Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-24
..GEOKGE ELIOT"
Tho Story of Her Social Relations.


lated into French and German, and has
been done into Spanish, Italian, Dutch,
Russian and other modern tongues. 1t
brought her the acquaintance Of a num-
Der Of literary men (she had always been
shy, and had sedulously avoided society
among them Herbert Spencer, George Hen
nv Lewes. Dickens, AdOlphus TrOIlOpe,
Thackery, Matthew Arnold, Wilkie Collins,
Leslie Stephens and Charles Readc. Spcn-
Ger and Lewes were particularly interested
in her, aud a close intellectual friendship
sprang up between them.
Spencer informally instructed her i'll his
system of philosophy, and Lewcs added
largely to her stock Of culture by his own
diversified attainments. Spencer, albeit
philosophic bachelor, wished to marry her.
it is said, Eut she declined his proposal.
Lewes was strongly drawn to her through
| intellectual sympathy, far more so than
he had ever been, or believed he ever
could be, to any human being. He said
that they needed one another; that he
felt he could help her as much As she
could help him that their minds were
correlated and mutually responsive.
Lewcs would have been only too happy to
make her his wife. Bat there was an OBJ
stacle in the way of their ruptials then or
at any other time. There was a Mrs.
Lewes already, and what Was worse, al
though she and Lewes did not live TO.
sether, she could not legally be set aside.
Why? He had married years before :,
woman who had very little in common
with him, and, as he learned too late.
with whom he had still less. He, being Of
stoic mould, bore the misfortune uncom-
plai-ingly, trying to soften the unavoid-
able disharmony as much rs he could lie
rebelled violently against her indiscrert
acceptance. Unable to be fond OF him.
she was So much repelled that she drove
him, by her expression Of rcpuSnancc,
weil-nigh distracted, for he, like most men
or artistic temperament, was extremely
sensitive, and capable Of great spiritual
suffering. After two or three years "i
discord she met another man who was
very attentive to her; she was then hand
some and had an attractive figure, and
she was so moved by his attentions that
she ran away with him. Lewes was greatly
relieved. Ii lie had been orthodox lie
would have thanked the Lord for his de-
liverance. AS he was 4 nationalist, Inc
regarded his wife's elopementa as happy
coincidence. Mrs. Lcwcs's lover presently
grew tired of her and abandoned her.
Then she repcnted and sought her hus-
band with pathetic cOntritiOn and plcn.
tcous tears. He was generous, chivalrOus,
tender hearted hc had no love for her,
but fearing that she might go to moral
perlition, he nObly, and in the face o:
public perjudicc, and what he knew
would 10 .jeering world, took hel
back-replaced her in his home. He be
leved that lie had done. his duty he was
truly one man in ten Thousand. lie had
sacrificed himself for what seemed to b.
her good. Before the year had passed
Mrs Lcwcs, who had resumed her old at
titude of opposition and defiance, repeat
ed her oiftusc. She ran away again. Lewe.
, felt he had enough Of wediock, that hence
forth cclibacy would be forever alluring
and it would have been, doubtless, under
ordinary circumstances. But meeting
George Eliot was not, to his mind, an or
dinary circumstance. lie had no passiO,
for her, no romantic attachment, no senti
mental prejudice. He loved her intellect
: he worshippcd her genius he knclt at hcl
shrine. But he could not marry her, and
without marriage society and custom for
badc them to be close companions.
. The English law will not grant divorce
under any circumstances where disloyalty
has once been condOned. lie had con
,loncd his wife's clOpment for her secOnt
, clOpmcnt he had no legal remedy. What
could, what did he do? He submitted
the matter, after due reflection, to thei
common friends, entirely conscious that
George Eliot would, by living with him,
place herself under ban !; that she would cx
pose herself to misunderstanding, to harsl
comment, to cruel criticism !; that slt
could hope for only the recognition and
esteem of the few. Their friends were
among the best and most intellectual per
sons in the United Kingdom. They dis
cusscd the question in favor of u spiritua
union which the law, through a technical
ity, would not sanction. George Eliot and
, George Henry Lewes went to reside under
the same ROOF, and until his death, in 1873
they were tho best of friends, the mos
sympathetic OF comrades, the most har
monious of literary co-workers. The!
lived in y queit quarter of London, nea
/ Regents Park, in modest but comfort
able and elegant home, full Of books, pic
lures and objects of taste and art.
She never went out socially, but she re-
cciyed Sunday evenings during the seaso,
with her friends, as they who called wer.
: almost always people of some kind Of dis
tinction. 1t was deemed a privilege to go
and number Of cultured and liberia
Americans have passed delightful hour
there.
, Lewcs's death was terrible bereavement
to George Eliot, and one from which she
never recovered. Mrs. Hooper wrote con.
ccrning the trouble OF the novelist: ''IIel
agony ut the time of his death was uncon.
trollable and unbounded. She broke dow
$ as utterly as ever did the weakest woman
, of us all, and her shrieks Of irrcpressibls
| onC,icl, yroro hcartrnn6inr tn hoarH - SLt
lived in strict refinement, and when tic
!. news was published in May last that she
had married Mr.. John Walter Cross. Of
London, the world of readers were taken b,
vertiablc surprise. The marriage notice
read Marian c. Evans, spinster." Mr.. Cros.
is an Englishman of a highly respectable
family, who resides at Weybridsc, in tho
| county of Surrey, near London, and is tho
senior partner of the banking firm of Cross
Benson & Co., in that city. His brother
J. Mr.. Richard 5. Cross. is banker Of Nca
York. Mr.. Cross is tall, athletic
man of about forty-iivc years. and hr
was for some years a resident of New
: York, and one Of the firm of Dennistown
Wood s. Co., bankers. He was never pre-
viously married. His tastes are literary
and his information extensive, and, al
though he was about fifteen years the
junior of his bride, i long acquaintance
satisfied him that in no one could he
find more congcnial companion. Mr.
, Cross had been an intimate friend Ui
Lcwcs, had charge of his money affairs
and afterwards had conducted George
EliOt's business. He lived close by tie
Lewescs' country place, and came in and
out like an attached relation. He admir-
cd Mrs. Lcwcs profoundly, and alWays