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