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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    GEORGE ELIOT'S NEW ROMANCE. the authoress of

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    Untitled Article

    ¦ np HE reputation already by mam ^ xseac - ! - entitles her present Work to more than ordinary attention on the part of both reader and . critic . ¦ Adam Bede was a strictly theological novel . The Mtll on the Floss ., standing upon a less exalted pedestal , claims to be considered in a purely social and semi-educational light . Perhaps , for this reason , it will be even more popular than its predecessor with the general public . But though , in the present instance , the authoress has chosen more humble rnateVials on which to exercise her extra-. ^

    ordinary faculties , her mode of treatment is of that high intellectual nature " by which the roost every-day subjects are exalted and spiritualized , and invested with . the halo of genius : But the duel peculiarity of the work now under consideration is the deep knowledge of linman nature every where perceptible , and the keen insight into the motives from which the most trivial actions take root and spriiT * -: - Indeed the authoress ' s intense desire to dive into the most remote intricacies of the heart , and trace , with minute exactness , the source , progress , and development , of each distinctive phase of human character , occasions a slight tediousness and delay in the progress of the story , which somewhat mars its effect . Hie story , however , possesses so many points of . interest , and is worked out with such a masterly h . imd , that we must forgive a little tendency to circumlocution which here and thoro presents itself . The authoress ' s intention in tho present production must not be

    mistaken . She has concentrated all tho powers of her mind upon the realization of an nmloniablo theory , namely , that the rare gilts of a lively fancy and fertile imagination are fatal to the possessor unless accompanied by the strength of miiu ] rind moral culture necessary to hold them in subjection . Poor Maggie , the heroino of this story , is presented to us as an instance of tho truth ot tins proposition . Born of parents utterly incapable of comprehending the complicated subtleties of a nature so alien to then- own , sho is looked upon by all connected with her as jm ill weed , destined to brin" niiaory upon herself and those concerned in her proceedings . Her impulsive character leads her into eccentricities , lor which no allowance | a mftde by her prejudiced fainily ; in vain sho strives to do right- she is sure , by nomo unforeseen accident , or unhappy bungling in her mode of accomplishing it , to bring about the very opposite to what sho intends ; the consequence ih , that her ehUrthoocl is passed amid continual upbnudings , bickering , « " « strilo . This is the more trying" to our hcroiuo , as the lovo and approbation

    o ii _ ¦ .. _ u 1 . 1 . „ , _ .. „ . >( . » , n , wli , rip lin ' i « ttiwnll nil * ( IIMlloHl IK )!! . DI 1 C of others is one of the groat needs of her peimliiir UiKpiwition . Wio yearns for aflbotion with an eagerness of appetite Hint gnms Irosh intensity , from tho fact thnt few or no attempts uro nmrlo to appease it . ' She ifl loft ontirely to herself , to the formation ot her own ropulatiiiff principles , and ' development of hor own menial nimiltiefi . Can it bo wondered that , with huoIi nn imperfect education , Maggie should grow up a creature of wild and contradictory nnpulKOS , po 8 BCSBin { r grand and sterling qualities of heart , linn in hor roHolvo to master her own weakor pnHKi « nn , but over procipitnttngp . lioi-flolf into evil by the error * of her jiultfinoiitP % I Jut our heroine Ih not allowed toQHOupo with tho more conll ot o internal emo . 1 ions ; hlin w doMtinod to experience eurly the Htrolce ot outward onlnmity . J-Im father , Mr . TulKvor . by the fliiluro of n lawsuit , w suduoiil / rodiood to tho Inat oxtromity of fortune . In tho Htmromney ol nreiidioo and ignornnoo , ho lays nil his diHiwtora nt thu door of his opposliff nStorSoy , Mr . WaUem ; the latter , upon Tulhvor ' a bunk-

