The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-10-11
VIEWS OF GEORGE ELIOT.
Mrs. Lynn Linton Describes Her at Dif-
ferent Stages of Her Career.

ferent Stages of Her Career.
In the Woman at Home Mrs. Lynn
Linton gives the following rather caustic
"reminiscences of the great novelist, whom
she knew but did not e atty love;
'It was at John Chapman's that nrst
met George Eliot-then Marian Evans,
having adopted neither her pseudonym
nor her style and title of George Lewes,
wife. Confession Is good for the soul,
they say, ana l Will candidly confess my
short sg hted prejudices with respect 10
this--to be-cele brated person. Ihese
were her undeveloped as we'll as her IN
surgent days. She was known TO De
learned, industrious, thoughtful. note.
worthy, but she was not yet the great
genius of her age, nor philosopher
bracketed with Plato and Kant, nor was
her personality held TO be superior 10 the
law OF the land, nor was she recognized ~
a conventional gentlewomBn. In tnose
days, indeed, she was emphaticaIly NOT
that. She was essentially underb red,
and provincial; and i, in the swaddling
clothes Of early education and preposses-
sion, as 4 was, saw more OF the provln-
cial than the genius, and was repelleo py
the uniformed manner rather than at-
tracted by the learning. She held her
hands and arms kangaroo fashion; was
badly dressed; had an unwashed, un.
brushed unkempt look Altogether, and
she assumed a tone OF superiority over me
which L was not then aware was war
ranted by her undoubted leadership.
From first to last she put up my metal
bristles, so that rejected then and there
what might have become a closer ac-
quaintance had not been so blind and
SO much influenced by her want OF con-
ventional graces.
"As was never q habitue OF John
Chapman's famous evenings and knew
him and his wife best when they lived
out of London and before they took their
Strand house, saw but little OF Marian
Evans till after her flight with George
Lewes. When they returned home call
ed on them by their joint request. They
were in lodgings in ST. Johns Wood, and
the aureole of their new love was around
them. There was none OF the pretense
| of a sanctioned union which came after
ward-none OF the somewhat pretentious
assumption Of superior morality which
| was born of her success. She was frank,
| genial. natural, and brimful Of happi-
! ness The consciousness that she had
| finally made her choice and cast the die
which determined her fate gave her q
nobility OF expression, and grandeur OF
| bearing which she had not when i first
knew her. Then my heart warmed to her
with mingled love and edmlration, and i
| paid her the homage she deserved. j felt
| her superiority and acknowledged II with
enthusiasm. Had she always remained
| on that level she would have been the
| prandest woman of this or any age.
"But success and adulation spoiled her
and destroyed all sincerity OF character.
| She grew TO be artifitial, passe, pretcn-
! tious. unreal. She lived an unreal life
| all through, both mentally and socially,
and in her endeavor to harmonize TO IT.
| reconcile bles--to be at once conventional
and insurgent-the upholder of the sane
| tity Of marriage while living as the wife
| OF "A married man the selt-reliant law
breaker and the eager postulsnt for the
| recognition granted only to the cove
nanted-she lost every trace OF that finer
fr, edom and whole -heartedness which
had been SO remarkable in the begin
| ming OF her connection with Lewes. She
was made woman-not in the French
sense-but made by seli-manipulation,
| ms one makes n statue or vase. i have
never know anyone who seemed TO me &C
purely artificial as George Eliot.
"She took fine type or imitation, but
the result was not hesh-and- blooe
woman. Not q line OF spontaneity wal
left i'm her; not an impulse beyond th'
reach Of self-conscious philosophy no
an ungarded tract OF mental or moral ter
ritory where little unframed folly
| might luxuriate she was always thu
goddess OF her pedestal--grscious In he
condesceDsion-with sweet strains OF sym
| pethetic recognition for all who came Il
her-.ever ready to listen to her worship
ers ever ready to reply, TO encourage
TO clear from confusion minds befogget
by unsssini Hated learning, and generou
In imparting her own. But never for on
instant did she forget her self-createt
self-nevor did she throw aside the trap
pings or the airs of the benign sibyL lie
soft. low voice was pil ched in one leve
and mcnotonous key, and her delibera
ton OF speech was tribe irritating e
tn, ear whose flint was already fired
Tier gesture, were a. m asurtd as he
words; her attitudes as restrained as he
tones. She was no consciously 'Georg
Fliot'-so interpenetrated head and heel
inside and out, with the sense OF her I'm
portance as the great novelist anu pro
found thinker o. her generation. ~ :,
make her societva little Overwhelming
leaving on baser creatures the impres
sion OF having been rouod vry fat in
de a. She WIS he artiihesis Of Geofg'
sand, whose imrulsive, large, fnd iovinl
nature never became artiiic sli1ed by he
isme. never q ,ew TO be sell conscious b.
a