Page:Heroines of freethought (IA cu31924031228699).pdf/327

Rh most successful dramatic adaptations known to our stage; - he is an accomplished theatrical critic... Mr. Lewes was always remarkable for a frank and fearless self-conceit, which by its very sincerity and audacity almost disarmed criticism.”

Mr. Lewes, having been born in 1817, is, at the present time, about fifty-nine years of age, while George Eliot is not more than two or three years his junior, perhaps not even so much, and he is said to be even less favored in the matter of personal beauty than she is—so that in these respects they are on an equal footing. That their union is a happy one no one seems to doubt.

I have called George Eliot a Freethinker. In the best sense of that much-abused word, I think she can truly be called so; but her freedom of thought has not raised within her mind any desire to curtail or circumscribe the thoughts or opinions of any one else. She is no image-breaker; rather by sweet persuasiveness, or the gentlest of ridicule, does she endeavor