George Eliot | Page 7

"Most of the epistles
are addressed to my 'dear uncle and aunt,' and all reveal George Eliot's
great talents. The style is elegant and graceful, and the letters abound in
beautiful metaphor; but their most striking characteristic is the religious
tinge that pervades them all. Nearly every line denotes that George
Eliot was an earnest biblical student, and that she was, especially in the
years 1839 and 1840, very anxious about her spiritual condition. In one
of these letters, written from Griff to Elizabeth Evans, in 1839, she says
she is living in a dry and thirsty land, and that she is looking forward
with pleasure to a visit to Wirksworth, and likens her aunt's
companionship and counsel to a spring of pure water, acceptable to her
as is the well dug for the traveller in the desert. That the most
affectionate and loving relationship existed between the eminent author
and Mrs. Elizabeth Evans, is apparent from this correspondence. The
inmost secrets of George Eliot's heart are laid bare in these letters to the
famous Methodist preacher, who was at that time her dearest friend.
She is ever asking for advice and spiritual guidance, and confesses her

faults with a candor that is rendered additionally attractive by reason of
the polished language in which it is clothed. When quite a girl, George
Eliot was known as pious and clever; and in the letters she wrote in
1839, when she was twenty years old, the cleverness has grown and
expanded, although she is not so sure about her piety. She says that
'unstable as water thou shalt not excel,' seems to be a description of her
character, instead of the progress from strength to strength that should
be experienced by those who wish to stand in the presence of God. In
another letter she admits that she cannot give a good account of her
spiritual state, says that she has been surrounded by worldly persons,
and that love of human praise is one of her great stumbling-blocks. But
in a letter written in 1840 the uncertainty has gone from her mind, and
she writes that she has resolved in the strength of the Lord to serve him
evermore. In a later communication, however, she does not appear so
confident, and admits that she is obliged to strive against the ambition
that fills her heart, and that her fondness of worldly praise is a great bar
and hindrance to spiritual advancement. Still she thinks it is no use
sitting inactive with folded hands; and believing that the love of God is
the only thing to give real satisfaction to human beings, she hopes, with
his help, to obtain it. One of the letters is chiefly devoted to the concern
felt by Marian Evans at Elizabeth Evans' illness; and another, written at
Foleshill, betrays some humor amid the trouble that afflicts her about
her own future. Their outward circumstances, she writes, are all she can
desire; but she is not so certain about her spiritual state, although she
feels that it is the grace of God alone that can give the greatest
satisfaction. Then she goes on to speak of the preacher at Foleshill,
with whom she is not greatly pleased: 'We get the truth, but it is not
recommended by the mode of its delivery,' is how she writes of this
divine; yet she is charitable withal, and removes the sting by adding
that more good may sometimes be obtained from humble instruments
than from the highest privileges, and that she must examine her own
heart rather than speak unkindly of the preacher. Up to this period it is
evident that Marian Evans' views upon religion were orthodox, and that
her life was passed in ceaseless striving for the 'peace that passeth
understanding;' but in 1843 a letter was written to Elizabeth Evans by a
relative in Griff, in which Marian Evans is spoken of, and the change in
her religious opinions indicated. She writes that they are in great pain

about Mary Ann; but the last portion of the letter, dealing more fully
with the subject, has unfortunately got lost or destroyed. The close
association of George Eliot with Derbyshire, as well as her love for the
quaint village of Wirksworth, and its upright, honest, God-fearing
people, breaks forth in more than one of these communications."
Partly as the result of her studies and partly as the result of contact with
other minds, Marian began to grow sceptical about the religious beliefs
she had entertained. This took place probably during her twenty-third
year, but the growth of the new ideas was slow at first. As one of her
friends has suggested, it was her eagerness for positive knowledge
which made her an unbeliever. She had no love of mere doubt, no
desire to