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300 Mrs. Lewes has mastered many sciences, as well as literatures. Probably no other novel- writer, since novel-writing became a business, ever possessed one tithe of her scientific knowledge... Mrs. Lewes is all genius and culture. Had she never written a page of fiction, nay, had she never written a line of poetry or prose, she must have been regarded with wonder and admiration by all who knew her, as a woman of vast and varied knowledge - a woman who could think deeply and talk brilliantly, who could play high and severe classical music like a professional performer, and could bring forth the most delicate and tender aroma of nature and poetry, lying deep in the heart of some simple, old-fashioned Scotch or English ballad.”

Some fourteen or sixteen years ago I remember taking up Feuerbach’s “Essence of Christianity,” and noting the name of Miss Marian Evans as the English translator thereof. My curiosity was at once aroused as to who this woman was, whose name