346
GEORGE MOORE AND JOHN FREEMAN
all this literature, as well built as the mill itself, for George Eliot constructed well and wrought well and solidly; her prose is rich and well balanced. But these qualities were not enough to save her from the whirling, bubbling flood of time; her books have gone down like the mill; lighter things have floated; hers have sunk out of sight. And I would seek a reason for the sudden overthrow of one who in her day was looked upon as almost Shakespeare's equal.
Freeman: You have known more old Victorians than I have, but I doubt—
Moore: Doubt not, for I heard Professor Tyrrel, a great scholar, whose Latin and Greek verse was as perfect as such things can be, speak the words that you have just heard me speak: Almost Shakespeare's equal!
Freeman: Whereby we may deduce the moral that learning is insufficient.
Moore: We may, indeed. But I would look into the soul and see why this woman's mind has passed into a dust hardly less anonymous than her body.
Freeman: The bent of her mind was towards philosophy rather than imaginative literature, and it was George Henry Lewes who drew her attention to prose narrative as an outlet for her genius.
Moore: I understand. Even genius is dependent on accident. The accident is always passing; talent misses it, but genius avails itself of it instantly, and George Eliot availed herself of her chance. But that is a side issue; we are seeking the reason why she should have passed into sudden oblivion and others, the Brontës, should remain.
Freeman: You admitted that her prose was rich and well balanced, and I agree with you. But there is no pleasure in it.
Moore: You are quite right; there is very little pleasure in it. But why is there no pleasure in it?
Freeman: Something in her character, perhaps.
Moore: Let us seek her failure in her character. I know she met George Henry Lewes and that is about all I do know of her. Whence came she? Was she a townswoman or a countrywoman? Did she come from the north or the south or the east or the west? Was Lewes her first lover, her second, her third? Tell me all you know about her.
