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202 NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
A. « Silas Marner; Or, The Weaver Of Rav...
creature In the kingdom who reads at all will probably read before the successive editions are exhausted ?
To us , however , on poring * over Silas Marner , the one-volunied novel which lies on all tablesthere canie _esjaecially this one
reflectionwhat a wonderful .-power , of growth and change lies in George Elliot ' s characters . Most novel writers , even of the very best , Sir
Walter Scott , Miss Edgworth , Sir Bulwer Lytton , paint with force and accuracy people who are what they are ; w _^ ho have been
moulded by experience or inheritance into a certain character which is there represented , with more or less genius and fidelity , as
reacting on surrounding people and circumstances . The plot Is developed through the medium of actors as clearly cutand in
, themselves as unchangeably defined , as the pieces on a . chess-board . Sometimes it is true we see the profligate brought to repentance ,
the hard heart softened , the Irreligious man converted . ; _biit w _^ e are merely told it , not shown it , and the change usually arises from
some shock , some sudden blow , some interweaving" of outward events by which the mechanical position of every body is changed ,
and in which therefore the chess-men acquire new powers of action . In a certain class of novelets for the young " , which have been so
popular of late years , such as Amy Herbert , Gertrude , The Heir of _KedclfFeand The Daisy Chaingreat tact and skill are shown in
treating y of , the growth of youthful , characters ; and to this probably , even more than to the dramatic interest of the tales , Is owing , their
immense popularity . The circle of their action Is somewhat restricted , but the books are essentially living .
It is , however , universally conceded that young people are not stationaryand that between twelve and twenty the exhortations of
the clergyman , , the advice of parents , and the thumps and bruises the actors ive themselves in the course of their own
experibroader ence young , are and likel gentler y to g produce ; Amy some leaves appreciable off being change " foolish . , Edith little becomes Amy ;'
and Guy adds strength to his gentleness and authority to obedience . J 5 ut the grown-up people;—do not they change also ? Are we not
often called " grown-up children ? " and does the soul which is to progress through an eternity make a practical stop after thirty
years of life ? To these questions George Elliot gives an unhesitating no . Not only in Silas Marner himself , who from a simple ,
tender , confiding Methodist , becomes , from the pang of one cruel deceptiona moodmiserand is again redeemed blove of a little
child into , an affectionate y ,, man and a trusting Christian y ; but in Godfrey and in Nancy we see the same fine touches of variation .
Nothing in literature seems to us more delicately true than that painting of the squire ' s eldest son—r-the -fine young man of generous
but vacillating instincts , early thrown into low company , so nearllostyet so whollsaved ! And Nancy . almostas much
feared y as loved , by her hu y sband ; yet who learns tenderness , . by
selfcommuning , and meets him with , such unexpected gentleness at last .
202 Notices Of Books.
202 NOTICES OF BOOKS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1861, page 202, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051861/page/58/
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