The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-08

the principle chat man is the object OF ma
ture that most inteSests man, and that in
terest and sympathy among men are in the
ratio of their similarity. The gods and be-
roes OF the epos are too far from us, and
their story is too grand to be entirely plea
surable. The passions of classic tragedy
are entirely out OF the circle Of to-day's ex-
perience. The fierce curses and agonles OF
Prometheus on his rock, and the awful re-
morse OF Elipus, make US shudder ana
turn aside. The modern drama, powerful
as it is, is cramped still by the unities and
the necessities OF the stage. Lyric poetry,
to borrow the metaphor of its great master,
is only bee that skins along and sips lib
delicious honey from the flowers OF life. The
essay is comparatively feeble, because 1t Is
simply didactic. It is the novel which ls
the great drama OF our everyday life. There
move men and women like to ourselves. 1t
portrays the passions, the cares, the joys that
make up the life Of every one OF ua. Inc
great problems OF the world, the misfortunes
OF virtue, the successes of vice, the misery
of hope, the insuffciency. OF fruition, the
longings for happiness, the senseHol lnsecu-
rity which darken it when present, Inc grim
spectre OF death ever present in the back
ground, all appear in this wonderful panorama
az ,hey appear to us. And on this scene,
sexual love asserts itself, as it does IN real
life, as the central fact Of society. 1t is no
wonder, then, that the novel furnishes 10 al
conditions OF men the greatest part OF their
literary pleasure, and very large pari ol
their moral teaching. Which OF US is not
wiser and happier for the 'NeWcomes'
"vanity Fair" and "Esmond." 1t is De-
cause OF this significance Of the novel that q
new one by so Bkilful worker as George
Eliot is an important literary event. Inc
chance that we may, in the coming year,
have pleasure such as that we naa 10
Adam Bede, the Mill on the Floss, Romola
or Felix Holt, is one by which we will all lay
some store. 1t is impossible here 10 show
with any particularly, by an examination o.
the works mentioned, what hopes lhey
Justify for the future. It is enough to say,
in general way, that they are earnest OF q
degree Of power not found in any noVel since
Thackeray ceased to write.
Only six chapters Of Middlemarch nave
thus far appeared. The scene is laid at the
country seat OF Mr. Brooke, with whom re-
side bis pretty neces, Dorothea and Celia
Brooke. Dorothea is full OF serious, we may
say, grand views Of life, and prefers TO Sir
John Cbeltam the neighborly squire, o cler-
gyman Of fifty years, Mr.. Casaubon, who is
engaged upon q great theological work, and
who talks and writes even OF the passion Of
love in o very rhetorical way. In the SIKH
chapter Mrs. Cadwallader appears, who Is
matter-of.fact, clever, OF incisive speech-in-
deed, very much Of an educated Mrs. Poyser.
As far as it goes, the work is we'll done. The
squire, although be has spoken but little, isa
skiliully drawn specimen Of the bucolc type.
The enthusiasms OF Dorothea are well brought
out, and Mrs. Cadwallader has only to keep
her pace to give US much pleasure. Casau:
bonis On unnatural prig, and the surrender
to him OF Dorolhea would be aggravaling in
the extreme If the reader did not see in the
act the seed OF the punishment that awaits
her for it. There is, on the whole, nothing
In these six chapters which makes us fear
that George EIiot's hand has lostits cunning,
or doubt that in Middlemarch our readers
have much pleasure in store.