Page:Literary studies by Joseph Jacobs.djvu/45

 'THEOPHRASTUS SUCH'

NY new book of George Eliot has to encounter the formidable rivalry of her earlier productions. In this age of competitive examinations it is inevitable that some attempt should be made to 'place' the new work in its 'order of merit.' Such a test, however, tells with crushing force against the Impressions of Theophrastus Such, which is slighter in conception, less finished in execution, and altogether of less artistic value than any other work that has appeared under her name. In it are seen all the characteristics of her later 'manner' which critics have had to deprecate. The scientific interest and tone of her second period culminate in these studies of mental pathology. The consummate literary artist has degenerated into the student of social psychology.

George Eliot's literary development falls clearly and sharply into two stages. In the earlier period, from the Scenes of Clerical Life to Felix Holt (with the exception of Romola, which stands apart in a sphere of its own,