Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cross, Mary Ann

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1344330Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 13 — Cross, Mary Ann1888Leslie Stephen ‎

CROSS, MARY ANN or MARIAN (1819–1880), novelist under the name of George Eliot, was born 22 Nov. 1819, at Arbury farm, in the parish of Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire. Her father, Robert Evans (b. 1773), son of a builder and carpenter in Derbyshire, became agent of Francis Newdigate for estates at Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire, and Arbury, Warwickshire. In 1801 he married Harriott Poynton, who died in 1809, leaving two children, Robert (b. 1802), and Frances Lucy (b. 1805). In 1813 he married his second wife, Christiana Pearson, by whom he had three children, Christiana (b. 1814), Isaac (b. 1816), and Mary Ann. At the end of 1819 the eldest son, Robert, became agent under his father for the Kirk Hallam estate, and went to live there with his sister Frances, afterwards Mrs. Houghton. In March 1820 the father removed to Griff, an old red-brick house on the Arbury estate. Robert Evans, a man of great physical strength, and distinguished for integrity and skill in his business, is partly portrayed in the Adam Bede and Caleb Garth of his daughter's novels, where other early impressions are turned to account. His second wife gave some hints for Mrs. Poyser in ‘Adam Bede.’ Her family are prototypes of the Dodsons. The relation between Mary Ann and Christiana Evans resembled that between Dorothea and Celia Brooke; and some of the scenes between Maggie and Tom Tulliver are founded upon incidents in the childhood of Mary Ann and Isaac Evans. The early part of the ‘Mill on the Floss’ is in substance autobiographical, though the author was anxious to avoid too close adherence to facts. She aimed at a transfiguration, not a reproduction; but it may be suspected that she was not herself conscious of the degree of likeness. Mary Ann was not precocious as an infant, preferring play to reading; but her development was certainly not slow. When five years old she was sent with her sister to a boarding-school kept by Miss Lathom at Attleborough, Warwickshire, whence in her eighth or ninth year they were transferred to a large school kept by Miss Wallington at Nuneaton. Miss Lewis, the principal governess, became her intimate friend, and corresponded with her for years. She now developed a passion for reading; and about 1827 was fascinated by ‘Waverley.’ Other favourite books were Elia's ‘Essays,’ Defoe's ‘History of the Devil,’ ‘Pilgrim's Progress,’ and ‘Rasselas.’ Miss Lewis helped to influence the child's growing religious faith in the direction of evangelicalism. In 1832 she was sent to Miss Franklin's school at Coventry, where her musical gifts were strongly shown, though a display of them was restricted by ‘agonies of shyness.’

She left school finally at Christmas 1835. Her mother died in the summer of 1836. Her sister, Christiana, married Edward Clarke, a surgeon at Meriden, Warwickshire, in the spring of 1837 (she lost her husband in 1852, and died 15 March 1859). Mary Ann took charge of her father's household, became an accomplished manager, and spent much time in organising clothing clubs and other charitable works. She learnt Italian and German from a teacher who came over from Coventry, and read Greek and Latin with the headmaster of the Coventry grammar school. Her correspondence with Miss Lewis shows her strong religious feeling at this time. She even doubts whether it can be right to use music except in ‘strict worship.’ Her aunt Elizabeth, a methodist preacher, and wife of Samuel, younger brother of Robert Evans, visited Griff in 1839 or 1840, and told a story to Mary Ann which became the germ of ‘Adam Bede.’ Mrs. Samuel Evans suggested to some undefined extent the Dinah Morris of that story. Mrs. Evans died in 1849, and on a tablet to her memory in the methodist chapel at Wirksworth it is said that she was ‘known to the world as “Dinah Bede”’ (for an account of her see ‘George Eliot in Derbyshire,’ by Guy Roslyn, 1876).

