The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-11-14
that's What Mis-. Linn Lytten Says Of
George Eliot.
Always |! Y THE GODDESS ON her PEDESTAL
Some Dl1 Interesting "Reminiscences and
SSSs S:ansfie. Criticisms of the Famous
S.ssss Novelist Her Charactcr nnd Con.
duet i'icturedin different Stages
52f n OF Her Career.

h remlnisoences of tho great novelist whom
q sho know, but did not greatly love
g5f 1t was Mt John Chapman's that I first
met George Elliot, th0n Mary Ann Evans
< having adopted neither her pscu1onym nor
4 her style and title of George Lswas' wife
{. . Confession is good for tho soul" thcy
say, and 1 will oandidly confess my short.
q sighted preiudices with respect to this-to
Il be-celebrated person. These wpro her
4 undeveloped as wollias hor insurgont days
II Sho was known to be learned, industrious
thoughtful, noteworthy, but she was not
yot the great genius of her age, nor phi
{, iosopher bracketed with Plato and Kant
( nor was her personality hold to be superior
ITO tho law OF the land, nor WINS she recog-
I, nized ms conventional gontlewon,nn. In
q those days indeed she WINS eInphatically
Z not that She was essentially underlined
y and provincial, and I, in tho swaddling
4 clothes OF early education and proposes
8 elon, nsfl was, saw more of tho provincial
than tho genius and WAS repealed by tho
4 uniformed manner rather than attracted
by tho learning. Sho held her hands and
I, arms kan CARGO fashion, was badly dressed
had an unwashctl, ,unbrushcd, unkompt
look altogether, and sho assumed tono
H OF superiority over mo which was not
then aware wns warranted by her I'M
f Enthusiastically Frsm first to last sho
9iputup my montal 4bristlcs, SO that Ere
: t5cotedfthen and There what might have be-
como closer acquaintance Ind / not been
60 blind and SO much influenced by her
want Unconventional graces.
AsIwas mover n habitne OF John Chan
man s'famoas evenings andknew him and
his vito best when thoy lived out of Lon
don and before they took their Strand
house, 1,saw but littlo OF Mary Ann,Evans
I'LL nftor her 1ight'with George Loves.
giNhnn fhCJ- 7
shon by thor jointsrcquest. They woro in
& lodgings i'll st. John 's'Wood, and tho aurn-
ole OF their new'lovo was around thom.
y lThero wasinone Of tho ;protonse Of q sane
& ftioncdiunion which camo observation-disclosures
OF tho somewhat pretentious assumption
OF superior morality which was horn of
her success. Showas frank, genial, mt
urnl and brimful Of happiness The con-
seriousness that sho had finally made her
choice nnd cast the dte,which determined
not fato gave her u nobility of expression
amt a grandeur Of bearing which sho had
not had when I first knew her. Thon NV
heart warmed to her with mingled love
z AMI admiration, and 1vpaid her tho hom-
& ago she deserved. felt her superiority
S and acknowledged 1t with enthusiasm.
Had shc always remained on that Lowell sho
would have been tho grandest woman of
this or any nEe.
pu' euecesS anu adaaatlon spoiled her
and destroyed all simplicity, all sincerity
OF character. She grow to be artificial,
passed, protcntious, unreal. She lived an
unreal life MI through, both mentally and
socially, and in hor endcavor to harmonize
two irreconcllables--to be Mt once conyen-
& tional and insurgent-the,uphold Of tho
sanctlty Of marriage whilc living ms tho
vito of u married mnn-tho self reliant
lawbrcaker and the engerfpostulant for the
recognition granted only to the covennutcd
f -sho lost evory trace of that finer freedom
q and whole heartedncss which had been SO
remarkable in the beginning of her con-
( neotion with Loves Sho was n mazda
iwoman-not in the French sonse-but
madotby. self smanipulation,ya one makes
q statue or atvase. have mover known
any ono who seemed to fne,so :purcly arti-
fetal as Georgo,Eliot
. She took a>flne typo for imitation, but
tho resultNwas,not q flesh and Blood yyom-
an. Not n line of spontaneity was loft in
sher,. not an Impulse beyond tho reach OF
E9lf CON o1ous philosophy, not an unsuard-
y ledi tRaot; OF mental territory whore
"a little unframed folly might luxuriate.
Sho was always tho goddess on her uodes-
Itnl--gracious in her oondcscansion-wi
sweet, strains of sympathetic recognition
4 ,forfalli who came TO. ler, ever ready to lis
i ton toshdr yyorshipers,I eversrehdy.to reply,
to encourage. to ciehr from, confusion
minds sbofogged by unassiniiateds learning
and, gaaerohsin imparting her own. But
never for dne instant did she forget her self
3ore0tsdt self, never, did sho throw aside tho
ttrappings or the airs of tho bonien sibyl.
Her soft, low voice was pitched In ono
Il level and monotonous key, antieher DELHI
Grafton OF speechtwas q trilie Irritating 10
the eager whose flint was already fred.
y Her gestures wero as measured as her
& words, hor attitudes as restrained rs her
1 tones. Sho was SO consciously George
Elliot SO intsrpenetrated head and heel.
inside and out, with the sense of her I'm.
. portaEce as the great novelist and profound
thinker of her generation, ms to make her
sooiety;n lsttle overwhelming, leaving on
baser creatures thejimpression Of having
{ been roll led very fat indeed She was tho
nntithesis of George Sand whose impul-
sive, large and loving nature never BECAME
artihoialiaed by her fame, never grew to
I be self conscious by excess of intellect, ns
Z was the case with George Eliot 1t WINS
p nature and3art once more, as so often be-
i fore, and by ones own character tho YER
s dict CT which was best will bo determined
III With all her studied restraint OF manner
George Eliot had q large amount of what
&tho French call temperament. ASH lover
she was beth jealous and exaotine, and
q tho /" farfallone amoroso'' whom she had
captured was brought pretty faulty to his
4 hearings. IL even he went SO far ms Biz
3 minsllam to lecture, he had TO return