Transcriber's Note:
This is Volume I of a three volume set:
- Volume I—Unknown
- Volume II—Famous
- Volume III—Sunset
A combined indexto the entire set is located at the end of Volume III.
Narrative content written by J. Cross and material quoted from writers other thanGeorge Eliot are interspersed throughout the text. Their content is placed in blockquotes.
Remaining transcriber's notes are located at the end of the text.
GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE
VOL. I.—UNKNOWN
"Our finest hope is finest memory"
Portrait of George Eliot.
Etched by M. Rajon.
GEORGE ELIOT'S LIFE
as related in her Letters and Journals
ARRANGED AND EDITED BY HER HUSBAND
J. W. CROSS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THREE VOLUMES.—Volume I
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
GEORGE ELIOT'S WORKS.
LIBRARY EDITION.
ADAM BEDE. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
DANIEL DERONDA. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2.50.
ESSAYS and LEAVES FROM A NOTE-BOOK. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
FELIX HOLT, THE RADICAL. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
MIDDLEMARCH. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $2.50.
ROMOLA. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE, and SILAS MARNER. Illustrated.12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
THE IMPRESSIONS OF THEOPHRASTUS SUCH. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
THE MILL ON THE FLOSS. Illustrated. 12mo, Cloth, $1.25.
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
☞Harper & Brothers will send any of the above volumes by mail, postageprepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt ofthe price. For other editions of George Eliot's works published by Harper& Brothers see advertisement at end of third volume.
PREFACE.
With the materials in my hands I have endeavored toform an autobiography (if the term may be permitted) ofGeorge Eliot. The life has been allowed to write itselfin extracts from her letters and journals. Free from theobtrusion of any mind but her own, this method serves, Ithink, better than any other open to me, to show the developmentof her intellect and character.
In dealing with the correspondence I have been influencedby the desire to make known the woman, as wellas the author, through the presen