-^ s°°^ ,5^ V s v> > - ^N - v G v\ *M k * *6 o* ' / '% *>. \ kr> -^ % £? ^-, & ,<-, -C. V V , <> A> ./. y *+ ,y A^ s (P^ ■Cp A x Oo f $ <<>. ^ ,0 0. 0° ^ 0^ ^ ^ ' ^. -%- ( .4^ ,A X 0' .2 I £ •%. V ,0o. W ^ ^ ^" ' «* ^ * ^ * v^ V.. o X '- '^ ^ x ^. 0. -/ v ,y <% \ 00 > o \\" x i> * ^ = ^ $ oo ^ / GEORGE ELIOT SCENES AND PEOPLE IN HER $7> Sir Christopher Cheverel Sir Roger Newdigate Lady Cheverel Lady Hester Newdigate Rev. Maynard Gilfil Rev. Bernard Gilpin Ebdell Catarina Sarti Sally Shilton Captain Wybrow Charles Parker Lady Assher Lady Anstruther Mr. Oldinport Francis Newdigate Bates, the Gardener Baines, Gardener at Arbury Sir Anthony Cheverel Sir Richard Newdegate Places Cheverel Manor Arbury Hall Knebley Abbey . . , 4 Astley Castle Knebley Church Astley Church The Rookery North Walk 15 GEORGE ELIOT is this George Eliot? " Evidently " he " must have been one of their own number. In fact, they argued, he must have been one of those who were wont to spend their evenings in the bar of the Bull Hotel, the original of the Red Lion of Milby, for the first chapter of " Ja- net's Repentance " contains a conversation held in this room, which many of them re- membered almost word for word. It could not have been written by anybody except one who had heard it. But this made the ques- " JANET'S REPENTANCE" Mr. Dempster Mr. Buchanan Janet Dempster Mrs. Buchanan Mr. Tomlinson Mr. Hinks Rev. Mr. Crewe Rev. Mr. Hughes Mr. Pratt Mr. Bond Rev. Mr. Tryan Mr. Jones Misses Linnet Misses Hill Mrs. Pettifer Mrs. Robinson Mr. Pittman Mr. Greenway Rev. Mr. Prendergast Hon. and Rev. Mr. Stopford Mr. Landor Mr. Craddock Mr. Budd Mr. Burton Mr. Lowme Mr. Towle Mr. Phipps Mr. Bull Mr. Jerome Mr. Everhard Mrs. Rayner Mrs. Wallington Jonathan Lamb Wheway Places Paddiford ....*... Stockingford The Red Lion Bull Hotel Orchard Street Church Street 16 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE tion all the more difficult, for there was no man among them who possessed any literary ability. There was one, however, who had been known to write poetry. It was pretty bad, but it constituted him an author, and, as he was not known to be good for much else, what was first a mere suspicion slowly crys- tallized into a fixed public opinion, that this man, Liggins by name, was the real George Eliot. Liggins quite relished the greatness thus thrust upon him, and failed to make a prompt denial. Finally he realized that all the wiser heads of the community believed him to be the author, and therefore, accepting their superior judgment as better than his own, he too came to believe it and " con- fessed." Many prominent persons and influ- ential journals also accepted the Liggins theory, much to the real author's disgust. A deputation of clergymen visited him to invite him to write for their magazine, and found him " washing his slop-basin at a pump," whereupon they were duly " inspired with reverence." George Eliot almost believed in Liggins herself, because, she said, it is " so easy to believe what the world keeps repeat- ing." The fiction became so serious that sums 17 GEORGE ELIOT of money were actually raised for the poor but eccentric author who " would take no pay for his manuscript/' and the real author was compelled to reveal her identity to prevent a huge imposition upon the public. The conversations which were so cleverly reported were probably actually heard by Robert Evans, the father of George Eliot, who doubtless often visited the Bull in com- pany with his neighbors. He repeated them to his wife, not realizing that the little daugh- ter who listened so attentively was gifted with a marvelous memory, nor that she possessed a genius that could transform a simple tale into a novel of dramatic power. Mary Ann Evans had moved to Coventry sixteen years before, and was therefore scarcely known in Nunea- ton at the time the stories appeared. She then had no literary fame, and was no more likely to be thought of in this connection than any one of a hundred other schoolgirls. A mile south of Nuneaton the visitor of to-day may see a small stone church with a square tower, known as the Chilvers Coton Church. A little flight of steps running up the outer wall to the schoolchildren's gallery identifies it with Shepperton Church. Here 18 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE George Eliot was baptized, and here was the scene of the labors of