Apart from the moral and social aspects of the question, the influence of Lewes upon George Eliot's literary career seems to have been mixed. On the one hand, it must be said that he acted with a delicate generosity for which his general character hardly prepares us. He encouraged her efforts, recognised her genius, avowed that all he was and all he did himself were due to her, and voluntarily sank into the second place. It is at least possible that without such fostering care the genius of George Eliot would not have run so smooth and successful a course. Further, the very difficulties due to the relation add a deeper note to her voice. There is often a solemn, almost tragic tone in her utterances about domestic life which might have been absent had all been smooth between the world and herself. On the other hand, Lewes, loyally as he effaced himself, could not but foster tendencies in her mind which were strong enough without his encouragement. He was a philosopher, imbued with the tenets of positivism; and she was naturally prone to be fascinated by abstract thought. Not that she was ever exactly original in philosophic speculation: the danger would have been less had she been so. But she hungered for philosophy, took the results proclaimed for absolute truth, and wove them into the fabric of her own work. From the _Scenes of Clerical Life_ to _Daniel Deronda_ and _Theophrastus Such_ her writings became more and more loaded with philosophy. The two last-named books are decidedly overloaded; and even _Middlemarch_, the most massive, and probably on the whole the greatest outcome of her genius, would be still greater were it somewhat lightened of the burden. _Blackwood_, the nurse of so much genius, in January, 1857, contained the first part of what became the _Scenes of Clerical Life_. _Adam Bede_ appeared in 1859, _The Mill on the Floss_ in the following year, and _Silas Marner_ in 1861. _Romola_ (1863) was the outcome of a journey to Italy in 1860. After _Felix Holt_ (1866) George Eliot attempted poetry, and visited Spain to gather materials for _The Spanish Gypsy_ (1868). Her only other long poem, _The Legend of Jubal_, was published with other pieces in 1874. _Middlemarch_ was issued in eight parts in 1871 and 1872. _Daniel Deronda_ (1876) was her last novel; and the _Impressions of Theophrastus Such_ (1879) was her last work. In 1878 Lewes died; and in April, 1880, George Eliot married Mr. J. W. Cross, but survived the union less than a year, dying December 22, 1880.