27 SEPTEMBER 1930, Page 19

Mr. Lewis May's life of George Eliot (Cassell, Ifs.) combines

two points of view, the Victorian and the Georgian. Ile admires her genius almost as heartily as her contemporary critics ; at the same time he considers that her desire to dis- charge upon her readers the heavy super-abundance of her laboriously acquired learning renders parts of her works almost unreadable to-day. As to her private life, the portrait he gives us of G. H. Lewis is very unlike the verbal tradition which has come down from those who knew him. Mr. May would have us see him as a fascinating good fellow, sparkling, kind, and affectionate, of inestimable value in the development of his companion's genius, and always indispensable to her happiness.

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