Amos Barton and of Mr. Gilfil. Near by is the pretty little vicar- age where Milly Barton lived and fought a losing battle with poverty, sickness, and gross imposition. In the churchyard under a fine old yew-tree is a tombstone commonly known as Milly's Grave. This is the inscription : Within this Tomb Waiting the summons of the archangel's trumpet is enclosed all that was mortal of EMMA the beloved wife of the Revd. John Gwyther, B.A. Curate of this parish who departed this life November 4th, 1836 Aged 34 years. " Looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2 : 13 SHE has left a husband and seven children to lament their loss ; but assured of her eternal gain, they mourn not as those who have no hope; faith enables them to anticipate their reunion in a state of endless felicity, 19 GEORGE ELIOT (Reverse) The various duties of her station, she discharged with Christian fidelity; mild amiable and affectionate, she was beloved by all who knew her ; devout and unostentatious in her piety, she has left an example worthy of universal imitation ; deeply imbued with the spirit of the gospel " peace on earth and good will toward man," she died in the possession of that peace which arises only from faith in the finished salvation of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. One has only to read this inscription to real- ize that no artist ever painted a truer portrait than George Eliot when she drew that sweet picture of Emma Gwyther, and called her Milly Barton. Some tender recollections of her mother give an added charm to the picture. Mrs. Evans was a true friend of Emma Gwyther, and her kindness to this lovely but needy woman is beautifully recalled by the service of Mrs. Hackit in the story, who sent Milly " a cheese and a sack of potatoes " now and then, relieving her necessities when she could, min- 20 > < O a o O U > u T3 o S £ S o SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE isterlng to her tenderly during her illness, and lovingly caring for the motherless children. For Mrs. Evans was a woman of tender heart, though possessed of a sharp tongue and a ready wit. She was a good housewife, and managed her dairy with excellent business ability. All these characteristics are found in Mrs. Hackit, who is thus described with captivating humor : " Mrs. Hackit declines cream ; she has so long abstained from it, with an eye to the weekly butter- money, that abstinence, wedded to habit, has begot- ten aversion. She is a thin woman, with a chronic liver complaint, which would have secured her Mr. Pilgrim's entire regard and unreserved good word, even if he had not been in awe of her tongue, which was as sharp as his own lancet. She has brought her knitting — no frivolous fancy knitting, but a substantial woolen stocking; the click-click of her knitting-needles is the running accompaniment to all her conversation, and in her utmost enjoyment of spoiling a friend's self-satisfaction she was never known to spoil a stocking." Mr. Hackit is one of those pleasant, kind- hearted old gentlemen whom we always delight to meet in novels, as in real life, be- cause the contact makes us better. He, like 21 GEORGE ELIOT Robert Evans, was " a shrewd, substantial man, whose advice about crops is always worth listening to, and who is too well off to want to borrow money." George Eliot had a profound respect for her father, and could scarcely refrain from dwelling upon the characteristics which she so much ad- mired in him. In Adam Bede she gave free rein to this impulse; in Mr. Tulliver she pictured the well-remembered love of her father for herself, his favorite child; and in Caleb Garth she revealed the honored father in later years, when his " uncommon com- mon sense," sterling honesty, and sound judgment had won the respect and esteem of landed gentry and farmer-folk for miles around. The tombstone of Robert Evans and his wife is in the churchyard of Chilvers Coton, and to find it one has only to ask any vil- lager to point out the grave of Adam Bede. Returning to Nuneaton, we may pass the workhouse, " a huge square stone building, euphuistically called the College." Here Amos Barton attempted to bring his geo- graphical, chronological, and exegetical mind to the level of Old Maxum, who was ninety- 22 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE five and stone deaf, Silly Jim, who " rolled his head from side