There now only remains the last yet published, and in the estimation of
many, the greatest, of George Eliot's works--'Daniel Deronda.' In it the
author takes up--not a new scope, but extends one that has all along been
present, and that indeed was inevitably associated with her great ethical
principle,--the bringing of that principle definitely and directly to
bear upon not only every domestic but every social and political relation
of human life. This tendency may be briefly expressed in the old and
profound words: "No man liveth to himself; no man dieth to himself." As
we aim toward the true and good and pure, or surrender ourselves the
slaves of self and sense, we live or die to God or to the devil.
Before, however, proceeding to detailed examination of this remarkable
work, it seems necessary to draw attention to one objection which has
been urged against it--the prominent introduction of the Jewish element
into its scheme. Such objection could scarcely have been put forward by
any one who considers what the Jew has been in the past--what an enormous
factor his past and present have been and are, in the development and
progress of our highest civilisation.
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