land, so beautiful in the autumn with the glorious purple heather, was
much beloved by George Eliot, known to the whole world as the writer of
_Adam Bede_ and the _Mill on the Floss_. In 1871, while _Middlemarch_
was appearing in parts, George Eliot, who as Mr. Lewes said, "never
seemed at home except under a broad sweep of sky," spent part of the
spring and summer at Brookbank,--an old-fashioned gabled cottage in the
village (close to the church) with delightful lattice-paned
windows,--belonging to a Mrs. Gilchrist. At this time George Eliot was
in a delicate state of health and scarcely equal to finishing her new
story. One cannot call it a novel, for it had no plot. It was simply a
remarkable picture of provincial life in the first half of the
nineteenth century. George Eliot greatly enjoyed her quiet life at
Shottermill, although many of her friends thought it incomprehensible
that she could endure such a secluded life. One can scarcely read her
graphic description of the sweet beauty of a Warwickshire lane, with its
hedgerows all radiant in summer beauty, without feeling how much this
remarkable woman loved it all, and in some degree one may understand how
restful were the village surroundings. They led a most uneventful life,
but occasionally would pay a visit to Tennyson, whose house at Aldworth
was only 3 miles off. George Eliot rarely went out in the daytime, but
sometimes she would go to see some cottagers and have a chat with them.
A farmer's wife was greatly astonished at her knowledge of
butter-making, and of the growth of fruit and vegetables, little
imagining that in her early days, after her mother's death, the great
authoress had managed the dairy in her own home at Griff House.

[Illustration: BROOKBANK.

George Eliot's cottage at Shottermill, near Haslemere.]