The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-08-12
!, LIFE OF GEORGE ELIOT.
CRITICAL REVIEW OF MIR.
CROSSES BIOGRAPHY.
Master Hand Reviews George EHot's
life and Draws Some Correct COmclu-
eIons 1herefrOm. !


Special Cor. STATE CHRONICLE.
The author Of this work will owe his
r.aec IN literature TO the fact Of his hay
IN. had the honor of being the somewhat
trly husband of George Eliot; an honor
questionable at best, and as brief as ques-
t4at8tDlc, for the great novelist was III the
a-f year of her life when IN rash gcneros-
Il er blind worship of genius he threw
lha mantle of his name over the untelt
shame of her twenty-five years wifely in
tiIuacy with another woman's husband
Eo these alternatives generosity and
worship of genius many would add, as
explanation more likely than either Il
craving for notoriety even though il he
only yIcarious honor mere fame law,
20 to speak; but such explanation seems
uegatiycd by an examination of the book
4nder review The modesty of the author
J., evident; he hides himself closely behind
his iIustrious subject and is in fact, as
his Ntle acknowledges, simply the editor
and compiler Of her letters and journal
In this respect his virtue verges to the ex-
IRENE Of vice; it would enhance the in
rerest of the book We're he more the bio
2rapher and less the editor.
As it is, however, the Life is almost eX-
cIu7lycly letters and journal with an occa-
7Ional paragraph here and there serving
as thread all too slender upon which these
epi9tolary and journalistic beads are
,frung moreover, there is almost nothing
IN the letters to individualize them to the
lcader very little that is specific in date
or address, oftcDtimes not even a hint,
beyond slight spacing, of the end OF one
letter and the beginning of another.
Ihc fact that the book is mainly mass
Of such letters with So Slight setting of
80
while the absence of such concreteness as
would be furnished by the name of the
person addressed by the division of letter
from letter, by some explanation of refer
ence tfrequently III these letters the merest
ajlusiou,) occasions lack of clearness.
one OF The first inquiries will be, '.Iiow
doe, her relation with Iewes figure in this
book E
II figures simply Il fact. Mr.. Gross
very wisely lets 1t severely alone, and Geo.
LIot herself refers to 1t explicitly once
only; though in her correspondence there
are n;tuy allusiOnS which the reader will
naturally conStrue as references to it. but
lHcN are alluSionS only; nor is there any
Where on the part of either editor or au-
tnor any attempt at vindicatiOn or eNpla
nation.
The impression Of ability Great, d by
trco. Ellot'S works Will not be lesseucd by
reading this book She will be seen to be
woman Of broad and varied scholarship;
yer,ed in science, physics and metaphysics;
mistress of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German
French and Italian; speaking the modern
language and reading the ancient with the
rare ease which begets pleasure; of vigor
ous and versatile mind; a review writer and
editor, Il translator, eSSaylSt, novelist poet
and dltuuatSt; of sufficient excellence in
each department for 1t alone to have made
bel prominent, but in all combined an in
stance. pre-emlnent, OF gifts winch for
eNeelitnc no less than Tor versatility are
rs marked us they are rare: of wide and
thorough culture, ranging the whole field
of literature with a catholcity Of taste, an
amplitude of appetite, power Of diges-
ton, positively humbling to the ordinary
''Well-read' individual. AS specimens of
her diet, take: Mill, Comte, Blackstone
Aristotle, Spinoza, Aeschylus, Renan,
strauss, Emerson, Spencer, Horace, Homer,
Wilhelm, Meister Grove on Correlation of
Forces, Max Muller, Lecky, Lucretius
Prolegomena to Homer, Milton, Warton,
Marcus Aurelius. Dante, Maurice's Lee
lures on Casulstry, Draper's Physiology,
Buckle, Richl &c, &c, &C, &C!.
The reader will be surprised at the
amount of extensive. hard reading, of
honest labor, involved III the preparation
for writing her novels; the thoroughness
with which she gathered her materials
the patient perseverance and palnstaking
with which she elaborated and verified
details. 1t may be of interest here to note
that she seems to give the palm to Romola
though the verdict of the world will prob
ably place it third, or at least second, in
the list of her novels.
While appreciation of the scholar, stu
dent, author will not be leSsened, the ad-
miration of the woman will not be increas-
ed. She will not appear by any means as
conspicuous for the amablc elements of
WOmanly attractiveness-th crown and
glory of her sex-as for ability; there seem
TO be more of the commonly considered
masculine traits in her character than the
feminine; She appears ambitious, self
absorbed, and absorbing others for self
Lewes figures chiefly as her literary
lacky, Il sort of valet de chamber to her
intellect; and after his death she allowed
}. ". Cross TO succeed him in his office of
cushion-in- general; and this too, though
Sle was at that time a withered and worn
old woman, in her sixty-first year; her
portrait taken twenty years before shows
a face of great force, but even at that
time masculine, hard, gaunt; the features
OF 4 typical Romany Queen.
That she herself considered this step a
~$crifce on his part is intimated in her
language when announcing her purpose
to marry him:
The only point to be regretted in our
marriage is that | 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"
Though this impression of her life was
decided. vet we were diffident of our judg-
meut, until we read recently some refer
euce to ''her extraordinary selfishness, he1
heart hunger for admiration, and her vast
power of absorbing other personalities
through sheer sense and intellectual
greed.
She was favored in early associations
and advantages. She left school an ardent
evangelical, strict almost to asceticlsm,
so morbid as to be conscience smitten over
the pleasure derived from fine music.
nder The influence of German ratlonallsm
and matt rialistic science she ceased to be-
Ieyc III revealed religion and from lnfidel-
NY finally lapsed into atheism, and evident
II regarded the representatives and expo
AeAta Of that faith in which she was reared
and in which her father lived and died, with
aH Indifference nearly akin to contempt.
We are astonished at her declaring 1.-The
conception of creative design untenable;
bat our surprise at this is lost IN the
greater surprise of her saying, THAT any
unWOrdly, interpretations person who Is
sufficiently acquainted with the realities
u lie can pronounce my relation to Mr..
L