«6 
 
 ^ ' 
 
 ®mut\l WLmvmity |ptag 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 QjJh^^ 
 
 .A, 
 
 7 3gg 7 
 
 >l<?-h%.Q3- 
 
} -UE DUE 
 
 
 - Jf 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 PR 4668.S89 
 
 A study of George E,,0 *|f "SJ!?,?. 1 ™,-,. 
 
 3 1924 013 344 118 
 
 
yqrf^r^nS 
 
LITERARY STUDIES 
 
 A Study of 
 George Eliot's Romola 
 
 By 
 
 ROY SHERMAN STOWELL 
 (AV. A. Cornell) 
 
 Author of "The Significance of The 
 Ring and the Book" 
 
 BOSTON 
 THE POET-LORE COMPANY 
 
 1903 
 
Copyright, 1903 by ROY SHERMAN STOWEIX 
 All rights reserved 
 
 
 Printed at 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS 
 
 Boston. U.S.A. 
 
 ^9 
 
Dedicated 
 To My Beloved Professor 
 Hiram Corson, M.A., LL.B. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013344118 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ^^^ HE following paper, a few slight al- 
 
 m terations having since been made. 
 
 ^^^^ was read before a seminary en- 
 gaged in the study of nineteenth 
 century English novelists, conducted at Cornell 
 University by Professor Hiram Corson, LL.D. 
 
 Each member of the seminary was requested 
 to present in some such form one of the novels 
 suggested by Professor Corson, and each one 
 was required to read all of the novels chosen by 
 the other members of the seminary in order that 
 a helpful discussion of the subject might follow 
 the reading of each paper. It therefore follows 
 that the writer of the present paper pre-sup- 
 poses such a knowledge of the subject as might 
 be obtained by a recent and careful reading of 
 the novel. 
 
 It was intended that these essays should rep- 
 resent in each case the student's individual in- 
 terpretation of the novel chosen, and it was de- 
 sired that the paper should be written before the 
 student's ideas were modified by a study of the 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 reviews and discussions to be found upon thj 
 novel which engaged his study. This explains 
 the fact that so little literature of that nature 
 was consulted in the preparation of this paper. 
 The work is therefore more independent than 
 could otherwise be expected. 
 
 R. S. S. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction g 
 
 The Italian Renaissance 15 
 
 Savonarola 23 
 
 Tito 28 
 
 Romola 54 
 
 A Few Observations 62 
 
A Study of George Eliot's 
 "Romola." 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Introduction. 
 
 ROMOLA is a novel which I have 
 read many times, and each time 
 approaching it with a new point 
 of view, I have been rewarded 
 with a new and a better insight into the writer's 
 art. I remember very distinctly some of the 
 impressions received from the first reading of 
 the novel and a brief consideration of these may 
 serve as a fitting introduction to the more recent 
 study of the book which has been chosen for 
 this evening's discussion. 
 
 The first reading occurred during those busy 
 student days when the mind of the youth seems 
 to be divided between the forensic burden of the 
 "Orations against Catiline" and the heavy, regu- 
 lar tramp of the " 'TLvrevdev iijeXawei." Be- 
 
 9 
 
io A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 tween these two, is the inevitable preparatory 
 ''math,'' with its bridge of sighs, technically 
 known as the "pons asinorum." This road, 
 dusty with classroom chalk, is, as all students 
 know (whether they trudge wearily afoot or 
 ride gaily along on the poor little much abused 
 "pony"), fringed with some Science and His- 
 tory and a great deal of English. 
 
 The writer who was innocent enough to be- 
 lieve that "passing up" was the great thing in 
 life, found little time for reading fiction, but de- 
 voted such time as he could command upon 
 novels which had a recognized historical value. 
 The idea of literary value, as such, aside from 
 the more apparent beauties of style, had never 
 impressed him as worthy of consideration. The 
 literature of power seemed of less consequence 
 than the literature of knowledge. It may be 
 from this cause that the student had never read 
 any of George Eliot's works and was led to read 
 Romola because, at the time, his interest was 
 centered in the study of Savonarola and the 
 condition of Florence under the patronage and 
 tyranny of Lorenzo. 
 
