Year: 1873

hard pate Of ntr hau dn, cfcailng naDpl
that wcodeuness from the wealth ol her owu love That
DorOthea's bent. Wits al her yearning to know
what aiar RON her, and 10 De widely benlgnaut she
had aror enough for what was near 10 have Kissed Mr
Casaubons ooatslecve. or 10 have catessed ms shoe
atchct, If he would have made any other iss of ao
cepanco than prOuOuncing her, with his uniailing pro-
priety, 70 be O most afectlonate ana truly feminine
nature. indicating at the same time by politely reaching
chair for her tat hc regarded these ~
rather crude and startling Having made his clerical
toilet with due in the morning, ne was prepared
only Tor those amenities OF lie which were sed 10 tn9
welladiusted s crdvat OF the period, and 10 mind
weighted with unpublished matter


The visit in Rome is at length completed and the
young wife accompanies her husband, who had
gained the character among the irreyerent and jolly
students in that artistic capital OF ~ cursed,
white-blooded. pedantic eoxcomb." to their somber
ecclesiastical home in Midalemarch. But here the
matrimonial duet gives forth no sweeter melodies.
Dorothea became the private secretary of her hus-
band aided him. as far as possible, in his studies,
and even began to learn Greek under his direction;
but there was no real sympathy between the two;
and the hunger which she felt for q more perfect
companionshp was increased by the perpetual effort
demanded by her married life. She always try
ing TO be what her husband wished, but was never
able to repose in his delight iii what she was. What
she spontaneously cared TO have seemed to be always
excluded from her life. She Onged for objects who
could be dear to her. and TO whom she could be DEAR
for work which would be directly benefcent Ike
sunshine and rain but it appeared that she was
doomed to live in virtual tomb where
there was the apparatus OF ia CHASTITY labor
producing what would never see the light.
Rocks were of no use. Thinking was Of no use.
There was no refuge from spiritual emptiness and
discomfort. The pathos of this domestic tragedy III
which 10 fault of action coud be ascrbed to either
person of the drama, but which was due to the Mem
ess of nature avengng forced contlgulty OF posi-
ton where there no congruity OF temperament,
or habit or taste was finally brought to close by
the death Of Mr. CasaubOn leaving the spiritually
minded wife to the freedom of a new choice, and the
indulgence of a new affection. The sequel OF the
story is soon told Among her acquaintance was a
relative and dependent of her former husband,
Young man of her own age, but without the most
distant transcendental tendencies, with but faint
consciousness of his immortal personal destiny,
and no shadow of interest in the destiDles
of tbe human race. He cherished so
deep'a a contempt for positive knowledge, that he
preferred not to know the of the Nile leav-
ing some unknown regions as the huntlng-ground OF
the Imagination. He called himself a Pegasus that
could not work in harness. Genius, he held, was
intolerant of fetters its spontaneous impulses must
have free play only awaiting the messages OF the
Universe in an attitude of receptivty. There were
various sublime chances and he had sincerely tried
many of them. He was not excessively fond OF wine,
but he had several times taken too much as an ex-
pertinent in ecstasy He had tasted till he was FAINT,
and then supped on lobster. He had made himself
sick with doses Of opium, but without any strkngly
original results though he became convinced that
his constitution was unlike that OF either Colerdge
OF De Quincy. For Mr.. Casaubon he had a blended
feeling Of profound contempt and intense dis
gust. He had never got over his surprise that
such a dried-up old bat Of erudition should have
gained the hand of an adorable young creature like
Dorothea Such close Of her romantic aspirations
as her marriage to this callOw popnay, whose heart
WAS nevertheless in the right place. Is set forth by
the author as the great catastrophe of her life. 1t
was terrible fall from the sanity career which she
had marked ont for herself that substantive and
rare being should have been absorbed into the life
of another and be known only IN certain circle as
"a wife and mother. The gOssips of Middlemarch
spoke her in after years as fine girl who bad mar
ried sckly clergyman, old enough to be her father,
and in little more than year after his death
married his cousin young enough to have been his
son. with no property and not well-born' Those who
had never seen her usually remarked that she could
not have been "a nice woman" else she would not have
married either one the other The author admits
that these decisive acts of her life not ideally
beautiful, but the mixed result Of young and noble





finds an excuse for them in the social atmosphere in
which they were tolerated. The moral of the story
accordingly is the importance of education which
shall not make a womans knowledge another name
for motley ignorance, or permit great feelings To
take the aspect of error and great faith the aspect
of illusion"


The main plot of the story, however. devoted TO
the mildew and moth which blight the learned
aspirations of Casaubon and the ideal yearnings of
Dorothea not the only perhaps the chief source
of its wonderful power. Other loves figure largely
in the recital which betrays consummate knOwl-
edge of the manifold forms of human passion and Of
the secret springs which Impe the daily routine of
common life. Such cabinet Of character
sketches is perhaps not to be found in any other
single production of English literature. With no
griinace distortion of feature, each person.
age exhibits some salient trait which takes
him out of the sphere of commonplace, and fur
nishes new study for the illustration of human
ture The fine dissection Of motives shows the cum
ming hand of great analyst. Nor is less construc
tive ability displayed in the synthetic,genius with
which the most effective elements combined in
living whole. In the delicate discrimination of the
intricate folds of character in the marvellous insight
with which the essence of special individualites is
disntegTated and reproduced in the nice sagacity
with which the changing forms of good and evil are
traced out amid their blended combinations in the
same person, George Eliot is without rival in the
modern school of fiction. Each of her grand crea- I
tons is the work of a noble inspiration, showing
masterful genius like that of the immortal lights of
painting and sculpture But they may claim even a
still higher merit than this They the evangels
of humane ethics proclaimng the supremacy of truth
to the nations and the law ofintegriy and honor to
the individual.


TIE PERFECT LIFE ~ TWELVE DIscoUtsg. By WmLls


CHaNNrNG d. d. Edited tOn biz MsHnscpts by


Nephew WnLi,s HESBY 1BASsISG limo. W. 3il Roberts


BrOthert


In the publication of this volume, the editor
has aimed only present faithful transcript Dr.
Channng,s method in the Illustration rnlicinus