Miss Evans had already tried verse. A religious poem, her first published writing, signed M. A. E., appeared in the ‘Christian Observer’ for January 1840. She was reading in many directions, and absorbing all knowledge which came in her way. Her brother Isaac now married, and took over the establishment at Griff; and in March 1841 Robert Evans and his daughter moved to a house in Foleshill Road, Coventry. About the end of that year she formed an intimacy with the Brays. Charles Bray [q. v.] was at this time a prosperous ribbon manufacturer, living at Rosehill, Coventry. His wife, Caroline, was the sister of Charles Hennell, who had published in 1838 an ‘Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity,’ which was translated into German, with a preface by Strauss. Bray was himself writing books of freethinking tendency. Miss Sarah Hennell visited her sister, Mrs. Bray, at Rosehill in 1842. An intimate and lasting friendship sprang up between Miss Evans, ‘Sara’ (Miss Hennell), ‘Cara’ (Mrs. Bray), and Charles Bray. The friendship had an important influence in modifying Miss Evans's religious beliefs. Mr. and Mrs. Sibree of Coventry, who became known to her through Miss Franklin, the schoolmistress, were interested by her state of mind, and tried to remove her doubts by argument, and by placing her in communication with various orthodox persons, Mr. Sibree himself being a nonconformist minister. Miss Evans gave some German lessons to their daughter, now Mrs. John Cash of Coventry, whose recollections of the period are of much interest (see cabinet edition of George Eliot's Life, i. 125, and Appendix). Various circumstances are mentioned as occasioning this change of creed. Doubts had been suggested by a reading of Isaac Taylor's ‘Ancient Christianity.’ She had been shocked by the union of a low moral tone with strong religious feelings among the poor methodists whom she visited. Scott's novels had suggested to her the possibility of good lives being led by persons outside of her own sects. Hints came from every quarter to a mind preoccupied with a great question. Miss Evans's increasing culture was making her unwilling to believe in the exclusive claims of any sect. The connection with the Brays introduced her to wider spheres of thought, and hastened the result. For a time the antagonism produced some bitterness; though in later years no quality was more striking than her sympathetic regard for the religious sentiments of all genuine believers, and especially for the churches of her childhood. The reading of Hennell's book led to an overt breach in the spring of 1842. She determined not to go to church. Her father, greatly offended, prepared to settle with his married daughter, and Miss Evans thought of establishing herself as a teacher at Leamington. She stayed for three weeks with her brother at Griff, but after the intervention of various friends returned to her father and agreed to go to church, when they settled down as before. She soon came to think that she had been over-rigid in her desire to avoid insincerity.

The intimacy with the Brays continued, and Miss Evans took some little tours with them. On one of these they were accompanied by Miss Brabant, daughter of Dr. Brabant of Devizes, who had undertaken a translation of Strauss's ‘Life of Jesus’ at the suggestion of Joseph Parkes of Birmingham and the Hennells. Miss Brabant married Charles Hennell on 1 Nov. 1843, and in the beginning of 1844 handed over the translation to Miss Evans. She laboured under many discouragements. A money difficulty was surmounted in 1845 by a subscription of 300l., promoted by Charles Hennell and Joseph Parkes. The task was very laborious. She was not strong, and her father's health was beginning to fail. The book was finished, however, with conscientious thoroughness, and appeared on 15 June 1846. During the following years she was much occupied by attendance upon her father, who died on 31 May 1849. She inherited a small income for life.

She sought change of scene by joining the Brays in a visit to the continent, and on their return in July settled for some months at Geneva. In October she took an apartment in the house of M. d'Albert, an artist, afterwards conservateur of the Athénée, still living in 1886. He and his wife, who died in 1880, became permanent friends of Miss Evans, and he published French translations of several of her novels. She took great interest in the d'Alberts' two boys, and rested from work, giving up for the time a translation of Spinoza's ‘Tractatus Theologico-Politicus,’ begun before her father's death. She returned under M. d'Albert's escort in March 1850, reaching England on the 23rd, visiting Griff, and going to the Brays at Rosehill in the beginning of May. She made her home with them for the next sixteen months. The ‘Westminster Review’ had been made over by J. S. Mill to Mr. Hickson in the spring of 1840, and was conducted by him for ten years (Mill, Autobiography, p. 220). Messrs. Chapman and Mackay, who were now proposing to purchase it, came to Rosehill in October 1850 to discuss the matter with Bray. It was then, or soon afterwards, proposed that Miss Evans should take part of the editorial work. She contributed to the January number a review of Mackay's ‘Progress of the Intellect.’ Arrangements for the new series were completed in the summer of 1851, and in the September of that year Miss Evans went to board with the Chapmans at 142 Strand, and to act as assistant editor of the ‘Westminster Review.’ In October 1853 she moved to Cambridge Street, and ceased her editorial work. The drudgery of editing was often very trying; she had to read proofs, get up principles of taxation, form an opinion on ‘a thick German volume,’ and have interviews with several visitors on one day (Cross, i. 241). The ‘Review’ appears to have made satisfactory progress at first. She found time to translate Feuerbach's ‘Essence of Christianity,’ which appeared under her real name (the only book so published) in July 1854, as part of Chapman's ‘Quarterly Series.’ The opinions of Comte were now attracting much notice, especially through the writings of J. S. Mill, Miss Martineau, and G. H. Lewes. Miss Evans was much attracted by positivism; she was afterwards on intimate terms with several leaders of the positivist body, and, though her adherence to its principles was always qualified, she subscribed to its funds, while her writings show a strong sympathy with its teaching. At this time she made the acquaintance of many men of intellectual eminence, and especially of Mr. Herbert Spencer, one of her lifelong friends. Through him she came to know George Henry Lewes, at this time editor of the ‘Leader,’ towards the end of 1851. In April 1853 she says that Lewes has ‘won her regard, after having had a good deal of her vituperation,’ and pronounces him to be a ‘man of heart and conscience, wearing a mask of flippancy.’

