KNOWLEDGE 



careful to go in at one door and out at the other. When 

 the bridesmaids undress the bride they must throw away 

 all the pins. Woe to the bride if a single one be left 

 about her— nothing will go right. Woe to the bridesmaids 

 if they keep one of them, for they will not be married 

 before Whitbuntide, or until the PJaster following at the 

 .soonest. 



If the bridal party venture off dry land, they must go 

 uj) .stream. The bride mubt, to be lucky, wear 



If she should see a strange cat or hear a cat sneeze on 

 lier wedding-day, then she will be very happy ; and if on 

 her wedding morning she steps from her bed on to some- 

 thing higher, and again on to .sometliino; higher btill, she 

 will from that moment rise in tlie \Mirkl. 



^!?0 6Sl|J. 



I AM sorry to have occabiun to tcHK li (Unc in. I'l it 

 shall be for the last time— on the nhti. n-, l.dui.n 

 fieorge Eliot and Mr. Lew es. " Gamiu.i " ^ .^hm.I. rs t h it 

 the relationship, " t( o severely ceu.surcd b\ • Cmn- 

 meutator ' has been too much defended " by me. I ]i1(M(1 

 guilty to the reverence and love for George Eliot wlucli 

 •' Gamma" regards as the cause of my undue defence. 

 But I venture to think thatx he, though in less degree 

 than " Commentator," is mistaken as to the nature of 

 the relation.ship he reprehends. From his remarks, one 

 would imagine that Geor-e Klint and ilr. Lewes were 



what 



J..UU1 



each other, :iiicl, t Inis t 

 .and social, r< _iil i m^ 

 "Gamma" iiui-h, ~ .K 

 .if "Adam Bede, ■ .iml 

 up as a teacher, \\\in 

 case are different. ( ;. 

 in delicate health, ami 

 author of any work w 1 

 ! made the aciiun 



adv: 



ictd i 



il, 



was during this season of ullli.iinn iliit (m,i^, Lli.it's 

 sympathies were excited by tin uuh i| ] \ , i i.^Iim, n . f Mr. 

 Lewes's children On his side iLltc h.iil lull^ been great 

 interest in her literary and philoi,ophical w urk ; ^.nd he had 

 recognised the necessity which existed for guidance and 

 sympathy, even though her powers ^Nere higher in most 

 respects than ]n^ nwn. Tli.it un.l. i- tin sc , ii-, \iuist,mces 

 they should .1.. i.l, i . - . '. n a, , tl , 1 , , , f ,i i.ilur 

 land the uni. ii uln, 1, . ,,1 M ' , I , , , . ,, , . |,„s 

 forbade htr.-, m ,_\ I i _ i I 1, if m, ,, „,n, as 

 injudicious, regrui. , ,rr, and so forth; 



but certainly not . ~ i.imul. The passions 



had nothing to .1.. i il i vision; the interests 

 of others besides (•'•i\^- l^lii aud Mr. Lewes were 

 thoughtfully considered. And so far as the world is 

 concerned, all the best of George Eliot's writino-s and 

 a large part of the best of Mr. Lewes's later°work, 

 would probably have had no existence had their decision 

 been different. This may seem to some a small matter : 

 weighed indeed against a strictly mcr.xl obligation it 



might well be thought so ; but George Eliot and Mr. 

 Lewes offended, if at all, against a legal not against a 

 moral obligation, — nay, against only a legal quibble. 



I H.4.VE diligently cancelled every letter or part of a 

 letter bearing on the private life of George Eliot, in- 

 eluding some nlroadvin tv] p, .nnd srver.nl -which expressed 

 vtr^ ju^i ai.d kindle \i:u. I am'^i «l,.,t I have said 



?gret 



s!i..uM li ,\, 



. f ,. 





^.1.1 . 1m, tally, I am well as- 



sured t.. i| I Not' another line on 



the •-111 I' I 1 M- else, shall appear 



here. {',,,]_, I ii i ^ , ; , i- mcither matter ; and 

 in so far as it can be ilealt \\ ith \a ithout touching on 

 dogmatic religion may be freely considered. 



I IINPTl 



rh I ' 



tuply that I wrote 



defect ;■• u 

 injustice. 



I Ml si be allowed to maintain that I liave never said 

 si,.ce must be finite. " Hal'\ mis ■' thinks I may 

 U.iM s t id so and forgotten it; lii lU-i 1 Iii\c said many 

 tliiius .ind changed my opinion ilir m s, m, As I only 

 li, _'.,n to write when I was two.f,\ mx ,\ , ,i^ . f acre, and 

 had verj- definitely formed mj- opini. ii ali' ut the i|uesti(>u 

 of infinity of space several years before tli it, notliiiig but 

 deliberately .saying that I thought wh.it I n, ^ o- have 

 thought could have brought about « hat " H.iliyards " 

 has imagined. I Inn,,- I have never done anything of 

 that sort. •'Hallvards ' do( s n. t cciUsider my remark 

 that we cannot e<.nreive infinite s; ace miijhtily different 

 from «]i,t 1,r ,,s, iil.t.l t.i 111. III.' ,1, Unit.- statement 

 tint .|iH, miiM 1., I, int. 1 .1,11. r fr..m !iim. What I 



.IS ,111 .q.t lUustr.iti. n of .in- [.sita-n in reu'ard^to the 

 (luestion of Deity— has been thi-..— 



1. Space must be either finite or infinite. 



2. We cannot conceive space to be finite. 



3. We cannot conceive infinity of space. 

 .■. 4. Space is a mystery beyond our powers. 



I have used a similar illubti'ation in regard to time. And 

 then I have gone on to say, that since we cannot conceive 

 the real nature of either sjiace rr time, both being utterly 

 beyond our k. n, li..« inliuit.h . utsi.le the range of onr 

 minds must be tli. intui. ,iii"l .ittnbutes of the Power 

 working in and tlir..ii.^'li all things, throughout all time. 



It is not for me to ex 

 found in anything thus p 

 must be finite. 



.VlPIdlU 



put th 



how " Hallyards " has 

 e statement that space 



But it has just occurred to me that supposing "Hall- 

 yards" to possess not only a great power of taking things 

 to pieces, but also a wonderful faculty for keeping the 

 pieces apart, he may have recalled in such surprising 

 piecemeal fashion, an account I gave in an article on 



