marriage ceremony than they would any law of nature. Getting Married does not merely happen to be post-Victorian; it could not have been otherwise.
They were also intensely partisan both as to Church and State, according to the immemorial human habit; but none of them, not even Disraeli or George Eliot, would refuse an amen to the invocation of Charlotte Brontë:[1]
"Britain would miss her church, if that church fell. God save
it! God also reform it!"
Their Constitutional Monarchy was a broken reed, worse
than useless, yet Anarchy was a fearful word, second only
to Atheism in horrific import. As to the prevailing system
of education, it was derided as a failure and set down as
naught; but we hear of no youth abjuring college because
it wasted his time and money.
Beyond these negative statements, however, the Victorians cannot be described en masse, for individuality comes into play, both in emphasis of interest and manner of attack. Nor is there throughout the strictly Victorian period, any discernible evolution of ideas. From Peacock to Kingsley the various novelists are to be distinguished only by local color and personality. But the two whose lives actually extend into the twentieth century are separated sharply in this matter from their predecessors, and serve as links between their time and ours. This omits only George Eliot, who belongs to the second group, although she uses her modern scientific data seriously and not satirically. With Meredith and Butler she forms a trio which faces resolutely with the Course of Empire, while the others are more or less half-heartedly saying their prayers toward the Orient.
- ↑ Shirley, I, 330.
