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diff --git a/43045-0.txt b/43045-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e5914 --- /dev/null +++ b/43045-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13637 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43045 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + +This is Volume III 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. III.--SUNSET + + +"OUR FINEST HOPE IS FINEST MEMORY" + + +[Illustration: No. 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea.] + + + + + 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 III + + + 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_. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. III. + + + CHAPTER XIV. + JANUARY, 1867, TO DECEMBER, 1867. + + Tour in Spain Page 1 + + + CHAPTER XV. + JANUARY, 1868, TO DECEMBER, 1868. + + "The Spanish Gypsy" 24 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + JANUARY, 1869, TO DECEMBER, 1872. + + Poems--"Middlemarch" 55 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + JANUARY, 1873, TO DECEMBER, 1875. + + "Brewing," "Deronda" 138 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + MARCH, 1876, TO NOVEMBER, 1878. + + "Daniel Deronda"--Illness and Death of Mr. Lewes 197 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + JANUARY, 1879, TO 22D DECEMBER, 1880. + + "Theophrastus Such"--Marriage with Mr. Cross--Death 249 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. III. + + NO. 4 CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA _Frontispiece._ + + THE HEIGHTS, WITLEY. + From a Sketch by Mrs. Allingham _To face p. 216._ + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + + The new year of 1867 opens with the description of the journey + to Spain. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, Jan. 1867, from Bordeaux.] + +We prolonged our stay in Paris in order to see Madame Mohl, who was +very good to us; invited the Scherers and other interesting people to +meet us at dinner on the 29th, and tempted us to stay and breakfast +with her on the 31st, by promising to invite Renan, which she did +successfully, and so procured us a bit of experience that we were glad +to have, over and above the pleasure of seeing a little more of +herself and M. Mohl. I like them both, and wish there were a chance of +knowing them better. We paid for our pleasure by being obliged to walk +in the rain (from the impossibility of getting a carriage) all the way +from the Rue de Rivoli--where a charitable German printer, who had +taken us up in his _fiacre_, was obliged to set us down--to the Hôtel +du Helder, through streets literally jammed with carriages and +omnibuses, carrying people who were doing the severe social duties of +the last day in the year. The rain it raineth every day, with the +exception of yesterday; we can't travel away from it, apparently. But +we start in desperation for Bayonne in half an hour. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 16th Jan. 1867, from Biarritz.] + +Snow on the ground here, too--more, we are told, than has been seen +here for fifteen years before. But it has been obliging enough to +fall in the night, and the sky is glorious this morning, as it was +yesterday. Sunday was the one exception since the 6th, when we arrived +here to a state of weather which has allowed us to be out of doors the +greater part of our daylight. We think it curious that, among the many +persons who have talked to us about Biarritz, the Brownings alone have +ever spoken of its natural beauties; yet these are transcendent. We +agree that the sea never seemed so magnificent to us before, though we +have seen the Atlantic breaking on the rocks at Ilfracombe and on the +great granite walls of the Scilly Isles. In the southern division of +the bay we see the sun set over the Pyrenees; and in the northern we +have two splendid stretches of sand, one with huge fragments of dark +rock scattered about for the waves to leap over, the other an unbroken +level, firm to the feet, where the hindmost line of wave sends up its +spray on the horizon like a suddenly rising cloud. This part of the +bay is worthily called the Chambre de l'Amour; and we have its +beauties all to ourselves, which, alas! in this stage of the world, +one can't help feeling to be an advantage. The few families and +bachelors who are here (chiefly English) scarcely ever come across our +path. The days pass so rapidly, we can hardly believe in their number +when we come to count them. After breakfast we both read the +"Politique"--George one volume and I another--interrupting each other +continually with questions and remarks. That morning study keeps me in +a state of enthusiasm through the day--a moral glow, which is a sort +of _milieu subjectif_ for the sublime sea and sky. Mr. Lewes is +converted to the warmest admiration of the chapter on language in the +third volume, which about three years ago he thought slightly of. I +think the first chapter of the fourth volume is among the finest of +all, and the most finely written. My gratitude increases continually +for the illumination Comte has contributed to my life. But we both of +us study with a sense of having still much to learn and to understand. +About ten or half-past ten we go out for our morning walk; and then, +while we plunge about in the sand or march along the cliff, George +draws out a book and tries my paces in Spanish, demanding a +quick-as-light translation of nouns and phrases. Presently I retort +upon him, and prove that it is easier to ask than to answer. We find +this system of _vivâ-voce_ mutual instruction so successful that we +are disgusted with ourselves for not having used it before through all +our many years of companionship; and we are making projects for giving +new interest to Regent's Park by pursuing all sorts of studies in the +same way there. We seldom come indoors till one o'clock, and we turn +out again at three, often remaining to see the sunset. One other thing +I have been reading here which I must tell you of. It is a series of +three papers by Saveney, in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ of last year, +on "La Physique Moderne," an excellent summary, giving a glimpse of +the great vista opened in that region. I think you would like to read +them when you are strong enough for that sort of exertion. + +We stayed three days in Paris, and passed our time very agreeably. The +first day we dined with Madame Mohl, who had kindly invited Professor +Scherer and his wife, Jules Simon, Lomenie, Lavergne, "and others" to +meet us. That was on the Saturday, and she tempted us to stay the +following Monday by saying she would invite Renan to breakfast with +us. Renan's appearance is something between the Catholic priest and +the dissenting minister. His manners are very amiable, his talk +pleasant, but not distinguished. We are entertaining great projects as +to our further journeying. It will be best for you to address _Poste +Restante_, Barcelona. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 2d Feb. 1867.] + +Are you astonished to see our whereabouts? We left Biarritz for San +Sebastian, where we stayed three days; and both there and all our way +to Barcelona our life has been a succession of delights. We have had +perfect weather, blue skies, and a warm sun. We travelled from San +Sebastian to Saragossa, where we passed two nights; then to Lerida for +one night, and yesterday to Barcelona. You know the scenery from San +Sebastian to Alsasua, through the lower Pyrenees, because it lies on +the way to Burgos and Madrid. At Alsasua we turned off through Navarre +into Aragon, seeing famous Pampeluna, looking as beautiful as it did +ages ago among the grand hills. At Saragossa the scene was thoroughly +changed; all through Aragon, as far as we could see, I should think +the country resembles the highlands of Central Spain. There is the +most striking effect of hills, flanking the plain of Saragossa, I ever +saw. They are of palish clay, washed by the rains into undulating +forms, and some slight herbage upon them makes the shadows of an +exquisite blue. + +These hills accompanied us in the distance all the way through Aragon, +the snowy mountains topping them in the far distance. The land is all +pale brown, the numerous towns and villages just match the land, and +so do the sheepfolds, built of mud or stone. The herbage is all of an +ashy green. Perhaps if I had been in Africa I should say, as you do, +that the country reminded me of Africa; as it is, I think of all I +have read about the East. The men who look on while others work at +Saragossa also seem to belong to the East, with a great striped +blanket wrapped grandly round them, and a kerchief tied about their +hair. But though Aragon was held by the Moors longer than any part of +Northern Spain, the features and skins of the people seem to me to +bear less traces of the mixture there must have been than one would +fairly expect. Saragossa has a grand character still, in spite of the +stucco with which the people have daubed the beautiful small brick of +which the houses are built. Here and there one sees a house left +undesecrated by stucco; and all of them have the fluted tiles and the +broad eaves beautifully ornamented. Again, one side of the old +cathedral still shows the exquisite inlaid work which, in the +_façade_, has been overlaid hideously. Gradually, as we left Aragon +and entered Catalonia, the face of the country changed, and we had +almost every sort of beauty in succession; last of all, between +Monserrat and Barcelona, a perfect garden, with the richest red +soil--blossoms on the plum and cherry trees, aloes thick in the +hedges. At present we are waiting for the Spanish hardships to begin. +Even at Lerida, a place scarcely at all affected by foreign +travellers, we were perfectly comfortable--and such sights! The people +scattered on the brown slopes of rough earth round the fortress--the +women knitting, etc., the men playing at cards, one wonderful, gaudily +dressed group; another of handsome gypsies. We are actually going by +steam-boat to Alicante, and from Alicante to Malaga. Then we mean to +see Granada, Cordova, and Seville. We shall only stay here a few +days--if this weather continues. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 18th Feb. 1867, from Granada.] + +Your kind letter, written on the 5th, reached me here this morning. I +had not heard of the criticism in the _Edinburgh_. Mr. Lewes read the +article, but did not tell me of the reviewer's legal wisdom, thinking +that it would only vex me to no purpose. However, I had felt sure that +something of that sort must have appeared in one review article or +another. I am heartily glad and grateful that you have helped justice +in general, as well as justice to me in particular, by getting the +vindication written for the _Pall Mall_. It was the best possible +measure to adopt. Since we left Barcelona, a fortnight ago, we have +seen no English papers, so that we have been in the dark as to English +news. + +Were you not surprised to hear that we had come so far? The journey +from San Sebastian by Saragossa and Lerida turned out to be so easy +and delightful that we ceased to tremble, and determined to carry out +our project of going by steamer to Alicante and Malaga. You cannot do +better than follow our example; I mean, so far as coming to Spain is +concerned. Believe none of the fictions that bookmakers get printed +about the horrors of Spanish hotels and cookery, or the hardships of +Spanish travel--still less about the rudeness of Spaniards. It is true +that we have not yet endured the long railway journeys through Central +Spain, but wherever we have been hitherto we have found nothing +formidable, even for our rickety bodies. + +We came hither from Malaga in the _berlina (coupé)_ of the diligence, +and have assured ourselves that Mr. Blackburne's description of a +supposed hen-roost, overturned in the Alameda at Malaga, which proved +to be the Granada diligence, is an invention. The vehicle is +comfortable enough, and the road is perfect; and at the end of it we +have found ourselves in one of the loveliest scenes on earth. + +We shall remain here till the 23d, and then go to Cordova first, to +Seville next, and finally to Madrid, making our way homeward from +thence by easy stages. We expect to be in the smoky haze of London +again soon after the middle of March, if not before. + +I wish I could believe that you were all having anything like the +clear skies and warm sun which have cheered our journeying for the +last month. At Alicante we walked among the palm-trees with their +golden fruit hanging in rich clusters, and felt a more delightful +warmth than that of an English summer. Last night we walked out and +saw the towers of the Alhambra, the wide Vega, and the snowy +mountains, by the brilliant moonlight. You see, we are getting a great +deal of pleasure, but we are not working, as you seem charitably to +imagine. We tire ourselves, but only with seeing or going to see +unforgetable things. You will say that we ought to work to better +purpose when we get home. Amen. But just now we read nothing but +Spanish novels--and not much of those. We said good-bye to philosophy +and science when we packed up our trunks at Biarritz. + +Please keep some friendship warm for us, that we may not be too much +chilled by the English weather when we get back. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 21st Feb. 1867.] + +We are both heartily rejoiced that we came to Spain. It was a great +longing of mine, for, three years ago, I began to interest myself in +Spanish history and literature, and have had a work lying by me, +partly written, the subject of which is connected with Spain. Whether +I shall ever bring it to maturity so as to satisfy myself sufficiently +to print it is a question not settled; but it is a work very near my +heart. We have had perfect weather ever since the 27th of +January--magnificent skies and a summer sun. At Alicante, walking +among the palm-trees, with the bare brown rocks and brown houses in +the background, we fancied ourselves in the tropics; and a gentleman +who travelled with us assured us that the aspect of the country +closely resembled Aden, on the Red Sea. Here, at Granada, of course, +it is much colder, but the sun shines uninterruptedly; and in the +middle of the day, to stand in the sunshine against a wall, reminds me +of my sensations at Florence in the beginning of June. The aspect of +Granada as we first approached it was a slight disappointment to me, +but the beauty of its position can hardly be surpassed. To stand on +one of the towers of the Alhambra and see the sun set behind the dark +mountains of Loja, and send its after-glow on the white summits of the +Sierra Nevada, while the lovely Vega spreads below, ready to yield all +things pleasant to the eye and good for food, is worth a very long, +long journey. We shall start to-morrow evening for Cordova; then we +shall go to Seville, back to Cordova, and on to Madrid. + +During our short stay in Paris we went a little into society, and saw, +among other people who interested us, Professor Scherer, of whom you +know something. He charmed me greatly. He is a Genevese, you know, and +does not talk in ready-made epigrams, like a clever Frenchman, but +with well-chosen, moderate words, intended to express what he really +thinks and feels. He is highly cultivated; and his wife, who was with +him, is an Englishwoman of refined, simple manners. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 10th Mch. 1867, from Biarritz.] + +At Biarritz again, you see, after our long, delightful journey, in +which we have made a great loop all round the east and through the +centre of Spain. Mr. Lewes says he thinks he never enjoyed a journey +so much, and you will see him so changed--so much plumper and +ruddier--that if pity has entered much into your regard for him he +will be in danger of losing something by his bodily prosperity. We +crowned our pleasures in Spain with the sight of the pictures in the +Madrid gallery. The skies were as blue at Madrid as they had been +through the previous part of our journeying, but the air was bitterly +cold; and naughty officials receive money for warming the museum, but +find other uses for the money. I caught a severe cold the last day of +our visit, and, after an uncomfortable day and night's railway +journey, arrived at Biarritz, only fit for bed and coddling. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_March 16._--This evening we got home after a journey to the south of +Spain. I go to my poem and the construction of two prose works--if +possible. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 18th Mch. 1867.] + +We got home on Saturday evening, after as fine a passage from Calais +to Dover as we ever had, even in summer. Your letter was among the +pleasant things that smiled at me on my return, and helped to +reconcile me to the rather rude transition from summer to winter which +we have made in our journey from Biarritz. This morning it is snowing +hard and the wind is roaring--a sufficiently sharp contrast to the hot +sun, the dust, and the mosquitoes of Seville. + +We have had a glorious journey. The skies alone, both night and day, +were worth travelling all the way to see. We went to Cordova and +Seville, but we feared the cold of the central lands in the north, and +resisted the temptation to see Toledo, or anything else than the +Madrid pictures, which are transcendent. + +Among the letters awaiting me was one from an American travelling in +Europe, who gives me the history of a copy of "Felix Holt," which, he +says, has been read by no end of people, and is now on its way through +Ireland, "where he found many friends anxious but unable to get it." +It seems people nowadays economize in nothing but books. I found also +the letter of a "Conveyancer" in the _Pall Mall_, justifying the law +of "Felix Holt" in answer to the _Edinburgh_ reviewer. I did not know, +before I was told of this letter in reply, that the _Edinburgh_ +reviewer had found fault with my law. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_March 21._--Received from Blackwood a check for £2166 13_s._ 4_d._, +being the second instalment of £1666 13_s._ 4_d._ towards the £5000 +for "Felix Holt," together with £500 as the first instalment of £1000 +for ten years' copyright of the cheap edition of my novels. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 21st Mch. 1867.] + +Your letters, with the valuable enclosure of a check for £2166 13_s._ +4_d._, have come to me this morning, and I am much obliged to you for +your punctual attention. + +I long to see a specimen of the cheap edition of the novels. As to the +illustrations, I have adjusted my hopes so as to save myself from any +great shock. When I remember my own childish happiness in a +frightfully illustrated copy of the "Vicar of Wakefield," I can +believe that illustration may be a great good relatively, and that my +own present liking has no weight in the question. + +I fancy that the placarding at railway stations is an effective +measure, for Ruskin was never more mistaken than in asserting that +people have no spare time to observe anything in such places. I am a +very poor reader of advertisements, but even I am forced to get them +unpleasantly by heart at the stations. + +It is rather a vexatious kind of tribute when people write, as my +American correspondent did, to tell me of one paper-covered American +copy of "Felix Holt" brought to Europe and serving for so many readers +that it was in danger of being worn away under their hands. He, good +man, finds it easy "to urge greater circulation by means of cheap +sale," having "found so many friends in Ireland anxious but unable to +obtain the book." I suppose putting it in a yellow cover with figures +on it, reminding one of the outside of a show, and charging a shilling +for it, is what we are expected to do for the good of mankind. Even +then I fear it would hardly bear the rivalry of "The Pretty Milliner," +or of "The Horrible Secret." + +The work connected with Spain is not a romance. It is--prepare your +fortitude--it is--a poem. I conceived the plot, and wrote nearly the +whole as a drama in 1864. Mr. Lewes advised me to put it by for a time +and take it up again, with a view to recasting it. He thinks hopefully +of it. I need not tell you that I am _not_ hopeful, but I am quite +sure the subject is fine. It is not historic, but has merely historic +connections. The plot was wrought out entirely as an incorporation of +my own ideas. Of course, if it is ever finished to my satisfaction, it +is not a work for us to get money by, but Mr. Lewes urges and insists +that it shall be done. I have also my private projects about an +English novel, but I am afraid of speaking as if I could depend on +myself; at present I am rather dizzy, and not settled down to home +habits of regular occupation. + +I understand that the conveyancer who wrote to the _Pall Mall_ is an +excellent lawyer in his department, and the lecturer on Real Property +at the Law Institution. + +If a reviewer ever checked himself by considering that a writer whom +he thinks worth praising would take some pains to know the truth about +a matter which is the very hinge of said writer's story, review +articles would cut a shrunken figure. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_May 5._--We went to Bouverie Street to hear the first of a course of +lectures on Positivism, delivered by Dr. Congreve. There were present +seventy-five people, chiefly men. + +_May 11._--We had Mr. and Mrs. Call to dine with us, and an evening +party afterwards. + +_May 12._--We went to hear Dr. Congreve's second lecture. The morning +was thoroughly wet; the audience smaller, but still good. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 13th May, 1867.] + +Yesterday we went to the second of a course of lectures which Dr. +Congreve is delivering on Positivism in Bouverie Street. At the first +lecture on the 5th there was a considerable audience--about +seventy-five, chiefly men--of various ranks, from lords and M.P.'s +downwards, or upwards, for what is called social distinction seems to +be in a shifting condition just now. Yesterday the wet weather +doubtless helped to reduce the audience; still it was good. Curiosity +brings some, interest in the subject others, and the rest go with the +wish to express adhesion more or less thorough. + +I am afraid you have ceased to care much about pictures, else I should +wish that you could see the Exhibition of Historical Portraits at +Kensington. It is really worth a little fatigue to see the English of +past generations in their habit as they lived--especially when +Gainsborough and Sir Joshua are the painters. But even Sir Godfrey +Kneller delights me occasionally with a finely conceived portrait +carefully painted. There is an unforgetable portrait of Newton by +him. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_May 27._--Went with G. to the Academy Exhibition. + +_May 29._--Went to the Exhibition of French Pictures--very agreeable +and interesting. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 30th May, 1867.] + +I do sympathize with you most emphatically in the desire to see women +socially elevated--educated equally with men, and secured as far as +possible, along with every other breathing creature, from suffering +the exercise of any unrighteous power. That is a broader ground of +sympathy than agreement as to the amount and kind of result that may +be hoped for from a particular measure. But on this special point I am +far from thinking myself an oracle, and on the whole I am inclined to +hope for much good from the serious presentation of women's claims +before Parliament. I thought Mill's speech sober and judicious from +his point of view--Karslake's an abomination. + +_À propos_ of what you say about Mr. Congreve, I think you have +mistaken his, or rather Comte's, position. There is no denial of an +unknown cause, but only a denial that such a conception is the proper +basis of a practical religion. It seems to me pre-eminently desirable +that we should learn not to make our personal comfort a standard of +truth. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_June 1_ (Saturday).--Wrote up to the moment when Fedalma appears in +the Plaça. + +_June 5._--Blackwood dined with us, and I read to him my poem down to +page 56. He showed great delight. + +_June 26._--We went to Niton for a fortnight, returning July 10. + +_July 16._--Received £2166 13_s._ 4_d._ from Blackwood, being the +final instalment for "Felix Holt," and (£500) copyright for ten +years. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 28th July, 1867.] + +Again we take flight! To North Germany this time, and chiefly to +Dresden, where we shall be accessible through the _Poste Restante_. I +am ashamed of saying anything about our health--we are both "objects" +for compassion or contempt, according to the disposition of the +subject who may contemplate us. + +Mr. Beesley (I think it was he) sent us Dr. Congreve's pamphlet last +night, and I read it aloud to George. We both felt a cordial +satisfaction in it. We have been a good deal beset by little +engagements with friends and acquaintances lately, and these, with the +preparations for our journey, have been rather too much for me. Mr. +Lewes is acting on the advice of Sir Henry Holland in giving up +zoologizing for the present, because it obliges him to hang down his +head. That is the reason we go inland, and not to the coast, as I +think I hinted to you that we expected to do. + +You are sympathetic enough to be glad to hear that we have had +thoroughly cheerful and satisfactory letters from both our boys in +Natal. They are established in their purchased farm, and are very +happy together in their work. Impossible for mortals to have less +trouble than we. I should have written to you earlier this week--for +we start to-morrow--but that I have been laid prostrate with crushing +headache one half of my time, and always going out or seeing some one +the other half. + +Farewell, dear. Don't write unless you have a real desire to gossip +with me a little about yourself and our mutual friends. You know I +always like to have news of you, but I shall not think it unkind--I +shall only think you have other things to do--if you are silent. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_July 29._--We went to Dover this evening as the start on a journey +into Germany (North). + +_Oct. 1._--We returned home after revisiting the scenes of cherished +memories--Ilmenau, Dresden, and Berlin. Of new places we have seen +Wetzlar, Cassel, Eisenach, and Hanover. At Ilmenau I wrote Fedalma's +soliloquy after her scene with Silva, and the following dialogue +between her and Juan. At Dresden I rewrote the whole scene between her +and Zarca. + +_Oct. 9._--Reading "Los Judios en Espâna," Percy's "Reliques," "Isis," +occasionally aloud. + +_Oct. 10._--Reading the "Iliad," Book III. Finished "Los Judios en +Espâna," a wretchedly poor book. + +_Oct. 11._--Began again Prescott's "Ferdinand and Isabella." + +_Oct. 19._--George returned last evening from a walking expedition in +Surrey with Mr. Spencer. + + This entry is an interesting one to me, as it fixes the date + of the first acquaintance with my family. Mr. Herbert Spencer + was an old friend of ours, and in the course of their walk he + and Mr. Lewes happened to pass through Weybridge, where my + mother at that time lived. They came to dinner. Mr. Lewes, + with his wonderful social powers, charmed all, and they + passed a delightful evening. I was myself in America at the + time, where I was in business as a banker at New York. My + eldest sister had just then published a little volume of + poems,[1] which was kindly received by the press. On the + invitation of Mr. Lewes she went shortly afterwards to see + George Eliot, then in the zenith of her fame; nor did she + ever forget the affectionate manner in which the great author + greeted her. This was the beginning of a close friendship + between the families, which lasted, and increased in + intimacy, to the end. Mr. Spencer, in writing to tell me that + it was he who first made Mr. Lewes acquainted with George + Eliot, adds, "You will perhaps be struck by the curious + coincidence that it was also by me that Lewes was introduced + to your family at Weybridge and remoter issues entailed." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Oct. 1867.] + +Before I got your letter I was about to write to you and direct your +attention to an article in the forthcoming (October) number of the +_Quarterly Review_, on the Talmud. You really must go out of your way +to read it. It is written by one of the greatest Oriental scholars, +the man among living men who probably knows the most about the Talmud; +and you will appreciate the pregnancy of the article. There are also +beautiful, soul-cheering things selected for quotation. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_Oct. 31._--I have now inserted all that I think of for the first part +of the "Spanish Gypsy." On Monday I wrote three new Lyrics. I have +also rewritten the first scenes in the gypsy camp, to the end of the +dialogue between Juan and Fedalma. But I have determined to make the +commencement of the second part continue the picture of what goes +forward in Bedmar. + +_Nov. 1._--Began this morning Part II. "Silva was marching homeward," +etc. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 9th Nov. 1867.] + +About putting Fedalma in type. There would be advantages, but also +disadvantages; and on these latter I wish to consult you. I have more +than three thousand lines ready in the order I wish them to stand in, +and it would be good to have them in print to read them critically. +Defects reveal themselves more fully in type, and emendations might be +more conveniently made on proofs, since I have given up the idea of +copying the MS. as a whole. On the other hand, _could the thing be +kept private when it had once been in the printing-office_? And I +particularly wish not to have it set afloat, for various reasons. +Among others, I want to keep myself free from all inducements to +premature publication; I mean, publication before I have given my work +as much revision as I can hope to give it while my mind is still +nursing it. Beyond this, delay would be useless. The theory of laying +by poems for nine years may be a fine one, but it could not answer for +me to apply it. I could no more live through one of my books a second +time than I can live through last year again. But I like to keep +checks on myself, and not to create external temptations to do what I +should think foolish in another. If you thought it possible to secure +us against the oozing out of proofs and gossip, the other objections +would be less important. One difficulty is, that in my MS. I have +frequently two readings of the same passage, and, being uncertain +which of them is preferable, I wish them both to stand for future +decision. But perhaps this might be managed in proof. The length of +the poem is at present uncertain, but I feel so strongly what Mr. +Lewes insists on, namely, the evil of making it too long, that I shall +set it before me as a duty not to make it more than nine thousand +lines, and shall be glad if it turns out a little shorter. + +Will you think over the whole question? I am sure your mind will +supply any prudential considerations that I may have omitted. + +I am vexed by the non-success of the serial edition of the works. It +is not, Heaven knows, that I read my own books or am puffed up about +them, but I have been of late quite astonished by the strengthening +testimonies that have happened to come to me of people who care about +every one of my books, and continue to read them--especially young +men, who are just the class I care most to influence. But what sort of +data can one safely go upon with regard to the success of editions? + +"Felix Holt" is immensely tempted by your suggestion,[2] but George +Eliot is severely admonished by his domestic critic not to scatter his +energies. + +Mr. Lewes sends his best regards. He is in high spirits about the +poem. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_Nov. 22._--Began an "Address to the Working Men, by Felix Holt," at +Blackwood's repeated request. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1867.] + +Yes, indeed--when I do _not_ reciprocate "chaos is come again." I was +quite sure your letter would come, and was grateful beforehand. + +There is a scheme on foot for a Woman's College, or, rather, +University, to be built between London and Cambridge, and to be in +connection with the Cambridge University, sharing its professors, +examinations, and degrees! _Si muove._ + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 1st Dec. (?) 1867.] + +I have written to Miss Davies to ask her to come to see me on Tuesday. + +I am much occupied just now, but the better education of women is one +of the objects about which I have _no doubt_, and shall rejoice if +this idea of a college can be carried out. + +I see Miss Julia Smith's beautiful handwriting, and am glad to think +of her as your guardian angel. + +The author of the glorious article on the Talmud _is_ "that bright +little man" Mr. Deutsch--a very dear, delightful creature. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_Dec. 4._--Sent off the MS. of the "Address" to Edinburgh. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 7th Dec. 1867.] + +I agree with you about the phrase "Masters of the country."[3] I wrote +that part twice, and originally I distinctly said that the epithet was +false. Afterwards I left that out, preferring to make a stronger +_argumentum ad hominem_, in case any workman believed himself a future +master. + +I think it will be better for you to write a preliminary note, washing +your hands of any over-trenchant statements on the part of the +well-meaning Radical. I much prefer that you should do so. + +Whatever you agree with will have the advantage of not coming from one +who can be suspected of being a special pleader. + +What you say about Fedalma is very cheering. But I am chiefly anxious +about the road still untravelled--the road I have still _zurück zu +legen_. + +Mr. Lewes has to request several proofs of Fedalma, to facilitate +revision. But I will leave him to say how many. We shall keep them +strictly to ourselves, you may be sure, so that three or four will be +enough--one for him, one for me, and one for the resolution of our +differences. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood 12th Dec. 1867.] + +I am very grateful to you for your generous words about my work. That +you not only feel so much sympathy, but are moved to express it so +fully, is a real help to me. + +I am very glad to have had the revise of the "Address." I feel the +danger of not being understood. Perhaps, by a good deal longer +consideration and gradual shaping, I might have put the ideas into a +more concrete, easy form. + +Mr. Lewes read the proof of the poem all through to himself for the +first time last night, and expressed great satisfaction in the +impression it produced. Your suggestion of having it put into type is +a benefit for which we have reason to be obliged to you. + +I cannot help saying again that it is a strong cordial to me to have +such letters as yours, and to know that I have such a _first reader_ +as you. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_Dec. 21._--Finished reading "Averroës and Averroisme" and "Les +Médicins Juifs." Reading "First Principles." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 22d Dec. 1867.] + +Our Christmas will be very quiet. On the 27th Mr. Lewes means to start +on a solitary journey to Bonn, and perhaps to Würzburg, for anatomical +purposes. I don't mean that he is going to offer himself as an +anatomical subject, but that he wants to get answers to some questions +bearing on the functions of the nerves. It is a bad time for him to +travel in, but he hopes to be at home again in ten days or a +fortnight, and _I_ hope the run will do him good rather than harm. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1867.] + +_Dec. 25._--George and I dined happily alone; he better for weeks than +he has been all the summer before; I more ailing than usual, but with +much mental consolation, part of it being the delight he expresses in +my poem, of which the first part is now in print. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 26th Dec. 1867.] + +Thanks for the pretty remembrance. You were not unthought of before it +came. Now, however, I rouse all my courage under the thick fog to tell +you my inward wish--which is that the new year, as it travels on +towards its old age, may bring you many satisfactions undisturbed by +bodily ailment. + +Mr. Lewes is going to-morrow on an unprecedented expedition--a rapid +run to Bonn, to make some anatomical researches with Professor Schutze +there. If he needs more than he can get at Bonn, he may go to +Heidelberg and Würzburg. But in any case he will not take more than a +fortnight. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 28th Dec. 1867.] + +Public questions which, by a sad process of reduction, become piteous +private questions, hang cloudily over all prospects. The state of +Europe, the threat of a general war, the starvation of multitudes--one +can't help thinking of these things at one's breakfast. Nevertheless, +there is much enjoyment going on, and abundance of rosy children's +parties. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 30th Dec. 1867.] + +It is very good and sweet of you to propose to come round for me on +Sunday, and I shall cherish particularly the remembrance of that +kindness. But, on our reading your letter, Mr. Lewes objected, on +grounds which I think just, to my going to any public manifestation +without him, since his absence could not be divined by outsiders. + +I am companioned by dyspepsia, and feel life a struggle under the +leaden sky. Mme. Bodichon writes that in Sussex the air is cold and +clear, and the woods and lanes dressed in wintry loveliness of fresh, +grassy patches, mingled with the soft grays and browns of the trees +and hedges. Mr. Harrison shed the agreeable light of his kind eyes on +me yesterday for a brief space; but I hope I was more endurable to my +visitors than to myself, else I think they will not come again. I +object strongly to myself, as a bundle of unpleasant sensations with a +palpitating heart and awkward manners. Impossible to imagine the large +charity I have for people who detest me. But don't you be one of them. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 30th Dec. 1867.] + +I am much obliged to you for your handsome check, and still more +gratified that the "Address" has been a satisfaction to you. + +I am very glad to hear of your projected visit to town, and shall +hope to have a good batch of MS. for you to carry back. Mr. Lewes is +in an unprecedented state of delight with the poem, now that he is +reading it with close care. He says he is astonished that he can't +find more faults. He is especially pleased with the sense of variety +it gives; and this testimony is worth the more because he urged me to +put the poem by (in 1865) on the ground of monotony. He is really +exultant about it now, and after what you have said to me I know this +will please you. + +Hearty wishes that the coming year may bring you much good, and that +the "Spanish Gypsy" may contribute a little to that end. + + +_SUMMARY._ + +JANUARY, 1867, TO DECEMBER, 1867. + + Letter to Madame Bodichon from Bordeaux--Madame + Mohl--Scherer--Renan--Letter to Mrs. Congreve from + Biarritz--Delight in Comte's "Politique"--Gratitude to him + for illumination--Learning Spanish--Papers in the _Revue des + Deux Mondes_, by Saveney--Letter to Madame Bodichon from + Barcelona--Description of + scenery--Pampeluna--Saragossa--Lerida--Letter to F. Harrison + from Granada--The vindication of the _law_ in "Felix + Holt"--Spanish travelling--Letter to John Blackwood from + Granada--Alicante--Granada--Letter to Mrs. Congreve from + Biarritz--Delight of the journey--Madrid pictures--Return to + the Priory--Letter to John Blackwood--"Felix Holt"--Cheap + edition of novels--"Spanish Gypsy"--Dr. Congreve's Lectures + on Positivism--Letter to Miss Hennell--Historical Portraits + at South Kensington--Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor--Women's + claims--Comte's position--Fortnight's Visit to the Isle of + Wight--Letter of adieu to Mrs. Congreve--Two months' visit to + North Germany--Return to England--Reading on Spanish + subjects--Mr. Lewes and Mr. Spencer at + Weybridge--Acquaintance with Mrs. Cross and family--Letter to + Miss Hennell--Deutsch's article on the Talmud--Letter to + Blackwood about putting "Spanish Gypsy" in type--"Address to + Workingmen, by Felix Holt"--Letter to Miss Hennell--Girton + College--Letter to Madame Bodichon--The higher education of + women--Letter to John Blackwood on the "Address"--Christmas + day at the Priory--Letter to Miss Hennell--Visit of Mr. Lewes + to Bonn--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Depression--Letter to John + Blackwood--Mr. Lewes on "Spanish Gypsy." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] "An Old Story and Other Poems," by Elizabeth D. Cross. + +[2] "Address to the Working Men." + +[3] In the "Address to the Working Men." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 9th Jan. 1868.] + +There is a good genius presiding over your gifts--they are so +felicitous. You always give me something of which I have felt the want +beforehand, and can use continually. It is eminently so with my pretty +mittens; there was no little appendage I wanted more; and they are +just as warm at the wrist as I could have wished them to be--warming, +too, as a mark of affection at a time when all cheering things are +doubly welcome. + +Mr. Lewes came home last night, and you may imagine that I am glad. +Between the bad weather, bad health, and solitude, I have been so far +unlike the wicked that I have not flourished like the green bay-tree. +To make amends, he--Mr. Lewes, not the wicked--has had a brilliant +time, gained great instruction, and seen some admirable men, who have +received him warmly. + +I go out of doors very little, but I shall open the drawer and look at +my mittens on the days when I don't put them on. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_Jan._--Engaged in writing Part III. of "Spanish Gypsy." + +_Feb. 27._--Returned last evening from a very pleasant visit to +Cambridge.[4] I am still only at p. 5 of Part IV., having had a +wretched month of _malaise_. + +_March 1._--Finished Guillemin on the "Heavens," and the 4th Book of +the "Iliad." I shall now read Grote. + +_March 6._--Reading Lubbock's "Prehistoric Ages." + +_March 8._--Saturday concert. Joachim and Piatti, with Schubert's +Ottett. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 17th Mch. 1868.] + +We go to-morrow morning to Torquay for a month, and I can't bear to go +without saying a word of farewell to you. How sadly little we have +seen each other this winter! It will not be so any more, I hope, will +it? + +We are both much in need of the change, for Mr. Lewes has got rather +out of sorts again lately. When we come back I shall ask you to come +and look at us before the bloom is off. I should like to know how you +all are; but you have been so little inspired for note-writing lately +that I am afraid to ask you to send me a line to the post-office at +Torquay. I really deserve nothing of my friends at present. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Mch. 1868.] + +I don't know whether you have ever seen Torquay. It is pretty, but not +comparable to Ilfracombe; and, like all other easily accessible +sea-places, it is sadly spoiled by wealth and fashion, which leave no +secluded walks, and tattoo all the hills with ugly patterns of roads +and villa gardens. Our selfishness does not adapt itself well to these +on-comings of the millennium. + +I am reading about savages and semi-savages, and think that our +religious oracles would do well to study savage ideas by a method of +comparison with their own. Also, I am studying that semi-savage poem, +the "Iliad." How enviable it is to be a classic. When a verse in the +"Iliad" bears six different meanings, and nobody knows which is the +right, a commentator finds this equivocalness in itself admirable! + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, end of Mch. 1868.] + +Mr. Lewes quite agrees with you, that it is desirable to announce the +poem. His suggestion is, that it should be simply announced as "a +poem" first, and then a little later as "The Spanish Gypsy," in order +to give a new detail for observation in the second announcement. I +chose the title, "The Spanish Gypsy," a long time ago, because it is a +little in the fashion of the elder dramatists, with whom I have +perhaps more cousinship than with recent poets. Fedalma might be +mistaken for an Italian name, which would create a definite +expectation of a mistaken kind, and is, on other grounds, less to my +taste than "The Spanish Gypsy." + +This place is becoming a little London, or London suburb. Everywhere +houses and streets are being built, and Babbacombe will soon be joined +to Torquay. + +I almost envy you the excitement of golf, which helps the fresh air to +exhilarate, and gives variety of exercise. Walking can never be so +good as a game--if one loves the game. But when a friend of Mr. +Lewes's urges him angrily to play rackets for his health, the prospect +seems dreary. + +We are afraid of being entangled in excursion trains, or crowds of +Easter holiday-makers, in Easter week, and may possibly be driven back +next Wednesday. But we are loath to have our stay so curtailed. + +Mr. Lewes sends his kind regards, and pities all of us who are less +interested in ganglionic cells. He is in a state of beatitude about +the poem. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 4th April, 1868.] + +We find a few retired walks, and are the less discontented because the +weather is perfect. I hope you are sharing the delights of sunshine +and moonlight. There are no waves here, as you know; but under such +skies as we are having, sameness is so beautiful that we find no +fault, and there is a particular hill at Babbacombe of the richest +Spanish red. On the whole, we are glad we came here, having avoided +all trouble in journeying and settling. But we should not come again +without special call, for in a few years all the hills will be parts +of a London suburb. + +How glorious this weather is for the hard workers who are looking +forward to their Easter holiday! But for ourselves, we are rather +afraid of the railway stations in holiday time. Certainly, we are ill +prepared for what Tennyson calls the "To-be," and it is good that we +shall soon pass from this objective existence. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 6th April, 1868.] + +I think Ruskin has not been encouraged about women by his many and +persistent attempts to teach them. He seems to have found them wanting +in real scientific interest--bent on sentimentalizing in everything. + +What I should like to be sure of, as a result of higher education for +women--a result that will come to pass over my grave--is their +recognition of the great amount of social unproductive labor which +needs to be done by women, and which is now either not done at all or +done wretchedly. No good can come to women, more than to any class of +male mortals, while each aims at doing the highest kind of work, which +ought rather to be held in sanctity as what only the few can do well. +I believe, and I want it to be well shown, that a more thorough +education will tend to do away with the odious vulgarity of our +notions about functions and employment, and to propagate the true +gospel, that the deepest disgrace is to insist on doing work for which +we are unfit--to do work of any sort badly. There are many points of +this kind that want being urged, but they do not come well from me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 17th April, 1868.] + +Your letter came just at the right time to greet us. Thanks for that +pretty remembrance. We are glad to be at home again with our home +comforts around us, though we became deeply in love with Torquay in +the daily heightening of spring beauties, and the glory of perpetual +blue skies. The eight hours' journey (one hour more than we paid for) +was rather disturbing; and, I think, Mr. Lewes has got more zoological +experience than health from our month's delight--but a delight it +really has been to us to have perfect quiet with the red hills, the +sunshine, and the sea. + +I shall be absorbed for the next fortnight, so that I cannot allow +myself the sort of pleasure you kindly project for us; and when May +begins, I want you to come and stay a night with us. I shall be ready +by and by for such holiday-making, and you must be good to me. Will +you give Dr. Congreve my thanks for his pamphlet, which I read at +Torquay with great interest? All protests tell, however slowly and +imperceptibly, and a protest against the doctrine that England is to +keep Ireland under all conditions was what I had wished to be made. +But in this matter he will have much more important concurrence than +mine. I am bearing much in mind the great task of the translation. +When it is completed we shall be able and glad to do what we were not +able to do in the case of the "Discours Préliminaire," namely, to take +our share, if we may, in the expenses of publication. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_April 16._--Returned home, bringing Book IV. finished. + +_April 18._--Went with Mr. Pigott to see Holman Hunt's great picture, +Isabella and the Pot of Basil. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 21st April, 1868.] + +I send you by to-day's post the MS. of Book IV., that it may be at +hand whenever there is opportunity for getting it into print, and +letting me have it in that form for correction. It is desirable to get +as forward as we can, in case of the Americans asking for delay after +their reception of the sheets--if they venture to make any +arrangement. I shall send the MS. of Book V. (the last) as soon as +headache will permit, but that is an uncertain limit. We returned from +Torquay on the 16th, leaving the glorious weather behind us. We were +more in love with the place on a better acquaintance: the weather, and +the spring buds, and the choirs of birds, made it seem more of a +paradise to us every day. + +The poem will be less tragic than I threatened: Mr. Lewes has +prevailed on me to return to my original conception, and give up the +additional development, which I determined on subsequently. The poem +is rather shorter in consequence. Don't you think that my artistic +deference and pliability deserve that it should also be better in +consequence? I now end it as I determined to end it when I first +conceived the story. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_April 25._--Finished the last dialogue between Silva and Fedalma. Mr. +and Mrs. Burne Jones dined with us. + +_April 29._--Finished "The Spanish Gypsy." + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 29th Aug. 1868.] + +I send you by to-day's post the conclusion of the poem in MS., and the +eighteen sheets of revise. The last book is brief, but I may truly use +the old epigram--that it would have taken less time to make it longer. +It is a great bore that the name of my heroine is wrongly spelled in +all the earlier sheets. It is a fresh proof of the fallibility of our +impressions as to our own doings, that I would have confidently +affirmed the name to be spelled Fedalma (as it ought to be) in my +manuscript. Yet I suppose I should have affirmed falsely, for the _i_ +occurs in the slips constantly. + +As I shall not see these paged sheets again, will you charitably +assure me that the alterations are safely made? + + Among my wife's papers were four or five pages of MS. headed, + "Notes on the Spanish Gypsy and Tragedy in General." There is + no evidence as to the date at which this fragment was + written, and it seems to have been left unfinished. But there + was evidently some care to preserve it; and as I think she + would not have objected to its presentation, I give it here + exactly as it stands. It completes the history of the poem. + +[Sidenote: Notes on "The Spanish Gypsy."] + +The subject of "The Spanish Gypsy" was originally suggested to me by a +picture which hangs in the Scuola di' San Rocco at Venice, over the +door of the large Sala containing Tintoretto's frescoes. It is an +Annunciation, said to be by Titian. Of course I had seen numerous +pictures of this subject before; and the subject had always attracted +me. But in this my second visit to the Scuola di' San Rocco, this +small picture of Titian's, pointed out to me for the first time, +brought a new train of thought. It occurred to me that here was a +great dramatic motive of the same class as those used by the Greek +dramatists, yet specifically differing from them. A young maiden, +believing herself to be on the eve of the chief event of her +life--marriage--about to share in the ordinary lot of womanhood, full +of young hope, has suddenly announced to her that she is chosen to +fulfil a great destiny, entailing a terribly different experience from +that of ordinary womanhood. She is chosen, not by any momentary +arbitrariness, but as a result of foregoing hereditary conditions: she +obeys. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Here, I thought, is a +subject grander than that of Iphigenia, and it has never been used. I +came home with this in my mind, meaning to give the motive a clothing +in some suitable set of historical and local conditions. My +reflections brought me nothing that would serve me except that moment +in Spanish history when the struggle with the Moors was attaining its +climax, and when there was the gypsy race present under such +conditions as would enable me to get my heroine and the hereditary +claim on her among the gypsies. I required the opposition of race to +give the need for renouncing the expectation of marriage. I could not +use the Jews or the Moors, because the facts of their history were too +conspicuously opposed to the working-out of my catastrophe. Meanwhile +the subject had become more and more pregnant to me. I saw it might be +taken as a symbol of the part which is played in the general human lot +by hereditary conditions in the largest sense, and of the fact that +what we call duty is entirely made up of such conditions; for even in +cases of just antagonism to the narrow view of hereditary claims, the +whole background of the particular struggle is made up of our +inherited nature. Suppose for a moment that our conduct at great +epochs was determined entirely by reflection, without the immediate +intervention of feeling, which supersedes reflection, our +determination as to the right would consist in an adjustment of our +individual needs to the dire necessities of our lot, partly as to our +natural constitution, partly as sharers of life with our +fellow-beings. Tragedy consists in the terrible difficulty of this +adjustment-- + + "The dire strife of poor Humanity's afflicted will, + Struggling in vain with ruthless destiny." + +Looking at individual lots, I seemed to see in each the same story, +wrought out with more or less of tragedy, and I determined the +elements of my drama under the influence of these ideas. + +In order to judge properly of the dramatic structure it must not be +considered first in the light of doctrinal symbolism, but in the light +of a tragedy representing some grand collision in the human lot. And +it must be judged accordingly. A good tragic subject must represent a +possible, sufficiently probable, not a common, action; and to be +really tragic, it must represent irreparable collision between the +individual and the general (in differing degrees of generality). It is +the individual with whom we sympathize, and the general of which we +recognize the irresistible power. The truth of this test will be seen +by applying it to the greatest tragedies. The collision of Greek +tragedy is often that between hereditary, entailed Nemesis and the +peculiar individual lot, awakening our sympathy, of the particular man +or woman whom the Nemesis is shown to grasp with terrific force. +Sometimes, as in the Oresteia, there is the clashing of two +irreconcilable requirements, two duties, as we should say in these +times. The murder of the father must be avenged by the murder of the +mother, which must again be avenged. These two tragic relations of the +individual and general, and of two irreconcilable "oughts," may +be--will be--seen to be almost always combined. The Greeks were not +taking an artificial, entirely erroneous standpoint in their art--a +standpoint which disappeared altogether with their religion and their +art. They had the same essential elements of life presented to them as +we have, and their art symbolized these in grand schematic forms. The +Prometheus represents the ineffectual struggle to redeem the small +and miserable race of man, against the stronger adverse ordinances +that govern the frame of things with a triumphant power. Coming to +modern tragedies, what is it that makes Othello a great tragic +subject? A story simply of a jealous husband is elevated into a most +pathetic tragedy by the hereditary conditions of Othello's lot, which +give him a subjective ground for distrust. Faust, Rigoletto (Le Roi +s'Amuse), Brutus. It might be a reasonable ground of objection against +the whole structure of "The Spanish Gypsy" if it were shown that the +action is outrageously improbable--lying outside all that can be +congruously conceived of human actions. It is _not_ a reasonable +ground of objection that they would have done better to act otherwise, +any more than it is a reasonable objection against the Iphigenia that +Agamemnon would have done better not to sacrifice his daughter. + +As renunciations coming under the same great class, take the +renunciation of marriage, where marriage cannot take place without +entailing misery on the children. + +A tragedy has not to expound why the individual must give way to the +general; it has to show that it is compelled to give way; the tragedy +consisting in the struggle involved, and often in the entirely +calamitous issue in spite of a grand submission. Silva presents the +tragedy of entire rebellion; Fedalma of a grand submission, which is +rendered vain by the effects of Silva's rebellion. Zarca, the struggle +for a great end, rendered vain by the surrounding conditions of life. + +Now, what is the fact about our individual lots? A woman, say, finds +herself on the earth with an inherited organization; she may be lame, +she may inherit a disease, or what is tantamount to a disease; she +may be a negress, or have other marks of race repulsive in the +community where she is born, etc. One may go on for a long while +without reaching the limits of the commonest inherited misfortunes. It +is almost a mockery to say to such human beings, "Seek your own +happiness." The utmost approach to well-being that can be made in such +a case is through large resignation and acceptance of the inevitable, +with as much effort to overcome any disadvantage as good sense will +show to be attended with a likelihood of success. Any one may say, +that is the dictate of mere rational reflection. But calm can, in +hardly any human organism, be attained by rational reflection. +Happily, we are not left to that. Love, pity, constituting sympathy, +and generous joy with regard to the lot of our fellow-men comes +in--has been growing since the beginning--enormously enhanced by wider +vision of results, by an imagination actively interested in the lot of +mankind generally; and these feelings become piety--_i.e._, loving, +willing submission and heroic Promethean effort towards high +possibilities, which may result from our individual life. + +There is really no moral "sanction" but this inward impulse. The will +of God is the same thing as the will of other men, compelling us to +work and avoid what they have seen to be harmful to social existence. +Disjoined from any perceived good, the divine will is simply so much +as we have ascertained of the facts of existence which compel +obedience at our peril. Any other notion comes from the supposition of +arbitrary revelation. + +That favorite view, expressed so often in Clough's poems, of doing +duty in blindness as to the result, is likely to deepen the +substitution of egoistic yearnings for really moral impulses. We +cannot be utterly blind to the results of duty, since that cannot be +duty which is not already judged to be for human good. To say the +contrary is to say that mankind have reached no inductions as to what +is for their good or evil. + +The art which leaves the soul in despair is laming to the soul, and is +denounced by the healthy sentiment of an active community. The +consolatory elements in "The Spanish Gypsy" are derived from two +convictions or sentiments which so conspicuously pervade it that they +may be said to be its very warp, on which the whole action is woven. +These are: (1) The importance of individual deeds. (2) The +all-sufficiency of the soul's passions in determining sympathetic +action. + +In Silva is presented the claim of fidelity to social pledges. In +Fedalma the claim constituted by an hereditary lot less consciously +shared. + +With regard to the supremacy of love: if it were a fact without +exception that man or woman never did renounce the joys of love, there +could never have sprung up a notion that such renunciation could +present itself as a duty. If no parents had ever cared for their +children, how could parental affection have been reckoned among the +elements of life? But what are the facts in relation to this matter? +Will any one say that faithfulness to the marriage tie has never been +regarded as a duty, in spite of the presence of the profoundest +passion experienced after marriage? Is Guinivere's conduct the type of +duty? + + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 7th May, 1868.] + +Yes, I am at rest now--only a few pages of revise to look at more. My +chief excitement and pleasure in the work are over: for when I have +once written anything, and it is gone out of my power, I think of it +as little as possible. Next to the doing of the thing, of course, Mr. +Lewes's delight in it is the cream of all sympathy, though I care +enough about the sympathy of others to be very grateful for any they +give me. Don't you imagine how the people who consider writing simply +as a money-getting profession will despise me for choosing a work by +which I could only get hundreds, where for a novel I could get +thousands? I cannot help asking you to admire what my husband is, +compared with many possible husbands--I mean, in urging me to produce +a poem rather than anything in a worldly sense more profitable. I +expect a good deal of disgust to be felt towards me in many quarters +for doing what was not looked for from me, and becoming unreadable to +many who have hitherto found me readable and debatable. Religion and +novels every ignorant person feels competent to give an opinion upon, +but _en fait de poésie_, a large number of them "only read +Shakespeare." But enough of that. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 25th May, 1868.] + +Before we set off to Germany I want to tell you that a copy of "The +Spanish Gypsy" will be sent to you. If there had been time before our +going away I should have written on the fly-leaf that it was offered +by the author "in grateful remembrance." For I especially desire that +you should understand my reasons for asking you to accept the book to +be retrospective and not prospective. + +And I am going out of reach of all letters, so that you are free from +any need to write to me, and may let the book lie till you like to +open it. + +I give away my books only by exception, and in venturing to make you +an exceptional person in this matter, I am urged by the strong wish +to express my value for the help and sympathy you gave me two years +ago. + + The manuscript of "The Spanish Gypsy" bears the following + inscription: + + "To my dear--every day dearer--Husband." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 26th (?) May, 1868.] + +Yes, indeed, I not only remember your letter, but have always kept it +at hand, and have read it many times. Within these latter months I +have seemed to see in the distance a possible poem shaped on your +idea. But it would be better for you to encourage the growth towards +realization in your own mind, rather than trust to transplantation. + +My own faint conception is that of a frankly Utopian construction, +freeing the poet from all local embarrassments. Great epics have +always been more or less of this character--only the construction has +been of the past, not of the future. + +Write to me _Poste Restante_, Baden-Baden, within the next fortnight. +My head will have got clearer then. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_May 26._--We set out this evening on our journey to Baden, spending +the night at Dover. Our route was by Tournay, Liége, Bonn, and +Frankfort, to Baden, where we stayed nine days; then to Petersthal, +where we stayed three weeks; then to Freiburg, St. Märgen, Basle, +Thun, and Interlaken. From Interlaken we came by Fribourg, Neuchâtel, +Dijon, to Paris and Folkestone. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 7th July, 1868.] + +We got your letter yesterday here among the peaceful mountain-tops. +After ascending gradually (in a carriage) for nearly four hours, we +found ourselves in a region of grass, corn, and pine woods, so +beautifully varied that we seem to be walking in a great park laid +out for our special delight. The monks, as usual, found out the +friendly solitude, and this place of St. Märgen was originally nothing +but an Augustinian monastery. About three miles off is another place +of like origin, called St. Peter's, formerly a Benedictine monastery, +and still used as a place of preparation for the Catholic priesthood. +The monks have all vanished, but the people are devout Catholics. At +every half-mile by the roadside is a carefully kept crucifix; and last +night, as we were having our supper in the common room of the inn, we +suddenly heard sounds that seemed to me like those of an accordion. +"Is that a zittern?" said Mr. Lewes to the German lady by his side. +"No--it is prayer." The servants, by themselves--the host and hostess +were in the same room with us--were saying their evening prayers, +men's and women's voices blending in unusually correct harmony. The +same loud prayer is heard at morning, noon, and evening, from the +shepherds and workers in the fields. We suppose that the believers in +Mr. Home and in Madame Rachel would pronounce these people "grossly +superstitious." The land is cultivated by rich peasant proprietors, +and the people here, as in Petersthal, look healthy and contented. +This really adds to one's pleasure in seeing natural beauties. In +North Germany, at Ilmenau, we were constantly pained by meeting +peasants who looked underfed and miserable. Unhappily, the weather is +too cold and damp, and our accommodations are too scanty, under such +circumstances, for us to remain here and enjoy the endless walks and +the sunsets that would make up for other negatives in fine, warm +weather. We return to Freiburg to-morrow, and from thence we shall go +on by easy stages through Switzerland, by Thun and Vevay to Geneva, +where I want to see my old friends once more. + +We shall be so constantly on the move that it might be a vain trouble +on your part to shoot another letter after such flying birds. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_July 23._--Arrived at home (from Baden journey). + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 24th July, 1868.] + +We got home last night--sooner than we expected, because we gave up +the round by Geneva, as too long and exciting. I dare say the three +weeks since we heard from you seem very short to you, passed amid your +usual occupations. To us they seem long, for we have been constantly +changing our scene. Our two months have been spent delightfully in +seeing fresh natural beauties, and with the occasional cheering +influence of kind people. But I think we were hardly ever, except in +Spain, so long ignorant of home sayings and doings, for we have been +chiefly in regions innocent even of _Galignani_. The weather with us +has never been oppressively hot; and storms or quiet rains have been +frequent. But our bit of burned-up lawn is significant of the dryness +here. I believe I did not thank you for the offer of "Kinglake," which +we gratefully accept. And will you kindly order a copy of the poem to +be sent to Gerald Massey, Hemel-Hempstead. + +A friendly gentleman at Belfast sends me a list of emendations for +some of my verses, which are very characteristic and amusing. + +I hope you have kept well through the heat. We are come back in great +force, for such feeble wretches. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 28th July, 1868.] + +As to the reviews, we expected them to be written by omniscient +personages, but we did _not_ expect so bad a review as that Mr. Lewes +found in the _Pall Mall_. I have read no notice except that in the +_Spectator_, which was modest in tone. A very silly gentleman, Mr. +Lewes says, undertakes to admonish me in the _Westminster_; and he +thinks the best _literary_ notice of the poem that has come before him +is in the _Athenæum_. After all, I think there would have been good +reason to doubt that the poem had either novelty or any other +considerable intrinsic reason to justify its being written, if the +periodicals had cried out "Hosanna!" I am sure you appreciate all the +conditions better than I can, after your long experience of the +relations between authors and critics. I am serene, because I only +expected the unfavorable. To-day the heat is so great that it is +hardly possible even to read a book that requires any thought. London +is a bad exchange for the mountains. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 30th July, 1868.] + +I enclose a list of corrections for the reprint. I am indebted to my +friendly correspondent from Belfast for pointing out several +oversights, which I am ashamed of, after all the proof-reading. But, +among the well-established truths of which I never doubt, the +fallibility of my own brain stands first. + +I suppose Mudie and the other librarians will not part with their +copies of the poems quite as soon as they would part with their more +abundant copies of a novel. And this supposition, if warranted, would +be an encouragement to reprint another moderate edition at the same +price. Perhaps, before a cheaper edition is prepared, I may add to the +corrections, but at present my mind resists strongly the effort to go +back on its old work. + +I think I never mentioned to you that the occasional use of irregular +verses, and especially verses of twelve syllables, has been a +principle with me, and is found in all the finest writers of blank +verse. I mention it now because, as you have a certain _solidarité_ +with my poetical doings, I would not have your soul vexed by the +detective wisdom of critics. Do you happen to remember that saying of +Balzac's, "When I want the world to praise my novels I write a drama; +when I want them to praise my drama I write a novel"? + +On the whole, however, I should think I have more to be grateful for +than to grumble at. Mr. Lewes read me out last night some very +generous passages from the _St. Paul's Magazine_. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_August._--Reading 1st book of Lucretius, 6th book of the "Iliad," +"Samson Agonistes," Warton's "History of English Poetry," Grote, 2d +volume, "Marcus Aurelius," "Vita Nuova," vol. iv. chap. i. of the +"Politique Positive," Guest on "English Rhythms," Maurice's "Lectures +on Casuistry." + +_Sept. 19._--We returned from a visit to Yorkshire. On Monday we went +to Leeds, and were received by Dr. Clifford Allbut, with whom we +stayed till the middle of the day on Wednesday. Then we went by train +to Ilkley, and from thence took a carriage to Bolton. The weather had +been gray for two days, but on this evening the sun shone out, and we +had a delightful stroll before dinner, getting our first view of the +Priory. On Thursday we spent the whole day in rambling through the +woods to Barden Tower and back. Our comfortable little inn was the Red +Lion, and we were tempted to lengthen our stay. But on Friday morning +the sky was threatening, so we started for Newark, which we had +visited in old days on our expedition to Gainsborough. At Newark we +found our old inn, the Ram, opposite the ruins of the castle, and then +we went for a stroll along the banks of the Trent, seeing some +charming, quiet landscapes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 20th Sept. 1868.] + +This note comes to greet you on your return home, but it cannot greet +you so sweetly as your letter did me on our arrival from Leeds last +night. I think it gave me a deeper pleasure than any I have had for a +long while. I am very grateful to you for it. + +We went to Leeds on Monday, and stayed two days with Dr. Allbut. Dr. +Bridges dined with us one day, and we had a great deal of delightful +chat. But I will tell you everything when we see you. Let that be +soon--will you not? We shall be glad of any arrangement that will give +us the pleasure of seeing you, Dr. Congreve, and Emily, either +separately or all together. Please forgive me if I seem very fussy +about your all coming. I want you to understand that we shall feel it +the greatest kindness in you if you will all choose to come, and also +choose _how_ to come--either to lunch or dinner, and either apart or +together. I hope to find that you are much the better for your +journey--better both in body and soul. One has immense need of +encouragement, but it seems to come more easily from the dead than +from the living. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 24th Sept. 1868.] + +Your letter gave an additional gusto to my tea and toast this morning. +The greater confidence of the trade in subscribing for the second +edition is, on several grounds, a satisfactory indication; but, as you +observe, we shall be still better pleased to know that the copies are +not slumbering on the counters, but having an active life in the hands +of readers. + +I am now going carefully through the poem for the sake of correction. +I have read it through once, and have at present found some ten or +twelve _small_ alterations to be added to those already made. But I +shall go through it again more than once, for I wish to be able to put +"revised" to the third edition, and to leave nothing that my +conscience is not ready to swear by. I think it will be desirable for +me to see proofs. It is possible, in many closely consecutive +readings, not to see errors which strike one immediately on taking up +the pages after a good long interval. + +We are feeling much obliged for a copy of "Kinglake," which I am +reading aloud to Mr. Lewes as a part of our evening's entertainment +and edification, beginning again from the beginning. + +This week we have had perfect autumnal days, though last week, when we +were in Yorkshire, we also thought that the time of outside chills and +inside fires was beginning. + +We do not often see a place which is a good foil for London, but +certainly Leeds is in a lower circle of the great town--_Inferno_. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 25th Sept. 1868.] + +I can imagine how delicious your country home has been under the +glorious skies we have been having--glorious even in London. Yesterday +we had Dr. and Mrs. Congreve, and went with them to the Zoological +Gardens, and on our return, about 5 o'clock, I could not help pausing +and exclaiming at the exquisite beauty of the light on Regent's Park, +exalting it into something that the young Turner would have wanted to +paint. + +We went to Leeds last week--saw your favorite, David Cox, and thought +of you the while. Certainly there was nothing finer there in landscape +than that Welsh funeral. Among the figure-painters, Watts and old +Philip are supreme. + +We went on from Leeds to Bolton, and spent a day in wandering through +the grand woods on the banks of the Wharfe. Altogether, our visit to +Yorkshire was extremely agreeable. Our host, Dr. Allbut, is a good, +clever, graceful man, enough to enable one to be cheerful under the +horrible smoke of ugly Leeds; and the fine hospital, which, he says, +is admirably fitted for its purpose, is another mitigation. You would +like to see the tasteful, subdued ornamentation in the rooms which are +to be sick wards. Each physician is accumulating ornamental objects +for his own ward--chromo-lithographs, etc.--such as will soothe sick +eyes. + +It was quite cold in that northerly region. Your picture keeps a +memory of sunshine on my wall even on this dark morning. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 21st Oct. 1868.] + +I have gone through the poem twice for the sake of revision, and have +a crop of small corrections--only in one case extending to the +insertion of a new line. But I wish to see the proof-sheets, so that +"Revised by the Author" may be put in the advertisement and on the +title-page. + +Unhappily, my health has been unusually bad since we returned from +abroad, so that the time has been a good deal wasted on the endurance +of _malaise_; but I am brooding over many things, and hope that coming +months will not be barren. As to the criticisms, I suppose that better +poets than I have gone through worse receptions. In spite of my reason +and of my low expectations, I am too susceptible to all discouragement +not to have been depressingly affected by some few things in the shape +of criticism which I have been obliged to know. Yet I am ashamed of +caring about anything that cannot be taken as strict evidence against +the value of my book. So far as I have been able to understand, there +is a striking disagreement among the reviewers as to what is best and +what is worst; and the weight of agreement, even on the latter point, +is considerably diminished by the reflection that three different +reviews may be three different phases of the same gentleman, taking +the opportunity of earning as many guineas as he can by making easy +remarks on George Eliot. But, as dear Scott's characters say, "Let +that fly stick in the wa'--when the dirt's dry, it'll rub out." I +shall look at "Doubles and Quits," as you recommend. I read the two +first numbers of "Madame Amelia," and thought them promising. + +I sympathize with your melancholy at the prospect of quitting the +country; though, compared with London, beautiful Edinburgh is country. +Perhaps some good, thick mists will come to reconcile you with the +migration. + +We have been using the fine autumn days for flights into Kent between +Sundays. The rich woods about Sevenoaks and Chislehurst are a delight +to the eyes, and the stillness is a rest to every nerve. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_Oct. 22._--Received a letter from Blackwood, saying that "The Spanish +Gypsy" must soon go into a third edition. I sent my corrections for +it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 27th Oct. 1868.] + +At last I have spirit enough in me to thank you for your valuable +gift, which Emily kindly brought me in her hand. I am grateful for +it--not only because the medallion[5] is a possession which I shall +always hold precious, but also because you thought of me among those +whom you would choose to be its owners. + +I hope you are able to enjoy some walking in these sunshiny mornings. +We had a long drive round by Hendon and Finchley yesterday morning, +and drank so much clear air and joy from the sight of trees and fields +that I am quite a new-old creature. + +I think you will not be sorry to hear that the "Spanish Gypsy" is so +nearly out of print again that the publishers are preparing a new, +cheaper edition. The second edition was all bought up (subscribed +for) by the booksellers the first day. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 30th Oct. 1868.] + +Your pretty letter is irresistible. May we then be with you on Tuesday +somewhere about twelve, and return home on Wednesday by afternoon +daylight? If the weather should be very cold or wet on Tuesday we must +renounce or defer our pleasure, because we are both too rickety to run +the risk of taking cold. So you see we are very much in need of such +sweet friendliness as yours gives us faith in, to keep us cheerful +under the burden of the flesh. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_Nov. 3._--Went to dine and sleep at the Congreves, at Wandsworth. + +_Nov. 4._--We set off for Sheffield, where we went over a great iron +and steel factory under the guidance of Mr. Benzon. On Saturday, the +7th, we went to Matlock and stayed till Tuesday. I recognized the +objects which I had seen with my father nearly thirty years +before--the turn of the road at Cromford, the Arkwrights' house, and +the cottages with the stone floors chalked in patterns. The landscape +was still rich with autumn leaves. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, Thursday evening, 12th Nov. 1868.] + +We got home last night after delicious days spent at Matlock. I was so +renovated that my head was clearer, and I was more unconscious of my +body than at the best of times for many months. But it seemed suddenly +colder when we were in London, and old uneasy sensations are +revisiting us both to-day. + +I wonder whether you will soon want to come to town, and will send me +word that you will come and take shelter with us for the night? The +bed is no softer and no broader; but will you not be tempted by a new +carpet and a new bit of matting for your bath?--perhaps there will +even be a new fender? If you want to shop, I will take you in the +brougham. + +I think you will be just able to make out this note, written by a +sudden impulse on my knee over the fire. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 16th Nov. 1868.] + +No oracle would dare to predict what will be our next migration. Don't +be surprised if we go to the borders of the White Sea, to escape the +fitful fast and loose, hot and cold, of the London climate. + +We enjoyed our journey to the north. It was a great experience to me +to see the stupendous iron-works at Sheffield; and then, for a +variety, we went to the quiet and beauty of Matlock, and I recognized +all the spots I had carried in my memory for more than five-and-twenty +years. I drove through that region with my father when I was a young +grig--not very full of hope about my woman's future. I am one of those +perhaps exceptional people whose early, childish dreams were much less +happy than the real outcome of life. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Nov. 1868.] + +I think your birthday comes after mine; but I am determined to write +beforehand to prove to you that I bear you in my thoughts without any +external reminder. + +I suppose we are both getting too old to care about being wished +_many_ happy returns of the day. We shall be content to wish each +other as many more years as can carry with them some joy and calm +satisfaction in the sense of living. But there is one definite +prospect for you which I may fairly hope for, as I do most +tenderly--the prospect that this time next year you will be looking +back on your achieved work as a good seed-sowing. Some sadness there +must always be in saying good-bye to a work which is done with love; +but there may--I trust there _will_--be a compensating good in feeling +that the thing you yearned to do is gone safely out of reach of +casualties that might have cut it short. + +We have been to Sheffield at the seducing invitation of a friend, who +showed us the miraculous iron-works there; and afterwards we turned +aside to beautiful Matlock, where I found again the spots, the turns +of road, the rows of stone cottages, the rushing river Derwent, and +the Arkwright mills--among which I drove with my father when I was in +my teens. We had glorious weather, and I was quite regenerated by the +bracing air. Our friend Mr. Spencer is growing younger with the years. +He really looks brighter and more enjoying than he ever did before, +since he was in the really young, happy time of fresh discussion and +inquiry. His is a friendship which wears well, because of his +truthfulness. He always asks with sympathetic interest how you are +going on. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_Nov. 22._--The return of this St. Cecilia's Day finds me in better +health than has been usual with me in these last six months. But I am +not yet engaged in any work that makes a higher life for me--a life +that is young and grows, though in my other life I am getting old and +decaying. It is a day for resolves and determinations. I am meditating +the subject of Timoleon. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 30th Nov. 1868.] + +I like to think of you painting the physiological charts, although +they tire your eyes a little; for you must be sure that the good of +such work is of a kind that goes deep into young lives. "Fearfully and +wonderfully made" are words quite unshaken by any theory as to the +making; and I think a great awe in the contemplation of man's delicate +structure, freighted with terrible destinies, is one of the most +important parts of education. A much-writing acquaintance of ours one +day expressed his alarm for "the masses" at the departure of a +religion which had _terror_ in it. Surely terror is provided for +sufficiently in this life of ours--if only the dread could be directed +towards the really dreadful. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 12th Dec. 1868.] + +We have been having a little company, and are rejoicing to think that +our duties of this sort are done for the present. We like our studies +and our dual solitude too well to feel company desirable more than one +day a-week. I wish our affection may be with you as some little +cheering influence through the dark months. We hardly estimate enough +the difference of feeling that would come to us if we did not imagine +friendly souls scattered here and there in places that make the chief +part of the world so far as we have known it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 16th Dec. 1868.] + +Tell Dr. Congreve that the "mass of positivism," in the shape of "The +Spanish Gypsy," is so rapidly finding acceptance with the public that +the second edition, being all sold, the third, just published, has +already been demanded to above 700. Do not think that I am becoming an +egotistical author. The news concerns the doctrine, not the writer. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Brays, 19th Dec. 1868.] + +I am moved to congratulate you on writing against the ballot with such +admirably good sense--having just read your "slip" at the +breakfast-table. It has been a source of amazement to me that men +acquainted with practical life can believe in the suppression of +bribery by the ballot, as if bribery in all its Protean forms could +ever disappear by means of a single external arrangement. They might +as well say that our female vanity would disappear at an order that +women should wear felt hats and cloth dresses. It seems to me that you +have put the main unanswerable arguments against the ballot with +vigorous brevity. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 29th Dec. 1868.] + +Thanks for letting me know about the meeting. I shall not be able to +join it bodily, but I am glad always to have the possibility of being +with you in thought. I have a twofold sympathy on the occasion, for I +cannot help entering specially into your own wifely anxieties, and I +shall be glad to be assured that Dr. Congreve has borne the excitement +without being afterwards conscious of an excessive strain. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1868.] + +_Dec. 30._--I make to-day the last record that I shall enter of the +old year 1868. It has been as rich in blessings as any preceding year +of our double life, and I enjoy a more and more even cheerfulness and +continually increasing power of dwelling on the good that is given to +me and dismissing the thought of small evils. The chief event of the +year to us has been the publication and friendly reception by the +public of "The Spanish Gypsy." The greatest happiness (after our +growing love) which has sprung and flowed onward during the latter +part of the year is George's interest in his psychological inquiries. +I have, perhaps, gained a little higher ground and firmer footing in +some studies, notwithstanding the yearly loss of retentive power. We +have made some new friendships that cheer us with the sense of new +admiration of actual living beings whom we know in the flesh, and who +are kindly disposed towards us. And we have had no real trouble. I +wish we were not in a minority of our fellow-men! I desire no added +blessing for the coming year but this--that I may do some good, +lasting work, and make both my outward and inward habits less +imperfect--that is, more directly tending to the best uses of life. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 31st Dec. 1868.] + +Many thanks for the check, which I received yesterday afternoon. Mr. +Lewes is eminently satisfied with the sales; and, indeed, it does +appear from authoritative testimony that the number sold is unusually +large even for what is called a successful poem. + +The cheap edition of the novels is so exceptionally attractive in +print, paper, and binding, for 3_s._ 6_d._, that I cannot help +fretting a little at its not getting a more rapid sale. The fact +rather puzzles me, too, in presence of the various proofs that the +books really are liked. I suppose there is some mystery of reduced +prices accounting for the abundant presentation of certain works and +series on the bookstalls at the railways, and the absence of others, +else surely those pretty volumes would have a good chance of being +bought by the travellers whose taste shrinks from the diabolical +red-and-yellow-pictured series. I am sure you must often be in a state +of wonderment as to how the business of the world gets done so as not +to ruin two thirds of the people concerned in it; for, judging from +the silly propositions and requests sometimes made to me by +bald-headed, experienced men, there must be a very thin allowance of +wisdom to the majority of their transactions. + +Mr. Lewes is attracted by the biographical studies of George the +Second's time; but last night, after he had done reading about +Berkeley, I heard him laughing over "Doubles and Quits." It is +agreeable to think that I have that bit of cheerful reading in store. + +Our first snow fell yesterday, and melted immediately. This morning +the sun is warm on me as I write. The doctors say that the season has +been horribly unhealthy, and that they have been afraid to perform +some operations from the low state of vitality in the patients, due to +the atmospheric conditions. This looks like very wise writing, and +worthy of Molière's "Médecin." + +Mr. Lewes joins me in sincere good wishes to Mr. William Blackwood, as +well as yourself, for the coming year--wishes for general happiness. +The chief, particular wish would be that we should all in common look +back next Christmas on something achieved in which we share each +other's satisfaction. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Hon. Robert Lytton (now Lord Lytton). No date. +Probably in 1868.] + +I am much obliged to you for mentioning, in your letter to Mr. Lewes, +the two cases of inaccuracy (I fear there may be more) which you +remembered in the "Spanish Gypsy." How I came to write Zincálo instead +of Zíncalo is an instance which may be added to many sadder examples +of that mental infirmity which makes our senses of little use to us in +the presence of a strong prepossession. As soon as I had conceived my +story with its gypsy element, I tried to learn all I could about the +names by which the gypsies called themselves, feeling that I should +occasionally need a musical name, remote from the vulgar English +associations which cling to "gypsy." I rejected Gitana, because I +found that the gypsies themselves held the name to be opprobrious; and +Zíncalo--which, with a fine capacity for being wrong, I at once got +into my head as Zincálo--seemed to be, both in sound and meaning, just +what I wanted. Among the books from which I made notes was "Pott, die +Zigeuner," etc.; and in these notes I find that I have copied the sign +of the tonic accent in Romanó, while in the very same sentence I have +not copied it in Zíncalo, though a renewed reference to Pott shows it +in the one word as well as the other. But "my eyes were held"--by a +demon prepossession--"so that I should not see it." Behold the +fallibility of the human brain, and especially of George Eliot's. + +I have been questioned about my use of Andalus for Andalusia, but I +had a sufficient authority for that in the "Mohammedan Dynasties," +translated by Gayangos. + +It may interest you, who are familiar with Spanish literature, to know +that after the first sketch of my book was written I read Cervantes' +novel "La Gitanélla," where the hero turns gypsy for love. The novel +promises well in the earlier part, but falls into sad commonplace +towards the end. I have written my explanation partly to show how much +I value your kind help towards correcting my error, and partly to +prove that I was not careless, but simply stupid. For in authorship I +hold carelessness to be a mortal sin. + + +_SUMMARY._ + +JANUARY, 1868, TO DECEMBER, 1868. + + Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Mr. Lewes's return from Bonn--First + visit to Cambridge--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Month's visit to + Torquay--Letter to Miss Hennell--Reading the "Iliad"--Letter + to John Blackwood--Title of "Spanish Gypsy"--Letter to Madame + Bodichon--Women's work--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--England and + Ireland--Translation of the "Politique"--Return to London + from Torquay--Letter to John Blackwood--Ending of "Spanish + Gypsy"--The poem finished--George Eliot's "Notes on the + Spanish Gypsy and Tragedy in general"--Suggestion of the poem + an Annunciation by Titian, at Venice--Motive--Hereditary + conditions--Gypsy race--Determination of conduct--Nature of + tragedy--Collision between the individual and the + general--Greek tragedy--Hereditary misfortunes--Growth of + human sympathy--Moral sanction is obedience to facts--Duty + what tends to human good--Letter to Mrs. Bray on the writing + of poetry instead of novels--Letter to F. Harrison presenting + copy of "Spanish Gypsy"--Inscription on MS. of "Spanish + Gypsy"--Letter to F. Harrison on suggestion of a poem--Six + weeks' journey to Baden, etc.--Letter to John Blackwood from + St. Märgen--Catholic worship--Return to London--Letters to + John Blackwood--_Pall Mall_ review of "Spanish Gypsy"--Saying + of Balzac--Letter to William + Blackwood--Versification--Reading Lucretius, Homer, Milton, + Warton, Marcus Aurelius, Dante, Comte, Guest, Maurice--Visit + to Dr. Clifford Allbut at Leeds--Visit to Newark--Letter to + Mrs. Congreve--Letters to John Blackwood--Second edition of + "Spanish Gypsy"--"Kinglake"--Criticisms on "Spanish + Gypsy"--Visit to the Congreves--Visit to Sheffield with Mr. + Benzon--Matlock--Letters to Madame Bodichon and Miss Hennell + on Sheffield journey--Herbert Spencer--Meditating subject of + Timoleon--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Physiological charts--Letter + to Madame Bodichon on influence of friends--Letter to Mrs. + Congreve--Positivism in "Spanish Gypsy"--Letter to Charles + Bray on vote by ballot--Retrospect of 1868--Letter to John + Blackwood--The cheap edition of novels--Letter to the Hon. + Robert Lytton--Pronunciation in "Spanish Gypsy"--Cervantes' + "La Gitanélla." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] Visit to Mr. W. G. Clark. + +[5] Of Comte. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_Jan. 1._--I have set myself many tasks for the year--I wonder how +many will be accomplished?--a novel called "Middlemarch," a long poem +on Timoleon, and several minor poems. + +_Jan. 23._--Since I wrote last I have finished a little poem on old +Agatha. But the last week or two I have been so disturbed in health +that no work prospers. I have made a little way in constructing my new +tale; have been reading a little on philology; have finished the 24th +Book of the "Iliad," the 1st Book of the "Faery Queene," Clough's +poems, and a little about Etruscan things, in Mrs. Grey and Dennis. +Aloud to G. I have been reading some Italian, Ben Jonson's "Alchemist" +and "Volpone," and Bright's speeches, which I am still reading, +besides the first four cantos of "Don Juan." But the last two or three +days I have seemed to live under a leaden pressure--all movement, +mental or bodily, is grievous to me. In the evening read aloud +Bright's fourth speech on India, and a story in Italian. In the +_Spectator_ some interesting facts about loss of memory and "double +life." In the _Revue des Cours_, a lecture by Sir W. Thomson, of +Edinburgh, on the retardation of the earth's motion round its axis. + +_Jan. 27._--The last two days I have been writing a rhymed poem on +Boccaccio's story of "Lisa." Aloud I have read Bright's speeches, and +"I Promessi Sposi." To myself I have read Mommsen's "Rome." + +_Feb. 6._--We went to the third concert. Madame Schumann played finely +in Mendelssohn's quintet, and a trio of Beethoven's. As a solo she +played the sonata in D minor. In the evening I read aloud a short +speech of Bright's on Ireland, delivered twenty years ago, in which he +insists that nothing will be a remedy for the woes of that country +unless the Church Establishment be annulled: after the lapse of twenty +years the measure is going to be adopted. Then I read aloud a bit of +the "Promessi Sposi," and afterwards the _Spectator_, in which there +is a deservedly high appreciation of Lowell's poems. + +_Feb. 14._--Finished the poem from Boccaccio. We had rather a numerous +gathering of friends to-day, and among the rest came Browning, who +talked and quoted admirably _à propos_ of versification. The Rector of +Lincoln thinks the French have the most perfect system of +versification in these modern times! + +_Feb. 15._--I prepared and sent off "How Lisa Loved the King" to +Edinburgh. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th Feb. 1869.] + +I have looked back to the verses in Browning's poem about Elisha, and +I find no mystery in them. The foregoing context for three pages +describes that function of genius which revivifies the past. Man, says +Browning (I am writing from recollection of his general meaning), +cannot create, but he can restore: the poet gives forth of his own +spirit, and reanimates the forms that lie breathless. His use of +Elisha's story is manifestly symbolical, as his mention of Faust +is--the illustration which he abandons the moment before to take up +that of the Hebrew seer. I presume you did not read the context +yourself, but only had the two concluding verses pointed out or quoted +to you by your friends. It is one of the afflictions of authorship to +know that the brains which should be used in understanding a book are +wasted in discussing the hastiest misconceptions about it; and I am +sure you will sympathize enough in this affliction to set any one +right, when you can, about this quotation from Browning. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_Feb. 20._--A glorious concert: Hallé, Joachim, and Piatti winding up +with Schubert's trio. + +_Feb. 21._--Mr. Deutsch and Mrs. Pattison lunched with us--he in +farewell before going to the East. A rather pleasant gathering of +friends afterwards. + +_Feb. 24._--I am reading about plants, and Helmholtz on music. A new +idea of a poem came to me yesterday. + +_March 3._--We started on our fourth visit to Italy, viâ France and +the Cornice. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 4th May, 1869, from Paris.] + +I found your letter at Florence on our arrival there (on the 23d); but +until now bodily ease and leisure enough to write to you have never +happened to me in the same moments. Our long journey since we left +home on the 3d March, seen from a point of view which, happily, no one +shares with me, has been a history of ailments. In shunning the +English March, we found one quite as disagreeable, without the +mitigation of home comforts; and though we went even as far as Naples +in search of warmth, we never found it until we settled in Rome, at +the beginning of April. Here we had many days of unbroken sunshine, +and enjoyed what we were never able to enjoy during our month's stay +in 1860--the many glorious views of the city and the mountains. The +chief novelty to us in our long route has been the sight of Assisi and +Ravenna; the rest has been a revisiting of scenes already in our +memories; and to most of them we have probably said our last +good-bye. Enough of us and our travels. The only remarkable thing +people can tell of their doings in these days is that they have stayed +at home. + +The _Fortnightly_ lay uncut at Mr. Trollope's, and Mr. Lewes had +nothing more pressing to do than to cut it open at the reply to +Professor Huxley.[6] He presently came to me, and said it was +excellent. It delighted him the more because he had just before, at +Rome, alighted on the _Pall Mall_ account of the article, which +falsely represented it as entirely apologetic. At the first spare +moment I plunged into an easy-chair, and read, with thorough +satisfaction in the admirable temper and the force of the reply. We +intend to start for Calais this evening; and as the rain prevents us +from doing anything agreeable out of doors, I have nothing to hinder +me from sitting, with my knees up to my chin, and scribbling, now that +I am become a little sounder in head and in body generally than +beautiful Italy allowed me to be. As beautiful as ever--more +beautiful--it has looked to me on this last visit; and it is the fault +of my _physique_ if it did not agree with me. Pray offer my warmest +sympathy to Dr. Congreve in the anxieties of his difficult task. What +hard work it seems to go on living sometimes! Blessed are the dead. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_May 5._--We reached home after our nine weeks' absence. In that time +we have been through France to Marseilles, along the Cornice to +Spezia, then to Pisa, Florence, Naples, Rome, Assisi, Perugia, +Florence again, Ravenna, Bologna, Verona; across the Brenner Pass to +Munich; then to Paris _viâ_ Strasburg. In such a journey there was +necessarily much interest both in renewing old memories and recording +new; but I never had such continuous bad health in travelling as I +have had during these nine weeks. On our arrival at home I found a +delightful letter from Mrs. H. B. Stowe, whom I have never seen, +addressing me as her "dear friend." + + It was during this journey that I, for the first time, saw my + future wife, at Rome. My eldest sister had married Mr. W. H. + Bullock (now Mr. W. H. Hall), of Six-Mile-Bottom, + Cambridgeshire, and they were on their wedding journey at + Rome when they happened to meet Mr. and Mrs. Lewes by chance + in the Pamfili Doria Gardens. They saw a good deal of one + another, and when I arrived, with my mother and another + sister, we went by invitation to call at the Hôtel Minerva, + where Mr. Lewes had found rooms on their first arrival in + Rome. I have a very vivid recollection of George Eliot + sitting on a sofa with my mother by her side, entirely + engrossed with her. Mr. Lewes entertained my sister and me on + the other side of the room. But I was very anxious to hear + also the conversation on the sofa, as I was better acquainted + with George Eliot's books than with any other literature. And + through the dimness of these fifteen years, and all that has + happened in them, I still seem to hear, as I first heard + them, the low, earnest, deep, musical tones of her voice; I + still seem to see the fine brows, with the abundant + auburn-brown hair framing them, the long head, broadening at + the back, the gray-blue eyes, constantly changing in + expression, but always with a very loving, almost + deprecating, look at my mother, the finely-formed, thin, + transparent hands, and a whole _Wesen_ that seemed in + complete harmony with everything one expected to find in the + author of "Romola." The next day Mr. and Mrs. Lewes went on + to Assisi and we to Naples, and we did not meet again till + the following August at Weybridge. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 8th May, 1869.] + +I value very highly the warrant to call you friend which your letter +has given me. It lay awaiting me on our return, the other night, from +a nine weeks' absence in Italy, and it made me almost wish that you +could have a momentary vision of the discouragement--nay, paralyzing +despondency--in which many days of my writing life have been passed, +in order that you might fully understand the good I find in such +sympathy as yours--in such an assurance as you give me that my work +has been worth doing. But I will not dwell on any mental sickness of +mine. The best joy your words give me is the sense of that sweet, +generous feeling in you which dictated them, and I shall always be the +richer because you have in this way made me know you better. I must +tell you that my first glimpse of you as a woman came through a letter +of yours, and charmed me very much. The letter was addressed to Mrs. +Follen; and one morning when I called on her in London (how many years +ago![7]) she was kind enough to read it to me because it contained a +little history of your life, and a sketch of your domestic +circumstances. I remember thinking that it was very kind of you to +write that long letter in reply to the inquiries of one who was +personally unknown to you; and looking back with my present experience +I think it was still kinder than it then appeared. For at that time +you must have been much oppressed with the immediate results of your +fame. I remember, too, that you wrote of your husband as one who was +richer in Hebrew and Greek than in pounds or shillings; and as the +ardent scholar has always been a character of peculiar interest to me, +I have rarely had your image in my mind without the accompanying image +(more or less erroneous) of such a scholar by your side. I shall +welcome the fruit of his Goethe studies, whenever it comes. In the +meantime let me assure you that whoever else gave you that description +of my husband's "History of Philosophy"--namely, "that it was to solve +and settle all things"--he himself never saw it in that light. The +work has been greatly altered, as well as enlarged, in three +successive editions; and his mind is so far from being a captive to +his own written words that he is now engaged in physiological and +psychological researches which are leading him to issues at variance +in some important respects with the views expressed in some of his +published works. He is one of the few human beings I have known who +will often, in the heat of an argument, see, and straightway confess, +that he is in the wrong, instead of trying to shift his ground or use +any other device of vanity. + +I have good hopes that your fears are groundless as to the obstacles +your new book may find here from its thorough American character. Most +readers who are likely to be really influenced by writing above the +common order will find that special aspect an added reason for +interest and study, and I dare say you have long seen, as I am +beginning to see with new clearness, that if a book which has any sort +of exquisiteness happens also to be a popular, widely circulated +book, its power over the social mind for any good is, after all, due +to its reception by a few appreciative natures, and is the slow result +of radiation from that narrow circle. I mean, that you can affect a +few souls, and that each of these in turn may affect a few more, but +that no exquisite book tells properly and directly on a multitude, +however largely it may be spread by type and paper. Witness the things +the multitude will say about it, if one is so unhappy as to be obliged +to hear their sayings. I do not write this cynically, but in pure +sadness and pity. Both travelling abroad, and staying at home among +our English sights and sports, one must continually feel how slowly +the centuries work towards the moral good of men. And that thought +lies very close to what you say as to your wonder or conjecture +concerning my religious point of view. I believe that religion, too, +has to be modified--"developed," according to the dominant phrase--and +that a religion more perfect than any yet prevalent must express less +care for personal consolation, and a more deeply-awing sense of +responsibility to man, springing from sympathy with that which of all +things is most certainly known to us, the difficulty of the human lot. +I do not find my temple in Pantheism, which, whatever might be its +value speculatively, could not yield a practical religion, since it is +an attempt to look at the universe from the outside of our relations +to it (that universe) as human beings. As healthy, sane human beings, +we must love and hate--love what is good for mankind, hate what is +evil for mankind. For years of my youth I dwelt in dreams of a +pantheistic sort, falsely supposing that I was enlarging my sympathy. +But I have travelled far away from that time. Letters are necessarily +narrow and fragmentary, and, when one writes on wide subjects, are +liable to create more misunderstanding than illumination. But I have +little anxiety of that kind in writing to you, dear friend and +fellow-laborer, for you have had longer experience than I as a writer, +and fuller experience as a woman, since you have borne children and +known the mother's history from the beginning. I trust your quick and +long-taught mind as an interpreter little liable to mistake me. + +When you say, "We live in an orange grove and are planting many more," +and when I think that you must have abundant family love to cheer you, +it seems to me that you must have a paradise about you. But no list of +circumstances will make a paradise. Nevertheless, I must believe that +the joyous, tender humor of your books clings about your more +immediate life, and makes some of that sunshine for yourself which you +have given to us. + +I see the advertisement of "Old Town Folk," and shall eagerly expect +it. + +That and every other new link between us will be reverentially valued. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_May 8_ (Saturday).--Poor Thornie arrived from Natal, sadly wasted by +suffering. + +_May 24._--Sold "Agatha" to Fields & Osgood, for the _Atlantic +Monthly_, for £300. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 26th May, 1869.] + +That "disturbance" in my favorite work, with which you and Dr. +Congreve are good enough to sympathize, is unhappily greater now than +it has been for years before. Our poor Thornie came back to us about +seventeen days ago. We can never rejoice enough that we were already +at home, seeing that we held it impossible for him to set out on his +voyage until at least six weeks later than he did. Since he arrived +our lives have been chiefly absorbed by cares for him; and though we +now have a nurse to attend on him constantly, we spend several hours +of the day by his side. There is joy in the midst of our trouble, from +the tenderness towards the sufferer being altogether unchecked by +anything unlovable in him. Thornie's disposition seems to have become +sweeter than ever with the added six years; and there is nothing that +we discern in his character or habits to cause us grief. Enough of our +troubles. I gather from your welcome letter, received this morning, +that there is a good deal of enjoyment for you in your temporary home, +in spite of bad weather and faceache, which I hope will have passed +away when you read this. + +Mr. Beesley[8] wrote to me to tell me of his engagement, and on Sunday +we had the pleasure of shaking him by the hand and seeing him look +very happy. His is one of a group of prospective marriages which we +have had announced to us since we came home. Besides Mr. Harrison's, +there is Dr. Allbut's, our charming friend at Leeds. I told Mr. +Beesley that I thought myself magnanimous in really rejoicing at the +engagements of men friends, because, of course, they will be +comparatively indifferent to their old intimates. + +Dear Madame Bodichon is a precious help to us. She comes twice a week +to sit with Thornie, and she is wonderfully clever in talking to young +people. One finds out those who have real practical sympathy in times +of trouble. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 9th June, 1869.] + +Your letter has fulfilled two wishes of mine. It shows me that you +keep me in your kind thoughts, and that you are very happy. I had been +told by our friends, the Nortons, of your engagement, but I knew +nothing more than that bare fact, and your letter gives me more of a +picture. A very pretty picture--for I like to think of your love +having grown imperceptibly along with sweet family affections. I do +heartily share in your happiness, for however space and time may keep +us asunder, you will never to my mind be lost in the distance, but +will hold a place of marked and valued interest quite apart from those +more public hopes about you which I shall not cease to cherish. + +Both Mr. Lewes and I shall be delighted to see you any evening. I +imagine that when you are obliged to stay in town the evening will be +the easiest time for you to get out to us. Any time after eight you +will find us thoroughly glad to shake hands with you. Do come when you +can. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_July 3._--Finished my reading in Lucretius. Reading Victor Hugo's +"L'homme qui rit;" also the Frau von Hillern's novel, "Ein Arzt der +Seele." This week G. and I have been to Sevenoaks, but were driven +home again by the cold winds and cloudy skies. "Sonnets on +Childhood"--five--finished. + +_July 10._--I wrote to Mrs. Stowe, in answer to a second letter of +hers, accompanied by one from her husband. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 11th July, 1869.] + +I hoped before this to have seen our friend, Mrs. Fields, on her +return from Scotland, and to have begged her to send you word of a +domestic affliction which has prevented me from writing to you since I +received your and your husband's valued letters. Immediately on our +return from Italy, Mr. Lewes's second son, a fine young man of +five-and-twenty, returned to us from Natal, wasted by suffering from +a long-standing spinal injury. This was on the 8th of May, and since +then we have both been absorbed in our duties to this poor child, and +have felt our own health and nervous energy insufficient for our +needful activity of body and mind. He is at present no better, and we +look forward to a long trial. Nothing but a trouble so great as this +would have prevented me from writing again to you, not only to thank +you and Professor Stowe for your letters, but also to tell you that I +have received and read "Old Town Folks." I think few of your many +readers can have felt more interest than I have felt in that picture +of an elder generation; for my interest in it has a double root--one, +in my own love for our old-fashioned provincial life, which had its +affinities with a contemporary life, even all across the Atlantic, and +of which I have gathered glimpses in different phases, from my father +and mother, with their relations; the other is, my experimental +acquaintance with some shades of Calvinistic orthodoxy. I think your +way of presenting the religious convictions which are not your own, +except by indirect fellowship, is a triumph of insight and true +tolerance. A thorough comprehension of the mixed moral influence shed +on society by dogmatic systems is rare even among writers, and one +misses it altogether in English drawing-room talk. I thank you +sincerely for the gift (in every sense) of this book, which, I can +see, has been a labor of love. + +Both Mr. Lewes and I are deeply interested in the indications which +the Professor gives of his peculiar psychological experience, and we +should feel it a great privilege to learn much more of it from his +lips. It is a rare thing to have such an opportunity of studying +exceptional experience in the testimony of a truthful and in every +way distinguished mind. He will, I am sure, accept the brief thanks +which I can give in this letter, for all that he has generously +written to me. He says, "I have had no connection with any of the +modern movements, except as father confessor;" and I can well believe +that he must be peculiarly sensitive to the repulsive aspects which +those movements present. Your view as to the cause of that "great wave +of spiritualism" which is rushing over America--namely, that it is a +sort of Rachel-cry of bereavement towards the invisible existence of +the loved ones, is deeply affecting. But so far as "spiritualism" (by +which I mean, of course, spirit-communication, by rapping, guidance of +the pencil, etc.) has come within reach of my judgment on our side of +the water, it has appeared to me either as degrading folly, imbecile +in the estimate of evidence, or else as impudent imposture. So far as +my observation and experience have hitherto gone, it has even seemed +to me an impiety to withdraw from the more assured methods of studying +the open secret of the universe any large amount of attention to +alleged manifestations which are so defiled by low adventurers and +their palpable trickeries, so hopelessly involved in all the +doubtfulness of individual testimonies as to phenomena witnessed, +which testimonies are no more true objectively because they are honest +subjectively, than the Ptolemaic system is true because it seemed to +Tycho Brahé a better explanation of the heavenly movements than the +Copernican. This is a brief statement of my position on the subject, +which your letter shows me to have an aspect much more compulsory on +serious attention in America than I can perceive it to have in +England. I should not be as simply truthful as my deep respect for you +demands, if I did not tell you exactly what is my mental attitude in +relation to the phenomena in question. But whatever you print on the +subject and will send me I shall read with attention, and the idea you +give me of the hold which spiritualism has gained on the public mind +in the United States is already a fact of historic importance. + +Forgive me, dear friend, if I write in the scantiest manner, +unworthily responding to letters which have touched me profoundly. You +have known so much of life, both in its more external trials and in +the peculiar struggles of a nature which is made twofold in its +demands by the yearnings of the author as well as of the woman, that I +can count on your indulgence and power of understanding my present +inability to correspond by letter. + +May I add my kind remembrances to your daughter to the high regard +which I offer to your husband? + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_July 14._--Returned from Hatfield, after two days' stay. + +_July 15._--Began Nisard's "History of French +Literature"--Villehardouin, Joinville, Froissart, Christine de Pisan, +Philippe de Comines, Villers. + +_July 16._--Read the articles Phoenicia and Carthage in "Ancient +Geography." Looked into Jewitt's "Universal History" again for +Carthaginian religion. Looked into Sismondi's "Littérature du Midi" +for Roman de la Rose; and ran through the first chapter about the +formation of the Romance languages. Read about _Thallogens_ and +_Acrogens_ in the "Vegetable World." Read Drayton's "Nymphidia"--a +charming poem--a few pages of his "Polyolbion." Re-read Grote, +v.-vii., on Sicilian affairs, down to rise of Dionysius. + +_July 18._--Miss Nannie Smith came, after a long absence from England; +Professor Masson and Dr. Bastian, Madame Bodichon, and Dr. Payne. Some +conversation about Saint-Simonism, _à propos_ of the meeting on +Woman's Suffrage the day before, M. Arles Dufour being uneasy because +Mill did not in his speech recognize what women owed to +Saint-Simonism. + +_July 19._--Writing an introduction to "Middlemarch." I have just +re-read the 15th Idyll of Theocritus, and have written three more +sonnets. My head uneasy. We went in the afternoon to the old +water-colors, finding that the exhibition was to close at the end of +the week. Burne-Jones's Circe and St. George affected me, by their +colors, more than any of the other pictures--they are poems. In the +evening read Nisard on Rabelais and Marot. + +_July 22._--Read Reybaud's book on "Les Réformateurs Modernes." In the +afternoon Mrs. P. Taylor came and saw Thornie, who has been more +uneasy this week, and unwilling to move or come out on the lawn. + +_July 23._--Read Theocritus, Id. 16. Meditated characters for +"Middlemarch." Mrs. F. Malleson came. + +_July 24._--Still not quite well and clear-headed, so that little +progress is made. I read aloud Fourier and Owen, and thought of +writing something about Utopists. + +_July 25._--Read Plato's "Republic" in various parts. After lunch Miss +Nannie Smith, Miss Blythe, Mr. Burton, and Mr. Deutsch. In the evening +I read Nisard, and Littré on Comte. + +_Aug. 1._--Since last Sunday I have had an uncomfortable week from +mental and bodily disturbance. I have finished eleven sonnets on +"Brother and Sister," read Littré, Nisard, part of 22d Idyll of +Theocritus, Sainte-Beuve, aloud to G. two evenings. Monday evening +looked through Dickson's "Fallacies of the Faculty." On Tuesday +afternoon we went to the British Museum to see a new bronze, and I was +enchanted with some fragments of glass in the Slade collection, with +dyes of sunset in them. Yesterday, sitting in Thornie's room, I read +through all Shakespeare's "Sonnets." Poor Thornie has had a miserably +unsatisfactory week, making no progress. After lunch came Miss N. +Smith and Miss Blythe, Mr. Burton, Mr. and Mrs. Burne-Jones, and Mr. +Sanderson. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 1st Aug. 1869.] + +My last words to you might appear to imply something laughably opposed +to my real meaning. "Think of me only as an example" meant--an example +to be avoided. It was an allusion in my mind to the servant-girl who, +being arrested for theft, said to her fellow-servant, "Take example by +me, Sally." With the usual caprice of language, we say. "Make an +example of her," in that sense of holding up for a warning, which the +poor girl and I intended. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_Aug. 2._--Began "Middlemarch" (the Vincy and Featherstone parts). + +_Aug. 5._--Thornie during the last two or three days gives much more +hopeful signs: has been much more lively, with more regular appetite +and quieter nights. This morning I finished the first chapter of +"Middlemarch." I am reading Renouard's "History of Medicine." + +_Aug. 31._--We went to Weybridge, walked on St. George's Hill, and +lunched with Mrs. Cross and her family. + + This visit to Weybridge is a very memorable one to me, + because there my own first intimacy with George Eliot began, + and the bonds with my family were knitted very much closer. + Mr. and Mrs. Bullock were staying with us; and my sister, who + had some gift for music, had set one or two of the songs from + the "Spanish Gypsy." She sang one of them--"On through the + woods, the pillared pines"--and it affected George Eliot + deeply. She moved quickly to the piano, and kissed Mrs. + Bullock very warmly, in her tears. Mr. and Mrs. Lewes were in + deep trouble owing to the illness of Thornton Lewes; we were + also in much anxiety as to the approaching confinement of my + sister with her first child; and I was on the eve of + departure for America. Sympathetic feelings were strong + enough to overleap the barrier (often hard to pass) which + separates acquaintanceship from friendship. A day did the + work of years. Our visitors had come to the house as + acquaintances, they left it as lifelong friends. And the + sequel of that day greatly intensified the intimacy. For + within a month my sister had died in childbirth, and her + death called forth one of the most beautiful of George + Eliot's letters. A month later Thornton Lewes died. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_Sept. 1._--I meditated characters and conditions for "Middlemarch," +which stands still in the beginning of chapter iii. + +_Sept. 2._--We spent the morning in Hatfield Park, arriving at home +again at half-past three. + +_Sept. 10._--I have achieved little during the last week, except +reading on medical subjects--Encyclopædia about the "Medical +Colleges," "Cullen's Life," Russell's "Heroes of Medicine," etc. I +have also read Aristophanes' "Ecclesiazusoe," and "Macbeth." + +_Sept. 11._--I do not feel very confident that I can make anything +satisfactory of "Middlemarch." I have need to remember that other +things which have been accomplished by me were begun under the same +cloud. G. has been reading "Romola" again, and expresses profound +admiration. This is encouraging. + +_Sept. 15._--George and I went to Sevenoaks for a couple of nights, +and had some delicious walks. + +_Sept. 21._--Finished studying again Bekker's "Charikles." I am +reading Mandeville's Travels. As to my work, _im Stiche gerathen_. +Mrs. Congreve and Miss Bury came; and I asked Mrs. Congreve to get me +some information about provincial hospitals, which is necessary to my +imagining the conditions of my hero. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 21st Sept. 1869.] + +As to the Byron subject, nothing can outweigh to my mind the heavy +social injury of familiarizing young minds with the desecration of +family ties. The discussion of the subject in newspapers, periodicals, +and pamphlets is simply odious to me, and I think it a pestilence +likely to leave very ugly marks. One trembles to think how easily that +moral wealth may be lost which it has been the work of ages to produce +in the refinement and differencing of the affectionate relations. As +to the high-flown stuff which is being reproduced about Byron and his +poetry, I am utterly out of sympathy with it. He seems to me the most +_vulgar-minded_ genius that ever produced a great effect in +literature. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1869.] + +_Sept. 22._--We went down to Watford for a change. + +_Sept. 24._--Returned home this morning because of the unpromising +weather. It is worth while to record my great depression of spirits, +that I may remember one more resurrection from the pit of melancholy. +And yet what love is given to me! What abundance of good I possess! +All my circumstances are blessed; and the defect is only in my own +organism. Courage and effort! + +_Oct. 5._--Ever since the 28th I have been good for little, ailing in +body and disabled in mind. On Sunday an interesting Russian pair came +to see us--M. and Mme. Kovilevsky: she, a pretty creature, with +charming modest voice and speech, who is studying mathematics (by +allowance, through the aid of Kirchhoff) at Heidelberg; he, amiable +and intelligent, studying the concrete sciences apparently--especially +geology; and about to go to Vienna for six months for this purpose, +leaving his wife at Heidelberg! + +I have begun a long-meditated poem, "The Legend of Jubal," but have +not written more than twenty or thirty verses. + +_Oct. 13._--Yesterday Mr. W. G. Clark of Cambridge came to see us, and +told of his intention to give up his oratorship and renounce his +connection with the Church. + +I have read rapidly through Max Müller's "History of Sanskrit +Literature," and am now reading Lecky's "History of Morals." I have +also finished Herbert Spencer's last number of his "Psychology." My +head has been sadly feeble, and my whole body ailing of late. I have +written about one hundred verses of my poem. Poor Thornie seems to us +in a state of growing weakness. + +_Oct. 19._--This evening at half-past six our dear Thornie died. He +went quite peacefully. For three days he was not more than fitfully +and imperfectly conscious of the things around him. He went to Natal +on the 17th October, 1863, and came back to us ill on the 8th May, +1869. Through the six months of his illness his frank, impulsive mind +disclosed no trace of evil feeling. He was a sweet-natured boy--still +a boy, though he had lived for twenty-five years and a half. On the +9th of August he had an attack of paraplegia, and although he +partially recovered from it, it made a marked change in him. After +that he lost a great deal of his vivacity, but he suffered less pain. +This death seems to me the beginning of our own. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th Dec. 1869.] + +The day after our dear boy's funeral we went into the quietest and +most beautiful part of Surrey, four miles and a half from any railway +station. I was very much shaken in mind and body, and nothing but the +deep calm of fields and woods would have had a beneficent effect on +me. We both of us felt, more than ever before, the blessedness of +being in the country, and we are come back much restored. It will +interest you, I think, to know that a friend of ours, Mr. W. G. Clark, +the public orator at Cambridge, laid down his oratorship as a +preparatory step to writing a letter to his bishop renouncing, or, +rather, claiming to be free from, his clerical status, because he no +longer believes what it presupposes him to believe. Two other men whom +we know are about to renounce Cambridge fellowships on the same +ground. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 31st Dec. 1869.] + +We shall be delighted to have you on Monday. I hope you will get your +business done early enough to be by a good fire in our drawing-room +before lunch. Mr. Doyle is coming to dine with us, but you will not +mind that. He is a dear man, a good Catholic, full of varied +sympathies and picturesque knowledge. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 15th Jan. 1870.] + +I am moved to write to you rather by the inclination to remind you of +me than by the sense of having anything to say. On reading "The +Positivist Problem"[9] a second time, I gained a stronger impression +of its general value, and I also felt less jarred by the more personal +part at the close. Mr. Lewes would tell you that I have an +unreasonable aversion to personal statements, and when I come to like +them it is usually by a hard process of _con_-version. But my second +reading gave me a new and very strong sense that the last two or three +pages have the air of an appendix, added at some distance of time from +the original writing of the article. Some more thoroughly explanatory +account of your non-adhesion seems requisite as a nexus--since the +statement of your non-adhesion had to be mentioned after an argument +for the system against the outer Gentile world. However, it is more +important for me to say that I felt the thorough justice of your +words, when, in conversation with me, you said, "I don't see why there +should be any mystification; having come to a resolution after much +inward debate, it is better to state the resolution." Something like +that you said, and I give a hearty "Amen," praying that I may not be +too apt myself to prefer the haze to the clearness. But the fact is, I +shrink from decided "deliverances" on momentous subjects from the +dread of coming to swear by my own "deliverances," and sinking into an +insistent echo of myself. That is a horrible destiny--and one cannot +help seeing that many of the most powerful men fall into it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Mch. 1870.] + +Cara has told me about your republication of the "Inquiry," and I have +a longing to write--not intrusively, I hope--just to say "thank you" +for the good it does me to know of your being engaged in that act of +piety to your brother's memory. I delight in the act itself, and in +the satisfaction which I know you have in performing it. When I +remember my own obligation to the book, I must believe that among the +many new readers a cheap edition will reach there must be minds to +whom it will bring welcome light in studying the New Testament--sober, +serious help towards a conception of the past, instead of stage-lights +and make-ups. And this value is, I think, independent of the opinions +that might be held as to the different degrees of success in the +construction of probabilities or in particular interpretations. +Throughout there is the presence of grave sincerity. I would gladly +have a word or two directly from yourself when you can scribble a note +without feeling me a bore for wanting it. People who write many +letters without being forced to do so are fathomless wonders to me, +but you have a special faculty for writing such letters as one cares +to read, so it is a pity that the accomplishment should lie quite +unused. I wonder if you have read Emerson's new essays. I like them +very much. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 3d April, 1870.] + +We shall leave Berlin on Tuesday, so that I must ask you to send me +the much-desired news of you to Vienna, addressed to the Hon. Robert +Lytton, British Embassy. We do not yet know the name of the hotel +where rooms have been taken for us. Our journey has not been +unfortunate hitherto. The weather has been cold and cheerless, but we +expected this, and on the 1st of April the sun began to shine. As for +my _Wenigkeit_, it has never known a day of real bodily comfort since +we got to Berlin: headache, sore throat, and _Schnupfen_ have been +alternately my companions, and have made my enjoyment very languid. +But think of this as all past when you get my letter; for this +morning I have a clearer head, the sun is shining, and the better time +seems to be come for me. Mr. Lewes has had a good deal of satisfaction +in his visits to laboratories and to the _Charité_, where he is just +now gone for the third time to see more varieties of mad people, and +hear more about Psychiatrie from Dr. Westphal, a quiet, unpretending +little man, who seems to have been delighted with George's sympathetic +interest in this (to me) hideous branch of practice. I speak with all +reverence: the world can't do without hideous studies. + +People have been very kind to us, and have overwhelmed us with +attentions, but we have felt a little weary in the midst of our +gratitude, and since my cold has become worse we have been obliged to +cut off further invitations. + +We have seen many and various men and women, but except Mommsen, +Bunsen, and Du Bois Reymond, hardly any whose names would be known to +you. If I had been in good health I should probably have continued to +be more amused than tired of sitting on a sofa and having one person +after another brought up to bow to me, and pay me the same compliment. +Even as it was, I felt my heart go out to some good women who seemed +really to have an affectionate feeling towards me for the sake of my +books. But the sick animal longs for quiet and darkness. + +The other night, at Dr. Westphal's, I saw a young English lady +marvellously like Emily in face, figure, and voice. I made advances to +her on the strength of that external resemblance, and found it carried +out in the quickness of her remarks. But new gentlemen to be introduced +soon divided us. Another elegant, pretty woman there was old Boeckh's +daughter. One enters on all subjects by turns in these evening +parties, which are something like reading the Conversations-Lexicon in +a nightmare. Among lighter entertainments we have been four times to +the opera, being tempted at the very beginning of our stay by Gluck, +Mozart, and an opportunity of hearing Tannhäuser for the second time. +Also we have enjoyed some fine orchestral concerts, which are to be had +for sixpence! Berlin has been growing very fast since our former stay +here, and luxury in all forms has increased so much that one only here +and there gets a glimpse of the old-fashioned German housekeeping. But +though later hours are becoming fashionable, the members of the +Reichstag who have other business than politics complain of having to +begin their sitting at eleven, ending, instead of beginning, at four, +when the solid day is almost gone. We went to the Reichstag one +morning, and were so fortunate as to hear Bismarck speak. But the +question was one of currency, and his speech was merely a brief +winding-up. + +Now I shall think that I have earned a letter telling me all about +you. May there be nothing but good to tell of! Pray give my best love +to Emily, and my earnest wishes to Dr. Congreve, that he may have +satisfaction in new work. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 18th May, 1870.] + +I gladly and gratefully keep the portrait.[10] For my own part, I +should have said, without hesitation, "Prefix it to the 'Inquiry.'" +One must not be unreasonable about portraits. How can a thing which is +always the same be an adequate representation of a living being who is +always varying--especially of a living being who is sensitive, bright, +many-sided, as your brother was? But I think the impression which this +portrait gives excites interest. I am often sorry for people who lose +half their possible good in the world by being more alive to +deficiencies than to positive merits. + +I like to know that you have felt in common with me while you read +"Jubal." Curiously enough, Mr. Lewes, when I first read it to him, +made just the remark you make about the scene of Jubal coming with the +lyre. We laughed at Mr. Bray's sharp criticism. Tell him it is not the +fashion for authors ever to be in the wrong. They have always +justifying reasons. But also it is the fashion for critics to know +everything, so that the authors don't think it needful to tell their +reasons. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1870.] + +_May 20._--I am fond of my little old book in which I have recorded so +many changes, and shall take to writing in it again. It will perhaps +last me all through the life that is left to me. Since I wrote in it +last, the day after Thornie's death, the chief epochs have been our +stay at Limpsfield, in Surrey, till near the beginning of December; my +writing of "Jubal," which I finished on the 13th of January; the +publication of the poem in the May number of _Macmillan's Magazine_; +and our journey to Berlin and Vienna, from which we returned on the +6th of this month, after an absence of eight weeks. This is a +fortnight ago, and little has been done by me in the interim. My +health is in an uncomfortable state, and I seem to be all the weaker +for the continual depression produced by cold and sore throat, which +stretched itself all through our long journey. These small bodily +grievances make life less desirable to me, though every one of my best +blessings--my one perfect love, and the sympathy shown towards me for +the sake of my works, and the personal regard of a few friends--have +become much intensified in these latter days. I am not hopeful about +future work. I am languid, and my novel languishes too. But to-morrow +may be better than to-day. + +_May 25._--We started for Oxford, where we were to stay with the +Rector of Lincoln and his wife. After luncheon G. and I walked alone +through the town, which, on this first view, was rather disappointing +to me. Presently we turned through Christ Church into the meadows, and +walked along by the river. This was beautiful to my heart's content. +The buttercups and hawthorns were in their glory, the chestnuts still +in sufficiently untarnished bloom, and the grand elms made a border +towards the town. After tea we went with Mrs. Pattison and the rector +to the croquet-ground near the Museum. On our way we saw Sir Benjamin +Brodie, and on the ground Professor Rawlinson, the "narrow-headed +man;" Mrs. Thursfield and her son, who is a Fellow (I think, of +Corpus); Miss Arnold, daughter of Mr. Thomas Arnold, and Professor +Phillips, the geologist. At supper we had Mr. Bywater and Miss Arnold, +and in chat with them the evening was passed. + +_May 26._--G. and I went to the Museum, and had an interesting morning +with Dr. Rolleston, who dissected a brain for me. After lunch we went +again to the Museum, and spent the afternoon with Sir Benjamin Brodie, +seeing various objects in his laboratories; among others, the method +by which weighing has been superseded in delicate matters by +_measuring_ in a graduated glass tube. Afterwards Mrs. Pattison took +me a drive in her little pony carriage round by their country refuge, +the Firs, Haddington, and by Littlemore, where I saw J. H. Newman's +little conventual dwelling. Returning, we had a fine view of the +Oxford towers. To supper came Sir Benjamin and Lady Brodie. + +_May 27._--In the morning we walked to see the two Martyrs' Memorial, +and then to Sir Benjamin Brodie's pretty place near the river and +bridge. Close by their grounds is the original ford whence the place +took its name. The Miss Gaskells were staying with them, and, after +chatting some time, we two walked with Sir Benjamin to New College, +where we saw the gardens surrounded by the old city wall; the chapel +where William of Wykeham's crosier is kept; and the cloisters, which +are fine, but gloomy, and less beautiful than those of Magdalen, which +we saw in our walk on Thursday before going to the Museum. After lunch +we went to the Bodleian, and then to the Sheldonian Theatre, where +there was a meeting _à propos_ of Palestine Exploration. Captain +Warren, conductor of the Exploration at Jerusalem, read a paper, and +then Mr. Deutsch gave an account of the interpretation, as hitherto +arrived at, of the Moabite Stone. I saw squeezes of this stone for the +first time, with photographs taken from the squeezes. After tea Mrs. +Thursfield kindly took us to see a boat-race. We saw it from the Oriel +barge, under the escort of Mr. Crichton, Fellow of Merton, who, on our +return, took us through the lovely gardens of his college. At supper +were Mr. Jowett, Professor Henry Smith, and Miss Smith, his sister, +Mr. Fowler, author of "Deductive Logic," etc. + +_May 28._--After a walk to St. John's College we started by the train +for London, and arrived at home about two o'clock. + +_May 29._--Mr. Spencer, Mrs. Burne-Jones, and Mr. Crompton came. I +read aloud No. 3 of "Edwin Drood." + +_May 30._--We went to see the autotypes of Michael Angelo's frescoes, +at 36 Rathbone Place. I began Grove on the "Correlation of the +Physical Forces"--needing to read it again--with new interest, after +the lapse of years. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 13th June, 1870.] + +Dr. Reynolds advises Mr. Lewes to leave London again, and go to the +bracing air of the Yorkshire coast. I said that we should be here till +the beginning of August, but the internal order proposes and the +external order disposes--if we are to be so priggish as to alter all +our old proverbs into agreement with new formulas! Dickens's death +came as a great shock to us. He lunched with us just before we went +abroad, and was telling us a story of President Lincoln having told +the Council, on the day he was shot, that something remarkable would +happen, because he had just dreamt, for the third time, a dream which +twice before had preceded events momentous to the nation. The dream +was, that he was in a boat on a great river, all alone, and he ended +with the words, "I drift--I drift--I drift." Dickens told this very +finely. I thought him looking dreadfully shattered then. It is +probable that he never recovered from the effect of the terrible +railway accident. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 23d June, 1870, from Cromer.] + +We have been driven away from home again by the state of Mr. Lewes's +health. Dr. Reynolds recommended the Yorkshire coast; but we wanted to +know Cromer, and so we came here first, for the sake of variety. To me +the most desirable thing just now seems to be to have one home, and +stay there till death comes to take me away. I get more and more +disinclined to the perpetual makeshifts of a migratory life, and care +more and more for the order and habitual objects of home. However, +there are many in the world whose whole existence is a makeshift, and +perhaps the formula which would fit the largest number of lives is "a +doing without, more or less patiently." The air just now is not very +invigorating anywhere, I imagine, and one begins to be very anxious +about the nation generally, on account of the threatening drought. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Robert Lytton (now Lady Lytton), +8th July, 1870, from Harrogate.] + +I did not like to write to you[11] until Mr. Lytton sent word that I +might do so, because I had not the intimate knowledge that would have +enabled me to measure your trouble; and one dreads, of all things, to +speak or write a wrong or unseasonable word when words are the only +signs of interest and sympathy that one has to give. I know now, from +what your dear husband has told us, that your loss is very keenly felt +by you, that it has first made you acquainted with acute grief, and +this makes me think of you very much. For learning to love any one is +like an increase of property--it increases care, and brings many new +fears lest precious things should come to harm. I find myself often +thinking of you with that sort of proprietor's anxiety, wanting you to +have gentle weather all through your life, so that your face may never +look worn and storm-beaten, and wanting your husband to be and do the +very best, lest anything short of that should be disappointment to +you. At present the thought of you is all the more with me because +your trouble has been brought by death; and for nearly a year death +seems to me my most intimate daily companion. I mingle the thought of +it with every other, not sadly, but as one mingles the thought of some +one who is nearest in love and duty with all one's motives. I try to +delight in the sunshine that will be when I shall never see it any +more. And I think it is possible for this sort of impersonal life to +attain great intensity--possible for us to gain much more independence +than is usually believed of the small bundle of facts that make our +own personality. I don't know why I should say this to you, except +that my pen is chatting as my tongue would if you were here. We women +are always in danger of living too exclusively in the affections, and +though our affections are, perhaps, the best gifts we have, we ought +also to have our share of the more independent life--some joy in +things for their own sake. It is piteous to see the helplessness of +some sweet women when their affections are disappointed; because all +their teaching has been that they can only delight in study of any +kind for the sake of a personal love. They have never contemplated an +independent delight in ideas as an experience which they could confess +without being laughed at. Yet surely women need this sort of defence +against passionate affliction even more than men. Just under the +pressure of grief, I do not believe there is any consolation. The word +seems to me to be drapery for falsities. Sorrow must be sorrow, ill +must be ill, till duty and love towards all who remain recover their +rightful predominance. Your life is so full of those claims that you +will not have time for brooding over the unchangeable. Do not spend +any of your valuable time now in writing to me, but be satisfied with +sending me news of you through Mr. Lytton when he has occasion to +write to Mr. Lewes. + +I have lately finished reading aloud Mendelssohn's "Letters," which we +had often resolved and failed to read before. They have been quite +cheering to us from the sense they give of communion with an eminently +pure, refined nature, with the most rigorous conscience in art. In +the evening we have always a concert to listen to--a concert of modest +pretensions, but well conducted enough to be agreeable. + +I hope this letter of chit-chat will not reach you at a wrong moment. +In any case, forgive all mistakes on the part of one who is always +yours sincerely and affectionately. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1870.] + +_Aug. 4._--Two months have been spent since the last record! Their +result is not rich, for we have been sent wandering again by G.'s want +of health. On the 15th June we went to Cromer, on the 30th to +Harrogate, and on the 18th July to Whitby, where Mrs. Burne-Jones also +arrived on the same day. On Monday, August 1, we came home again for a +week only, having arranged to go to Limpsfield next Monday. To-day, +under much depression, I begin a little dramatic poem,[12] the subject +of which engaged my interest at Harrogate. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 12th Aug. 1870.] + +We, too, you see, have come back to a well-tried refuge--the same +place that soothed us in our troubles last October--and we especially +delight in this deep country after the fuss which belongs even to +quiet watering-places, such as Cromer, Harrogate, and Whitby, which +are, after all, "alleys where the gentle folks live." We are excited, +even among the still woods and fields, by the vicissitudes of the war, +and chiefly concerned because we cannot succeed in getting the day's +_Times_. We have entered into the period which will be marked in +future historical charts as "The period of German ascendency." But how +saddening to think of the iniquities that the great harvest-moon is +looking down on! I am less grieved for the bloodshed than for the +hateful trust in lies which is continually disclosed. Meanwhile +Jowett's "Translation of Plato" is being prepared for publication, and +he has kindly sent us the sheets of one volume. So I pass from +discussions of French lying and the Nemesis that awaits it to +discussions about rhetorical lying at Athens in the fourth century +before Christ. The translations and introductions to the "Dialogues" +seem to be charmingly done. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 25th Aug. 1870.] + +We shall return to town on Monday, various small reasons concurring to +make us resolve on quitting this earthly paradise. I am very sorry for +the sufferings of the French nation; but I think these sufferings are +better for the moral welfare of the people than victory would have +been. The war has been drawn down on them by an iniquitous government; +but in a great proportion of the French people there has been +nourished a wicked glorification of selfish pride, which, like all +other conceit, is a sort of stupidity, excluding any true conception +of what lies outside their own vain wishes. The Germans, it seems, +were expected to stand like toy-soldiers for the French to knock them +down. It is quite true that the war is in some respects the conflict +of two differing forms of civilization. But whatever charm we may see +in the southern Latin races, this ought not to blind us to the great +contributions which the German energies have made in all sorts of ways +to the common treasure of mankind. And who that has any spirit of +justice can help sympathizing with them in their grand repulse of the +French project to invade and divide them? If I were a Frenchwoman, +much as I might wail over French sufferings, I cannot help believing +that I should detest the French talk about the "Prussians." They +wanted to throttle the electric eel for their own purposes. + +But I imagine that you and the doctor would not find us in much +disagreement with you in these matters. One thing that is pleasant to +think of is the effort made everywhere to help the wounded. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1870.] + +_Oct. 27._--On Monday the 8th August we went to our favorite Surrey +retreat--Limpsfield--and enjoyed three weeks there reading and walking +together. The weather was perfect, and the place seemed more lovely to +us than before. Aloud I read the concluding part of Walter Scott's +Life, which we had begun at Harrogate; two volumes of Froude's +"History of England," and Comte's "Correspondence with Valat." We +returned on Monday the 29th. + +During our stay at Limpsfield I wrote the greater part of "Armgart," +and finished it at intervals during September. Since then I have been +continually suffering from headache and depression, with almost total +despair of future work. I look into this little book now to assure +myself that this is not unprecedented. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 18th Nov. 1870.] + +Yesterday, for the first time, we went to hear A. (a popular +preacher). I remembered what you had said about his vulgar, false +emphasis; but there remained the fact of his celebrity. I was glad of +the opportunity. But my impressions fell below the lowest judgment I +ever heard passed upon him. He has the gift of a fine voice, very +flexible and various; he is admirably fluent and clear in his +language, and every now and then his enunciation is effective. But I +never heard any pulpit reading and speaking which in its level tone +was more utterly common and empty of guiding intelligence or emotion; +it was as if the words had been learned by heart and uttered without +comprehension by a man who had no instinct of rhythm or music in his +soul. And the doctrine! It was a libel on Calvinism that it should be +presented in such a form. I never heard any attempt to exhibit the +soul's experience that was more destitute of insight. The sermon was +against fear, in the elect Christian, as being a distrust of God; but +never once did he touch the true ground of fear--the doubt whether the +signs of God's choice are present in the soul. We had plenty of +anecdotes, but they were all poor and pointless--Tract Society +anecdotes of the feeblest kind. It was the most superficial +grocer's-back-parlor view of Calvinistic Christianity; and I was +shocked to find how low the mental pitch of our society must be, +judged by the standard of this man's celebrity. + +Mr. Lewes was struck with some of his tones as good actor's tones, and +was not so wroth as I was. But just now, with all Europe stirred by +events that make every conscience tremble after some great principle +as a consolation and guide, it was too exasperating to sit and listen +to doctrine that seemed to look no further than the retail Christian's +tea and muffins. He said "Let us approach the throne of God" very much +as he might have invited you to take a chair; and then followed this +fine touch--"We feel no love to God because he hears the prayers of +others; it is because he hears my prayer that I love him." + +You see I am relieving myself by pouring out my disgust to you. Oh, +how short life--how near death--seems to me! But this is not an +uncheerful thought. The only great dread is the protraction of life +into imbecility or the visitation of lingering pain. That seems to me +the insurmountable calamity, though there is an ignorant affectation +in many people of underrating what they call bodily suffering. I +systematically abstain from correspondence, yet the number of +acquaintances and consequent little appeals so constantly increases +that I often find myself inwardly rebelling against the amount of +note-writing that I cannot avoid. Have the great events of these +months interfered with your freedom of spirit in writing? One has to +dwell continually on the permanent, growing influence of ideas in +spite of temporary reactions, however violent, in order to get courage +and perseverance for any work which lies aloof from the immediate +wants of society. You remember Goethe's contempt for the Revolution of +'30 compared with the researches on the Vertebrate Structure of the +Skull? "My good friend, I was not thinking of those people." But the +changes we are seeing cannot be doffed aside in that way. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, Nov. 1870.] + +Lying awake early in the morning, according to a bad practice of mine, +I was visited with much compunction and self-disgust that I had ever +said a word to you about the faults of a friend whose good qualities +are made the more sacred by the endurance his lot has in many ways +demanded. I think you may fairly set down a full half of any alleged +grievances to my own susceptibility, and other faults of mine which +necessarily call forth less agreeable manifestations from others than +as many virtues would do, if I had them. I trust to your good sense to +have judged well in spite of my errors in the presentation of any +matter. But I wish to protest against myself, that I may, as much as +possible, cut off the temptation to what I should like utterly to +purify myself from for the few remaining years of my life--the +disposition to dwell for a moment on the faults of a friend. + +Tell the flower and fern giver, whoever it may be, that some strength +comes to me this morning from the pretty proof of sympathy. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 2d Dec. 1870.] + +I have it on my conscience that I may not have given you a clear +impression of my wishes about the poor pensioner who was in question +between us to-day, so I write at once to secure us both against a +possible misunderstanding. I would rather not apply any more money in +that direction, because I know of other channels[13]--especially a +plan which is being energetically carried out for helping a +considerable group of people without almsgiving, and solely by +inducing them to work--into which I shall be glad to pour a little +more aid. The repugnance to have relief from the parish was a feeling +which it was good to encourage in the old days of contra-encouragement +to sturdy pauperism; but I question whether one ought now to indulge +it, and not rather point out the reasons why, in a case of real +helplessness, there is no indignity in receiving from a public fund. + +After you had left me, it rang in my ears that I had spoken of my +greater cheerfulness as due to a reduced anxiety about myself and my +doings, and had not seemed to recognize that the deficit or evil in +other lives could be a cause of depression. I was not really so +ludicrously selfish while dressing myself up in the costume of +unselfishness. But my strong egoism has caused me so much melancholy, +which is traceable simply to a fastidious yet hungry ambition, that I +am relieved by the comparative quietude of personal craving which age +is bringing. That is the utmost I have to boast of, and, really, to be +cheerful in these times could only be a virtue in the sense in which +it was felt to be so by the old Romans when they thanked their general +for not despairing of the republic. + +I have been reading aloud to Mr. Lewes this evening Mr. Harrison's +article on "Bismarckism," which made me cry--it is in some passages +movingly eloquent. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1870.] + +_Dec. 2._--I am experimenting in a story ("Miss Brooke") which I began +without any very serious intention of carrying it out lengthily. It is +a subject which has been recorded among my possible themes ever since +I began to write fiction, but will probably take new shapes in the +development. I am to-day at p. 44. I am reading Wolf's "Prolegomena to +Homer." In the evening, aloud, "Wilhelm Meister" again! + +_Dec. 12._--George's mother died this morning quite peacefully as she +sat in her chair. + +_Dec. 17._--Reading "Quintus Fixlein" aloud to G. in the evening. +Grote on Sicilian history. + +_Dec. 31._--On Wednesday the 21st we went to Ryde to see Madame +Bodichon at Swanmore Parsonage, a house which she had taken for two +months. We had a pleasant and healthy visit, walking much in the +frosty air. On Christmas Day I went with her to the Ritualist Church +which is attached to the parsonage, and heard some excellent intoning +by the delicate-faced, tenor-voiced clergyman. On Wednesday last, the +28th, Barbara came up to town with us. We found the cold here more +severe than at Ryde; and the papers tell us of still harder weather +about Paris, where our fellow-men are suffering and inflicting +horrors. + +Here is the last day of 1870. I have written only one hundred +pages--good printed pages--of a story which I began about the opening +of November, and at present mean to call "Miss Brooke." Poetry halts +just now. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 2d Jan. 1871.] + +We spent our Christmas in the Isle of Wight, and on Christmas Day I +went to a Ritualist church and heard some fine intoning of the service +by a clear, strong, tenor voice, sweet singing from boys' throats, +and all sorts of Catholic ceremonial in a miniature way. + +It is good to see what our neighbors are doing. To live in seclusion +with one's own thoughts is apt to give one very false notions as to +the possibilities of the present time in the matter of conversion +either to superstition or anti-superstition. + +In this cruel time, I no sooner hear of an affliction than I see it +multiplied in some one of the endless forms of suffering created by +this hellish war. In the beginning I could feel entirely with the +Germans, and could say of that calamity called "victory," I am glad. +But now I can be glad of nothing. No people can carry on a long, +fierce war without being brutalized by it, more or less, and it pains +me that the educated voices have not a higher moral tone about +national and international duties and prospects. But, like every one +else, I feel that the war is too much with me, and am rather anxious +to avoid unwise speech about it than to utter what may seem to me to +be wisdom. The pain is that one can _do_ so little. + +I have not read "Sir Harry Hotspur," but as to your general question, +I reply that there certainly are some women who love in that way, but +"their sex as well as I may chide them for it." Men are very fond of +glorifying that sort of dog-like attachment. It is one thing to love +because you falsely imagine goodness--that belongs to the finest +natures--and another to go on loving when you have found out your +mistake. But married constancy is a different affair. I have seen a +grandly heroic woman who, out of her view as to the responsibilities +of the married relation, condoned everything, took her drunken husband +to her home again, and at last nursed and watched him into penitence +and decency. But there may be two opinions even about this sort of +endurance--_i.e._, about its ultimate tendency, not about the beauty +of nature which prompts it. This is quite distinct from mere animal +constancy. It is duty and human pity. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Colonel Hamley (now General Sir Edward Hamley), +24th Jan. 1871.] + +I write to say God bless you for your letter to the _Times_, of this +morning. It contains the best expression of right principle--I was +almost ready to say, the only good, sensible words--that I have yet +seen on the actual state of things between the Germans and the French. + +You will not pause, I trust, but go on doing what can be done only by +one who is at once a soldier, a writer, and a clear-headed man of +principle. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1871.] + +_March 19_ (Sunday).--It is grievous to me how little, from one cause +or other, chiefly languor and occasionally positive ailments, I manage +to get done. I have written about two hundred and thirty-six pages +(print) of my novel, which I want to get off my hands by next +November. My present fear is that I have too much matter--too many +_momenti_. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 3d April, 1871.] + +I happened to-day to be talking to a very sweet-faced woman (the +sister of Dr. Bridges, whom I think you know something of), and she +mentioned, _à propos_ of educating children in the love of animals, +that she had felt the want of some good little book as a help in this +matter. I told her of yours, and when I said that it was written by +Mrs. Bray, the author of "Physiology for Schools," she said, "Oh, I +know that book well." I have made her a present of my copy of "Duty to +Animals," feeling that this was a good quarter in which to plant that +offset. For she had been telling me of her practical interest in the +infant and other schools in Suffolk, where she lives. We have had a +great pleasure to-day in learning that our friend Miss Bury is engaged +to be married to Mr. Geddes, a Scotch gentleman. There is a streak of +sadness for her family in the fact that she is to go to India with +her husband next November, but all else is bright in her prospect. It +is very sweet to see, and think of, the happiness of the young. I am +scribbling with an infirm head, at the end of the day, just for the +sake of letting you know one proof, in addition doubtless to many +others which you have already had, that your pretty little book is +likely to supply a want. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Gilchrist, 19th April, 1871.] + +We are very much obliged to you for your kind, methodical +thoughtfulness as to all which is necessary for our accommodation at +Brookbank, and also for your hints about the points of beauty to be +sought for in our walks. That "sense of standing on a round world," +which you speak of, is precisely what I most care for among +out-of-door delights. The last time I had it fully was at St. Märgen, +near Freiburg, on green hilltops, whence we could see the Rhine and +poor France. + +The garden has been, and is being, attended to, and I trust we shall +not find the commissariat unendurable. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 6th June, 1871.] + +It seems like a resurrection of a buried-alive friendship once more to +have a letter from you. Welcome back from your absorption in the +Franchise! Somebody else ought to have your share of work now, and you +ought to rest. + +Ever since the 1st of May we have been living in this queer cottage, +which belongs to Mrs. Gilchrist, wife of the Gilchrist who wrote the +life of William Blake the artist. We have a ravishing country round +us, and pure air and water; in short, all the conditions of health, if +the east wind were away. We have old prints for our dumb +companions--charming children of Sir Joshua's, and large-hatted ladies +of his and Romney's. I read aloud--almost all the evening--books of +German science, and other gravities. So, you see, we are like two +secluded owls, wise with unfashionable wisdom, and knowing nothing of +pictures and French plays. I confess that I should have gone often to +see Got act if I had been in town, he is so really great as an actor. +And yet one is ashamed of seeking amusement in connection with +anything that belongs to poor, unhappy France. I am saved from the +shame by being safely shut out from the amusement. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 17th June, 1871.] + +How about Madame Mohl and her husband? I have been wondering through +all the horrors whether M. Mohl had returned to Paris, and whether +their house, containing, too probably, the results of much studious +work, lies buried among ruins. But I will not further recall the +sorrows in that direction. + +I am glad to see the words "very satisfactory" in connection with the +visit to Hitchin and Cambridge. Ely Cathedral I saw last year, but too +cursorily. It has more of the massive grandeur that one adores in Le +Mans and Chartres than most of our English cathedrals, though I am +ready to recall the comparison as preposterous. + +I don't know how long we shall stay here; perhaps, more or less, till +the end of August, for I have given up the idea of going to the Scott +Festival at Edinburgh, to which I had accepted an invitation. The +fatigue of the long journey, with the crowd at the end, would be too +much for me. + +Let us know beforehand when you are about coming. + +George is gloriously well, and studying, writing, walking, eating, and +sleeping with equal vigor. He is enjoying the life here immensely. Our +country could hardly be surpassed in its particular kind of +beauty--perpetual undulation of heath and copse, and clear views of +hurrying water, with here and there a grand pine wood, steep, +wood-clothed promontories, and gleaming pools. + +If you want delightful reading get Lowell's "My Study Windows," and +read the essays called "My Garden Acquaintances" and "Winter." + +Get the volumes of a very cheap publication--the "Deutscher +Novellenschatz." Some of the tales are remarkably fine. I am reading +aloud the last three volumes, which are even better than the others. I +have just been so deeply interested in one of the stories--"Diethelm +von Buchenberg"--that I want everybody to have the same pleasure who +can read German. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Gilchrist, 3d July, 1871.] + +We are greatly obliged to you for the trouble you have so +sympathetically taken on our behalf, and we shall prepare to quit our +quiet shelter on Wednesday, the 2d of August. During the first weeks +of our stay I did not imagine that I should ever be so fond of the +place as I am now. The departure of the bitter winds, some improvement +in my health, and the gradual revelation of fresh and fresh beauties +in the scenery, especially under a hopeful sky such as we have +sometimes had--all these conditions have made me love our little world +here and wish not to quit it until we can settle in our London home. I +have the regret of thinking that it was my original indifference about +it (I hardly ever like things until they are familiar) that hindered +us from securing the cottage until the end of September, for the +chance of coming to it again after a temporary absence. But all +regrets ought to be merged in thankfulness for the agreeable weeks we +have had, and probably shall have till the end of July. And among the +virtues of Brookbank we shall always reckon this, that our +correspondence about it has been with you rather than with any one +else, so that, along with the country, we have had a glimpse of your +ready, quick-thoughted kindness. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 13th July, 1871.] + +One word to you in response to Emily's note, which comes to me this +morning, and lets me know that by this time she is probably in the +last hour of her unmarried life. My thoughts and love and tender +anxiety are with her and with all of you. When you receive this she +will, I suppose, be far away, and it is of little consequence that I +can make no new sign to her of my joy in her joy. + +For the next few weeks my anxiety will be concentrated on you and +yours at Yarmouth. Pray, when your mind and body are sufficiently free +from absorbing occupation, remember my need of news about you, and +write to me. The other day I seemed to get a glimpse of you through +Mrs. Call, who told me that you looked like a new creature--so much +stronger than you were wont; and she told me of Dr. Congreve's address +at the school, which raised my keenest sympathy, and made me feel +myself a very helpless friend. + +Please give my love to the children, and tell Sophy especially that I +think her happy in this--that there is a place made for all the effort +of her young life to fill it with something like the goodness and +brightness which she has known and has just now to part with. I expect +her to be your guardian angel, perhaps in a new way--namely, in saving +you from some fatigue about details. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 15th July, 1871.] + +I still feel that I owe you my thanks for your kind letter, although +Mr. Lewes undertook to deliver them in the first instance. You +certainly made a seat at the Commemoration Table[14] look more +tempting to me than it had done before; but I think that prudence +advises me to abstain from the fatigue and excitement of a long +railway journey, with a great gathering at the end of it. If there is +a chance that "Middlemarch" will be good for anything, I don't want to +break down and die without finishing it. And whatever "the tow on my +distaff" may be, my strength to unwind it has not been abundant +lately. + +_À propos_ of bodily prosperity, I am sincerely rejoiced to know, by +your postscript this morning, that Mr. Simpson is recovered. I hope he +will not object to my considering him a good friend of mine, though it +is so long since I saw him. The blank that is left when thorough +workers like him are disabled is felt not only near at hand, but a +great way off. I often say--after the fashion of people who are +getting older--that the capacity for good work, of the kind that goes +on without trumpets, is diminishing in the world. + +The continuous absence of sunshine is depressing in every way, and +makes one fear for the harvest, and so grave a fear that one is +ashamed of mentioning one's private dreariness. You cannot play golf +in the rain, and I cannot feel hopeful without the sunlight; but I +dare say you work all the more, whereas when my spirits flag my work +flags too. + +I should have liked to see Principal Tulloch again, and to have made +the acquaintance of Captain Lockhart, whose writing is so jaunty and +cheery, yet so thoroughly refined in feeling. Perhaps I may still have +this pleasure in town, when he comes up at the same time with you. +Please give my kind regards to Mr. William Blackwood. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 24th July, 1871.] + +Thanks for the prompt return of the MS., which arrived this morning. + +I don't see how I can leave anything out, because I hope there is +nothing that will be seen to be irrelevant to my design, which is to +show the gradual action of ordinary causes rather than exceptional, +and to show this in some directions which have not been from time +immemorial the beaten path--the Cremorne walks and shows of fiction. +But the best intentions are good for nothing until execution has +justified them. And you know I am always compassed about with fears. I +am in danger in all my designs of parodying dear Goldsmith's satire on +Burke, and think of refining when novel-readers only think of +skipping. + +We are obliged to turn out of this queer cottage next week; but we +have been fortunate enough to get the more comfortable house on the +other side of the road, so that we can move without any trouble. Thus +our address will continue to be the same until the end of August. + +Tennyson, who is one of the "hill-folk" about here, has found us out. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Robert Lytton[15] (now Lady +Lytton), 25th July, 1871.] + +This morning your husband's letter came to us, but if I did not know +that it would be nearly a week before any words of mine could reach +you, I should abstain from writing just yet, feeling that in the first +days of sorrowing it is better to keep silence. For a long while after +a great bereavement our only companionship is with the lost one. Yet I +hope it will not be without good to you to have signs of love from +your friends, and to be reminded that you have a home in their +affections, which is made larger for you by your trouble. For weeks my +thought has been continually going out to you, and the absence of news +has made me so fearful that I have mourned beforehand. I have been +feeling that probably you were undergoing the bitterest grief you had +ever known. But under the heart-stroke, is there anything better than +to grieve? Strength will come back for the duty and the fellowship +which gradually bring new contentments, but at first there is no joy +to be desired that would displace sorrow. + +What is better than to love and live with the loved? But that must +sometimes bring us to live with the dead; and this too turns at last +into a very tranquil and sweet tie, safe from change and injury. + +You see, I make myself a warrant out of my regard for you, to write as +if we had long been near each other. And I cannot help wishing that we +were physically nearer--that you were not on the other side of Europe. +We shall trust in Mr. Lytton's kindness to let us hear of you by and +by. But you must never write except to satisfy your own longing. May +all true help surround you, dear Mrs. Lytton, and whenever you can +think of me, believe in me as yours with sincere affection. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Mary Cross, 31st July, 1871.] + +I read your touching story[16] aloud yesterday to Mr. Lewes, and we +both cried over it. Your brother wrote to me that you had doubts about +giving your name. My faith is, that signature is right in the absence +of weighty special reasons against it. + +We think of you all very often, and feel ourselves much the richer for +having a whole dear family to reckon among our friends. We are to stay +here till the end of the month. When the trees are yellow, I hope you +will be coming to see us in St. John's Wood. How little like the +woods we have around us! I suppose Weybridge is more agreeable than +other places at present, if it has any of its extra warmth in this +arctic season. + +Our best love, to your dear mother supremely, and then to all. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 2d Aug. 1871.] + +I always say that those people are the happiest who have a peremptory +reason for staying in one place rather than another. Else I should be +sorry for you that you are kept in London--by Parliamentary business, +of course. + +There is sunshine over our fields now, but the thermometer is only 64° +in the house, and in the warmest part of the day I, having a talent +for being cold, sit shivering, sometimes even with a warm-water bottle +at my feet. I wonder if you went to the French plays to see the +supreme Got? That is a refined pleasure which I enjoyed so much in +Paris a few years ago that I was sorry to be out of reach of it this +spring. + +About the Crystal Palace music I remember feeling just what you +mention--the sublime effect of the Handel choruses, and the total +futility of the solos. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 3d Aug. 1871.] + +Thanks for your little picture of things. Eminently acceptable in +place of vague conjectures. I am a bitter enemy to make-believe about +the human lot, but I think there is a true alleviation of distress in +thinking of the intense enjoyment which accompanies a spontaneous, +confident, intellectual activity. This may not be a counterpoise to +the existing evils, but it is at least a share of mortal good, and +good of an exquisite kind. + +Are you not happy in the long-wished-for sunshine? I have a pretty +lawn before me, with hills in the background. The train rushes by +every now and then to make one more glad of the usual silence. + +A good man writes to me from Scotland this morning, asking me if he is +not right in pronouncing Rom[)o]la, in defiance of the world around +him (not a large world, I hope) who _will_ say Rom[=o]la. Such is +correspondence in these days; so that quantity is magnificent _en +gros_ but shabby _en détail_--_i.e._, in single letters like this. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 14th Aug. 1871.] + +We shall stay here only till the end of this month--at least, I have +no hope that our _propriétaires_ will be induced to protract their +absence; and if the lingering smell of paint does not drive us away +from the Priory again, we expect to stay there from the first of +September, without projects of travel for many, many months. + +We enjoy our roomy house and pretty lawn greatly. Imagine me seated +near a window, opening under a veranda, with flower-beds and lawn and +pretty hills in sight, my feet on a warm-water bottle, and my writing +on my knees. In that attitude my mornings are passed. We dine at two; +and at four, when the tea comes in, I begin to read aloud. About six +or half-past we walk on to the commons and see the great sky over our +head. At eight we are usually in the house again, and fill our evening +with physics, chemistry, or other wisdom if our heads are at par; if +not, we take to folly, in the shape of Alfred de Musset's poems, or +something akin to them. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 29th Oct. 1871.] + +Yesterday we returned from Weybridge, where, for a few days, I have +been petted by kind friends (delightful Scotch people), and have had +delicious drives in the pure autumn air. That must be my farewell to +invalidism and holiday making. I am really better--not robust or fat, +but perhaps as well as I am likely to be till death mends me. + +Your account of Mr. Main[17] sets my mind at ease about him; for in +this case I would rather have your judgment than any opportunity of +forming my own. The one thing that gave me confidence was his power of +putting his finger on the right passages, and giving emphasis to the +right idea (in relation to the author's feeling and purpose). Apart +from that, enthusiasm would have been of little value. + +One feels rather ashamed of authoresses this week after the +correspondence in the _Times_. One hardly knows which letter is in the +worst taste. However, if we are to begin with marvelling at the little +wisdom with which the world is governed, we can hardly expect that +much wisdom will go to the making of novels. + +I should think it quite a compliment if the general got through "Miss +Brooke." Mr. Lewes amused himself with the immeasurable contempt that +Mr. Casaubon would be the object of in the general's mind. + +I hardly dare hope that the second part will take quite so well as the +first, the effects being more subtile and dispersed; but Mr. Lewes +seems to like the third part better than anything that has gone before +it. But can anything be more uncertain than the reception of a book by +the public? I am glad to see that the "Coming Race" has got into a +fourth edition. Let us hope that the Koom Posh may be at least +mitigated by the sale of a good book or two. + +As for me, I get more and more unable to be anything more than a +feeble sceptic about all publishing plans, and am thankful to have so +many good heads at work for me. _Allah illah allah!_ + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1871.] + +We who are getting old together have the tie of common infirmities. +But I don't find that the young troubles seem lighter on looking back. +I prefer my years now to any that have gone before. I wish you could +tell me the same thing about yourself. And, surely, writing your book +is, on the whole, a joy to you--it is a large share in the meagre lot +of mankind. All hail for the morrow! How many sweet laughs, how much +serious pleasure in the great things others have done, you and I have +had together in a past islet of time that remains very sunny in my +remembrance. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1871.] + +_Dec. 1._--This day the first part of "Middlemarch" was published. I +ought by this time to have finished the fourth part, but an illness +which began soon after our return from Haslemere has robbed me of two +months. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th Dec. 1871.] + +If you have not yet fallen in with Dickens's "Life" be on the lookout +for it, because of the interest there is in his boyish experience, and +also in his rapid development during his first travels in America. The +book is ill organized, and stuffed with criticism and other matter +which would be better in limbo; but the information about the +childhood, and the letters from America, make it worth reading. We +have just got a photograph of Dickens, taken when he was writing, or +had just written, "David Copperfield"--satisfactory refutation of that +keepsakey, impossible face which Maclise gave him, and which has been +engraved for the "Life" in all its odious beautification. This +photograph is the young Dickens, corresponding to the older Dickens +whom I knew--the same face, without the unusually severe wear and +tear of years which his latest looks exhibited. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1872.] + +_Dec. 20._--My health has become very troublesome during the last +three weeks, and I can get on but tardily. Even now I am only at page +227 of my fourth part. But I have been also retarded by construction, +which, once done, serves as good wheels for progress. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 1st Jan. 1872.] + +Your good wishes and pleasant bits of news made the best part of my +breakfast this morning. I am glad to think that, in desiring happiness +for you during the new year, I am only desiring the continuance of +good which you already possess. + +I suppose we two, also, are among the happiest of mortals, yet we have +had a rather doleful Christmas, the one great lack, that of health, +having made itself particularly conspicuous in the surrounding fog. +Having no grandchildren to get up a Christmas-tree for, we had nothing +to divert our attention from our headaches. + +Mr. Main's book broke the clouds a little, and now the heavens have +altogether cleared, so that we are hoping to come back from a visit of +three days to Weybridge with our strength renewed--if not like the +eagle's, at least like a convalescent tomtit's. + +The "Sayings" are set off by delightful paper and print, and a binding +which opens with inviting ease. I am really grateful to every one +concerned in the volume, and am anxious that it should not be in any +way a disappointment. The selections seem to me to be made with an +exquisite sensibility to the various lights and shades of life; and +all Mr. Main's letters show the same quality. It is a great help to me +to have such an indication that there exist careful readers for whom +no subtilest intention is lost. + +We have both read the story of the "Megara" with the deepest interest; +indeed, with a quite exceptional enjoyment of its direct, +unexaggerated painting. + +The prescription of two days' golfing per week will, I hope, keep up +your condition to the excellent pitch at which it was on your return +from Paris. Good news usually acts as a tonic when one's case is not +too desperate; and I shall be glad if you and we can get it in the +form of more success for "Middlemarch." Dickens's "Life," you see, +finds a large public ready to pay more. But the British mind has long +entertained the purchase of expensive biographies. The proofs lately +given that one's books don't necessarily go out like lucifer matches, +never to be taken up again, make one content with moderate immediate +results, which perhaps are as much as can reasonably be expected for +any writing which does not address itself either to fashions or +corporate interests of an exclusive kind. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 18th Jan. 1872.] + +It is like your kindness to write me your encouraging impressions on +reading the third book. I suppose it is my poor health that just now +makes me think my writing duller than usual. For certainly the +reception of the first book by my old readers is quite beyond my most +daring hopes. One of them, who is a great champion of "Adam Bede" and +"Romola," told Mr. Lewes yesterday that he thought "Middlemarch" +surpassed them. All this is very wonderful to me. I am thoroughly +comforted as to the half of the work which is already written; but +there remains the terror about the _un_written. Mr. Lewes is much +satisfied with the fourth book, which opens with the continuation of +the Featherstone drama. + +We went yesterday to the Tichborne trial, which was an experience of +great interest to me. We had to come away after the third hour of +Coleridge's speaking; but it was a great enjoyment to me to hear what +I did. Coleridge is a rare orator--not of the declamatory, but of the +argumentative order. + +Thanks, not formal, but sincerely felt, for the photographs. This +likeness will always carry me back to the first time I saw you, in our +little Richmond lodging, when I was thinking anxiously of "Adam Bede," +as I now am of "Middlemarch." + +I felt something like a shudder when Sir Henry Maine asked me last +Sunday whether this would not be a very long book; saying, when I told +him it would be four good volumes, that that was what he had +calculated. However, it will not be longer than Thackeray's books, if +so long. And I don't see how the sort of thing I want to do could have +been done briefly. + +I have to be grateful for the gift of "Brougham's Life," which will be +a welcome addition to my means of knowing the time "when his ugliness +had not passed its bloom." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 22d Jan. 1872.] + +Your letter seems to pierce the rainy fog with a little sunlight. Cold +and clearness are the reverse of what we are usually having here. +Until the last few days my chief consciousness has been that of +struggling against inward as well as outward fog; but I am now better, +and have only been dragged back into headachiness by a little too much +fatigue from visitors. I give you this account as a preface to my +renunciation of a journey to Dover, which would be very delightful, if +I had not already lost too much time to be warranted in taking a +holiday. + +Next Saturday we are going to have a party--six to dine, and a small +rush of people after dinner, for the sake of music. I think it is four +years at least since we undertook anything of that kind. + +A great domestic event for us has been the arrival of a new dog, who +has all Ben's virtues, with more intelligence, and a begging attitude +of irresistible charm. He is a dark-brown spaniel. You see what +infantine innocence we live in! + +Glad you are reading my demigod Milton! We also are rather +old-fashioned in our light reading just now; for I have rejected +Heyse's German stories, brand new, in favor of dear old Johnson's +"Lives of the Poets," which I read aloud in my old age with a +delicious revival of girlish impressions. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1872.] + +_Jan. 29._--It is now the last day but one of January. I have finished +the fourth part--_i.e._, the second volume--of "Middlemarch." The +first part, published on December 1, has been excellently well +received; and the second part will be published the day after +to-morrow. About Christmas a volume of extracts from my works was +published, under the title, "Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings, in Prose +and Verse." It was proposed and executed by Alexander Main, a young +man of thirty, who began a correspondence with me by asking me how to +pronounce Romola, in the summer, when we were at Shottermill. +Blackwood proposed that we should share the profits, but we refused. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 29th Jan. 1872.] + +I do lead rather a crawling life under these rainy fogs and low +behavior of the barometer. But I am a little better, on the whole, +though just now overdone with the fatigue of company. We have been to +hear Coleridge addressing the jury on the Tichborne trial--a very +interesting occasion to me. He is a marvellous speaker among +Englishmen; has an exquisitely melodious voice, perfect gesture, and a +power of keeping the thread of his syntax to the end of his sentence, +which makes him delightful to follow. We are going some other day, if +possible, to hear a cross-examination of Ballantyne's. The digest of +the evidence which Coleridge gives is one of the best illustrations of +the value or valuelessness of testimony that could be given. I wonder +if the world, which retails Guppy anecdotes, will be anything the +wiser for it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 21st Feb. 1872.] + +To hear of a friend's illness after he has got well through it is the +least painful way of learning the bad news. I hope that your attack +has been a payment of insurance. + +You probably know what it grieved us deeply to learn the other +day--that our excellent friend Mr. William Smith is dangerously ill. +They have been so entirely happy and wrapped up in each other that we +cannot bear to think of Mrs. Smith's grief. + +Thanks for the list of sales since February 12th. Things are +encouraging, and the voices that reach us are enthusiastic. But you +can understand how people's interest in the book heightens my anxiety +that the remainder should be up to the mark. It has caused me some +uneasiness that the third part is two sheets less than the first. But +Mr. Lewes insisted that the death of old Featherstone was the right +point to pause at; and he cites your approbation of the part as a +proof that effectiveness is secured in spite of diminished quantity. +Still it irks me to ask 5_s._ for a smaller amount than that already +given at the same price. Perhaps I must regard the value as made up +solely by effectiveness, and certainly the book will be long enough. + +I am still below par in strength, and am too much beset with visitors +and kind attentions. I long for the quiet spaces of time and the +absence of social solicitations that one enjoys in the country, out of +everybody's reach. + +I am glad to hear of the pleasure "Middlemarch" gives in your +household: that makes quite a little preliminary public for me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 4th Mch. 1872.] + +I can understand very easily that the two last years have been full +for you of other and more imperative work than the writing of letters +not absolutely demanded either by charity or business. The proof that +you still think of me affectionately is very welcome now it is come, +and all the more cheering because it enables me to think of you as +enjoying your retreat in your orange orchard--your western +Sorrento--the beloved Rabbi still beside you. I am sure it must be a +great blessing to you to bathe in that quietude--as it always is to us +when we go out of reach of London influences, and have the large space +of country days to study, walk, and talk in. Last year we spent our +summer months in Surrey, and did not leave England. Unhappily, the +country was not so favorable to my bodily health as to my spiritual, +and on our return to town I had an illness which was the climax of the +summer's _malaise_. That illness robbed me of two months, and I have +never quite recovered a condition in which the strict duties of the +day are not felt as a weight. But just now we are having some clear +spring days, and I am in hope of prospering better, the sunshine being +to me the greatest visible good of life--what I call the wealth of +life, after love and trust. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 8th Mch. 1872.] + +When I am more at liberty I will certainly read Mr. Owen's books, if +he is good enough to send them to me. I desire on all subjects to keep +an open mind, but hitherto the various phenomena reported or attested +in connection with ideas of spirit-intercourse, "psychion," and so on, +have come before me here in the painful form of the lowest +_charlatanerie_. Take Mr. H. as an example of what I mean. I could not +choose to enter a room where he held a _séance_. He is an object of +moral disgust to me; and nothing of late reported by Mr. Crookes, Lord +Lindsay, and the rest carries conviction to my mind that Mr. H. is not +simply an impostor, whose professedly abnormal manifestations have +varied their fashion in order to create a new market, just as if they +were _papier mâché_ wares or pomades for the idle rich. But apart from +personal contact with people who get money by public exhibitions as +mediums, or with semi-idiots, such as those who make a court for a +Mrs. Guppy or other feminine personage of that kind, I would not +willingly place any barriers between my mind and any possible channel +of truth affecting the human lot. + +The spirit in which you have written in the paper you kindly sent me +is likely to teach others--to rouse them, at least, to attention in a +case where you have been deeply impressed. + +I write to you quite openly, dear friend, but very imperfectly, for my +letters are always written in shreds of time. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 14th Mch. 1872.] + +Thanks for the budget of this morning. The sales, we think, are very +cheering, and we may well be content if they continue in the same +ratio. But the Greek proverb about the beginning being the half of the +whole wants as much defining and excepting from as most other +proverbs. + +I have just had sent me a copy of the magazine _Für die Literatur des +Auslander_, containing a review of "Miss Brooke," which will be good +for Asher's edition, and is otherwise satisfactory as an intelligent +appreciation. It mentions at the end the appearance of Mr. Main's +book, "The Sayings." A Frenchman, apparently accomplished, a M. +Landolphe, who has made some important translations, is going to +translate the whole of "Middlemarch;" and one of the contributors to +the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ has written for leave to extract +Dorothea's history. + +I fancy we have done a good turn to English authors generally by +setting off Asher's series, for we have heard that Tauchnitz has +raised his offers. There is another way in which benefit might come +that would be still more desirable--namely, to make him more careful +in his selections of books for reprint. But I fear that this effect is +not so certain. You see Franz Duncker, who publishes the German +translation of "Middlemarch," has also begun an English series. This +is really worth while, for the Germans are excellent readers of our +books. I was astonished to find so many in Berlin who really knew +one's books, and did not merely pay compliments after the fashion of +the admirers who made Rousseau savage--running after him to pay him +visits, and not knowing a word of his writing. + +You and other good readers have spoiled me, and made me rather shudder +at being read only once; and you may imagine how little satisfaction I +get from people who mean to please me by saying that they shall wait +till "Middlemarch" is finished, and then sit up to read it "at one +go-off." + +We are looking for a country retreat not too far from town, so that +we may run up easily. There is nothing wanting to our happiness except +that "Middlemarch" should be well ended without growing signs of its +author's debility. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 17th March, 1872.] + +Before I received your letter this morning, I was going to write you a +word of sympathy, knowing how deeply you would be feeling the death of +Mazzini. Such a man leaves behind him a wider good than the loss of +his personal presence can take away. + + "The greatest gift the hero leaves his race + Is to have been a hero." + +I must be excused for quoting my own words, because they are my +_credo_. I enter thoroughly into your sense of wealth in having known +him. + +Brighton does not suit Mr. Lewes. But he was near going there for a +night a little while ago to see our friends, Mr. and Mrs. William +Smith. He (the author of "Thorndale," etc.) is, I fear, wasting +fatally with organic disease, and we grieve much at the too-probably +near parting of a husband and wife who have been among the perfectly +happy couples of the world. She is a charming woman, and I wish that +you may happen to know her. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d March, 1872.] + +Owing to my loss of two months in illness, and my infirm health ever +since, I have not yet finished the writing of "Middlemarch." This +payment of wintry arrears makes one prefer the comforts of a London +home; but we are obliged to see more company than my health is equal +to, and for this reason I dare say we shall soon migrate. To-day we +have been to our last morning concert--or Saturday Pop.--held on a +Friday because of the University boat-race to-morrow. These concerts +are an easy pleasure which we are sorry to part with. This is one of +my bad weeks, owing probably to the change in the weather, and I am +constantly struggling with hemicrania and _malaise_. Even writing this +scrap of a note is the feather too much, and I must leave off. You +have known too much of nervous weakness not to understand this. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1872.] + +_May 8._--I have been reposing for more than a week in the hope of +getting stronger, my life having been lately a swamp of illness, with +only here and there a bit of firm walking. In consequence of this +incessant interruption (almost every week having been half nullified +for me so far as my work has been concerned) I have only finished the +fifth book, and have still three books to write--equal to a large +volume and a half. + +The reception of the book hitherto has been quite beyond what I could +have believed beforehand, people exalting it above everything else I +have written. Kohn is publishing an English edition in Germany; +Duncker is to publish a translation; and Harpers pay me £1200 for +reprinting it in America. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 4th June, 1872.] + +I am glad to know that you are having a time of refreshing in fine +scenery, with entire freedom to paint. I am in a corresponding state +of relief from the noises and small excitements that break up the day +and scatter one's nervous energy in London. + +We have been in our hiding-place about twelve days now, and I am +enjoying it more and more--getting more bodily ease and mental +clearness than I have had for the last six months. Our house is not in +the least beautiful, but it is well situated and comfortable, +perfectly still in the middle of a garden surrounded by fields and +meadows, and yet within reach of shops and civilization. + +We managed to get to the Academy one day before leaving town. I was +delighted with Walker's picture--were you?--and Mason's unfinished +Reaper, and a few, very few, others. + +Also we went twice to the opera in order to save ourselves from any +yearnings after it when we should have settled in the country. + +We tell no one our address, and have our letters sent on from the +Priory. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 4th June, 1872.] + +We too are in a country refuge, you see, and this bit of Surrey, as I +dare say you know, is full of beauty of the too garden-like sort for +which you pity us. How different from your lodge in the wilderness! I +have read your description three or four times--it enchants me so +thoroughly--and Mr. Lewes is just as much enamoured of it. We shall +never see it, I imagine, except in the mirror of your loving words; +but thanks, many and warm, dear friend, for saying that our presence +would be welcome. I have always had delight in descriptions of +American forests since the early days when I read "Atala," which I +believe that you would criticise as half unveracious. I dwelt on the +descriptions in "Dred" with much enjoyment. + +Pray give my special thanks to the Professor for his letter. His +handwriting, which does really look like Arabic--a very graceful +character, surely--happens to be remarkably legible to me, and I did +not hesitate over a single word. Some of the words, as expressions of +fellowship, were very precious to me, and I hold it very good of him +to write to me that best sort of encouragement. I was much impressed +with the fact--which you had told me--that he was the original of the +"visionary boy" in "Old Town Folk;" and it must be deeply interesting +to talk with him on his experience. Perhaps I am inclined, under the +influence of the facts, physiological and psychological, which have +been gathered of late years, to give larger place to the +interpretation of vision-seeing as _subjective_ than the Professor +would approve. It seems difficult to limit--at least to limit with any +precision--the possibility of confounding sense by impressions, +derived from inward conditions, with those which are directly +dependent on external stimulus. In fact, the division between within +and without in this sense seems to become every year a more subtle and +bewildering problem. + +_Your_ experience with the _planchette_ is amazing; but that the words +which you found it to have written were dictated by the spirit of +Charlotte Brontë is to me (whether rightly or not) so enormously +improbable, that I could only accept it if every condition were laid +bare, and every other explanation demonstrated to be impossible. If it +were another spirit aping Charlotte Brontë--if here and there at rare +spots and among people of a certain temperament, or even at many spots +and among people of all temperaments, tricksy spirits are liable to +rise as a sort of earth-bubbles and set furniture in movement, and +tell things which we either know already or should be as well without +knowing--I must frankly confess that I have but a feeble interest in +these doings, feeling my life very short for the supreme and awful +revelations of a more orderly and intelligible kind which I shall die +with an imperfect knowledge of. If there were miserable spirits whom +we could help, then I think we should pause and have patience with +their trivial-mindedness; but otherwise I don't feel bound to study +them more than I am bound to study the special follies of a +particular phase of human society. Others who feel differently, and +are attracted towards this study, are making an experiment for us as +to whether anything better than bewilderment can come of it. At +present it seems to me that to rest any fundamental part of religion +on such a basis is a melancholy misguidance of men's minds from the +true sources of high and pure emotion. + +I am comforted to think that you partly agree with me there. + +I have not time to write more than this very imperfect fragmentary +sketch of _only one_ aspect which the question of spirit-communications +wears to me at present--being always rather brain-weary after my +morning's work, and called for by my husband to walk with him and read +aloud to him. I spend nearly three hours every day in this exercise of +reading aloud, which, happily, I can carry on without fatigue of lungs. +Yet it takes strength as well as time. + +Mr. Lewes is gone into town to-day, so I have an additional hour at +liberty, and have been glad to be able to send you a letter which is +not worth anything, indeed, but which satisfies my need to thank you +and the Professor for your sweet friendliness--very sweet to me, I +assure you. Please accept my entire frankness as a proof of that high +value I set on you. And do not call anything I may have written a +prejudice--it is simply a statement of how certain things appear to my +inward eyesight, which I am ready to have rectified by more light. + +About photographs--I have _no_ photograph of myself, having always +avoided having one taken. That makes me seem very selfish in being +particularly glad to get yours. + +Mrs. Fields, with the beautiful face and charming manners, sent me a +letter a little while ago, inviting us in the most tempting way to go +to Boston. She said that this pretty action was done at your +prompting, which is just like you as you have always shown yourself to +me. + +Dear friend, how much you have lived through, both in the flesh and in +the spirit! My experience has been narrow compared with yours. I +assure you I feel this, so do not misinterpret anything I say to you +as being written in a flippant or critical spirit. One always feels +the want of the voice and eyes to accompany a letter and give it the +right tone. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 4th July, 1872.] + +You were very good and dear to want to give me the pleasure of knowing +that the news was good, instead of leaving me to my small stock of +hopefulness. Ask Emily to care a little even now, with baby on her +mind, that her old friends are the better for hearing that she is +well. Four or five months ago it happens that I was writing some +playfulness about a baby and baby's hair, which is now in print, to +appear next month. I am not afraid that Emily should be revolted by my +blasphemy! + +Mr. Lewes had "a lovely time" from Saturday to Monday at Weybridge. He +was feeling languid, and yet was tempted to sit at his desk. The +little change has been very serviceable, and he is now bright. + +Our first book, read aloud by me after we came down, was Wallace's +"Eastern Archipelago," which, I think, you had spoken well of to Mr. +Lewes. It is delightful. The biography of the infant ourang-outang +alone is worth getting the book for. We are now in the middle of +Tylor's "Primitive Culture," which is worth studying, and useful for +reference on special points, if you happen to want knowledge about +the ideas of the savage tribes. + +Our days go by in delicious peace, unbroken except by my little inward +anxieties about all unfinished work. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 19th July, 1872.] + +This morning came the joyful news that Gertrude has a fine healthy +baby--a daughter. We have just been saying in our walk that by the end +of this century our one-day-old granddaughter will probably be married +and have children of her own, while we are pretty sure to be at rest. +This obvious kind of wisdom does very well for discourse in the +delicious sunshine, as we wander over a hilly, half fern-clad, half +grassy wilderness called South Park, from which we can overlook two +fertile bosky valleys. We like this bit of country better and better. +As to health, I am not quite so prosperous as I was at first, but to +make amends, Mr. Lewes is in a good average condition, and only now +and then has a morning in which he is forced to wander about instead +of going to his beloved work. We have had much happiness here, much +sympathy in letters from far-off friends unknown in the flesh, and +peaceful enjoyment of our occupations. But we have longed for more +continuous warmth and brightness, and to-day may perhaps be the +beginning of that one wanting condition. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 1st Aug. 1872(?).] + +The death of that honored, good creature, Mr. William Smith, touched +us particularly, because of the perfect marriage-bond which had made +the last eleven years of his life unspeakably precious both to him and +his wife. Mr. Lewes offered to go to Brighton to see him; but he was +so reduced, so very feeble in body, though he kept to the last much +brightness of mind, that Mrs. Smith feared for him the excitement of +seeing friends who came, specially, from a distance. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 4th Aug. 1872.] + +I like to think that your journey was a success. But I had felt sure, +that unless bad health or bad weather overtook you, both Mrs. +Blackwood and you must have great happiness in taking that bright, +lovely daughter abroad and watching her fresh impressions. I imagine +her laudable indignation at the crushing of the little lizard! Those +little creatures darting about the stones seem part of the happiness +of Italian sunshine, as the small birds hopping after the rain seem +part of the moist happiness at home. + +I shall send Part VII. in a few days. Since Mr. Lewes tells me that +the _Spectator_ considers me the most melancholy of authors, it will +perhaps be a welcome assurance to you that there is no unredeemed +tragedy in the solution of the story. + +Mr. Lewes examines the newspapers before I see them, and cuts out any +criticisms which refer to me, so as to save me from these spiritual +chills--though, alas! he cannot save me from the physical chills which +retard my work more seriously. I had hoped to have the manuscript well +out of my hands before we left this place at the end of the month, but +the return of my dyspeptic troubles makes me unable to reckon on such +a result. + +It will be a good plan, I think, to quicken the publication towards +the end; but we feel convinced that the slow plan of publication has +been of immense advantage to the book in deepening the impression it +produces. Still I shudder a little to think what a long book it will +be--not so long as "Vanity Fair" or "Pendennis," however, according to +my calculation. + +How good the articles on French manners and domestic life are in +"Maga." The spirit in which they are written is excellent. + + The manuscript of "Middlemarch" bears the following + inscription: + +"To my dear Husband, George Henry Lewes, in this nineteenth year of +our blessed union." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, Sept. 1872.] + +I am tired of behaving like an ungrateful wretch--making no sign in +answer to affectionate words which have come to me with cheering +effect. And I want to tell you and Mr. Hall (alas! for the dear old +name[18] which had such cherished associations) that I long too much +to see you all at Six-Mile Bottom, to give up utterly the prospect of +that good. We imagine that the place is near Ipswich, which is no more +than an hour and fifty minutes from London. If so, the journey would +be easily managed, and would be worth taking for the sake of one whole +day and two half days with you--just as if you were the hour nearer, +at Weybridge--before we set our faces towards Germany. I am not +hopeless that we might do that in the second week of September, if you +are not quite disgusted with the thought of me as a person who is +always claiming pity for small ailments, and also if Mr. Hall can +secure me against being shot from the other side of the hedge by the +Prince of Wales,[19] while we are discussing plantations. + +I dare not count much on fulfilling any project, my life for the last +year having been a sort of nightmare, in which I have been scrambling +on the slippery bank of a pool, just keeping my head above water. But +I shall be the happier for having told you that I delight in the +double invitation for the sake of the love it assures me of, and that +I do want to see you all. + +You are all gloriously well, I hope, and Alkie looking more and more +cherubic, and Emily and Florence blooming. My best love to all. +Particular regards to J., and regrets that we were not on his route +from Brindisi. I read his paper on New York with much interest and +satisfaction. + +You are often among my imaged companions both in dreaming and waking +hours. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, Oct. 1872, from Homburg.] + +It was a delightful surprise to see your handwriting when we went to +inquire at the _Poste Restante_. We had, on the whole, a fortunate +journey, and are especially grateful to Mr. Hall for suggesting the +route by Trèves, where we spent two nights and an exquisite day. I was +continually reminded of Rome when we were wandering in the outskirts +in search of the antiquities, and the river banks are a loveliness +into the bargain which Rome has not. We had even an opportunity of +seeing some dissipation, for there happened to be an excellent circus, +where we spent our evening. The pretty country through which we passed +had an additional interest for us about Libramont. + +The air, the waters, the plantations here are all perfect--"only man +is vile." I am not fond of denouncing my fellow-sinners, but gambling +being a vice I have no mind to, it stirs my disgust even more than my +pity. The sight of the dull faces bending round the gaming-tables, the +raking up of the money, and the flinging of the coins towards the +winners by the hard-faced croupiers, the hateful, hideous women +staring at the board like stupid monomaniacs--all this seems to me the +most abject presentation of mortals grasping after something called a +good that can be seen on the face of this little earth. Burglary is +heroic compared with it. I get some satisfaction in looking on, from +the sense that the thing is going to be put down. Hell is the only +right name for such places. + +It was cruel to find the bitter cold just set in as we arrived. For +two days we were as cold as in clear winter days at Berlin. There are +no amusements for the evening here, and the pleasure of listening to +the excellent band in the afternoons is diminished by the chillness +which makes one fear to sit down in the open air. But we like being +idle, and the days pass easily. + +It is good to have in our memories the two happy days at Six-Mile +Bottom; and the love that surrounded me and took care of me there is +something very precious to believe in among hard-faced strangers. Much +gratitude for the anticipated letter that will come to tell us more +news of you by-and-by. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 4th Oct. 1872.] + +At last I begin a letter which is intended not as a payment but as an +acknowledgment of debt. It will have at least the recommendation of +requiring no answer. After some perfect autumnal days we are +languishing with headache from two days' damp and mugginess, and feel +it almost as much work as we are equal to to endure our _malaise_. But +on the whole we are not sorry that we came to this place rather than +any other. On dry days the air is perfect, and the waters are really +an enticing drink. Then there is a wood close by where we can wander +in delicious privacy: which is really better than the company here, +save and except a few friends whom we found at first, and who have now +moved off to Baden. The Kursaal is to me a hell, not only for the +gambling but for the light and heat of the gas, and we have seen +enough of its monstrous hideousness. There is very little dramatic +_Stoff_ to be picked up by watching or listening. The saddest thing to +be witnessed is the play of a young lady, who is only twenty-six +years old, and is completely in the grasp of this mean, money-making +demon. It made me cry to see her young, fresh face among the hags and +brutally stupid men around her. Next year, when the gambling has +vanished, the place will be delightful; there is to be a subvention +from Government to keep up the beautiful grounds; and it is likely +that there will be increase enough in the number of decent visitors to +keep the town tolerably prosperous. One attraction it has above other +German baths that I have seen is the abundance of pleasant apartments +to be had, where one can be as peaceful as the human lot allows in a +world of pianos. + +Asher's cheap editions are visible everywhere by the side of +Tauchnitz, but the outside is not, I think, quite equally +recommendable and recommending. + +We brought no books with us, but have furnished our table with German +books which we bought at Frankfort, from learned writing about +Menschlich Sprache and Vernunft down to Kotzebue's comedies, so that +we have employment for the rainy hours when once our heads are clear +of aches. The certainty that the weather is everywhere else bad will +help our resolution to stay here till the 12th at least. In the mean +time we hope to have the proof of the finale to "Middlemarch." + +I am rejoiced to learn from Mr. William's letter that Mr. Simpson has +returned from his excursion in good condition. That must be a comfort +to you, both for friendship and for work's sake. + +We mean to return by Paris, and hope that the weather will not drive +us away from health and pleasure-seeking until the end of the month. I +fear, from the accounts of your Scottish weather, that you will have +enjoyed Strathtyrum less than usual, and will be resigned to Edinburgh +before your proper time. How one talks about the weather! It is +excusable here where there is no grave occupation, and no amusement +for us, who don't gamble, except seeking health in walks and water +drinking. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 27th Oct. 1872, from Boulogne.] + +I had meant to write to you again from Germany, but I was hindered +from doing so by the uncertainty of our plans, which vacillated +between further wanderings in South Germany and the usual dreary +railway journeying by Strasburg to Paris. As it was, we left Homburg +on the 13th and had ten days of delicious autumnal weather and +quietude at Stuttgart and Carlsruhe--ten days which made the heart of +our enjoyment. We still hesitated whether we should go to Augsburg, +and even Munich, making our way home through Germany and Belgium, and +turning our shoulders on Paris. Our evil genius persuaded us to go to +Paris and to make the journey by night--whence came headache and +horrible disgust with the shops of the Rue de la Paix and the +Boulevard. After going to Versailles in the rain, seeing the sad ruins +of the Hotel de Ville, missing the Theatre Français, and getting +"Patrie" in exchange, we rushed away to this place, where we are +trying to recover the sense of benefit from our change, which forsook +us on quitting old Germany. We have an affinity for what the world +calls "dull places," and always prosper best in them. We are sure to +be at home next week, and I hope before long to have some news of you +there--some dear faces coming to bring it. We shall linger here a few +days and take a favorable time for crossing, but our patience will +hardly last beyond Friday. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 1st Nov. 1872.] + +We returned yesterday evening from six weeks' absence in Germany, and +I found your dear, sad letter among the many awaiting me. I prize very +highly the fact that you like to write to me and bear me in your mind +as one who has a certain fellowship in your sorrow; and I do trust +that this letter may reach you in time to prevent you from thinking, +even for a moment, that I could be indifferent about responding to any +word you send me. I shall address it to the care of Blackwood & Sons, +because I imagine you to be by this time in Edinburgh with that +delightful friend, Mrs. Stirling, whom I had much kindness from many +years ago when I was on a visit to Mr. and Mrs. George Combe. She took +me to hear Dr. Guthrie and Dr. Candlish, and through her I saw +Craigcrook. I like to think of those hours and her pleasant talk. + +Mr. Lewes, I am thankful to say, has been getting more robust for the +last two years, and is very bright and active. I think there is hardly +any one left to whom he would so willingly have written or talked +about the subjects which are filling his mind as that dear one who is +gone from your side, but is perpetually present in your consciousness. +To-day I have been reading the memorial article in _Blackwood_, and +have been hoping that there is nothing in it which jars on your +feeling. Everybody will think as I do--that the bits from your pen are +worth all the rest. I have been especially moved, though, by the two +stanzas quoted at the end. Mr. Lewes judges that the writer of the +article did not personally know your husband, and wishes that more +special touches had been given. I know, dear friend, that the sorrow +is irremediable; but the pain--the anguish--will become less sharp and +life will be less difficult. You will think of things to do such as he +would approve of your doing, and every day will be sacred with his +memory--nay, his presence. There is no pretence or visionariness in +saying that he is still part of you. Mr. Lewes sends his affectionate +regards, which you will not reject. We mention your name to each other +with a certain tenderness, as if your sorrow somehow belonged to our +love for each other. But I hardly dare to think of what these words +which I have written mean. Sometimes in the midst of happiness I cry +suddenly at the thought that there must come a parting. Are not you +and I very near to one another? I mean in feeling. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 19th Nov. 1872.] + +I found a letter from dear Mrs. William Smith on my return, and I have +had another since in answer to mine. It is inevitable that her sense +of loss should deepen for some time to come. I am hoping that +by-and-by active interests will arise to make her feel that her life +is useful. + +The article in _Blackwood_ was chiefly valuable for the extracts it +contained from Mrs. Smith's own memoir. One felt that the writer of +the article had not known Mr. William Smith personally; but her +sketches did something to supply that defect. Mr. Lewes felt a +peculiar attachment to him. He had always been thoroughly sympathetic, +both morally and intellectually, and it was a constant regret to us +that he and Mrs. Smith were so far away. There was no man with whom +Mr. Lewes would have found it so pleasant to discuss questions of +science and philosophy--his culture was so rare and his disposition so +free from littleness: and his wife was worthy of him. + +Gertrude's little Blanche is a charming young lady--fat, cooing, and +merry. It is a great comfort to see her with this hope fulfilled--I +mean to see Gertrude with her hope fulfilled, and not Blanche, as the +grammar seemed to imply. That small person's hopes are at present easy +of fulfilment. + +We have made but one expedition since our return, and that was to see +the pictures at Bethnal Green--altogether a cheering and delightful +sight. Of course you saw them long ago. The Troyon is my favorite. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 19th Nov. 1872.] + +I will impute your total silence towards me for many, many months to +your preoccupation with the work now announced, and will not believe +that a greeting from me at this time of the year will be less welcome +than of old. I remember that last year one of your prettily-expressed +wishes was that I should write another book and--I think you +added--send it to you to read. On the strength of this remembrance, +you will be one of the three exceptional people to whom we order +"Middlemarch" to be sent. But do not write to me about it, because +until a book has quite gone away from me and become entirely of the +_non-ego_--gone thoroughly from the wine-press into the casks--I would +rather not hear or see anything that is said about it. + +Cara sent me word that you were looking, as usual, very pretty, and +showing great energy on interesting occasions. But this was two months +ago, and some detailed news from yourself would be a delightful gift. + +I am getting stronger, and showing some meagre benefit from being +indulged in all possible ways. Mr. Lewes makes a martyr of himself in +writing all my notes and business letters. Is not that being a sublime +husband? For all the while there are studies of his own being put +aside--studies which are a seventh heaven to him. + +Is there any one who does not need patience? For when one's outward +lot is perfect, the sense of inward imperfection is the more pressing. + +You are never long without entering into my thoughts, though you may +send nothing fresh to feed them. But I am ashamed of expressing regard +for my friends, since I do no earthly thing for them. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1872.] + +A kiss to you on your birthday! with gratitude for your delightful +letter, such as only you can write me. How impossible it is to _feel_ +that we are as old as we are! Sometimes it seems a little while since +you and I were walking over the Radford fields, with the youth in our +limbs, talking and laughing with that easy companionship which it is +difficult to find in later life. I am busy now reading Mr. Lewes's +manuscript, which has been accumulating fast during my "Middlemarch" +time. Did I tell you that in the last two years he has been mastering +the principles of mathematics? That is an interesting fact, +impersonally, at his age. Old Professor Stowe--Mrs. H. B. Stowe's +husband--sent me this story, which is almost better than Topsy. He +heard a school-master asking a little black girl the usual questions +about creation--who made the earth, the sea, etc. At last came, "And +who made you?" Some deliberation was necessary, after which she said, +"Nobody; _I was so afore_." Expect to be immensely disappointed with +the close of "Middlemarch." But look back to the Prelude. I wish I +could take the wings of the morning every now and then to cheer you +with an hour's chat, such as you feel the need of, and then fly back +on the wings of the wind. I have the most vivid thoughts of you, +almost like a bodily presence; but these do you no good, since you can +only believe that I have them--and you are tired of believing after +your work is done. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 1st Dec. 1872.] + +Before your letter came, Mr. Lewes had been expressing to me his +satisfaction (and he is very hard to satisfy with articles on me) in +the genuineness of judgment, wise moderation, and excellent selection +of points in "Maga's" review of "Middlemarch." I have just now been +reading the review myself--Mr. Lewes had meant at first to follow his +rule of not allowing me to see what is written about myself--and I am +pleased to find the right moral note struck everywhere, both in remark +and quotation. Especially I am pleased with the writer's sensibility +to the pathos in Mr. Casaubon's character and position, and with the +discernment he shows about Bulstrode. But it is a perilous matter to +approve the praise which is given to our own doings. + +I think that such an article as that which you hint at on the tone of +the Bar is very desirable. We are usually at one on points of feeling. +Is it not time now to insist that ability and not lying is the force +of a barrister--that he has not to make himself a bad actor in order +to put a case well, but to get the clearness and breadth of vision +which will enable him to handle the evidence effectively? +Untruthfulness usually ends by making men foolish. I have never read +"Spiritual Wives," but judging from the extracts which have come +before me, it must be a nasty book. Still, if people will be censors, +let them weigh their words. I mean that the words were unfair by the +disproportionateness of the condemnation which everybody with some +conscience must feel to be one of the great difficulties in denouncing +a particular person. Every unpleasant dog is only one of many, but we +kick him because he comes in our way, and there is always some want of +distributive justice in the kicking. + +I shall be agreeably surprised if there is a respectable subscription +for the four volumes. Already the numbers taken have been +satisfactorily large, considering the indisposition of the public to +buy books by comparison with other wares, and especially to buy novels +at a high price. I fancy every private copy has done duty for a +circle. Friends of mine in the country have implied that they lent +their copies to all the readers in their neighborhood. A little fuss +of advertisement, together with the reviews, will perhaps create a few +more curious inquirers after the book, and impress its existence on +the slower part of the reading world. But really the reading world is, +after all, very narrow, as, according to the _Spectator_, the +"comfortable" world also is--the world able to give away a sovereign +without pinching itself. Those statistics just given about incomes are +very interesting. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 11th Dec. 1872.] + +A thousand thanks for your kind interest in our project, and for the +trouble you have taken in our behalf. I fear the land buying and +building[20] is likely to come to nothing, and our construction to +remain entirely of the aerial sort. It is so much easier to imagine +other people doing wise things than to do them one's self! +Practically, I excel in nothing but paying twice as much as I ought +for everything. On the whole, it would be better if my life could be +done for me, and I could look on. However, it appears that the +question of the land at Shere may remain open until we can discuss it +with you at Weybridge; and there is no telling what we may not venture +on with your eyes to see through. + +But, oh dear, I don't like anything that is troublesome under the name +of pleasure. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 12th Dec. 1872.] + +I have had the news that you are safely landed at Pooree, so now I can +write with some courage. I have got some comfort--I trust it is not +false comfort--out of the probability that there will be much good +mingled with the evil of this winter's exile for you. You must be the +richer for it mentally, and your health may be the better--and then, +you will be back again in the late spring. In this way I make myself +contented under the incompleteness of our life without you, and I am +determined not to grumble at my share of the loss which falls so sadly +on Dr. Congreve and the children. Dr. Congreve kindly let me know when +you had got through the trials of the Red Sea, rather better than +might have been expected; and Sophie tells me that you speak of the +brilliant coloring in your new world as quite equal to any description +you had read. Beyond that all is a blank to me except the fact of your +arrival at Pooree, and all my feeling is taken up with the joy there +must have been in the meeting with Mr. Geddes. You find it very +difficult to write in the heat--so don't make the thought of me +disagreeable by associating it with a claim on you for a letter. I +will be grateful for scraps from your correspondence with home, and +wait for my turn when you come back to us. For ourselves, we think our +little granddaughter, Blanche, the perfection of a baby. She is, +dispassionately speaking, very pretty, and has a cooing, chanting song +of her own which it makes me happy to hear. Mr. Lewes goes on at his +writing with as much interest as ever, and is bringing the first part +of his work into its final shape. Since we came home I have been +reading his manuscript, which has been piling itself up in +preparation for my leisure, and I have been wearing my gravest +philosophic cap. Altogether we are dangerously happy. You remember +Mrs. Blank of Coventry? You know hers was another name for astonishing +cleverness in that town. Now, of course, she is old, and her +cleverness seems to have a mouldy flavor. _Apropos_ of the seventh +book of "Middlemarch"--which you may not have read, but never +mind--Mrs. Blank, having lain awake all night from compassion for +Bulstrode, said, "Poor, dear creature, after he had done so much for +that wretch, sitting up at night and attending on him! _and I don't +believe it was the brandy that killed him_--and what is to become of +Bulstrode now, he has nobody left but Christ!" I think this is worth +sending to India, you see; it is a little bit of old Coventry life +that may make you and Emily laugh with all the more lively memory in +the midst of your strange scenery. But there is a hovering terror +while I write to you from far off, lest my trivialities should find +you when you are ill or have some cause for being sad. In any case, +however, you will take my letter for a simple proof that I dwell on +you and Emily as images constantly present in my mind, and very often +moving to the foreground in my contemplation. Mr. Lewes is one with me +in many affectionate thoughts about you, and your names are often on +our lips. We are going to pass the Christmas week with our friends at +Weybridge; and I shall be glad to escape the London aspects of that +season--aspects that are without any happy association for me. Mr. +Lewes has just been in to speak to me, and begs me to say that he +hopes baby is raised to the _n_^{th} power. You see the lofty point of +view from which he regards the world at present. But there is enough +of the sap of affection in him to withstand all the dryness of the +dryest mathematics, and he has very hearty regards for you all, +including Mr. Geddes, not as a matter of course, but with special +emphasis. Good-bye, dear, dear friend. May it give you some little +satisfaction to think of me as yours always lovingly. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 18th Dec. 1872.] + +Your letter was very welcome to me. I wanted to know how you were; and +I think that I discern in your words some growth of courage to face +the hard task--it is a hard task--of living a separate life. I reckon +it a great good to me that any writing of mine has been taken into +companionship by you, and seemed to speak with you of your own +experience. Thank you for telling me of that. + +This weather, which is so melancholy in the privation it must cause to +those who are worst off in the world, adds a little weight to +everybody's griefs. But I trust that you find it a comfort, not an +oppression, to be among friends who make a little claim on your +attention. When you go to How, please tell me all about the place, and +whom you have near you, because I like to be able to imagine your +circumstances. + +I have been, and am still, reading Mr. Lewes's manuscript--and I often +associate this with your dear husband, to whom I imagine mine would +have liked to send his proofs when the matter had reached the printing +stage. + +We are both very well, and Mr. Lewes is enjoying his morning at his +desk. He likes very much to be included in your love, and has always +thought you one of the most charming women among our acquaintance. +Please not to say that he has bad taste in women. We both cherish very +tender thoughts of your sorrow, dear friend. Let me always be assured +that you think of me as yours affectionately. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mr. Simpson, 18th Dec. 1872.] + +We have to thank you for two things especially. First, for the good +bargain you have made for "Middlemarch" with Australia; and secondly, +for the trouble you have kindly taken with the MS., which has come to +us safely in its fine Russian coat. + +The four volumes, we imagine, must have been subscribed long ago; and +we should be glad to know, if it were convenient--perhaps even if it +were _in_convenient--what are the figures representing the courage of +"the trade" in the matter of a 42_s._ novel, which has already been +well distributed. + +We both hope that your health is well confirmed, and that you are +prepared for Christmas pleasures, among which you would probably, like +Caleb Garth, reckon the extra "business" which the jolly season +carries in its hinder wallet. + + +_SUMMARY._ + +JANUARY, 1869, TO DECEMBER, 1872. + + Poem on Agatha--Reading on Philology, "Iliad," "Faery Queen," + Clough's Poems, Bright's Speeches, "Volpone," Lecture by Sir + Wm. Thomson--Writing "How Lisa Loved the King"--Browning and + Rector of Lincoln on Versification--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Browning's "Elisha"--Fourth visit to Italy--Two + months away--Letter to Mrs. Congreve from Paris--Dr. + Congreve's Reply to Professor Huxley in + _Fortnightly_--Meeting in Rome with Mrs. Bullock and Mr. and + Mrs. Cross--Letter to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe--Effect of + books--Religion of the future--Arrival of Thornton Lewes from + Natal--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Marriage engagements of Mr. + Beesley, Mr. Frederic Harrison, and Dr. Clifford + Allbut--Finished five "Sonnets on Childhood"--Letter to Mrs. + Stowe--"Old Town Folks"--Presentation of alien religious + convictions--Spiritualism--Reading Drayton and Grote--Writing + Introduction to "Middlemarch"--Reading + Theocritus--Burne-Jones's Pictures--Reading Littré on + Comte--Sainte Beuve--Thornton Lewes's continued + illness--Visit to Mrs. Cross at Weybridge--Reading for + "Middlemarch"--Asks Mrs. Congreve to get information about + provincial hospitals--Letter to Miss Hennell--The Byron + scandal--Byron a vulgar-minded genius--The + Kovilevskys--"Legend of Jubal" begun--Mr. W. G. + Clark--Reading Max Müller--Lecky and Herbert Spencer--Death + of Thornton Lewes--Letter to Miss Hennell describing month's + visit to Limpsfield--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Mr. + Doyle--Letter to F. Harrison on the Positivist + Problem--Aversion to personal statements--Shrinking from + deliverances--Letter to Miss Hennell on Charles Hennell's + "Inquiry"--Letter to Mrs. Congreve from Berlin--Sees Mommsen, + Bunsen, and Du Bois Reymond--Visit to Vienna--Return to + London--Three days' visit to the Rector of Lincoln College, + Oxford, and Mrs. Pattison--Meets Sir Benjamin + Brodie--Professor Rawlinson and Professor Phillips--Dr. + Rolleston and the Miss Gaskells, and Miss Arnold--Mr. Jowett, + Professor Henry Smith, and Mr. Fowler--Re-reading Grove "On + the Correlation of the Physical Forces"--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Dickens's Death, and his story of President + Lincoln--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--Visit to Cromer--Growing + dislike of migratory life--Letter to Mrs. Lytton on the death + of Lord Clarendon--Danger of women living too exclusively in + the affections--Reading Mendelssohn's letters--From Cromer to + Harrogate and Whitby--Meets Mrs. Burne-Jones there--"Armgart" + begun--Three weeks' visit to Limpsfield--Letter to Miss + Hennell on the beginning of the war between Germany and + France--Jowett's "Plato"--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--The French + nation--"Armgart" finished at Limpsfield--Return to the + Priory--Letter to Miss Hennell--A popular preacher--Growing + influence of ideas--Goethe's contempt for revolution of + 1830--Letter to Mme. Bodichon on the faults of one's + friends--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Industrial schemes--Greater + cheerfulness--Frederic Harrison on Bismarckism--Writing "Miss + Brooke"--Reading Wolf's "Prolegomena to Homer" and "Wilhelm + Meister"--Visit to Mme. Bodichon at Ryde--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Ritualism at Ryde--Brutalizing effect of German + war--Trollope's "Sir Harry Hotspur"--Limits of woman's + constancy--Miss Bury's engagement to Mr. Geddes--Letter to + Mrs. Peter Taylor--Three and a half months' visit to + Petersfield--Mode of life--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--Lowell's + "My Study Windows"--"Diethelm von Buchenberg" in _Deutschen + Novellenschatz_--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Mrs. Geddes's + marriage--Letter to John Blackwood--Relinquishment of Scott + Commemoration--Captain Lockhart--Letter to John Blackwood on + MS. of "Middlemarch"--Visit from Tennyson--Letter to Mrs. + Lytton on death of her son--Letter to Miss Mary Cross on + story in _Macmillan's Magazine_--Letter to Mrs. Peter + Taylor--Suffering from cold--Got's acting--Crystal Palace + music--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Delight in intellectual + activity--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Enjoyment of + Cherrimans--Letter to John Blackwood--Visit to Weybridge--Mr. + Main, the collector of the "Sayings"--Reception of + "Middlemarch"--Letters to Miss Hennell--Foster's "Life of + Dickens"--Low health--Tichborne trial--Letters to John + Blackwood: pleased with the "Sayings"--Visit to + Weybridge--Length of "Middlemarch"--Letter to Mrs. + Congreve--Reading Johnson's "Lives of the Poets"--Finished + second volume of "Middlemarch"--Letter to Mrs. + Stowe--Spiritualistic phenomena--Letter to John + Blackwood--German and French interest in + "Middlemarch"--Asher's edition--German readers--Letter to + Mrs. Peter Taylor on death of Mazzini--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Low health--Letter to Mrs. Stowe--Spirit + communications--Letter to Mrs. Congreve on Wallace's "Eastern + Archipelago"--Tylor's "Primitive Culture"--Letter to John + Blackwood--"Middlemarch" finished--Letter to Mrs. Cross on + invitation to Six-Mile Bottom, Cambridge--Month's visit to + Homburg--Letter to Mrs. Cross--Trèves--On gambling at + Homburg--Letter to John Blackwood--Play of a young lady at + Homburg--German reading--Letter to Mrs. Cross from + Boulogne--Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith of condolence on loss of + her husband--Memorial article on Mr. Wm. Smith--Letter to + Mrs. Peter Taylor on Mr. Wm. Smith--Letters to Miss + Hennell--Presentation copies of "Middlemarch"--Mr. Lewes + studying mathematics--Letter to John Blackwood--"Maga's" + review of "Middlemarch"--Tone of the Bar--Letter to J. W. + Cross on building a house at Shere--Letter to Mrs. + Congreve--Happiness--Story of Coventry lady and + Bulstrode--Letter to Mr. Simpson--MS. of "Middlemarch." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Dr. Congreve's article, "Mr. Huxley on M. Comte," in _Fortnightly +Review_, April, 1869. + +[7] See _ante_, vol. i. p. 220. + +[8] Professor Edmund Spenser Beesley, a well-known member of the +Positivist body, who married Miss Crompton, daughter of Mr. Justice +Crompton. + +[9] An article by Mr. Frederic Harrison in the _Fortnightly Review_ of +November, 1869. + +[10] Portrait of Charles Hennell. + +[11] Written after the death of Lord Clarendon, who, Lady Lytton tells +me, had been like a father to her. + +[12] "Armgart." + +[13] Miss Octavia Hill. Walmer Street Industrial Experiment, tried by +Canon Fremantle under Miss Hill's supervision. + +[14] Scott Commemoration. + +[15] Written just before the death of Mrs. Lytton's eldest boy. + +[16] "Marie of Villefranche." _Macmillan's Magazine_, August, 1871. + +[17] The collector of "The Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings of George +Eliot." + +[18] Mr. W. H. Bullock--changed his name to Hall. + +[19] The Six-Mile Bottom shooting had been let to H. R. H. that year. + +[20] A site offered near Shere, in Surrey. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1873.] + +_Jan. 1._--At the beginning of December the eighth and last book of +"Middlemarch" was published, the three final numbers having been +published monthly. No former book of mine has been received with more +enthusiasm--not even "Adam Bede;" and I have received many deeply +affecting assurances of its influence for good on individual minds. +Hardly anything could have happened to me which I could regard as a +greater blessing than the growth of my spiritual existence when my +bodily existence is decaying. The merely egoistic satisfactions of +fame are easily nullified by toothache, and _that_ has made my chief +consciousness for the last week. This morning, when I was in pain, and +taking a melancholy breakfast in bed, some sweet-natured creature sent +a beautiful bouquet to the door for me, bound round with the written +wish that "Every year may be happier and happier, and that God's +blessing may ever abide with the immortal author of 'Silas Marner.'" +Happily my dear husband is well, and able to enjoy these things for +me. That he rejoices in them is my most distinct personal pleasure in +such tributes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 3d Jan. 1873.] + +It was very pleasant to have your greeting on the New Year, though I +was keeping its advent in melancholy guise. I am relieved now from the +neuralgic part of my ailment, and am able to write something of the +hearty response I feel to your good wishes. + +We both hope that the coming year may continue to you all the family +joys which must make the core of your happiness, without underrating +golf and good contributors to "Maga." Health has to be presupposed as +the vehicle of all other good, and in this respect you may be possibly +better off in '73 than in '72, for I think you have had several +invalidings within the last twelve months. + +Mr. Langford wrote yesterday that he knew of an article on +"Middlemarch" being in preparation for the _Times_, which certainly +was never before so slow in noticing a book of mine. Whether such an +article will affect the sale favorably seems eminently uncertain, and +can only complicate Mr. Simpson's problem. + +We have been glad to welcome our good friend, Mr. Anthony Trollope, +after his long absence. He is wonderfully full of life and energy, and +will soon bring out his two thick volumes on Australian colonies. + +My friendly Dutch publishers lately sent us a handsome row of +volumes--George Eliot's "Romantische Werke," with an introduction, in +which comparisons are safely shrouded for me in the haze of Dutch, so +that if they are disadvantageous, I am not pained. + +Please give my best wishes for the coming year to Mr. William +Blackwood. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 4th Jan. 1873.] + +At last I break my silence, and thank you for your kind care about me. +I am able to enjoy my reading at the corner of my study fire, and am +at that unpitiable stage of illness which is counterbalanced by extra +petting. I have been fearing that you too may be undergoing some +_malaise_ of a kindred sort, and I should like to be assured that you +have quite got through the troubles which threatened you. + +How good you have all been to me, and what a disappointing investment +of affection I have turned out! But those evening drives, which +perhaps encouraged the faceache, have left me a treasure of picture +and poetry in my memory quite worth paying for, and in these days all +prices are high. + +The new year began very prettily for me at half-past eight in the +morning with a beautiful bouquet, left by an unknown at our door, and +an inscription asking that "God's blessing might ever abide with the +immortal author of 'Silas Marner.'" + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 25th Feb. 1873.] + +I am much pleased with the color and the lettering of the guinea +edition, and the thinner paper makes it delightfully handy. Let us +hope that some people still want to read it, since a friend of ours, +in one short railway bit to and fro, saw two persons reading the +paper-covered numbers. Now is the moment when a notice in the _Times_ +might possibly give a perceptible impulse. + +Kohn, of Berlin, has written to ask us to allow him to reprint the +"Spanish Gypsy" for £50, and we have consented. Some Dresdener, who +has translated poems of Tennyson's, asked leave to translate the +"Spanish Gypsy" in 1870, but I have not heard of his translation +appearing. + +The rain this morning is welcome, in exchange for the snow, which in +London has none of its country charms left to it. Among my books, +which comfort me in the absence of sunshine, is a copy of the "Handy +Royal Atlas" which Mr. Lewes has got for me. The glorious index is all +the more appreciable by me, because I am tormented with German +historical atlases which have no index, and are covered with names +swarming like ants on every map. + +The catalogue coming in the other day renewed my longing for the cheap +edition of Lockhart's novels, though I have some compunction in +teasing your busy mind with my small begging. I should like to take +them into the country, where our days are always longer for reading. + +I have a love for Lockhart because of Scott's Life, which seems to me +a perfect biography. How different from another we know of! + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 28th Feb. 1873.] + +After your kind words I will confess that I should very much like to +have the "Manual of Geography" by Mackay, and Bayne's "Port Royal +Logic." + +_À propos_ of the "Lifted Veil," I think it will not be judicious to +reprint it at present. I care for the idea which it embodies and which +justifies its painfulness. A motto which I wrote on it yesterday +perhaps is a sufficient indication of that idea: + + "Give me no light, great heaven, but such as turns + To energy of human fellowship; + No powers, save the growing heritage + That makes completer manhood." + +But it will be well to put the story in harness with some other +productions of mine, and not send it forth in its dismal loneliness. +There are many things in it which I would willingly say over again, +and I shall never put them in any other form. But we must wait a +little. The question is not in the least one of money, but of care for +the best effect of writing, which often depends on circumstances, much +as pictures depend on light and juxtaposition. + +I am looking forward with interest to "Kenelm Chillingly," and +thinking what a blessed lot it is to die on just finishing a book, if +it could be a good one. I mean, it is blessed only to quit activity +when one quits life. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 1st Mch. 1873.] + +If I had been quite sure of your address I should have written to you +even before receiving your dear letter, over which I have been crying +this morning. The prompting to write to you came from my having ten +days ago read your Memoir--brief yet full--of the precious last months +before the parting. Mrs. P. Taylor brought me her copy as a loan. But +may I not beg to have a copy of my own? It is to me an invaluable bit +of writing; the inspiration of a great sorrow, born of a great love, +has made it perfect; and ever since I read it I have felt a +strengthening companionship from it. You will perhaps think it strange +when I tell you that I have been more cheerful since I read the record +of his sweet, mild heroism, which threw emphasis on every blessing +left in his waning life, and was silent over its pangs. I have even +ventured to lend this copy, which is not my own, to a young married +woman of whom I am very fond, because I think it is an unforgetable +picture of that union which is the ideal of marriage, and which I +desire young people to have in their minds as a goal. + +It is a comfort in thinking of you that you have two lovable young +creatures with you. I have found quite a new interest in young people +since I have been conscious that I am getting older; and if all +personal joy were to go from me as it has gone from you, I could +perhaps find some energy from that interest, and try to teach the +young. I wish, dear friend, it were possible to convey to you the +sense I have of a great good in being permitted to know of your +happiness, and of having some communion with the sorrow which is its +shadow. Your words have a consecration for me, and my husband shares +my feeling. He sends his love along with mine. He sobbed with +something which is a sort of grief better worth having than any +trivial gladness, as he read the printed record of your love. He, +too, is capable of that supreme, self-merging love. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 14th Mch. 1873.] + +This is good news about the guinea edition, but I emphatically agree +with you that it will be well to be cautious in further printing. I +wish you could see a letter I had from California the other day, +apparently from a young fellow, and beginning, "Oh, you dear lady! I +who have been a Fred Vincy ever so long ... have played vagabond and +ninny ever since I knew the meaning of such terms," etc., etc. + +I am sorry to infer, from what you say about being recommended to go +to a German bath, that you have been out of health lately. There +really is a good deal of curative virtue in the air, waters, and +exercise one gets at such places, and if the boredom were not strong +enough to counteract the better influences, it would be worth while to +endure. + +That phrase of Miss Stuart's--"fall flat on the world"--is worth +remembering. I should think it is not likely to prove prophetic, if +she is at all like her cousin, whose fair, piquant face remains very +vividly before me. The older one gets, the more one delights in these +young things, rejoicing in their joys. + +The ministerial crisis interests me, though it does not bring me any +practical need for thinking of it, as it does to you. I wish there +were some solid, philosophical Conservative to take the reins--one who +knows the true functions of stability in human affairs, and, as the +psalm says, "Would also practice what he knows." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Edward Burne-Jones, 20th Mch. 1873.] + +I suppose my hesitation about writing to you to tell you of a debt I +feel towards you is all vanity. If you did not know me, you might +think a great deal more of my judgment than it is worth, and I should +feel bold in that possibility. But when judgment is understood to +mean simply one's own impression of delight, one ought not to shrink +from making one's small offering of burnt clay because others can give +gold statues. + +It would be narrowness to suppose that an artist can only care for the +impressions of those who know the methods of his art as well as feel +its effects. Art works for all whom it can touch. And I want in +gratitude to tell you that your work makes life larger and more +beautiful to me. I mean that historical life of all the world, in +which our little personal share often seems a mere standing-room from +which we can look all round, and chiefly backward. Perhaps the work +has a strain of special sadness in it--perhaps a deeper sense of the +tremendous outer forces which urge us, than of the inner impulse +towards heroic struggle and achievement--but the sadness is so +inwrought with pure, elevating sensibility to all that is sweet and +beautiful in the story of man and in the face of the earth that it can +no more be found fault with than the sadness of mid-day, when Pan is +touchy, like the rest of us. Don't you agree with me that much +superfluous stuff is written on all sides about purpose in art? A +nasty mind makes nasty art, whether for art or any other sake; and a +meagre mind will bring forth what is meagre. And some effect in +determining other minds there must be, according to the degree of +nobleness or meanness in the selection made by the artist's soul. + +Your work impresses me with the happy sense of noble selection and of +power determined by refined sympathy. That is why I wanted to thank +you in writing, since lip-homage has fallen into disrepute. + +I cannot help liking to tell you a sign that my delight must have +taken a little bit of the same curve as yours. Looking, _à propos_ of +your picture, into the "Iphigenia in Aulis," to read the chorus you +know of, I found my blue pencil-marks made seven years ago (and gone +into that forgetfulness which makes my mind seem very large and +empty)--blue pencil-marks made against the dance--loving Kithara and +the footsteps of the muses and the nereids dancing on the shining +sands. I was pleased to see that my mind had been touched in a dumb +way by what has touched yours to fine utterance. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 15th April, 1873] + +Welcome back to Europe! What a comfort to see your handwriting dated +from San Remo--to think that Dr. Congreve's anxieties about your +voyage are at an end, and that you are once more in the post which is +more specially and permanently yours! Mr. Lewes finds fault with your +letter for not telling enough; but the mere fact of your safety seems +to fill it quite full for me, and I can think of no drawbacks--not +even of the cold, which I hope is by this time passing away for you, +as it is for us. You must be so rich in memories that we and our small +ordinary news must appear very flat to you, but we will submit to be a +little despised by you if only we can have you with us again. I have +never lost the impression of Dr. Congreve's look when he paid us his +farewell visit, and spoke of his anxiety about your voyage, fearing +that you had started too late; and that impression gives me all the +keener sympathy with the repose I trust he is feeling. About ourselves +I have only good news to tell. We are happier than ever, and have no +troubles. We are searching for a country-house to go to at the end of +May or earlier. I long for the perfect peace and freedom of the +country again. The hours seem to stretch themselves there, and to hold +twice as much thought as one can get into them in town, where +acquaintances and small claims inevitably multiply. + +Imagine us nearly as we were when we last saw you--only a little +older--with unchanged affection for you and undimmed interest in +whatever befalls you. Do not tax yourself to write unless you feel a +pleasure in that imperfect sort of communication. I will try not to +fear evil if you are silent, but you know that I am glad to have +something more than hope to feed on. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 25th April, 1873.] + +It was a cordial to me this morning to learn that you have the project +of going with your young friend to Cambridge at the end of the autumn. +I could not have thought of anything better to wish for on your behalf +than that you should have the consciousness of helping a younger life. +I know, dear friend, that so far as you directly are concerned with +this life the remainder of it can only be patience and resignation. +But we are not shut up within our individual life, and it is one of +the gains of advancing age that the good of young creatures becomes a +more definite, intense joy to us. With that renunciation for ourselves +which age inevitably brings, we get more freedom of soul to enter into +the life of others; what we can never learn they will know, and the +gladness which is a departed sunlight to us is rising with the +strength of morning to them. + +I am very much interested in the fact of young women studying at +Cambridge, and I have lately seen a charming specimen of the pupils at +Hitchin--a very modest, lovely girl, who distinguished herself in the +last examination. One is anxious that, in the beginning of a higher +education for women--the immediate value of which is chiefly the +social recognition of its desirableness--the students should be +favorable subjects for experiment, girls or young women whose natures +are large and rich enough not to be used up in their efforts after +knowledge. + +Mr. Lewes is very well and goes on working joyously. Proofs come in +slowly, but he is far from being ready with all the manuscript which +will be needed for his preliminary volume--the material, which has +long been gathered, requiring revision and suggesting additions. + +Do think it a privilege to have that fine _physique_ of yours instead +of a headachy, dyspeptic frame such as many women drag through life. +Even in irremediable sorrow it is a sort of blasphemy against one's +suffering fellow-beings to think lightly of any good which they would +be thankful for in exchange for something they have to bear. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1873.] + +_May 19._--We paid a visit to Cambridge at the invitation of Mr. +Frederick Myers, and I enjoyed greatly talking with him and some +others of the "Trinity Men." In the evenings we went to see the +boat-race, and then returned to supper and talk--the first evening +with Mr. Henry Sidgwick, Mr. Jebb, Mr. Edmund Gurney; the second, with +young Balfour, young Lyttelton, Mr. Jackson, and Edmund Gurney again. +Mrs. and Miss Huth were also our companions during the visit. On the +Tuesday morning we breakfasted at Mr. Henry Sidgwick's with Mr. Jebb, +Mr. W. G. Clark, Mr. Myers, and Mrs. and Miss Huth. + +_May 22._--We went to the French play at the Princess's and saw Plessy +and Desclée in "Les Idées de Madame Aubray." I am just finishing again +Aristotle's "Poetics," which I first read in 1856. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 25th May, 1873.] + +Our plans have been upset by the impossibility of finding a house in +the country that is suitable to us, and weariness of being deluded +into journeys of investigation by fanciful advertisements has inclined +Mr. Lewes for the present to say that we will go abroad. Still, I have +nothing to tell that is absolutely settled, and I must ask you, when +you return, to send a note to this house. If I am in England it will +be forwarded to me, and you will get a prompt answer. If I am silent +you will conclude that I am gone abroad. I think it is at the end of +June that you are to come home? + +Here we have been wearing furs and velvet, and having fires all +through the past week, chiefly occupied by Mr. Lewes and me in a visit +to Cambridge. We were invited ostensibly to see the boat-race, but the +real pleasure of the visit consisted in talking with a hopeful group +of Trinity young men. On Monday we had a clear, cold day, more like +the fine weather of mid-winter than any tradition of May time. I hope +that you have had no such revisiting of winter at San Remo. How much +we should enjoy having you with us to narrate everything that has +happened to you in the last eventful half year! I shall feel the loss +of this, as an immediate prospect, to be the greatest disadvantage in +our going abroad next month--if we go. + +Your last news of Emily and of "baby's teeth" is cheerful. "Baby's +teeth" is a phrase that enters much into our life just now. Little +Blanche had a sad struggle with her first little bit of ivory, but she +has been blooming again since, and is altogether a ravishing child. +To-day we have had a large collection of visitors, and I have the +usual Sunday evening condition of brain. But letters are so constantly +coming and claiming my time to answer them, that I get fidgety lest I +should neglect to write to you; and I was determined not to let +another day pass without letting you have a proof that I think of you. +When I am silent please believe that the silence is due to feebleness +of body, which narrows my available time. Mr. Lewes often talks of +you, and will value any word from you about yourself as much as I +shall. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 2d June, 1873.] + +Thanks for sending me word of poor Miss Rebecca Franklin's death. It +touches me deeply. She was always particularly good and affectionate +to me, and I had much happiness in her as my teacher. + +In September a house near Chislehurst will be open to us--a house +which we think of ultimately making our sole home, turning our backs +on London. But we shall be allowed to have it, furnished, for a year +on trial. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1873.] + +_June._--In the beginning of June we paid a visit to Mr. Jowett at +Oxford, meeting there Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roundell, then newly +married. We stayed from Saturday to Monday, and I was introduced to +many persons of interest. Professor T. Green, Max Müller, Thomson, the +Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, a Mr. Wordsworth, the grandson +of the poet, who had spent some time in India, and a host of others. + +_June 23._--Started for the Continent. Fontainebleau, Plombières, etc. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 9th Aug. 1873.] + +I feel myself guilty that I have allowed the vicissitudes of +travelling to hinder me from writing to you, for the chance that a +letter from me might be welcome to you in what I have been imagining +as the first weeks of your return to England and the house in +Mecklenburgh Square. I am sure that I should not have been guilty in +this way if I had been at any time able to say where you should send +me an answer which I could call for at a _Poste Restante_. But we have +been invariably uncertain as to the length of our stay in any one +place and as to our subsequent route; and I confess that I shrink from +writing a letter full of my own doings, without the prospect of +getting some news in return. I am usually in a state of fear rather +than of hope about my absent friends; and I dread lest a letter +written in ignorance about them should be ill-timed. But at last all +fears have become weaker than the uneasy sense that I have omitted to +send you a sign of your loved presence in my thoughts, and that you +may have lost a gleam of pleasure through my omission. + +We left home on the 23d of June, with a sketch of a journey in our +minds, which included Grenoble, the Grande Chartreuse, Aix-les-Bains, +Chambéry, and Geneva. The last place I wished to get to, because my +friend Mme. d'Albert is not likely to live much longer, and I thought +that I should like to see her once more. But during a short stay at +Fontainebleau I began to feel that lengthy railway journeys were too +formidable for us old, weak creatures, and, moreover, that July and +August were not the best months for those southern regions. We were +both shattered, and needed quiet rather than the excitement of seeing +friends and acquaintances--an excitement of which we had been having +too much at home--so we turned aside by easy stages to the Vosges, and +spent about three weeks at Plombières and Luxeuil. We shall carry home +many pleasant memories of our journey--of Fontainebleau, for example, +which I had never seen before. Then of the Vosges, where we count on +going again. Erckmann-Chatrian's books had been an introduction to +the lovely region; and several of them were our companions there. But +what small experiences these are compared with yours; and how we long +for the time when you will be seated with us at our country-house +(Blackbrook, near Bromley, is the name of the house), and tell us as +much as you can think of about this long year in which we have been +deprived of you. If you receive this letter in time to write me a +line, which would reach me by the 15th, I shall be most grateful if +you will give me that undeserved indulgence. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 24th Aug. 1873.] + +On our return yesterday from our nine-weeks' absence I found a letter +from Mr. Main, in which he shows some anxiety that I should write you +the "formal sanction" you justly require before admitting extracts +from "Middlemarch" in the new edition of the "Sayings." I have no +objection, if you see none, to such an enlargement of the volume, and +I satisfy our good Mr. Main's promptitude by writing the needed +consent at once. + +We used our plan of travel as "a good thing to wander from," and went +to no single place (except Fontainebleau) to which we had beforehand +projected going. + +Our most fortunate wandering was to the Vosges--to Plombières and +Luxeuil--which have made us in love with the mode of life at the +_Eaux_ of France, as greatly preferable to the ways of the German +_Bad_. + +We happened to be at Nancy just as the Germans were beginning to quit +it, and we saw good store of _tricolores_ and paper lanterns ready in +the shop windows for those who wished to buy the signs of national +rejoicing. I can imagine that, as a Prussian lady told us, the Germans +themselves were not at all rejoiced to leave that pretty town for +"les bords de la Spree," where, in French dialogue, all Germans are +supposed to live. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1873.] + +_Sept. 4._--Went to Blackbrook, near Bickley. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 17th Sept. 1873.] + +Thanks, dear friend, for the difficult exertion you gave to the +telling of what I so much wished to know--the details of the +trouble[21] which you have all had to go through either directly or +sympathetically. But I will not dwell now on what it cost you, I fear, +too much pain to recall so as to give me the vivid impressions I felt +in reading your letter. The great practical result of such trouble is +to make us all more tender to each other; this is a world in which we +must pay heavy prices for love, as you know by experience much deeper +than mine. + +I will gossip a little about ourselves now. We gave up our intention +of going far southward, fearing the fatigue of long railway journeys, +and the heat (which hardly ever came) of July and August in the region +we had thought of visiting. So, after staying a very enjoyable time at +Fontainebleau, we went to the Vosges, and at Plombières and Luxeuil we +should have felt ourselves in paradise if it had not been for a sad +deafness of George's, which kept us uneasy and made us hurry to that +undesirable place, Frankfort, in order to consult Spiess. At Frankfort +the nearest bath was the also undesirable Homburg; so we spent or +wasted a fortnight there, winning little but the joy of getting away +again. The journey home, which we took very easily, was +interesting--through Metz, Verdun, Rheims, and Amiens. + +As to our house, spite of beautiful lawn, tall trees, fine +kitchen-garden, and good, invigorating air, we have already made up +our minds that it will not do for our home. Still, we have many things +to enjoy, but we shall not probably remain here longer than to the end +of October. + +My motherly love to all such young ones as may be around you. I do not +disturb George in order to ask for messages from him, being sure that +his love goes with mine. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 19th Sept. 1873.] + +I quite assent to your proposal that there should be a new edition of +"Middlemarch" in one volume, at 7_s._ 6_d._--to be prepared at once, +but not published too precipitately. + +I like your project of an illustration; and the financial arrangements +you mention are quite acceptable to me. + +For one reason especially I am delighted that the book is going to be +reprinted--namely, _that I can see the proof-sheets and make +corrections_. Pray give orders that the sheets be sent to me. I should +like the binding to be of a rich, sober color, with very plain Roman +lettering. It might be called a "revised edition." + +Thanks for the extract from Mr. Collins's letter. I did not know that +there was really a Lowick, in a Midland county too. Mr. Collins has my +gratitude for feeling some regard towards Mr. Casaubon, in whose life +_I_ lived with much sympathy. + +When I was at Oxford, in May, two ladies came up to me after dinner: +one said, "How could you let Dorothea marry _that_ Casaubon?" The +other, "Oh, I understand her doing that, but why did you let her marry +the other fellow, whom I cannot bear?" Thus two "ardent admirers" +wished that the book had been quite different from what it is. + +I wonder whether you have abandoned--as you seemed to agree that it +would be wise to do--the project of bringing out my other books in a +cheaper form than the present 3_s._ 6_d._, which, if it were not for +the blemish of the figure illustrations, would be as pretty an edition +as could be, and perhaps as cheap as my public requires. Somehow, the +cheap books that crowd the stalls are always those which look as if +they were issued from Pandemonium. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 11th Oct. 1873.] + +I am rather ashamed of our grumblings. We are really enjoying the +country, and have more than our share of everything. George has happy +mornings at his desk now, and we have fine bracing air to walk in--air +which I take in as a sort of nectar. We like the bits of scenery round +us better and better as we get them by heart in our walks and drives. +The house, with all its defects, is very pretty, and more delightfully +secluded, without being remote from the conveniences of the world, +than any place we have before thought of as a possible residence for +us. + +I am glad that you have been seeing the Cowper Temples. My knowledge +of them has not gone beyond dining with them at Mrs. Tollemache's, and +afterwards having a good conversational call from them, but they both +struck me very agreeably. + +Mr. Henry Sidgwick is a chief favorite of mine--one of whom his +friends at Cambridge say that they always expect him to act according +to a higher standard than they think of attributing to any other chief +man, or of imposing on themselves. "Though we kept our own fellowships +without believing more than he did," one of them said to me, "we +should have felt that Henry Sidgwick had fallen short if he had not +renounced his." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 12th Oct. 1873.] + +Our plan is not to give up our London house, but to have a country +place as a retreat. We want a good house in a lovely country, _away +from rows of villas_, but within easy reach of all conveniences. This +seems an immodest requirement in a world where one good is hardly to +be got without renunciation of another. You perceive that we are +getting very old and fastidious. + +I like to interpret your enjoyment of Brighton and its evening skies +as a proof that you flourish there physically. All things are to be +endured and counted even as a fuller life, with a body free from pain +and depressing sensations of weakness; but illness is a partial death, +and makes the world dim to us. + +We have no great strength to boast of; but we are so unspeakably happy +in all other respects that we cannot grumble at this tax on us as +elderly mortals. + +Our little Blanche grows in grace, and her parents have great delight +in her--Charles being quite as fond a father as if he had beforehand +been an idolizer of babies. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, Sunday, 20th Oct. 1873.] + +The chances of conversation were against my being quite clear to you +yesterday as to the cases in which it seems to me that conformity is +the higher rule. What happened to be said or not said is of no +consequence in any other light than that of my anxiety not to appear +what I should _hate to be_--which is surely not an ignoble, egoistic +anxiety, but belongs to the worship of the Best. + +All the great religions of the world, historically considered, are +rightly the objects of deep reverence and sympathy--they are the +record of spiritual struggles, which are the types of our own. This is +to me pre-eminently true of Hebrewism and Christianity, on which my +own youth was nourished. And in this sense I have no antagonism +towards any religious belief, but a strong outflow of sympathy. Every +community met to worship the highest Good (which is understood to be +expressed by God) carries me along in its main current; and if there +were not reasons against my following such an inclination, I should go +to church or chapel constantly for the sake of the delightful emotions +of fellowship which come over me in religious assemblies--the very +nature of such assemblies being the recognition of a binding belief or +spiritual law, which is to lift us into willing obedience and save us +from the slavery of unregulated passion or impulse. And with regard to +other people, it seems to me that those who have no definite +conviction which constitutes a protesting faith may often more +beneficially cherish the good within them and be better members of +society by a conformity, based on the recognized good in the public +belief, than by a nonconformity which has nothing but negatives to +utter. _Not_, of course, if the conformity would be accompanied by a +consciousness of hypocrisy. That is a question for the individual +conscience to settle. But there is enough to be said on the different +points of view from which conformity may be regarded to hinder a ready +judgment against those who continue to conform after ceasing to +believe, in the ordinary sense. But with the utmost largeness of +allowance for the difficulty of deciding in special cases, it must +remain true that the highest lot is to have definite beliefs about +which you feel that "necessity is laid upon you" to declare them, as +something better which you are bound to try and give to those who have +the worse. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 5th Nov. 1873.] + +It was a cheerful accompaniment to breakfast this morning to have a +letter from you, with the pretty picture you suggested of Miss +Blackwood's first ball. I am glad that I have seen the "little +fairy," so as to be able to imagine her. + +We are both the better for the delicious air and quiet of the country. +We, too, like you, were sorry to quit the woods and fields for the +comparatively disturbed life which even we are obliged to lead in +town. Letters requesting interviews can no longer be made void by +one's absence; and I am much afflicted by these interruptions, which +break up the day without any adequate result of good to any mortal. In +the country the days have broad spaces, and the very stillness seems +to give a delightful roominess to the hours. + +Is it not wonderful that the world can absorb so much "Middlemarch" at +a guinea the copy? I shall be glad to hear particulars, which, I +imagine, will lead to the conclusion that the time is coming for the +preparation of a 7_s._ 6_d._ edition. I am not fond of reading proofs, +but I am anxious to correct the sheets of this edition, both in +relation to mistakes already standing, and to prevent the accumulation +of others in the reprinting. + +I am slowly simmering towards another big book; but people seem so +bent on giving supremacy to "Middlemarch" that they are sure not to +like any future book so well. I had a letter from Mr. Bancroft (the +American ambassador at Berlin) the other day, in which he says that +everybody in Berlin reads "Middlemarch." He had to buy two copies for +his house; and he found the rector of the university, a stupendous +mathematician, occupied with it in the solid part of the day. I am +entertaining you in this graceful way about myself because you will be +interested to know what are the chances for our literature abroad. + +That Ashantee business seems to me hideous. What is more murderous +than stupidity? To have a husband gone on such an expedition is a +trial that passes my imagination of what it is possible to endure in +the way of anxiety. + +We are looking forward to the "Inkerman" volume as something for me to +read aloud. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 11th Nov. 1873.] + +During the latter part of our stay at Blackbrook we had become very +fond of the neighborhood. The walks and drives round us were +delightfully varied--commons, wooded lanes, wide pastures--and we felt +regretfully that we were hardly likely to find again a country-house +so secluded in a well-inhabited region. + +We have seen few people at present. The George Howards are come from a +delicious, lonely _séjour_ in a tower of Bamborough Castle!--and he +has brought many sketches home. That lodging would suit you, wouldn't +it? A castle on a rock washed by the sea seems to me just a paradise +for you. + +We have been reading John Mill's "Autobiography," like the rest of the +world. The account of his early education and the presentation of his +father are admirable; but there are some pages in the latter half that +one would have liked to be different. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 6th Dec. 1873.] + +Our wish to see you after all the long months since June, added to +your affectionate invitation, triumphs over our disinclination to +move. So, unless something should occur to make the arrangement +inconvenient to you, we will join the dear party on your hearth in the +afternoon of the 24th, and stay with you till the 26th. + +Notwithstanding my trust in your words, I feel a lingering uneasiness +lest we should be excluding some one else from enjoying Christmas with +you. + +J.'s friend, Dr. Andrew Clark, has been prescribing for Mr. +Lewes--ordering him to renounce the coffee which has been a chief +charm of life to him, but being otherwise mild in his prohibitions. + +I hear with much comfort that you are better, and have recovered your +usual activity. Please keep well till Christmas, and then love and pet +me a little, for that is always very sweet. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 22d Dec. 1873.] + +In writing any careful presentation of human feelings, you must count +on that infinite stupidity of readers who are always substituting +their crammed notions of what ought to be felt for any attempt to +recall truly what they themselves have felt under like circumstances. +We are going to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our friends +at Weybridge. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 28th Dec. 1873.] + +We have been spending our Christmas in the country, and it is only on +my return that I got your kind note, with its pretty symbols of +remembrance. Such little signs are very sweet, coming from those whom +one loves well in spite of long separation. I am very glad to have +seen you in your new home, and to be able to imagine you among your +household treasures--especially to imagine both you and your husband +in enjoyable health. We have been invalidish lately, and have put +ourselves under the discipline of Dr. Andrew Clark, who is not one of +the "three meat-meals and alcohol" physicians, but rather one of those +who try to starve out dyspepsia. + +We both send our kind regards to Mr. Taylor, and hope that he may +remain robust for his parliamentary campaign. Life, I trust, will deal +gently with you in future, dear friend, and give you years of peace +after your period of anxiety and of parting from old places and +habits. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1874.] + +_Jan. 1._--The happy old year, in which we have had constant enjoyment +of life, notwithstanding much bodily _malaise_, is gone from us +forever. More than in any former year of my life love has been poured +forth to me from distant hearts, and in our home we have had that +finish to domestic comfort which only faithful, kind servants can +give. Our children are prosperous and happy--Charles evidently growing +in mental efficiency; we have abundant wealth for more than our actual +needs; and our unspeakable joy in each other has no other alloy than +the sense that it must one day end in parting. My dear husband has a +store of present and prospective good in the long work which is likely +to stretch through the remaining years of his intellectual activity; +and there have not been wanting signs that what he has already +published is being appreciated rightly by capable persons. He is +thinner than ever, but still he shows wonderful elasticity and nervous +energy. I have been for a month rendered almost helpless for +intellectual work by constant headache, but am getting a little more +freedom. Nothing is wanting to my blessings but the uninterrupted +power of work. For as to all my unchangeable imperfections I have +resigned myself. + +_Jan. 17._--I received this morning, from Blackwood, the account of +"Middlemarch" and of "The Spanish Gypsy" for 1873. Of the guinea +edition of "Middlemarch," published in the spring, 2434 copies have +been sold. Of "The Spanish Gypsy" 292 copies have been sold during +1873, and the remaining copies are only 197. Thus, out of 4470 which +have been printed, 4273 have been distributed. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 12th Feb. 1874.] + +We have received the volume--your kind and valuable gift--and I have +read it aloud with Mr. Lewes, all except the later pages, which we +both feel too much to bear reading them in common. You have given a +deeply interesting and, we think, instructive picture, and Mr. Lewes +has expressed his wish that it had not been restricted to a private +circulation. But I understand your shrinking from indiscriminate +publicity, at least in the first instance. Perhaps, if many judges on +whom you rely concur with Mr. Lewes, you will be induced to extend the +possible benefit of the volume. I care so much for the demonstration +of an intense joy in life on the basis of "plain living and high +thinking" in this time of more and more eager scrambling after wealth +and show. And then there are exquisite bits which you have rescued +from that darkness to which his self-depreciation condemned them. I +think I never read a more exquisite little poem than the one called +"Christian Resignation;" and Mr. Lewes, when I read it aloud, at once +exclaimed, "How very fine--read it again!" I am also much impressed +with the wise mingling of moderation with sympathy in that passage, +given in a note, from the article on Greg's "Political Essays." + +What must have been the effort which the writing cost you I can--not +fully, but almost--imagine. But believe, dear friend, that in our +judgment you have not poured out these recollections in a cry of +anguish all in vain. I feel roused and admonished by what you have +told, and if I--then others. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 20th Feb. 1874.] + +I imagined you absorbed by the political crisis, like the rest of the +world except the Lord Chief-justice, who must naturally have felt his +summing-up deserving of more attention. I, who am no believer in +salvation by ballot, am rather tickled that the first experiment with +it has turned against its adherents. + +I have been making what will almost certainly be my last corrections +of the "Spanish Gypsy," and that causes me to look forward with +special satisfaction to the probable exhaustion of the present +edition. The corrections chiefly concern the quantity of the word +Zincálo, which ought to be Zíncalo; but there are some other +emendations; and, altogether, they make a difference to more than +seventy pages. But it would still be worth while to retain the +stereotypes, replacing simply the amended pages, there being about 400 +in the whole book. I am sadly vexed that I did not think of having +these corrections ready for the German reprint. + +I have been compunctious lately about my having sprinkled cold water +on the proposal suggested by Mr. Simpson, of bringing out my novels in +a cheaper way--on thinner paper and without illustrations. The +compunction was roused by my happening, in looking at old records, to +alight on some letters, one especially, written by a working-man, a +certain E. Hall,[22] more than ten years ago, begging me to bring out +my books in a form cheap enough to let a poor man more easily "get a +read of them." Hence, if you and Mr. Simpson see good to revive the +design in question, I am perfectly in accord. + +You did send me a copy of Lord Lytton's "Fables"--many thanks for +doing so. Mr. Lewes had seen several of them in manuscript, and +thought well of their merits. I am reading them gradually. They are +full of graceful fancies and charming verse. So far as cleverness goes +it seems to me he can do almost anything; and the leanings of his mind +are towards the best things. The want I feel is of more definiteness +and more weight. The two stanzas to his wife, placed before "Far and +Near," are perfect. + +I think I have never written to you since I wanted to tell you that I +admired very much the just spirit in which the notice of Mill's +"Autobiography" was written in the Magazine. Poor Dickens's latter +years wear a melancholy aspect, do they not? But some of the extracts +from his letters in the last volume have surprisingly more freshness +and naturalness of humor than any of the letters earlier given. Still, +something should be done by dispassionate criticism towards the reform +of our national habits in the matter of literary biography. Is it not +odious that as soon as a man is dead his desk is raked, and every +insignificant memorandum which he never meant for the public is +printed for the gossiping amusement of people too idle to re-read his +books? "He gave the people of his best. His worst he kept, his best he +gave;" but there is a certain set, not a small one, who are titillated +by the worst and indifferent to the best. I think this fashion is a +disgrace to us all. It is something like the uncovering of the dead +Byron's club-foot. + +Mr. Lewes is in a more flourishing condition than usual, having been +helped by Dr. Andrew Clark, who ministers to all the brain-workers. I +have been ill lately: weeks of _malaise_ having found their climax in +lumbar-neuralgia, or something of that sort, which gave fits of pain +severe enough to deserve even a finer name. + +My writing has not been stimulated as Scott's was under circumstances +of a like sort, and I have nothing to tell you securely. + +Please give an expression of my well-founded sympathy to Mr. William +Blackwood. My experience feelingly convinces me of the hardship there +must be in his. I trust I shall hear of the lameness as a departed +evil. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 6th Mch. 1874.] + +I send you by this post a small collection of my poems, which Mr. +Lewes wishes me to get published in May. + +Such of them as have been already printed in a fugitive form have been +received with many signs of sympathy, and every one of those I now +send you represents an idea which I care for strongly, and wish to +propagate as far as I can. Else I should forbid myself from adding to +the mountainous heap of poetical collections. + +The form of volume I have in my eye is a delightful duodecimo edition +of Keats's poems (without the "Endymion") published during his life: +just the volume to slip in the pocket. Mine will be the least bit +thicker. + +I should like a darkish green cover, with Roman lettering. But you +will consider the physique and price of the book, and kindly let me +know your thoughts. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 25th Mch. 1874.] + +I fear the fatal fact about your story[23] is the absence of God and +hell. "My dear madam, you have not presented motives to the children!" +It is really hideous to find that those who sit in the scribes' seats +have got no further than the appeal to selfishness, which they call +God. The old Talmudists were better teachers. They make Rachel +remonstrate with God for his hardness, and remind him that she was +kinder to her sister Leah than he to his people--thus correcting the +traditional God by human sympathy. However, we must put up with our +contemporaries, since we can neither live with our ancestors nor with +posterity. + +It is cheering to see the programme of your new society. There +certainly is an awakening of conscience about animals in general as +our fellow-creatures--even the vogue of Balaam's ass is in that sense +a good sign. A lady wrote to me the other day that when she went to +church in the island of Sark the sermon turned on that remonstrant +hero or heroine. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 27th Mch. 1874.] + +I can imagine how great an encouragement you feel from the enthusiasm +generously expressed in Mr. C.'s letter. It is always an admirable +impulse to express deeply felt admiration, but it is also possible +that you have some grateful readers who do not write to you. I have +heard men whose greatest delight is literature, say that they should +never dream of writing to an author on the ground of his books alone. + +Poor Mr. Francis Newman must be aged now and rather weary of the world +and explanations of the world. He can hardly be expected to take in +much novelty. I have a sort of affectionate sadness in thinking of the +interest which, in far-off days, I felt in his "Soul" and "Phases of +Faith," and of the awe I had of him as a lecturer on mathematics at +the Ladies' College. How much work he has done in the world which has +left no deep, conspicuous mark, but has probably entered beneficially +into many lives! + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 23d April, 1874.] + +How glorious this opening spring is! At this moment even London is so +beautiful that I come home filled with the Park landscapes, and see +them as a background to all my thoughts. Your account of Mr. George +Dawson is rather melancholy. I remember him only as a bright, +vigorous, young man--such as perhaps his sons are now. I imagine it is +his fortune, or, rather, misfortune, to have talked too much and too +early about the greatest things. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Mary Cross, 11th May, 1874.] + +I could not dwell on your sweet gift[24] yesterday--I should perhaps +have begun to cry, which would not have been _convenable_ in a +hostess. For I have been in a suffering, depressed condition lately, +so your good, loving deed has come just at the right time--when I need +the helpfulness that love brings me--and my heart turns to you with +grateful blessing this Monday morning. + +I have been looking at the little paintings with a treble delight, +because they were done for _me_, because you chose for them subjects +of my "making," and because they are done with a promising charm of +execution (which Mr. Lewes feels as well as I). It gives me special +gladness that you have this sort of work before you. Some skill or +other with the hands is needful for the completeness of the life, and +makes a bridge over times of doubt and despondency. + +Perhaps it will please you to know that nineteen years ago, when Mr. +Lewes and I were looking at a print of Goethe's statue by Ritzchl, +which stands on a pedestal ornamented with _bassi relievi_ of his +characters, I said (little believing that my wish would ever be +fulfilled), "How I should like to be surrounded with creatures of my +own making!" And yesterday, when I was looking at your gift, that +little incident recurred to me. Your love seemed to have made me a +miniature pedestal. + +I was comforted yesterday that you and J. had at least the pleasure of +hearing Bice Trollope sing, to make some amends for the long, cold +journey. Please do not any of you, forget that we shall only be three +weeks more in this corner of the world, and that we want to see you as +often as you care to come. + +Best love to all, the mother being chief among the all. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1874.] + +_May 19._--This month has been published a volume of my poems--"Legend +of Jubal, and other Poems." On the 1st of June we go into the country +to the cottage, Earlswood Common, for four months, and I hope there to +get deep shafts sunk in my prose book. My health has been a wretched +drag on me during this last half-year. I have lately written "a +symposium." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Cross, 14th June, 1874.] + +I have so much trust in your love for us that I feel sure you will +like to know of our happiness in the secure peace of the country, and +the good we already experience in soul and body from the sweet breezes +over hill and common, the delicious silence, and the unbroken spaces +of the day. Just now the chill east wind has brought a little check to +our pleasure in our long afternoon drives; and I could wish that Canon +Kingsley and his fellow-worshippers of that harsh divinity could have +it reserved entirely for themselves as a tribal god. + +We think the neighborhood so lovely that I must beg you to tell J. we +are in danger of settling here unless he makes haste to find us a +house in your "country-side"--a house with undeniable charms, on high +ground, in a strictly rural neighborhood (water and gas laid on, +nevertheless), to be vacant precisely this autumn! + +My philosopher is writing away with double _verve_ in a projecting +window, where he can see a beautiful green slope crowned and studded +with large trees. I, too, have an agreeable corner in another room. +Our house has the essentials of comfort, and we have reason to be +contented with it. + +I confess that my chief motive for writing about ourselves is to earn +some news of you, which will not be denied me by one or other of the +dear pairs of hands always ready to do us a kindness. + +Our Sunday is really a Sabbath now--a day of thorough peace. But I +shall get hungry for a sight of some of the Sunday visitors before the +end of September. + +I include all your family in a spiritual embrace, and am always yours +lovingly. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 16th June, 1874.] + +We are revelling in the peace of the country, and have no drawback to +our delight except the cold winds, which have forced us to put on +winter clothing for the last four or five days. + +Our wide common is very breezy, and the wind makes mournful music +round our walls. But I should think it is not possible to find a much +healthier region than this round Reigate and Redhill; and it is +prettier than half the places one crosses the Channel to see. We have +been hunting about for a permanent country home in the neighborhood, +but no house is so difficult to get as one which has at once seclusion +and convenience of position, which is neither of the suburban-villa +style nor of the grand hall and castle dimensions. + +The restoration of the empire (in France), which is a threatening +possibility, seems to me a degrading issue. In the restoration of the +monarchy I should have found something to rejoice at, but the +traditions of the empire, both first and second, seem to my sentiment +bad. Some form of military despotism must be, as you say, the only +solution where no one political party knows how to behave itself. The +American pattern is certainly being accepted as to senatorial manners. +I dare say you have been to Knebworth and talked over French matters +with Lord Lytton. We are grieved to hear from him but a poor account +of sweet Lady Lytton's health and spirits. She is to me one of the +most charming types of womanliness, and I long for her to have all a +woman's best blessings. + +The good news about the small remainder of "Jubal" is very welcome, +and I will write at once to Mr. Simpson to send him my two or three +corrections, and my wishes about the new edition. The price of the +book will well bear a thicker and a handsomely tinted paper, +especially now it has proved movable; and I felt so much the +difference to the eye and touch of the copies on rich tinted paper, +that I was much vexed with myself for having contributed to the shabby +appearance of the current edition by suggesting the thin Keats volume +as a model. People have become used to more luxurious editions; and I +confess to the weakness of being affected by paper and type in +something of the same subtile way I am affected by the odor of a room. + +Many thanks for Lord Neaves's pleasant little book, which is a capital +example of your happily planned publication. + +I came down here half poisoned by the French theatre, but I am +flourishing now, and am brewing my future big book with more or less +(generally less) belief in the quality of the liquor which will be +drawn off. The secured peacefulness and the pure air of the country +make our time of double worth; and we mean to give no invitations to +London friends desirous of change. We are selfishly bent on dual +solitude. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 1st July, 1874.] + +I am so glad to know from your kind letter that you are interesting +yourself, with Madame Belloc, in the poor workhouse girls. You see my +only social work is to rejoice in the labors of others, while I live +in luxurious remoteness from all turmoil. Of course you have seen +Mrs. Senior's report. I read it, and thought it very wise, very +valuable in many ways, and since then she has sent me word how much +she has been worried about it by (as I imagine) obstructive officials. + +We are revelling in our country peacefulness, in spite of the chills +and rain, driving about every day that the weather will allow, and +finding in each drive new beauties of this loveliest part of a lovely +country. We are looking out for a house in this neighborhood as a +permanent retreat; not with the idea of giving up our London house, at +least for some years, but simply of having a place to which we may +come for about six months of the year, and perhaps finally shrink into +altogether. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 1st July, 1874.] + +Only the day before your letter came to me I had been saying, "I +wonder how our dear Mrs. William Smith is?" so that your impulse to +write to me satisfied a need of mine. I cannot help rejoicing that you +are in the midst of lovely scenery again, for I had had a presentiment +that Cambridge was antipathetic to you; and, indeed, I could not have +imagined that you would be in the right place there but for the +promised helpfulness of your presence to a young friend. + +You tell me much that is interesting. Your picture of Mr. and Mrs. +Stirling, and what you say of the reasons why one may wish even for +the anguish of being _left_ for the sake of waiting on the beloved one +to the end--all that goes to my heart of hearts. It is what I think of +almost daily. For death seems to me now a close, real experience, like +the approach of autumn or winter, and I am glad to find that advancing +life brings this power of imagining the nearness of death I never had +till of late years. I remember all you told me of your niece's +expected marriage, and your joy in the husband who has chosen her. It +is wealth you have--that of several sweet nieces to whom being with +you is a happiness. You can feel some sympathy in their cheerfulness, +even though sorrow is always your only private good--can you not, dear +friend?--and the time is short at the utmost. The blessed reunion, if +it may come, must be patiently waited for; and such good as you can do +others, by loving looks and words, must seem to you like a closer +companionship with the gentleness and benignity which you justly +worshipped while it was visibly present, and still more, perhaps, now +it is veiled, and is a memory stronger than vision of outward things. +We are revelling in the sweet peace of the country, and shall remain +here till the end of September. + +Mr. Lewes sends his affectionate remembrances with mine. I am +scribbling while he holds my bed-candle, so pray forgive any +incoherency. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 17th July, 1874.] + +I have two questions to ask of your benevolence. First, was there not +some village near Stonehenge where you stayed the night, nearer to +Stonehenge than Amesbury? Secondly, do you know anything specific +about Holmwood _Common_ as a place of residence? It is ravishingly +beautiful; is it in its higher part thoroughly unobjectionable as a +site for a dwelling? + +It seems that they have been having the heat of Tophet in London, +whereas we have never had more than agreeable sunniness, this common +being almost always breezy. And the country around us must, I think, +be the loveliest of its undulating, woody kind in all England. + +I remember, when we were driving together last, something was said +about my disposition to melancholy. I ought to have said then, but did +not, that I am no longer one of those whom Dante found in hell border +because they had been sad under the blessed sunlight.[25] I am +uniformly cheerful now--feeling the preciousness of these moments, in +which I still possess love and thought. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 3d Aug. 1874.] + +It was sweet of you to write me that nice long letter. I was athirst +for some news of you. Life, as you say, is a big thing. No wonder +there comes a season when we cease to look round and say, "How shall I +enjoy?" but, as in a country which has been visited by the sword, +pestilence, and famine, think only how we shall help the wounded, and +how find seed for the next harvest--how till the earth and make a +little time of gladness for those who are being born without their own +asking. I am so glad of what you say about the Latin. Go on conquering +and to conquer a little kingdom for yourself there. + +We are, as usual, getting more than our share of peace and other good, +except in the matter of warmth and sunshine. Our common is a sort of +ball-room for the winds, and on the warmest days we have had here we +have found them at their music and dancing. They roar round the +corners of our house in a wintry fashion, while the sun is shining on +the brown grass. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 8th Aug. 1874.] + +Thanks for sending me the good news. The sale of "Middlemarch" is +wonderful "out of all whooping," and, considered as manifesting the +impression made by the book, is more valuable than any amount of +immediate distribution. I suppose there will be a new edition of the +"Spanish Gypsy" wanted by Christmas; and I have a carefully corrected +copy by me, containing my final alterations, to which I desire to +have the stereotyped plates adjusted. + +As to confidence in the work to be done I am somewhat in the condition +suggested to Armgart, "How will you bear the poise of eminence with +dread of falling?" And the other day, having a bad headache, I did +what I have sometimes done before at intervals of five or six +years--looked into three or four novels to see what the world was +reading. The effect was paralyzing, and certainly justifies me in that +abstinence from novel-reading which, I fear, makes me seem +supercilious or churlish to the many persons who send me their books, +or ask me about their friends' books. To be delivered from all doubts +as to one's justification in writing at this stage of the world, one +should have either a plentiful faith in one's own exceptionalness, or +a plentiful lack of money. Tennyson said to me, "Everybody writes so +well now;" and if the lace is only machine-made, it still pushes out +the hand-made, which has differences only for a fine, fastidious +appreciation. To write indifferently after having written well--that +is, from a true, individual store which makes a special +contribution--is like an eminent clergyman spoiling his reputation by +lapses, and neutralizing all the good he did before. However, this is +superfluous stuff to write to you. It is only a sample of the way in +which depression works upon me. I am not the less grateful for all the +encouragement I get. + +I saw handsome Dean Liddell at Oxford. He is really a grand figure. +They accuse him of being obstructive to much-needed reforms. For my +own part I am thankful to him for his share in "Liddell and Scott" and +his capital little Roman History. _À propos_ of books and St. Andrews, +I have read aloud to Mr. Lewes Professor Flint's volume, and we have +both been much pleased with its conscientious presentation and +thorough effort at fairness. + +We have enjoyed the country, as we always do; but we have been, for +our constitutions, a little unfortunate in the choice of a spot which +is the windiest of the windy. That heat which we have read and heard +of has hardly been at all felt by us; and we have both suffered a +little from chills. You will perceive from my letter I am just now +possessed by an evil spirit in the form of headache; but on the whole +I am much the stronger for the peace and the delicious air, which I +take in as a conscious addition to the good of living. + +We have been near buying a little country hermitage on Holmwood +Common--a grand spot, with a view hard to match in our flat land. But +we have been frightened away by its windiness. I rather envy Major +Lockhart and the rest of the golfian enthusiasts; to have a seductive +idleness which is really a healthy activity is invaluable to people +who have desk-work. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 11th Nov. 1874.] + +I feel rather disgraced by the fact that I received your last kind +letter nearly two months ago. But a brief note of mine, written +immediately on hearing of you from Mrs. Fields, must have crossed +yours and the Professor's kind letters to me; and I hope it proved to +you that I love you in my heart. + +We were in the country then, but soon afterwards we set out on a +six-weeks' journey, and we are but just settled in our winter home. + +Those unspeakable troubles in which I necessarily felt more for _you_ +than for any one else concerned, are, I trust, well at an end, and you +are enjoying a time of peace. It was like your own sympathetic energy +to be able, even while the storm was yet hanging in your sky, to +write to me about my husband's books. Will you not agree with me that +there is one comprehensive Church whose fellowship consists in the +desire to purify and ennoble human life, and where the best members of +all narrower Churches may call themselves brother and sister in spite +of differences? I am writing to your dear husband as well as to you, +and in answer to his question about Goethe, I must say, for my part, +that I think he had a strain of mysticism in his soul--of so much +mysticism as I think inevitably belongs to a full, poetic nature--I +mean the delighted bathing of the soul in emotions which overpass the +outlines of definite thought. I should take the "Imitation" as a type +(it is one which your husband also mentions), but perhaps I might +differ from him in my attempt to interpret the unchangeable and +universal meanings of that great book. + +Mr. Lewes, however, who has a better right than I to a conclusion +about Goethe, thinks that he entered into the experience of the +mystic--as in the confessions of the _Schöne Seele_--simply by force +of his sympathetic genius, and that his personal individual bent was +towards the clear and plastic exclusively. Do not imagine that Mr. +Lewes is guided in his exposition by theoretic antipathies. He is +singularly tolerant of difference, and able to admire what is unlike +himself. + +He is busy now correcting the proofs of his second volume. I wonder +whether you have headaches and are rickety as we are, or whether you +have a glorious immunity from those ills of the flesh. Your husband's +photograph looks worthy to represent one of those wondrous Greeks who +wrote grand dramas at eighty or ninety. + +I am decidedly among the correspondents who may exercise their +friends in the virtue of giving and hoping for nothing again. +Otherwise I am unprofitable. Yet believe me, dear friend, I am always +with lively memories of you, yours affectionately. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Nov. 1874.] + +We have spent this year in much happiness, and are sorry to part with +it. From the beginning of June to the end of September we had a house +in Surrey, and enjoyed delicious quiet with daily walks and drives in +the lovely scenery round Reigate and Dorking. October we spent in a +country visit to friends (Six-Mile Bottom) and in a journey to Paris, +and through the Ardennes homeward, finishing off our travels by some +excursions in our own country, which we are ready to say we will never +quit again--it is so much better worth knowing than most places one +travels abroad to see. We make ourselves amends for being in London by +going to museums to see the wonderful works of men; and the other day +I was taken over the Bank of England and to Woolwich Arsenal--getting +object-lessons in my old age, you perceive. Mr. Lewes is half through +the proof-correcting of his second volume; and it will be matter of +rejoicing when the other half is done, for we both hate +proof-correcting (do you?)--the writing always seems worse than it +really is when one reads it in patches, looking out for mistakes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby (now Lady Ponsonby), 10th +Dec. 1874.] + +My books have for their main bearing a conclusion the opposite of that +in which your studies seem to have painfully imprisoned you--a +conclusion without which I could not have cared to write any +representation of human life--namely, that the fellowship between man +and man which has been the principle of development, social and moral, +is not dependent on conceptions of what is not man: and that the idea +of God, so far as it has been a high spiritual influence, is the ideal +of a goodness entirely human (_i.e._, an exaltation of the human). + +Have you quite fairly represented yourself in saying that you have +ceased to pity your suffering fellow-men, because you can no longer +think of them as individualities of immortal duration, in some other +state of existence than this of which you know the pains and the +pleasures?--that you feel less for them now you regard them as more +miserable? And, on a closer examination of your feelings, should you +find that you had lost all sense of quality in actions, all +possibility of admiration that yearns to imitate, all keen sense of +what is cruel and injurious, all belief that your conduct (and +therefore the conduct of others) can have any difference of effect on +the well-being of those immediately about you (and therefore on those +afar off), whether you carelessly follow your selfish moods, or +encourage that vision of others' needs which is the source of justice, +tenderness, sympathy in the fullest sense--I cannot believe that your +strong intellect will continue to see, in the conditions of man's +appearance on this planet, a destructive relation to your sympathy. +This seems to me equivalent to saying that you care no longer for +color, now you know the laws of the spectrum. + +As to the necessary combinations through which life is manifested, and +which seem to present themselves to you as a hideous fatalism, which +ought logically to petrify your volition, have they, _in fact_, any +such influence on your ordinary course of action in the primary +affairs of your existence as a human, social, domestic creature? And +if they don't hinder you from taking measures for a bath, without +which you know that you cannot secure the delicate cleanliness which +is your second nature, why should they hinder you from a line of +resolve in a higher strain of duty to your ideal, both for yourself +and others? But the consideration of molecular physics is not the +direct ground of human love and moral action any more than it is the +direct means of composing a noble picture or of enjoying great music. +One might as well hope to dissect one's own body and be merry in doing +it, as take molecular physics (in which you must banish from your +field of view what is specifically human) to be your dominant guide, +your determiner of motives, in what is solely human. That every study +has its bearing on every other is true; but pain and relief, love and +sorrow, have their peculiar history, which make an experience and +knowledge over and above the swing of atoms. + +The teaching you quote as George Sand's would, I think, deserve to be +called nonsensical if it did not deserve to be called wicked. What +sort of "culture of the intellect" is that which, instead of widening +the mind to a fuller and fuller response to all the elements of our +existence, isolates it in a moral stupidity?--which flatters egoism +with the possibility that a complex and refined human society can +continue, wherein relations have no sacredness beyond the inclination +of changing moods?--or figures to itself an æsthetic human life that +one may compare to that of the fabled grasshoppers who were once men, +but having heard the song of the Muses could do nothing but sing, and +starved themselves so till they died and had a fit resurrection as +grasshoppers? "And this," says Socrates, "was the return the Muses +made them." + +With regard to the pains and limitations of one's personal lot, I +suppose there is not a single man or woman who has not more or less +need of that stoical resignation which is often a hidden heroism, or +who, in considering his or her past history, is not aware that it has +been cruelly affected by the ignorant or selfish action of some +fellow-being in a more or less close relation of life. And to my mind +there can be no stronger motive than this perception, to an energetic +effort that the lives nearest to us shall not suffer in a like manner +from _us_. + +The progress of the world--which you say can only come at the right +time--can certainly never come at all save by the modified action of +the individual beings who compose the world; and that we can say to +ourselves with effect, "There is an order of considerations which I +will keep myself continually in mind of, so that they may continually +be the prompters of certain feelings and actions," seems to me as +undeniable as that we can resolve to study the Semitic languages and +apply to an Oriental scholar to give us daily lessons. What would your +keen wit say to a young man who alleged the physical basis of nervous +action as a reason why he could not possibly take that course? + +As to duration and the way in which it affects your view of the human +history, what is really the difference to your imagination between +infinitude and billions when you have to consider the value of human +experience? Will you say that, since your life has a term of +threescore years and ten, it was really a matter of indifference +whether you were a cripple with a wretched skin disease, or an active +creature with a mind at large for the enjoyment of knowledge, and with +a nature which has attracted others to you? + +Difficulties of thought--acceptance of what is, without full +comprehension--belong to every system of thinking. The question is to +find the least incomplete. + +When I wrote the first page of this letter I thought I was going to +say that I had not courage to enter on the momentous points you had +touched on in the hasty, brief form of a letter. But I have been led +on sentence after sentence--not, I fear, with any inspiration beyond +that of my anxiety. You will at least pardon any ill-advised things I +may have written on the prompting of the moment. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1875.] + +_Jan. 13._--Here is a great gap since I last made a record. But the +time has been filled full of happiness. A second edition of "Jubal" +was published in August; and the fourth edition of the "Spanish Gypsy" +is all sold. This morning I received a copy of the fifth edition. The +amount of copies sold of "Middlemarch" up to 31st December is between +nineteen and twenty thousand. + +Yesterday I also received the good news that the engagement between +Emily Cross and Mr. Otter is settled. + +The last year has been crowded with proofs of affection for me and of +value for what work I have been able to do. This makes the best motive +or encouragement to do more; but, as usual, I am suffering much from +doubt as to the worth of what I am doing, and fear lest I may not be +able to complete it so as to make it a contribution to literature and +not a mere addition to the heap of books. I am now just beginning the +part about "Deronda," at page 234. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Francis Otter, 13th (?) Jan. 1875.] + +Your letter was a deeply felt pleasure to me last night; and I have +one from Emily this morning, which makes my joy in the prospect of +your union as thorough as it could well be. I could not wish either +her words or yours to be in the least different. Long ago, when I had +no notion that the event was probable, my too hasty imagination had +prefigured it and longed for it. To say this is to say something of +the high regard with which all I have known of you has impressed +me--for I hold our sweet Emily worthy of one who may be reckoned among +the best. The possibility of a constantly growing blessedness in +marriage is to me the very basis of good in our mortal life; and the +believing hope that you and she will experience that blessedness seems +to enrich me for the coming years. I shall count it among my +strengthening thoughts that you both think of me with affection, and +care for my sympathy. Mr. Lewes shares in all the feelings I express, +and we are rejoicing together. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 15th Jan. 1875.] + +Please never wonder at my silence, or believe that I bear you in any +the less lively remembrance because I do not write to you. + +Writing notes is the _crux_ of my life. It often interferes with my +morning hours (before 1 o'clock), which is the only time I have for +quiet work. For certain letters are unavoidable demands, and though my +kind husband writes them for me whenever he can, they are not all to +be done by proxy. + +That glorious bit of work of yours about the Home for Girls[26] is +delightful to hear of. Hardly anything is more wanted, I imagine, than +homes for girls in various employments--or, rather, for unmarried +women of all ages. + +I heard also the other day that your name was among those of the +ladies interested in the beginning of a union among the bookbinding +women, which one would like to succeed and spread. + +I hope, from your ability to work so well, that you are in perfect +health yourself. Our friend Barbara, too, looks literally the pink of +well-being, and cheers one's soul by her interest in all worthy +things. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby (now Lady Ponsonby), 30th +Jan. 1875.] + +I should urge you to consider your early religious experience as a +portion of valid knowledge, and to cherish its emotional results in +relation to objects and ideas which are either substitutes or +metamorphoses of the earlier. And I think we must not take every great +physicist--or other "ist"--for an apostle, but be ready to suspect him +of some crudity concerning relations that lie outside his special +studies, if his exposition strands us on results that seem to stultify +the most ardent, massive experience of mankind, and hem up the best +part of our feelings in stagnation. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 7th Feb. 1875.] + +Last night I finished reading aloud to Mr. Lewes the "Inkerman" +volume, and we both thank you heartily for the valuable present. It is +an admirable piece of writing; such pure, lucid English is what one +rarely gets to read. The masterly marshalling of the material is +certainly in contrast with the movements described. To my non-military +mind the Inkerman affair seems nothing but a brave blundering into +victory. Great traits of valor--Homeric movements--but also a powerful +lack of brains in the form of generalship. I cannot see that the +ordering up of the two 18-pounder guns was a vast mental effort, +unless the weight of the guns is to be counted in the order as well as +in the execution. But the grand fact of the thousands beaten by the +hundreds remains under all interpretation. Why the Russians, in their +multitudinous mass, should have chosen to retreat into Sebastopol, +moving at their leisure, and carrying off all their artillery, seems a +mystery in spite of General Dannenberg's memorable answer to +Mentschikoff. + +There are some splendid movements in the story--the tradition of the +"Minden Yell," the "Men, remember Albuera," and the officer of the +77th advancing with, "Then I will go myself," with what followed, are +favorite bits of mine. My mind is in the anomalous condition of hating +war and loving its discipline, which has been an incalculable +contribution to the sentiment of duty. + +I have not troubled myself to read any reviews of the book. My eye +caught one in which the author's style was accused of affectation. But +I have long learned to apply to reviewers an aphorism which tickled me +in my childhood--"There must be some such to be some of all sorts." +Pray tell Mr. Simpson that I was much pleased with the new dress of +the "Spanish Gypsy." + +The first part of "Giannetto" raised my interest, but I was +disappointed in the unravelling of the plot. It seems to me neither +really nor ideally satisfactory. But it is a long while since I read a +story newer than "Rasselas," which I re-read two years ago, with a +desire to renew my childish delight in it, when it was one of my +best-loved companions. So I am a bad judge of comparative merits among +popular writers. I am obliged to fast from fiction, and fasting is +known sometimes to weaken the stomach. I ought to except Miss +Thackeray's stories--which I cannot resist when they come near me--and +bits of Mr. Trollope, for affection's sake. You would not wonder +at my fasting, if you knew how deplorably uncalled-for and +"everything-that-it-should-not-be" my own fiction seems to me in times +of inward and outward fog--like this morning, when the light is dim on +my paper. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby (now Lady Ponsonby), 11th +Feb. 1875.] + +_Do_ send me the papers you have written--I mean as a help and +instruction to me. I need very much to know how ideas lie in other +minds than my own, that I may not miss their difficulties while I am +urging only what satisfies myself. I shall be deeply interested in +knowing exactly what you wrote at that particular stage. Please +remember that I don't consider myself a teacher, but a companion in +the struggle of thought. What can consulting physicians do without +pathological knowledge? and the more they have of it, the less +absolute--the more tentative--are their procedures. + +You will see by the _Fortnightly_, which you have not read, that Mr. +Spencer is very anxious to vindicate himself from neglect of the +logical necessity that the evolution of the abstraction "society" is +dependent on the modified action of the units; indeed, he is very +sensitive on the point of being supposed to teach an enervating +fatalism. + +Consider what the human mind _en masse_ would have been if there had +been no such combination of elements in it as has produced poets. All +the philosophers and _savants_ would not have sufficed to supply that +deficiency. And how can the life of nations be understood without the +inward light of poetry--that is, of emotion blending with thought? + +But the beginning and object of my letter must be the end--please send +me your papers. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 10th May, 1875.] + +We cannot believe that there is reason to fear any painful +observations on the publication of the memoir in one volume with +"Gravenhurst" and the essays. The memoir is written with exquisite +judgment and feeling; and without estimating too highly the taste and +carefulness of journalists in their ordinary treatment of books, I +think that we may count on their not being impressed otherwise than +respectfully and sympathetically with the character of your dear +husband's work, and with the sketch of his pure, elevated life. I +would also urge you to rely on the fact that Mr. Blackwood thinks the +publication desirable, as a guarantee that it will not prove +injudicious in relation to the outer world--I mean, the world beyond +the circle of your husband's especial friends and admirers. I am +grieved to hear of your poor eyes having been condemned to an inaction +which, I fear, may have sadly increased the vividness of that inward +seeing, already painfully strong in you. There has been, I trust, +always some sympathetic young companionship to help you--some sweet +voice to read aloud to you, or to talk of those better things in human +lots which enable us to look at the good of life a little apart from +our own particular sorrow. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 11th May, 1875.] + +The doctors have decided that there is nothing very grave the matter +with me: and I am now so much better that we even think it possible I +may go to see Salvini, in the Gladiator, to-morrow evening. This is to +let you know that there is no reason against your coming, with or +without Margaret, at the usual time on Friday. + +Your words of affection in the note you sent me are very dear to my +remembrance. I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I +am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm +of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of +light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very +dear. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 14th May, 1875.] + +You are right--there is no time, but only the sense of not having +time; especially when, instead of filling the days with useful +exertion, as you do, one wastes them in being ill, as I have been +doing of late. However, I am better now, and will not grumble. Thanks +for all the dear words in your letter. Be sure I treasure the memory +of your faithful friendship, which goes back--you know how far. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 1st June, 1875.] + +If you could, some day this week or the beginning of next, allow me +half an hour's quiet _tête-à-tête_, I should be very much obliged by +such a kindness. + +The trivial questions I want to put could hardly be shapen in a letter +so as to govern an answer that would satisfy my need. And I trust that +the interview will hardly be more troublesome to you than writing. + +I hope, when you learn the pettiness of my difficulties, you will not +be indignant, like a great doctor called in to the favorite cat. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 9th Aug. 1875, from +Rickmansworth.] + +We admire our bit of Hertfordshire greatly; but I should be glad of +more breezy common land and far-reaching outlooks. For fertility, +wealth of grand trees, parks, mansions, and charming bits of stream +and canal, our neighborhood can hardly be excelled. And our house is a +good old red-brick Georgian place, with a nice bit of garden and +meadow and river at the back. Perhaps we are too much in the valley, +and have too large a share of mist, which often lies white on our +meadows in the early evening. But who has not had too much moisture in +this calamitously wet, cold summer? + +Mr. Lewes is very busy, but not in zoologizing. We reserve that for +October, when we mean to go to the coast for a few weeks. It is a long +while since I walked on broad sands and watched the receding tide; and +I look forward agreeably to a renewal of that old pleasure. + +I am not particularly flourishing in this pretty region, probably +owing to the low barometer. The air has been continually muggy, and +has lain on one's head like a thick turban. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 14th Aug. 1875.] + +What a comfort that you are at home again and well![27] The sense of +your nearness had been so long missing to us that we had begun to take +up with life as inevitably a little less cheerful than we remembered +it to have been formerly, without thinking of restoration. + +My box is quite dear to me, and shall be used for stamps, as you +recommend, unless I find another use that will lead me to open it and +think of you the oftener. It is very precious to me that you bore me +in your mind, and took that trouble to give me pleasure--in which you +have succeeded. + +Our house here is rather a fine old brick Georgian place, with a +lovely bit of landscape; but I think we have suffered the more from +the rainy, close weather, because we are in a valley, and can see the +mists lie in a thick, white stratum on our meadows. Mr. Lewes has +been, on the whole, flourishing and enjoying--writing away with vigor, +and making a discovery or theory at the rate of one per diem. + +Of me you must expect no good. I have been in a piteous state of +debility in body and depression in mind. My book seems to me so +unlikely ever to be finished in a way that will make it worth giving +to the world, that it is a kind of glass in which I behold my +infirmities. + +That expedition on the Thames would be a great delight, if it were +possible to us. But our arrangements forbid it. Our loving thanks to +Mr. Druce, as well as to you, for reviving the thought. We are to +remain here till the 23d of September; then to fly through town, or +at least only perch there for a night or so, and then go down to the +coast, while the servants clean our house. We expect that Bournemouth +will be our destination. + +Let us have news of you all again soon. Let us comfort each other +while it is day, for the night cometh. + +I hope this change of weather, in which we are glorying both for the +country's sake and our own, will not make Weybridge too warm for Mrs. +Cross. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby, 19th Aug. 1875.] + +I don't mind how many letters I receive from one who interests me as +much as you do. The receptive part of correspondence I can carry on +with much alacrity. It is writing answers that I groan over. Please +take it as a proof of special feeling that I declined answering your +kind inquiries by proxy. + +This corner of Hertfordshire is as pretty as it can be of the kind. +There are really rural bits at every turn. But for my particular taste +I prefer such a region as that round Haslemere--with wide, furzy +commons and a grander horizon. Also I prefer a country where I don't +make bad blood by having to see one public house to every six +dwellings--which is literally the case in many spots around us. My +gall rises at the rich brewers in Parliament and out of it, who plant +these poison shops for the sake of their million-making trade, while +probably their families are figuring somewhere as refined +philanthropists or devout Evangelicals and Ritualists. + +You perceive from this that I am dyspeptic and disposed to melancholy +views. In fact, I have not been flourishing, but I am getting a little +better; grateful thanks that you will care to know it. On the whole +the sins of brewers, with their drugged ale and devil's traps, +depress me less than my own inefficiency. But every fresh morning is +an opportunity that one can look forward to for exerting one's will. I +shall not be satisfied with your philosophy till you have conciliated +necessitarianism--I hate the ugly word--with the practice of willing +strongly, willing to will strongly, and so on, that being what you +certainly can do and have done about a great many things in life, +whence it is clear that there is nothing in truth to hinder you from +it--except, you will say, the absence of a motive. But that absence I +don't believe in in your case--only in the case of empty, barren +souls. + +Are you not making a transient confusion of intuitions with innate +ideas? The most thorough experientialists admit intuition--_i.e._, +direct impressions of sensibility underlying all proof, as necessary +starting-points for thought. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1875.] + +_Oct. 10._--On the 15th June, we went to a house we had taken at +Rickmansworth. Here, in the end of July, we received the news that our +dear Bertie had died on June 29th. Our stay at Rickmansworth, though +otherwise peaceful, was not marked by any great improvement in health +from the change to country instead of town--rather the contrary. We +left on 23d September, and then set off on a journey into Wales, which +was altogether unfortunate on account of the excessive rain. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 10th Oct. 1875.] + +I behaved rather shabbily in not thanking you otherwise than by proxy +for the kind letter you sent me to Rickmansworth, but I had a bad time +down there, and did less of everything than I desired. Last night we +returned from our trip--a very lively word for a journey made in the +worst weather; and since I am, on the whole, the better for a +succession of small discomforts in hotels, and struggling walks taken +under an umbrella, I have no excuse for not writing a line to my +neglected correspondents. + +You will laugh at our nervous caution in depositing our MSS. at the +Union Bank before we set out. We could have borne to hear that our +house had been burned down, provided no lives were lost, and our +unprinted matter, our _oeuvres inédites_, were safe out of it. + +About _my_ unprinted matter, Mr. Lewes thinks it will not be well to +publish the first part till February. The four first monthly parts are +ready for travelling now. It will be well to begin the printing in +good time, so that I may not be hurried with the proofs; and I must +beg Mr. Simpson to judge for me in that matter with kind carefulness. + +I can't say that I am at all satisfied with the book, or that I have a +comfortable sense of doing in it what I want to do; but Mr. Lewes _is_ +satisfied with it, and insists that since he is as anxious as possible +for it to be fine, I ought to accept his impressions as trustworthy. +So I resign myself. + +I read aloud the "Abode of Snow" at Rickmansworth, to our mutual +delight; and we are both very much obliged to you for the handsome +present. But what an amazing creature is this Andrew Wilson to have +kept pluck for such travelling while his body was miserably ailing! +One would have said that he had more than the average spirit of hardy +men to have persevered even in good health after a little taste of the +difficulties he describes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 20th Oct. 1875.] + +The arrangements as to the publication of my next book are already +determined on. Ever since "Adam Bede" appeared I have been continually +having proposals from the proprietors or editors of periodicals, but +I have always declined them, except in the case of "Romola," which +appeared in the _Cornhill_, and was allowed to take up a varying and +unusual number of pages. I have the strongest objection to cutting up +my work into little bits; and there is no motive to it on my part, +since I have a large enough public already. But, even apart from that +objection, it would not now be worth the while of any magazine or +journal to give me a sum such as my books yield in separate +publication. I had £7000 for "Romola," but the mode in which +"Middlemarch" was issued brings in a still larger sum. I ought to say, +however, that the question is not entirely one of money with me: if I +could gain _more_ by splitting my writing into small parts, I would +not do it, because the effect would be injurious as a matter of art. +So much detail I trouble you with to save misapprehension. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 18th Nov. 1875.] + +Your enjoyment of the proofs cheers me greatly; and pray thank Mrs. +Blackwood for her valuable hints on equine matters. I have not only +the satisfaction of using those hints, I allow myself the inference +that where there is no criticism on like points I have made no +mistake. + +I should be much obliged to Mr. Simpson--whom I am glad that Gwendolen +has captivated--if he would rate the printers a little about their +want of spacing. I am anxious that my poor heroes and heroines should +have all the advantage that paper and print can give them. + +It will perhaps be a little comfort to you to know that poor Gwen is +spiritually saved, but "so as by fire." Don't you see the process +already beginning? I have no doubt you do, for you are a wide-awake +reader. + +But what a climate to expect good writing in! Skating in the morning +and splashy roads in the afternoon is just typical of the alternation +from frigid to flaccid in the author's bodily system, likely to give a +corresponding variety to the style. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 20th Nov. 1875.] + +I got my head from under the pressure of other matters, like a frog +from under the water, to send you my November greeting. My silence +through the rest of the months makes you esteem me the more, I hope, +seeing that you yourself hate letter-writing--a remarkable exception +to the rule that people like doing what they can do well, if one can +call that a rule of which the reverse seems more frequent--namely, +that they like doing what they do ill. + +We stayed till nearly the end of September at the house we had taken +in Hertfordshire. After that we went into Wales for a fortnight, and +were under umbrellas nearly the whole time. + +I wonder if you all remember an old governess of mine who used to +visit me at Foleshill--a Miss Lewis? I have found her out. She is +living at Leamington, very poor as well as old, but cheerful, and so +delighted to be remembered with gratitude. How very old we are all +getting! But I hope you don't mind it any more than I do. One sees so +many contemporaries that one is well in the fashion. The approach of +parting is the bitterness of age. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 15th Dec. 1875.] + +Your letter is an agreeable tonic, very much needed, for that wretched +hinderance of a cold last week has trailed after it a series of +headaches worse than itself. An additional impression, like Mr. +Langford's, of the two volumes is really valuable, as a sign that I +have not so far failed in relation to a variety of readers. But you +know that in one sense I count nothing done as long as anything +remains to do; and it always seems to me that the worst difficulty is +still to come. In the sanest, soberest judgment, however, I think the +third volume (which I have not yet finished) would be regarded as the +difficult bridge. I will not send you any more MS. until I can send +the whole of vol. iii. + +We think that Mr. Simpson has conducted our Australian business +admirably. Remembering that but for his judgment and consequent +activity we might have got no publication at all in that quarter, we +may well be content with £200. + +Mr. Lewes has not got the Life of Heine, and will be much pleased and +obliged by your gift. + +Major Lockhart's lively letter gives one a longing for the fresh, +breezy life and fine scenery it conjures up. You must let me know when +there is a book of his, because when I have done my own I shall like +to read something else by him. I got much pleasure out of the two +books I did read. But when I am writing, or only thinking of writing, +fiction of my own, I cannot risk the reading of other English fiction. +I was obliged to tell Anthony Trollope so when he sent me the first +part of his "Prime Minister," though this must seem sadly ungracious +to those who don't share my susceptibilities. + +Apparently there are wild reports about the subject-matter of +"Deronda"--among the rest, that it represents French life! But that is +hardly more ridiculous than the supposition that after refusing to go +to America, I should undertake to describe society there! It is +wonderful how "Middlemarch" keeps afloat in people's minds. Somebody +told me that Mr. Henry Sidgwick said it was a bold thing to write +another book after "Middlemarch," and we must prepare ourselves for +the incalculableness of the public reception in the first instance. I +think I have heard you say that the chief result of your ample +experience has been to convince you of that incalculableness. + +What a blow for Miss Thackeray--the death of that sister to whom she +was so closely bound in affection. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1875.] + +_Dec. 25._--After our return from Wales in October I grew better and +wrote with some success. For the last three weeks, however, I have +been suffering from a cold and its effects so as to be unable to make +any progress. Meanwhile the two first volumes of "Daniel Deronda" are +in print, and the first book is to be published on February 1st. I +have thought very poorly of it myself throughout, but George and the +Blackwoods are full of satisfaction in it. Each part as I see it +before me _im werden_ seems less likely to be anything else than a +failure; but I see on looking back this morning--Christmas Day--that I +really was in worse health and suffered equal depression about +"Romola;" and, so far as I have recorded, the same thing seems to be +true of "Middlemarch." + +I have finished the fifth book, but am not far on in the sixth, as I +hoped to have been; the oppression under which I have been laboring +having positively suspended my power of writing anything that I could +feel satisfaction in. + + +_SUMMARY._ + +JANUARY, 1873, TO DECEMBER, 1875. + + Reception of "Middlemarch"--Letter to John Blackwood--Mr. + Anthony Trollope--Dutch translation of George Eliot's + novels--Letter to Mrs. Cross--Evening drives at + Weybridge--Letter to John Blackwood--German reprint of + "Spanish Gypsy"--"The Lifted Veil"--"Kenelm + Chillingly"--Letter to Mrs. William Smith on her Memoir of + her husband--Pleasure in young life--Letter to John + Blackwood--Want of a Conservative leader--Letter to Mr. + Burne-Jones--The function of art--Purpose in art--"Iphigenia + in Aulis"--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Welcoming her + home--Letter to Mrs. William Smith on women at + Cambridge--Visit to Mr. Frederic Myers at Cambridge--Meets + Mr. Henry Sidgwick, Mr. Jebb, Mr. Edmund Gurney, Mr. Balfour, + and Mr. Lyttelton, and Mrs. and Miss Huth--Letter to Mrs. + Bray--Death of Miss Rebecca Franklin--Visit to the Master of + Balliol--Meets Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roundell--Professor + Green--Max Müller--Thomson, the Master of Trinity College, + Cambridge--Nine-weeks' trip to the Continent--Letter to Mrs. + Congreve from Homburg--Fontainebleau, Plombières, and + Luxeuil--Two months' stay at Bickley--Letter to Mrs. Cross on + journey abroad and Blackbrook--Letter to John Blackwood--New + edition of "Middlemarch"--A real Lowick in a Midland + county--Cheap editions--Letter to Mrs. Cross on the pleasures + of the country and on Mr. Henry Sidgwick--Letter to Mrs. + Peter Taylor--House in the country--Letter to J. W. Cross on + conformity--Letter to John Blackwood--Interruptions of town + life--Simmering towards another book--Berlin reading + "Middlemarch"--Ashantee war--Letter to Madame Bodichon--The + George Howards--John Stuart Mill's Autobiography--Letter to + Mrs. Cross on Christmas invitation--Dr. Andrew Clark--Letter + to Mrs. Bray on stupidity of readers--Letter to Mrs. Peter + Taylor--Retrospect of 1873--Sales of "Middlemarch" and + "Spanish Gypsy"--Letter to Mrs. William Smith--"Plain living + and high thinking"--Letter to John Blackwood--Conservative + reaction--Cheaper edition of novels--Lord Lytton's + "Fables"--Dickens's Life and biography in general--Letter to + John Blackwood--Volume of poems--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Motives + for children--Letter to Miss Hennell--Francis Newman--George + Dawson--"The Legend of Jubal and other Poems" + published--"Symposium" written--Letter to Miss Mary Cross + thanking her for a vase--Letter to Mrs. Cross--Delight in + country--Letter to John Blackwood--Threatened restoration of + the empire in France--"Brewing" "Deronda"--Letter to Mrs. + Peter Taylor on Mrs. Nassau Senior's report--Letter to Mrs. + William Smith on consolations in loss--Letter to Madame + Bodichon--No disposition to melancholy--Letter to Mrs. + Burne-Jones--The serious view of life--Letter to John + Blackwood--Justifications for writing--Dean Liddell--Letter + to Mrs. Stowe--Goethe's mysticism--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Visit to Six-Mile Bottom--Paris and the + Ardennes--Bank of England and Woolwich Arsenal--Letter to + Mrs. Ponsonby--The idea of God an exaltation of human + goodness--Vision of others' needs--Ground of moral + action--Need of altruism--The power of the will--Difficulties + of thought--Sales of books--Retrospect of 1874--Letter to + Francis Otter on his engagement--Letter to Mrs. Peter + Taylor--Note-writing--Home for girls--Letter to Mrs. + Ponsonby--Value of early religious experience--Limitations of + scientists--Letter to John Blackwood--Kinglake's + "Crimea"--Discipline of war--"Rasselas"--Miss + Thackeray--Anthony Trollope--Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby--Desire + to know the difficulties of others--Companion in the struggle + of thought--Mr. Spencer's teaching--The value of + poets--Emotion blending with thought--Letter to Mrs. William + Smith--Her memoir--Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones--The world of + light and speech--Letter to Mrs. Peter + Taylor--Rickmansworth--Letter to F. Harrison asking for + consultation--Letter to J. W. Cross--"The + Elms"--Depression--Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby--The Brewing + interest--Conciliation of necessitarianism with will--Innate + ideas--Death of Herbert Lewes--Trip to Wales--Letter to John + Blackwood--Not satisfied with "Deronda"--Letter to Mrs. Peter + Taylor--Mode of publication of books--Letter to John + Blackwood--Gwendolen--Letter to Miss Hennell--Miss + Lewis--Letter to John Blackwood--Impressions of + "Deronda"--Major Lockhart--Depression about "Deronda." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[21] Death of Mrs. Cross's sister of cholera, at Salzburg. + +[22] See _ante_, p. 66. + +[23] "Paul Bradley." + +[24] A vase with paintings from "Romola" on tiles. + +[25] + "Tristi fummo + Nell'aer dolce che dal sol s'allegra." + + _Inferno_, cant. vii. 121, 122. + +[26] Bessborough Gardens. + +[27] I had been abroad for six weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 17th March, 1876.] + +We have just come in from Weybridge, but are going to take refuge +there again on Monday for a few days more of fresh air and long, +breezy afternoon walks. Many thanks for your thoughtfulness in sending +me the cheering account of sales. + +Mr. Lewes has not heard any complaints of not understanding Gwendolen, +but a strong partisanship for and against her. My correspondence about +the misquotation of Tennyson has quieted itself since the fifth +letter. But one gentleman has written me a very pretty note, taxing me +with having wanted insight into the technicalities of Newmarket, when +I made Lush say, "I will _take_ odds." He judges that I should have +written, "I will lay odds." On the other hand, another expert contends +that the case is one in which Lush would be more likely to say, "I +will take odds." What do you think? I told my correspondent that I had +a dread of being righteously pelted with mistakes that would make a +cairn above me--a monument and a warning to people who write novels +without being omniscient and infallible. + +Mr. Lewes is agitating himself over a fifth reading of revise, Book +VI., and says he finds it more interesting than on any former reading. +It is agreeable to have a home criticism of this kind! But I am deep +in the fourth volume, and cannot any longer care about what is past +and done for--the passion of the moment is as much as I can live in. + +We had beautiful skies with our cold, and only now and then a snow +shower. It is grievous to read of the suffering elsewhere from floods. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 30th March, 1876.] + +I am well pleased that "Deronda" touches you. I _wanted_ you to prefer +the chapter about Mirah's finding, and I hope you will also like her +history in Part III., which has just been published. + +We want very much to get away, but I fear we shall hardly be able to +start till the end of May. At present we think of the Maritime Alps as +a destination for the warm summer--if we have such a season this year; +but we shall wander a little on our way thither, and not feel bound to +accomplish anything in particular. Meanwhile we are hearing some nice +music occasionally, and we are going to see Tennyson's play, which is +to be given on the 15th. The occasion will be very interesting, and I +should be very sorry to miss it. + +We have been getting a little refreshment from two flights between +Sundays to Weybridge. But we have had the good a little drained from +us by going out to dinner two days in succession. At Sir James Paget's +I was much interested to find that a gentle-looking, clear-eyed, +neatly-made man was Sir Garnet Wolseley; and I had some talk with him, +which quite confirmed the impression of him as one of those men who +have a power of command by dint of their sweet temper, calm demeanor, +and unswerving resolution. The next subject that has filled our chat +lately has been the Blue Book on Vivisection, which you would like to +look into. There is a great deal of matter for reflection in the +evidence on the subject, and some good points have been lately put in +print, and conversation that I should like to tell you of if I had +time. Professor Clifford told us the other Sunday that Huxley +complained of his sufferings from "the profligate lying of virtuous +women." + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_April 12._--On February 1st began the publication of "Deronda," and +the interest of the public, strong from the first, appears to have +increased with Book III. The day before yesterday I sent off Book VII. +The success of the work at present is greater than that of +"Middlemarch" up to the corresponding point of publication. What will +be the feeling of the public as the story advances I am entirely +doubtful. The Jewish element seems to me likely to satisfy nobody. I +am in rather better health--having, perhaps, profited by some eight +days' change at Weybridge. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 18th April, 1876.] + +Your sympathetic letter is a welcome support to me in the rather +depressed condition which has come upon me from the effect, I imagine, +of a chill taken in the sudden change from mildness to renewed winter. +You can understand how trying it is to have a week of incompetence at +the present stage of affairs. I am rather concerned to see that the +part is nearly a sheet smaller than any of the other parts. But Books +V. and VI. are proportionately thick. It seemed inadmissible to add +anything after the scene with Gwendolen; and to stick anything in not +necessary to development between the foregoing chapters is a form of +"matter in the wrong place" particularly repulsive to my authorship's +sensibility. + +People tell us that the book is enormously discussed, and I must share +with you rather a neat coincidence which pleased us last week. Perhaps +you saw what Mr. Lewes told me of--namely, that [a critic] opined that +the scenes between Lush and Grandcourt were not _vraisemblable_--were +of the imperious feminine, not the masculine, character. Just +afterwards Mr. Lewes was chatting with a friend who, without having +read the [criticism] or having the subject in the least led up to by +Mr. Lewes, said that he had been at Lady Waldegraves', where the +subject of discussion had been "Deronda;" and Bernal Osborne, +delivering himself on the book, said that the very best parts were the +scenes between Grandcourt and Lush. Don't you think that Bernal +Osborne has seen more of the Grandcourt and Lush life than that critic +has seen? But several men of experience have put their fingers on +those scenes as having surprising verisimilitude; and I naturally was +peculiarly anxious about such testimony, where my construction was +founded on a less direct knowledge. + +We are rather vexed, now it is too late, that I did not carry out a +sort of incipient intention to expunge a motto from Walt Whitman which +I inserted in Book IV. Of course the whole is irrevocable by this +time; but I should have otherwise thought it worth while to have a new +page, not because the motto itself is objectionable to me--it was one +of the finer things which had clung to me from among his writings--but +because, since I quote so few poets, my selection of a motto from Walt +Whitman might be taken as a sign of a special admiration, which I am +very far from feeling. How imperfectly one's mind acts in +proof-reading! Mr. Lewes had taken up Book IV. yesterday to re-read it +for his pleasure merely; and though he had read it several times +before, he never till yesterday made a remark against taking a motto +from Walt Whitman. I, again, had continually had an _appetency_ +towards removing the motto, and had never carried it out--perhaps from +that sort of flaccidity which comes over me about what _has been_ +done, when I am occupied with what _is being_ done. + +People in their eagerness about my characters are quite angry, it +appears, when their own expectations are not fulfilled--angry, for +example, that Gwendolen accepts Grandcourt, etc., etc. + +One reader is sure that Mirah is going to die very soon, and, I +suppose, will be disgusted at her remaining alive. Such are the +reproaches to which I make myself liable. However, that you seem to +share Mr. Lewes's strong feeling of Book VII. being no falling off in +intensity makes me brave. Only endings are inevitably the least +satisfactory part of any work in which there is any merit of +development. + +I forgot to say that the "tephillin" are the small leather bands or +phylacteries, inscribed with supremely sacred words, which the Jew +binds on his arms and head during prayer. + +Any periphrasis which would be generally intelligible would be +undramatic; and I don't much like explanatory foot-notes in a +poem or story. But I must consider what I can do to remedy the +unintelligibility. + +The printers have sadly spoiled the beautiful Greek name Kalonymos, +which was the name of a celebrated family of scholarly Jews, +transplanted from Italy into Germany in mediæval times. But my writing +was in fault. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 6th May, 1876.] + +Your letter was one of the best cordials I could have. Is there +anything that cheers and strengthens more than the sense of another's +worth and tenderness? And it was that sense that your letter stirred +in me, not only by the words of fellowship and encouragement you give +directly to me, but by all you tell me of your own feeling under your +late painful experience. I had felt it long since I had heard of your +and the Professor's well being; but I need not say one word to you of +the reasons why I am not active towards my distant friends except in +thought. I _do_ think of them, and have a tenacious memory of every +little sign they have given me. Please offer my reverential love to +the Professor, and tell him I am ruthlessly proud that I kept him out +of his bed. I hope that both you and he will continue to be interested +in my spiritual children. My cares for them are nearly at an end, and +in a few weeks we expect to set out on a Continental journey, as the +sort of relaxation which carries one most thoroughly away from studies +and social claims. You rightly divine that I am a little overdone, but +my fatigue is due not to any excess of work so much as to the +vicissitudes of our long winter, which have affected me severely as +they have done all delicate people. It is true that some nervous wear, +such as you know well, from the excitement of writing, may have made +me more susceptible to knife-like winds and sudden chills. + +Though you tenderly forbade me to write in answer to your letter, I +like to do it in these minutes when I happen to be free, lest +hinderances should come in the indefinite future. I am the happier for +thinking that you will have had this little bit of a letter to assure +you that the sweet rain of your affection did not fall on a sandy +place. + +I make a delightful picture of your life in your orange-grove--taken +care of by dear daughters. Climate enters into _my_ life with an +influence the reverse of what I like to think of in yours. Sunlight +and sweet air make a new creature of me. But we cannot bear now to +exile ourselves from our own country, which holds the roots of our +moral and social life. One fears to become selfish and emotionally +withered by living abroad, and giving up the numerous connections with +fellow countrymen and women whom one can further a little towards both +public and private good. + +I wonder whether you ever suffered much from false writing (about your +biography and motives) in the newspapers. I dare say that pro-slavery +prints did not spare you. But I should be glad to think that there was +less impudent romancing about you as a _citoyenne_ of the States than +there appears to be about me as a stranger. But it is difficult for us +English, who have not spent any time in the United States, to know the +rank that is given to the various newspapers; and we may make the +mistake of giving emphasis to some American journalism which is with +you as unknown to respectable minds as any low-class newspaper with +us. + +When we come back from our journeying, I shall be interesting myself +in the MS. and proofs of my husband's third volume of his Problems, +which will then go to press, and shall plunge myself into the +mysteries of our nervous tissue as the Professor has been doing into +the mysteries of the Middle Ages. I have a cousinship with him in that +taste--but how to find space in one's life for all the subjects that +solicit one? My studies have lately kept me away from the track of my +husband's researches, and I feel behindhand in my wifely sympathies. +You know the pleasure of such interchange--husband and wife each +keeping to their own work, but loving to have cognizance of the +other's course. + +God bless you, dear friend. Beg the Professor to accept my +affectionate respect, and believe me always yours with love. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_June 3._--Book V. published a week ago. Growing interest in the +public, and growing sale, which has from the beginning exceeded that +of "Middlemarch;" the Jewish part apparently creating strong interest. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 3d June, 1876.] + +The useful "companion," which your loving care has had marked with my +initials, will go with me, and be a constant sign of the giver's +precious affection, which you have expressed in words such as I most +value. + +Even success needs its consolations. Wide effects are rarely other +than superficial, and would breed a miserable scepticism about one's +work if it were not now and then for an earnest assurance such as you +give me that there are lives in which the work has done something "to +strengthen the good and mitigate the evil." + +I am pursued to the last with some bodily trouble--this week it has +been sore throat. But I am emerging, and you may think of me next week +as raising my "Ebenezer." + +Love and blessings to you all. + + The manuscript of "Daniel Deronda" bears the following + inscription: + +"To my dear Husband, George Henry Lewes. + + "Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, + * * * * * + Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, + With what I most enjoy contented least; + Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising + Haply I think on thee--and then my state + Like to the lark at break of day arising + From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; + For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings, + That then I scorn to change my state with kings." + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_June 10._--We set off on our journey, intending to go to San Martino +Lantosc in the Maritime Alps. But I was ill at Aix, where the heat had +become oppressive, and we turned northwards after making a pilgrimage +to Les Charmettes--stayed a few days at Lausanne, then at Vevey, where +again I was ill; then by Berne and Zurich to Ragatz, where we were +both set up sufficiently to enjoy our life. After Ragatz to +Heidelberg, the Klönthal, Schaffhausen, St. Blasien in the Black +Forest, and then home by Strasburg, Nancy, and Amiens, arriving +September 1. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 6th July, 1876, from Ragatz.] + +After much travelling we seem to have reached the right place for our +health and comfort, and as we hope to stay here for at least a +fortnight, I have begun to entertain selfish thoughts about you and +the possibility of having news from you. Our month's absence seems +long to us--filled with various scenes and various ailments--but to +you, I dare say, the request for a letter to tell us what has happened +will seem to have come before there is anything particular to tell. + +On our arriving at Aix the effect of railway travelling and heat on me +warned us to renounce our project of going to the Maritime Alps and to +turn northward; so after resting at Aix we went to Chambéry, just to +make a pilgrimage to Les Charmettes, and then set our faces northward, +staying at beautiful Lausanne and Vevey for a week, and then coming on +by easy stages to this nook in the mountains. In spite of illness we +have had much enjoyment of the lovely scenery we have been dwelling in +ever since we entered Savoy, where one gets what I most delight +in--the combination of rich, well-cultivated land, friendly to man, +and the grand outline and atmospheric effect of mountains near and +distant. + +This place seems to be one of the quietest baths possible. Such +fashion as there is, is of a German, unimposing kind; and the King of +Saxony, who is at the twin hotel with this, is, I imagine, a much +quieter kind of eminence than a London stock-broker. At present the +company seems to be almost exclusively Swiss and German, but all the +appliances for living and carrying on the "cure" are thoroughly +generous and agreeable. We rose at five this morning, drank our +glasses of warm water, and walked till a quarter to seven, then +breakfasted; and from half-past eight to eleven walked to Bad Pfeffers +and back again, along a magnificent ravine where the Tamine boils down +beneath a tremendous wall of rock, and where it is interesting to see +the electric telegraph leaping from the summit, crossing the gulf, and +then quietly running by the roadside till it leaps upward again to the +opposite summit. + +You may consider us as generally ill-informed, and as ready to make +much of a little news as any old provincial folk in the days when the +stage-coach brought a single London paper to the village Crown or Red +Lion. We have known that Servia has declared war against Turkey, and +that Harriet Martineau is dead as well as George Sand. + +Our weather has been uniformly splendid since we left Paris, with the +exception of some storms, which have conveniently laid the dust. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 2d Sept. 1876.] + +We reached home only last night, and had scarcely taken our +much-needed dinner before a parcel was brought in which proved to be +"Daniel Deronda" in the four bound volumes, and various letters with +other "missiles"--as an acquaintance of mine once quite naively called +his own favors to his correspondents--which have at present only gone +to swell a heap that I mean to make acquaintance with very slowly. Mr. +Lewes, however, is more eager than I, and he has just brought up to me +a letter which has certainly gratified me more than anything else of +the sort I ever received. It is from Dr. Hermann Adler, the Chief +Rabbi here, expressing his "warm appreciation of the fidelity with +which some of the best traits of the Jewish character have been +depicted by" etc., etc. I think this will gratify you. + +We are both the better for our journey, and I consider myself in as +good case as I can ever reasonably expect. We can't be made young +again, and must not be surprised that infirmities recur in spite of +mineral waters and air 3000 feet above the sea-level. After Ragatz, we +stayed at Stachelberg and Klönthal--two lovely places, where an +English face is seldom seen. Another delicious spot, where the air is +fit for the gods of Epicurus, is St. Blasien, in the Schwarzwald, +where also we saw no English or American visitors, except such as +_übernachten_ there and pass on. We have done exploits in walking, +usually taking four or five hours of it daily. + +I hope that you and yours have kept well and have enjoyed the heat +rather than suffered from it. I confess myself glad to think that this +planet has not become hopelessly chilly. Draughts and chills are my +enemies, and but for them I should hardly ever be ailing. + +The four volumes look very handsome on the outside. Please thank Mr. +William Blackwood for many kind notes he wrote me in the days of MS. +and proofs--not one of which I ever answered or took notice of except +for my own behoof. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 6th Sept. 1876.] + +We got home again last Friday, much strengthened by our journey, +notwithstanding vicissitudes. I suppose you will not be in town for +ages to come, but I let you know that I am here in case you have +anything to say to me by letter--about "objects." + +After leaving Ragatz we still kept in eastern Switzerland, in high +valleys unvisited by the English; and in our homeward line of travel +we paused in the Schwarzwald at St. Blasien, which is a _Luft-kur_, +all green hills and pines, with their tops as still as if it were the +abode of the gods. + +But imagine how we enjoy being at home again in our own chairs, with +the familiar faces giving us smiles which are not expecting change in +franc pieces! + +We are both pretty well, but of course not cured of all infirmities. +Death is the only physician, the shadow of his valley the only +journeying that will cure us of age and the gathering fatigue of +years. Still we are thoroughly lively and "spry." + +I hope that the hot summer has passed agreeably for you and not been +unfavorable to your health or comfort. Of course a little news of you +will be welcome, even if you don't particularly want to say anything +to me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 2d Oct. 1876.] + +My blessing on you for your sweet letter, which I count among the +blessings given to me. Yes. Women can do much for the other women (and +men) to come. My impression of the good there is in all unselfish +efforts is continually strengthened. Doubtless many a ship is drowned +on expeditions of discovery or rescue, and precious freights lie +buried. But there was the good of manning and furnishing the ship with +a great purpose before it set out. + +We are going into Cambridgeshire this week, and are watching the +weather with private views.[28] + +I have had some very interesting letters both from Jews and from +Christians about "Deronda." Part of the scene at the club is +translated into Hebrew in a German-Jewish newspaper. On the other +hand, a Christian (highly accomplished) thanks me for embodying the +principles by which Christ wrought and will conquer. This is better +than the laudation of readers who cut the book up into scraps, and +talk of nothing in it but Gwendolen. I meant everything in the book to +be related to everything else there. + +I quite enter into Miss Jekyll's view of negative beauty. Life tends +to accumulate "messes" about one, and it is hard to rid one's self of +them because of the associations attached. I get impatient sometimes, +and long, as Andrew Fairservice would say, to "kaim off the fleas," as +one does in a cathedral spoiled by monuments out of keeping with the +pillars and walls. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Wm. Smith, 14th Oct. 1876.] + +I had felt it long before you let me have some news of you. How could +you repeat deliberately that bad dream of your having made yourself +"objectionable?" I will answer for it that you were never +objectionable to any creature except perhaps to your own self--a too +modest and shrinking self. I trusted in your understanding last spring +that I was glad to hear from my friends without having to make the +effort of answering, when answering was not demanded for practical +purposes. My health was not good, and I was absorbed as to my working +power, though not as to my interest and sympathy. + +You have been in my mind of late, not only on your own account but in +affectionate association with our dear Mrs. Ruck, whose acquaintance I +owe to you. + +On my return from abroad I found among my heap of letters a delightful +one from her, written, I think, at the end of June, as bright and +cheering as the hills under the summer sky. And only a day or two +after we saw that sad news in the _Times_. I think of her beautiful, +open face, with the marks of grief upon it. Why did you write me such +a brief letter, telling me nothing about your own life? I am a poor +correspondent, and have to answer many letters from people less +interesting to me than you are. Will you not indulge me by writing +more to me than you expect me to write to you? That would be generous. +We both came back the better for our three months' journeying, though +I was so ill after we had got to the south that we thought of +returning, and went northward in that expectation. But Ragatz set me +up, so far as I expect to be set up, and we greatly enjoyed our fresh +glimpses of Swiss scenery. + +Mr. Lewes is now printing his third volume of "Problems of Life and +Mind," and is, as usual, very happy over his work. He shares my +interest in everything that relates to you; and be assured--will you +not?--that such interest will always be warm in us. I shall not, while +I live, cease to be yours affectionately. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_Oct. 20._--Looking into accounts _apropos_ of an offer from Blackwood +for another ten years of copyright, I find that before last Christmas +there had been distributed 24,577 copies of "Middlemarch." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. H. B. Stowe,[29] 29th Oct. 1876.] + +"Evermore thanks" for your last letter, full of generous sympathy that +can afford to be frank. The lovely photograph of the grandson will be +carefully preserved. It has the sort of beauty which seems to be +peculiarly abundant in America, at once rounded and delicate in form. + +I do hope you will be able to carry out your wish to visit your son at +Bonn, notwithstanding that heavy crown of years that your dear Rabbi +has to carry. If the sea voyage could be borne without much +disturbance, the land journey might be made easy by taking it in short +stages--the plan we always pursue in travelling. You see I have an +interested motive in wishing you to come to Europe again, since I +can't go to America. But I enter thoroughly into the disinclination to +move when there are studies that make each day too short. If we were +neighbors, I should be in danger of getting troublesome to the revered +Orientalist, with all kinds of questions. + +As to the Jewish element in "Deronda," I expected from first to last, +in writing it, that it would create much stronger resistance, and even +repulsion, than it has actually met with. But precisely because I felt +that the usual attitude of Christians towards Jews is--I hardly know +whether to say more impious or more stupid when viewed in the light of +their professed principles, I therefore felt urged to treat Jews with +such sympathy and understanding as my nature and knowledge could +attain to. Moreover, not only towards the Jews, but towards all +Oriental peoples with whom we English come in contact, a spirit of +arrogance and contemptuous dictatorialness is observable which has +become a national disgrace to us. There is nothing I should care more +to do, if it were possible, than to rouse the imagination of men and +women to a vision of human claims in those races of their fellow-men +who most differ from them in customs and beliefs. But towards the +Hebrews we western people, who have been reared in Christianity, have +a peculiar debt, and, whether we acknowledge it or not, a peculiar +thoroughness of fellowship in religious and moral sentiment. Can +anything be more disgusting than to hear people called "educated" +making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of +any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and +religious life to the history of the people they think themselves +witty in insulting? They hardly know that Christ was a Jew. And I find +men, educated, supposing that Christ spoke Greek. To my feeling, this +deadness to the history which has prepared half our world for us, this +inability to find interest in any form of life that is not clad in the +same coat-tails and flounces as our own, lies very close to the worst +kind of irreligion. The best that can be said of it is, that it is a +sign of the intellectual narrowness--in plain English, the +stupidity--which is still the average mark of our culture. + +Yes, I expected more aversion than I have found. But I was happily +independent in material things, and felt no temptation to accommodate +my writing to any standard except that of trying to do my best in +what seemed to me most needful to be done, and I sum up with the +writer of the Book of Maccabees--"If I have done well and as befits +the subject, it is what I desired; and if I have done ill, it is what +I could attain unto." + +You are in the middle of a more glorious autumn than ours, but we, +too, are having now and then a little sunshine on the changing woods. +I hope that I am right in putting the address from which you wrote to +me on the 25th September, so that my note may not linger away from +you, and leave you to imagine me indifferent or negligent. + +Please offer my reverent regard to Mr. Stowe. + +We spent three months in East Switzerland, and are the better for it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1876.] + +Any one who knows from experience what bodily infirmity is--how it +spoils life even for those who have no other trouble--gets a little +impatient of healthy complainants, strong enough for extra work and +ignorant of indigestion. I at least should be inclined to scold the +discontented young people who tell me in one breath that they never +have anything the matter with them, and that life is not worth having, +if I did not remember my own young discontent. It is remarkable to me +that I have entirely lost my _personal_ melancholy. I often, of +course, have melancholy thoughts about the destinies of my fellow +creatures, but I am never in that _mood_ of sadness which used to be +my frequent visitant even in the midst of external happiness; and +this, notwithstanding a very vivid sense that life is declining and +death close at hand. We are waiting with some expectation for Miss +Martineau's Autobiography, which, I fancy, will be charming so far as +her younger and less renowned life extends. All biography diminishes +in interest when the subject has won celebrity--or some reputation +that hardly comes up to celebrity. But autobiography at least saves a +man or woman that the world is curious about from the publication of a +string of mistakes called "Memoirs." It would be nice if we could be a +trio--I mean you, Cara, and I--chatting together for an hour as we +used to do when I had walked over the hill to see you. But that +pleasure belongs to "the days that are no more." Will you believe that +an accomplished man some years ago said to me that he saw no place for +the exercise of _resignation_ when there was no personal divine will +contemplated as ordaining sorrow or privation? He is not yet aware +that he is getting old and needing that unembittered compliance of +soul with the inevitable which seems to me a full enough meaning for +the word "resignation." + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_Dec. 1._--Since we came home at the beginning of September I have +been made aware of much repugnance or else indifference towards the +Jewish part of "Deronda," and of some hostile as well as adverse +reviewing. On the other hand, there have been the strongest +expressions of interest, some persons adhering to the opinion, started +during the early numbers, that the book is my best. Delightful letters +have here and there been sent to me; and the sale both in America and +in England has been an unmistakable guarantee that the public has been +touched. Words of gratitude have come from Jews and Jewesses, and +these are certain signs that I may have contributed my mite to a good +result. The sale hitherto has exceeded that of "Middlemarch," as to +the £2 2_s._ four-volume form, but we do not expect an equal success +for the guinea edition which has lately been issued. + +_Dec. 11._--We have just bought a house in Surrey, and think of it as +making a serious change in our life--namely, that we shall finally +settle there and give up town. + + This was a charming house--The Heights, Witley, near + Godalming. It stands on a gentle hill overlooking a lovely + bit of characteristic English scenery. In the foreground + green fields, prettily timbered, undulate up to the high + ground of Haslemere in front, with Blackdown (where Tennyson + lives) on the left hand, and Hind Head on the right--"Heights + that laugh with corn in August, or lift the plough-team + against the sky in September." Below, the white steam-pennon + flies along in the hollow. The walks and drives in the + neighborhood are enchanting. A land of pine-woods and copses, + village greens and heather-covered hills, with the most + delicious old red or gray brick, timbered cottages nestling + among creeping roses; the sober-colored tiles of their roofs, + covered with lichen, offering a perpetual harmony to the eye. + The only want in the landscape is the want of flowing water. + About the house there are some eight or nine acres of + pleasure ground and gardens. It quite fulfilled all + expectations, as regards beauty and convenience of situation, + though I am not quite sure that it was bracing enough for + health. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1876.] + +_Dec. 15._--At the beginning of this week I had deep satisfaction from +reading in the _Times_ the report of a lecture on "Daniel Deronda," +delivered by Dr. Hermann Adler to the Jewish working-men--a lecture +showing much insight and implying an expectation of serious benefit. +Since then I have had a delightful letter from the Jewish Theological +Seminary at Breslau, written by an American Jew named Isaacs, who +excuses himself for expressing his feeling of gratitude on reading +"Deronda," and assures me of his belief that it has even already had +an elevating effect on the minds of some among his people--predicting +that the effect will spread. + +I have also had a request from Signor Bartolommeo Aquarone, of Siena, +for leave to translate "Romola," and declaring that as one who has +given special study to the history of San Marco, and has written a +life of Fra Jeronimo Savonarola, he cares that "Romola" should be +known to his countrymen, for their good. _Magnificat anima mea!_ And +last night I had a letter from Dr. Benisch, editor of the _Jewish +Chronicle_, announcing a copy of the paper containing an article +written by himself on reading "Deronda" (there have long ago been two +articles in the same journal reviewing the book), and using strong +words as to the effect the book is producing. I record these signs, +that I may look back on them if they come to be confirmed. + +_Dec. 31._--We have spent the Christmas with our friends at Weybridge, +but the greater part of the time I was not well enough to enjoy +greatly the pleasures their affection prepared for us. + +Farewell 1876. + +[Illustration: The Heights, Witley. From a Sketch by Mrs. Allingham.] + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1877.] + +_Jan. 1._--The year opens with public anxieties. First, about the +threatening war in the East; and next, about the calamities consequent +on the continued rains. As to our private life, all is happiness, +perfect love, and undiminished intellectual interest. G.'s third +volume is about half-way in print. + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 19th Jan. 1877.] + +I don't know that I ever heard anybody use the word "meliorist" except +myself. But I begin to think that there is no good invention or +discovery that has not been made by more than one person. + +The only good reason for referring to the "source" would be that you +found it useful for the doctrine of meliorism to cite one +unfashionable confessor of it in the face of the fashionable extremes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 30th Jan. 1877.] + +What are we to do about "Romola?" It ought to range with the cheap +edition of my books--which, _exceptis excipiendis_, is a beautiful +edition--as well as with any handsomer series which the world's +affairs may encourage us to publish. The only difficulty lies in the +illustrations required for uniformity. The illustrations in the other +volumes are, as Mr. Lewes says, not queerer than those which amuse us +in Scott and Miss Austin, with one exception--namely, that where Adam +is making love to Dinah, which really enrages me with its +unctuousness. I would gladly pay something to be rid of it. The next +worst is that of Adam in the wood with Arthur Donnithorne. The rest +are endurable to a mind well accustomed to resignation. And the +vignettes on the title-pages are charming. But if an illustrator is +wanted, I know one whose work is exquisite--Mrs. Allingham. + +This is not a moment for new ventures, but it will take some time to +prepare "Romola." I should like to see proofs, feeling bound to take +care of my text; and I have lately been glancing into a book on +Italian things, where almost every citation I alighted on was +incorrectly printed. I have just read through the cheap edition of +"Romola," and though I have only made a few alterations of an +unimportant kind--the printing being unusually correct--it would be +well for me to send this copy to be printed from. I think it must be +nearly ten years since I read the book before, but there is no book of +mine about which I more thoroughly feel that I could swear by every +sentence as having been written with my best blood, such as it is, and +with the most ardent care for veracity of which my nature is capable. +It has made me often sob with a sort of painful joy as I have read the +sentences which had faded from my memory. This helps one to bear false +representations with patience; for I really don't love any gentleman +who undertakes to state my opinions well enough to desire that I +should find myself all wrong in order to justify his statement. + +I wish, whenever it is expedient, to add "The Lifted Veil" and +"Brother Jacob," and so fatten the volume containing "Silas Marner," +which would thus become about 100 pages thicker. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Allingham, 8th March, 1877.] + +Mr. Lewes feels himself innocent of dialect in general, and of Midland +dialect in especial. Hence I presume to take your reference on the +subject as if it had been addressed to me. I was born and bred in +Warwickshire, and heard the Leicestershire, North Staffordshire, and +Derbyshire dialects during visits made in my childhood and youth. +These last are represented (mildly) in "Adam Bede." The Warwickshire +talk is broader, and has characteristics which it shares with other +Mercian districts. Moreover, dialect, like other living things, tends +to become mongrel, especially in a central, fertile, and manufacturing +region, attractive of migration; and hence the Midland talk presents +less interesting relics of elder grammar than the more northerly +dialects. + +Perhaps, unless a poet has a dialect ringing in his ears, so as to +shape his metre and rhymes according to it at one jet, it is better to +be content with a few suggestive touches; and, I fear, that the stupid +public is not half grateful for studies in dialect beyond such +suggestions. + +I have made a few notes, which may perhaps be not unacceptable to you +in the absence of more accomplished aid: + +1. The vowel always a double sound, the _y_ sometimes present, +sometimes not; either _aäl_ or _yaäl_. _Hither_ not heard except in +_c'moother_, addressed to horses. + +2. _Thou_ never heard. In general, the 2d person singular not used in +Warwickshire except occasionally to young members of a family, and +then always in the form of _thee_--_i.e._, _'ee_. For the _emphatic_ +nominative, _yo_, like the Lancashire. For the accusative, _yer_, +without any sound of the _r_. The demonstrative _those_ never heard +among the common people (unless when caught by infection from the +parson, etc.). _Self_ pronounced _sen_. The _f_ never heard in _of_, +nor the _n_ in _in_. + +3. Not year but 'ear. On the other hand, with the usual +"compensation," head is pronounced _y_ead. + +4. "A gallows little chap as e'er ye see." + +5. Here's _to_ you, maäster. + Saäm to yo. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 20th March, 1877.] + +You must read Harriet Martineau's "Autobiography." The account of her +childhood and early youth is most pathetic and interesting; but as in +all books of the kind, the charm departs as the life advances, and the +writer has to tell of her own triumphs. One regrets continually that +she felt it necessary not only to tell of her intercourse with many +more or less distinguished persons--which would have been quite +pleasant to everybody--but also to pronounce upon their entire merits +and demerits, especially when, if she had died as soon as she +expected, these persons would nearly all have been living to read her +gratuitous rudenesses. Still I hope the book will do more good than +harm. Many of the most interesting little stories in it about herself +and others she had told me (and Mr. Atkinson) when I was staying with +her, almost in the very same words. But they were all the better for +being told in her silvery voice. She was a charming talker, and a +perfect lady in her manners as a hostess. + +We are only going to bivouac in our Surrey home for a few months, to +try what alterations are necessary. We shall come back to this corner +in the autumn. We don't think of giving up London altogether at +present, but we may have to give up life before we come to any +decision on that minor point. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 15th May, 1877.] + +Pray bring Madame Mario to see us again. But bear in mind that on +Sunday the 27th--which probably will be our last Sunday in +London--Holmes the violinist is coming to play, with Mrs. Vernon +Lushington to accompany him. Don't mention to any one else that they +are coming, lest the audience should be larger than he wishes. + +We are working a little too hard at "pleasure" just now. This morning +we are going for the third time to a Wagner rehearsal at 10 o'clock. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 15th May, 1877.] + +I have not read, and do not mean to read, Mrs. Chapman's volume, so +that I can judge of it only by report. You seem to me to make a very +good case for removing the weight of blame from her shoulders and +transferring it to the already burdened back of Harriet Martineau. But +I confess that the more I think of the book and all connected with +it, the more it deepens my repugnance--or, rather, creates a new +repugnance in me--to autobiography, unless it can be so written as to +involve neither self-glorification nor impeachment of others. I like +that the "He, being dead, yet speaketh," should have quite another +meaning than that. But however the blame may be distributed, it +remains a grievously pitiable thing to me that man, or woman, who has +cared about a future life in the minds of a coming generation or +generations, should have deliberately, persistently mingled with that +prospect the ignoble desire to perpetuate personal animosities, which +can never be rightly judged by those immediately engaged in them. And +Harriet Martineau, according to the witness of those well acquainted +with facts which she represents in her Autobiography, was quite +remarkably apt to have a false view of her relations with others. In +some cases she gives a ridiculously inaccurate account of the tenor or +bearing of correspondence held with her. One would not for a moment +want to dwell on the weakness of a character on the whole valuable and +beneficent, if it were not made needful by the ready harshness with +which she has inflicted pain on others. + +No; I did not agree with you about the Byron case. I understand by the +teaching of my own egoism--and therefore I can sympathize with--any +act of self-vindicating or vindictive rage under the immediate +infliction of what is felt to be a wrong or injustice. But I have no +sympathy with self-vindication, or the becoming a proxy in +vindication, deliberately bought at such a price as that of vitiating +revelations--which may even possibly be false. To write a letter in a +rage is very pardonable--even a letter full of gall and bitterness, +meant as a sort of poisoned dagger. We poor mortals can hardly escape +these sins of passion. But I have no pity to spare for the rancor that +corrects its proofs and revises, and lays it by chuckling with the +sense of its future publicity. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Professor Dr. David Kaufmann, 31st May, 1877.] + +Hardly, since I became an author, have I had a deeper satisfaction--I +may say, a more heartfelt joy--than you have given me in your estimate +of "Daniel Deronda." + +I must tell you that it is my rule, very strictly observed, not to +read the criticisms on my writings. For years I have found this +abstinence necessary to preserve me from that discouragement as an +artist which ill-judged praise, no less than ill-judged blame, tends +to produce in me. For far worse than any verdict as to the proportion +of good and evil in our work, is the painful impression that we write +for a public which has no discernment of good and evil. + +Certainly if I had been asked to choose _what_ should be written about +my books, and _who_ should write it, I should have sketched--well, not +anything so good as what you have written, but an article which must +be written by a Jew who showed not merely a sympathy with the best +aspirations of his race, but a remarkable insight into the nature of +art and the processes of the artistic mind. + +Believe me, I should not have cared to devour even ardent praise if it +had not come from one who showed the discriminating sensibility, the +perfect response to the artist's intention, which must make the +fullest, rarest joy to one who works from inward conviction and not in +compliance with current fashions. + +Such a response holds for an author not only what is best in "the life +that now is," but the promise of "that which is to come." I mean that +the usual approximative narrow perception of what one has been +intending and profoundly feeling in one's work, impresses one with the +sense that it must be poor perishable stuff, without roots to take any +lasting hold in the minds of men; while any instance of complete +comprehension encourages one to hope that the creative prompting has +foreshadowed and will continue to satisfy a need in other minds. + +Excuse me that I write but imperfectly, and perhaps dimly, what I have +felt in reading your article. It has affected me deeply, and though +the prejudice and ignorant obtuseness which has met my effort to +contribute something towards the ennobling of Judaism in the +conceptions of the Christian community, and in the consciousness of +the Jewish community, has never for a moment made me repent my choice, +but rather has been added proof that the effort was needed--yet I +confess that I had an unsatisfied hunger for certain signs of +sympathetic discernment which you only have given. + +I may mention as one instance your clear perception of the relation +between the presentation of the Jewish elements and those of English +social life. + +I write under the pressure of small hurries; for we are just moving +into the country for the summer, and all things are in a vagrant +condition around me. But I wished not to defer answering your letter +to an uncertain opportunity. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 14th June, 1877.] + +I am greatly indebted to you for your letter. It has done something +towards rousing me from what I will not call self-despair but +resignation to being of no use. + +I wonder whether you at all imagine the terrible pressure of disbelief +in my own {duty/right} to speak to the public, which is apt with me to +make all beginnings of work like a rowing against tide. Not that I am +without more than my fair ounce of self-conceit and confidence that I +know better than the critics, whom I don't take the trouble to read, +but who seem to fill the air as with the smoke of bad tobacco. + +But I will not dwell on my antithetic experiences. I only mention them +to show why your letter has done me a service, and also to help in the +explanation of my mental attitude towards your requests or +suggestions. + +I do not quite understand whether you have in your mind any plan of +straightway constructing a liturgy to which you wish me to contribute +in a direct way. That form of contribution would hardly be within my +powers. But your words of trust in me as possibly an organ of feelings +which have not yet found their due expression is as likely as any +external call could be to prompt such perfectly unfettered productions +as that which you say has been found acceptable. + +I wasted some time, three years ago, in writing (what I do not mean to +print) a poetic dialogue embodying or rather shadowing very +imperfectly the actual contest of ideas. Perhaps what you have written +to me may promote and influence a different kind of presentation. At +any rate all the words of your letter will be borne in mind, and will +enter into my motives. + +We are tolerably settled now in our camping, experimental fashion. +Perhaps, before the summer is far advanced, you may be in our +neighborhood, and come to look at us. I trust that Mrs. Harrison is +by this time in her usual health. Please give my love to her, and +believe me always, with many grateful memories, yours sincerely. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 2d July, 1877.] + +It was a draught of real comfort and pleasure to have a letter written +by your own hand, and one altogether cheerful.[30] I trust that you +will by-and-by be able to write me word of continued progress. Hardly +any bit of the kingdom, I fancy, would suit your taste better than +your neighborhood of the Land's End. You are not fond of bushy +midland-fashioned scenery. We are enjoying the mixture of wildness and +culture extremely, and so far as landscape and air go we would not +choose a different home from this. But we have not yet made up our +minds whether we shall keep our house or sell it. + +Some London friends are also occasional dwellers in these parts. The +day before yesterday we had Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Harrison, whose +parents have a fine old Tudor house--Sutton Place--some three miles +beyond Guildford. And do you remember Edmund Gurney? He and his +graceful bride lunched with us the other day. And Miss Thackeray is +married to-day to young Ritchie. I saw him at Cambridge, and felt that +the nearly twenty years' difference between them was bridged hopefully +by his solidity and gravity. This is one of several instances that I +have known of lately, showing that young men with even brilliant +advantages will often choose as their life's companion a woman whose +attractions are chiefly of the spiritual order. + +I often see you enjoying your sunsets and the wayside flowers. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Allingham, 26th Aug. 1877.] + +I hope that this letter may be sent on to you in some delicious nook +where your dear wife is by your side preparing to make us all richer +with store of new sketches. I almost fear that I am implying +unbecoming claims in asking you to send me a word or two of news about +your twofold, nay, fourfold self. But you must excuse in me a +presumption which is simply a feeling of spiritual kinship, bred by +reading in the volume you gave me before we left town. + +That tremendous tramp--"Life, Death; Life, Death"[31]--makes me care +the more, as age makes it the more audible to me, for those younger +ones who are keeping step behind me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Professor Kaufmann, 12th Oct. 1877.] + +I trust it will not be otherwise than gratifying to you to know that +your stirring article on "Daniel Deronda" is now translated into +English by a son of Professor Ferrier, who was a philosophical writer +of considerable mark. It will be issued in a handsomer form than that +of the pamphlet, and will appear within this autumnal publishing +season, Messrs. Blackwood having already advertised it. Whenever a +copy is ready we shall have the pleasure of sending it to you. There +is often something to be borne with in reading one's own writing in a +translation, but I hope that in this case you will not be made to +wince severely. + +In waiting to send you this news, I seem to have deferred too long the +expression of my warm thanks for your kindness in sending me the +Hebrew translations of Lessing and the collection of Hebrew poems--a +kindness which I felt myself rather presumptuous in asking for, since +your time must be well filled with more important demands. Yet I must +further beg you, when you have an opportunity, to assure Herr Bacher +that I was most gratefully touched by the sympathetic verses with +which he enriched the gift of his work. + +I see by your last letter that your Theological Seminary was to open +on the 4th of this month, so that this too retrospective letter of +mine will reach you when you are in the midst of your new duties. I +trust that this new institution will be a great good to professor and +students, and that your position is of a kind that you contemplate as +permanent. To teach the young personally has always seemed to me the +most satisfactory supplement to teaching the world through books; and +I have often wished that I had such a means of having fresh, living +spiritual children within sight. + +One can hardly turn one's thought towards Eastern Europe just now +without a mingling of pain and dread, but we mass together distant +scenes and events in an unreal way, and one would like to believe that +the present troubles will not at any time press on you in Hungary with +more external misfortune than on us in England. + +Mr. Lewes is happily occupied in his psychological studies. We both +look forward to the reception of the work you kindly promised us, and +he begs me to offer you his best regards. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Mrs. Ponsonby, 17th Oct. 1877.] + +I like to know that you have been thinking of me and that you care to +write to me, and though I will not disobey your considerate +prohibition so far as to try to answer your letter fully, I must +content my soul by telling you that we shall be settled in the old +place by the end of the first week in November, and that I shall be +delighted to see you then. There are many subjects that I shall have a +special pleasure in talking of with you. + +Let me say now that the passage quoted from your friend's letter is +one that I am most glad to find falling in with your own attitude of +mind. The view is what I have endeavored to represent in a little poem +called "Stradivarius," which you may not have happened to read. + + I say, not God Himself can make man's best + Without best men to help Him. + +And next: I think direct personal portraiture--or caricature--is a +bastard kind of satire that I am not disposed to think the better of +because Aristophanes used it in relation to Socrates. Do you know that +pretty story about Bishop Thirlwall? When somebody wanted to bring to +him Forchhammer as a distinguished German writer, he replied, "No; I +will never receive into my house the man who justified the death of +Socrates!" + +"O that we were all of one mind, and that mind good!" is an +impossible-to-be-realized wish: and I don't wish it at all in its full +extent. But I think it would be possible that men should differ +speculatively as much as they do now, and yet be "of one mind" in the +desire to avoid giving unnecessary pain, in the desire to do an honest +part towards the general well-being, which has made a comfortable +_nidus_ for themselves, in the resolve not to sacrifice another to +their own egoistic promptings. Pity and fairness--two little words +which, carried out, would embrace the utmost delicacies of the moral +life--seem to me not to rest on an unverifiable hypothesis but on +facts quite as irreversible as the perception that a pyramid will not +stand on its apex. + +I am so glad you have been enjoying Ireland in quiet. We love our bit +of country and are bent on keeping it as a summer refuge. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 6th Nov. 1877, from the Priory.] + +_Apropos_ of authorship, I was a little uneasy on Sunday because I had +seemed in the unmanageable current of talk to echo a too slight way of +speaking about a great poet. I did not mean to say Amen when the +"Idylls of the King" seemed to be judged rather _de haut en bas_. I +only meant that I should value for my own mind "In Memoriam" as the +chief of the larger works; and that while I feel exquisite beauty in +passages scattered through the "Idylls," I must judge some smaller +wholes among the lyrics as the works most decisive of Tennyson's high +place among the immortals. + +Not that my deliverance on this matter is of any moment, but that I +cannot bear to fall in with the sickening fashion of people who talk +much about writers whom they read little, and pronounce on a great +man's powers with only half his work in their mind, while if they +remembered the other half they would find their judgments as to his +limits flatly contradicted. Then, again, I think Tennyson's dramas +such as the world should be glad of--and would be, if there had been +no prejudgment that he could not write a drama. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 10th Nov. 1877.] + +Never augur ill because you do not hear from me. It is, you know, my +profession _not_ to write letters. Happily I can meet your kind +anxiety by contraries. I have for two months and more been in better +health than I have known for several years. This pleasant effect is +due to the delicious air of the breezy Surrey hills; and, further, to +a friend's insistence on my practising lawn-tennis as a daily +exercise. + +We are in love with our Surrey house, and only regret that it hardly +promises to be snug enough for us chilly people through the winter, so +that we dare not think of doing without the warmer nest in town. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1877.] + +_Nov. 10._--We went to the Heights, Witley, at the beginning of June, +after a delightful visit to Cambridge, and returned to this old home +on the 29th October. We are at last in love with our Surrey house, and +mean to keep it. The air and abundant exercise have quite renovated my +health, and I am in more bodily comfort than I have known for several +years. But my dear husband's condition is less satisfactory, his +headaches still tormenting him. + +Since the year began several little epochs have marked themselves. +Blackwood offered for another ten years' copyright of my works, the +previous agreement for ten years having expired. I declined, choosing +to have a royalty. G.'s third volume has been well received, and has +sold satisfactorily for a book so little in the popular taste. A +pleasant correspondence has been opened with Professor Kaufmann, now +Principal of the Jewish Theological Seminary at Pesth; and his +"Attempt at an Appreciation of 'Daniel Deronda'" has been translated +into English by young Ferrier, son of Professor Ferrier. + +A new Cabinet edition of my works, including "Romola," has been +decided on, and is being prepared; and there have been multiplied +signs that the spiritual effect of "Deronda" is growing. In America +the book is placed above all my previous writings. + +Our third little Hampstead granddaughter has been born, and was +christened Saturday--the 3d--Elinor. + +Yesterday Mr. Macmillan came to ask me if I would undertake to write +the volume on Shakespeare, in a series to be issued under the title +"Men of Letters." I have declined. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 16th Nov. 1877.] + +Having a more secure freedom than I may have next week, I satisfy my +eagerness to tell you that I am longing for the news of you which you +have accustomed me to trust in as sure to come at this time of the +year. You will give me, will you not, something more than an +affectionate greeting? You will tell me how and where you have been, +and what is the actual state of your health and spirits--whether you +can still interest yourself in writing on great subjects without too +much fatigue, and what companionship is now the most precious to you? +We returned from our country home (with which we are much in love) at +the beginning of this month, leaving it earlier than we wished because +of the need to get workmen into it. Our bit of Surrey has the beauties +of Scotland wedded to those of Warwickshire. During the last two +months of our stay there I was conscious of more health and strength +than I have known for several years. Imagine me playing at lawn-tennis +by the hour together! The world I live in is chiefly one that has +grown around me in these later years, since we have seen so little of +each other. Doubtless we are both greatly changed in spiritual as well +as bodily matters, but I think we are unchanged in the friendship +founded on early memories. I, for my part, feel increasing gratitude +for the cheering and stimulus your companionship gave me, and only +think with pain that I might have profited more by it if my mind had +been more open to good influences. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1877.] + +_Nov. 26._--The other day we saw in the _Times_ that G.'s name had +been proposed for the Rectorship of St. Andrews. Blackwood writes me +that in less than a month they have sold off all but 400 of the 5250 +printed; and in October were sold 495 of the 3_s._ 6_d._ edition of +"Adam Bede." + +Our friend Dr. Allbut came to see us last week, after we had missed +each other for three or four years. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 3d Dec. 1877.] + +I have been made rather unhappy by my husband's impulsive proposal +about Christmas. We are dull old persons, and your two sweet young +ones ought to find each Christmas a new bright bead to string on their +memory, whereas to spend the time with us would be to string on a +dark, shrivelled berry. They ought to have a group of young creatures +to be joyful with. Our own children always spend their Christmas with +Gertrude's family, and we have usually taken our sober merry-making +with friends out of town. Illness among these will break our custom +this year; and thus _mein Mann_, feeling that our Christmas was free, +considered how very much he liked being with you, omitting the other +side of the question--namely, our total lack of means to make a +suitably joyous meeting, a real festival, for Phil and Margaret. I was +conscious of this lack in the very moment of the proposal, and the +consciousness has been pressing on me more and more painfully ever +since. Even my husband's affectionate hopefulness cannot withstand my +melancholy demonstration. + +So pray consider the kill-joy proposition as entirely retracted, and +give us something of yourselves, only on simple black-letter days +when the Herald Angels have not been raising expectations early in the +morning. + +I am not afraid of your misunderstanding one word. You know that it is +not a little love with which I am yours ever. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 13th Dec. 1877.] + +Your note yesterday gave me much comfort, and I thank you for sparing +the time to write it. + +The world cannot seem quite the same to me as long as you are all in +anxiety about her who is most precious to you[32]--in immediate urgent +anxiety that is. For love is never without its shadow of anxiety. We +have this treasure in earthen vessels. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1877.] + +_Dec. 31._--To-day I say a final farewell to this little book, which +is the only record I have made of my personal life for sixteen years +and more. I have often been helped, in looking back in it, to compare +former with actual states of despondency, from bad health or other +apparent causes. In this way a past despondency has turned to present +hopefulness. But of course, as the years advance, there is a new +rational ground for the expectation that my life may become less +fruitful. The difficulty is to decide how far resolution should set in +the direction of activity rather than in the acceptance of a more +negative state. Many conceptions of work to be carried out present +themselves, but confidence in my own fitness to complete them worthily +is all the more wanting because it is reasonable to argue that I must +have already done my best. In fact, my mind is embarrassed by the +number and wide variety of subjects that attract me, and the enlarging +vista that each brings with it. + +I shall record no more in this book, because I am going to keep a more +business-like diary. Here ends 1877. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 17th Jan. 1878.] + +Yes, it is a comfort to me, in the midst of so many dispiriting +European signs, that France has come so far through her struggle. And +no doubt you are rejoicing too that London University has opened all +its degrees to women. + +I think we know no reading more amusing than the _Times_ just now. We +are deep among the gravities. I have been reading aloud Green's first +volume of his new, larger "History of the English People;" and this +evening have begun Lecky's "History of England in the Eighteenth +Century"--in fact, we are dull old fogies, who are ill-informed about +anything that is going on of an amusing kind. On Monday we took a +youth to the pantomime, but I found it a melancholy business. The dear +old story of Puss in Boots was mis-handled in an exasperating way, and +every incident as well as pretence of a character turned into a motive +for the most vulgar kind of dancing. I came away with a headache, from +which I am only to-day recovered. It is too cruel that one can't get +anything innocent as a spectacle for the children! + +Mr. Lewes sends his best love, but is quite barren of suggestions +about books--buried in pink and lilac periodicals of a physiological +sort, and preoccupied with the case of a man who has an artificial +larynx, with which he talks very well. + +What do you say to the phonograph, which can report gentlemen's bad +speeches with all their stammering? + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 26th Jan. 1878.] + +I like to think of you and Mrs. Blackwood taking your daughter to +Rome. It will be a delightful way of reviving memories, to mingle and +compare them with her fresh impressions, and in a spiritual sense to +have what Shakespeare says is the joy of having offspring--"to see +your blood warm while you feel it cold." I wish that and all other +prospects were not marred by the threat of widening war. + +Last night I finished reading Principal Tulloch's small but full +volume on "Pascal"--a present for which I am much obliged. It is +admirably fair and dispassionate, and I should think will be an +acceptable piece of instruction to many readers. The brief and graphic +way in which he has made present and intelligible the position of the +Port Royalists is an example of just what is needed in such a series +as the Foreign Classics. But of course they are the most fortunate +contributors who have to write about the authors, less commonly +treated of, and especially when they are prepared to write by an early +liking and long familiarity--as in the present case. I have read every +line of appreciation with interest. My first acquaintance with Pascal +came from his "Pensées" being given to me, as a school prize, when I +was fourteen; and I am continually turning to them now to revive my +sense of their deep though broken wisdom. It is a pity that "La +Bruyère" cannot be done justice to by any merely English presentation. +There is a sentence of his which touches with the finest point the +diseased spot in the literary culture of our time--"Le plaisir de la +critique nous ôté celui d'être vivement touchés de tres belles +choses." We see that our present fashions are old, but there is this +difference, that they are followed by a greater multitude. + +You may be sure I was very much cheered by your last despatch--the +solid unmistakable proof that my books are not yet superfluous. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 23d March, 1878.] + +As to my enjoyment of the "Two Grenadiers," it would have been +impossible but for the complete reduction of it to symbolism in my own +mind, and my belief that it really touches nobody now, as enthusiasm +for the execrable Napoleon I. But I feel that the devotion of the +common soldier to his leader (the sign for him of hard duty) is the +type of all higher devotedness, and is full of promise to other and +better generations. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 7th June, 1878.] + +The royalties did themselves much credit.[33] The Crown Prince is +really a grand-looking man, whose name you would ask for with +expectation, if you imagined him no royalty. He is like a grand +antique bust--cordial and simple in manners withal, shaking hands, and +insisting that I should let him know when we next came to Berlin, just +as if he had been a Professor Gruppe, living _au troisième_. _She_ is +equally good-natured and unpretending, liking best to talk of nursing +soldiers, and of what her father's taste was in literature. She opened +the talk by saying, "You know my sister Louise"--just as any other +slightly embarrassed mortal might have done. We had a picked party to +dinner--Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Peterborough, Lord and Lady +Ripon, Dr. Lyon Playfair, Kinglake (you remember "Eothen"--the old +gentleman is a good friend of mine), Froude, Mrs. Ponsonby (Lord +Grey's granddaughter), and two or three more "illustrations;" then a +small detachment coming in after dinner. It was really an interesting +occasion. + +We go to Oxford to-morrow (to the Master of Balliol). + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 27th June, 1878, from Witley.] + +I hope we are not wrong in imagining you settled at Strathtyrum, with +a fresh power of enjoying the old scenes after your exile, in spite of +the abstinence from work--the chief sweetness of life. Mr. Lewes, too, +is under a regimen for gout, which casts its threatening shadow in the +form of nightly cramps and inward _malaise_. He wants me to tell you +something amusing--a bit of Baboo English, from an Indian journal sent +us by Lord Lytton. _Apropos_ of Sir G. Campbell's rash statement that +India was no good to England, the accomplished writer says, "But +British House of Commons stripped him to pieces, and exposed his _cui +bono_ in all its naked hideousness!" After all, I think the cultivated +Hindoo writing what he calls English, is about on a par with the +authors of leading articles on this side of the globe writing what +_they_ call English--accusing or laudatory epithets and phrases, +adjusted to some dim standard of effect quite aloof from any knowledge +or belief of their own. + +Letter-writing, I imagine, is counted as "work" from which you must +abstain; and I scribble this letter simply from the self-satisfied +notion that you will like to hear from me. You see I have asked no +questions, which are the torture-screws of correspondence, hence you +have nothing to answer. How glad I shall be of an announcement that +"No further bulletins will be sent, Mr. Blackwood having gone to golf +again." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 18th July, 1878.] + +I thought you understood that I have grave reasons for not speaking on +certain public topics. No request from the best friend in the +world--even from my own husband--ought to induce me to speak when I +judge it my duty to be silent. If I had taken a contrary decision, I +should not have remained silent till now. My function is that of the +_æsthetic_, not the doctrinal teacher--the rousing of the nobler +emotions, which make mankind desire the social right, not the +prescribing of special measures, concerning which the artistic mind, +however strongly moved by social sympathy, is often not the best +judge. It is one thing to feel keenly for one's fellow-beings; another +to say, "This step, and this alone, will be the best to take for the +removal of particular calamities." + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 30th July, 1878.] + +I did hope that by the time your military evolutions were over, we +might see our way to enjoying the kind welcome which you and Mrs. +Blackwood have offered us. No expedition attracts us more than the +projected visit to Strathtyrum. Unhappily, Mr. Lewes continues to be +troubled and depressed by symptoms that, with the recollection upon us +of the crippling gout which once followed them, quite rob us of the +courage to leave home. The journey and the excitement, which would be +part of his pleasure if he were tolerably well, seem to him now +dangerous to encounter--and I am not myself robust enough to venture +on a risk of illness to him; so that I cannot supply the daring he +needs. We begin to think that we shall be obliged to defer our +pleasure of seeing you in your own home--so promising of walks and +talks, such as we can never have a chance of in London--until we have +the disadvantage of counting ourselves a year older. I am very sorry. +But it is better to know that you are getting well, and we unable to +see you, than to think of you as an invalid, unable to receive us. We +must satisfy ourselves with the good we have--including the peace, and +the promise of an abundant wheat harvest. + +Please ask Mrs. and Miss Blackwood to accept my best regards, and +assure them that I counted much on a longer, quieter intercourse with +them in a few sunny days away from hotels and callers. + +Do not write when writing seems a task. Otherwise you know how well I +like to have a letter from you. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Blackwood, 15th Aug. 1878.] + +We have certainly to pay for all our other happiness, which is a +Benjamin's share, by many small bodily miseries. Mr. Lewes continues +ailing, and I am keeping him company with headache. "Rejoice, O young +man, in the days of thy youth," and keep a reserve of strength for the +more evil days. Especially avoid breaking your neck in hunting. Mr. +Lewes did once try horseback, some years ago, but found the exercise +too violent for him. I think a Highland sheltie would be the suitable +nag, only he is very fond of walking; and between that and lawn-tennis +he tires himself sufficiently. + +I shall hope by and by to hear more good news about your uncle's +health. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 26th Aug. 1878.] + +Shall you mind the trouble of writing me a few words of news about you +and yours? just to let me know how things are with you, and deliver me +from evil dreams. + +We have been so ailing in the midst of our country joys that I need to +hear of my friends being well as a ground for cheerfulness--a bit of +sugar in the cup of resignation. Perhaps this fine summer has been +altogether delightful to you. Let me know this good, and satisfy the +thirsty sponge of my affection. If you object to my phrase, please to +observe that it is Dantesque--which will oblige you to find it +admirable. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 26th Aug. 1878.] + +You remember the case of the old woman of whom her murderers confessed +that they had beaten her to death, "partly with crowbars and partly +with their fists." Well, I have been beaten into silence since your +kind letter, partly by visitors and partly by continual headache. I am +a shade or two better this morning, and my soul has half awaked to run +its daily stage of duty. Happily I was temporarily relieved from +headache during our friends' (the Tom Trollopes') visit. We took them +to see Tennyson, and they were delighted with the reading which he +very amiably gave us. Then the Du Mauriers came to dine with us on the +Thursday, and so the time was not, I hope, too languid for our +visitors. + +Mr. Lewes continues to show improvement in health, so that the balance +of good is not much altered by my deficit. + +We shall be pleased to have any news of you, whether by post or +person. + + At this time I was in the habit of going over occasionally + from Weybridge on Sundays. The shadow of trouble was on both + our houses. My mother was in her last illness, and Mr. Lewes + was constantly ailing, though none of us then thought that he + would be taken first. But the sharing of a common anxiety + contributed to make our friendship much more intimate. In our + drives in the neighborhood of Witley, Mr. Lewes used + sometimes to be suddenly seized with severe cramping pains. I + think he was himself aware that something was far wrong, but + the moment the pain ceased the extraordinary buoyancy of his + spirits returned. Nothing but death could quench that bright + flame. Even on his worst days he had always a good story to + tell; and I remember on one occasion, between two bouts of + pain, he sang through, with great _brio_, though without much + voice, the greater portion of the tenor part in the "Barber + of Seville"--George Eliot playing his accompaniment, and + both of them thoroughly enjoying the fun. + + They led a very secluded life at Witley--as always in their + country retreats--but enjoyed the society of some of their + neighbors. Sir Henry and Lady Holland, who lived next door; + charming Mrs. Thellusson and her daughter, Mrs. Greville, who + lived between Witley and Godalming, were especial friends. + The Tennysons, too, and the Du Mauriers and Allinghams, were + all within easy visiting distance. George Eliot's dislike of + London life continued to increase with the increasing number + of her acquaintance, and consequent demands on time. The + Sunday receptions, confined to a small number of intimate + friends in 1867, had gradually extended themselves to a great + variety of interesting people. + + These receptions have been so often and so well described + that they have hitherto occupied rather a disproportionate + place in the accounts of George Eliot's life. It will have + been noticed that there is very little allusion to them in + the letters; but, owing to the seclusion of her life, it + happened that the large majority of people who knew George + Eliot as an author never met her elsewhere. Her _salon_ was + important as a meeting-place for many friends whom she cared + greatly to see, but it was not otherwise important in her own + life. For she was eminently _not_ a typical mistress of a + _salon_. It was difficult for her, mentally, to move from one + person to another. Playing around many disconnected subjects, + in talk, neither interested her nor amused her much. She took + things too seriously, and seldom found the effort of + entertaining compensated by the gain. Fortunately Mr. Lewes + supplied any qualities lacking in the hostess. A brilliant + talker, a delightful _raconteur_, versatile, full of resource + in the social difficulties of amalgamating diverse groups, + and bridging over awkward pauses, he managed to secure for + these gatherings most of the social success which they + obtained. Many of the _réunions_ were exceedingly agreeable + and interesting, especially when they were not too crowded, + when general conversation could be maintained. But the larger + the company grew the more difficult it was to manage. The + English character does not easily accommodate itself to the + exigencies of a _salon_. There is a fatal tendency to break + up into small groups. The entertainment was frequently varied + by music when any good performer happened to be present. I + think, however, that the majority of visitors delighted + chiefly to come for the chance of a few words with George + Eliot alone. When the drawing-room door of the Priory opened, + a first glance revealed her always in the same low arm-chair + on the left-hand side of the fire. On entering, a visitor's + eye was at once arrested by the massive head. The abundant + hair, streaked with gray now, was draped with lace, arranged + mantilla-fashion, coming to a point at the top of the + forehead. If she were engaged in conversation her body was + usually bent forward with eager, anxious desire to get as + close as possible to the person with whom she talked. She had + a great dislike to raising her voice, and often became so + wholly absorbed in conversation that the announcement of an + incoming visitor sometimes failed to attract her attention; + but the moment the eyes were lifted up, and recognized a + friend, they smiled a rare welcome--sincere, cordial, + grave--a welcome that was felt to come straight from the + heart, not graduated according to any social distinction. + Early in the afternoon, with only one or two guests, the talk + was always general and delightful. Mr. Lewes was quite as + good in a company of three as in a company of thirty. In + fact, he was better, for his _verve_ was not in the least + dependent on the number of his audience, and the flow was + less interrupted. Conversation was no effort to him; nor was + it to her so long as the numbers engaged were not too many, + and the topics were interesting enough to sustain discussion. + But her talk, I think, was always most enjoyable _à deux_. It + was not produced for effect, nor from the lip, but welled up + from a heart and mind intent on the one person with whom she + happened to be speaking. She was never weary of giving of her + best so far as the wish to give was concerned. In addition to + the Sundays "at home" the Priory doors were open to a small + circle of very intimate friends on other days of the week. Of + evening entertainments there were very few, I think, after + 1870. I remember some charming little dinners--never + exceeding six persons--and one notable evening when the Poet + Laureate read aloud "Maud," "The Northern Farmer," and parts + of other poems. It was very interesting on this occasion to + see the two most widely known representatives of contemporary + English literature sitting side by side. George Eliot would + have enjoyed much in her London life if she had been stronger + in health, but, with her susceptible organization, the + _atmosphere_ oppressed her both physically and mentally. She + always rejoiced to escape to the country. The autumn days + were beginning to close in now on the beautiful Surrey + landscape, not without some dim, half-recognized presage to + her anxious mind of impending trouble. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 24th Sept. 1878.] + +I am not inclined to let you rest any longer without asking you to +send me some account of yourself, for it is long since I got my last +news from Edinburgh. I should like to know that you have continued to +gather strength, and that you have all been consequently more and more +enjoying your life at Strathtyrum. It is an ugly theory that happiness +wants the contrast of illness and anxiety, but I know that Mrs. +Blackwood must have a new comfort in seeing you once more with your +usual strength. + +We have had "a bad time" in point of health, and it is only quite +lately that we have both been feeling a little better. The fault is +all in our own frames, not in our air or other circumstances; for we +like our house and neighborhood better and better. The general +testimony and all other arguments are in favor of this district being +thoroughly healthy. But we both look very haggard in the midst of our +blessings. + +Are you not disturbed by yesterday's Indian news? One's hopes for the +world's getting a little rest from war are continually checked. Every +day, after reading the _Times_, I feel as if all one's writing were +miserably trivial stuff in the presence of this daily history. Do you +think there are persons who admire Russia's "mission" in Asia as they +did the mission in Europe? + +Please write me anything that comes easily to the end of your pen, and +make your world seem nearer to me. Good Mr. Simpson, I hope, lets you +know that he is prospering in his pursuit of pleasure without +work--which seems a strange paradox in association with my idea of +him. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 15th Oct. 1878.] + +The days pass by without my finding time to tell you what I want to +tell you--how delighted I was to have a good account of you. But every +bright day, and we have had many such, has made me think the more of +you, and hope that you were drawing in strength from the clear, sweet +air. I miss so much the hope that I used always to have of seeing you +in London and talking over everything just as we used to do--in the +way that will never exactly come with any one else. How unspeakably +the lengthening of memories in common endears our old friends! The new +are comparatively foreigners, with whom one's talk is hemmed in by +mutual ignorance. The one cannot express, the other cannot divine. + +We are intensely happy in our bit of country, as happy as the cloudy +aspect of public affairs will allow any one who cares for them to be, +with the daily reading of the _Times_. + +A neighbor of ours was reciting to me yesterday some delicious bits of +dialogue with a quaint Surrey woman; _e.g._, "O ma'am, what I have +gone through with my husband! He is so uneddicated--he never had a +tail-coat in his life!" + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 23d Nov. 1878, from the Priory.] + +When Mr. Lewes sent you my MS.[34] the other morning he was in that +state of exhilarated activity which often comes with the sense of ease +after an attack of illness which had been very painful. In the +afternoon he imprudently drove out, and undertook, with his usual +eagerness, to get through numerous details of business, over-fatigued +himself, and took cold. The effect has been a sad amount of suffering +from feverishness and headache, and I have been in deep anxiety, am +still very unhappy, and only comforted by Sir James Paget's assurances +that the actual trouble will be soon allayed. + +I have been telling the patient about your letter and suggestion that +he should send a form of slip as advertisement for the Magazine. He +says--and the answer seems to have been a matter of premeditation with +him--that it will be better not to announce the book in this way at +once--"the Americans and Germans will be down on us." I cannot +question him further at present, but I have no doubt he has been +thinking about the matter, and we must not cross his wish in any way. + +I have thought that a good form of advertisement, to save people from +disappointment in a book of mine not being a story, would be to print +the list of contents, which, with the title, would give all but the +very stupid a notion to what form of writing the work belongs. But +this is a later consideration. I am glad you were pleased with the +opening. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, Sunday evening, 24th Nov. +1878.] + +For the last week I have been in deep trouble. Mr. Lewes has been +alarmingly ill. To-day Sir James Paget and Dr. Quain pronounce him in +all respects better, and I am for the first time comforted. You will +not wonder now at my silence. Thanks for your affectionate +remembrances. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 25th Nov. 1878.] + +Mr. Lewes continues sadly ill, and I am absorbed in nursing him. When +he wrote about Parliament meeting, he was thinking that it would be +called together at the usual time--perhaps February. The book can be +deferred without mischief. I wish to add a good deal, but, of course, +I can finish nothing now, until Mr. Lewes is better. The doctors +pronounced him in every respect better yesterday, and he had a quiet +night, but since five o'clock this morning he has had a recurrence of +trouble. You can feel for him and me, having so lately known what +severe illness is. + + + Mr. Lewes died on the 28th November, 1878. + + +_SUMMARY._ + +MARCH, 1876, TO NOVEMBER, 1878. + + Letter to John Blackwood--Visit to Weybridge--"Daniel + Deronda"--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--Meets Sir Garnet + Wolseley--Vivisection--Letter to John Blackwood--Public + discussion of "Deronda"--Motto from Walt Whitman--Inscription + on the MS. of "Deronda"--Letter to Mrs. Stowe--Thanks for + sympathy--Drawbacks to going too much abroad--Mr. Lewes's + "Problems"--Letter to J. W. Cross on the effect of her + writing--Three-months' trip to Continent--Letter to John + Blackwood--Visit to Chambéry and Les Charmettes--Lausanne and + Vevey--Ragatz--Return to London--Letter to John + Blackwood--Dr. Hermann Adler--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--St. + Blasien--Women's work--Visit to Six-Mile Bottom--Meets + Turguenieff--Jewish appreciation of "Deronda"--Letter to Mrs. + William Smith--Mrs. Ruck--Letter to Mrs. Stowe--Jewish + element in "Deronda"--Letter to Miss Hennell--Miss + Martineau's "Autobiography," and biography in + general--Resignation--Gratitude of Jews for + "Deronda"--Purchase of house at Witley, near Godalming--Dr. + Hermann Adler's lectures on "Daniel Deronda"--Application to + translate "Romola" into Italian--Christmas at + Weybridge--Opening of year 1877--Letter to James Sully--The + word "meliorism"--Letter to John Blackwood--Illustrations of + cheap editions--"Romola"--Letter to William + Allingham--Warwickshire dialect--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Harriet + Martineau's "Autobiography"--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--Holmes + and Mrs. Vernon Lushington playing--Letter to Miss + Hennell--Mrs. Chapman on Harriet Martineau--Mrs. Stowe and + the Byron case--Letter to Professor Kaufmann--Gratitude for + his estimate of "Deronda"--Letter to F. Harrison--Sympathy + incentive to production--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--Miss + Thackeray's marriage--Letter to W. Allingham on his + poems--Letter to Professor Kaufmann--Translation of his + article by Mr. Ferrier--Letter to Mrs. Ponsonby--Reference to + Stradivarius--Pity and fairness--Letter to J. W. + Cross--Appreciation of Tennyson's poems and dramas--Letter to + Mrs. Peter Taylor--Improvement in health at Witley--Proposal + to write on Shakespeare for "Men of Letters" series--Letter + to Miss Hennell--Gain of health and strength at + Witley--Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones--Christmas plans--Farewell + to Journal and to year 1877--Letter to Mme. Bodichon--State + of France--London University opening degrees to + women--Reading Green's "History of the English People" and + Lecky--The phonograph--Letter to John + Blackwood--"Pascal"--"La Bruyère"--Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones + on the "Two Grenadiers"--Letter to Mrs. Bray--Meeting with + Crown Prince and Princess of Germany at Mr. Goschen's--Visit + to Oxford to the Master of Balliol--Letter to John + Blackwood--Indian story of Lord Lytton's--Letter to Mrs. + Peter Taylor--Function the æsthetic not the doctrinal + teacher--Letter to John Blackwood--Mr. Lewes's + ill-health--Letter to William Blackwood--Letter to Mrs. + Burne-Jones complaining of health--Letter to J. W. Cross--Mr. + Lewes's continued illness--Life at Witley--Effect of + receptions at the Priory--Description of receptions--Letter + to John Blackwood--Complaining of health--Letter to Mme. + Bodichon--Delight in old friends--Letters to John + Blackwood--MS. of "Theophrastus Such"--Mr. Lewes's last + illness--Postponement of publication of "Theophrastus"--Mr. + Lewes's death. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] This was a visit to Six-Mile Bottom, where M. Turguenieff, who +was a very highly valued friend of Mr. and Mrs. Lewes, had come to +compare his experiences of Russian and English sport. I remember +George Eliot telling me that she had never met any literary man whose +society she enjoyed so thoroughly and so unrestrainedly as she did +that of M. Turguenieff. They had innumerable bonds of sympathy. + +[29] This letter is in acknowledgment of a letter from Mrs. Beecher +Stowe on "Daniel Deronda." + +[30] Mme. Bodichon had been dangerously ill. + +[31] Refers to a poem by W. Allingham, "The General Chorus," with a +burden: + + "Life, Death; Life, Death; + Such is the song of human breath." + + +[32] The beginning of my mother's last illness. + +[33] Dinner at Mr. Goschen's. + +[34] "The Impressions of Theophrastus Such." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + + For many weeks after Mr. Lewes's death, George Eliot saw no + one except Mr. Charles Lewes, and the very few persons she + was obliged to receive on necessary business. She read no + letters, and wrote none, but at once began to occupy herself + busily with Mr. Lewes's unfinished MSS., in which work Mr. + Charles Lewes was able to assist her in the arrangement. The + only entry in her diary on the 1st January, 1879, is "Here I + and sorrow sit." At the end of two months this desolation had + told terribly on her health and spirits; and on the last day + of January she was greatly comforted by a visit from Sir + James Paget--a friend for whom she had always had the highest + and most cordial regard during the many years she had known + him. Meantime she had begun to write a few short notes, and + she mentions in her journal of 2d January, "A kind letter + from Professor Michael Foster, of Cambridge, offering to help + me on any physiological point;" and on the 19th January, + "Ruminating on the founding of some educational + instrumentality as a memorial to be called by his name." + There are the following letters in January and February. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 7th Jan. 1879.] + +I bless you for all your goodness to me, but I am a bruised creature, +and shrink even from the tenderest touch. As soon as I feel able to +see anybody I will see _you_. Please give my love to Bessie[35] and +thank her for me--I mean, for her sweet letter. I was a long while +before I read any letters, but tell her I shall read hers again and +again. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 13th Jan. 1879.] + +It was a long while before I read any letters, and as yet I have +written none, except such as business required of me. You will believe +that this has not been for want of gratitude to all my friends for +their goodness to me. I can trust to your understanding of a sorrow +which has broken my life. I write now because I ought not to allow any +disproportionate expense to be incurred about my printed sheets. + +To me, now, the writing seems all trivial stuff, but since he wished +it to be printed, and you seem to concur, I will correct the sheets +(if you will send me the remainder) gradually as I am able, and they +can be struck off and laid by for a future time. I submit this +proposition to your judgment, not knowing what may be most expedient +for your printing-office. + +Thank you for all your kind words. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 22d Jan. 1879.] + +Sometime, if I live, I shall be able to see you--perhaps sooner than +any one else--but not yet. Life seems to get harder instead of easier. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 30th Jan. 1879.] + +When I said "sometime" I meant still a distant time. I want to live a +little time that I may do certain things for his sake. So I try to +keep up my strength, and I work as much as I can to save my mind from +imbecility. But that is all at present. I can go through anything that +is mere business. But what used to be joy is joy no longer, and what +is pain is easier because he has not to bear it. + +I bless my friends for all their goodness to me. Please say so to all +of them that you know, especially Mr. Hall. Tell him I have read his +letter again and again. + +If you feel prompted to say anything, write it to me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 4th Feb. 1879.] + +Do not believe that your love is lost upon me, dear. I bless you for +all your goodness to me, and keep every sign of it in my memory. + +I have been rather ill lately, but my head is clearer this morning. +The world's winter is going, I hope, but my everlasting winter has set +in. You know that and will be patient with me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 6th Feb. 1879.] + +Bless you for your loving thought. But for all reasons, bodily and +mental, I am unable to move. I am entirely occupied with his +manuscripts, and must be on this spot among all the books. Then, I am +in a very ailing condition of body--cannot count on myself from day to +day--and am not fit to undertake any sort of journey. I have never yet +been outside the gate. Even if I were otherwise able, I could not bear +to go out of sight of the things he used and looked on. + +Bless you once more. If I could go away with _anybody_ I could go away +with you. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 7th Feb. 1879.] + +I do need your affection. Every sign of care for me from the beings I +respect and love is a help to me. In a week or two I think I shall +want to see you. Sometimes, even now, I have a longing, but it is +immediately counteracted by a fear. The perpetual mourner--the grief +that can never be healed--is innocently enough felt to be wearisome by +the rest of the world. And my sense of desolation increases. Each day +seems a new beginning--a new acquaintance with grief. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, Saturday, 22d Feb. 1879.] + +If you happen to be at liberty to-morrow, or the following Friday, or +to-morrow week, I hope I shall be well enough to see you. Let me know +which day. + + On Sunday, the 23d February, I saw her for the first time, + and there is the following letter next day. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 24th Feb. 1879.] + +A transient absence of mind yesterday made me speak as if it were +possible for me to entertain your thoughtful, kind proposal that I +should move to Weybridge for a short time. But I cannot leave this +house for the next two months--if for no other reason, I should be +chained here by the need of having all the books I want to refer to. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 25th Feb. 1879.] + +Pray do not announce "Theophrastus" in any way. It would be +intolerable to my feelings to have a book of my writing brought out +for a long while to come. What I wish to do is, to correct the sheets +thoroughly, and then have them struck off and laid by till the time of +publication comes. One reason which prompted me to set about the +proofs--in addition to my scruples about occupying the type--was that +I was feeling so ill, I thought there was no time to be lost in +getting done everything which no one else would do if I left it +undone. But I am getting better, I think; and my doctors say there is +nothing the matter with me to urge more haste than the common +uncertainty of life urges on us all. + +There is a great movement now among the Jews towards colonizing +Palestine, and bringing out the resources of the soil. Probably Mr. +Oliphant is interested in the work, and will find his experience in +the West not without applicability in the East. + +It is a satisfaction to you, I hope, that your son is about to be +initiated in George Street. I trust he will one day carry on the good +traditions of the name "John Blackwood." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 5th Mch. 1879.] + +Your letter, which tells me that you are benefiting by the clear, +sunny air, is very welcome. Yes, here too the weather is more +merciful, and I drive out most days. I am better bodily, but I never +feel thoroughly comfortable in that material sense, and I am +incredibly thin. As to my mind, I am full of occupation, but the +sorrow deepens down instead of diminishing. I mean to go to Witley in +a few months, that I may look again on the spots that he enjoyed, and +that we enjoyed together, but I cannot tell beforehand whether I shall +care to go again afterwards. + +Everybody is very kind to me, and by and by I shall begin to see a few +intimate friends. I can do or go through anything that is business or +duty, but time and strength seem lacking for everything else. You must +excuse my weakness, remembering that for nearly twenty-five years I +have been used to find my happiness in his. I can find it nowhere +else. But we can live and be helpful without happiness, and I have had +more than myriads who were and are better fitted for it. + +I am really very busy, and have been sadly delayed by want of health. +One project I have entered on is to found a studentship, which will be +called after his name. I am getting help from experienced men. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 5th Mch. 1879.] + +I send the corrected sheets of "Theophrastus," and shall be much +obliged if you will order a complete revise to be sent me before they +are struck off. Whenever the book is published (I cannot contemplate +its appearing before June, and if that is a bad time it must stand +over till the autumn season) I beg you kindly to write for me a +notice, to be printed on the fly-leaf, that the MS. was placed in your +hands last November, or simply last year. + +I think you will enter into my feeling when I say that to create a +notion on the part of the public of my having been occupied in writing +"Theophrastus" would be repugnant to me. And I shrink from putting +myself forward in any way. + +I hope you are benefiting by the milder weather. I drive out a little +now, but you must be prepared to see me a much changed creature. I +think I should hardly know myself. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_March 8._--Gertrude[36] and the children came to tea. + +_March 9._--Mr. Henry Sidgwick came to discuss the plan of the +studentship. + +_March 13._--Professor Michael Foster came to discuss the studentship, +and we arrived at a satisfactory clearness as to the conditions. He +mentioned as men whom he thought of as suitable trustees, Huxley, Pye +Smith, Thiselton Dyer, Francis Balfour, and Henry Sidgwick. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 20th Mch. 1879.] + +DEAR FRIEND,--When you have time to come to me about six o'clock I +shall love to see you. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_March 22._--Mrs. Congreve came again. Mrs. Burne-Jones came. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Blackwood, 25th Mch. 1879.] + +I am so dissatisfied with "Theophrastus" on reading the revise that I +have proposed to suppress it in this original form, and regenerate it +whenever--if ever--I recover the power to do so. You see the cruel +weather has travelled after you. It makes one feel every grievance +more grievously in some respects, though to me the sunshine is in one +sense sadder. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_March 30._--Mr. Bowen (now Lord Justice Bowen) came, Mr. Spencer, and +J. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 5th April, 1879.] + +After weighing what you have said, I agree to the publication of +"Theophrastus" in May. If you had at all suspected that the book would +injure my influence, you would not have wished me to give it forth in +its present form, and in the uncertainty of one's inner and outer life +it is not well to depend on future capabilities. There are some +things in it which I want to get said, and if the book turned out to +be effective in proportion to my other things, the form would lend +itself to a "second series"--supposing I lived and kept my faculties. + +As to the price for the right of translating, you will judge. If you +will kindly undertake these negotiations for me, I shall be thankful. +And pray remember that I don't _want_ the book to be translated, so +that it will be well to wait for the application, and to ask a +sufficient sum to put the publisher on his guard as to the selection +of a translator. But, of course, this little book cannot be paid for +according to the difficulty of translation. + +You see, I have been so used to have all trouble spared me that I am +ready to cast it on any willing shoulders. But I am obliged now to +think of business in many ways. + +I am so glad to know that Mrs. Blackwood has the comfort of a good +report about you from the doctors. Perhaps it may seem to you the +wrong order of sympathy to be glad for your sake in the _second_ +place. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_April 8._--Mrs. Stuart came. + + Mrs. Stuart was a devoted friend whose acquaintance had been + formed some years before through the presentation of some + beautiful wood-carving which she had executed as an offering + to George Eliot. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 8th April, 1879.] + +DEAR FRIENDS,--Will you come to see me some day? I am always in from +my drive and at liberty by half-past four. Please do not say to any +one that I am receiving visitors generally. Though I have been so long +without making any sign, my heart has been continually moved with +gratitude towards you. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 8th April, 1879.] + +Your letter was very welcome this morning, for I do not like to be +very long without having some picture of you, and your words of +affection are always sweet. + +The studentship I mention is to supply an income to a young man who is +qualified and eager to carry on physiological research, and would not +otherwise have the means of doing so. Mr. H. Sidgwick, Michael Foster, +and other men of kindred mind are helping me in settling the scheme. I +have been determined in my choice of the studentship by the idea of +what would be a sort of prolongation of _his_ life. That there should +always, in consequence of his having lived, be a young man working in +the way he would have liked to work, is a memorial of him that comes +nearest my feeling. It is to be at Cambridge to begin with, and we +thought at first of affiliating it to the university; but now the +notion is that it will be well to keep it free, so that the trustees +may move it where and when they will. But the scheme is not yet +drafted. + +I am going to bring out one of "The Problems" in a separate volume at +the beginning of May, and am now correcting the proofs. + +My going to Witley is an experiment. I don't know how I shall bear +being there, but I hope there will be nothing to hinder my _having +you_ there if you will undertake the troublous journey for my sake. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 9th April, 1879.] + +I enclose the proof of title-page and motto. Whether the motto (which +is singularly apt and good) should be on the title-page or fly-leaf I +leave you to judge. Certainly, everybody who does not read Latin will +be offended by its claiming notice, and will consider that only the +deepest-dyed pedantry could have found the motive for it. But I will +not leave it out altogether. + +I have had such various letters from time to time, asking me to +reprint or write essays, that, perhaps, some of the public will not be +disappointed that the volume is not a story. But that must be as it +may; and if you think the acceptance dubious, it is much the better +plan not to stereotype. + +What energy there is in Mr. Kinglake in spite of the somewhat +shattered health that his _Wesen_ gives one the impression of! Among +incidents of war that one can dwell on with anything like gladness, +that account of the rescue of the colors at Isandlana is memorable, is +it not? + +I go out every day, drive beyond the ranks of hideous houses in the +Kilburn outskirts, and get to lanes where I can walk, in perfect +privacy, among the fields and budding hedgerows. + +I hope Mr. Julian Sturgis will take care of his writing and do +something lasting. He seems to me to have a strain above the common in +him; and he is not writing for his bread, or even his butter. I don't +know why I say this just now, except that I had it in my mind to say +long ago, and it has just come upper-most as I was thinking of the +Magazine. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Professor Kaufmann, 17th April, 1879.] + +Your kind letter has touched me very deeply. I confess that my mind +had, more than once, gone out to you as one from whom I should like to +have some sign of sympathy with my loss. But you were rightly inspired +in waiting till now, for during many weeks I was unable even to listen +to the letters which my generous friends were continually sending me. +Now, at last, I am eagerly interested in every communication that +springs out of an acquaintance with my husband and his works. + +I thank you for telling me about the Hungarian translation of his +"History of Philosophy;" but what would I not have given if the +volumes could have come, even only a few days, before his death! For +his mind was perfectly clear, and he would have felt some joy in that +sign of his work being effective. + +I do not know whether you will enter into the comfort I feel that he +never knew he was dying, and fell gently asleep after ten days of +illness, in which the suffering was comparatively mild. + +One of the last things he did at his desk was to despatch a manuscript +of mine to the publishers. The book (not a story, and not bulky) is to +appear near the end of May, and, as it contains some words I wanted to +say about the Jews, I will order a copy to be sent to you. + +I hope that your labors have gone on uninterruptedly for the benefit +of others, in spite of public troubles. The aspect of affairs with us +is grievous--industry languishing, and the best part of our nation +indignant at our having been betrayed into an unjustifiable war in +South Africa. + +I have been occupied in editing my husband's MSS., so far as they are +left in sufficient completeness to be prepared for publication without +the obtrusion of another mind instead of his. A brief volume on "The +Study of Psychology" will appear immediately, and a further volume of +psychological studies will follow in the autumn. But his work was cut +short while he still thought of it as the happy occupation of +far-stretching months. Once more let me thank you for remembering me +in my sorrow. + +[Sidenote: Letter to J. W. Cross, 22d April, 1879.] + +I am in dreadful need of your counsel. Pray come to me when you +can--morning, afternoon, or evening. + + From this time forward I saw George Eliot constantly. My + mother had died in the beginning of the previous December, a + week after Mr. Lewes; and, as my life had been very much + bound up with hers, I was trying to find some fresh interest + in taking up a new pursuit. Knowing very little Italian, I + began Dante's "Inferno" with Carlyle's translation. The first + time I saw George Eliot afterwards, she asked me what I was + doing, and, when I told her, exclaimed, "Oh, I must read that + with you." And so it was. In the following twelve months we + read through the "Inferno" and the "Purgatorio" together; not + in a _dilettante_ way, but with minute and careful + examination of the construction of every sentence. The + prodigious stimulus of such a teacher (_cotanto maestro_) + made the reading a real labor of love. Her sympathetic + delight in stimulating my newly awakened enthusiasm for Dante + did something to distract her mind from sorrowful memories. + The divine poet took us into a new world. It was a renovation + of life. At the end of May I induced her to play on the piano + at Witley for the first time; and she played regularly after + that whenever I was there, which was generally once or twice + a week, as I was living at Weybridge, within easy distance. + + Besides Dante, we read at this time a great many of + Sainte-Beuve's "Causeries," and much of Chaucer, Shakespeare, + and Wordsworth. But I am anticipating. We will return to the + correspondence in its order. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 22d April, 1879.] + +When I shall be able to get to Witley is altogether uncertain. The +cold winds make one less hungry for the country, but still it will be +a relief to me, in some respects, to get away from town. I am much +stronger than I was, and am again finding interest in this wonderful +life of ours. But I am obliged to keep my doors closed against all but +the few until I go away. You, however, I shall hope to see. I am +founding a studentship of Physiology, to be called "The George Henry +Lewes Studentship." It will be placed, in the first instance, at +Cambridge, where there is the best physiological school in the +kingdom. But the trustees (with my consent during my life) will have +the power of moving it where they judge best. This idea, which I early +conceived, has been a great stay to me. But I have plenty to think of, +plenty of creatures depending on me, to make my time seem of some +value. And there are so many in the world who have to live without any +great enjoyment. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_April 26._--Mr. and Mrs. Hall came. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 3d May, 1879.] + +If you can come to me next week for a parting word, will you try to +learn beforehand whether and when your husband can give me half an +hour at the end of his working-day? I should like to see him before I +go, which I hope to do soon after the 13th. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1879.] + +_May 6._--Mr. and Mrs. Call, Eleanor and Florence (Cross) came. + +_May 8._--Mr. Burne-Jones came. + +_May 10._--Edith Simcox and Mr. Pigott came. + +_May 13._--Dr. Andrew Clark came and gave me important suggestions +about the studentship. + +_May 21._--Saw Mr. Anthony Trollope. + +_May 22._--Came down to Witley--lovely mild day. + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 28th May, 1879.] + +Mr. Lewes always wrote the dramatic criticisms in the _Leader_, and +for a year or two he occasionally wrote such criticisms in the _Pall +Mall_. Of the latter, the chief were reprinted in the little book on +"Actors, and the Art of Acting." What was written in the +_Fortnightly_ (1865-66) is marked by signature. The most +characteristic contributions to the _Cornhill_ (1864-65) were "The +Mental Condition of Babies," "Dangers and Delights of Tobacco," "Was +Nero a Monster?" "Shakespeare in France," and "Miseries of a Dramatic +Author." + +But after 1866 his contributions to any periodical were very +scanty--confined to a few articles in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, one on +"The Reign of Law," in the _Fortnightly_, and the series on Darwin, +now incorporated in "The Physical Basis of Mind." After these, his +sole contributions were an article on Dickens (1872), two on +"Spiritualism" and "Mesmerism" (1876), and one on "The Dread and +Dislike of Science" (1878). + +Charles, I think, mentioned to you my desire that you should do me the +valuable service of looking over the proofs of the remaining volume of +"Problems," and you were so generous as to express your willingness to +undertake that labor. The printing will not begin till after the +16th--Dr. Michael Foster, who has also kindly offered to help me in +the same way, not being sufficiently at leisure till after that date. + +I have been rather ill again lately, but am hoping to benefit by the +country quietude. You, too, I am sorry to hear, are not over strong. +This will make your loan of mind and eyesight all the more appreciated +by me. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 3d June, 1879.] + +Your letter, full of details--just the sort of letter I like to +have--has been among my comforts in these last damp, chill days. The +first week I was not well, and had a troublesome attack of pain, but I +am better, and try to make life interesting by always having something +to do. + +I am wishing Margaret many happy returns of this day, and am making a +picture of you all keeping the little _fête_. A young birthday, when +the young creature is promising, is really a happy time; one can hope +reasonably; and the elder ones may be content that gladness has passed +onward from them into newer vessels. I should like to see the +blue-eyed maid with her bangles on her arms. + +Please give my love to all and sundry who make any sign of love for +me; and any amount you like is ready for you to draw upon. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 10th June, 1879.] + +I am greatly obliged to you for sending me the paper you are to read +to-day; and I appreciate it the more highly because your diligence is +in contrast with the general sluggishness of readers about any but +idle reading. It is melancholy enough that to most of our polite +readers the social factor in psychology would be a dull subject; for +it is certainly no conceit of ours which pronounces it to be the +supremely interesting element in the thinking of our time. + +I confess the word factor has always been distasteful to me as the +name for the grandest of forces. If it were only mathematical I should +not mind, but it has many other associated flavors which spoil it for +me. + +Once more--ever more--thanks. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 10th June, 1879.] + +You will like to know that Mr. Frederic Harrison has sent me a brief +paper, which is to be read to-day at the Metaphysical Society, on the +"Social Factor in Psychology," opening with a quotation from the +"Study of Psychology," and marking throughout his high appreciation of +your father's work. Also the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, kindly +sent (with his initials only) to Trübner four errata which he had +found in reading the "Study of Psychology." Trübner did not know who +was the kind corrector, and very properly sent the paper to me, +offering to have the corrections made on the plates if I wished it. I +said, "By all means," and have written to thank the Rector. What a +blessing to find a man who really reads a book! + +I have received the enclosed letter, with other papers (about country +lodgings at Sevenoaks for poor children). Will you look out a single +copy of as many of my books (poems included) as you can find, and send +them in a parcel, saying that they come from me for the Free Library? +Please not to mind this trouble, as it is for the _impecunious_ +readers. (You know I am nothing if not "sesquipedalian" and +scientific; and a word of five syllables will do for both qualities.) + +I wish you could see Coquelin in Tabourin. He is a wonderful actor, +when he gets the right part for him. He has a penetrating personality +that one cannot be indifferent to, though possibly it may be +unpleasant to some people. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Blackwood, 12th June, 1879.] + +I was beginning, with my usual apprehensiveness, to fear that you had +no good news to tell me, since I did not hear from you, and I should +have gone on fearing till to-morrow morning if I had not happened to +drive to Godalming and ask for the second post. We only get one post a +day at the benighted Witley, so that if you want me to get a letter +quickly it must be posted early at Edinburgh. + +I am heartily glad to know that the invalid is going on well, and I +trust that the softer air we are having now will help him forward. + +"Theophrastus" seems to be really welcomed by the public. Mr. +Blackwood will be amused to hear that one gentleman told Charles, or +implied, that "Theophrastus" was a higher order of book, and _more +difficult to write_ than a novel. Wait long enough, and every form of +opinion will turn up. However, poor "Theophrastus" is certainly not +composed of "chips" any more than my other books. + +Another amusing bit of news is, that the other day Mrs. Pattison sent +me an extract from the _livret_ of the Paris _Salon_, describing a +picture painted by a French artist from "The Lifted Veil," and +representing the moment when the resuscitated woman, fixing her eyes +on her mistress, accuses her of having poisoned her husband. I call +this amusing--I ought rather to have said typical of the relation my +books generally have with the French mind. + +Thank you for sending me the list of orders. It does interest me to +see the various country demands. I hope the movement will continue to +cheer us all, and you are sure to let me know everything that is +pleasant, so I do not need to ask for that kindness. + +The weather is decidedly warmer, and Tuesday was a perfectly glorious +day. But rain and storm have never let us rest long together. I am not +very bright, and am ready to interpret everything in the saddest +sense, but I have no definite ailment. + +My best regards to the convalescent, who, I have no doubt, will write +to me when he is able to do so. But I am only one of many who will be +glad to hear from him. + +[Sidenote: Letter from Madame Bodichon to Miss Bonham-Carter, 12th +June, 1879.] + + "I spent an hour with Marian (5th June). She was more + delightful than I can say, and left me in good spirits for + her--though she is wretchedly thin, and looks, in her long, + loose, black dress, like the black shadow of herself. She + said she had so much to do that she must keep well--'the + world was so _intensely interesting_.' She said she would + come _next year_ to see me. We both agreed in the great love + we had for life. In fact, I think she will do more for us + than ever." + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 20th June, 1879.] + +I have been having my turn of illness of rather a sharp kind. +Yesterday, when your letter came, I was in more acute pain than I have +ever known in my life before, but before the morning was over I was +sufficiently relieved to read your pleasant news. I am writing in bed, +but am in that most keenly conscious ease which comes after unusual +suffering. The way in which the public takes "Theophrastus" is really +a comfort to me. I have had some letters, not of the complimentary, +but of the grateful kind, which are an encouragement to believe in the +use of writing. But you would be screamingly amused with one, +twenty-three pages long (from an Edinburgh man, by-the-bye), who has +not read the book, but has read of it, and thinks that his own case is +still more worthy of presentation than Merman's. + +I think a valuable series (or couple of volumes) might be made up from +"Maga" of articles written _hot_ by travellers and military men, and +not otherwise republished--chronicles and descriptions by +eye-witnesses--which might be material for historians. + +What a comfort that the Afghan war is concluded! But on the back of it +comes the black dog of Indian finance, which means, alas! a great deal +of hardship to poor Hindûs. Let me hear more news of you before long. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 29th June, 1879.] + +Your description of the effects you feel from the restless, tormenting +winds would serve well to represent my experience too. It seems +something incredible written in my memory that when I was a little +girl I loved the wind--used to like to walk about when it was blowing +great guns. And now the wind is to me what it was to early peoples--a +demon-god, cruelly demanding all sorts of human sacrifices. Thank you, +dear, for caring whether I have any human angels to guard me. None are +permanently here except my servants, but Sir James Paget has been down +to see me, I have a very comfortable country practitioner to watch +over me from day to day, and there is a devoted friend who is backward +and forward continually to see that I lack nothing. + +It is a satisfaction to me that you felt the need for "Debasing the +Moral Currency" to be written. I was determined to do it, though it +might make me a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to all the +comic tribe. + +Do not rate my illness too high in the scale of mortal misery. I am +prone to make much of my ailments, and am among the worst at enduring +pain. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 29th June, 1879.] + +Thank you for sending me the pretty little book.[37] I am deeply +touched by the account of its origin, and I remember well everything +you said to me of Mr. Brown in old days when he was still with you. I +had only cut a very little way into the volume when a friend came and +carried it off, but my eyes had already been arrested by some remarks +on the character of Harold Transome, which seemed to me more +penetrating and finely felt than almost anything I have read in the +way of printed comment on my own writing. When my friend brings back +the volume I shall read it reverentially, and most probably with a +sense of being usefully admonished. For praise and sympathy arouse +much more self-suspicion and sense of shortcoming than all the blame +and depreciation of all the Pepins. + +I am better, and I hope on the way to complete recovery, but I am +still at some distance from that goal. Perhaps if the winds would give +one some rest from their tormenting importunity, both you and I should +get on faster. + +I am looking forward to reading the "Recollections of Ekowe" in +"Maga," which came to me yesterday, with its list of my own doings and +misdoings on the cover. + +Does not this Zulu war seem to you a horribly bad business? + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 30th June, 1879.] + +Sir Henry Maine has sent me the one letter that has rejoiced my heart +about the "Study of Psychology." He says: "In this branch of Mr. +Lewes's studies I am almost as one of the ignorant, but I think I have +understood every sentence in the book, and I believe I have gained +great knowledge from it. It has been the most satisfactory piece of +work I have done for a long time." I have written to tell him that he +has rescued me from my scepticism as to any one's reading a serious +book except the author or editor. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 2d July, 1879.] + +The sight of your handwriting on the pamphlet sent me urges me to do +the sooner what I should have already done but for a rather sharp +illness, which has kept me chiefly in bed for nearly a fortnight, and +from which I am not yet quite free. + +I enclose a copy of Michael Foster's draft of conditions for the +studentship, which I put into the lawyer's hands some ten or twelve +days ago, and which is now come to me drawn up in legal form. You said +it would interest you to see the draft, and I have been bearing this +in mind, but have not been able to go to the desk where the copy lay. + +I hope to hear that you have been going on well despite the cruel, +restless winds and sad intermittence of sunshine. On the 12th I am +going to have two daughters-in-law, _five_ grandchildren, and servant +for a week--if I can get well enough, as I have good hope now that I +shall. The strawberries will be ripe then, and as I don't eat any +myself it would be dolorous not to be able to have the children, and +see them enjoy the juicy blessing. + +[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 16th July, 1879.] + +I was beginning to want some news of you, and was almost ready to ask +for it. It is the more welcome for having had time to ripen into a +decidedly good report of your condition. About myself I have a very +poor story to tell, being now in the fifth week of a troublesome +illness, in which, like you, I have been partly fed on "poisonous +decoctions." To-day, however, happens to show a considerable +improvement in my symptoms, and I have been walking in the warmer air +with more ease than hitherto. Driving I have not been able to manage +for some time, the motion of the carriage shaking me too much. The +best of care has been taken of me. I have an excellent country doctor +(Mr. Parsons of Godalming) who watches me daily; and Sir James Paget +and Dr. Andrew Clark have been down to add their supervision. I begin +to think that if I can avoid any evil condition, such as a chill that +would bring on a relapse, I may soon be pretty well again. The point +to be achieved is to stop the wasting of my not too solid flesh. + +I am glad to hear that the third edition of "Theophrastus" has had so +lively a movement. If the remainder should be sold off I think it +would be well just to print a small number of copies to carry on, and +avoid bringing out a cheaper edition too soon after people have been +paying for the expensive one. + +I have been always able to write my letters and read my proofs, +usually in bed before the fatigue of dressing, but the rest of my time +has been very unprofitable--spent chiefly in pain and languor. I am +feeling easy now, and you will well understand that after undergoing +pain this ease is opening paradise. Invalids must be excused for being +eloquent about themselves. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 22d July, 1879.] + +I feel a perhaps too selfish need to tell you that things have gone +ill with me since I last wrote to you. Why do I want to let you know +this not agreeable news about myself? Chiefly because I want you to be +quite clear that if I do not write to say, "When can you come to me?" +it is not from indifference, but from misfortune of another sort. +Meanwhile it will do me good to have little items of news from you, +when you can find half an hour for the kind deed of writing me a +letter. What helps me most is to be told things about others, and your +letters are just of the sort I like to have. + +I am just now in one of my easier hours, and the demon wind has +abated. He seems to enter into my pains with hideous rejoicing. + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 7th Aug. 1879.] + +Thank you for your kind note. There are to be more than as many proofs +as you have already had, for which I must crave the valuable aid of +your reading. + +You will understand all the better how much comfort it is to me to +have your help as well as Professor Foster's, when I tell you that for +the last eight weeks I have been seriously out of health, and have +often been suffering much pain--a state which I imagine you know by +experience to heighten all real anxieties, and usually to create +unreal. + +It cheers me to be told by you that you think the volume interesting. +In reading the MS. again and again I had got into a state of tremor +about it which deprived me of judgment--just as if it were writing of +my own, which I could not trust myself to pronounce upon. + +I hope that your own health, and Mrs. Sully's too, will have been +benefited by your change from south to north. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 11th Aug. 1879.] + +I think that I am really getting better, and shall have to stay among +the minority in this world a little longer than I had expected. + +Will you send me word how long you shall be at liberty, and whether +you would think it worth while to come down to me one morning and stay +till the afternoon of the following day? Your letter is delightful to +me. Several spiritual kisses for it. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 19th Aug. 1879.] + +Thank you for your sweet affection. I have had rather a trying +illness, which lasted, without great relief, for nearly eight weeks. +But I hope that I am now out of it--that is, so far established that I +may go on without a relapse. The cold weather was against me, as it +was and is against much more important matters. The days of warmth and +sunlight which have now and then blessed us have been my best +medicine, though I acknowledge the benefit of pepsin and steel, and +many other drugs. The gray skies and recurring rain are peculiarly +dispiriting to me, and one seems to feel their influence all the more +for the wide, beautiful view of field and hill which they sadden and +half conceal. In town one thinks less of the sky. + +If you are ever writing to our dear Mrs. William Smith do give my love +to her, and tell her I am very grateful to her for the letter she +wrote me with the postmark _Ventnor_ upon it. With her usual delicacy +of feeling she did not send her address, so that I could not write in +return. + +[Sidenote: Letter to William Blackwood, 3d Sept. 1879.] + +I am much obliged to you for writing me your letter of pleasant news. + +It is wonderful how "Theophrastus" goes on selling in these bad times, +and I have only to hope in addition that the buyers will be the better +for it. Apparently we shall get through this last edition before +Christmas, and then perhaps you will think of adding the volume to the +Cabinet Edition. I am especially rejoiced to hear that your uncle is +better again, and I trust that Strathtyrum is sharing our sunshine, +which will be the best cure for him as for me. I am getting strong, +and also am gaining flesh on my moderate scale. It really makes a +difference to one's spirits to think that the harvest may now possibly +be got in without utter ruin to the produce and unhappy producers. But +this year will certainly prove a serious epoch, and initiate many +changes in relation to farming. I fear, from what I have read, that +the rich Lothians will have to be called compassionately the poor +Lothians. By the way, if you happen to want any translation done from +the French, and have not just the right person to do it, I think I can +recommend a Miss Bradley Jenkins, of 50 Cornwall Road, Wesbourne Park, +as one who has an unusually competent knowledge of French. We sat side +by side on the same form translating Miss Edgeworth into French when +we were girls. + +I have not seen her for many years, but I know that she has been +engaged in a high order of teaching, and I have lately heard from her +that she is anxious to get work of the kind in question. She already +spoke French well when we were pupils together, and she has since been +an unintermitting student. + +I wonder, talking of translators, how the young Mr. Ferrier is going +on, who translated Kaufmann's pamphlet on "Deronda." What Mr. +Blackwood told me of him interested me about his future. + +Oblige us all by not falling into another accident when the next +hunting season comes. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 3d Sept. 1879.] + +Before I received your letter the other day I was intending to write +to you to ask whether, now that I am stronger and the fine weather +shows some signs of permanence, you feel any revival of the +inclination to come and see me for a couple of days. I hardly like to +propose your taking the journey, now that you are not being brought +near me by other visits--for the railway from you to us is, I think, +rather tiresome. But if your inclination really lies towards coming +you will be affectionately welcomed. + +About the sea-side I am hopeless. The latter part of October is likely +to be too cold for me to move about without risk of chills; and I hope +to be back in town before the end of the month. I am not very fond of +the sea-side, and this year it is likely to be crowded with people who +have been hindered by the bad weather from going earlier. I prefer the +Surrey hills and the security from draughts in one's own home. The one +attraction of a coast place to me is a great breadth of sand to pace +on when it is in its fresh firmness after the fall of the tide. But +the sea itself is melancholy to me, only a little less so under warm +sunlight, with plenty of fishing-smacks changing their shadows. All +this is to let you know why I do not yield to the attraction of being +with you, where we could chat as much or as little as we liked. I feel +very much your affectionateness in wishing to have me near you. + +Write me word soon whether you feel able to come as far as this for my +sake. + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 10th Sept. 1879.] + +I have read the article[38] with very grateful feelings. I think that +he would himself have regarded it as a generally just estimate. And I +am much obliged to you for sending it to me in proof. + +Your selection of subjects for remark, and the remarks themselves, are +in accordance with my feeling to a comforting extent; and I shall +always remain your debtor for writing the article. + +I trust you will not be forced to omit anything about his scientific +and philosophical work, because that is the part of his life's labor +which he most valued. + +Perhaps you a little underrate the (original) effect of his "Life of +Goethe in Germany." It was received with enthusiasm, and an immense +number of copies, in both the English and German form, have been sold +in Germany since its appearance in 1854. + +I wish you were allowed to put your name to the article. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 17th Sept. 1879.] + +I am getting strong now after a long spell of medical discipline. All +these long months I have been occupied with my husband's manuscripts: +also with the foundation of a Physiological Studentship, which is my +monument to his memory, and which is now all settled, as you may +perhaps have seen by advertisements.[39] But I am not yet through the +proof-reading of the final volume of "Problems of Life and Mind," +which will contain the last sheets he ever wrote. + +I hear very good accounts of Madame Bodichon, who is coming to me for +a couple of days on the 29th. + +You are wonderful for life and energy, in spite of your delicate +looks. May you have all the strength you need for your sympathetic +tasks! + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 7th Oct. 1879.] + +I have not yet thanked you--and I do so now very gratefully--for the +help you have given me in my sad and anxious task. Your eyes have been +a most precious aid, not only as a matter of fact, but as a ground of +confidence. For I am not at all a good proof-reader, and have a +thorough distrust of myself. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 18th Oct. 1879.] + +I cannot wish not to have been cheered by your triple letter, even +though I have caused you to rise earlier in the morning, and to feel a +disproportionate remorse. "Maggior difetto men vergogna lava," as says +Virgil to the blushing Dante. And you have given me the fuller measure +because I had to wait a little. + +Your legend of "Fair Women" interests me very much. I feel a citizen +of the world again, knowing all the news. But the core of good news +in your letter is that your husband is well again, and again happy in +his work. Your collapse is what I feared for you; and you must call +the getting change of air and scene--I was going to say "a duty," but +are you one of those wonderful beings who find everything easier under +that name? But at least one prefers doing a hard duty to grimacing +with a pretence of pleasure in things that are no pleasure. + +I am greatly comforted this morning by the fact that the (apparently) +right man is found for the George Henry Lewes Studentship--an ardent +worker, who could not have carried on his pursuit without this help. I +know you are not unmindful of what touches me deeply. + +Go on your visit, dear, and come back well--then show yourself without +unnecessary delay to your loving friend. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, Saturday, 20th Oct. 1879.] + +I have had a delightful bit of news from Dr. Foster this morning. He +had mentioned to me before that there was an Edinburgh student whom he +had in his mind as the right one to elect. This morning he writes: +"The trustees meet to-morrow to receive my nomination. I have chosen +Dr. Charles Roy, an Edinburgh man, and Scotchman--not one of my own +pupils. He is, I think, the most promising--by far the most +promising--of our young physiologists, putting aside those who do not +need the pecuniary assistance of the studentship. And the help comes +to him just when it is most needed--he is in full swing of work, and +was casting about for some means of supporting himself which would +least interfere with his work, when I called his attention to the +studentship. I feel myself very gratified that I can, at the very +outset, recommend just the man, as it appears to me, for the post." + +This is a thing your father would have chosen as a result of his life. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, Tuesday, 27th Oct. 1879.] + +I have just had some news that grieves me. Mr. Blackwood is +dangerously ill, and I fear, from Mr. William's letter, that there is +little hope of recovery. He will be a heavy loss to me. He has been +bound up with what I most cared for in my life for more than twenty +years; and his good qualities have made many things easy to me that, +without him, would often have been difficult.[40] + +I wrote to Mr. Trübner to tell him that the printing of the "Problems" +being finished, I should be glad if he would arrange with you about +the conditions of publication. Bear in mind your father's wish that +the volumes should not be made dearer than necessary. + +I am going to Weybridge on Friday, and I intend to be at the Priory by +Saturday before dusk. But it is _just possible_ I may be detained till +Monday morning. So if you have any good occupation for Sunday you had +better call on your way home on Monday. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Eleanor Cross, 29th Oct. 1879.] + +Your affectionate note would quite have determined me to do what, when +your brother kindly proposed it, raised a certain longing in me. I +thought that I should like to see you all in the remembered home +again. But I have had a little check in health, and I am feeling so +depressed that I shrink from making any engagement which involves +others. + +A visitor to-day and my own languor threatens to throw me backward in +my arrangements for leaving, and I have a sense of impossibility +about everything that, under other conditions, would be a pleasure. I +am afraid lest a fit of sadness should make me an oppression to you +all; and my conclusion this morning is that I must give up the few +hours' happiness of feeling your family love around me as I used to +do, and simply go straight up to town with my servants. + +But if Friday morning brings me better hopes I will telegraph to you, +since you allow me to wait till the eleventh hour. If you receive no +telegram you will understand that I am still too downhearted to +venture on a visit even to those who are among the best-loved of my +friends. In that case you must all make me amends for my loss by +coming to see me in the old place in town. + + Came to Weybridge on 31st October, and returned to the Priory + on 1st November. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 8th Nov. 1879.] + +I came here just a week ago, and I had a superstition that you would +come to me yesterday. But I used no enchantments--and so you didn't +come. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Sara Hennell, 22d Nov. 1879, from the +Priory.] + +I am very grateful to you for your kind letter. News about you all had +been much desired by me; but I have now so many business letters to +write that I am apt to defer such as are not absolutely necessary. The +careful index is a sign of your effective industry, and I have no +doubt that it will be a great help to yourself as well as to your +readers. One very often needs an index to one's own writing. My chief +objects are quite completed now. The Dr. Roy appointed to the +studentship is held by competent persons to be the most hopeful of our +young physiologists: and there is a volume of 501 pages (the last) of +"Problems of Life and Mind" ready to appear next month. I am quite +recovered from the ailment which made me good for little in the +summer, and indeed am stronger than I ever expected to be again. +People are very good to me, and I am exceptionally blessed in many +ways; but more blessed are the dead who rest from their labors, and +have not to dread a barren, useless survival. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 6th Dec. 1879, from the +Priory.] + +I am very well, dear kind friend, all things considered. One cannot +help getting occasional chills and headaches in this hard, wintry +time. + +Oh, yes, I read the _Times_ with great interest, and am much concerned +to know what my contemporaries are doing. My time is very fully +occupied, for I have now to write a great many letters, such as used +to be written for me, and I would willingly spend the time thus taken +up in another sort of reading and writing. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 5th Jan. 1880.] + +Thank you a thousand times, my dear friend, for your tender New Year's +greeting and inquiries. I have passed well from "under the saws and +harrows" of the severe cold, and am better, both in apparent organic +soundness and in strength for all occupation, than I once thought was +possible for me. + +Our dear Barbara is painting in water colors again from her +window--just as of old. I know you will be glad to hear of this. And I +am now seeing many other friends, who interest me and bring me reports +of their several worlds. The great public calamities of the past year +have helped to quiet one's murmuring spirit in relation to private +sorrows, and the prospect for the future is not yet very bright. One +thinks of mothers like Mrs. Ruck, whose best-loved sons are in +Afghanistan. But we must live as much as we can for human joy, +dwelling on sorrow and pain only so far as the consciousness of it may +help us in striving to remedy them. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 19th Jan. 1880.] + +Life has seemed worse without my glimpses of you. And now I have not +the amends of thinking that you are out of our Egyptian darkness and +getting health in the country. I must drive over to ask about you as +soon as I can. + + As the year went on, George Eliot began to see all her old + friends again. But her life was nevertheless a life of + heart-loneliness. Accustomed as she had been for so many + years to solitude _à deux_, the want of close companionship + continued to be very bitterly felt. She was in the habit of + going with me very frequently to the National Gallery, and to + other exhibitions of pictures, to the British Museum + sculptures, and to South Kensington. This constant + association engrossed me completely, and was a new interest + to her. A bond of mutual dependence had been formed between + us. On the 28th March she came down to Weybridge and stayed + till the 30th; and on the 9th April it was finally decided + that our marriage should take place as soon, and as + privately, as might be found practicable. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Eleanor Cross, 13th April, 1880.] + +You can hardly think how sweet the name sister is to me, that I have +not been called by for so many, many years. + +Without your tenderness I do not believe it would have been possible +for me to accept this wonderful renewal of my life. Nothing less than +the prospect of being loved and welcomed by you all could have +sustained me. But now I cherish the thought that the family life will +be the richer and not the poorer through your brother's great gift of +love to me. + +Yet I quail a little in facing what has to be gone through--the +hurting of many whom I care for. You are doing everything you can to +help me, and I am full of gratitude to you all for his sake as well as +my own. The springs of affection are reopened in me, and it will make +me better to be among you--more loving and trustful. + +I valued Florence's little visit very much. You and she will come +again--will you not?--to your sister. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Frederic Harrison, 19th April, 1880.] + +I have found the spot in "The Prelude" where the passage I mentioned +occurs. It is in book viii., "The Retrospect," towards the end: + + "The human nature unto which I felt + That I belonged, and reverenced with love, + Was not a punctual presence, but a spirit + Diffused through time and space, with aid derived + Of evidence from monuments, erect, + Prostrate, or leaning towards their common rest + In earth, the widely scattered wreck sublime + Of vanished nations." + +The bit of brickwork in the rock is + + "With aid derived from evidence." + +I think you would find much to suit your purpose in "The Prelude," +such as-- + + "There is + One great society alone on earth: + The noble Living and the noble Dead." + +Except for travelling, and for popular distribution, I prefer Moxon's +one-volumed edition of Wordsworth to any selection. No selection gives +you the perfect gems to be found in single lines, or in half a dozen +lines which are to be found in the "dull" poems. + +I am sorry Matthew Arnold has not included the sonnet beginning-- + + "I griev'd for Buonaparté with a vain + And an unthinking grief--" + +and which has these precious lines, + + "'Tis not in battles that from youth we train + The governor who must be wise and good, + And temper with the sternness of the brain + Thoughts motherly, and meek as womanhood. + _Wisdom doth live with children round her knees._" + +Has he the magnificent sonnet on Toussaint l'Ouverture? I don't know +where there is anything finer than the last eight lines of it. + +Please don't acknowledge this note, else you will neutralize my +pleasure in sending it by making me feel that I have given you +trouble. + +[Sidenote: Letter to the Hon. Lady Lytton, 24th April, 1880.] + +The beautiful photograph has reached me safely, and I am very grateful +to you for your kindness in sending it to me. In comparing it with the +photograph which you gave me seven or eight years ago I see the effect +of a saddening experience which the years must bring to us all, but, +to my feeling, the face is the more endearing because of that effect. + +You have been very often in my thoughts, because I have associated you +with public affairs, and have imagined sympathetically how they must +have affected your private life. I am sure that this momentous +experience in India has been a hard discipline both for you and for +Lord Lytton. I can imagine he has often been sick at heart with the +near vision, which his post forces on him, of human meanness and +rancor. You, too, must have gathered some melancholy knowledge of that +sort, which has perhaps changed a little the curves of the mouth and +the glance of the eyes since those Vienna days, when the delightful M. +de Villers helped to make the hours pleasant to us. + +I saw the photographs of your daughters, which gave me an idea how +fast the dramatic authoress has developed physically as well as +mentally. When I first saw her at Vienna she was the prettiest little +rosebud. + +Mrs. Strachey called the other day when I was out, and among other +reasons for my being sorry not to have seen her, was the having missed +some authentic news about your probable movements. What happens to you +will always have interest for me, since I have long been, with sincere +regard, yours most truly. + + On the 24th April George Eliot came down to Weybridge, and + stayed till the 26th. + +[Sidenote: Letter to James Sully, 26th April, 1880.] + +I am deeply obliged to you for the care with which you have treated +the final volume of "The Problems" in the _Academy_, which you have +kindly sent me. I think you could hardly have written more effectively +towards exciting an interest in the work in the minds of the +comparatively few who really care for the study of psychology. You +have added one more to the obligations which will make me always yours +gratefully. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 5th May, 1880.] + +I have something to tell you which will doubtless be a great surprise +to you; but since I have found that other friends, less acquainted with +me and my life than you are, have given me their sympathy, I think that +I can count on yours. I am going to do what not very long ago I should +myself have pronounced impossible for me, and therefore I should not +wonder at any one else who found my action incomprehensible. By the +time you receive this letter I shall (so far as the future can be +matter of assertion) have been married to Mr. J. W. Cross, who, you +know, is a friend of years, a friend much loved and trusted by Mr. +Lewes, and who, now that I am alone, sees his happiness in the +dedication of his life to me. This change in my position will make no +change in my care for Mr. Lewes's family, and in the ultimate +disposition of my property. Mr. Cross has a sufficient fortune of his +own. We are going abroad for a few months, and I shall not return to +live at this house. Mr. Cross has taken the lease of a house, No. 4 +Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, where we shall spend the winter and early spring, +making Witley our summer home. + +I indulge the hope that you will some day look at the river from the +windows of our Chelsea house, which is rather quaint and picturesque. + +Please tell Bessie[41] for me, with my love to her. I cannot write to +more than two or three persons. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 5th May, 1880.] + +A great, momentous change is going to take place in my life. My +indisposition last week and several other subsequent circumstances +have hindered me from communicating it to you, and the time has been +but short since the decision was come to. But with your permission +Charles will call on you and tell you what he can on Saturday. + +Yours and Emily's ever, with unchanging love. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1880.] + +_May 6._--Married this day at 10.15 to John Walter Cross, at St. +George's, Hanover Square. Present, Charles, who gave me away, Mr. and +Mrs. Druce, Mr. Hall, William, Mary, Eleanor, and Florence Cross. We +went back to the Priory, where we signed our wills. Then we started +for Dover and arrived there a little after five o'clock. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Eleanor Cross, 9th May, 1880.] + +Your letter was a sweet greeting to us on our arrival here yesterday. + +We had a millennial cabin on the deck of the Calais-Douvres, and +floated over the strait as easily as the saints float upward to heaven +(in the pictures). At Amiens we were very comfortably housed, and paid +two enraptured visits, evening and morning, to the cathedral. I was +delighted with J.'s delight in it. And we read our dear old cantos of +the "Inferno" that we were reading a year ago, declining afterwards on +"Eugénie Grandet." The nice woman who waited on us made herself very +memorable to me by her sketch of her own life. She went to England +when she was nineteen as a lady's maid--had been much _ennuyée de sa +mère_, detested _les plaisirs_, liked only her regular every-day work +and _la paix_. + +Here we have a very fair _appartement_, and plenty of sunlight, _au +premier_. Before dinner we walked up to the Arc de l'Étoile and back +again, enjoying the lovely greenth and blossoms of the horse-chestnuts, +which are in their first glory, innocent of dust or of one withered +petal. This morning at twelve o'clock we are going to the Russian +church, where J. has never been, and where I hope we shall hear the +wonderful intoning and singing as I heard it years ago. + +This is the chronicle of our happy married life, three days long--all +its happiness conscious of a dear background in those who are loving +us at Weybridge, at Thornhill, and at Ranby. + +You are all inwoven into the pattern of my thoughts, which would have +a sad lack without you. I like to go over again in imagination all the +scene in the church and in the vestry, and to feel every loving look +from the eyes of those who were rejoicing for us. Besides Professor +Sellar's letter, which touched J. with grateful surprise, we have had +one to him from Mr. Frederic Harrison, saying everything affectionate, +and two very finely felt letters from Edith Simcox--one to him +enclosing the one to me. Certainly, she has a rare generosity and +elevation which find their easy channel in writing. My love to Henry +and to the gentle Berthe,[42] who was an invisible presence at our +wedding. + +I think I must thank Florence, too, for her letter to J.; for we +accept to the full the principle of "what is mine is thine" on each +side. What most comforted him this morning was a letter from Albert +Druce about the Chelsea house. His usual exclamation over anything +from Albert is that his brother-in-law is the most satisfactory of +men! + +Write us word about everything, and consider yourselves all very much +loved and spiritually petted by your loving sister. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 21st May, 1880, from Grenoble.] + +This place is so magnificently situated, in a smiling valley, with the +Isère flowing through it, and surrounded by grand and various lines of +mountains, and we were so enraptured by our expedition yesterday to +the Grande Chartreuse that we congratulate ourselves greatly on our +choice of route. I think it unlikely that we shall want to wander +beyond the second week in July. We shall begin to long for home just +when the rest of the London world are longing for travel. We are +seeing nature in her happiest moment now--the foliage on all the +tremendous heights, the soft slopes, and the richly clad valleys on +the way to the Chartreuse is all fresh and tender, shone through by a +sunlight which cherishes and does not burn us. I had but one regret in +seeing the sublime beauty of the Grande Chartreuse. It was that the +Pater had not seen it. I would still give up my own life willingly if +he could have the happiness instead of me. But marriage has seemed to +restore me to my old self. I was getting hard, and if I had decided +differently, I think I should have become very selfish. To feel daily +the loveliness of a nature close to me, and to feel grateful for it, +is the fountain of tenderness and strength to endure. + +Glorious weather always, and I am very well--quite amazingly able to +go through fatigue. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Miss Florence Cross, 25th May, 1880.] + +Our life since we wrote to you has been a chapter of +delights--Grenoble--Grande Chartreuse--Chambéry--paradisiacal walk to +Les Charmettes--roses gathered in Jean Jacques' garden--Mont Cenis +Tunnel and emergence into Italian sunshine. Milan, comfortable +_appartement_, delicious privacy, and great minds condescending to +relax themselves! We got here yesterday, and of course our first walk +was to the post, where we found your delightful budget and other +letters, which we took to a _café_ in the grand _galleria_ and read at +our ease to the accompaniment of tea. + +Two of my letters yesterday touched me very gratefully. One was from +"Brother Jimmy"--the prettiest letter possible. The other letter that +moved me was one from my own brother. Then J. had a graceful letter of +congratulation from Mr. Henry James, who is still at Florence. I think +you did not send that letter of Mr. Edmund Gurney's which you mention. +I am fond of seeing the letters which put my friends in an amiable +light for my imagination. And now that I have had that charming letter +from my new brother in America, I feel that my family initiation is +complete. No woman was ever more sweetly received by brothers and +sisters than I have been; and it is a happy, new longing in my life +that I may return into their bosoms some of the gladness they have +poured into mine. + +I have been uninterruptedly well, and feel quite strong with all sorts +of strength except strong-mindedness. We are going to hear the music +in the Duomo at eleven, and after that we intend to pay our first +visit to the Brera gallery. It is our present plan to stay here for +some days, and we enjoy the thought of a little stationary life such +as we have not had since we left Paris. We often talk of our sisters, +oftener think of them. You are our children, you know. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Isaac P. Evans, 26th May, 1880.] + +Your letter was forwarded to me here, and it was a great joy to me to +have your kind words of sympathy, for our long silence has never +broken the affection for you which began when we were little ones. My +husband, too, was much pleased to read your letter. I have known his +family for eleven years, and they have received me among them very +lovingly. The only point to be regretted in our marriage is that I am +much older than he; but his affection has made him choose this lot of +caring for me rather than any other of the various lots open to him. + +Emily Clarke has lately sent me rather a sad account of Sarah's[43] +health. I trust that it is now better, for I think it is her lungs +that chiefly trouble her, and summer may act beneficently on them. +Please give my love to her, and tell her that I like the assurance of +her share in the good wishes you send me. + +I have often heard of Frederick[44] through the admiration of those +who have heard him preach; and it has been a happy thought to me that +you and Sarah must feel it a great comfort to have him as well as +Walter settled near you. + +Edith is the only one of your children whom I have seen since they +have been grown up, and I thought her a noble-looking woman. + +We are going to remain abroad until some time in July, and shall then +return to the Heights, Witley, Surrey. Our home in London will be 4 +Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, looking on a very picturesque bit of the river. + +I hope that your own health is quite good now, and that you are able +to enjoy the active life which I know you are fond of. Always your +affectionate sister. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 28th May, 1880.] + +Many thanks for your delightful letter, which came to me yesterday, +with a loving though brief letter from Mrs. Congreve to keep it +company in making the day agreeable. + +We arrived here on Monday, and have been induced by a nice quiet +apartment and pleasant attendance to carry out our plan of resting +here and deliberately seeing what is to be seen in this cheerful, +prosperous city. I am glad to find that the Luini pictures come up to +my remembrance, and that J. is much impressed by his introduction to +them. I continue remarkably well, and am every day surprising myself +by the amount of walking, standing, and looking that I can go through. +To-morrow or the next day we intend to go on to Verona, then, after a +sufficient pause to enjoy that glorious place, we shall move on to +Padua and Venice, where it will be best for you to send anything you +may have to send. I like to see the letters. They make one realize the +fact of one's home and little world there amid the dreaminess of +foreign travel. We take our meals in our own apartment and see nothing +of our fellow-guests in the hotel--only hear their British and +American voices when they air themselves in the _cortile_ after their +dinner. + +The weather has hitherto been delicious, not excessively warm, always +with a pleasant movement in the air; but this morning there is a +decided advance in heat, and we shall both have our theory of great +heat being the best thing for us well tested in the next month. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 29th May and 1st June, 1880, +from Verona.] + +The change I make in the date of this letter is a sign of the +difficulty you well know that one finds in writing all the letters one +wants to write while travelling. Ever since Charles forwarded to me +your dear letter while I was in Paris I have been meaning to write to +you. That letter was doubly sweet to me because it was written before +you received mine, _intended_ to inform you of my marriage before it +appeared in the newspapers. Charles says that my friends are chiefly +hurt because I did not tell them of the approaching change in my life. +But I really did not finally, absolutely, decide--I was in a state of +doubt and struggle--until only a fortnight before the event took +place, so that at last everything was done in the utmost haste. +However, there were four or five friends, of whom you were one, to +whom I was resolved to write, so that they should at least get my +letter on the morning of the 6th. + +I had more than once said to Mr. Cross that you were that one of my +friends who required the least explanation on the subject--who would +spontaneously understand our marriage. But Charles sends me word that +my friends in general are very sympathetic, and I should like to +mention to you that Bessie[45] is one whose very kind words he has +sent to me, for you may have an opportunity of giving my love to her, +and telling her that it is very sweet to me to feel that her affection +is constant to me in this as it was in other crises of my life. I +wish, since you can no longer come in and out among us as you used to +do, that you already knew my husband better. His family welcome me +with the uttermost tenderness. All this is wonderful blessing falling +to me beyond my share, after I had thought that my life was ended, and +that, so to speak, my coffin was ready for me in the next room. Deep +down below there is a hidden river of sadness, but this must always be +with those who have lived long--and I am able to enjoy my newly +reopened life. I shall be a better, more loving creature than I could +have been in solitude. To be constantly, lovingly grateful for the +gift of a perfect love is the best illumination of one's mind to all +the possible good there may be in store for man on this troublous +little planet. + +We leave Verona to-day, and stay a little at Padua on our way to +Venice. Hitherto we have had delightful weather, and just the +temperature we rejoice in. We are both fond of warmth, and could bear +more heat than we have the prospect of at present. + +Yesterday we had a drive on the skirting heights of Verona, and saw +the vast fertile plain around, with the Euganean hills, blue in the +distance, and the Apennines just dimly visible on the clear margin of +the horizon. I am always made happier by seeing well-cultivated land. + +We came into Italy by way of Grenoble (seeing the Grande Chartreuse), +Chambéry, and the Mont Cenis Tunnel; since then we have been staying +at Milan and enjoying the Luini frescoes and a few other great things +there. The great things are always by comparison few, and there is +much everywhere one would like to help seeing, after it has once +served to give one a notion of historical progression. + +We shall stay at Venice for ten days or a fortnight; so if you have a +scribe, or would write yourself, to tell me that all is going on well +with you, the letter would not, as the Scotch say, "go amissing." + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 9th June, 1880, from Venice.] + +We both enjoyed reading your letter on the morning after our arrival +at this enchanting city, where the glorious light, with comparative +stillness and total absence of dust, makes a paradise much more +desirable than that painted by Tintoretto on the wall of the Consiglio +Maggiore. Nothing but the advent of mosquitoes would make it easy for +us to tear ourselves away from this place, where every prospect +pleases, but also where one is obliged to admit that man is somewhat +vile. I am sadly disappointed in the aspect of the Venetian populace. +Even physically they look less endowed than I thought them when we +were here under the Austrian dominion. We have hardly seen a sweet or +noble woman's face since we arrived; but the men are not quite so +ill-looking as the women. The singing here (by itinerant performers in +gondolas) is disgraceful to Venice and to Italy. Coarse voices, much +out of tune, make one shudder when they strike suddenly under the +window. + +Our days here are passed quite deliciously. We see a few beautiful +pictures or other objects of interest, and dwell on them sufficiently +every morning, not hurrying ourselves to do much; and afterwards we +have a _giro_ in our gondola, enjoying the air and the sight of +marvellous Venice from various points of view and under various +aspects. Hitherto we have had no _heat_, only warmth, with a light +breeze. To-day, for the first time, one thinks that violent exercise +must be terribly trying for our red-skinned fellow-mortals at work on +the gondolas and the barges. But for us it is only pleasant to find +the air warm enough for sitting out in the evening. We shall not soon +run away from Venice unless some plague--_e.g._, mosquitoes--should +arise to drive us. We edify ourselves with what Ruskin has written +about Venice, in an agreeable pamphlet shape, using his knowledge +gratefully, and shutting our ears to his wrathful innuendoes against +the whole modern world. And we are now nearly at the end of Alfieri's +autobiography, which is a deeply interesting study of character. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 10th June, 1880.] + +It may well seem incredible to you, for it is hardly credible to +myself, that while I have been longing to write to you ever since I +received your dear letter, I have not found the time to satisfy my +longing. Perhaps you are more able than most people to conceive the +difficulty of getting a clear half-hour between the business of +travelling and the attention to little details of packing and toilet, +over and above the companionship of talk and reading. Certainly I have +thought of you all the more, but you have not known that, and I have +lost my claim to hear about you--a use and wont which I would not +willingly part with. + +I wonder whether you have imagined--I believe that you are quick to +imagine for the benefit of others--all the reasons why it was left at +last to Charles to tell you of the great, once undreamed-of change in +my life. The momentous decision, in fact, was not made till scarcely +more than a fortnight before my marriage; and even if opportunity had +lent itself to my confiding everything to you, I think I could hardly +have done it at a time when your presence filled me rather with a +sense of your and Emily's trouble[46] than with my own affairs. +Perhaps Charles will have told you that the marriage deprives no one +of any good I felt bound to render before--it only gives me a more +strenuous position, in which I cannot sink into the self-absorption +and laziness I was in danger of before. The whole history is something +like a miracle-legend. But instead of any former affection being +displaced in my mind, I seem to have recovered the loving sympathy +that I was in danger of losing. I mean, that I had been conscious of a +certain drying-up of tenderness in me, and that now the spring seems +to have risen again. Who could take your place within me or make me +amends for the loss of you? And yet I should not take it bitterly if +you felt some alienation from me. Such alienation is very natural +where a friend does not fulfil expectations of long standing. + +We have already been ten days at Venice, but we hope to remain as long +again, not fearing the heat, which has hitherto been only a false +alarm in the minds of English travellers. If you could find time to +send me word how you all are--yourself, Dr. Congreve after his +holiday, and Emily, with all her cares about removal--a letter sent to +the _Poste Restante_ here would reach me, even if we had left before +the next ten days were over. We shall hardly be at Witley before the +middle of July: but the sense of neighborhood to you at Witley is +sadly ended now. + + We thought too little of the heat, and rather laughed at + English people's dread of the sun. But the mode of life at + Venice has its peculiar dangers. It is one thing to enjoy + heat when leading an active life, getting plenty of exercise + in riding or rowing in the evenings; it is another thing to + spend all one's days in a gondola--a delicious, dreamy + existence--going from one church to another--from palaces to + picture-galleries--sight-seeing of the most exhaustively + interesting kind--traversing constantly the _piccoli rei_, + which are nothing more than drains, and with bedroom-windows + always open on the great drain of the Grand Canal. The effect + of this continual bad air, and the complete and sudden + deprivation of all bodily exercise, made me thoroughly ill. + As soon as I could be moved we left Venice, on the 23d of + June, and went to Innspruck, where we stayed for a week, and + in the change to the pure, sweet, mountain air I soon + regained strength. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 7th July, 1880, from +Stuttgart.] + +I was made very glad by Gertrude's letter, which assured me that +Witley had been enjoyed by you and the little ones. We stayed six days +at Innspruck, finding it more and more beautiful under the sunshine +which had been wanting to it during our first two days. Then we went +on to Munich, and yesterday we arrived here, as a temporary +resting-place on our way to Wildbad, which, we hope, will put the +finishing-touch to J.'s recovery of his usual health. + +I wish I had been able to let you know in time that you could have +remained a little longer at Witley, as I think we shall hardly be at +home before the 20th if we find Wildbad what we want. Your _Mutter_ is +marvellously well and strong. It seems more natural to her to have +anxiety than to be free from it. Let us hope that she will not run +down like a jelly-fish now that her anxiety is over. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 13th July, 1880, from Wildbad.] + +I received your welcome letter yesterday morning, and felt inclined to +answer it the next minute. J. is quite well again, but is inclined to +linger a little in the sweet air of the Schwarzwald, which comes to +one on gently stirred wings, laden with the scent of the pine +forests. We mean to drive from here to Baden, which is within easy +distance. + +Yesterday we sallied forth for a walk over the mountain, to a place +where we could rest and lunch, returning in the afternoon. The sky was +brilliant. But in half an hour the clouds gathered and threatened a +storm. We were prudent enough to turn back, and by the time we were in +the hotel again the thunder was rolling and the rain pouring down. +This continued till about two o'clock, and then again the sky became +clear. I never saw so incalculable a state of weather as we have in +this valley. One quarter of an hour the blue sky is only flecked by +lightest cirrus clouds, the next it is almost hidden by dark rain +clouds. But we are going to start on our promised expedition this +morning, the sunshine flattering us that it is quite confirmed. + +I think you had better address your next letter _Poste Restante_, +Strasburg, as I am uncertain how long we shall rest at Baden. + + Left Wildbad on the 17th July, and had a delightful drive + through the Black Forest by Herrenalb to Baden, and thence by + Strasburg, Metz, Luxemburg, and Brussels, arriving at Witley + on Monday the 26th of July. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 1st Aug. 1880.] + +We arrived here in all safety last Monday, and if I had not had your +welcome little note this morning I think I should soon have written to +you without any such extra stimulus. + +Mr. Cross had a sharp but brief attack at Venice, due to the +unsanitary influences of that wondrous city in the later weeks of +June. We stayed a little too long there, with a continuous sirocco +blowing, and bad smells under the windows of the hotel; and these +conditions found him a little below par from long protracted anxiety +before our marriage. But ever since we left Venice (on the 23d of +June) he has been getting strong again, and we have enjoyed a +leisurely journey through Germany in constant warmth and sunshine, +save for an occasional thunderstorm. The climate in this beloved +country of ours is a sad exchange, and makes one think of a second bad +harvest, with all its consequences. Still, it is a delight to be at +home and enjoy perfect stillness, after the noisiness of foreign bells +and foreign voices indoors and out. It would be very pretty to pay you +a visit next April, if we are all alive, and I think Mr. Cross would +like it very much. He sends you, hoping you will accept them, his best +remembrances, which have been kept up by our often talking about you. +I have been amazingly well through all the exertion of our travels, +and in the latter half of the time have done a great deal of walking. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Peter Taylor, 2d Aug. 1880.] + +How sweet of you to write me a little welcome as soon as you knew that +I was at home again. + +Yes, we are both well now, and _glad_ to be at home again, though the +change of climate is not of the exhilarating sort. One is so sorry for +all the holiday-makers, whose best enjoyment of these three days would +have been in the clear air and sunshine. + +Do not reproach me for not telling you of my marriage beforehand. It +is difficult to speak of what surprises ourselves, and the decision +was sudden, though not the friendship which led to the decision. + +My heart thoroughly responds to your remembrance of our long--our +thirty-years' relation to each other. Let me tell you this once what I +have said to others--that I value you as one of the purest-minded, +gentlest-hearted women I have ever known, and where such a feeling +exists, friendship can live without much aid from sight. + +We shall probably not be in town again till the beginning of November. +Our address then will be 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, where we shall have +an outlook on the river and meadows beyond. Just now we have the +prospect of going on family visits to married sisters, which prevents +us from feeling quite settled. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 12th Aug. 1880.] + +I expected your letter, and expected, too, just the sort of letter I +have received, telling me everything delightfully. I can follow you +everywhere in your journeying except to Ober Wesel. I hope you will +have enjoyed St. Blasien and some of the walks there consecrated by +the beloved Pater's footsteps. We reversed your drive and went to +Freiburg, so that I can enter into your enjoyment of the Höllenthal. I +am glad that your weather has been temperate. Here we have now had +four sunny and really hot days, and this morning promises to be the +fifth. That is consolatory as to the harvest, and is very agreeable as +to our private life. The last two evenings we have walked in the +garden after eight o'clock--the first time by starlight, the second +under a vapory sky, with the red moon setting. The air was perfectly +still and warm, and I felt no need of extra clothing. + +Our life has had no more important events than calls from neighbors +and our calls in return. To-morrow we pay our visit to the Druces at +Sevenoaks, where, you may remember, Mr. Druce has built a beautiful +house. At the beginning of September we are to visit Mr. and Mrs. +Otter at Ranby, and after that we shall go to Six-Mile Bottom for a +day or two. Then our wanderings will be over. + +I went to the Priory the other day, and found a treatise on Blood +Pressure, by Dr. Roy, which he had sent me there, and which he has +published as the "George Henry Lewes Student." I imagine that he has +come to pursue his studies in England, as he intended to do. Delbeuf's +article on the last volume of the "Problems" (in the Belgian +_Athenæum_) is very nicely done. He has read the book. + +I am pretty well, but find myself more languid than I was when abroad. +I think the cause is perhaps the moisture of the climate. There is +something languorous in this climate, or, rather, in its effects. J. +gets a little better every day, and so each day is more enjoyable. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 9th Sept. 1880.] + +We have just come home after paying family visits in Lincolnshire and +Cambridgeshire, else I should have answered your letter earlier. The +former one reached me in Venice, when I was in great trouble on +account of Mr. Cross's illness. I had had reason to believe that my +letters, ordered to be posted on the 5th of May, had not been +delivered; so I asked Charles to inquire about the letter I wrote to +you--not because it demanded an answer, but because I wished you to +know that I had written. + +I am so glad to know that you have been enjoying our brief English +summer. The good harvest makes the country everywhere cheerful, and we +have been in great, even districts where the fields, full of sheaves +or studded with ricks, stretch wide as a prairie. Now, we hope not to +leave this place again till November, when we intend to go to Chelsea +for the winter and earliest spring. + +I almost envy you the opportunity of seeing Wombwell's Menagerie. I +suppose I got more delight out of that itinerant institution when I +was nine or ten years old than I have ever got out of the Zoological +Gardens. The smells and the sawdust mingled themselves with my +rapture. Everything was good. + +It was very dear of you to write to me before you finished your +holiday. My love attends you all. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 14th Sept. 1880.] + +Your letter this morning is a welcome assurance about you. We have +been away in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, paying visits to the +Otters and the Halls. The weather, which is now broken, was glorious +through all our wandering, which we made very interesting by pausing +to see Ely, Peterborough, and Lincoln cathedrals. The Otters have a +very pretty, happy household. He is a country gentleman now, acting as +a magistrate, and glancing towards Parliament. But he keeps up his +reading, and is delightful to talk to. Emily looks very pretty in her +matronly position, with three little children. The Halls, too, are +very pleasant to behold in their home life. He has done wonders in +building nice cottages and schools, and sinking wells where they were +wanted, and founding a co-operative store--and, in general, doing +whatever opportunity allows towards slowly improving this confused +world. We saw (at Six-Mile Bottom) Mr. and Mrs. Sidgwick. Perhaps you +know that they have had, and have, the admirable public spirit to let +their house and arrange to live for a year in the new Newnham House, +in order to facilitate matters for the double institution. + +We are very well. Mr. Cross gets stronger and brighter every day. We +often mention you, because you are associated with so many of my +memories. + +Our only bugbear--it is a very little one--is the having to make +preliminary arrangements towards settling ourselves in the new house +(4 Cheyne Walk). It is a quaint house; and a Mr. Armitage of +Manchester, of whom you may have heard, has been superintending the +decoration and furnishing, but not to the exclusion of old things, +which we must carry and stow, especially wallings of books. I am +become so lazy that I shrink from all such practical work. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 23d Sept. 1880.] + +I have been and am suffering under an attack of a comparatively mild +sort, but I expect to be well in two or three days, and am just going +to drive to Godalming to meet my husband. Hence I write this +hurriedly. We should like to see you and Gertrude from Saturday to +Monday some week next month if it would be pleasant to you. + + This attack was a recurrence of the renal disorder of the + previous year. On the 29th September we went for ten days to + Brighton as the most accessible place for a bracing change. + The first effects of the sea breezes were encouraging, but + the improvement was not maintained. Shortly after our return + to Witley Dr. Andrew Clark,[47] "the beloved physician," came + down to consult with Mr. Parsons of Godalming--on 22d + October. From that time there was gradual but slow + improvement, and, during November, a decided recovery of + strength. But an English autumn was not favorable to the + invalid. Her sensibility to climatic influences was extreme. + It will have been noticed in the preceding letters how + constantly change of air and scene was required. I had never + seen my wife out of England, previous to our marriage, except + the first time at Rome, when she was suffering. My general + impression, therefore, had been that her health was always + very low, and that she was almost constantly ailing. + Moreover, I had been with her very frequently during her + long, severe illness at Witley in 1879. I was the more + surprised, after our marriage, to find that from the day she + set her foot on Continental soil till the day she returned to + Witley she was never ill--never even unwell. She began at + once to look many years younger. During the eleven years of + our acquaintance I had never seen her so strong in health. + The greater dryness and lightness of the atmosphere seemed to + have a magical effect. At Paris we spent our mornings at the + Louvre or the Luxembourg, looking at pictures or sculpture, + or seeing other sights--always fatiguing work. In the + afternoons we took long walks in the Bois, and very often + went to the theatre in the evening. Reading and writing + filled in all the interstices of time; yet there was no + consciousness of fatigue. And we had the same experience at + all the places we stayed at in Italy. On our way home she was + able to take a great deal of walking exercise at Wildbad and + Baden. Decrease of physical strength coincided exactly with + the time of our return to the damper climate of England. The + specific form of illness did not declare itself until two + months later, but her health was never again the same as it + had been on the Continent. Towards the middle of October she + was obliged to keep her bed, but without restriction as to + amount of reading and talking, which she was always able to + enjoy, except in moments of acute pain. + + During her illness I read aloud, among other books, Comte's + "Discours Préliminaire," translated by Dr. Bridges. This + volume was one of her especial favorites, and she delighted + in making me acquainted with it. For all Comte's writing she + had a feeling of high admiration, intense interest, and very + deep sympathy. I do not think I ever heard her speak of any + writer with a more grateful sense of obligation for + enlightenment. Her great debt to him was always thankfully + acknowledged. But the appreciation was thoroughly selective, + so far as I was able to judge. Parts of his teaching were + accepted and other parts rejected. Her attitude towards him, + as the founder of a new religion, may be gathered from the + references and allusions in the foregoing correspondence, and + from the fact that for many years, and up to the time of her + death, she subscribed to the Comtist Fund, but never, so far + as I am aware, more directly associated herself with the + members of the Positivist Church. It was a limited adherence. + + We generally began our reading at Witley with some chapters + of the Bible, which was a very precious and sacred book to + her, not only from early associations, but also from the + profound conviction of its importance in the development of + the religious life of man. She particularly enjoyed reading + aloud some of the finest chapters of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and + St. Paul's Epistles. With a naturally rich, deep voice, + rendered completely flexible by constant practice; with the + keenest perception of the requirements of emphasis, and with + the most subtile modulations of tone, her reading threw a + glamour over indifferent writing, and gave to the greatest + writing fresh meanings and beauty. The Bible and our elder + English poets best suited the organ-like tones of her voice, + which required, for their full effect, a certain solemnity + and majesty of rhythm. Her reading of Milton was especially + fine; and I shall never forget four great lines of the + "Samson Agonistes" to which it did perfect justice-- + + "But what more oft in nations grown corrupt, + And by their vices brought to servitude, + Than to love bondage more than liberty, + Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty." + + The delighted conviction of justice in the thought--the sense + of perfect accord between thought, language, and + rhythm--stimulated the voice of the reader to find the + exactly right tone. Such reading requires for its perfection + a rare union of intellectual, moral, and physical qualities. + It cannot be imitated. It is an art, like singing--a personal + possession that dies with the possessor, and leaves nothing + behind except a memory. Immediately before her illness we had + read, together, the first part of "Faust." Reading the poem + in the original with such an interpreter was the opening of a + new world to me. Nothing in all literature moved her more + than the pathetic situation and the whole character of + Gretchen. It touched her more than anything in Shakespeare. + During the time that we were reading the "Faust" we were also + constantly reading, together, Shakespeare, Milton, and + Wordsworth: some of Scott's novels and Lamb's essays too, in + which she greatly delighted. For graver study we read through + Professor Sayce's "Introduction to the Science of Language." + Philology was a subject in which she was most deeply + interested; and this was my first experience of what seemed + to me a limitless persistency in application. I had noticed + the persistency before, while looking at pictures, or while + hearing her play difficult music; for it was characteristic + of her nature that she took just as great pains to play her + very best to a single unlearned listener as most performers + would do to a room full of critical _cognoscenti_. Professor + Sayce's book was the first which we had read together + requiring very sustained attention ("The Divina Commedia" we + had read in very short bits at a time), and it revealed to me + more clearly the depth of George Eliot's mental + concentration. Continuous thought did not fatigue her. She + could keep her mind on the stretch hour after hour: the body + might give way, but the brain remained unwearied. + + Her memory held securely her great stores of reading. Even of + light books her recollections were always crisp, definite, + and vivid. On our way home from Venice, after my illness, we + were reading French novels of Cherbuliez, Alphonse Daudet, + Gustave Droz, George Sand. Most of these books she had read + years before, and I was astonished to find what clear-cut, + accurate impressions had been retained, not only of all the + principal characters, but also of all the subsidiary + personages--even their names were generally remembered. But, + on the other hand, her verbal memory was not always to be + depended on. She never could trust herself to write a + quotation without verifying it. + + In foreign languages George Eliot had an experience more + unusual among women than among men. With a complete literary + and scholarly knowledge of French, German, Italian, and + Spanish, she _spoke_ all four languages with difficulty, + though accurately and grammatically; but the mimetic power of + catching intonation and accent was wanting. Greek and Latin + she could read with thorough delight to herself; and Hebrew + was a favorite study to the end of her life. In her younger + days, especially at Geneva, inspired by Professor de la + Rive's lectures, she had been greatly interested in + mathematical studies. At one time she applied herself + heartily and with keen enjoyment to geometry, and she thought + that she might have attained to some excellence in that + branch if she had been able to pursue it. In later days the + map of the heavens lay constantly on her table at Witley, and + she longed for deeper astronomical knowledge. She had a + passion for the stars; and one of the things to which we + looked forward on returning to London was a possible visit to + Greenwich Observatory, as she had never looked through a + great telescope of the first class. Her knowledge of + wild-flowers gave a fresh interest each day to our walks in + the Surrey lanes, as every hedgerow is full of wonders--to + "those who know;" but she would, I think, have disclaimed for + herself real botanical knowledge, except of an elementary + sort. + + This wide and varied culture was accompanied with an + unaffected distrust of her own knowledge, with the sense of + how little she really knew, compared with what it was + possible for her to have known, in the world. Her standard + was always abnormally high--it was the standard of an expert; + and she believed in the aphorism that to know any subject + well we must know the details of it. + + During our short married life our time was so much divided + between travelling and illness that George Eliot wrote very + little, so that I have but slight personal experience of how + the creative effort affected her. But she told me that, in + all that she considered her best writing, there was a "not + herself," which took possession of her, and that she felt her + own personality to be merely the instrument through which + this spirit, as it were, was acting. Particularly she dwelt + on this in regard to the scene in "Middlemarch" between + Dorothea and Rosamond, saying that, although she always knew + they had, sooner or later, to come together, she kept the + idea resolutely out of her mind until Dorothea was in + Rosamond's drawing-room. Then, abandoning herself to the + inspiration of the moment, she wrote the whole scene exactly + as it stands, without alteration or erasure, in an intense + state of excitement and agitation, feeling herself entirely + possessed by the feelings of the two women. Of all the + characters she had attempted she found Rosamond's the most + difficult to sustain. With this sense of "possession" it is + easy to imagine what the cost to the author must have been of + writing books, each of which has its tragedy. We have seen + the suffering alluded to in the letters on the "Mill on the + Floss," "Felix Holt," and "Romola." + + For those who would know the length and the breadth of George + Eliot's intellectual capacity she has written her books. Here + I am only putting down some of my own personal impressions + or recollections, which must be taken for what they are + worth. In doing this I should like to dwell on the + catholicity of her judgment. Singularly free from the spirit + of detraction, either in respect of her contemporaries or her + predecessors, she was always anxious to see the best and the + most noble qualities of human beings or of books, in cases + where she felt some general sympathy notwithstanding + particular disagreements. And it was this wide sympathy, this + understanding of so many points of view, that gained for her + the passionate devotion not only of personal friends, but + also of literary admirers, from the most widely sundered + sections of society. Probably few people have ever received + so many intimate confidences from confidants of such diverse + habits of thought. + + This many-sidedness, however, makes it exceedingly difficult + to ascertain, either from her books or from the closest + personal intimacy, what her exact relation was to any + existing religious creed or to any political party. Yet + George Eliot's was emphatically a religious mind. My own + impression is that her whole soul was so imbued with, and her + imagination was so fired by, the scientific spirit of the + age--by the constant rapid development of ideas in the + Western world--that she could not conceive that there was, as + yet, any religious formula sufficient nor any known political + system likely to be final. She had great hope for the future, + in the improvement of human nature by the gradual development + of the affections and the sympathetic emotions, and "by the + slow, stupendous teaching of the world's events," rather than + by means of legislative enactments. Party measures and party + men afforded her no great interest. Representative + government, by numerical majorities, did not appeal to her as + the last word of political wisdom. Generally speaking, she + had little patience with talk about practical politics, which + seemed to her under our present system to be too often very + unpractically handled by ignorant amateurs. The amateur was + always a "stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence." Her + wrath used often to be roused, in late years, by the + increased bitterness in the language of parties, and by the + growing habit of attributing, for political effect, the most + shameful motives to distinguished statesmen. + + She was keenly anxious to redress injustices to women, and to + raise their general status in the community. This, she + thought, could best be effected by women improving their + work--ceasing to be amateurs. But it was one of the most + distinctly marked traits in her character that she + particularly disliked everything generally associated with + the idea of a "masculine woman." She was, and as a woman she + wished to be, above all things, feminine--"so delicate with + her needle, and an admirable musician." She was proud, too, + of being an excellent housekeeper--an excellence attained + from knowing how things ought to be done, from her early + training, and from an inborn habit of extreme orderliness. + Nothing offended her more than the idea that because a woman + had exceptional intellectual powers therefore it was right + that she should absolve herself, or be absolved, from her + ordinary household duties. + + It will have been seen from the letters that George Eliot was + deeply interested in the higher education of women, and that + she was among the earliest contributors to Girton College. + After meeting Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sidgwick, in September, + 1880, when they had gone to reside at the new hall of Newnham + College for a time, she was anxious to be associated in that + work also, but she did not live to carry out the plan + herself. The danger she was alive to in the system of + collegiate education was the possible weakening of the bonds + of family affection and family duties. In her view, the + family life holds the roots of all that is best in our mortal + lot; and she always felt that it is far too ruthlessly + sacrificed in the case of English _men_ by their public + school and university education, and that much more is such a + result to be deprecated in the case of women. But, the + absolute good being unattainable in our mixed condition of + things, those women especially who are obliged to earn their + own living must do their best with the opportunities at their + command, as "they cannot live with posterity," when a more + perfect system may prevail. Therefore, George Eliot wished + God-speed to the women's colleges. It was often in her mind + and on her lips that the only worthy end of all learning, of + all science, of all life, in fact, is, that human beings + should love one another better. Culture merely for culture's + sake can never be anything but a sapless root, capable of + producing at best a shrivelled branch. + + In her general attitude towards life George Eliot was neither + optimist nor pessimist. She held to the middle term, which + she invented for herself, of "meliorist." She was cheered by + the hope and by the belief in gradual improvement of the + mass; for in her view each individual must find the better + part of happiness in helping another. She often thought it + wisest not to raise too ambitious an ideal, especially for + young people, but to impress on ordinary natures the immense + possibilities of making a small home circle brighter and + better. Few are born to do the great work of the world, but + all are born to this. And to the natures capable of the + larger effort the field of usefulness will constantly widen. + + In her personal bearing George Eliot was seldom moved by the + hurry which mars all dignity in action. Her commanding brows + and deep, penetrating eyes were seconded by the sweet, + restrained, impressive speech, which claimed something like + an awed attention from strangers. But to those very near to + her there was another side of her nature, scarcely suspected + by outside friends and acquaintances. No one could be more + capable of enjoying and of communicating genuine, loving, + hearty, uncontrollable laughter. It was a deep-seated wish, + expressed in the poem of "Agatha"--"I would have young things + merry." And I remember, many years ago, at the time of our + first acquaintance, how deeply it pained her when, in reply + to a direct question, I was obliged to admit that, with all + my admiration for her books, I found them, on the whole, + profoundly sad. But sadness was certainly not the note of her + intimate converse. For she had the distinctively feminine + qualities which lend a rhythm to the movement of life. The + quick sympathy that understands without words; the capacity + for creating a complete atmosphere of loving interest; the + detachment from outside influences; the delight in + everything worthy--even the smallest thing--for its own sake; + the readiness to receive as well as to give impressions; the + disciplined mental habit which can hold in check and conquer + the natural egoism of a massive, powerful personality; the + versatility of mind; the varied accomplishments--these are + characteristics to be found more highly developed among + gifted women than among gifted men. Add to these the crowning + gift of genius, and, in such companionship, we may possess + the world without belonging to it. + + The November days had come now--cold and clear. My wife was + able again to enjoy the daily drives and walks on which she + was very dependent for health. The letters continue. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 3d Nov. 1880.] + +Since I wrote to you I have been much more ill, and have only, during +the last few days, begun to feel myself recovering strength. But I +have been cared for with something much better than angelic +tenderness. The fine, clear air, if it lasts, will induce us to linger +in the country; and, indeed, I am not yet quite fit to move; for, +though I appear to be quite cured of my main ailment, half my bodily +self has vanished. We are having deliciously clear days here, and I +get out for short drives and walks. I really have nothing to complain +of now except a little lack of strength. I play on the piano again, +and walk with perfect ease. There is a long chapter about myself! + +[Sidenote: Letter to Madame Bodichon, 7th Nov. 1880.] + +Three weeks ago I had a rather troublesome attack, but I am getting +well now, though still reduced and comparatively weak. We shall +probably linger here till near the end of the month, for the autumnal +landscape is very beautiful, and I am not yet quite fit for the +exertion of moving. It is a comfort to think that you can be very +snug through the winter in your nice house. What a pity we are not +within an easy driving distance from you! + +Mr. Hall is here to-day. He gave a lecture on Leclaire, the +house-painter in Paris who initiated an excellent plan of co-operative +sharing for his workmen. It has been printed, and when I have another +copy I will send it you. Leclaire is mentioned by John S. Mill in the +notes to his "Political Economy," but had not been otherwise taken +much notice of. Still, you may know all about him. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Burne-Jones, 18th Nov. 1880.] + +Thanks for your loving remembrance of me. We have been kept in the +country by two sufficient causes: I have been ill, and the house at +Cheyne Walk has not been ready to receive us. I suppose we shall not +be there till the end of the month instead of the beginning. One of +the good things I look forward to is the sight of your dear face +again. You will see little more than half of me, for nearly half has +been consumed. But I have been nursed with supreme tenderness, and am +daily gaining some strength. Much love to both. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Charles L. Lewes, 23d Nov. 1880.] + +We are lingering here for three reasons: the beauty of the weather, +the unreadiness of the house, and my unfitness to bear the hurry of +moving. I am getting better, but have not yet been able to bear much +exertion. + +Thanks for your pretty letter. I do not think I shall have many +returns of Novembers, but there is every prospect that such as remain +to me will be as happy as they can be made by the devoted tenderness +which watches over me. Your years will probably be many, and it is +cheering to me to think that you have many springs of happiness in +your lot that are likely to grow fuller with advancing time. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Bray, 28th Nov. 1880.] + +I have thought of you all the more because I have not even heard +anything of you for several months. You will wonder less why I have +not written, as a consequence of those thoughts, when I tell you that +I have been ill, and not allowed to do anything but indulge myself and +receive indulgence. I am very well now, and am every day consciously +gathering strength, so that, if I could like giving trouble, I should +look back on my illness as a great opportunity of enjoying the +tenderest watching and nursing. I kept my bed only about a week, and +have always been equal, except at short intervals, to much reading and +talking, so that there is no fair cause for any grumbling on my part. +It has not been so bad an illness as that of last summer. You see we +are not yet at Cheyne Walk, but we are to be settled there by the end +of next week. I have had no trouble, but have remained here on my +cushions while Mr. Cross has gone early for several mornings running +to superintend the removal. It is difficult to give you materials for +imagining my "world." Think of me as surrounded and cherished by +family love; by brothers and sisters whose characters are admirable to +me, and who have for years been my friends. But there is no excessive +visiting among us, and the life of my own hearth is chiefly that of +dual companionship. If it is any good for me that my life has been +prolonged till now, I believe it is owing to this miraculous affection +which has chosen to watch over me. + +[Sidenote: Journal, 1880.] + +_Dec. 3._--Came to 4 Cheyne Walk. + +_Dec. 4._--Went to Popular Concert at St. James's Hall. Heard Madame +Neruda, Piatti, and Miss Zimmermann. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Congreve, 6th Dec. 1880.] + +Only on Friday evening did we get into this new house, and I had +deferred writing to you till I could say "Come and see me." I can say +so now, but on reflection I have come to the conclusion that you would +like yourself to fix a time beforehand, the journey here being rather +long. Perhaps you will like to choose a day on which you could go to +Emily also, her house being less formidably distant--across the park +and down Sloane Street would be an easy way to us. This week we shall +be much engaged in household matters, such as the reduction to order +of the chaos which still reigns in certain places least obvious to +visitors, and the procuring of small objects, either necessary or +desirable. But after this week I shall be most glad if you and Dr. +Congreve will come to see us just _as_ and _when_ you would find the +least inconvenience in doing so--either at lunch-time (half-past one) +or at a later hour. + +I find myself in a new climate here--the London air and this +particular house being so warm compared with Witley. I hope that you +too find the air mild, for I know that suits you best. + + Dr. and Mrs. Congreve paid their promised visit the week + after this letter was written; and Madame Belloc lunched with + us the following day. Order was beginning to reign in the new + house. The books had all been arranged as nearly as possible + in the same order that they had occupied at the Priory, Mr. + Radermacher of the Pantechnicon having given his personal + attention to this arrangement of some thousands of volumes, + for which George Eliot was particularly grateful. + Notwithstanding all this care, however, there were many + unforeseen details of furnishing still to be completed, which + caused a considerable expenditure of time. We continued + reading aloud Max Müller's "Lectures on the Science of + Language," and Duffield's translation of "Don Quixote;" we + were also reading "Hermann and Dorothea," Tennyson's last + volume of poems, just published, and Mr. Frederic Myers's + volume on Wordsworth. In the evenings we had always a little + feast of music, and were becoming in every way reconciled to + town life, notwithstanding the loss of country quiet, light, + and beauty. On the afternoon of Friday, the 17th December, we + went to see the "Agamemnon" performed in Greek by Oxford + undergraduates. The representation was a great enjoyment--an + exciting stimulus--and my wife proposed that during the + winter we should read together some of the great Greek + dramas. The following afternoon we went to the Saturday + Popular Concert at St. James's Hall. It was a cold day. The + air in the hall was overheated, and George Eliot allowed a + fur cloak which she wore to slip from her shoulders. I was + conscious of a draught, and was afraid of it for her, as she + was very sensitive to cold. I begged her to resume the cloak, + but, smiling, she whispered that the room was really too hot. + In the evening she played through several of the pieces that + we had heard at the concert, with all her accustomed + enjoyment of the piano, and with a touch as true and as + delicate as ever. On Sunday there was very slight trouble in + the throat, but not sufficient to prevent her from coming + down-stairs to breakfast as usual. In the afternoon she was + well enough to receive visits from Mr. Herbert Spencer and + one or two other friends. Afterwards she began the following + letter to Mrs. Strachey. It was left unfinished in her + writing-case, and is printed as it stands. + +[Sidenote: Letter to Mrs. Strachey, 19th Dec. 1880.] + +I have been thinking so much of Lady Colvile, and yet I shrank from +troubling even your more indirect sympathetic sorrow with a letter. I +am wondering how far her health is in a state to endure this loss--a +loss which extends even to me, who only occasionally saw, but was +always cheered by, the expression of a wise and sweet nature, which +clearly shone in Sir James Colvile's manner and conversation. One +great comfort I believe she has--that of a sister's affection. + + Here the letter is broken off. The pen which had delighted + and comforted so many minds and hearts here made its last + mark. The spring, which had broadened out into so wide a + river of speech, ceased to flow. + + Little more remains to be told. On Monday the doctor treated + the case as one of laryngeal sore throat; and when Dr. Andrew + Clark came for consultation on Wednesday evening the + pericardium was found to be seriously affected. While the + doctors were at her bedside she had just time to whisper to + me, "Tell them I have great pain in the left side," before + she became unconscious. Her long illness in the autumn had + left her no power to rally. She passed away, about ten + o'clock at night, on the 22d December, 1880. + + She died, as she would herself have chosen to die, without + protracted pain, and with every faculty brightly vigorous. + + Her body rests in Highgate Cemetery, in the grave next to Mr. + Lewes. In sleet and snow, on a bitter day--the 29th + December--very many whom she knew, very many whom she did not + know, pressed to her grave-side with tributes of tears and + flowers. + + Her spirit joined that choir invisible "whose music is the + gladness of the world." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] Madame Belloc. + +[36] Mrs. Charles Lewes. + +[37] "The Ethics of George Eliot's Works," by J. C. Brown. Blackwood: +1879. + +[38] Article on G. H. Lewes.--_New Quarterly Review_, Oct. 1879. + +[39] "George Henry Lewes Studentship."--This studentship has been +founded in memory of Mr. George Henry Lewes, for the purpose of +enabling the holder for the time being to devote himself wholly to the +prosecution of original research in physiology. The studentship, the +value of which is slightly under £200 per annum, paid quarterly in +advance, is tenable for three years, during which time the student is +required to carry on, under the guidance of a director, physiological +investigations, to the complete exclusion of all other professional +occupations. No person will be elected as a "George Henry Lewes +Student" who does not satisfy the trustees and director, first, as to +the promise of success in physiological inquiry; and, second, as to +the need of pecuniary assistance. Otherwise all persons of both sexes +are eligible. Applications, together with such information concerning +ability and circumstances as the candidate may think proper, should be +sent to the present director, Dr. Michael Foster, New Museums, +Cambridge, not later than October 15, 1879. The appointment will be +made and duly advertised as soon as possible after that date. + +[40] Mr. John Blackwood died on 29th October, 1879. + +[41] Madame Belloc. + +[42] Mrs. Hall. + +[43] Mrs. Isaac Evans (since deceased). + +[44] Rev. Frederick Evans, Rector of Bedworth. + +[45] Madame Belloc. + +[46] Mr. Geddes's death. + +[47] Now Sir Andrew Clark. + + + + +INDEX. + + + "Abode of Snow," by Andrew Wilson, iii. 190. + + A breezy common, iii. 108. + + "Adam Bede," progress of, i. 338; + second volume finished in Dresden, ii. 42; + £800 offered for copyright for four years, 47; + its history, 48-52; + author's love of, 51; + subscription to, 59; + cheap edition suggested by working man, 66; + sale increasing, 67, 68; + quoted in House of Commons, 69; + French translation proposed, 73; + additional £400 from publishers, 80; + fourth edition (5000) sold in a fortnight, 88; + sixth edition, 96; + seventh edition (2000), 101; + Blackwoods propose to pay £800 above agreed price, 101; + 16,000 copies sold in one year, 105; + copyright conceded, 111; + third volume written in six weeks, 113. + + "Adam Bede, Junior," a sequel, advertised, ii. 104. + + "Address to the Working Men," by Felix Holt, iii. 18. + + Adler, Dr. Hermann, appreciation of Jewish character in "Deronda," + iii. 207; + lecture on "Deronda" by, 215. + + Æsthetic teaching the highest of all teaching, ii. 318. + + Æsthetic, the, not a doctrinal teacher, iii. 237. + + Afghanistan, effect of the sad news from, iii. 278. + + "Agatha" sold to Fields & Osgood for _Atlantic Monthly_, iii. 63. + + Aix to Vevey, journey to, iii. 205. + + Allbut, Dr. Clifford, Leeds, iii. 41, 42. + + Allingham, William, letter to, on Midland dialect, iii. 218; + on his poems, 226. + + Altruism, the need of, iii. 178, 179. + + Amalfi, grand drive, ii. 153. + + America, interest in, i. 219; + the war in, anxiety regarding, ii. 242; + delight in descriptions of, iii. 115; + invited to visit, 118. + + Amsterdam, Jewish synagogues in, ii. 317. + + "An Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity," by Charles + Hennell, influence of, on George Eliot, i. 68; + read again with admiration, 119. + + Anders, Mr., apologizes for the Liggins business, ii. 78. + + Antwerp, pictures at, i. 239, 240. + + Apennines, across the, ii. 168. + + Application, persistence in, iii. 304. + + Appreciation of Dickens's letter, ii. 6. + + Ardennes, journey to the, iii. 176. + + "Aristotle," by G. H. Lewes, ii. 271. + + "Armgart," a dramatic poem, iii. 85. + + Art, the function of, iii. 144; + purpose in, 144. + + Articles written by Mr. Lewes, iii. 260, 261; + by military men, 265. + + Ashantee War, the, iii. 157. + + Asher's cheap editions of "George Eliot," iii. 124. + + Atkinson, Mr., i. 193. + + Australia, proposed visit to, i. 221. + + Authors and booksellers, meeting of, i. 201. + + Authorship acknowledged to the Brays and Miss Hennell, ii. 83. + + Autobiography, repugnance to, iii. 221. + + Autumn, love for, i. 67; ii. 263, 264. + + "A Word for the Germans," ii. 288. + + Aytoun, Professor, admiration of "Gilfil's Love-Story," i. 326; + on "Adam Bede," ii. 81. + + + Bâle, a morning in, ii. 87. + + Ballot, dislike of the, iii. 49; + the first experiment of the, 161. + + Balzac, a saying of, iii, 41. + + Bancroft, American Minister, Berlin, on "Middlemarch," iii. 157. + + Bank of England visited, iii. 176. + + "Beata," by T. A. Trollope, ii. 239. + + Bedworth, country about, i. 5-7. + + Beesley, Professor Edmund Spencer, iii. 64. + + Bellagio and the Splügen Pass, ii. 181. + + Benisch, Dr., editor of _Jewish Chronicle_, iii. 216. + + Berlin, popularity of "Middlemarch" in, iii. 157. + + Berlin, visit to the _Charité_, iii. 77; + society and music at, 77; + increase in luxury in, 78. + + Berlin recollections: meets Varnhagen, i. 251, 252; + impressions of the city, 251; + new acquaintances, 253; + portrait of Kleist, 253; + Fräulein Solmar's _salon_, 253; + General Pfuhl, 254; + Baron Sternberg, 254; + "Lisez les Chroniques," 254; + Professor Gruppe, 255, 263; + Waagen on Goethe, 256; + Edward Magnus, 257; + celebrities, 258; + Professor Stahr, 258, 263; + Schiller's portrait, 258; + Rauch the sculptor, 258; + his atelier, 259, 260; + Dessoir the actor, 260; + "Nathan der Weise," 261; + Johanna Wagner, 261; + Gluck's "Orpheus," 261; + Roger and Arabella Goddard, 264; + Vivier anecdotes, 264, 265; + works of art, 265; + evenings in, 266; + _table d'hôte_, reading between the courses, 266; + work at and books read, 268; + translating Spinoza's "Ethics," 268; + remarks on books read, 270; + return to England, 271. + + Bethnal Green, pictures at, iii. 128. + + Biarritz, its natural beauties, iii. 2; + the Chambre de l'Amour, 2; + journey to Barcelona from, 4. + + Bible and the Liturgy of the English Church, ii. 226. + + Bible reading, iii. 302. + + Bickley, country-house at, iii. 152. + + Birthday greetings, iii. 47. + + Bishop Steignton, visit to, i. 185. + + Blackie, Professor, Edinburgh, letter of sympathy from, ii. 111, 113. + + _Blackwood's Magazine_ on "Adam Bede," ii. 70. + + Blackwood, John, his favorable opinion of "Amos Barton," i. 302; + accepts it for "Maga," 304; + receives kind letter from author, 307; + cautions regarding "huddling up stories," 319; + not enthusiastic about "Janet's Repentance," 326; + calls on Lewes, and George Eliot reveals herself, ii. 10; + letter from George Eliot on artistic combination, 31; + offers £800 for copyright of "Adam Bede" for four years, 47; + letter to, regarding Liggins, 73; + his liberal treatment of George Eliot, 102; + proposals for "Mill on the Floss," 110; + concedes copyright of "Adam Bede," 111; + suggests title of "Mill on the Floss," 112; + letter from author on finishing "Mill on the Floss," 114; + letter to, from George Eliot at Berne, 182, 183; + do. from Florence, 218; + offers £5000 for "Felix Holt," 308; + letters to, about "Spanish Gypsy," iii. 16, 26; + about Scott Commemoration, 97; + "Middlemarch," 103; + his favorable impressions of "Middlemarch," 106; + letter to, from Homburg, 123; + New Year's greetings from George Eliot, 138; + letter on "Middlemarch," 153; + on another book simmering in her head, 157; + on corrected edition of "Spanish Gypsy," 161, 162; + letter to, with volume of poems, 164; + on printing of "Deronda," 190, 191, 197; + on re-reading "Romola," 217, 218; + offers for second ten-years' copyright, 230; + letter to, declining invitation to Strathtyrum, 237; + on her continued ill-health, 244; + his death, 276. + + Blackwood, Major, his opinion of "Amos Barton," i. 306; + hopeful about the "Scenes," 342; + calls on Lewes, and suspects identity of George Eliot, 342; + letter regarding the Liggins affair, ii. 81; + letter from author on "Mill on the Floss," 167. + + Blackwood, William, his favorable news of "Clerical Life," ii. 116; + letter to, on Mr. Lewes's illness, iii. 239; + on "Theophrastus Such," 254, 263, 271. + + Blanc, Louis, anecdote of, i. 195. + + Bodichon, Madame, discovers author of "Adam Bede," ii. 77; + letters to: on artistic combinations, 93; + on Mrs. Gaskell's letter, 107; + the rewards of the artist, 107; + on settling in London, 198; + on religious forms and ceremonies, 205; + on the necessity of sympathy, 268; + on her Spanish tour, iii. 4; + on cheerfulness, 172; + on "Deronda," 198; + on woman's work, 208; + on her illness, 225; + on improvement in health, 252; + letter regarding "Lewes Studentship," 267; + letter announcing her marriage, 283; + on sympathy with marriage, 289. + + Bohn, Madame, visit from, ii. 293. + + Bologna, its pictures and churches, ii. 169; + the leaning towers, 170. + + Bonham-Carter, Miss, letter to, from Madame Bodichon, iii. 264. + + Bonheur, Rosa, her pictures, i. 333. + + Books belong to successive mental phases, ii. 211. + + Books read at Malvern, 1861, ii. 228-230, 234-236. + + Books read, with remarks on, i. 268-271, 322, 341, 344; ii. 58, 299; + iii. 25, 41, 68, 71, 72. + + Booksellers and authors, meeting of, i. 201. + + Bookstalls, literary taste at, iii. 51. + + Brabant, Miss, i. 85. + + Bracebridge, Mr., and Liggins, ii. 99. + + Bray, Charles, his work, "The Philosophy of Necessity," i. 67; + influence of his opinions, 68; + words of affection in time of depression, 135; + letter to, on rumors of authorship, ii. 13. + + Bray, Mrs., letters to: on favorite books, i. 86; + reading and music, 87; + poetry of Christianity, 93; + chameleon-like nature, 158; + orthodox friends, 162; + anxiety for letters, 164; + need of encouragement, 165; + life in Geneva, 169, 170; + Christmas wishes, 174; + severe winter, 175; + yearning for friends at home, 175; + a singular advertisement, 195; + _Westminster_ reviewers, 199; + love for music, 202; + feels well and "plucky," 207; + in Edinburgh again, 211; + pleasant travelling, 213; + a Saturday's work, 214; + work in the Strand, 215; + domestic grievances, 229; + view of union with Mr. Lewes, 235; + on careless cooking, 316; + on the charms of Richmond Park, 326; + unbelief in others' love, 337; + authorship acknowledged to, ii. 83; + recollections of journey of 1849, 191; + asking for music, 241; + on her "Physiology for Schools," 267; + on writing poetry instead of novels, iii. 31; + on happiness in recovery, 313. + + Bremer, Frederica, i. 188, 190. + + Brewing interest in Parliament, the, iii. 188, 189. + + Brewster, Sir David, i. 190. + + Bridges, Dr., Leeds, iii. 42. + + Bright on Ireland, iii. 56. + + Brittany, trip to, ii. 296. + + Broadstairs, delight with, i. 205. + + Brodie, Sir Benjamin, iii. 80. + + Brontë, Charlotte, life of, i. 317. + + Brooks, Shirley, delighted with "Adam Bede," ii. 70. + + "Brother Jacob" written, ii. 199. + + "Brother and Sister," sonnets, iii. 70. + + Brougham, Lord, a delicious _non sequitur_, i. 214. + + Brown, Dr. John, sends "Rab and his Friends" to author of "Adam + Bede," ii. 60; + kindly letter in reply, 60. + + Brown, J. C., "Ethics of George Eliot's Works," iii. 266. + + Browne, Dr., chemist, Edinburgh, i. 195. + + Browning, first visit from, ii. 249; + "Elisha," iii. 56. + + Browning, Mrs., her "Casa Guidi Windows", ii. 243. + + Buchanan, Robert, his "David Grey," ii. 273. + + Buckle, personal dislike to, ii. 47. + + Buckle's "History of Civilization," i. 341, 345. + + Buckle's ideal not George Eliot's, ii. 220. + + Bulstrode, new view of, iii. 133. + + Bunyan, reading again with pleasure, ii. 105. + + Burne-Jones, Edward, letter to, on the function of art, iii. 144. + + Burne-Jones, Mrs., iii. 29; + letter to, on the serious view of life, 172; + on her illness, 185; + on Christmas plans, 232; + on her sense of depression, 239. + + Burton, Mr., wishes to take portrait, ii. 273; + his picture of a knight in armor, 277. + + Burton, Sir Frederick, Director of the National Gallery, ii. 240. + + Byron, a vulgar-minded genius, iii. 72. + + + Call, Mr., author of "Reverberations and other Poems," i. 335. + + Calvinism, a libel on, iii. 88. + + Camaldoli, expedition to, ii. 221. + + Cambridge, a visit to, iii. 147; + a group of "Trinity" men, 147. + + Cambridgeshire, visit to, iii. 299. + + Caricature, a bastard kind of satire, iii. 228. + + _Caritas_, the highest love, ii. 252. + + Carlyle, Mrs., pleasant letter from, ii. 7; + her conception of George Eliot, 8. + + Carlyle, on the Glasgow artisan, i. 55; + eulogium on Emerson, 140; + "Life of Sterling," 189; + anecdotes of, 190, 257; + his denunciation of the opera, 192; + letter to George Eliot on "Frederic," 343; + G. A. anxious he should read her novels, ii. 63. + + "Carlyle's Memoirs," ii. 208. + + Catholicity of judgment, iii. 307. + + Cavour, Count, ii. 122, 143. + + Cerebellum, function of the, i. 210. + + Chapman, Mrs., on Harriet Martineau, iii. 220. + + Charade party, failure of, ii. 287. + + Charity of the Apostle Paul, the, ii. 251. + + Chart of Ecclesiastical History, i. 45. + + Cheap books, opinion of, iii. 154. + + Cheap edition of "Adam Bede" suggested by working man, ii. 66. + + Cheap editions of novels, arrangements for, iii. 10. + + Cheap music in England, ii. 81. + + Cheerful, now uniformly, iii. 172. + + Chiem See, journey by, ii. 34. + + Childhood's real feelings, i. 91. + + Child's idea of God, a, i. 153, 154. + + Chills, spiritual and physical, iii. 120. + + Chioggia, journey to, ii. 177. + + "Christianity and Infidelity," Baillie Prize Essay, i. 311. + + Chronological order in writing, ii. 211. + + Church-going resumed, i. 82. + + Clark, Sir James, pleasant evening with, i. 222; + meeting with, 226, 230. + + Clark, W. G., late public orator at Cambridge, ii. 240; + visit to, at Cambridge, iii. 24; + resigns his oratorship, 74. + + "Clerical Tutor," discouraged to proceed with, i. 336. + + Club criticism of "Amos Barton," i. 308. + + Coaching days, i. 7. + + Cobbe, Miss, her introduction to Theodore Parker, ii. 253. + + Cobden, disappointed with, i. 196. + + Cologne, journey to, i. 267. + + Colossians, Epistle to the, i. 51. + + Combe, George, friendship with, i. 186; + on the _Westminster_, 204; + visit to, in Edinburgh, 211. + + Comprehensive Church, one, iii. 175. + + Comte and his critics, ii. 224; + admiration of, 224; + delight in his "Politique," iii. 2. + + Comte's "Discours Préliminaire," ii. 264. + + Comte's works, reading, iii. 302. + + Conceptions of new work, iii. 233. + + Confidence, desire for, i. 128. + + Conformity, letter to J. W. Cross on, iii. 155. + + Congreve, Mrs., letters to, ii. 82, 84, 141; + visits George Eliot in London, 232; + letter to, on Thornton Lewes's illness, iii. 63; + leaves for India, 132; + returns to Europe, 145; + letter to, after marriage with Mr. Cross, 292; + invited to Cheyne Walk, 314. + + Congreve, Richard, ii. 62, 67, 73; + friendship of Mr. and Mrs., 76, 80; + Christmas Day with, 110; + his lectures on Positivism, iii. 12; + his article Huxley on Comte, 58. + + Conolly, Dr., i. 233. + + Conscience in work, iii. 27. + + Conservative reaction, on the, iii. 143. + + Contemporary fiction, iii. 183. + + Continent, start for, visiting Fontainebleau, Plombières, iii. 149; + three months' trip to the, 205. + + Continental tour, six weeks' journey to Baden, etc., iii. 37; + St. Märgen, 37; + peasant proprietors in the Black Forest, 38. + + Continental trip with the Brays, i. 150. + + Coquelin's acting, iii. 263. + + Correggio's Madonnas, ii. 43. + + Correspondence, views on, i. 134. + + Country, delight in the, iii. 154. + + Country districts, remoteness of, i. 5. + + Country-house, visions of a, ii. 61. + + Country life, monotony of, i. 25; + enjoyment of, ii. 275. + + Country quiet, the benefits of, iii. 110. + + Critical attitude, the, iii. 79. + + Criticism, sensibility to, ii. 63. + + Critics, indifference to opinions of, iii. 224. + + Cross, J. W., first meeting at Rome with George Eliot, iii. 59; + meet again at Weybridge, 71; + letter to, on buying a house, 131; + on conformity, 155; + on depression, 187; + on effect of her writing, 204; + on Tennyson, 229; + letters to, after Lewes's death, 250-252; + his engagement, 279; + his marriage, 282; + illness in Venice, 294. + + Cross, Miss Eleanor, letter to, iii. 276; + on her engagement to Mr. Cross, 279; + on her marriage tour, 283. + + Cross, Miss Elizabeth D., "An Old Story and other Poems," iii. 15. + + Cross, Miss Florence, letter to from Milan on the enjoyment of + travel, iii. 286. + + Cross, Miss Mary, her "Marie of Villefranche," iii. 100; + letter to, on gift of a vase, 166. + + Cross, Mrs., letters to, accepting invitation to Six-Mile Bottom, + iii. 121; + letter to, from Homburg, 122; + on return home, 125; + on journey abroad, and country-house at Bickley, 152; + on the pleasures of the country, 154; + on Christmas invitation, 158; + on silence of the country, 167. + + Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, dinner with, iii. 236; + their simple manner, 236; + guests at table, 236. + + Cruikshank, George, i. 202. + + Cumming, article on, in the _Westminster_, i. 277. + + + D'Albert, M. and Mme. _See_ Durade. + + Dallas, Mr., an admirer of "Adam Bede," ii. 64. + + Daniel, the prophecies of, i. 122. + + "Daniel Deronda," writing, iii. 180; + fear for MS. being burned, 190; + anticipations of, 193, 194; + public interest in, 199, 214; + finished, 204; + Jewish element in, 211. + + Darwin's "Origin of Species," ii. 104, 105, 108. + + Dawson, Mr. George, lecturer, i. 129; ii. 233; iii. 165. + + Dean Ramsay, letter from, with his "Reminiscences of Scottish + Life," ii. 320. + + Death, imagining the nearness of, iii. 170. + + "Debasing the Moral Currency," iii. 266. + + Delight in the country, iii. 154; + in old friends, 245. + + Depression from damp, iii. 187. + + Derbyshire, memories of, iii. 47. + + Deutsch, his article on the Talmud, iii. 18. + + "Deutscher Novellenschatz," iii. 96. + + "Development of Industries," effect of, ii. 281. + + Development of religion, iii. 62. + + Dialect in "Adam Bede," ii. 72; iii. 219. + + Dickens, Charles, meeting with, i. 201; + letter from, ii. 2; + recognizes woman's hand in "Clerical Life," 3; + dines at Wandsworth, 102; + asks for a story for "All the Year Round," 104; + his death, iii. 82; + his "Life" by Forster, 104. + + Dinah Morris, the character of, ii. 49. + + Dinner at Greenwich, with Blackwood, Colonel Stewart, Colonel + Hamley, and Mr. Skene, ii. 222. + + Discontent of the young, iii. 213. + + Discouraged with her writings, ii. 86. + + D'Israeli's "Tancred," i. 118, 123; + his theory of races, 124; + funeral oration on the Duke of Wellington, 215. + + Distrust of her own knowledge, iii. 305. + + "Divina Commedia," reading the, with Mr. Cross, iii. 259. + + Dorking, fourth visit to, ii. 254. + + Doyle, Mr., iii. 74. + + Drama, trying a, ii. 280. + + Drawbacks to living abroad, iii. 203. + + Drawings from "Romola," iii. 166. + + Dresden: end of vol. ii. of "Adam Bede" written, ii. 42; + Holbein's "Madonna," 42; + the "Sistine Madonna," 43; + the Correggios, 43; + Murillo's "St. Rodriguez," 43; + Dutch and Flemish pictures, 44; + Veronese, 44; + the theatres and concerts, 45. + + Druce, Mr., visit to, at Sevenoaks, iii. 297. + + Dulwich Picture-gallery, ii. 79. + + Durade, M. d'Albert, i. 164; + residence with, 165; + their household, 166; + affection to, 173; + paints her portrait, 178; + visits England, 181; + wished to translate the "Scenes," ii. 109; + two days with, 186; + translates the "Scenes," 187. + + Dürer, Albert, his paintings, ii. 24. + + Dutch translation of George Eliot's novels, iii. 139. + + Dutch and Flemish pictures in Dresden, ii. 44. + + Dwelling on faults, abstention from, iii. 89. + + Dying in harness, on, iii. 141. + + Dyspeptic troubles and their cure, ii. 288. + + + Early death, thoughts on, ii. 290. + + Edinburgh criticisms more favorable than London, ii. 64. + + Edinburgh, enjoyment of, i. 211; + visit to Craigcrook, 212. + + Editor's life, i. 215, 221. + + Education of Women, iii. 27; + the higher, 146. + + Effect of talking of her own books, ii. 85. + + Effect of writing, the, iii. 306. + + Egotism, cure for, i. 128. + + "Elijah," delight in hearing, i. 112, 118. + + Ellis, Mr. and Mrs., i. 191. + + Emerson, first meeting with, i. 139; + Carlyle's eulogium on, 140; + his "Man the Reformer," ii. 196. + + Empire in France, the, iii. 168. + + Englefield Green, delightful week at, ii. 244. + + English, attitude of the, towards Orientals, iii. 212; + ignorance of the Jews, 212. + + English domestic life _versus_ German, i. 271. + + English and French working classes, difference between, i. 131. + + "Englishwoman's Journal" on the Infant Seamstresses, ii. 97. + + Enjoying the thought of work, ii. 219. + + Enriched with new ideas after journey to Italy, ii. 182. + + "Ethics of George Eliot's Works," by J. C. Brown, iii. 266. + + Evans, Christiana (sister), married to Mr. Edward Clark, surgeon, + i. 22; + relations between the sisters, 22, 23; + her husband's death, 216; + plans for her family, 217; + letter to her brother Isaac regarding, 318; + visit to her sister, ii. 96. + + Evans, Isaac (brother), recollections of his sister, i. 11; + her susceptibility to terror, 12; + their happy childhood, 12; + his marriage, 61; + renewed correspondence with his sister on her marriage with Mr. + Cross, iii. 287; + notice of his family, 287. + + Evans, J. C., offers £1000 for a story for American periodical, + ii. 94. + + Evans, Mrs. Samuel (aunt), the Dinah Morris of "Adam Bede," i. 33. + + Evans, Robert (father), his career, i. 1, 2; + removed to Griff, 2; + influence of his ideas on his daughter, 4; + his position, 8; + his wife, partly represented in Mrs. Poyser, 10; + her death, 22; + removal to Foleshill Road, Coventry, 61; + strong disapproval of his daughter's religious views, 75; + she visits her brother at Griff, 79; + regrets her impetuosity, and returns to Foleshill, 81; + his illness, 100; + visits Dover with his daughter, 107; + trip to Isle of Wight, 120; + illness increases, and visits St. Leonards, 135; + returns to Coventry, 139; + his death, 148. + + Evidence, the value of, iii. 109. + + Evil-speaking, contrition for, i. 141. + + + "Fables," by Lord Lytton, iii. 162. + + Fairness and pity, where necessary, iii. 228. + + Fame in dreams, ii. 89. + + Family reunion, iii. 268; joys, iii. 286. + + Faraday, letter from, acknowledging presentation copy of "Clerical + Life," ii. 9. + + Farming, an epoch in, iii. 271. + + Faucit, Helen, admiration of, i. 222. + + Faults, abstention from dwelling on, iii. 89. + + "Faust," reading in the original, iii. 303. + + Faux, David, Confectioner (Brother Jacob), written, ii. 199. + + Fawcett, Henry, articles on Strikes by, ii. 194. + + "Fawn of Sertorius," i. 108. + + Fechter in "Hamlet," ii. 225; + his "Othello," 232. + + Feeling old for her years, ii. 193. + + "Felix Holt," writing commenced, ii. 290; + reading for, 292; + Blackwood offers £5000 for, 308; + pains taken with, 309; + finished in excitement, 311; + final instalment received from Blackwood, iii. 13; + payment for copyright, 13. + + Feminine characteristics, iii. 310, 311. + + Ferrier, Mr., translates Kaufmann's article on "Deronda," iii. 216. + + Feuerbach, translation of, published; first and only time her real + name appeared in print, i. 233. + + Fiction, contemporary, iii. 183. + + Fiction-reading condemned, i. 36. + + Fiction-writing, first mention of, i. 296; + how I came to write, 298-300. + + First authorship, i. 42. + + First novel, i. 298; + title of, 299. + + Flemish and Dutch pictures in Dresden, ii. 44. + + Florence: view from Fiesole and Bellasguardo, ii. 155; + the Duomo and Campanile, 156; + the palaces and libraries, 157; + the Loggia di Lanza, 158; + Santa Maria Novella, 158; + Santa Croce and the Carmine, 159; + the frescoes, 159; S. Maria Novella, 160; + San Michele, the shrine, 160; + the Uffizi Gallery, 161; + and pictures, 162; + Pitti pictures, 162; + paintings at the Accademia, 163; + Galileo's tower, 164; + Michael Angelo's house, 165, 166. + + Flower, Mr., i. 191. + + Fontainebleau, visit to, iii. 150. + + Forster, W. E., his article on Slavery, i. 218; + "Life of Dickens," iii. 104. + + Foster, Professor Michael, his draught of conditions for Lewes + scholar studentship, iii. 267, 269. + + France, the Empire in, iii. 168. + + Franco-German war, iii. 86, 92. + + Franklin, Miss Rebecca, her school at Coventry, i. 17; + her death, iii. 149. + + Freethinkers, little sympathy with, as a class, ii. 249. + + French and English working classes, difference between, i. 131. + + French revolution of 1848, i. 129. + + Froude's "Shadows of the Clouds," i. 146. + + Fuller, Margaret, her Journal, i. 198. + + Function of art, the, iii. 144. + + Furnishing, on troubles of, ii. 267. + + "Futile Lying," letter on, ii. 290. + + + Gambler, a girl, iii. 124. + + Garibaldi at the Crystal Palace, ii. 276. + + Gaskell, Mrs., suspected to have written "Adam Bede," ii. 82; + letter from, 102; + expresses admiration of "Scenes" and "Adam Bede," 107. + + Gaskell's, Mrs., "Ruth," i. 219. + + Geneva, life at Campagne Plongeon, i. 151-157; + Genevese preachers, 153, 154; + _Fête_ of Navigation, 157; + effect of change of life, 159; + plans for lessons, 160; + Baronne de Ludwigsdorff, 161; + home remembrances, 170; + beauty of scenery, 171; + delight in town life, 171; + the Juras, 178; + last days in, 179. + + Genevese preachers, i. 153, 154. + + Genoa, the cathedral, ii. 124. + + George Eliot.--1819-37: + Birth at Arbury farm, i. 1; + removal to Griff, 2; + anecdotes of father, 9; + character of mother, 10; + at Dame's school, 10; + at Miss Lathom's school at Attleboro, 11; + happy childhood, 12; + first books read, 13; + first journey to Staffordshire, 15; + Miss Wallington's school at Nuneaton, 15; + writes out "Waverley," 16; + favorite books, 17; + charade-acting, 17; + riot at Nuneaton, 20; + first letter to Miss Lewis, 21; + mother's illness and death, 22; + housekeeper at Griff, 24; + life and studies there, 24. + 1838-41: + First visit to London, i. 28; + religious asceticism, 29; + nineteenth birthday, 32; + religious objections to music, 32; + religious reflections, 34; + besetting sin, ambition, 35; + objections to fiction-reading, 36; + first poem, 42; + books read and studies pursued, 44; + German lessons begun, 45; + chart of ecclesiastical history, 46; + Italian studies, 49; + dislike to housekeeping work, 50; + reads Isaac Taylor, 51; + visits Birmingham to hear "Messiah," 53; + translates German poem, 54; + her reading, 57; + removal to Foleshill Road, Coventry, 59. + 1841-46: Coventry life, i. 61; + mental depression, 64; + friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Bray, 67; + reads Charles Hennell's "Inquiry," 67, 68; + effect of this book, 74; + gives up going to church, 75; + family difficulties, 79; + regrets her impetuosity, 81; + resumes going to church, 82; + intimacy with Miss Sara Hennell and Mr. and Mrs. Bray, 83; + attitude towards immortality, 84; + excursion to Stratford and Malvern, 85; + meets Robert Owen, 86; + studies German and music, 86, 87; + opinion in regard to conformity, 89; + translation of Strauss's "Leben Jesu," 90; + despair about publication of Strauss, 94; + trip to the Highlands, 97. + 1846-49: + Strauss translation published, i. 107; + classical books wanted, 108; + suspected of novel-writing, 108; + reading Foster's life, 109; + thoughts on Jesus at Emmaus, 110; + a child's idea of God, 111, 112; + visits London and hears "Elijah," 112; + re-reading Hennell's "Inquiry," 119; + visit to Isle of Wight with father, 120; + admiration of Richardson, 121; + delight in George Sand's "Lettres d'un Voyageur," 122; + dislike to Jews, 125; + supremacy of Hebrew poetry, 125; + admiration of Roberts and Creswick, 127; + opinion of Mr. Dawson the lecturer, 129; + sympathy with revolution, 130; + France and England contrasted, 131; + sympathy with nonconformity, 133; + visit to St. Leonards, 135; + father's illness, 135; + mental depression, 136; + how to be overcome, 136; + admiration of Louis Blanc, 137; + recovery from depression, 138; + opinion of "Jane Eyre," 138; + meets Emerson, 138; + again suffering from depression, 141; + contrition for evil-speaking, 141; + reading Macaulay's "History," 142; + bodily suffering, 143; + on the influence of Sand's and Rousseau's writings, 143, 144; + writes review of the "Nemesis of Faith," 145; + translates Spinoza's "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus," 147; + father's death, 148. + 1849-50: + Goes abroad with Mr. and Mrs. Bray, 150; + Geneva, life at Campagne Plongeon, 151,152; + prophetic anticipation of position seven years later, 158; + effect of change of life, 159; + plans for lessons, 160; + finds apartments in Geneva, 164; + enjoyment of society, 165; + need of encouragement, 165; + life in Geneva, 169, 170; + yearning for friends at home, 170; + remarks on translations of Spinoza, 172; + desire for a woman's duty, 173; + portrait by M. d'Albert, 178; + remarks on education of children, 179; + leaving Geneva, 180. + 1850-54: Return to England, 181; + reviews Mackay's "Progress of the Intellect" in _Westminster_, + 184; + assistant editor of _Westminster Review_, 186; + introduced to Mr. Lewes, 189; + intimacy begins, 192; + help in despondency, 198; + growing intimacy with Mr. Herbert Spencer, 201; + dislike of scrap-work, 203; + visit to Edinburgh, 211; + an editor's life, 214, 215; + ill with rheumatism, 218; + interest in America, 219; + growing intimacy with Mr. Lewes, 221, 232; + contemplates publishing "The Idea of a Future Life," 229; + union with Mr. Lewes, 234, 235; + letter to Mrs. Bray, 235, 236. + 1854-55: + Visits Antwerp with Mr. Lewes, i. 239; + extracts from journal, 239 _et seq._; + Weimar, i. 240-251; + Berlin recollections, 251-268; + work at Weimar and Berlin, 268; + remarks on books read, 268-271; + return to England, 271. + 1855-57: + Articles written, i. 275; + effect of article on Cumming, 278; + reading on physiology, 279; + miscellaneous writing, 280; + Spinoza's "Ethics," translation finished, 281; + wishes not to be known as translator, 283; + articles on Young and Riehl, 286; + tendency to scientific accuracy, 287; + naturalistic experiences, 288; + first mention of fiction-writing, 296; + "how I came to write fiction," 298; + correspondence about "Amos Barton," 300; + "Mr. Gilfil's Love-story" begun, 305; + Blackwood's high admiration of the story, 307; + name of George Eliot assumed, 309; + artistic bent, 310; + Caterina and the dagger scene, 313; + trip to the Scilly Isles, 313; + social life at St. Mary's, 316; + on conclusions of stories, 319; + Jersey recollections, 319-322; + Mr. Liggins, 323; + opinions of "Mr. Gilfil's Love-story," 324, 325; + happiness in her life, 328; + Blackwood's opinion of "Janet's Repentance," 329; + haunted by new story, 334; + "Adam Bede" begun, 337; + receives £120 for first edition of "Clerical Life," 337; + unbelief in others' love, 337; + sympathy with individuals, 339; + objection to theism, 339; + evening studies, 342; + Major Blackwood suspects identity of George Eliot, 324; + review of the year 1857. + 1858: + The _Times_ reviews of "Scenes of Clerical Life," ii. 1; + letter from Charles Dickens, recognizing woman's hand, 3; + from Froude, 3; + from Mrs. Carlyle, 7; + reveals herself to John Blackwood, 10; + visit to Germany, 14-46; + progress with "Adam Bede," 32; + latter half written, 42; + description of life at Dresden, 45; + history of "Adam Bede," 48-52; + retrospect of year, 55. + 1859-60: + Reading up for "Mill on the Floss," ii. 58; + letter to John Blackwood on "Adam Bede," 58; + wishes Carlyle to read her novels, 63; + awakening to fame, 68; + Mr. Liggins said to be author of "Adam Bede," 71; + finished the "Lifted Veil," 75; + reveals herself to Brays as author of "Adam Bede," 83; + trip to Switzerland, 87; + fourth edition (5000) of "Adam Bede" sold in a fortnight, 88; + receives £800 beyond bargain for success, 102; + 16,000 sold in one year, 107; + Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, 115; + "Mill on the Floss" finished, 116; + start for Italy, 116. + 1860: + First journey to Italy, ii. 120; + Rome, first sight of, 126; + description of Naples, 144, 145; + visit to Pompeii, 148; + Florence, 155; + first mention of Italian novel, 168; + Venice, 172; + home by Berne and Geneva, 181; + enriched with new ideas, 182. + 1860-61: + "Mill on the Floss" success, ii. 185; + sitting to Lawrence for portrait, 194; + independence secured, 203; + the queen's admiration of "Mill on the Floss," 203; + success of "Silas Marner," 214; + second journey to Italy, 216; + hopeful about future work, 220; + began "Romola," 230; + studying for, 235, 236. + 1862-65: + Begins "Romola" again, ii. 238; + offered £10,000 for "Romola" for the _Cornhill_, but idea given + up, 244; + £7000 accepted under new terms, 245; + the effect of writing "Romola," 255; + continued ill-health, 256, 258; + letter from Frederick Maurice, 259; + third visit to Italy, 278; + trying a drama, 280; + retrospect of year 1864, 282; + "A Word for the Germans" written, 288; + "Felix Holt" begun, 290; + readings, 292; + expedition to Brittany, 296; + retrospect of 1865, 299. + 1866: + Mr. Harrison's legal help in "Felix Holt," ii. 303, 304, 310; + offered £5000 for "Felix Holt" by Blackwood, 308; + visit to Holland and Germany, 312; + "The Spanish Gypsy" taken up again, 317; + reading for, 321; + start for Spain, 324. + 1867: + Journey to Spain, iii. 1; + learning Spanish, 3; + letters from Spain, 4-9; + return to the Priory, 9; + two months' visit to North Germany, 14; + acquaintance with Mrs. Cross and family, 15; + "Address to the Working Men," 19. + 1868: + Month's visit to Torquay, iii. 25; + "Spanish Gypsy" finished, 29; + notes on the "Spanish Gypsy," 30; + on the writing of poetry instead of novels, 36; + six weeks' journey to Baden, 37; + meditating subject of Timoleon, 49; + retrospect of the year, 50; + cheap edition of novels, 51. + 1869-72: + Poem on "Agatha," iii. 55; + writing "How Lisa Loved the King," 56; + fourth visit to Italy, 57; + religion of the future, 62; + "Sonnets on Childhood" finished, 65; + the phenomena of spiritualism, 67; + the Byron scandal, 72; + "Legend of Jubal" begun, 73; + letter on the Positivist problem, 75; + visit to Germany, 76; + three days' visit to Oxford, 80; + growing dislike of migratory life, 82; + "Armgart" begun, 85; + industrial schemes, 90; + visit to Petersfield, 94; + visit from Tennyson, 99; + delight in intellectual activity, 101; + reception of "Middlemarch," 103; + Foster's "Life of Dickens," 104; + "Middlemarch" finished, 121; + a month's visit to Homburg, 122; + a girl gambler, 124; + memorial article on author of "Thorndale," 126; + "Maga" on "Middlemarch," 130. + 1873-75: + Reception of "Middlemarch," iii. 138; + Dutch translation of novels, 139; + German reprints, 140; + visit to Cambridge, 147; + visit to the Master of Balliol, 149; + nine weeks' trip to the Continent, 150; + another book simmering in her thoughts, 157; + retrospect of 1873, 160; + cheaper edition of novels, 162; + "Legend of Jubal" published, 167; + journey to the Ardennes, 176; + sales of her books, 180; + value of early religious experience, 182; + not satisfied with "Deronda," 193; + depression in finishing, 194. + 1876-78: + Public interest in "Deronda," iii. 199; + Mrs. Stowe's admiration of "Deronda," 202; + letter to J. W. Cross, 204; + trip to the Continent, 205; + Jewish appreciation of "Deronda," 209; + Dr. Adler's lecture on, 216; + Mrs. Stowe and the Byron case, 221; + appreciation of Tennyson, 229; + gaining strength at Witley, 231; + meets Crown Prince and Princess of Germany, 236; + visit to Oxford, 236; + Mr. Lewes's ill-health, 239; + reception at the Priory, 241; + Mr. Lewes's last illness and death, 245-247. + 1879-80: + First weeks of loneliness, iii. 249; + announcement of "Theophrastus Such" delayed, 252; + project of Physiological Studentship, 254; + dissatisfied with "Theophrastus," 254; + letter to J. W. Cross asking counsel, 258; + reception of "Theophrastus" by the public, 263, 264; + serious renal attack, 265; + conditions for the studentship, 267; + renewed interest in social news, 270; + Dr. Roy appointed to studentship, 275; + death of John Blackwood, 276; + engagement to Mr. Cross, 279; + married at St. George's, Hanover Square, 283; + left for the Continent, 283; + letters from France and Italy, 284-294; + Mr. Cross's illness in Venice, 294; + arrival in England, 295; + recurrence of illness, 300; + recovery of strength, 313; + settled in Cheyne Walk, 313; + first appearance of sore throat, 315; + letter to Mrs. Strachey (unfinished), 316; + sudden death, 316. + + German editions of "Middlemarch," iii. 114. + + German poem, translation of, i. 54. + + German reading, iii. 124. + + German Revolution of '48 caused by real oppression, i. 258. + + German translation of "Adam Bede," ii. 116; + first volume received, 116. + + Germans, Vivier's anecdotes of, i. 264, 265; + domestic life of, 271. + + Germany, North, journey to, iii. 14; + places revisited and new scenes, 15. + + Germany, second visit to, 1854: + Munich, ii. 14-34; + Ischl, 37; + Vienna, 38; + Prague, 40; + Dresden, 45; + Leipzig, 46. + + Germany, visit to, in 1854; + extracts from journal: Weimar, i. 240; + Berlin, 251, 252. + + Gift of a vase from Miss Mary Cross, iii. 166. + + Girl gambler, a, iii. 124. + + Girton College scheme, iii. 18. + + Goethe on Spinoza, ii. 298. + + Goschen, Mr., dinner with, iii. 236; + meets Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, 236. + + Got's acting, iii. 101. + + Granada, the Alhambra, iii. 7; + view from, 8. + + Grand Chartreuse, expedition to the, iii. 285. + + Grandcourt and Lush, iii. 200. + + Grandison, Sir Charles, i. 121. + + Green, Professor T., iii. 149. + + Ground of moral action, iii. 178. + + Gurney, Mr. Edmund, iii. 147. + + Gurney, Rev. Archer, on "Scenes of Clerical Life," i. 324. + + Guthrie, Dr., address by, i. 230. + + + Hamilton, Sir William, valuable contributions, i. 278. + + Hamley, Colonel (now General Sir Edward Hamley), impressions of, + ii. 315; + thanks for letter to the _Times_, iii. 93. + + Handel Festival, the, ii. 82. + + Hannay, Mr., on "Romola," ii. 252. + + Happiness in recovery of health, iii. 313. + + Hare, Mrs. Julius, ii. 263; + her death, 273. + + Harrison, Frederic, letter to, on industrial co-operation, ii. 303; + his legal advice in "Felix Holt," 303; + more consultations with, 305, 306; + letter to, on æsthetic teaching, etc., 318; + receives a copy of "Spanish Gypsy," iii. 36; + consultation with, 186. + + Harrogate, its lovely walks, ii. 281. + + Haughton, Mrs., letters to: + on contrition for evil-speaking, i. 141; + on friends at home, 159; + on the bondage of luxuries, 177; + on her proof-reading, 231. + + Haunted by new story, i. 334. + + Hawthorne, admiration of, i. 208. + + Heine, article on, in _Westminster_, i. 279. + + Helps, Arthur, dinner with, i. 230; + incident in Spain, 242; + on "Clerical Life," ii. 2. + + Hemans's "The Forest Sanctuary," i. 57. + + Hennell, Charles, analysis of "An Inquiry Concerning the Origin of + Christianity," i. 68-74; + his marriage, 85. + + Hennell, Miss Mary, author of "An Outline of the various Social + Systems founded on the Principle of Co-operation," her death, + i. 84. + + Hennell, Miss Sara, first meeting with, i. 82; + letters to, on mental characteristics, 84; + dangers of nonconformity, 89, 90; + translating Strauss, 92; + Strauss difficulties, 96; + title of translation, 98; + finishing translation, 101; + longing for idleness, 102; + thankfulness for help in translation, 103; + visit to Mrs. Hennell, 107; + desire for classics, 108; + relief from work, 109; + admiration of "Heliados," 111; + philosophy and religion, 121; + "Live and teach," 122; + "sweet uses" of adversity, 135; + depression by father's illness, 136; + the "Romanticist," 139; + a longing for sympathy, 141; + bodily suffering, 143; + return to England, 180, 181; + Mr. Chapman's soirées, 190; + delight with change of life, 206; + letter from Berlin, 262; + on essay "Christianity and Infidelity," 311; + peacefully busy, 334; + delight in Mr. Lewes's books, ii. 11; + on the death of a mother, 12; + admiration of Liebig, 25; + sympathy with, on her mother's death, 32; + letter from Dresden, 45; + about Mrs. Clarke, 66, 67; + recollections of Mr. Liggins, 72; + authorship acknowledged to, 83; + "expecting disappointments," 201, 202; + settled in new house, 204, 205; + on the blessings of good health, 229; + old remembrances, 233; + on her low health, 306; + a birthday letter, iii. 129. + + Hereditary misfortunes, iii. 34. + + Hereford, Dean of, i. 227. + + Herts, country-house in, iii. 186. + + Higher education of women, iii. 13, 146. + + History of "Adam Bede," ii. 48-52. + + "History of Europe," Alison's, i. 282. + + History reading, iii. 234. + + Holbein's Madonna, ii. 42. + + Holland and Germany, journey to, ii. 312; + the route taken, 315. + + Holland, Sir Henry, visit from, ii. 321. + + Holmwood Common, iii. 174. + + Homburg, the gaming-tables, iii. 122. + + Home, enjoyment of, iii. 208. + + Home for Girls, iii. 181. + + Home life, i. 13; iii. 107, 108. + + "Horsedealer in Syria," ii. 101. + + Housekeeping work, dislike of, i. 50. + + How I came to write fiction, i. 298-300. + + Hungarian, "Adam Bede" translated into, ii. 115. + + Hunt, Leigh, his "The Religion of the Heart," i. 226. + + Huth, Mrs. and Miss, iii. 147. + + Hutton, R. H., letter to, on "Romola," ii. 261. + + "Huxley on M. Comte," Dr. Congreve's article on, iii. 58. + + Huxley, Mr., an agreeable evening with, i. 220. + + Hyrtl, the German anatomist, ii. 39. + + + "Idea of a Future Life," contemplates publishing, i. 229. + + Ilfracombe recollections: journey to, i. 285; + naturalistic experiences, 288; + zoological expeditions, 289; + Devonshire lanes, 289; + Rev. Mr. Tugwell, 290; + the scientific spirit, 291; + leave for Tenby, 292. + + Illness a partial death, iii. 155. + + Illustrations in cheap edition, not _queerer_ than in other books, + iii. 217. + + Impetuosity regretted, i. 81. + + "Impossibility of marrying," dangers of speaking of, ii. 212. + + Incentive to production, iii. 224. + + Independence of external good, i. 81. + + Indian newspaper-writing, iii. 237. + + Individual versus the general, the, iii. 33. + + Industrious poor, helping the, iii. 90. + + Inkermann, battle of, a mere brave blundering, iii. 182. + + Inman, Dr., Liverpool, ii. 114. + + Innspruck and Wildbad, iii. 294, 295. + + Intellectual activity, enjoyment of, iii. 101. + + Intellectual superciliousness, ii. 255. + + "Introduction to the Science of Language," iii. 303. + + "Iphigenia in Aulis," iii. 145. + + Irregular verses, the use of, iii. 40. + + Ischl, the Gmunden See, ii. 37; + voyage down the Danube, 38. + + Isle of Wight, trip to the, ii. 72, 256. + + Italian novel, first mention of, ii. 168. + + Italian studies, i. 49. + + Italy, first journey to, 1860: + Turin, ii. 122; + Genoa, 123; + Leghorn, 124; + Pisa, 125; + Rome, 126-144; + Naples, 144; + Salerno, 151; + Pæstum, 152; + Amalfi, 153; + Sorrento, 153, 154; + Florence, 155; + Bologna, 168; + Padua, 170; + Venice, 172; + Verona, 179; + Milan, 179-181. + + Italy, second journey to, ii. 216; + stay at Florence, 217; + renewed delight in, 219; + work during the visit, 221. + + Italy, third visit to, ii. 277; + Mr. Burton's companionship, 278; + the Alps by the St. Gothard, 278. + + Italy, fourth visit to, iii. 57; + places visited, 58. + + Italy, fifth visit to: Milan, iii. 288; + Verona, 289; + Venice, 291. + + + "Jane Eyre," opinion of, i. 138. + + Jansa, Herr, takes lessons from, ii. 271. + + Jersey recollections, 1857: + scenery, i. 319; + inland walks, 320, 321; + coast beauties, 321; + books read, 322. + + Jesus at Emmaus, thoughts on, i. 110. + + Jewish appreciation of "Deronda," iii. 207, 216. + + Jews, dislike of, i. 125; + English ignorance of the, iii. 212. + + Jones, Mr. Owen, decorates the new house, ii. 265, 266. + + Journal, 1855: + Third book of "Ethics," preface written, i. 273; + _Westminster Review_, 274; + wrote for the _Leader_, 275. + 1856: + Working at Spinoza, i. 281; + first mention of fiction-writing, 296; + "Mr. Gilfil's Love-story" begun, 305. + 1857: + Pleasant letters regarding "Gilfil," i. 323, 324; + finished "Janet's Repentance," 336; + began "Adam Bede," 336; + books read, 342; + the year's work, 344. + 1858: + News from the city regarding "Clerical Life," ii. 12; + visit to Germany, 14-46; + "Adam Bede" finished, 48. + 1859: + A trip to Lucerne, ii. 87; + return to England, 88; + declined American offer for new story, 94; + anxiety and doubt about new novel, 97. + 1860: + Seeing friends, ii. 114; + first journey to Italy, 120-182. + 1861: + Second journey, ii. 216; + struggling constantly with depression, 227; + continued ill-health, 243-245; + despondency, 279. + 1868: + Books, reading, iii. 25; + retrospect of year, 50. + 1869: + Work in prospect, iii. 55; + beginning "Middlemarch," 69; + "Legend of Jubal" begun, 73. + 1870: + In languid health, iii. 79. + 1871: + First part of "Middlemarch" published, iii. 104. + 1873: + Success of "Middlemarch," iii. 138; + retrospect of year, 159. + 1875: + Sales of books, iii. 180. + 1876: + Depression in writing "Deronda," iii. 194. + 1877: + Cabinet edition decided on, iii. 230; + declined to renew copyright agreement, 230; + close of her journal, 233. + 1879: + Seeing visitors, iii. 260. + 1880: + Her marriage with Mr. Cross, iii. 283; + came to 4 Cheyne Walk, 311. + + Jowett, Mr., Master of Balliol, visit to, iii. 149. + + Julian the Apostate, Strauss's pamphlet on, i. 139. + + Justification in writing, iii. 173. + + + Kaufmann, Dr. David, letter to, on his estimate of "Daniel + Deronda," iii. 222; + on the function of the teacher, 226; + on Lewes's death, 257. + + Kenelm Chillingly, iii. 141. + + Knight, Charles, i. 202. + + + La Bruyère's wisdom, iii. 235. + + Lamartine as a poet, i. 130. + + Languages, her knowledge of, iii. 305. + + La Vernia, description of, ii. 223. + + Lawrence wishes to take her portrait, ii. 115; + sits for it, 194. + + Lecky's "History of Rationalism," ii. 291. + + Lecture on "Daniel Deronda," by Dr. Adler, iii. 216. + + Leeds, the horrible smoke of, iii. 43; + its fine hospital, 44. + + "Legend of Jubal," some verses written, iii. 73; + published as "Legend of Jubal, and other Poems," 167; + new edition of, 169. + + Leghorn, the Jewish synagogue, ii. 125; + to Civita Vecchia, 125; + a pleasant companion, 126. + + Leipzig, two days at, ii. 45; + its picture-gallery, 45. + + Leroux, Pierre, his theories, i. 194. + + Letters to her friends almost all destroyed, ii. 207. + + "Letter to Berthelot," Renan's, ii. 269. + + Lewes, Charles, first letter to, ii. 91; + on musical parties, 98; + on liking for algebra, 106; + returns from Hofwyl, 185; + receives appointment in Post-office, 194; + letters from Florence to, 216, 219, 221; + from Isle of Wight, 257; + his engagement, 278; + letters to, on Harrison's paper, iii. 262; + on printing the "Problems," 276; + from Grenoble, 285; + from Milan, 288; from Venice, 291; + from Stuttgart and Wildbad, 294, 295; + on his visit to St. Blasien, 297; + on recurrence of illness, 300. + + Lewes, George H., i. 188; + first introduction to Miss Evans, 189; + meet at the theatre, 192; + article on "Julia von Krüdener," 192; + his Comte papers, 209; + growing intimacy, 221; + his "History of Philosophy," 227; + illness, 231; + intimate relations with Miss Evans, 232; + their union, 235; + completed life of Goethe at Weimar, 267; + estimation of George Eliot, 277; + necessity for hard work, 277; + proposes sending boys to Hofwyl, 284; + goes to Switzerland with them, 297; + highly pleased with "Amos Barton," 300; + letter to John Blackwood with MS. of "Scenes of Clerical Life," 300; + George Eliot revealed to John Blackwood, ii. 10; + suggestions in "Adam Bede," 49, 50; + extract from Journal, 55; + "Physiology of Common Life," 92; + "Studies in Animal Life," 113; + dispassionate judgment, 202; + delicate health, 223; + busy with Aristotle, 233; + "History of Science" begun, 243; + views of Bible-reading, 251; + buoyant nature, 290; + walking expedition with Mr. Spencer, iii. 15; + acquaintance with Mrs. Cross, 15; + visits Bonn, 20; + death of his mother, 91; + proposed for Rectorship of St. Andrews, 232; + continued illness, 240; + his death, 247. + + Lewes, Herbert, his death, iii. 189. + + Lewes Studentship proposed, iii. 253; + plans for, and trustees, 254. + + Lewes, Thornton, leaves for Natal, ii. 264; + returns, iii. 63; + his death, 73. + + Lewis, Miss, Leamington, iii. 192. + + Lewis, Miss, letters to: + On first visit to London, i. 28; + on living for eternity, 30; + emulation of Wilberforce, 31; + oratorios, 32; + bad effect of novels, 37; + religious controversies, 39; + first authorship, 42; + studies pursued, 44; + Italian studies, 49; + Mrs. Somerville's "Connection of the Physical Sciences," 50; + opinions of Isaac Taylor, 51; + German translation, 54; + a walled-in world, 55; + sensitiveness, 57; + war's purgations, 59; + satisfaction with new life, 62; + depression of mind, 64; + mind requiring rest, 65; + desire for brain waves, 66; + religious doubts and difficulties, 74, 75; + on self-denial, 78. + + Lichfield, recollections of, ii. 96. + + Liddell, Dean, Oxford, iii. 173. + + Liebig, Professor, ii. 23; + admiration of, 25, 29. + + "Life of Goethe," i. 275. + + "Lifted Veil," finished April, 1859, ii. 75; + the idea of the story, iii. 141. + + Liggins, Mr., first mention of, i. 323; + calls himself George Eliot, ii. 71; + some recollections of, 72; + Mr. Anders's apology, 78; + Mr. Bracebridge's letter regarding, 99. + + Limitations of scientists, iii. 182. + + Lincoln, President, anecdote of, iii. 82. + + Lincoln, the Rector of, iii. 81. + + Lincolnshire, visits to, iii. 288. + + "Lisa," writing rhymed poem on, iii. 55. + + Literary biography, iii. 163. + + Literary taste at bookstalls, iii. 51. + + Littlehampton, trip to, ii. 247. + + Liturgy of the English Church and the Bible, ii. 226. + + Living abroad, drawbacks to, iii. 203. + + Lockhart, Captain, his writings, iii. 98, 193. + + Lonely days: "here I and sorrow sit," iii. 249. + + Louis Blanc, admiration of, i. 138. + + Louis Philippe and his sons, i. 130. + + Lowell's "My Study Windows," iii. 96. + + Lucerne, a trip to, ii. 87; + visit from Mrs. Congreve, 87. + + Lush and Grandcourt, iii. 200. + + Lushington, Mrs. Vernon, iii. 220. + + Lyrics for "Spanish Gypsy," iii. 16. + + Lytton, Hon. Mrs. Robert (now Lady Lytton), letter of sympathy to, + iii. 83; + on thoughts of death, 99, 100; + on Lord Lytton's Indian experiences, 281. + + Lytton, Hon. Robert (now Lord Lytton), on pronunciation in "Spanish + Gypsy," iii. 52; + explanation of errors, 52. + + Lytton, Sir Edward Bulwer, letter from, thanking author of "Adam + Bede," ii. 74, 75; + visit from, 115; + criticises "Adam Bede," 115; + his criticisms of "Maggie," 190. + + + Macaulay, interest in, i. 142. + + Mackay's "Progress of the Intellect" reviewed, i. 183; + extracts from, 183-185, 190. + + "Macmillan," article on "The Mill on the Floss" in, ii. 212. + + Macmillan, Mr., his proposal for volume on Shakespeare, iii. 231. + + Madrid, the Gallery, iii. 9. + + Madonna di San Sisto, first impression of, ii. 43. + + Main, Mr., collector of "The Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings of + George Eliot," iii. 103; + opinions of, 105. + + Maine, Sir Henry, on Lewes's "Physiology," iii. 267. + + Malvern, trip to, ii. 228; + improved health from, 230, 231. + + "Man's Nature and Development," i. 187. + + "Marie of Villefranche," by Miss Mary Cross, iii. 100. + + Marriage, possibilities in, iii. 181. + + Marriage, the ideal, iii. 142. + + Martineau, Harriet, "The Crofton Boys," i. 93; + meeting with, 94, 193; + invitation from, 197; + article on "Niebuhr," 203; + visit to, at Ambleside, 212; + respect for her, ii. 103; + her autobiography, iii. 214, 219. + + Martineau, James, i. 192; + critique of Kingsley's "Phaethon," 219; + on Sir William Hamilton, 223; + invitation from, 54; "Comte," 55. + + Martineau, Maria, her death, ii. 274. + + "Masculine woman," dislike of the, iii. 308. + + Masson, Mr., on Recent Philosophy, ii. 298. + + Mathematics, her love for, iii. 305. + + Matlock, recollections of, iii. 47. + + Maurice, Frederick, generous tribute from, ii. 259. + + Mazzini, asked to write on "Freedom _v._ Despotism," i. 194; + his speeches, 198. + + Mazzini Fund, the, ii. 294. + + Mazzini's death, iii. 113. + + "Meliorist," the word, iii. 217. + + Memorial article on author of "Thorndale," iii. 126. + + Mendelssohn's "Letters," iii. 84. + + Mental characteristics described, i. 84. + + "Middlemarch," writing introduction, iii. 69; + reading for, 71, 72; + the design of, 99; + anticipations of, 103; + first part published, 104; + French and German interest in, 112; + delayed by ill-health, 113; + £1200 from Harpers for reprint, 114; + finished, 121; + reviewed in _Blackwood's Magazine_, 130; + new edition called for, 153; + number sold in 1873, 160; + December, 1874, 20,000 sold, 180. + + Milan, the Ambrosian Library, ii. 180; + the "Brera," 180; + Church of San Ambrogio, 181; + the "Luini" pictures, iii. 288. + + Military men, articles by, iii. 265. + + Mill, John Stuart, his "Autobiography," iii. 158. + + "Mill on the Floss," first volume finished as "Sister Maggie," + ii. 101; + Blackwood's proposals for, 110; + discussions as to title, 111; + Blackwood's suggestion adopted, 112; + Harpers, New York, give £300 for American edition, 115; + third volume finished, 116; + inscription on, 116; + sad at finishing, 117; + first and second editions (6000) sold, 185. + + Miracle play at Antwerp, the, ii. 316. + + Miscellaneous writing, i. 280. + + Misconception of others, on, ii. 197. + + "Miss Brooke," experimenting on, iii. 91. + + Mixed marriages in Germany, ii. 28. + + Modern German art, ii. 27. + + Mohl, Madame, dinner with, iii. 1. + + Moleschott, of Zurich, ii. 182. + + Molière's "Misanthrope," ii. 108. + + Mommsen's "History of Rome," ii. 264. + + Mont Cenis, passage of, ii. 120. + + Moral action, ground of, iii. 178. + + Moral sanction is obedience to facts, iii. 34. + + Morality with the "Bible shut," i. 230. + + More, Mrs. Hannah, her letters, i. 123. + + Müller, Max, ii. 239; iii. 149. + + Munich, the opera, ii. 18; + Samson and Delilah, 18; + Schwanthaler's "Bavaria," 19; + appreciation of Rubens, 20; + Catholic and Protestant worship, 21; + the Glyptothek and Pinnacothek, 21; + Kaulbach, Bodenstedt, and Genelli, 22, 23; + Professor Wagner, 23; + Professor Martius, 23; + Liebig, 23, 25; + Heyse and Geibel, 23; + music of the "Faust," 24; + Professor Löher, 24; + Albert Dürer's paintings, 24; + Bluntschli and Melchior Meyr, 25; + the _Tafel-rund_, 26; + the Siebolds, 26, 33; + Kaulbach's pictures, 27; + mixed marriages, 28; + porcelain-painting, 30; + Madame Bodenstedt, 30; + visit to Grosshesselohe, 31; + Lewes leaves for Switzerland, 33; + leaves for Dresden, 33. + + Murillo's St. Rodriguez, ii. 43. + + Music, cheap, inconveniences connected with, in England, ii. 81. + + Musical evenings with Mr. Pigott and Mr. Redford, ii. 227, 229, 230. + + Musical parties, ii. 99. + + Myers, Mr. Frederick, Cambridge, iii. 147. + + "My Vegetarian Friend," written, ii. 285. + + + Nancy, the Germans at, iii. 151. + + Naples: first impressions, ii. 144; + visits to Baiæ, Avernus, and Misena, 145; + to Pozzuoli and Capo di Monte, 146; + the Cemetery, 147; + Museo Borbonico, 147; + Pompeii, 148; + its remains, 149; + beauty of, 150; + the pictures at, 151; + Giotto's frescoes, 151; + leave for Florence, 154. + + Nearness of death, imagining the, iii. 170. + + Negative attitude unsatisfactory, iii. 156. + + "Nemesis of Faith," reviews the, i. 145; + note from Froude, 145. + + New house, enjoyment of, ii. 269, 270. + + Newman, Francis, i. 140; iii. 165. + + Newman's "Apologia," ii. 280. + + Newman's, J. H., "Lectures on the Position of Catholics," i. 192. + + New misery in writing, i. 227. + + New Year's wishes, iii. 139. + + Nichol's "Architecture of the Heavens," i. 65. + + Nightingale, Miss Florence, note from, i. 206; ii. 61. + + Noel, Mr., i. 191. + + Nonconformity, effect of, i. 79; + dangers of, 90. + + Normandy, trip to, ii. 296. + + _North British_, favorable review, ii. 199. + + Notes on the "Spanish Gypsy," iii. 30, 31. + + Novel-writing, suspected of, i. 108. + + Nuneaton, riot at, i. 20. + + Nürnberg, description of, ii. 14; + its roofs and balconies, 15; + the Frauen-Kirche, 16; + effect of Catholic "Function," 17; + Albert Dürer's house, 17. + + + Old people's judgments, i. 118. + + "Old Town Folks," appreciation of, iii. 66. + + Oliphant, Lawrence, and the colonizing of Palestine, iii. 252. + + Oliphant, Mrs., the novelist, ii. 11. + + _Once a Week_, a story requested for, ii. 104, 106. + + Oratorios at Birmingham, i. 53. + + Oratorios condemned, i. 32. + + Orientals, English attitude towards, iii. 211. + + Osborne, Bernal, on "Deronda," iii. 200. + + Otter, Francis, letter to, on his engagement, iii. 180, 181. + + Owen, Professor, i. 202; + on the cerebellum, 210; + sends his "Palæontology," ii. 116. + + Owen, Robert, i. 86. + + Oxford, first visit to, iii. 80; + people met with, 80. + + Oxford Tracts and Christian Year, i. 48. + + + Padua, Church of San Antonio, ii. 170; + the Arena Chapel, 171; + Giotto's painting, 171. + + Pæstum, the Temple of Neptune, ii. 152. + + Paris, visit to Comte's apartment, ii. 286. + + Parkes, Miss (Madame Belloc), friendship with, i. 195; iii. 289. + + "Pascal," by Principal Tulloch, iii. 235. + + Passionate affliction, defence against, iii. 84. + + Patience, the need of, iii. 128. + + "Paul Bradley," by Mrs. Bray, iii. 164. + + Pays no visits in London, ii. 215. + + Peabody, George, his magnificent gift, ii. 245. + + Pears, Mrs., letters to: on religious difficulties, i. 76; + on desire for truth, 77; + on her impetuosity, 81; + her friendship with Mr. Robert Evans, 147. + + Penmaenmawr, ii. 96. + + Permanent influence of ideas, the, iii. 89. + + Persistence in application, iii. 304. + + Personal bearing, her, iii. 310. + + Personal portraiture objected to, iii. 228. + + Personality, independence of our, iii. 84. + + Phenomena of spiritualism, the, iii. 67. + + Philosophical Club, first meeting of, ii. 248; + dissolution of, 253. + + "Philosophy of Necessity," the, i. 339. + + Phrenological indications, i. 78. + + Phrenology, the position of, i. 340. + + Physiological reading, i. 279. + + Physiological Studentship, the purpose of, iii. 256. + + "Physiology for Schools," Mrs. Bray's, ii. 267. + + Pigott, Mr. Edward Smith, i. 293. + + Pisa, description of, ii. 125; + the cathedral, 125. + + Pity and fairness, where requisite, iii. 228. + + Plain living and high thinking, iii. 161. + + Plombières and the Vosges, iii. 150. + + Poem in _Christian Observer_, i. 43. + + Poetry instead of novels, on writing, iii. 36. + + Poetry of Christianity, i. 93; ii. 251. + + Poets, the value of, iii. 184. + + Political and religious standpoint, iii. 308. + + Pompeii and its remains, ii. 149, 150, 154. + + Ponsonby, Hon. Mrs. (now Lady Ponsonby), letter to, on the idea + of God an exaltation of human goodness, etc., iii. 176; + on the desire to know the difficulties of others, 184; + on excess of public-houses, 188; + on pity and fairness, 228. + + Poor, helping industrious, iii. 90. + + "Popular author," characteristics of the, ii. 59. + + Popular Concerts, Monday, ii. 204, 248. + + Popular judgment of books, iii. 62. + + Popular preacher, a, iii. 87. + + Positivism in "The Spanish Gypsy," iii. 49. + + Positivism regarded as one-sided, ii. 224. + + Possession, the sense of, iii. 306. + + Power of the will, the, iii. 179. + + Poyser, Mrs., her dialogue, ii. 54; + quoted in House of Commons, 69. + + Prague: the Jewish burial-ground, ii. 40; + impressive view, 41. + + Preacher, a popular, criticised, iii. 87. + + Presentation copies never sent, ii. 216. + + Press notices of "Adam Bede," ii. 60. + + "Pretended comforts," ii. 296. + + Prince Albert, admiration of, i. 202. + + Printed rancor, on, iii. 221. + + Priory, receptions at the, iii. 241. + + Private correspondence almost all destroyed, ii. 207. + + Private theatricals, i. 176, 178. + + "Problems of Life and Mind," by G. H. Lewes, iii. 203, 210. + + _Prospective Review_, i. 219; + on Goethe, 224. + + Psychical troubles, i. 232. + + Public-houses, excess of, iii. 188. + + Public interest in "Deronda," iii. 199. + + Public school and University education, iii. 309. + + Publishing books, on different methods of, iii. 190, 191. + + "Pug," letter to John Blackwood on, ii. 91. + + + Quackery of infidelity, i. 89. + + _Quarterly_ on "The Mill on the Floss," ii. 201. + + Queen's admiration of "The Mill on the Floss," ii. 203. + + Quiet joy in success, ii. 72. + + Quirk, Mr., finally renounces Liggins, ii. 96. + + + Race characteristics, i. 125. + + Ragatz, "The Cure" at, iii. 206; + gain in health from, 210. + + Rancor, on printed, iii. 221. + + Rawlinson, Professor, iii. 80. + + Reade, Charles, on "Adam Bede," ii. 70. + + Reading aloud, the effect of her, iii. 302, 303. + + Reading world very narrow, iii. 131. + + Reeves, Sims, singing "Adelaide," ii. 205. + + Religion and art, i. 126; + the development of, iii. 62. + + Religious controversies, i. 39, 47; + aspirations, 63; + doubts and difficulties, 74, 76; + forms and ceremonies, ii. 205; + assemblies, the need of, iii. 156; + and political standpoint, 308. + + Renan, estimate of, ii. 269; + his appearance, iii. 3. + + Renan's "Vie de Jésus," ii. 260. + + Renunciation, on, iii. 35. + + Repugnance to autobiography, iii. 221. + + Responsibility of authorship, ii. 89. + + Retrospect of year 1819, i. 4, 5; + of 1857, 346; + of 1858, ii. 55; + of 1864, 285; + of 1865, 300; + of 1868, iii. 50; + of year 1873, 159. + + Reviews, effect of, ii. 192; + abstains from reading, 193. + + Reviews of "Spanish Gypsy," iii. 40, 44. + + Revolution, sympathy with, i. 130. + + Revolutionary spirit, i. 138. + + "Revue des Deux Mondes," review of "Adam Bede," ii. 105; + Lewes accepts editorship of periodical on plan of, ii. 287. + + Rewards of the artist, the, ii. 107. + + Richmond Park, the charms of, i. 326; + sunset effects, 341. + + Riehl's "Die Familie," i. 344. + + Ritualistic services at Ryde, iii. 91. + + Rive, M. le Professeur de la, his lectures, i. 175, 177. + + Romance in real life, a, ii. 258, 259. + + Rome: from Civita Vecchia to, ii. 126; + first sight of, 126; + disappointed with, 127; + view from the Capitol, 128; + the Sabine and Alban hills, 128; + the temples and palaces, 129; + the arches and columns, 129, 130; + the Coliseum and baths, 130; + the Lateran and Vatican sculptures, 131; + St. Peter's, 132; + mediæval churches, 133; + Sistine chapel, 133; + palaces, 133, 134; + illumination of St. Peter's, 134; + the Quirinal, 134; + San Pietro in Vincoli, 134; + Michael Angelo's "Moses," 135; + modern artists, 135; + Riedel and Overbeck, 136; + Pamfili Doria gardens, 137; + Villa Albani and Frascati, 137; + Tivoli, 138; + pictures at the Capitol, 139; + the Lateran Museum, 139; + Shelley's and Keats's graves, 140; + removal to apartments, 142; + the French occupation, 143; + beautiful mothers and children, 143; + the Pope's blessing, 144. + + "Romola," first conception of, ii. 197; + began the first chapter, 230; + studying for, 234; + begins it again, 238; + Smith offers £10,000 for it to appear in the _Cornhill_, 244; + £7000 accepted, 245; + slow progress in writing, 246, 250; + opinions of, 252; + strain of writing, 255; + finished Part XIII., 255; + completion of, 256; + application to translate into Italian, iii. 216. + + Rosehill, visit to, i. 193. + + Roundell, Mr. and Mrs. Charles, iii. 149. + + Roy, Dr. Charles, elected Lewes Physiological student, iii. 275; + his treatise on "Blood Pressure," 298. + + Rubens, appreciation of, ii. 20. + + Rumors of authorship, ii. 13. + + Ruskin and Alfieri, reading, iii. 292. + + Ruskin's Works, opinion of, ii. 5. + + Ryde, visit to, iii. 91; + ritualistic service at, 91. + + + Salerno, visit to, ii. 151. + + Salzburg, description of scenery, ii. 36. + + Sand's, George, "Lettres d'un Voyageur," i. 122. + + Saragossa, the old cathedral, iii. 5. + + Saturday Popular Concerts, last visit to, iii. 315. + + _Saturday Review_, the, i. 281. + + Saveney on "La Physique Moderne," iii. 3. + + Scarborough, visit to, ii. 281. + + "Scenes of Clerical Life:" "Sad Fortunes of Amos Barton," i. 299; + offered to Blackwood, 300; + accepted, 304; + sensitiveness of author, 304; + "Mr. Gilfil's Love-story" begun, 305; + "Amos Barton," published in January (1856) Magazine, 305; + opinions regarding authorship, 308, 309; + assumes the name of George Eliot, 310; + Caterina and the dagger scene, 313; + "Mr. Gilfil" finished, 319; + epilogue to, 319; + opinions of, 324; + "Janet's Repentance" begun, 326; + Blackwood's opinion of, 328; + increased circulation, 342; + favorable opinions of, ii. 10. + + Scherer, Professor, Geneva, iii. 8. + + School-fellows, excels her, i, 19. + + Schwalbach, description of, ii. 312. + + Scientists, limitations of, iii. 182. + + Scilly Islands, recollections of: St. Mary's, i. 314; + Beauties of the coast, 314; + sunlight on the waves, 315; + social life, 316. + + Scotch Reign of Terror, disbelief in a, i. 132. + + Scotland, trip to, i. 97; visit to, ii. 275. + + Scott Commemoration, afraid of journey to, iii. 97, 98. + + Scott, Life of Sir Walter, ii. 61. + + Scrap-work, dislike of, i. 203. + + Sculpture and painting, i. 127. + + Sensibility to criticism, ii. 63. + + Sequel to "Adam Bede" proposed, ii. 100. + + Shakespeare's "Passionate Pilgrim," i. 273. + + Shakespeare, the acting preferred to the reading, ii. 109. + + Shakespeare, volume on, requested by Macmillan, iii. 231. + + Sheffield, visit to, iii. 46; early recollections of, 46. + + Shelley's "Cloud," i. 53. + + Shottermill, life at, iii. 94. + + Sibree, John, letters to, i. 123; + on "Tancred" and D'Israeli, 123, 124; + race characteristics, 125; + religion and art, 126; + painting and sculpture, 127; + sympathy with him, 128; + necessity of utterance, 132; + desire for a change, 133. + + Sibree, Miss Mary (Mrs. John Cash), her recollections of Miss Evans + at Coventry, i. 113-116; + letter to, 327. + + Sidgwick, Mr. Henry, iii. 147. + + Siebold the anatomist, ii. 26. + + Siena, expedition to, ii. 164; + the Cathedral, 164, 165; + its paintings, 165. + + "Silas Marner, the Weaver of Raveloe," a sudden inspiration, ii. 204; + story begun, 207; + its sombre character, 210; + subscription to, 5500, 212. + + Silence of the country, iii. 107. + + "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists," article on, finished, i. 297. + + Simpson, Mr. George, Edinburgh, letter to, iii. 135; + proposed a yet cheaper edition of novels, 162; + author's regret at not adopting the plan, 162. + + "Small upper room" 1866 years ago, comparison with, ii. 285. + + Smith, Albert, on "Amos Barton," i. 308. + + Smith, Barbara (Madame Bodichon), i. 205, 295. + _See_ Madame Bodichon. + + Smith, Mr. George, offers £10,000 for "Romola," to appear in the + _Cornhill_, ii. 244; + accepted for £7000, 245. + + Smith, Mrs. William, letters to, on the Memoir of her husband, + iii. 126, 142; + on the higher education of women, 146; + on her poems, 160. + + Smith, Sydney, anecdote of, ii. 299. + + Smith, William, author of "Thorndale," ii. 5, 212; + his illness, iii. 109; + his death, 119; + memoir of, 185. + + Social dangers, i. 56. + + Somerville's, Mrs., "Connection of the Physical Sciences," i. 50. + + "Sonnets on Childhood," iii. 65. + + Sorrento, visit to, ii. 153; + its neighborhood, Vico, and the Syren Isles, 154. + + Spain, set off on journey to, ii. 324; + return home, iii. 9. + + "Spanish Gypsy," reading for, ii. 280; + first act finished, 283; + taken up again, 317; + reading for, 321; + recommenced in new form, 321; + reading for, iii. 15; + Mr. Lewes's opinion of, 22; + shortening of, 29; + finished, 29; + notes on, 30; + the _motif_ of the poem, 30; + reviews of, 39, 40; + second and third editions, 42, 45; + reprinted in Germany, 140; + number sold in 1873, 160; + fifth edition published, 180. + + Spanish grammar, studying, ii. 282. + + Spanish, new system of learning, iii. 3; + scenery, 4; + travelling, 6. + + Speke, Captain, the African traveller, ii. 95, 101. + + Spencer, Herbert, first meeting with, i. 187; + intimacy with, 201, 203; + "Universal Postulate," 225; + "Genesis of Science," 234; + Essays, 371; + his influence on Lewes, ii. 55, 56; + enthusiastic letter from, 89; + his new work, 206; + visit from, 276; + introduces Lewes to Mrs. Cross, iii. 15; + his teaching, 184; + last visit from, 315. + + Spencer, Mr., senior, teacher, ii. 272. + + Spinoza's "Ethics," desires not to be known as translator, i. 283. + + Spinoza's "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus," i. 147, 172. + + Spiritualistic evidence, iii. 111; + phenomena, 116. + + "Spiritual Wives," a nasty book, iii. 130. + + Spiritualism, the phenomena of, iii. 67; + one aspect of, 117. + + Splügen Pass, journey across, ii. 181. + + Springs of affection reopened, iii. 280. + + Stachelberg and Klönthal, iii. 207. + + Staffordshire, first journey to, i. 15. + + Stanley, Lord, his opinion of the "Scenes," i. 325. + + _Statesman_ review of "Clerical Life," ii. 6. + + Stella Collas in "Juliet," ii. 259. + + Stephenson, George, one of her heroes, ii. 241. + + St. Blasien, in the Schwarz Wald, iii. 207. + + St. Leonards, visit to, i. 223. + + St. Paul's, charity children singing, i. 203. + + Stories, on conclusions of, i. 319. + + Stowe, Mrs., Miss Cobbe's rejoinder to, ii. 253; + letters to, iii. 60; + on early memories of, 60; + the popular judgment of books, 61; + the development of religion, 62; + a woman's experience, 63; + on appreciation of "Old Town Folks," 66; + Professor Stowe's psychological experience, 67; + phenomena of spiritualism, 67; + on the benefits of country quiet, 110; + on spiritualistic phenomena, 116; + on Goethe, 175; + on her admiration for "Deronda," 202; + on the Jewish element in "Deronda," 211. + + Stowe, Mrs., letter to Mrs. Follen, i. 220. + + Stowe, Professor, his psychological experience, iii. 66; + a story by, iii. 129. + + Strachey, Mrs., letter to (unfinished), iii. 315. + + "Stradivarius," referred to, iii. 228. + + Strain of writing "Romola," ii. 255. + + Strauss, translation of, i. 90, 94; + delay in publication, 95; + difficulties, 96; + title, 98; + finishing translation, 101; + Miss Hennell's help in translation, 103; + review of, 109; + interview with, 240; + renewed acquaintance with, ii. 46. + + Strength while abroad, iii. 301. + + Stuart, Mrs., visit from, iii. 255. + + Study, enjoyment of, ii. 322. + + Studying for "Romola," ii. 234, 240, 246, 249, 250. + + Sturgis, Julian, high opinion of, iii. 257. + + Sully, James, letter to, on Mr. Lewes's articles, iii. 260, 269, 273; + thanking him for proof-reading, 274. + + "Sunshine through the Clouds," i. 233. + + Surrey, enjoyment, iii. 170. + + Surrey hills preferred to the sea-side, iii. 272. + + Swansea, cockle-women at, i. 292. + + Swayne, Rev. Mr., his delight with "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story," i. 311. + + Switzerland, letters during residence in 1849, i. 151-179. + + Sympathy, with other women, iii. 100; + the necessity of, ii. 269; + recovery of, iii. 293. + + + Tauchnitz offers for "Clerical Life," ii. 52; + offers £100 for German reprint of "Adam Bede," 115. + + Taylor, Isaac, influence of, i. 51. + + Taylor, Mrs. Peter, i. 196; + sympathy with, 197; + letters to, 218, 219; + generous letter from, with reply, 293, 294; + on her domestic position, ii. 213, 214; + letter to, on Christmas at Weybridge, iii. 159; + on difficulties of note writing, 181; + on the Lewes Studentship, 273. + + Taylor, Professor Tom, i. 201. + + Tenby, zoological delights, i. 293; + St. Catherine's Rock, 295; + work done here, 295; + Mr. Pigott's visit, 296; + leave and return to Richmond, 297. + + Tennyson, appreciation of, iii. 229. + + "Terror" in religious education, iii. 48. + + Thackeray, Miss, "The Story of Elizabeth," ii. 299; + her marriage, iii. 225. + + Thackeray's "Esmond," i. 214; + opinion of "Gilfil's Love-Story," 323; + favorable opinion of "Clerical Life," ii. 10. + + "The Impressions of Theophrastus Such," MS. sent to publishers, + iii. 245; + publication postponed, 252; + third edition about sold out, 268. + + Theism, objection to, i. 339, 340. + + Thirlwall, Bishop, story of, iii. 228. + + Thompson, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, iii. 149. + + Thorns in actual fame, ii. 90. + + Thorwaldsen's Christ scourged, i. 126. + + "Thoughts in Aid of Faith," by Miss Hennell, ii. 186, 188, 195; + favorable view of, by Miss Nightingale and Miss Julia Smith, 190. + + "Thoughts in Aid of Faith," ii. 73. + + Thoughts on death, iii. 100; + on early death, ii. 290. + + Tichborne trial, the, iii. 106; + Coleridge's address, 107. + + _Times_ reviews "Adam Bede," ii. 73; + letter to, denying Liggin's authorship, 74. + + Titian's paintings, ii. 43, 45. + + "Too good to be true," i. 140. + + Torquay, visit to, iii. 25. + + Toulon to Nice, drive from, ii. 216, 217. + + Town life, depression of, ii. 203. + + Tragedy, notes on, iii. 32. + + Translator's difficulties, a, i. 99. + + Traunstein, our fellow-travellers at, ii. 35. + + Trèves, a visit to, iii. 122. + + Trollope, Anthony, his "Orley Farm," delightful letter from, ii. 246. + + Truth, desire for, i. 77. + + Truth of feeling a bond of union, i. 88. + + Tryan, Rev. Mr., an ideal character, i. 332. + + Tulloch, Principal, his "Pascal," iii. 235. + + Turguenieff, M., iii. 209. + + Turin: Count Cavour, ii. 122; + Prince de Carignan, 122. + + Tylor's "Primitive Culture," iii. 118. + + Tyndall, Professor, "On the Constitution of the Universe," ii. 299. + + + University and public school education, iii. 309. + + Use of irregular verses, iii. 40. + + "Utopias," poem on, ii. 286. + + + Venice: the Grand Canal by moonlight, ii. 172; + San Marco and Doge's Palace, 173; + pictures in the palace, 173; + interior of St. Mark's, 174; + "Death of Peter the Martyr," 175; + the Scuola di San Rocco, 176; + Tintoretto and Titian, 176; + Giovanni Bellini and Palma Vecchio, 177; + sunset on the Lagoon, 177; + Piazza of San Marco, 178; + a remarkable picture, 178. + + Verona, the church of San Zenone, ii. 179; + the tombs of the Scaligers, 179. + + Veronese, his "Finding of Moses," etc., ii. 44. + + Via Mala, its grand scenery, ii. 182. + + Vienna: Belvedere pictures, ii. 39; + the Liechtenstein collection, 39; + Hyrtl, the anatomist, 39; + journey to Prague, 40. + + "Villette," i. 220. + + Vision of others' needs, iii. 177. + + Vision-seeing subjective, iii. 116. + + "Visiting my Relations," a volume of poetry from the authoress of, + ii. 97. + + + Wales, visit to, iii. 189. + + Wallace's "Eastern Archipelago," iii. 118. + + Wallington, Miss, her school at Nuneaton, i. 15. + + Walt Whitman, motto from, iii. 200. + + Wandsworth, takes new house at, ii. 59. + + Warwickshire magistrate, correspondence with, ii. 97. + + "Waverley," writes out, i. 16. + + Weimar recollections: interview with Strauss, i. 240; + the Dichter Zimmer, 240; + Scholl, 240; + excursion to Ettersburg, 241; + Arthur Helps, 242; + Goethe's beech, 242; + expedition to Ilmenau, 242; + Wagner's operas, 243; + "Der Freischütz," 243; + Schiller's house, 244; + Goethe's house, 244; his study, 245; + the _Gartenhaus_, 246; + the _Webicht_, 247; + Marquis de Ferrière, 247; + Liszt on Spontoni, 248; + breakfast with, 249; + his playing, 250; + his trophies, 250; + our expenses, 251; + work at and books read, 268-271; + wrote article on "Madame de Sablé," 268; + remarks on books read, 269-271; + return to England, 271. + + _Westminster_, the, on "Essays and Reviews," ii. 200. + + _Westminster Review_, assistant editor of, i. 186; + heavy work, 193; + its difficulties, 227; + wishes to give up editorship, 229. + + _Westminster_ reviewers, i. 199, 200, 205, 210. + + Weybridge, Christmas visit to, iii. 71, 140, 159. + + Wharton's "Summary of the Laws relating to Women," i. 220. + + Whitby, visit to, iii. 85. + + Wicksteed's review of Strauss's translation in "Prospective," i. 109. + + Wilberforce, emulation of, i. 31. + + Wildbad to Brussels, iii. 295. + + Will, power of the, iii. 179. + + Wilson, Andrew, the "Abode of Snow," iii. 190. + + Witley, house bought at, iii. 215; + life at, 240; + Sunday receptions, 241. + + Wolseley, Sir Garnet, iii. 198. + + Woman's duty, yearning for a, i. 173; + earnings, 282; + full experience, iii. 63; + constancy, on, 92, 93. + + Womanhood, her ideal of, iii. 308. + + Women's Colleges, iii. 309. + + Woolwich Arsenal, a visit to, iii. 176. + + Wordsworth's Poems, i. 45. + + Wordsworth's Thoughts on Humanity, iii. 280. + + Work at Weimar and Berlin, i. 268. + + World of light and speech, iii. 185. + + Writing under difficulties, ii. 307. + + + Young, discontent of the, iii. 213. + + Young Englandism, no sympathy with, i. 124. + + Young men, desire to influence, iii. 18. + + Yorkshire, visit to, iii. 41. + + + Zoological Gardens, pleasure in, ii. 209; + friendship with the Shoebill, 209. + + +THE END. + + + + +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. + + * * * * * + +POPULAR EDITION. + +_ADAM BEDE._ Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + +_DANIEL DERONDA._ 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $1.50. + +_ESSAYS and LEAVES FROM A NOTE-BOOK._ 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + +_FELIX HOLT, THE RADICAL._ Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + +_MIDDLEMARCH._ 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $1.50. + +_ROMOLA._ Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + +_SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE, and SILAS MARNER._ Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, +75 cents. + +_THE IMPRESSIONS OF THEOPHRASTUS SUCH._ 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + +_THE MILL ON THE FLOSS._ 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. + + * * * * * + +CHEAPER EDITIONS. + +_BROTHER JACOB.--THE LIFTED VEIL._ 32mo, Paper, 20 cents. + +_DANIEL DERONDA._ 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +_ESSAYS and LEAVES FROM A NOTE-BOOK._ 4to, Paper. + +_FELIX HOLT, THE RADICAL._ 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +_JANET'S REPENTANCE._ 32mo, Paper, 20 cents. + +_MIDDLEMARCH._ 8vo, Paper, 75 cents. + +_MR. GILFIL'S LOVE STORY._ 32mo, Paper, 20 cents. + +_ROMOLA._ Ill'd. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +_SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE._ 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +_THE IMPRESSIONS OF THEOPHRASTUS SUCH._ 4to, Paper, 10 cents. + +_THE MILL ON THE FLOSS._ 8vo, Paper, 50 cents. + +_THE SAD FORTUNES OF THE REV. AMOS BARTON._ 32mo, Paper, 20 cts. + + * * * * * + +PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. + +HARPER & BROTHERS _will send any of the above works by mail, postage +prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the +price._ + + + * * * * * + + +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. 259 sidenote (22d April, retained) and p. 260 continuation sidenote +(23d April, deleted) disagree. + +P. 224, "disbelief in my own {duty/right}"--original shows "duty" +immediately above "right" with large curly braces surrounding both. + +Latin-1 file: p. 133, "baby is raised to the _n_^{th} power"--^{th} +indicates "th" as a superscript. + +Latin-1 file: p. 102, [)o] indicates an "o" with a breve, and [=o] +indicates an "o" with a macron. Html file displays these as in the +original. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of George Eliot's Life, Vol. III (of 3), by +George Eliot + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43045 *** |