Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-05-05

, Horace Mann Minister at the Tuscan Court
Walpole wrote: " You may think O
America. if you please but we think AM
talk of but one subject, the solemn comedl
that is acting in Westminster Hall, in al
10. On to the trial of the famous Duchess O.
Kiugston, on the charge of bigamy. France
was looking closely at the dispute between
England and the Thirteen Colonies; and as
the Continental Congress was steadily set.
ting toward independence, the Freuchsgov-
ernment was as steadily setting toward that
open Intervention in the contest which came
less than two years later, and which had so
great an effect on the issue OF that contest.
-Trareler.
George Eliot.
| THE GREATEST OF LIVING NOyELIsTs-uER AN
TzCEDENTs AND LITERARY BEGINNINGS.
London Correspondence New York Herald.
George Eliot is now the wife of George
Henry Lewes, the httTafeur. Her maiden
name was Evans, her given name being
Marian c., not Mary Ann, as she has often
been called.
She was born in the north of England, in
the spring of 1920. She is, therefore, near
ly .ifty-six. Very little is known of her
early history. She seldom if ever refers to
it herself; anything like biographical
sketch of her has never been written. and
indeed the facts of her life in any positively
authoritative form are unprOcurable. She
is reputed. however, TO be the only child Of
a dissenting clergyman, graduate of Ok
! ford. a man of original mind and much
learning. As child she was very precO-
ciOus, though not inclined to the routine
studies of the schools she attended. She
was great reader. She had an under
standing far beyond her years. The child
| evinced at very carly age talent for
composition, which so delighted her father
that he encouraged her in every way. lie
took the greatest pains TO form her style
he was d strong and graceful writer him
self-and with the best effect for before
she was sixteen she expressed her thoughts
on paper with Nervousness and point that
men OF tige and twenty seldom equal
WHITING FOR PRINT.
When Marian was eighteen it is said that
she began to write for the newspapers and
periodicals and earned considerable money.
She had no friends in the metropolis. She
merely sent her manuscripts. with the re-
quest that they should be returned to her
address it not acceptable. Some OF them
went back, though not very many, ard her
unexpected success gave her hope and slim
ulaied her to renewed effort. She revealed
nothing of her privacy. She even conceal
ed her sex under the pseudOnyme she still
bears, and the editors and publishers with
whom she dealt had no idea Of her iemln-
ineness. She was enabled to be of much as
sistance to her parents ty her slender earn
ings and TO repay them substantially for
what they had done for her.
She had barely reached her twentieth
year when she lost her father, and her moth
er soon followed him. Having no further
ties she decided to coLle here and lead
| literary life. By that time she had become
acquainted through correspondence with
several families, and one Of them cordially
invited her to make their home her home.
| She set to work Immediately on her arrival.
contributing poems, stories, sketches and
essays to the minor publications. Most OF
her writings were printed anonymously and
as they were done only for pounds, shlllings
and pence. she has never Acknowledged
them. She grew steadily in ability and re-
| putation, and she labored supremely but
her reputation, naturally for one 20 young,
was confined almost entirely 10 those who
paid her and who knew her personally.
HER RFIRsr STORIES.
The fr,t work that attracted any general
/ attention here was " Scenes from Clerical
l the " Scenes" were published. They made
/ the name of George Eliot familiar TO num-
/ ber Of cultured people. but the sale was not
/ large. The author disposed OF the contents
| OF the volume outright for $50 $3.50.
Two Or three years later She produced
" SilaS Mariner, 80 marked an advance
upOn her previous work that many 81 her
admirers, even 10 this day, consider II one
of hervcry best stories. She realized from
-" Marner,' have been told, $3.50 Isl ,5J0)
/ exclusive. OF course. of what she has re-
ceived, since -Ie achieved great fame, iroui
the sale + her collected works.
uER LAYER WORKS.
" Adam BeIe,' published ID ls-,. car
ried her name across the Chau.I and the
Atlantic. 1t was translate. into French
and German, and many editions were sold
in the United States. Ii laid the fJunda-
tlon of her celebrity. OF her literary for
tune. for from that date she has been able
10 command publishers instead Of yielding
TO them. a most authors have 70 30 through
out their lives. Conscious Il ,tr power co.
- Adam Bede,' she declined TO dispose oi II
except at fixed royalty. H. this she iound
her advantage, for within three Years irum
lis first appearance She had got Tor II L.
800 IS 300 and fully as much more, no
doubt. in the succeeding FIVE.
The next year he Mill on the Floss
was published Ii had been partially writ
ten when " Adam Bede' came out, and
met with most cordial reception. She
had numerous bids Tor It from rival pub
fishers. and finally accepted f2,000 (SlO,-
000) down, with q certain per ccntage after
the sale OF a given number OF ceples.
Then lcsme q. Romola" Qs63), Felix
Uolt" (lo66), " The spanish Gypsy (ls6o) ,
" Middlemarch" No73), and. "a few months
after. " The Legend OF Jubal and Other
Poems
PROFESSIONAL WEAKNESS.
4" The Spanish Gypsy" was her first ae-
knowledged essay in verse, and was not
very successful George Eliot. having
demonstrated her eminent capacity as Il
novelist, i anxious 10 prove herself poet,
and she has not been able to. She IS a poet in
spirit. thought and sympathy, though not,
IN any high sense. IN the form commonly
accepted. The limitations OF rhyme and
rhythm fotter her expression. cramp her
Imagination, hamper her genius. She
would rather be poet than anything else,
and her failure to be recognized as such
troubles her sorely. Oddly. Vet naturally
enough, she Is persuaded that The Span
ish Gypsy Is her greatest performance
EIthttT tudn INumuid, greater Nuhu
Middcmarch. greater than &" Daniel
Deronda." She received Il coo (S20 00O)
tor the " Gypsy and the firm which paid
it has never got its money back The pub
lie that 50 enjoys her stories cares cOmpar-
atively little for her poetry, and Tor once
the public is right.
GOLDEN INK.
Mddiemarch. " i generally considered
up to the present, her best work. 1t ha,
been predicted that /" Deronda" will excel
1t but it is yet too early TO hazard an
opinion For Mddlemarch'' its writer
obtained IS, 600 (SiO ,O0O) on the delivery
of the manuscript, and | hear its publish
ers have already cleared Ei2 coo on it
while the sale continues to be large anC
: steady. am told, by one who claims to bt
, correctly informed, that she received fol
- Deronda" fl2, 600 $3.50 0,000), with ar
arrangement as TO the future percentage
that will be likely in the end to yield her al
least 81 600 more. Who shall say that lit
erature is unremunerative when single
{ work is capable of bringing $4,000. til,
, interest of which would be an independ
ence in the United States, and something