any other work of
+Schiller's. The talk of the soldiers in the "Lager" she pointed out to
+me as "just what it would be." On my faint response, "I suppose it
+is!" she returned, "No, you do not _suppose_--we _know_ these things;"
+and then gave me a specimen of what might be a navvy's talk--"The sort
+of thing such people say, is, 'I'll break off your arm, and bloody
+your face with the stump.'"
+
+Mrs. Bray tells the following incident, as showing her quick
+perception of excellence from a new and unknown source. "We were
+sitting," Mrs. Bray says, "one summer afternoon on the lawn at
+Rosehill, July, 1850, when Marian came running to us from the house
+with the _Leader_ newspaper in her hand. 'Here is a new poet come into
+the world!' she exclaimed, and sitting down with us she read from the
+_Leader_ the poem called 'Hymn,' signed M., and ending with the fine
+stanza:
+
+     "'When I have passed a nobler life in sorrow;
+       Have seen rude masses grow to fulgent spheres;
+     Seen how To-day is father of To-morrow,
+       And how the Ages justify the Years,
+                                 I praise Thee, God.'
+
+"The 'Hymn' is now reprinted in Mr. W. M. W. Call's volume of
+collected poems, called 'Golden Histories.'"
+
+Kingsley's "Saint's Tragedy" was not so popular as his other works,
+but Miss Evans was deeply moved by it. Putting it into my hands one
+morning, she said, "There, read it--_you_ will care for it."
+
+The "Life of Jean Paul Richter," published in the Catholic Series (in
+which the head of Christ, by De la Roche, so dear to her, figures as a
+vignette), was read and talked of with great interest, as was his
+"Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces," translated by the late Mr. Edward
+Noel of Hampstead. Choice little bits of humor from the latter she
+greatly enjoyed.
+
+Margaret Fuller's "Woman in the Nineteenth Century," I think Miss
+Evans gave to me. I know it interested her, as did Emerson's "Essays."
+On his visit to Coventry, we could not, unfortunately, accept Mr.
+Bray's kind invitation to meet him at Rosehill; but after he had left,
+Miss Evans soon came up kindly to give us her impressions of him while
+they were fresh in her memory. She told us he had asked her what had
+first awakened her to deep reflection, and when she answered,
+"Rousseau's Confessions," he remarked that this was very interesting,
+inasmuch as Carlyle had told him that very book had had the same
+effect upon his mind. As _I_ heard Emerson's remark after his
+interviews with Miss Evans, it was, "That young lady has a calm, clear
+spirit." Intercourse, it will be seen, was kept up with my family,
+otherwise than through the lessons, by calls, and in little gatherings
+of friends in evenings, when we were favored to hear Miss Evans sing.
+Her voice was not strong, and I think she preferred playing on the
+piano; but her low notes were effective, and there was always an
+elevation in the rendering.
+
+As I knew Miss Evans, no one escaped her notice. In her treatment of
+servants, for instance, she was most considerate. "They come to me,"
+she used to say, "with all their troubles," as indeed did her friends
+generally--sometimes, she would confess, to an extent that quite
+oppressed her. When any object of charity came under her notice, and
+power to help was within her reach, she was very prompt in rendering
+it. Our servant's brother or sister, or both of them, died, leaving
+children dependent on friends themselves poor. Miss Evans at once
+offered to provide clothing and school-fees for one of these, a
+chubby-faced little girl four or five years of age. Unexpectedly,
+however, an aunt at a distance proposed to adopt the child. I
+recollect taking her to say good-bye to her would-be benefactress, and
+can see her now, standing still and subdued in her black frock and
+cape, with Miss Evans kneeling down by her, and saying, after giving
+her some money, "Then I suppose there is nothing else we can do for
+her."