to side and gazed at the point of his nose," and Mrs. Brick, whose only sensitive point was snuff. It is a curi- ous fact that even one of the paupers, Mr. Fitchett, found an " original " in real life in an old verger named Baker. The " Oldinport Arms," where Mr. Hackit presided at the annual dinner of the * As- sociation for the Prosecution of Felons," stands in the market-place of Nuneaton. Its real name is the " Newdegate Arms." The obvious change of " new " to " old " and of " gate " to its equivalent " port " suggests that the author intended the name to be recognized. Similar changes are numerous throughout the earlier novels. From the windows of this hotel in 1832 Colonel New- degate read the Riot Act to an election mob whose turbulent spirit could not be subdued by a detachment of the Scots Greys, and the gallant colonel was wounded in the tumult, which did not subside until the following day. George Eliot, then a girl of thirteen, wit- nessed this stirring scene, and thirty-three years later wrote a vivid description of it in " Felix Holt." 23 GEORGE ELIOT Mr. Oldinport, who loaned Amos Barton twenty pounds, was the Right Honorable Charles N. Newdegate, a distinguished Mem- ber of Parliament for many years. His predecessor, with whom Mr. Gilfil quar- reled, was Mr. Francis Newdigate, the great-grandfather of the present owner of Arbury Hall. He was also " the old squire " of " Adam Bede." Arbury Park, lying some three miles to the southwest of Nuneaton, is a place of rare beauty. It is an inclosure of perhaps three hundred acres, and a part of the Ar- bury Estate which extends over something like ten thousand acres of rich mining and agricultural land. The present owner is Mr. Francis Alexander Newdigate Newde- gate, who is a great-grandson of Francis Newdigate, the employer of Robert Evans, and the original of Mr. Oldinport in " Mr. Gilfil's Love Story." It was Francis New- digate, the grandfather of the present Mr. Newdegate, who introduced Robert Evans to his father and urged his employment. Mr. Newdegate was a member of Parlia- ment for fourteen years and is highly; esteemed. 24 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE The Newdegates first came into possession of Arbury in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when John Newdegate obtained the estate from Sir Edmund Anderson in exchange for the manor of Harefield, where the Newde- gate family had lived since the reign of Edward III. Harefield is now one of the estates of the present Mr. Newdegate, who is also the owner of Astley Castle and Weston-in-Arden in Warwickshire and of [West Hallam in Derbyshire. The charming old Gothic manor, with its romantic surroundings, its beautifully kept lawns, its fine old trees, its sparkling pool, the gardens, the drawing-room, the dining- room, the library, the long gallery upstairs, the housekeeper's room, the ancestral paint- ings, and even the old harpsichord, are to- day almost exactly as they are described in "Mr. GilfiTs Love Story": " And a charming picture Cheverel Manor would have made that evening, if some English Watteau had been there to paint it: the castellated house of gray-tinted stone, with the flickering sunbeams sending dashes of golden light across the many- shaped panes in the mullioned windows, and a great beech leaning athwart one of the flanking towers, 25 GEORGE ELIOT and breaking with its dark flattened boughs the too formal symmetry of the front; the broad gravel walk winding on the right, by a row of tall pines, alongside the pool, on the left branching out among swelling grassy mounds, surmounted by clumps of trees, where the red trunk of the Scotch fir glows in the descending sunlight against the bright green of limes and acacias ; the great pool, where a pair of swans are swimming lazily with one leg tucked under a wing, and where the open water-lilies lie calmly accepting the kisses of the fluttering light- sparkles ; the lawn, with its smooth emerald green- ness, sloping down to the rougher and browner herbage of the park, from which it is invisibly fenced by a little stream that winds away from the pool, and disappears under a wooden bridge in the distant pleasure-ground," etc., etc. The interior is minutely described in the following passages: " Any one entering that dining-room for the first time would perhaps have had his attention even more strongly arrested by the room itself, which was so bare of furniture that it impressed one with its architectural beauty like a cathedral. A piece of matting stretched from door to door, a bit of worn carpet under the dining-table, and a sideboard in a deep recess, did not detain the eye 26 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE for a moment from the lofty groined ceiling, with its richly carved pendants, all of creamy white, relieved here and there by touches of gold. On one side, this lofty ceiling was supported by pillars and arches, beyond which a lower ceiling, a minia- ture copy of the higher one, covered the square projection which, with its three large pointed win- dows, formed the central feature of the building. The room looked less like a place to dine in than a piece of space enclosed simply for the sake of beautiful outline; and the small dining-table, with the party round it, seemed an odd and insignificant accident, rather than anything connected with the original purpose of the apartment. . . . " The library lay but three steps from the dining- room, on the other side of a cloistered and matted passage. The oriel window was overshadowed by the great beech, and this, with the flat heavily carved ceiling and the dark hue of the old books that lined the walls, made the room look somber, especially on entering it from the dining-room, with its aerial curves and cream-colored fretwork touched with gold. . . . " The party entered the drawing-room, which, with its oriel window, corresponded to the library in the other wing, and had also a flat ceiling heavy with carving and blazonry; but the window being unshaded, and the walls hung with full-length por- traits of knights and dames in scarlet, white, and 27 GEORGE ELIOT gold, it had not the somber effect of the library. Here hung the portrait of Sir Anthony Cheverel, who in the reign of Charles II was the renovator of the family splendor, which had suffered some declension from the early brilliancy of that Che- vreuil who came over with the Conqueror. A very imposing personage was this Sir Anthony, stand- ing with one arm akimbo, and one fine leg and foot advanced, evidently with a view to the gratification of his contemporaries and posterity. You might have taken off his splendid peruke, and his scarlet cloak, which was thrown backward from his shoul- ders, without annihilating the dignity of his ap- pearance. And he had known how to choose a wife, too, for his lady, hanging opposite to him, with her sunny brown hair drawn away in bands from her mild grave face, and falling in two large rich curls on her snowy, gently sloping neck, which shamed the harsher hue and outline of her white satin robe, was a fit mother of ' large-acred * heirs. . . • " She [Catarina] had made her way along the cloistered passages, now lighted here and there by a small oil-lamp, to the grand-staircase, which led directly to a gallery running along the whole east- ern side of the building, where it was her habit to walk when she wished to be alone. The bright moonlight was streaming through the windows, throwing into strange light and shadow the hetero- 28 < - p 03 - < o c PS I o g s 5 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE geneous obj ects that lined the long walls : Greek statues and busts of Roman emperors ; low cabi- nets filled with curiosities, natural and antiquarian ; tropical birds and huge horns of beasts ; Hindoo gods and strange shells ; swords and daggers, and bits of chain-armor; Roman lamps and tiny models of Greek temples ; and, above all these, queer old family portraits — of little boys and girls, once the hope of the Cheverels, with close-shaven heads imprisoned in stiff ruffs — of faded, pink-faced ladies, with rudimentary features and highly de- veloped head-dresses — of gallant gentlemen, with high hips, high shoulders, and red pointed beards. Here, on rainy days, Sir Christopher and his lady took their promenade, and here billiards were played." In the saloon two striking portraits are hung side by side on the wall opposite the door. The fine old gentleman is Sir Roger Newdigate, the original of Sir Christopher Cheverel, a man of generous disposition and kindly nature, the reminiscences of whose real life correspond with the agreeable im- pression of his character left by the story. Unfortunately, his good wife, whose por- trait hangs by his side, does not fare