THE ETHICS OF GEORGE ELIOT'S WORKS


BY THE LATE JOHN CROMBIE BROWN

FOURTH EDITION

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLXXXIV

_All Rights reserved_




PREFACE.


The greater part of the following Essay was written several years ago. It
was too long for any of the periodicals to which the author had been in
the habit of occasionally contributing, and no thought was then
entertained of publishing it in a separate form. One day, however,
during his last illness, the talk happened to turn on George Eliot's
Works, and he mentioned his long-forgotten paper. One of the friends
then present--a competent critic and high literary authority--expressed a
wish to see it, and his opinion was so favourable that its publication
was determined on. The author then proposed to complete his work by
taking up 'Middlemarch' and 'Deronda'; and if any trace of failing vigour
is discernible in these latter pages, the reader will bear in mind that