George Eliot

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Mathilde Blind. George Eliot

PREFATORY NOTE

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II. CHILDHOOD AND EARLY HOME

CHAPTER III. YOUTHFUL STUDIES AND FRIENDSHIPS

CHAPTER IV. TRANSLATION OF STRAUSS AND FEUERBACH. – TOUR ON THE CONTINENT

CHAPTER V. THE 'WESTMINSTER REVIEW.'

CHAPTER VI. GEORGE HENRY LEWES

CHAPTER VII. SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE

CHAPTER VIII. ADAM BEDE

CHAPTER IX. THE MILL ON THE FLOSS

CHAPTER X. SILAS MARNER

CHAPTER XI. ROMOLA

CHAPTER XII. HER POEMS

CHAPTER XIII. FELIX HOLT AND MIDDLEMARCH

CHAPTER XIV. DANIEL DERONDA

CHAPTER XV. LAST YEARS

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This novel theory, concerning a specifically feminine manifestation of the intellect, is doubly curious when one compares it with Madame de Staël's famous saying, "Le génie n'a pas de sexe." But an aphorism, however brilliant, usually contains only one half the truth, and there is every reason to think that women have already, and will much more largely, by-and-by, infuse into their works certain intellectual and emotional qualities which are essentially their own. Shall we, however, admit George Eliot's conclusion that Frenchwomen alone have hitherto shown any of this original bias? Several causes are mentioned by her in explanation of this exceptional merit. Among these causes there is one which would probably occur to every one who began to reflect on this subject. The influence of the "Salon" in developing and stimulating the finest feminine talents has long been recognised. In this school for women the gift of expression was carried to the utmost pitch of perfection. By their active co-operation in the discussion of the most vital subjects, thought became clear, luminous, and forcible; sentiment gained indescribable graces of refinement; and wit, with its brightest scintillations, lit up the sombre background of life.

But among other causes enumerated as accounting for that more spontaneous productivity of Frenchwomen, attributed to them by George Eliot, there is one which would probably have occurred to no other mind than hers, and which is too characteristic of her early scientific tendencies to be omitted. For according to her, the present superiority of Frenchwomen is mainly due to certain physiological peculiarities of the Gallic race. Namely, to the "small brain and vivacious temperament which permit the fragile system of woman to sustain the superlative activity requisite for intellectual creativeness," whereas "the larger brain and slower temperament of the English and Germans are in the womanly organisation generally dreamy and passive. So that the physique of a woman may suffice as the substratum for a superior Gallic mind, but is too thin a soil for a superior Teutonic one."

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"'The Wounded Bird' is perfect of its kind, and that kind is the best for a larger work. You yourself see clearly that it is an exceptional case for any one to be able to write books for children without putting in them false morality disguised as devout religion. And you are one of the exceptional cases. I am quite sure, from what you have done, that you can do the thing which is still wanted to be done. As to imagination, 'The Wounded Bird' is full of imagination."

These extracts pleasantly illustrate both the writer and recipient of such humane letters; and, though written at a much later period, not only give an idea of the nature of Mrs. Bray's literary pursuits, but of the friendly relations subsisting to the end between her and George Eliot.

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