In July 1854 she entered into the connection with Lewes which she always regarded as a marriage though without the legal sanction. Lewes's home had been broken up for two years. She gives her own view of the case in a letter to Mrs. Bray on 4 Sept. 1855 (Cross, i. 264), the union having created a temporary coolness with Mrs. Bray and Miss Hennell. She finds it difficult to understand how any ‘unworldly, unsuperstitious person’ can regard their relations as immoral. She had at a much earlier period expressed a strong objection to the indelibility of the marriage tie (ib. i. 410). The relation, of course, involved a social isolation, for which she accounts to her friends as rendered desirable by her intellectual occupations. It placed her in many ways in a false position, and enforced a painful self-consciousness which is traceable in many passages of her writings. No legal marriage, however, could have called forth greater mutual devotion. Lewes was a man of extraordinary versatility and acuteness, a most brilliant talker, and full of restless energy. His devotion to her was unfailing and unstinted; he was the warmest, as well as the most valued, admirer of her writings, suggested and criticised, undertook all business matters with publishers, and (judiciously or otherwise) kept reviews from her sight. No masculine jealousy interfered with his enthusiastic appreciation of her merits, and it was in great measure due to him that she was able to persevere in spite of nervous depression and feeble animal spirits. Of the effect upon himself he says in 1859 that to her he owed ‘all his prosperity and all his happiness’ (ib. ii. 62).

They left England together in July 1854, spent some time at Weimar, and passed the winter at Berlin, meeting many distinguished Germans, especially Liszt and Varnhagen von Ense (her recollections of Weimar are described in ‘Fraser's Magazine,’ June 1855). The Leweses returned to England in March, and in September settled at 8 Park Street, Richmond, where they lived for three years. Lewes's ‘Life of Goethe’ was published in the beginning of 1855, with marked and permanent success. Mrs. Lewes worked at a translation of Spinoza's ‘Ethics’ (which never appeared), wrote reviews in the ‘Leader,’ and the Belles-Lettres of the ‘Westminster’ for October. They had to work for the support of his wife and her children, as well as for themselves. A review of Dr. Cumming in the same ‘Westminster’ induced Lewes to tell her that she had true genius. In 1856 they visited Ilfracombe, where Lewes was occupied in the study of marine zoology. While at Berlin she had read to him a fragment of a description of life in a Staffordshire farmhouse, composed, it seems, some years previously. Doubts of her possession of dramatic or constructive power had prevented her from attempting a novel. Lewes now entreated her to try, and after retiring to Richmond she began ‘Amos Barton’ on 22 Sept. 1856. Lewes saw at once the merits of the story, and offered it, without giving the writer's name, to John Blackwood [q. v.], declaring his conviction that in ‘humour, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation,’ it had not been equalled since the ‘Vicar of Wakefield.’ Blackwood, though less enthusiastic, was appreciative, and the first part of ‘Amos Barton’ appeared in Blackwood's ‘Magazine’ for January 1857. Blackwood thought so well of it as to make proposals at once for a republication of the complete series. The author now took the name of ‘George Eliot,’ under which all her later writings appeared. She had begun ‘Mr. Gilfil's Love Story’ on Christmas day, 1856; ‘Janet's Repentance’ was finished on 9 Oct. 1857, and on 22 Oct. she began ‘Adam Bede.’ The collected series of ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ appeared at the beginning of 1858. The most competent critics recognised their power. The most remarkable letter came from Dickens, who not only appreciated at once the power of the new writer, but detected her sex, a point upon which some critics were curiously (as it now seems) uncertain. In some respects, the ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ were never surpassed by the author. Their unforced power, their pathos, and the sympathetic appreciation of the old-fashioned life by a large intellect give them a singular charm. They did not, however, sell at first so rapidly as had been hoped. The author was introduced in her own person to Blackwood in February. His brother, Major Blackwood, had already divined the secret in a previous interview (10 Dec. 1857). After a tour to Munich and Dresden, ‘Adam Bede’ was finished, and the last pages sent to Blackwood on 16 Nov. He gave 800l. for four years' copyright. In February 1859 the Leweses settled at Holly Lodge, Wandsworth, where she formed a very intimate friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Richard Congreve. ‘Adam Bede’ appeared at the same time, and was received with universal applause. Sir Edward (afterwards Lord) Lytton admired it, and Charles Reade pronounced it to be the ‘finest thing since Shakespeare’ (ib. ii. 77, 82). Sixteen thousand copies were sold in the first year. A claim to the authorship was set up on behalf of a Mr. Liggins, which seems to have caused a needless amount of irritation to the true author before the claim was finally dispersed. The chief result was the more rapid divulgement of the secret. Blackwood added another sum of 800l. in acknowledgment of the extraordinary success of the book (ib. ii. 116, 129), and returned the copyright to the author.

