perfect work in "Stradivarius." He had Adam Bede's stalwart figure and
robust manhood. Caleb Garth, in _Middlemarch_, is in many ways a fine
portrait of him as to the nature of his employment, his delight in the
soil, and his honest, rugged character.

Caleb was wont to say that "it's a fine thing to have the chance of getting
a bit of the country into good fettle, and putting men into the right way
with their farming, and getting a bit of good contriving and solid building
done--that those who are living and those who come after will be the better
for. I'd sooner have it than a fortune. I hold it the most honorable work
that is." Robert Evans, like Caleb Garth, "while faithfully serving his
employers enjoyed great popularity among their tenants. He was gentle but
of indomitable firmness; and while stern to the idle and unthrifty, he did
not press heavily on those who might be behindhand with their rent, owing
to ill luck or misfortune, on quarter days."

While still living in Staffordshire, Robert Evans lost his first wife, by
whom he had a son and a daughter. His second wife, the mother of Marian,
was a Miss Pearson, a gentle, loving woman, and a notable housewife. She is
described in the Mrs. Hackit of "Amos Barton," whose industry, sharp
tongue, epigrammatic speech and marked character were taken from life.
Something of Mrs. Poyser also entered into her nature. She had three
children, Christiana, Isaac and Mary Ann. The house at Griff was situated
in a rich landscape, and was a large, commodious farm-house of red brick,
ivy-covered, and of two stories' height. At the back was a large garden,
and a farm-yard with barns and sheds.

In the series of sonnets entitled "Brother and Sister," Marian has given
some account of her early life. She had the attachment there described for
her brother Isaac, and followed him about with the same persistence and