Birth at Arbury Farm—Baptism—Character of father—His first marriage and children—Second marriage and children—Removal to Griff—Events at time of birth—Character of country about Griff—Coach communication—Father's position—Anecdotes of father—Character of mother—Mother's family and delicacy—Dame's school—Companionship with brother—Miss Lathom's school at Attleboro—Suffers from fear—Father's pet—Drives with him—First books read—First journey to Staffordshire—Miss Wallington's school at Nuneaton—Miss Lewis, governess—Books read—Religious impressions—Charade acting—Miss Franklin's school at Coventry—Riot at Nuneaton—First letter to Miss Lewis—Mother's illness—Mother's death—Sister Christiana married to Mr. Clarke—Relations with brother—Housekeeper at Griff—Life and studies there.
CHAPTER I.
In the foregoing introductory sketch I have endeavored to present the influences to which George Eliot was subjected in her youth, and the environment in which she grew up; I am now able to begin the fulfilment of the promise on the titlepage, that the life will be related in her own letters; or, rather, in extracts from her own letters, for no single letter is printed entire from the beginning to the end. I have not succeeded in obtaining any between 6th January, 1836, and 18th August, 1838; but from the latter date the correspondence becomes regular, and I have arranged it as a continuous narrative, with the names of the persons to whom the letters are addressed in the margin. The slight thread of narrative or explanation which I have written to elucidate the letters, where necessary, will hereafter occupy an inside margin, so that the reader will see at a glance what is narrative and what is correspondence, and will be troubled as little as possible with marks of quotation or changes of type.
The following opening letter of the series to Miss Lewis describes a first visit to London with her brother:
Letter to Miss Lewis, 18th Aug. 1838.
Let me tell you, though, that I was not at all delighted with the stir of the great Babel, and the less so, probably, owing to the circumstances attending my visit thither. Isaac and I went alone (that seems rather Irish), and stayed only a week, every day of which we worked hard at seeing sights. I think Greenwich Hospital interested me more than anything else.
Mr. Isaac Evans himself tells me that what he remembers chiefly impressed her was the first hearing the great bell of St. Paul's. It affected her deeply. At that time she was so much under the influence of religious and ascetic ideas that she would not go to any of the theatres with her brother, but spent all her evenings alone, reading. A characteristic reminiscence is that the chief thing she wanted to buy was Josephus's "History of the Jews;" and at the same bookshop her brother got her this he bought for himself a pair of hunting sketches. In the same letter, alluding to the marriage of one of her friends, she says: