Page:The Dial (Volume 75).djvu/412

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
348
GEORGE MOORE AND JOHN FREEMAN

mischievous and shameful century, and the worship of ugliness began in France. I would tell you who began it if I could; there must have been somebody before Courbet, who spoke about truth of effect and local colour. Be this as it may, he was committed to it, and Troyon still more so, and these were followed by Millet, who took it upon himself to explain the miserable lot of the peasant; and whosoever saw it, remembers L'Homme à la Houe, a detestable object, but which so stirred the bowels of compassion in everybody that everybody was certain something must be done to relieve the monotony of the peasant's lot. Philanthropy entered into art from that moment. And it is believed that Rosa Bonheur never wore a crinoline, preferring to walk about in breeches and a blouse. She wore clogs and led a life more laborious than that of the cart-horses she painted. Rosa Bonheur—how well the name goes with her pictures! The syllables tramp just like the great grey cart-horse that the peasant rides into the middle of the fair. Rosa Bonheur—was there ever a more cynical name? She only just escaped Rose. Rose Bonheur—a woman in whose life a rose never flourished, and who repudiated happiness! Do you tell me, and quickly, when Marian Evans changed her name to George Eliot.

Freeman: But you do not believe that the character of a human being is modified by a name, inherited or assumed? You said just now that Rosa Bonheur's name was in direct contradiction to her character.
Moore: The name tramps like a cart-horse, and I cannot believe she would have painted the same pictures if her name had been Rose. But Rosa Bonheur is a side issue; we are speaking of George Eliot. Tell me when she changed the name of Marian Evans, a splendid name, and how well it goes with Arbury Farm! I can see myself in my imagination directing an envelope: Miss Marian Evans, Arbury Farm, Warwickshire. Can you tell me when she changed her name?
Freeman: I have no exact information. Have you an encyclopaedia?
Moore: An encyclopaedia in this house! No.
Freeman: We may assume for the moment that her first book, the translation of Strauss' Life of Jesus, was published under the name of George Eliot.