    Untitled Article

    In order to estimate the effects of this elaborate and sel f-consistent plan of the Hebrevy polity upon the faith and works of the modern Christians who entertain it , let us contrast for the sake of antithetical foil , the ' :. counter and more liberal view of what are . nicknamed " Broad Church" believers of all ages and lands . For we could cite patristic and mediaeval theologians , and Protestant preachers of all days up-to . our own , who hold it . It is happily given , in a lay and practical way , by the clear-seeing Goethe : — " The Jewish nation I regard as a wild unfruitful stem , which was surrounded by other wild , unfruitful trees . On this stem , the Eternal gardener grafted the noble branch , Jesus Christ , that by growing therefrom , it might ennoble the nature of the stem itself , and that grafts might be taken from it to fertilize all the other trees . The history and doctrines of this nation are certainly exclusive ; and the very little of a universal character which may possibly be found in the anticipations of the grand event to Occur in the future , is diffieuLt to find , and hardly worth the seeking . " . The latter view admits the essential basis of the former , and logically allows the inspired revelation by the Almighty of Himself to the Jews . It escapes the dilemma which . the Kurtz class of theologians cannot possibly avoid , of elevating : Judaism into a position of intrinsic worth , while they preach and believe that Christianity which , in all details of inner motive and outward ethical act , is the diametrical opposite and plain reprover of that Judaism , which spurned the Christ for whose reception , according to the professor ' s theory , long ages and intricate plans prepared them . The preaching of Old Testament Scripture as verbally authoritative in the same sense as the New , is an error whose ultimate evil influences on legislation , social regulations , and practical liberty , it is ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ impossible to over-estimate . There was one time m . English history , when the Old .-. Testament . was ,-reverenced , with an ardour , largely in excess of regard for the benign and truly liberal teachings of Christ . Forafew years , practical Judaism ruled in England . The Puritans , when dominant ,: wielded , for state and social purposes , the terrors of Sinai , not the kindly and liberty-loving precepts preached on the Mount . To hold the one is necessarily to disregard the other . ¦¦ Judaism and Christianity are mutually , exclusive , reciprocally contradictory . It is with an almost pang- that we cite the errors of heroic and earnest men , to whom we owe so much of what we have and are to-day , in illustration of the consideration we . are endeavouring to enforce . But there can be nothing more instructive —it has a special mstructiveness , entirely its own indeed—than to designate the errors of the pure and earnest souled . And we forget C-ur compunctions when we remember that in our own day a clique , strongtwelded , trained to a unity of action which atones for the really slight hold it has upon the thinking and therefore rulingmen amongst ivsj entertains in its heart the very spirit , of the . extreme errors of the Puritans . The Puritans were unaffected by the great " Law of -Liberty , " which , hud but their eyes been able to see it , the Saviour and his * noblcst . servant , Paul , preached in clearer and more ' . impressive tones , than ever did Milton or Locke . The historic mitigation of their excess cannot be lirged in palliation of the socially despotic dogmatists , who marshal at their buck a mass of unthinking sectaries-, standing , not on their Bible as gospel , but upon a Talmud of their own making—the Judaic system made part and parcel of a sublime Christianity , which is its very antithesis , and which abhors'its every restriction . It is no difficult task to prove that actual facts most thoroughly disprove the Kurtz and philo-Judaic theory . Zealots who set about justifying nil the ways of God to man , and explain the humanly inexplicable iiicon . sistencies ' of a transitionary Divine dispensation ,. have to answer for , the existence of a ' special aggressive scepticism which they , and they only , provoke . For the doubts of the assailants are engendered by their'theoretic systems fimndod on the Book , not on the Book in its own teachings . Sir William Hamilton used frequently to quote a pithy saw , uttered by some one , about the use made by dogmatists of the Bible : — - " This is tho Book where qach his dogma seelfs , This 18 tho Bpolc where each hia dogma finds . " Tho French churchman in tho ftvble , looking through a telescope at a celestial- luminary , saw distinctly tho two spires of a cathedral . Tho youns * lady , looking through tho sumo instrument nt the same plnnot , saw in the priest ' s architectural 'dark lines a couple of lovers bowing to ono another . And we are about as hopeless of disabusing aniy Kurtjcitcof his liking for the theory , as , we are of convincinghim of its practical evil effect . Lyt tho attempt , at all events , be inrtde . How " Heuthonisin and Judaism " could " meet in Christianity , " wo cannot conceive , excopt in a bnld chronological sense , valueless as n stop in tho professor ' s chain . Ah plain inon , it seems to us that Christianity overthrow both , because it was opposed to both equally radically , opposed to a national monopoly of monotheism , opposed -to tho Catholic and latitudinarian paganism of Home , which loft to each conquest its own goite , worship , and rites ; opposed to a L ' iivitieul sacerdotal office , an to Dtilphio oracles and the ritos of Aphrodysian and Vcstul adoration . Tliat Christianity was given to the Vvprltl at tho time tho world was , in external conditions , best prepared to receive it , as Bishop Portoua , for example , has shown , wo do believe . Tho world had become coHinopolitnn , lloinan polity and Creole culture had elftotod that . 1 'Yom ltoino roads lod to every known region ; tho journeying of the Apostlo was jnndp possiblo . The propajirandiam of hitovost and publicity , which must ncceauarily proqede the propagandism of conviction , was facilitated . And W \\\\\ , the ltoninn cltljson and the man learned m Creole literature , hud 'the two-fold koy to open an inlob to tho mincla of all . In this souse , us held by divines who do not thaoriaso with Gorman prolossors and puny -winotoonth-ccntury runtans , wo do

