[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sut,—It is interesting that Mr. Matthews should have drawn attention to the fact that I connected George Eliot with Nottingham, the birth-place of John Chapman. This slip was probably due to my subconscious use of childhood memories in my article.
It happens that George Eliot was a cousin of any grand- mother on the maternal side. Throughout my life I have heard occasional references to the novelist. I have one recol- lection, for instance, which bears on Mr. Matthews' remarks on her association with John Chapman, the editor of the Westminster Review, who first gave her a chance to make her mark as a writer. I remember being told that someone, at some time, had seen a book autographed " Marian Chapman " in George Eliot's handwriting. I cannot identify the source of this memory, and I should be grateful if anybody could throw further light on the matter, for it has an important part to play in the story of George Eliot's emotional life— or as your correspondent, Mary M. Adamson, would call it
—her moral am, Sir, &c., RICHARD CHURCH.
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