 Be that as it may, the novel proved to have an 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" n 
 
 interest of its own that eclipsed its historical 
 value, which alone would make it worthy of 
 very thorough consideration. Its interest lay in 
 the portraiture of character, in the evolution of 
 the individual rather than in the presentation of 
 circumstances and the change of material con- 
 ditions. The purpose of the book seemed to be 
 the portrayal of the gradual moral decline of 
 Tito. I could not understand why the novel 
 was not entitled "Tito" instead of "Romola." 
 Tito was the character which stood out in the 
 white light of prominence throughout the entire 
 book; while Romola seemed to me almost a 
 nonentity, a being so reticent that the reader 
 scarcely becomes acquainted with her until the 
 closing chapters, when, after Tito and Baldas- 
 sarre have found each other in the embrace of 
 death, and Savonarola has suffered for the last 
 time, the two women, Tessa and Romola, are 
 the sole surviving characters to command the 
 reader's attention. Of these Romola, the more 
 lofty nature of the two, proves to be the me- 
 dium of communication by which George Eliot 
 voices the teaching of the book. "It is only a 
 poor sort of happiness that could ever come by 
 
12 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 caring very much about our own narrow pleas- 
 ures. We can only have the highest happiness, 
 such as goes along with being a great man, by 
 having wide thoughts, and much feeling for the 
 rest of the world as well as ourselves ; and this 
 sort of happiness often brings so much pain 
 with it that we can only tell it from pain 
 by its being what we would choose before every- 
 thing else, because our souls see it is good."* 
 
 Although I appreciated the fact that the real 
 purpose of the book was good, yet I regarded it 
 thoroughly immoral. The evil of the novel 
 seemed to be augmented by the fact that the 
 character who proves to be the villain is the one 
 to whom the reader is first introduced and for 
 whom his sympathy and his admiration are at 
 once aroused. A young and handsome Greek 
 scholar, a stranger and destitute in Florence, 
 and who would not at once sympathize with 
 Tito? As we see him overcome his difficulties 
 and win for himself the esteem and friendship 
 of cultivated Florence, who can resist the feel- 
 ing of admiration for his scholastic prowess and 
 
 *Romola, pp. 575, 576. The Cornell Series of 12 
 mos. No. 109. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 13 
 
 his noble endeavor ? We are even led to excuse 
 his early mistakes, we accept as reasonable his 
 arguments for remaining at Florence where the 
 future gives promise of power and glory as the 
 fitting rewards for his literary genius instead 
 of wasting his little substance on, an uncertain 
 quest for the aged Baldassarre whom he has 
 much reason to believe is already beyond the 
 turmoil of earthly existence. That this man, 
 whom we would at first make our hero, should 
 prove not only selfish but false, incapable of re- 
 sponding to the pure and exalted love of a noble 
 woman, and dependent upon the less ennobling 
 relations which he sustained with the innocent 
 and simple minded Tessa, I regarded as seri- 
 ously detrimental to whatever good the book 
 might seek to accomplish, because the reader is 
 brought into sympathy with evil rather than 
 virtue. 
 
 While for these reasons I could not exactly 
 approve of George Eliot's presentation of the 
 theme, yet I realized from the first that it was 
 a strong book, although the source of its vitality 
 was not correctly nor, in fact, definitely defined 
 in my mind. Therefore it has been of interest 
 
14 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 to me upon subsequent readings to note the dif- 
 ferent impressions resulting from a changed 
 point of view. We shall find that these very 
 subjects or phases of the book which impressed 
 me at first still make a large claim upon the at- 
 tention and I shall endeavor to show, as well as 
 my present understanding will permit, why the 
 novel bears the title Romola, although Tito is 
 the character which seems to be the storm center 
 of the piece. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. 
 
 ROMOLA is a novel which lends it- 
 self readily to study as a historical 
 subject, a psychological problem 
 or a work of literary art. No 
 consideration of the book could claim to be com- 
 plete which ignored any one of these. It is my 
 purpose to consider the book from these three 
 standpoints in the order named, beginning with 
 the less important and proceeding to the most 
 essential elements in its composition as a great 
 classic of literature. 
 
 Romola is a dramatization of the classical 
 Renaissance in Italy. The Medici, Savonarola 
 and Machiavelli are actual historical characters 
 that lived and moved in Florence amidst the 
 labyrinth of her political, religious, literary and 
 social development. Aside from these charac- 
 ters which appear in history, the writer has pre- 
 sented the distinct types of the period — the 
 Greek, or classic element, represented by Tito ; 
 
16 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 the religious fanatic, Fra Luca; the humanist. 
 Bardo ; the pedantic plebeian, Nello ; the lower 
 strata of society represented by the witless Tes- 
 sa, the contadina ; the aristocratic, non-religious 
 element exemplified in such a soulless individual 
 as Dolfo Spini ; the conservative practical citi- 
 zen, Bernardo del Nero, and the expression of 
 the "New Life of the Renaissance" depicted in 
 the character of Romola herself, for just as all 
 of these characters center about and influence 
 her, so the various factors typified gave form 
 and character to the development of conscious- 
 ness which manifested itself throughout Italy in 
 the keener appreciation of the true worth of 
 classic art and literature, the discovery of the 
 importance of individuality and the attainment 
 of self-conscious freedom to the human spirit 
 which is known as the Renaissance or "new 
 birth." 
 
