Again, George Eliot was a little scornful to those of both sexes who had neither special missions nor the consciousness of this deprivation. Men are seldom in favour of missions in any field. She demanded, too strenuously from the very beginning, an aim, more or less altruistic, from every individual; and as she advanced in life this claim became the more imperative, till at last it overpowered her art, and transformed a great delineator of humanity into an eloquent observer with far too many personal prejudices. But she was altogether free from cynicism, bitterness, or the least tendency to pride of intellect. She suffered from bodily weakness the greater part of her life, and, but for an extraordinary mental health--inherited from the fine yeoman stock from which she sprang--it is impossible that she could have retained, at all times, so sane a view of human conduct, or been the least sentimental among women writers of the first rank--the one wholly without morbidity in any disguise. The accumulation of mere book knowledge, as opposed to the friction of a life spent among all sorts and conditions of men, drove George Eliot at last to write as a specialist for specialists: joy was lost in the consuming desire for strict accuracy: her genius became more and more speculative, less and less emotional. The highly trained brain suppressed the impulsive heart,--the heart described with such candour and pathos as Maggie Tulliver's in _The Mill on the Floss_. For this reason--chiefly because philosophy is popularly associated with inactive depression, whereas human nature is held to be eternally exhilarating--her later works have not received so much praise as her earlier productions. But one has only to compare _Romola_ or _Daniel Deronda_ with the compositions of any author except herself to realize the greatness of her designs, and the astonishing gifts brought to their final accomplishment. See also the _Life of George Eliot_, edited by J.W. Cross (3 vols., 1885-1887); _George Eliot_, by Sir Leslie Stephen, in the "English Men of Letters" series (1902); by Oscar Browning, "Great Writers" series (1890), with a bibliography by J.P. Anderson; by Mathilde Blind, "Eminent Women" series, a new edition of which also contains a bibliography (Boston, Mass., 1904). (P. M. T. C.)