+
+My husband's mother, who was a member of the Society of Friends,
+established, with the help of her daughters and a few others
+interested, an Industrial Home for girls about the age of fourteen. It
+was in the year 1843, and was, therefore, one of the first
+institutions of the kind in England. The model was taken from
+something of the same order attempted by a young girl in France. The
+girls were, as far as practicable, to maintain themselves, working
+under conditions of comfort and protection more attainable than in
+their own homes. The idea was new; the Home could not be started
+without funds, and my mother undertook to collect for it in her own
+neighborhood. In a letter to me, written at this time, she tells me
+she is "not doing much to help dear Mrs. Cash," there being "a
+prejudice against the scheme;" but adds, "This morning Miss Evans
+called, and brought me two guineas from her father." I tell of this as
+one among many indications of Miss Evans's ever-growing zeal to serve
+humanity in a broader way, motived, as _she_ felt, by a higher aim
+than what she termed "desire to save one's soul by making up coarse
+flannel for the poor."
+
+In these broad views--in this desire to bring her less advantaged
+neighbors nearer to her own level, to meet them on common ground, to
+raise them above the liability to eleemosynary charity--she had Mr.
+Bray's full sympathy. To me she dwelt frequently upon his genuine
+benevolence, upon his ways of advancing the interests of the working
+men, as being, in her judgment, wise and good. She visited
+periodically, in turn with Mrs. Bray, myself, and a few others, an
+infant school which Mr. Bray had helped to start; and although this
+sort of work was so little suited to her, yet so much did she feel the
+duty of living for others, especially the less privileged, that one
+morning she came to Mrs. Bray, expressing strongly her desire to help
+in _any_ work that could be given her. The only thing that could be
+thought of was the illustration of some lessons in Natural History, on
+sheets of cardboard, needed then, when prints of the kind were not to
+be procured for schools. The class of animals to be illustrated by
+Mrs. Bray on the sheet taken by Miss Evans was the "Rodentiæ," and at
+the top a squirrel was to figure, the which she undertook to draw.
+This I have seen, half-finished--a witness to the willing mind; proof
+that its proper work lay otherwhere. Lectures at the Mechanics'
+Institute were matters of great interest to Miss Evans; and I remember
+the pleasure given her by the performance of the music of "Comus,"
+with lecture by Professor Taylor, at our old St. Mary's Hall. In that
+hall, too, we heard the first lecture on total abstinence that I
+remember to have heard in Coventry, though of "Temperance Societies"
+we knew something. The lecturer was the Rev. Mr. Spencer, a clergyman
+at Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath, and uncle of Mr. Herbert Spencer.
+Miss Evans was present at the lecture, with Mr. Bray, who told me
+afterwards he had some difficulty in restraining her from going up, as
+soon as the lecture was over, to take the pledge, he thought, without
+due consideration. "I felt," she said, speaking to me afterwards of
+the lecturer, "that he had got hold of a power for good that was of
+incalculable worth."
+
+I need scarcely say that I received, along with lessons in German,
+some "rules and lessons for life" from Miss Evans. One of the first
+was an injunction to be accurate, enforced with the warning that the
+tendency is to grow less and less so as we get older. The other was
+tolerance. How well I can remember the remonstrance, "My dear child,
+the great lesson of life is tolerance." In the proverb, "Live and let
+live," she saw a principle involved, harder to act upon, she would
+say, than the maxims of benevolence--I think, because bringing less
+credit with it.
+
+The reading of dramas and romances naturally gives rise to discussion
+of their main theme. In treating of love and marriage, Miss Evans's
+feeling was so fine as to satisfy a young girl in her teens, with her
+impossible ideals. The conception of the union of two persons by so
+close a tie as marriage, without a previous union of minds as well as
+hearts, was to her dreadful. "How terrible it must be," she once said
+to me, "to find one's self tied to a being whose limitations you could
+see, and must know were such as to prevent your ever being
+understood!" She thought that though in England marriages were not
+professedly "arrangés," they were so too often practically: young
+people being brought together, and receiving intimations that mutual
+interest was desired and expected, were apt to drift into connections
+on grounds not strong enough for the wear and tear of life; and this,
+too, among the middle as well as in the higher classes. After speaking
+of these and other facts, of how things were and would be, in spite of
+likelihood to the contrary, she would end by saying, playfully, "Now,
+remember I tell you this, and I am sixty!"