so well at the hands of the novelist, for Lady New- digate was a woman of far lovelier character 29 GEORGE ELIOT than might be inferred from the somewhat unsatisfactory description of Lady Cheverel. The author never really knew her, and did not obtain sufficient information to paint her portrait as accurately as she seems to have done that of Sir Roger, whose strong char- acteristics were well known. Sir Roger Newdigate was born on the 30th of May, 1719, and died, in his eighty-eighth year, on November 25, 1806. He was the owner of one of the finest estates of coal in Great Britain, and a Member of Parliament for many years. He was a liberal benefactor to the poor of his neighborhood, and a great friend of Oxford University, to which he made many munificent gifts. Like another " grand old man " of England, he was well versed in Homer and all the best of the classics. " A lover of virtu and an excellent classic from his early days, he made it his business in both his tours on the Continent to sketch ancient ruins, buildings, statues, and landscapes, chiefly such as are not to be found in books of antiquities and travels ; and two ample folios, the produce of his indefatigable and accurate pencil, enrich the library at Arbury. He also brought home some curious antique marbles and vases of exquisite workmanship 30 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE (some of them engraved in 4 Piranesi,' where his name several times occurs), casts from the most admired statues at Rome and Florence, and copies of many celebrated paintings, particularly a fine one of the famous ' Transfiguration ' of Raphael which adorns the saloon at Arbury, a room of admirable proportions and beauty, with a bow window and ceiling in the richest style of Gothic architecture, finished a few years before his death. He new cast and rebuilt the whole house on the site of an ancient priory, in the Gothic style, in which he modestly professed himself an humble imitator, but the models which he studied were of prime excellence, the Divinity School at Oxford, Henry VIFs Chapel and King's College Chapel in Cambridge. In accomplishing one part of his plans for the enlargement of the hall, he used to say, pleasantly, he * did as impudent a thing as ever was attempted,' cutting through the massy wall of the original house built by Sir Edmund Anderson, to form three ample Gothic arches, and introduce a gallery, or side aisle, which has a striking effect in one of the noblest dining-rooms in the Kingdom. The library and drawing-room, both with arched ceilings, are also justly admired. The ceiling of the library is decorated with paint- ings, copied from the batRs of Livia." * 1 From a Memoir by the Rev. R. Churton, privately printed in 1881 from the "Gentlemen's Magazine" of 1807. 31 GEORGE ELIOT The real Lady Cheverel was Sir Roger's second wife, Hester Margaretta Mundy, whom he married in 1776. She was very fond of music, and took lessons in London of an Italian music-master named Motta, the original of " Sarti." One day, while driving over the estate in her carriage, the attention of Lady Newdigate was attracted by a little girl, the daughter of a collier, sweetly singing as she sat upon the door- step of her father's cottage. The child, whose name was Sally Shilton, was taken to the Arbury home, and Signor Motta was engaged to give her lessons. She developed so much musical talent that Sir Roger and Lady Newdigate, who were both much at- tached to her, had high hopes of a great professional career. She was soon promoted from the housekeeper's room to the drawing- room, and became a much-loved member of the family. Her health, however, proved too delicate for a professional career, and this idea was eventually given up, although the young girl was in much demand for private mu- sicales, and at one time assisted in a grand party at Packington, the seat of the Earl of Aylesford. 