The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26

cured a pardon for the unhappy girl, and Helen returned on foot with the pardon just in time to prevent the execution of her sister. Tehes are the historic facts; those who are familiar with the novel can at once see that Sir Walter with his wizard pen has employed them. This is all set forth in the introduction to 'The Heart of Midlothian"
 George Eliot, in her earlier literary life, would bodily transfer people from real life into the pages of her fiction. As a child she had known the Amos Bartons, the Silas Manners, the Bartle Masseys, the Bedes, the Tullivers and the rest all, of course, under other names. Adam Bede was a modified portrait of her rugged father, Robert Evans. while Seth was her uncle, both of whom were carpenters at Ellaston, in the vicinity of Ashbourne. For some time thel critics held that "Dinah Morris" in Adam Bede, was an Impossible person." but there were many who could testify that she was an actu- ally living person in Derbyshire. George Eliot had an aunt, Mrs Elizabeth Evans, who was a preacher among the Metho- dists. and whose personal appearance and dress agreed perfectly with the descrip- tior of Dinah Morris. While on a visit to her aunt in the year 1S42, George Eliot conceived the plot of Adam Bede, and from the beginning made Netty Sorrels wrongdoing the pivotal center upon which the whole story should revolve. This aunt related sad incident that had occurred; it was similar to the case in "The Heart of Midlothian" The aunt told of her visit to the girl in prison, that she had spent the night with her, and next day had gone to the execution with her All this is embraced in Adam Bede. The vis- itor to the girl in prison being Dinah Morris, and the unfortunate girl, the dupe of heartless Arthur Donnythorne So that the incidents and characters of the novel were taken from real life, the inex- haustible realm of pathos and tragedy.
 l have referred to Charlotte Bronte's Shirley" If the reader will remember he will recall that three ourates move through the story Each one of them was a real person; and the curate who took the place of the hypocrite Malone" MT. Mccarthy by name, afterward became the lover and husband of the author of Shirley, much to the disapproval of the Rev. MT. Bronte Charlottes father The marriage was, however a very happy one though brief In duration, for Charlotte's death soon followed. The curate's name was Nichols, and he was a man of lofty nature and Christian integrity. Of course Charlotte Bronte had her own father in her stories.
 As Charlotte Bronto was the daughter of an English clergyman and gave him character in her fiction. likewise Oliver Goldsmith was the son of B clergyman of the English church. The Rev. Mir. Prin- rose' of the Vicar of Wakefield Is more than a suggestion of tine Rev Mir. Gold smith; while the boy of the wonderlust, in the story, Is hint of Ollver's early life. In "The Deserted Village" Gold smith desribed his father as Passing rich on forty pounds a year" He then lived in little village in the county of Longford, Ireland
 I close this paper with an illustration from Nathaniel Hawthorne's romance of ''The Marble Faun." Few characters in Fictionland are more beautiful than Hill da. Her soul was purity without spot and her character as translucent as a sunbeam. She ever kept the lamp burn- ina before the virgins shrine far up in the Roman air in the old, old tower, while the white doves fluttered around her lonely post. Hawthorne found the