George E Hoi's Poetry. 145 



to others? It was resolved to debate the question 

 whether the happy person is not also the one who really, 

 thinks most and does most for others — not for hope of 

 reward or fear of punishment, but simply because he 

 has reached the stage where he has a simple satisfaction 

 in doing it. 



Here is George Eliot's greatest thing in poetry, for 

 her poems are much less known than they should be. 



" O may I join the choir invisible 

 Of those immortal dead who live again 

 In minds made better by their presence : live 

 In pulses stirred to generosity, 

 In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 

 For miserable aims that end with self. 

 In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, 

 And with their mild persistence urge rnen's search 

 To vaster issues. 



" May I reach 

 That purest heaven, be to other souls 

 The cup of strength in some great agony, 

 Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 

 Beget the smiles that have no cruelty — 

 Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 

 And in diffusion ever more intense. 

 So shall I join the choir invisible 

 Whose music is the gladness of the world." 



One thing more about our heroine, and a grand thing, 

 said by Colonel Ingersoll. " In the court of her own 