 The Renaissance implies something more 
 than the mere Revival of Learning, although 
 that is the phase of the '"new birth" which has 
 most impressed itself upon European thought. 
 The fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the sub- 
 sequent scattering of Greek scholars throughout 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 17 
 
 Latin Christendom did, no doubt, exert a great 
 influence upon western Europe, which, till that 
 time, knew little of Greek thought. But that is 
 not all. 
 
 Students of philosophy and theology see in 
 the Renaissance the discovery of manuscripts, 
 the love for antiquity, especially a passion for 
 anything Greek, a progress in philology which 
 afforded a more perfect interpretation of Pla- 
 tonic philosophy and gave rise to new systems 
 of thought, to a quickening of religious as well 
 as intellectual consciousness which culminated 
 in the Lutheran schism and the emancipation of 
 conscience. 
 
 The political historian notes the gradual ex- 
 tinction of feudalism, the emancipation of the 
 Italian municipalities from the yoke of the 
 despot, the growing spirit of nationality, the 
 well defined limitations of ecclesiastical authori- 
 ty, the waning of superstition, the secularizing 
 tendency of the Papal power seeking to estab- 
 lish itself as an Italian kingdom, and finally the 
 gradual emergence of that sense of popular 
 freedom which was to culminate in the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
18 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 To the scientist, the great names of the Re- 
 naissance are Vesalius, Copernicus and Galileo. 
 It was the period when science was loosed from 
 the restraints of theology. Theology was no 
 longer able to control the philosophy and sci- 
 ence of the time. Science finds a new task for 
 itself, the discovery of the laws of the natural 
 world and the investigation of man as a natural 
 being. Already the scientific spirit begins to 
 assert itself. 
 
 Was it not likewise the golden age of geo- 
 graphical discovery and mechanical invention? 
 May not the jurists describe this period as the 
 starting point of legal reforms based upon the 
 acquisition of the true text of the Roman Code, 
 a period characterized by the attempt to intro- 
 duce a rational method into the theory of mod- 
 ern jurisprudence as well as by the first efforts 
 to establish international law ? 
 
 The content of the term Renaissance* is so 
 comprehensive that it seems adapted to every 
 
 *This discussion of the Renaissance follows very 
 closely that of J. A. Symonds in his "Short History 
 of the Renaissance in Italy" to which I am greatly 
 indebted. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 19 
 
 point of view. It is therefore not surprising 
 that many of these phases of the Renaissance 
 are not represented in the novel before us. 
 
 It is chiefly the classical phase of the Renais- 
 sance, together with some vague traces of the 
 political and religious conditions with which 
 the writer is concerned. The scientific, legal 
 and geographic development is entirely ignored. 
 Moreover, the conditions are simply those of 
 Florence and while Florence may, in many re- 
 spects, serve as a type of the mediaeval Italian 
 cities which were the first to feel the effects of 
 the new impulse, yet no other city had such a 
 patron of art and literature, such an absolute 
 municipal despot as Lorenzo de Medici, no 
 other city had a Savonarola to hold Rome in 
 abeyance while he instituted municipal govern- 
 ment on the one hand and held up before the 
 people the deplorable condition of the ecclesias- 
 tical administration on the other. At best this 
 is, therefore, but a partial presentation of local 
 conditions during .a very important but limited 
 space of timey Across section of a particular 
 branch so worked up as to show vividly certain 
 
20 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 features of the grain while some of the less im- 
 portant characteristics are entirely hidden. 
 
 The blind old scholar bent upon the labors of 
 collection and annotation, disappointed in the 
 son who forsook his father's home for the 
 church, dependent upon his beautiful daughter 
 for his very eyes, may very possibly represent 
 the straightened condition of twenty literary de- 
 votees whose work lives on as a silent testimony 
 of their patient endeavor, although their names 
 have long since been forgotten. 
 
 We know that many a Greek came to Italy 
 under less favorable conditions than Tito. 
 Hundreds of them were forced to be counted 
 slaves that they might turn their literary abili- 
 ties into means of livelihood. The ever med- 
 dling and never tiring barber gives to the story 
 a realistic touch which would almost remind one 
 of the average modern tonsorial artist. The 
 son who forsook his father's home for the 
 church was common enough in the days when 
 the church was not highly esteemed by the 
 great mass of the most cultured society. Sa- 
 vonarola himself had in secret left Ferrara and 
 journeyed to Bologna where he became a Do- 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 21 
 
 minican. "It was on April 23, 1475," says Vil- 
 lari, "he was sitting with his lute, and playing a 
 sad melody ; his mother, as if moved by a spirit 
 of divination, turned suddenly round to him and 
 exclaimed mournfully: 'My son, that is a sign 
 we are soon to part.' He roused himself and 
 continued, but with a trembling hand, to touch 
 the strings of the lute without raising his eyes 
 from the ground." "This," writes John Ad- 
 dington Symonds, "would make a picture: 
 spring twilight in the quaint Italian room, with 
 perhaps a branch of fig tree or of bay across the 
 open window ; the mother looking up with anx- 
 ious face from her needlework ; the youth with 
 those terrible eyes and tense lips and dilated 
 nostrils of the future prophet, not yet worn by 
 years of care but strongly marked and unmis- 
 takable, bending over the melancholy chords of 
 the lute, dressed almost for the last time in secu- 
 lar attire."* 
 
 On the very next day Savonarola left his 
 parental home forever. The difference between 
 
 ♦Symonds- A Short History of the Renaissance in 
 Italy, p. 87. 
 
