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CHAPTER XVIII.

GEORGE ELIOT.

1871-1876. AGE 43-48.

ARLY in the summer of seventy-one, Anne Gilchrist let Brookbank to George Henry Lewes and his wife. Negotiations over the letting led to pleasant correspondence with them both. Lewes wrote from the Priory:

"Among the supreme pleasures of authorship is that of receiving a spontaneous expression of sympathy from a stranger, and your postscript came with a doubled force, because the contents of the letter itself had excited a conviction that at last we had found the very country refuge we needed."

The Leweses sought out the country refuge:"We arrived here yesterday. . The weather is delightful, and the place looks so tempting.

"Let peace once more settle on your soul, as it has settled on ours in the quiet order now finally established.

"Meanwhile we have been browsing among the varied pasturage of books here. We brought down a huge quantity which might have been lessened by two-thirds had I known what was on the shelves. Already we are

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far on with the Life of Blake' (intensely interesting)— and I have laid hold of Lacroix' Algebra, which I see was yours.

"We have had a drive to the Punchbowl and Liphook, and found out many delightful walks.

"The weather is perfect, and work goes on smoothly away from all friendly interruptions.

"Lord Houghton says that it is incomprehensible how we can live in such Simeon Stylites fashion, as we often do, all alone-but the fact is we never are alone when alone. And I sometimes marvel how it is I have contrived to get through so much work living in London. It's true I am a London child. Mrs. Lewes never seems at home except under a broad sweep of sky and the greenth of the uplands round her."

George Eliot writes from Brookbank, May the ninth :-"Everything goes on slowly at Shottermill, and the mode of narration is that typified in This is the house that Jack built.' But there is an exquisite stillness in the sunshine, and a sense of distance from London hurry, which encourages the growth of patience.

"Mrs. Garland's pace is proportionate to the other slownesses, but she impresses me as a worthy person, and her cooking is of satisfactory quality. But we find the awkwardness of having only one person in the house, as well as the advantage (this latter being quietude). The butcher does not bring the meat, everybody grudges selling new milk, eggs are scarce, and an expedition we made yesterday in search of fowls showed us nothing more hopeful than some chickens six weeks old which the good woman observed were sometimes 'eaten by the

GEORGE HENRY LEWES.

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gentry with asparagus.' Those eccentric people, the gentry!

"But have we not been reading about the Siege of Paris all the winter, and shall we complain while we get excellent bread and butter and many etceteras?

"You will imagine that we are as fond of eating as Friar Tuck—I am enlarging so on our commissariat.

"If I ever steal anything in my life, I think it will be the two little Sir Joshuas over the drawing-room mantelpiece [Master Lord Burghersh, and little Miss Theophila Gwatkin]. I assure you, I have thought much of the worry we may have caused you while you are in a state of health with which I can sorrowfully sympathize."

George Henry Lewes enjoyed life at Brookbank :"As for me, the place agrees with me and I agree with it surprisingly. I shall be loth to leave.

By all means tell Mr. [George] Smith who is the troublesome tenant-perhaps a lurking feeling of gratitude towards George Eliot may make all the difference in his feeling as to postponing his visit until September.

"Mrs. Garland is by no means wooden; on the contrary, she is all pith and no fibre. Kind, attentive, honest, she is, but on n'est pas aussi bête! She is as slow as an Oriental (the Orientals regard us Europeans as snobs because we are always in a hurry-perhaps they are right), but she crawls through her work, which owing to our clockwork regularity she is able to get through. But her stupidity and slowness are somewhat trying to the patience of impatient people. . . . I am in

famous case here.

Working harder and more successfully than I have done for years."

George Eliot became fond of Shottermill also, and was 'loth to leave' Brookbank :-" During the first weeks of our stay I did not imagine that I should ever be so fond of the place as I am now [i.e. July 3, 1871]. The departure of the bitter winds, some improvement in my health, and the gradual revelation of fresh and fresh beauties in the scenery, especially under a hopeful sky such as we have sometimes had all these conditions have made me love our little world here and wish not to quit it until we can settle in our London home. I have the regret of thinking that it was my original indifference about it (I hardly ever like things until they are familiar) that hindered us from securing the cottage until the end of September, for the chance of coming to it again after a temporary absence. But all regrets ought to be merged in thankfulness for the agreeable weeks we have had, and probably shall have until the end of July. And among the virtues of Brookbank we shall always reckon this-that our correspondence about it has been with you rather than with anyone else, so that along with the country we have had a glimpse of your ready quick-thoughted kindness.”

This was the year (1871, July) and the very month when George Eliot was writing the Second Part of Middlemarch. It is pleasant to think of the artist, seated before her writing-table, in the long irregularly shaped drawing-room at Brookbank; honey-suckle and small red rose peeping in at her through the bow-windows. The room held antique furniture, and a cloud of Blake

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