1 JANUARY 1881, Page 10

" George Eliot "—Mrs. J. W. Cross—was buried on Wednes-

day in Highgate Cemetery, amidst a crowd of mourners of all cla,sses and both sexes, though the day was one of continuous rain. The authentic story of her early life has been given to the world by the Pall Mall 0 (melte of Thursday. Mary Anne Evans was born at Gra near Nuneaton, on November 22nd, 1820. Her father was laud agent and surveyor to five estates in Warwickshire,—those of Lord Aylesford, Lord Lifford, Mr. Newdegate, Mr. Bromley-Davenport, and. Mrs. Gregory ; and, being a man of the highest probity and great ability, he was greatly trusted by all. He is, we believe, certainly the original of " Caleb Garth" in " Middlemarch.". Mary Anne Evans was the youngest of his daughters by his second wife, and lost her mother when she was fifteen. At the age of twenty, her father removed. to Foleshill, near Coventry, and here her higher edu- cation began. She learnt Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian, and taught herself Hebrew ; and, in 1846, translated Strauss's " Lobel). " from the German. In Mr. Charles Bray's family she BEM a good deal of the Rationalists of that day, and especially of Mr. Charles Hormel', who suggested to her the translation of Strauss. Mr. Evans died in 1849. Soon afterwards George Eliot travelled abroad, and after a stay at Geneva, joined the group then engaged on the Wedminder 11,2v tetv, which led to the chief connection of her life.