22 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 our modern civilization and that of mediaeval 
 Italy may be shown in this : American boys run 
 away to the prairies of the west, English boys 
 run away to sea, French boys run away from 
 home to the army, but the mediaeval Italian 
 youth left his home for the church. 
 
 The reason given by Dino upon his deathbed 
 for thus deserting his father's house corre- 
 sponds to the memorable statement which Sa- 
 vonarola wrote to his father regarding his own 
 action. "The motives by which I have been led 
 to enter into a religious life are these : the great 
 misery of the world ; the iniquities of men ; 
 their rapes, adulteries, robberies, their pride, 
 idolatry, and fearful blasphemies, so that things 
 have come to such a pass that no one can be 
 found acting righteously. I could not endure 
 the enormous wickedness of the blinded people 
 of Italy ; and the more so because I saw every- 
 where virtue despised and vice honored."* 
 
 *Symonds, p. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SAVONAROLA. 
 
 HSIDE from the general picture 
 which Romola affords us of the 
 lettered and elegant age of the 
 Renaissance in Florence, the chief 
 claim of the novel to our historical interest rests 
 upon its portrayal of Savonarola.. 
 
 George Eliot deals with individuals rather 
 than institutions. She treats the individual as 
 a distinct personality struggling with problems 
 affecting the moral life that are as universal as 
 humanity, yet are unique and distinct in each 
 specific case. 
 
 The very mode of her presentation of Savona- 
 rola seems to me to accord well with the actual 
 influence which the great Dominican exerted 
 over his time. He was a power that was felt 
 rather than seen, a voice of one crying in the 
 wilderness, "Repent! Turn from your evil 
 ways, Oh shameless Florence, for the dav of 
 your judgment is at hand." There is an under- 
 
24 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 tone of solemnity and majesty in his nature 
 which is simply grand. 
 
 Although he seldom appeared in public and 
 then upon no ordinary occasion, yet his pres- 
 ence in Florence was constantly felt by all class- 
 es of society. He lived in the sub-consciousness 
 of the actual Florentines just as he lives in the 
 sub-consciousness of the thoughtful reader. 
 It is impossible to consider the novel without 
 him, for although he actually appears but a 
 verv limited number of times, yet his presence 
 is felt on nearly every page of the book, the 
 citizens are constant! v alluding to him, are 
 trembling at his power or planning to over- 
 throw his authority. The influence which this 
 character exerts upon the reader of the novel is 
 witnessed by the fact that something relating to 
 the great Dominican has appeared upon nearlv 
 every page of the present paper though our 
 special attention has not until now been directed 
 to him. 
 
 As represented in the novel, he stands before 
 us, as it were, in the background of the picture 
 like a shade of sadness, his keen but almost re- 
 pulsive features partially hidden from us by the 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 25 
 
 cowl of his order, those deep grey eyes which in 
 early years had beheld the vice and gaiety of 
 the brilliant court of Ferrara and loved it not, 
 still speak forth the contempt of his inmost soul 
 for the vanity of the world and the sins of the 
 church, still flash forth the occasional gleam of 
 prophetic luster; those firmly compressed lips 
 are sealed to the service of idle speech and open 
 only when his intense soul is full with that 
 which must be uttered. 
 
 Such was he in reality, the only man in Flor- 
 ence who dared to stand before Lorenzo, the 
 Magnificent, and lay bare before this elegant 
 despot his sin besmirched soul, the only man in 
 Italy from whom this dying Lorenzo would 
 seek absolution, perhaps the only man in Chris- 
 tendom who would have dared to let this great 
 patron of art and letters die unblessed. 
 
 The temptation which Savonarola had to 
 strive against was the temptation which comes 
 to every man who feels himself gifted from on 
 high with the power of leading his fellow man 
 in works of righteousness. The tendency to 
 glory in the exercise of power, though it is used 
 for a worthy purpose, is itself a sin of no small 
 
26 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 consequence for one who has dedicated his en- 
 tire being to the service of God. Such a temp- 
 tation, aside from rendering the ideal of self 
 abnegiation impossible of attainment, engenders 
 the temptation to a more terrible sin, that of 
 prostituting this heaven born gift to secular and 
 even worldly advantage. 
 
