IIS



Ehow the gittdual action of ardinaiy causes r:illier than exccpdonal,
and to show this in some diiecliona which have not Ijeen from time
immemorial the beaten path — the Cremome walks and shows of
fiction. But the best intentions ate good for nothing until cxeculion
has justilied them. And you know I am always compassed about with
feais. I Era in danger io all my designs of parodying deal Gold-
smith's satire on Burke, and think of refining when novel readers
only ihir.k of skipping."

In September she announced to M. Duratie that she
is preparing " a long, long book." " Middlemarch " was
published in eight monthly parts, each being printed as
a neat and compact volume in the usual novel type, very
different to the parts in which the novels of Dickens and
Thackeray first saw the light. The first part was pub-
lished on December i, 1871, under the title of "Miss
Brooke," It was at once received as a masterpiece,
although in her letters she continually evpresses mis-
givings that people should rate it as highly as they do.
