of giving up his new house and going to live with his married daughter: it was not till after Mary Ann had planned to live apart, and had begun by going on a visit to her brother, that "the father was very glad to receive her again, and she resumed going to church as before." But so far was she from returning, otherwise than externally, to the church, that we find her later writing, "When the soul is just liberated from the wretched giant's bed of dogmas on which it has been racked and stretched ever since it began to think, there is a feeling of exaltation and strong hope." Her new correspondent (for we find no more letters to Miss Lewis) was a lady of strong intellect and advanced opinions – Miss Sara Hennell, the sister of the author of the "Inquiry"; and henceforward she lived with the two sisters and Mr Bray in the closest intimacy and friendship, making excursions with them about the country, and imparting to them her inmost mind. In 1844, Mr Hennell married Miss Brabant, whose father was the friend of Strauss, Coleridge, and Grote, and who had been chosen to translate Strauss's 'Leben Jesu.' This task she persuaded Miss Evans to relieve her of, who, during the next two years, performed it most faithfully, for the translation was very highly esteemed by English disciples of Strauss, and reviewers did not fail to extol the excellence of the style. And that her change of opinion was not a half-hearted one, and was accompanied by no regrets, is evident from her mention of a certain subject as one she should like to work out – namely, "The superiority of the consolations of philosophy to those of so-called religion." It may almost be said that she threw off what had hitherto been the gloomy influence dominating her life and conduct, with the suddenness and completeness of a rustic who, long terrified by a ghost in the church-yard, at length grapples with it, and finds it to consist of a sheet and a luminous turnip. Not the least notable of her minor changes of opinion is that respecting Mrs Hannah More, the former contemplation of whose blessed character had been so very salutary. "I am glad you detest Mrs Hannah More's letters. I like neither her letters, nor her books, nor her character." Which of these diverse opinions of the good lady may be correct is a question that the present writer does not feel himself competent to decide.
When Miss Evans was thirty her father died. The Brays happened to be then starting on a Continental trip, and she being without a home, was glad to accompany them. At the end of the tour they left her at Geneva, where she determined to spend some months. It happened to her almost miraculously often that her chance associates proved to be remarkable people, entering into and making part of her life, and it was her hap to become a lodger in the house of Monsieur and Madame d'Albert Durade, who, perfect strangers to her when she sought their abode, turned out to be friends after her own heart, and so always continued. Her life in Geneva, planned to suit herself, while giving ample freedom and leisure, was brightened by these agreeable friends and their visitors; the scenery was full of charm and interest; and her letters express the delight in which this episode of her existence was passed, and the real grief she felt when it came to an end in March 1850. But we should not have paused on it, even for this brief space, except to note that this resting-place, full of