 Aside from this, Savonarola suffered the 
 temptation of doubt. At the critical moment 
 his faith in God seemed to falter. This constant 
 struggle with evil, within and without, his 
 doubts, his failures, his final triumph, his sad 
 but glorious fate have been faithfully and vivid- 
 ly depicted by the novelist. 
 
 Although the features of George Eliot's Sa- 
 vonarola which pretend to be historically truth- 
 ful are beyond reproach, yet I believe that this 
 character was not intended by the writer to be 
 a contribution to history, but rather as a neces- 
 sary feature to the artistic vitality of the book. 
 Like Browning's Pope in "The Ring and the 
 Book," he is introduced not primarily as a his- 
 torical character, but because no less a person- 
 age would be adequate to the demands of the 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 27 
 
 writer's art. Savonarola is the undertone of 
 majesty and solemnity, always present in the 
 sub-consciousness of the reader, which gives a 
 depth and sternness to the entire work. 
 
28 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TITO. 
 
 INapaper of this length, it is not per- 
 mitted us to exhaust even the his- 
 torical background of this book, 
 for we must pass at once to the 
 second part of our study in order that each may 
 receive such a portion of the attention as its rel- 
 ative importance seems to merit. 
 
 Whatever there is of art in this novel is de- 
 pendent upon that in it which is eternal. That 
 which is eternal in Romola is the subtle por- 
 trayal of the character formation of the heroine 
 and the moral decline of Tito. The degenera- 
 tion of Tito is the first to be considered because 
 it is this which causes the great sorrow to come 
 over her which awakens Romola to a realization 
 of her true self and her larger mission in life. 
 
 Two natures are exhibited in Tito, neither 
 one at first is absolutely good or bad. Like the 
 strings of a violin they are pitched to different 
 tones, the one is the higher, the more artistic. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 29 
 
 the more lofty nature, the other is the more 
 natural, more passionate, more sympathetic na- 
 ture. The latter being the seat of the stronger 
 passions is more susceptible to evil. 
 
 His career exhibits the gradual ascendancy of 
 the lower nature over the higher, the usurpation 
 of his keen intellectual powers to his most self- 
 ish ends, the prostitution of all that is good in 
 his nature to the service of its very lowest form, 
 selfishness, cowardice and deceit. 
 
 "There was a man,'' said Romola in the clos- 
 ing lines of the book, "to whom I was very 
 near, so that I could see a great deal of his life, 
 who made almost every one fond of him, for 
 he was young and clever and beautiful, — and 
 his manners to all were gentle and kind. I be- 
 lieve when I first knew him he never thought of 
 doing anything cruel or base. But because he 
 tried to slip away from everything that was un- 
 pleasant, and cared for nothing else so much as 
 his own safety, he came at last to commit some 
 of the basest deeds — such as make men infa- 
 mous. He denied his father and left him to 
 misery; he betrayed every trust that was re- 
 posed in him, that he might keep himself safe 
 
30 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 and get rich and prosperous. Yet calamity 
 overtook him."* 
 
 In the above quotation we have a very clear 
 presentation of Tito as he is first introduced to 
 the reader. Young, handsome, refined, of 
 pleasing manner and capable parts, he stands 
 before us the finished production of an educa- 
 tion and environment which has cultivated his 
 higher nature and developed the artistic side of 
 his being. His character, however, is an un- 
 tried, an unknown force. We are not aware 
 that he has ever undergone any great tempta- 
 tion, that he has ever discovered the force or 
 limitations of his own character. In short, he 
 does not learn to know himself any faster than 
 the reader is permitted to witness the unfolding 
 of his real nature. 
 
 When he finds himself a stranger in Florence 
 with absolutely no means at hand save a few 
 gems, rescued like himself from the sea, he has 
 a problem of duty facing him, the solution of 
 which is as yet impossible. His foster father, 
 the aged Baldassarre, the owner of the gems 
 
 *Romola, p. 576. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 31 
 
 which the young man has in his possession, is 
 doubtless in slavery waiting to be ransomed by 
 his own jewels. 
 
 I believe that at first the young Tito honestly 
 intends to accomplish this if possible. Why 
 should he not? Florence as yet has no attrac- 
 tion for him. There can be no gratification to 
 a young and intelligent man in refusing to give 
 what aid is within his power to rescue a fellow 
 countryman, to say nothing of a foster parent 
 to whom he is indebted for all the pleasures of 
 life, from the bonds of undeserved slavery. To 
 be sure, all of his relations with the old man 
 had not been entirely happy. There had been 
 of late years a lack of sympathy, almost an 
 estrangement existing between them which 
 caused Tito to breathe freely when he felt him- 
 self at first relieved from the rigors of parental 
 vigilance, yet that could not pretend to be a 
 sufficient motive for wilfully neglecting Bal- 
 dassarre in his misery. 
 