‘Adam Bede’ at once placed its author in the front rank of contemporary literature. Her success was astonishing to herself, and it increased her confidence in her own powers. But it did not remove the diffidence connected with her frequent nervous depressions. The fact that ‘Adam Bede’ would be the most formidable rival to any later productions induced her to spare no pains in the effort to maintain her standard. The ‘Mill on the Floss,’ first called ‘Sister Maggie,’ was begun soon after the publication of ‘Adam Bede;’ the first volume was finished in October 1859, and the third in March 1860. It appeared in April, and six thousand copies were sold by the end of May. Some complaints were made of the third volume. She admitted, in answer to some criticisms from Lord Lytton, that her love of the childish scenes had led to a ‘want of proportionate fulness in the treatment of the third,’ which she would always regret. The third volume has been to most readers not only disproportionate but discordant; but the first two volumes owe to her fond memory of the childish scenes a charm never surpassed by herself, if by any one. The end of her first literary period was marked by ‘Silas Marner,’ begun by November 1860, finished on 10 March 1861, and published in one volume directly afterwards, which has often been regarded as her most perfect composition.

She had visited Italy in the summer of 1860, and during a fortnight's stay at Florence in May projected an historical novel of the time of Savonarola. She paid another visit to Florence (4 May to 7 June 1861) to increase her knowledge of the subject. She began to write it on 7 Oct. 1861, having previously put the subject aside to write ‘Silas Marner.’ She made another beginning on 1 Jan. 1862. In February 1862 Messrs. Smith & Elder offered her 10,000l. for the copyright of the new novel, and she ultimately accepted 7,000l. for its appearance in the ‘Cornhill Magazine.’ She was not decided, says Lewes, by the ‘unheard-of magnificence of the offer,’ but by the advantage to the book of being read slowly. The first part appeared accordingly in July 1862, and the last in August 1863. She wrote the last page on 9 June 1863. It was illustrated by Sir Frederick Leighton. She went through a course of reading for this story which would have qualified her to write a history. The necessity of being ready for periodical appearance tried her occasionally, and Mr. Cross tells us that it ‘ploughed into her more than any of her other books.’ She said that it marked a transition in her history. She ‘began it a young woman—she finished it an old woman.’ The results have been differently judged. ‘Romola’ has been regarded as her masterpiece, and it certainly represents her reflective powers at their ripest. Whether any labour could make the reproduction of literary studies equal to her previous reproductions of personal experience is another question. No one can deny the intellectual powers displayed, but the personages are scarcely alive, except Tito Melema, who is one of her finest feminine characters.

In 1860 the Leweses left Wandsworth, and after an interval settled at 16 Blandford Square in December. On 15 Nov. 1863 they moved to the Priory, 21 North Bank, Regent's Park, the house especially associated with her memory by the wider circle of friends—attracted by her fame or her great personal charm—who gathered round her in later years. Her Sunday receptions, described by Mr. Cross (iii. 295) and by Miss Blind (p. 205), were the occasions on which she was seen by those who did not belong to the most intimate circle. Her gentle and serious conversation was always full of interest; but she shrank from crowds and display, and was glad to escape from London to the country.