    have last alluded , affects the work of Stier on " The Words of the Risen Saviour . " He dins into his readers the bodily presence of Christ to Peter , -Paul , and John in their respective trances . This , because , according to him , the miiaculousne $ s and difficulty of the phenomena are thereby enhanced . This upward and spasmodic auctioneering of the omnipotence of the Deity to us produces only disgust . Leaving aside , the very tenable ground that eveiy _ natural phenomenon is equally miraculous and awe-inspiring , in this , at all events , we rest . The communion of their Lord with the souls of his servants is to us just as miraculous , certainly infinitely more sublime and inspiring , than the bodily presence which Pastor Stier s orthodox eyes -make out to be the essence of the wonder .

    quails , and such details—there is evinced the most patient research , and the ripest acquaintance with every cross-light of informationthe observations of travellers , as well as the conclusions of commentators . When the author escapes from the shackles of his theoryf he proves himself in argument arid . the whole polemics of exegesis , wary , and inductive . He produces a conviction in the reader ' s mind of his candour and desire to know the truth ; he looks carefully to the linlcs of his chain ; and , except , perhaps , in the case of the miracles , which he persists in explaining while he maintains their unimpaired miraculous character , he generally conducts you to his conclusions . The same smallness of view as that to which we

    believe that the existing state of the " heathen" world , and . the national unity still remainingr to the Hebrew , along * with the growing esteem of many for a monotheistic faith , favoured the growth of Christianity - and that they demonstrate the Divine Providence in choosing the time chosen for its adventi But this is mightily different from saying that " heathenism was to prepare mankind for salvation , Judaism salvation for mankind /' Bating the theory or skeleton on which the book is hung * , and the entire absence of literary workmanship , and the slenderest evidence that the heart of a man beat behind the pen of the writer , the work is an acquisition to the clergyman ' s , library at least . For on all matters of criticism-r-the route of the Israelites through the desert , the regions of their halting places , the miraculous gifts of manna and

    Untitled Article

    April 14 , 1860 /] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 355

    George Eliot's New Romance. The Authoress Of

    achieved the authoress ot / GEORGE ELIOT'S NEW ROMANCE . _ . ¦'_ ¦ ¦ . _ _ '• t ^ ¦ i i ' J * . O A . 1

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 355, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2342/page/15/