 But while the spirit may have moved Tito to 
 undertake the rescue of his father, two diffi- 
 culties prevented immediate action ; first, he had 
 no ready means, barely enough to eke out his 
 
32 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 own subsistence. Was he not forced to pur- 
 chase his breakfast with a kiss ? Was it not his 
 first care to< provide for himself a temporary 
 livelihood until he could secure purchasers for 
 his gems and thus provide the ready money 
 necessary for such a long and expensive jour- 
 ney as the uncertain quest for Baldassarre 
 would doubtless prove? Secondly, had he any 
 assurance that such an undertaking might not 
 be an absolute failure ? He did not even know 
 that Baldassarre was alive, let alone knowing 
 where he could be found. Was it wise to think 
 of undertaking a search through such an ex- 
 tended region as the Mediterranean world af- 
 forded upon no more certain information than 
 a vague surmise? Certainly not, all that he 
 could do at present was to wait. 
 
 From the first we have indication of Tito's 
 tendency to evil in the distrust which the artist 
 Piero bore him from their first acquaintance. 
 Judging men keenly from their facial expres- 
 sion as his profession led him to do, the paint- 
 er saw in Tito's finely wrought features those of 
 a hero or a traitor, a face adapted equally to the 
 requirements of the higher or the lower nature 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 33 
 
 of the man, whichever should predominate. 
 "He has the face," said Piero, "that would 
 make him the more perfect traitor if he had the 
 heart of one, which is saying neither more or 
 less than that he has a beautiful face informed 
 with rich young blood, that will be nourished 
 enough by food and keep its color without 
 much help of virtue. He may have the heart 
 of a hero along with it ; I aver nothing to the 
 contrary."* 
 
 I conceive Tito's first downward step to have 
 occurred at the time when he had overcome the 
 first and most serious hindrance to the fulfill- 
 ment of his filial obligation. He had sold all 
 his jewels, except the ring he did not choose to 
 part with, and he was master of full five hun- 
 dred gold florins. More than a man's ransom! 
 "The moment when he first had this sum in his 
 possession was the crisis of the first serious 
 struggle his facile, good humored nature had 
 known, "-j- 
 
 But conditions had by this time changed. 
 The young Tito was no longer the lonely stran- 
 
 *Romola, p. 41. 
 tRomola, p. 97. 
 
34 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 ger that had somehow made his way to Flor- 
 ence, no longer the simple foreigner to whom 
 the city tendered an indifferent greeting and 
 who found within its walls nothing of personal 
 interest or attraction. Tito had already found 
 the cultured society of Florence appreciative c i 
 his literary talents. The question of obtaining 
 a livelihood had quickly been settled, his future 
 was secure, he had won himself into the good 
 graces of the blind Bardo, had found in Ro- 
 mola a being worthy of his deepest devotion. 
 "Tito had had the rapid success which would 
 have made some men presuming, or would have 
 warranted him in thinking that there would be 
 no great presumption in entertaining an agree- 
 able confidence that he might one day be the 
 husband of Romola."* Moreover, it was finally 
 agreed that Tito should be supported in a Greek 
 chair. "Tito was thus sailing under the fairest 
 breeze, and besides convincing fair judges that 
 his talents squared with his good fortune, he 
 wore that fortune so easily and unpretentiously 
 that no one had yet been offended by it. He 
 was not unlikely to get into the best Florentine 
 
 *Romola, p. 95. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 35 
 
 society for where could a handsome young 
 scholar not be welcome when he could touch the 
 lute and troll a gay song? Here was a profes- 
 sor likely to render the Greek classics amiable 
 to the sons of great houses. "-j- 
 
 Thus the temptation to remain at Florence, 
 to be near Romola, to assist her aged father, to 
 make the most of the brilliant opportunities of- 
 fered to him, is a new factor in the moral prob- 
 lem challenging his integrity. Is his gratitude, 
 his filial devotion strong enough to overcome 
 such temptation ? I believe that at first he hon- 
 estly intended to search out his father if he 
 could procure the means ; the means have now 
 been procured. Is his failure to undertake the 
 task an indication that his gratitude has waned ? 
 I believe not, — his intention is no weaker than 
 it was at first. It is simply exercised now un- 
 der changed conditions. It is put to the test and 
 found wanting. The temptation is stronger 
 than the will to do right. Whether or no Tito 
 realizes the situation at the time it is difficult to 
 say. This much is certain, he convinced him- 
 self, honestly or otherwise, that the time for ac- 
 
 tRomola, pp. 96 and 97. 
 
36 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 tion had not yet arrived. The second and Jess 
 important cause for delay, the uncertainty of the 
 undertaking, now appears an all sufficient rea- 
 son for temporarily giving up the project. If 
 Tito had been questioned at the time he would 
 have asserted that nothing but ignorance of his 
 father's whereabouts deterred his immediate ef- 
 forts to rescue him. 
 