After ‘Romola’ she appears to have rested for a time. In September 1864 she had taken up the subject afterwards treated in the ‘Spanish Gypsy.’ She became ill, and in the following February Lewes insisted upon her abandoning the task for a time. She then began ‘Felix Holt’ (March 1865). She finished it on 31 May 1866, and it was published soon afterwards; but in spite of much excellence has not ranked with her previous performances. Her early memories had given their best results. She then took up the ‘Spanish Gypsy,’ and in the beginning of 1867 went to Spain to get impressions for the work. It cost her much labour and was not finished till 29 April 1868. It was intended, as the author tells us, to illustrate certain doctrines of duty and hereditary influence (Cross, iii. 34–40), and she compares the situation of Fedalma to that of Iphigenia. Dr. Congreve appears to have called it ‘a mass of positivism,’ and it was clearly written under the influence of positivist ideas. A third edition was reached in 1868 and a fifth in 1875. Neither critics nor general readers have been convinced that George Eliot was properly a poet, though she may be allowed to represent almost the highest excellence that can be attained in verse by one whose true strength lies elsewhere. She began the ‘Legend of Jubal’ in September 1869, and a volume of poems in which it was included appeared in 1874.

In August 1869 she happily returned to more congenial scenes by beginning ‘ Middlemarch.’ The first part was published on 1 Dec. 1871, the writing was finished in August 1872, and the last part published in the following December. The success was remarkable. Nearly twenty thousand copies had been sold by the end of 1874. It appeared in eight parts, forming four volumes for two guineas. The mode of publication was novel, and she states (ib. iii. 237) that it brought in a larger sum than ‘Romola.’ She received 1,200l. from America. ‘Middlemarch’ may be taken to represent her experiences of the Coventry period, as the first novels represented her earlier memories. If the singular charm of the first period is wanting—and there are obvious faults of composition and some jarring discords—the extraordinary power of the book was felt at once, and raised her reputation, already sufficiently high. She was now alone among novelists as a representative of first-rate literary ability, having survived all her greatest contemporaries. ‘Daniel Deronda,’ her last novel, contains some most admirable satire and character, though the generous desire to appreciate the Jewish race can scarcely be said to have produced satisfactory results. It was begun at the end of 1874, and published on the same plan as ‘Middlemarch’ in 1876. The sale was from the first greater than that of ‘Middlemarch.’

Her first successes had placed George Eliot above any pecuniary difficulty, and enabled Lewes to devote himself to the production of the philosophical and scientific works in which he was interested. They made frequent excursions to the continent and in England, and were welcomed at Oxford and Cambridge by enthusiastic admirers. They made occasional stays in the quiet country places which she especially loved, and at the end of 1876 bought a house at Witley, near Godalming, with some thoughts of settling there entirely. During 1878 she wrote the ‘Impressions of Theophrastus Such.’ The manuscript had been sent to Blackwood when Lewes had a serious attack, which ended in his death, 28 Nov. 1878.

For many weeks she saw no one, and neither read nor wrote letters. She occupied herself in preparing Lewes's unfinished writings for the press, and founded to his memory the ‘George Henry Lewes studentship.’ It is worth nearly 200l. a year, and is to be held for three years by some student occupied in physiological investigation. ‘Theophrastus Such’ appeared in May 1879.

In 1867 Mr. Herbert Spencer had introduced Lewes to Mrs. Cross, then living with her daughter at Weybridge. Mr. J. W. Cross, the son, was then a banker at New York. In 1869 Mrs. Cross, with her son, met George Eliot at Rome. At the end of August in the same year the Leweses visited Mrs. Cross at Weybridge, and a close intimacy was accelerated by sympathy in family sorrows which soon followed, Mrs. Cross's daughter, Mrs. Bullock, dying within a month, Thornton Lewes (son of G. H. Lewes) a month later. Mr. Cross, settling in England, continued his intimacy with the Leweses, and was helpful to George Eliot after Lewes's death. A marriage with Mr. Cross was arranged in April 1880, and was celebrated at St. George's, Hanover Square, on 6 May. They made a tour on the continent, during which her health was remarkably good, returning at the end of July. The English fogs tried her. After staying some time at Witley Mr. and Mrs. Cross came to London, 3 Dec. 1880, to occupy a house at 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. She caught a chill at a concert on Saturday, 18 Dec., her powers rapidly failed, and she died with little pain 22 Dec. 1880.