+
+She thought the stringency of laws rendering the marriage-tie (at that
+date) irrevocable, practically worked injuriously; the effect being
+"that many wives took far less pains to please their husbands in
+behavior and appearance, because they knew their own position to be
+invulnerable." And at a later time she spoke of marriages on the
+Continent, where separations did not necessarily involve discredit, as
+being very frequently far happier.
+
+One claim, as she regarded it, from equals to each other was this, the
+right to hear from the aggrieved, "You have ill-treated me; do you not
+see your conduct is not fair, looked at from my side?" Such frankness
+would, she said, bring about good understanding better than reticent
+endurance. Her own filial piety was sufficiently manifest; but of the
+converse obligation, that of the claim of child upon parent, she was
+wont to speak thus strongly. "There may be," she would say, "conduct
+on the part of a parent which should exonerate his child from further
+obligation to him; but there cannot be action conceivable which should
+absolve the parent from obligation to serve his child, seeing that for
+that child's existence he is himself responsible." I did not at the
+time see the connection between this view and the change of a
+fundamental nature marked by Miss Evans's earlier contention for our
+"claim on God." The bearing of the above on orthodox religion I did
+not see. Some time ago, however, I came across this reflection, made
+by a clergyman of the Broad Church school--that since the _claims_ of
+children had, in the plea for schools, been based on the
+responsibility of parents towards them, a higher principle had been
+maintained on the platform than was preached from the pulpit, as the
+basis of the popular theology.
+
+In my previous communication in the "Life" I have already made mention
+of Miss Evans's sympathy with me in my own religious difficulties; and
+my obligations to her were deepened by her seconding my resolve to
+acknowledge how much of the traditional belief had fallen away from me
+and left a simpler faith. In this I found her best help when, as time
+passed on, my brother saw he could not conscientiously continue in the
+calling he had chosen. As, however, his heresies were not considered
+fatal, and he was esteemed by the professors and students of his
+college, there was for some time hesitation. In this predicament I
+wrote to him, a little favoring compromise. My mother also wrote. I
+took the letters to Miss Evans before posting them. She read mine
+first, with no remark, and then began my mother's, reading until she
+came upon these words--"In the meantime, let me entreat you not to
+utter any sentiments, either in the pulpit or in conversation, that
+you do not believe to be strictly true;" on which she said, turning to
+me, "Look, this is the important point, what your mother says here,"
+and I immediately put my own letter into the fire. "What are you
+doing?" she quickly said; and when I answered, "You are right--my
+mother's letter is to the point, and that only need go," she nodded
+assent, and, keeping it, sent it enclosed with a few lines from
+herself.
+
+I knew what I had done and so did she: the giving up of the ministry
+to a young man without other resources was no light matter; and as I
+rose to go she said, "These are the tragedies for which the world
+cares so little, but which are so much to me."
+
+More than twenty years elapsed before I had again the privilege of
+seeing George Eliot, and that on one occasion only, after her final
+settlement in London. It touched me deeply to find how much she had
+retained of her kind interest in all that concerned me and mine, and I
+remarked on this to Mr. Lewes, who came to the door with my daughter
+and myself at parting. "Wonderful sympathy," I said. "Is it not?" said
+he; and when I added, inquiringly, "The power lies there?"
+"Unquestionably it does," was his answer; "she forgets nothing that
+has ever come within the curl of her eyelash; above all, she forgets
+no one who has ever spoken to her one kind word."
+
+
+     END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious typographical errors were repaired.
+
+Duplicate sidenotes (repeated at the top of continuation pages) were
+deleted.
+
+Latin-1 file: _underscores_ enclose italicized content.
+
+P. 99 "[Greek: tho pascha]" and p. 139 "[Greek: nenikekas
+Galilaie]"--for the actual Greek script see the html version of this
+volume.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's George Eliot's Life, Vol. I (of 3), by George Eliot
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43043 ***