Mary Barton

Mary Barton

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn

London: Chapman & Hall, 1848

Internet Archive

1848

George Eliot to Mrs. William Gaskell, 11 November 1859. “I had indulged the idea that if my books turned out to be worth much, you would be among my willing readers; for I was conscious, while the question of my power was still undecided for me, that my feeling towards Life and Art had some affinity with the feeling which had inspired "Cranford" and the earlier chapters of "Mary Barton." That idea was brought the nearer to me, because I had the pleasure of reading Cranford for the first time in 1857, when I was writing the "Scenes of Clerical Life," and going up the Rhine one dim wet day in the spring of the next year, when I was writing "Adam Bede," I satisfied myself for the lack of a prospect by reading over again those earlier chapters of "Mary Barton." I like to tell you these slight details because they will prove to you that your letter must have a peculiar value for me, and that I am not expressing vague gratitude towards a writer whom I only remember vaguely as one who charmed me in the past. And I cannot believe such details are indifferent to you, even after we have been so long used to hear them: I fancy, as long as we live, we all need to know as much as we can of the good our life has been to others. Ever, my dear Madam, Yours with high regard Marian Evans Lewes.” GEL 3: 198-9 

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, Mary Barton, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57533

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/b214f8c3f5b6203b0004668e10b5bbca.pdf