The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-03-07
GEORGE ELIOT, THF NOVEL WRITER


-N----
Her Personal and Professional characteristics
London Correspondence Of the Chicago Times,l
Before describing the George Eliot Of
to-day, let me refer for moment to her
early life. Her father was steward ofthe
estates of the Marquis of Aylesbury, at
Nuneaton, and those Of Sir Robert Peel,
at Tamworth. He was very successful
manager, and when he died he left his
business to a son, who yet cares for the
same estates. l know nothing of Miss
Evanss early life, further than that her
first literary work dates back to 1915 or
lS46, and was a translation from the
German of Strauss Life of Jesus" The
rationalistic quality of this work, and the
knowledge of German necessary to its
translation, afford one a hint as to the
spiritual tendencies of, and the amount
of information possessed by, one who
could then have been only a very young
girl. Her next production made its APP
pearance in BIaCktUOOdS, and was entitled
"Scenes in Clerical Life" Her first bit
was "Adam Bede." Perhaps it may be
stated as probable that Miss Evans was
stimulated in the direction and produc'
ton of fiction by the wonderful success
of Charlotte Bronte, whose "Jane Eyre"
had just then taken the English world
by storm.
At that period in Miss Evans's life, or
at least many years ago, George ID.
Lewes was editor of some we'll known
magazine--I believe the Westminster Re
UieaO. He is a man we'll known in litera.
ture, having written the physiology of
Common Life" "The Life Of Goethe"
translation of Complies philosophical
works. Mr.. Lewes and Miss Evans be-
came friends. Soon after this aCqlaint-
ance Lewes's wife eloped with Thornton
Hunt, a son of the famous Leigh Hunt
person who in appearance and intellect
was in every way inferior to the man
whose wife he carried away. There were
some children whose motherless condi-
ton excited Miss Eyans's pity, and she
took up her residence in Lewes's house
in order to care for them, By some trick
Mrs. Lewes managed to secure an inter-
view with Lewes under circumstances
which had the effect to preventa divorce
during her lifetime. She then left and
never returned. Lewes and Miss Evans
went abroad and mere married under the
laws of foreign State. Whatever may
have been the quality Of the marriage
then, the subsequent death of Mrs.
Lewes has had the effect to make it
legal.
George Eliot is woman who must
have passed her tenth lustrum. Despite
this, her hair, a very dark brown, has
none of those silver threads which one
might expect where the burden of over
half century of years is superimposed
by incessant labor and by experiences
full of desolation. She is not handsome.
Her face is long, pale, with small SEN
sitive mouth. Her eyes are vivid,
warm blue.gray, full Of depth, not keen
ly perCeptiye, now dreamily introspec'
tive, always full Of sadness. Her hair,
worn low, gives womanly effect to a
fnely-intellectual forehead. Her general
expression is that of wearied sensitive
ness-a sensitiveness whose develop
ment touches so closely on suffering that
they merge into each other, leaving it
doubtful where the one ends or the other
begins.
She is morbidly sensitive in regard to
her appearance and certain phases of her
life. She has been offered fabulous
sums by London photographers if she
would sit for her picture, but she has
always refused. So far as | know there
is not picture of her in existence. She
goes little or none in society, but has
weekly receptions, to which only Ger.
tain class is admitted. She may be often
seen at the classical matinees, given ev-
cry Saturday at st. James's Hall, and oc-
casionally she may be seen on the street
with pair of spanking bays, a very
swell carriage and liYeried servants.
| have been assured that she has al
ready cleared 100000 on her last work,
"Daniel Deronda." This is agodsend in
one sense, for although Lewes is man
of unquestioned ability, his books do not
sell.
l6T uOu6 lllS 10 Noly Cual ulluS OhO'
She exercises an active supervision and
develops a most comprehensive manage
ment and exquisite taste in every detail
of the household. In composition she is
very slow and methodical, writing, have
been assured, not more than from forty
to sixty lines a day. When book is
completed she is in such a state of nerv-
GUS exhaustion that her husband takes
her to Italy or southern France to recu-
perate While writing she must be scru-
pulously arranged as to person, while ev-
cry detail of her surroundings must be
in harmonious place.
Her information is encyclopaedidiac
in its extent, and as exact as the scien-
ces. She belongs to a materialistic
school of thought, to which Leslie
Stephens and George H. Lewes occupy
about the same position that do Huxley
and Tyndall toward the scientific school,