THE LIFE OF GEORGE ELIOT [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.]
Sia,—In view of to-day's records (or those of 1854 for that matter) of our aristocracy in regard to adultery and divorce it is strange to fwd Mrs. Mary M. Adamson writing in respect of G. H. Lewes and George Eliot, " I cannot think that the effect on the world of two prominent people living in open adultery is entirely beneficial." To obtain a divorce at that time one had to get the bill passed in three eoutts—Eeclesiastical, Civil and Parliamentary (both Houses)—a very expensive proceeding, which the Encyclopaedia Britannica describes as " disgraceful." In 1854 Mr. Lewes and Miss Evans broke through that ecclesiasti- cal law as many had done before them. Do you blame them ? In 1857-8 it was altered. Was that "beneficial " ?
I do not know -of any record in print in regard to Lewes' two daughters. Mr. J. • W. Cross, in George Eliot's Life, p. 326, Vol. I, 1885 edition, says : " Not only was Mr. LeweV previous family life irretrievably spoiled, but his home wholly
broken up for nearly two years." In her letter to Mrs. Bray, September 4th, 1855, George Eliot wrote, We are working hard to provide for others better than we provide for ourselves, and to fulfil every responsibility that lies upon us." We remember the tenderness which existed between George Eliot and Lewes' sons who called her " mother." We read in Last Pages of a Journal, by Mark Rutherford, p. 134: " She (George Eliot) was generous to a degree which nobody now living can measure, and she not only gave money to necessitous friends, but took pains to serve them. Years after I had left Chapman's I wrote to her asking if she could assist a poor man of letters whom we both knew, and she got work for him." When, as to living in " luxury," in September, 1855, we know that they " were now working very hard for what would bring immediate profit, as they had to support not only themselves but his children and their mother," we can only believe there is some misunderstanding somewhere. Perhaps there is still someone living who has inside information that can help to reconcile these opposing statements.—I am, Sir, &c., 14 St. Michael's Road, Bedford. HUBERT B. MATTHEWS.
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