32 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE When George Eliot wrote " Mr. GilfiTs Love Story/' she found a charming heroine in little Sally Shilton, whom she only faintly disguised as an Italian and the daughter of Sarti. But there is no evidence that the love affairs of Catarina and the Captain ever had a counterpart in Sally's history. Mr. Charles Parker, the presumptive heir of Sir Roger, was the original of Captain Wybrow of the story, and Miss Anstruther was a conven- ient model for Miss Assher. But it is hardly likely that Sally Shilton was ever in love with Charles Parker, for she was only eleven years old at the time of his marriage to Miss Anstruther. She had a lover, however, in the curate of Shepperton Church and the chaplain of the family. His name was Bernard Gilpin Eb- dell. George Eliot altered the name but slightly, Bernard Gilpin being easily trans- formed into Maynard Gilfil. Sally married the young clergyman, and moved into the pretty vicarage, which later became the home of another of the author's heroines, Milly Barton. She did not die as told in the story, in which Mr. Gilfil only " tasted a few months of perfect happiness," but made 33 GEORGE ELIOT him an excellent wife for twenty-two years. The jealousy of Catarina and the tragic death of Captain Wybrow are, of course, pure fiction. Mr. Gilfil " had a large heap of short ser- mons, rather yellow and worn at the edges, from which he took two every Sunday, secur- ing perfect impartiality in the selection by taking them as they came, without reference to topics; and having preached one of these sermons at Shepperton in the morning, he mounted his horse and rode hastily with the other in his pocket to Knebley, where he officiated in a wonderful little church, with a checkered pavement which had once rung to the iron tread of military monks, with coats of arms in clusters on the lofty roof, marble warriors and their wives without noses occupying a large proportion of the area, and the twelve apostles, with their heads very much on one side, holding didac- tic ribbons, painted in fresco on the walls." Astley Church, near the Arbury estate, is the original of Knebley Church. It is still in the same condition as described. It is interesting to note, however, that the " twelve apostles with didactic ribbons " are not apos- 34 SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE ties at all, but saints. There are eighteen in all — nine New Testament saints with halos and nine Old Testament saints without. George Eliot was born on this beautiful estate of Arbury, within a few hundred yards of the old Manor House. When his daugh- ter was only four months old, Mr. Evans moved to Griff House, not far away. Mr. Evans, as agent of the estate, frequently visited the Manor House on business, and no doubt his daughter often accompanied him. In the housekeeper's room, which may still be seen with its motto 1 over the fire- place, she doubtless heard over and over again all the history and legends connected with the place, and through the favor of the housekeeper was permitted to see all the rooms of this fine old house. Upon a young girl of her sensibilities such a charmingly romantic place must have made a deep impression. After Mr. Lewes had finally succeeded in persuading her that she might be able to write fiction, nothing could be more natu- 1 The motto, as quoted by George Eliot, is, "Fear God and honour the King." It really reads: "Truste * in ' God * and * Feare • Him • with • al ' thy * Harte." She wrote from memory, not having seen the place for many years. 35 GEORGE ELIOT ral than that her thoughts should revert to this place, where the story would almost seem to write itself. The only wonder is that " Mr, Gilfil's Love Story " did not ap- pear first, instead of " Amos Barton," for the setting of the former is far more en- chanting, although the story itself does not contain so true an account of what really happened. The Bull Hotel in Nuneaton, just around the corner from the Newdegate Arms, played an important part in " Janet's Repentance " as the " Red Lion " of Milby. Here, in the bar-room, Lawyer Dempster insisted that the Presbyterians were a sect founded by "John Presbyter," forcing poor Mr. Byles, who dared to dispute him, to beat an igno- minious retreat. Here the conspiracy against the Rev. Mr. Tryan was hatched, and from the front window Mr. Dempster harangued the crowd in the interests of " True Reli- gion," going home a little drunker than usual to give his beautiful wife a terrific beating. Dempster's house in Orchard Street (Church Street) may still be seen, and a few doors below is the arched passage through which poor Janet fled for refuge to Mrs. 36 O H a u u CO £ Q u O < <5 en ce U c o -M *S c o Q o c 'So 'C o > <3 c OJ -*— < J-. j J ^2 K O «\ K )>» CS ^ < H O "a O 7 CJ K Q D 03 E ctf pq £ H O P3 CD > O d