Page:George Eliot and Judaism.djvu/78

 in Mordecai's veins is indestructible, and akin to the spirit with which genius has animated a Hamlet, a Wallenstein, and a Faust. If Deronda is the Fulfiller, Mordecai is the Forerunner: if the one is the Accomplisher, the other is his John the Baptist; if the former is the hero, the latter is the soul of the creation. In the 'Fortnightly Review' for April 1866. Mr Lewes, the husband of the authoress, drew the character of a Jew in whom some critics fancy that they have found the original of Mordecai; and others, again, have been reminded by the circumstances of his being consumptive and an artisan, of the spectacle-grinder of the Hague, Baruch Spinoza, of whom it will never be possible to deprive the Jews, much as the world may desire to do so. But although there may be points both here and there which recall Mordecai, his character can never be built up from them, for, carefully and min-