George Eliot regarded herself as an æsthetic teacher, and held that such teaching was ‘the highest of all teaching, because it deals with life in its highest complexity. But,’ she adds, ‘if it ceases to be purely æsthetic—if it lapses anywhere from the picture to the diagram—it becomes the most offensive of all teaching’ (Cross, ii. 375). How far she succeeded in solving the ‘tremendously difficult problem’ which she so clearly appreciated is a question still undecided. In philosophy she did not affect to be an original thinker, and though she had an extraordinary capacity for the assimilation of ideas, she had the feminine tendency (no one was more thoroughly feminine) to accept philosophers at their own valuation. The most common criticism is that the desire to act as an interpreter of certain philosophical ideas was injurious to the artistic quality of her books. The later books, in which the didactic impulse is strongest, suffer in comparison with the earlier, where it is latent. The poetry and the essays indicate an inaccurate estimate of her true abilities. The overlaboured style which too frequently intrudes is another error springing from the same cause. That some of her writing suffers from the philosophic preoccupation is scarcely deniable. But where the philosophic reflectiveness widens her horizon and strengthens her insight, without prompting to excessive didacticism, her novels stand in the very first rank. In her own peculiar province no contemporary equalled or approached their power and charm; while even the comparative failures reveal a mind of extraordinary grasp and perceptive faculty.

A portrait of George Eliot was painted by M. d'Albert at Geneva at the end of 1850, which is now in possession of Mr. Cross. Sir Frederick Burton made an admirable drawing in 1864, which is now in the National Portrait Gallery. An etching by M. Rajon is prefixed to Mr. Cross's ‘Life,’ where there is also an engraving from M. d'Albert's picture. She also sat in 1860 to Samuel Laurence, who made chalk-drawings of many eminent contemporaries.

George Eliot's works are as follows: 1. ‘Strauss's Life of Jesus’ (anon.), 1846. 2. ‘Ludwig Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity, by Marian Evans,’ 1854. 3. ‘Scenes of Clerical Life,’ 1858. 4. ‘Adam Bede,’ 1859. 5. ‘The Mill on the Floss,’ 1860. 6. ‘Silas Marner,’ 1861. 7. ‘Romola,’ 1863 (previously in the ‘Cornhill,’ July 1862 to August 1863). An ‘édition de luxe,’ with Sir Frederick Leighton's illustrations, appeared in 1880. 8. ‘Felix Holt,’ 1866. 9. ‘The Spanish Gypsy,’ 1868. 10. ‘Agatha,’ a poem, 1869. 11. ‘Middlemarch,’ 1872 (in parts, December 1871 to December 1872). 12. ‘Jubal and other Poems.’ 13. ‘Daniel Deronda,’ 1876. 14. ‘Impressions of Theophrastus Such,’ 1879. Two short stories, ‘The Lifted Veil’ and ‘Brother Jacob,’ appeared in ‘Blackwood’ in 1860.

The following appeared in the ‘Westminster Review:’ ‘Mackay's Progress of the Intellect,’ January 1851; ‘Carlyle's Life of Sterling, ’January 1852; ‘Woman in France, Mme. de Sablé,’ October 1854; ‘Prussia and Prussian Policy’ (Stahr), January 1855 (?Cross, i. 305); ‘Vehse's Court of Austria,’ April 1855 (ib. i. 302); ‘Dryden,’ July 1855 (ib. i. 309); ‘Evangelical Teaching, Dr. Cumming,’ October 1855; ‘German Wit,’ Heine, January 1856; ‘Natural History of German Life,’ July 1856; ‘Silly Novels by Lady Novelists,’ October 1856; ‘Worldliness and Other-Worldliness, the poet Young,’ January 1857. The last four, excluding ‘Silly Novels,’ were collected by Mr. Charles Lee Lewes in a volume of ‘Essays,’ published in 1884, which also includes: ‘Three Months in Weimar,’ ‘Fraser,’ 1855; ‘Influence of Rationalism: Lecky's History,’ ‘Fortnightly Review,’ 1865; ‘Address to Working Men by Felix Holt,’ ‘Blackwood,’ 1868, and ‘Leaves from a Note-book.’

|[The Life of George Eliot, by her husband, J. W. Cross (1884), chiefly compiled from her Letters and Journals, gives the fullest account. See also Miss Mathilde Blind's George Eliot in the ‘Eminent Women’ series; Leslie Stephen's monograph (1902) in ‘Men of Letters’ series; Charles Bray's Autobiography, 72–7.]

L. S.