 In short, for the first time he was obliged to 
 pause and consider whether he would surrender 
 and obey or whether he would give the refusal 
 that would entail irrevocable consequences. 
 
 I can not but think that his decision at this 
 time, however much he may have attempted to 
 mask it under the guise of discretion, was, in 
 fact, a real blow to his finer sensibilities. If 
 his introspection was honest and thorough, and 
 this, by the way, is the greatest fault I find with 
 the novel, that Tito seems to have so little power 
 of introspection. Yet possibly the novelist la- 
 bored under the impression that introspection 
 was never a quality of the Greek mind and that 
 therefore a Greek humanist, especially such an 
 atheist as Tito, was incapable of close introspec- 
 tion. Yet if Tito's introspection at this time 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 37 
 
 had been honest and thorough, he must have 
 seen back of the flimsy excuse with which he 
 attempted to satisfy his conscience, the real 
 cause lying in the overmastering power of his 
 lower, more selfish nature. If he failed to un- 
 derstand this, he did not know himself as well 
 as the reader is permitted to know him. The 
 simple fact was this. He sold himself to evil 
 by wilfully neglecting to do his duty to the best 
 of his ability, because) it entailed a sacrifice of 
 his own selfish pleasures, and from this point on 
 his moral decline is rapid and sure. 
 
 That which leads me to believe that Tito did 
 not regard his excuse as absolutely sound is 
 the fact that he did not dare to confide his se- j. 
 cret to Bardo or Bartolommeo Scala. It was 
 part of his nature to conceal truth, he had both 
 a talent and love for reticence. "What was the 
 use of telling the entire truth ?" On the other 
 hand, what would have been the harm if so do- 
 ing could not have entailed further obligation? 
 
 The second step in Tito's, moral decline oc- 
 curred when the second and sole remaining 
 cause for his delay no longer existed. From 
 the moment that he had definite information re- 
 
38 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 garding his father at Antioch, he no longer had 
 the shadow of an excuse for further delay. 
 But Tito had an unconquerable aversion to any- 
 thing unpleasant, and leaving Florence at such 
 a time to search out the aged Baldassarre, who 
 when found would very likely check the young 
 man's brilliant career, could not be regarded as 
 anything but an unpleasant duty. Was it in- 
 deed a duty ? Or might it not be considered an 
 act of charitable friendship involving such a 
 sacrifice of personal interests as to render it en- 
 tirely beyond the bounds of obligation. 
 
 Tito, shorn of every reasonable excuse, must 
 either do the act demanded of filial gratitude or 
 admit himself to be nothing but a selfish, un- 
 grateful wretch or else trump up some reason 
 for suspending action. 
 
 The idea of leaving Florence for this purpose 
 no longer occupies his mind. I believe he had 
 gone so far that he would sooner choose to re- 
 main at Florence, mindful of his own wretched 
 condition, which by this time seemed to be a 
 matter of less concern to him than the fear of 
 discovering his true nature to those whose 
 friendship and confidence he enjoyed. But to re- 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 39 
 
 main without the shadow of an excuse was not 
 tobe thought of except as a case of last resort. It 
 was easier by far for this brilliant Greek scholar 
 to take refuge from the pangs of conscience be- 
 hind some excuse, however imperfect it might 
 be. The production of the excuse had been ren- 
 dered all the more easy since he had been train- 
 ing himself to regard the matter from a differ- 
 ent standpoint ever since he first had the re- 
 quired money in his possession. Prior to that 
 time, Tito had left in vague indecision the ques- 
 tion whether, with the means in his power, he 
 would not return and ascertain his father's fate. 
 With the acquisition of the means he was forced 
 to show his hand. The situation was simply 
 this: selfishness overthrew natural gratitude, 
 self-indulgence killed filial affection and sought 
 to hide behind a weak uncertainty. That un- 
 certainty was felt to be short lived and this as- 
 tute slave to the evil of selfishness had in the 
 interval thrown up another, though necessarily 
 a weaker embankment behind which he might 
 fortify his position when driven from the 
 trenches that served his present purpose. 
 
 He trained himself to believe that after all a 
 
40 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 man's first care should be for his own welfare. 
 He had already brought into Baldassarre's life 
 enough pleasure to compensate for all the bene- 
 fits he had received at his hands. Baldassarre 
 was old, even aged, he had had his quota of 
 pleasure, his opportunity for usefulness. Was 
 the remnant of his life worth to the world or to 
 himself the tremendous sacrifice which it would 
 demand of the young man just launching out 
 into the sea of life's larger possibilities ? Would 
 it not be foolish to spend a bright new florin 
 for the mere chance of recovering a worn-out 
 lira? Could any one be so foolish as to regard 
 such a policy a matter of duty which would be 
 so clearly an act of folly? Should such an act 
 not rather be regarded an over generous proof 
 of friendship, to be judged on the basis of pru- 
 dentiality rather than that of obligation ? 
 
 This mode of thought led to the belief in a 
 treacherous form of hedonism. "What, looked 
 at closely, was the end of all life, but to extract 
 the utmost sum of pleasure? And was not his 
 own blooming life a promise of incomparably 
 more pleasure, not for himself only, but for 
 others, than the withered wintry life of a man 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 41 
 
 who has passed the time of keen enjoyment, 
 and whose ideas had stiffened into barren 
 rigidity?" He endeavors to convince himself 
 that in that larger and more radically natural 
 view by which the world belongs to youth and 
 strength, the jewels, and therefore the florins, 
 which actually belonged to Baldassarre were 
 rather his who could extract the most pleasure 
 out of them. Thus Tito forces himself to take 
 refuge in a defence in which he does not hon- 
 estly believe, but which he endeavors to per- 
 suade himself is sufficient to quiet his con- 
 science, although he knows it is not enough to 
 exonerate him, should his situation become ., 
 known to the world. His moral life is, indeed/ ' 
 reduced to a sad state when his greatest hope is 
 for the news of his benefactor's death, and his 
 second, and, for the 'moment, most urgent desire 
 is for the immediate death of his informant,^ 
 Fra Luca. 
 
 It was because he believed that Fra Luca 
 could not live to disclose his secret that Tito 
 walked along with a light step, for the immedi- 
 ate fear had vanished and it was the fear of 
 discovery rather than the sense of shame in his 
 
42 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 own heart which gave him the greater concern. 
 In speaking of him at this point the novelist 
 ^ says : "He was not out of love with goodness 
 nor prepared to plunge into vice ; he was in his 
 fresh youth, with soft pulses for all charm and 
 loveliness ; he had still a healthy appetite for 
 ordinary human joys, and the poison could only 
 work by degrees. He had sold himself to evil, 
 but at present life seemed so nearly the same to 
 him that he was not conscious of the bond. He 
 meant all things to go> on as they had done be- 
 fore, both within and without him : he meant 
 to win golden opinions by meritorious exertion, 
 by ingenious learning, by amiable compliance. 
 He was not going to do> anything that would 
 throw him out of harmony with the beings he 
 cared for. And he cared supremely for Ro- 
 mola ; he wished to have her for his majestic, 
 beautiful and loving wife."* 
 "t Tift third great chapter \xv the story of Tito's 
 / fall begins with' his d'enial of Baldassarre when 
 they meet face to face so unexpectedly in Flor- 
 ence ; but ere this occurs, the writer permits us 
 
 *Romola, Chap XII, p. 118. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 43 
 
 occasional glimpses into the darkness of Tito's 
 soul where we behold the writhing death-throes 
 of his higher nature so completely strangled by 
 his baser self, we witness likewise the beginning 
 of a new phase of his moral degradation. 
 
 The first glimpse is taken directly after Tito 
 and Romola have made known to each other 
 their mutual love and have been blessed by 
 Bardo, who encourages their union. "Romo- 
 la's heart was perfectly satisfied. Not so Tito's. 
 If the subtle mixture of good and evil prepares 
 suffering for human truth and purity, there is 
 also suffering prepared for the wrong doer by 
 the same mingled conditions. As Tito kissed 
 Romola on their parting that evening, the very 
 strength of the thrill that moved his whole be- 
 ing at the sense that this woman, whose beauty 
 it was hardly possible to think of as anything 
 but the necessary consequence of her noble na- 
 ture, loved him with all the tenderness that 
 spoke in her clear eyes, brought a strong reac- 
 tion of regret that he had not kept himself free 
 from that first deceit which had dragged him 
 into this danger of being disgraced before her. 
 
44 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 There was a spring of bitterness mingled with 
 that fountain of sweets."* 
 
 What a deep thrust Romola unwittingly deals 
 him when unexpectedly meeting Tito as she 
 hastens in secret to the bedside of her dying 
 brother, she declares, — "It cost me a struggle 
 to act in opposition to my father's feelings, 
 which I have always held to be just. I am al- 
 most sure you will think I have chosen rightly, 
 Tito, because I have noticed that your nature is 
 less rigid than mine, and nothing makes you 
 angry : it would cost you less to be forgiving ; 
 though if you had seen your father forsaken by 
 one to whom he had given his chief love — by 
 one in whom he had planted his labor and his 
 hopes — forsaken when his need was becoming 
 greatest — even you, Tito, would find it hard to 
 forgive. "f 
 
 Tito's abandonment to despair when he fore- 
 sees that Romola undoubtedly will learn from 
 her dying brother all his secret, is no new step 
 in his moral decline. It is simply the logical 
 outcome of his previous actions. In the great 
 
 *Romola, p. 130. 
 fRomola, p- 136. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 45 
 
 chess game being played by his nobler and his 
 baser self the black, notwithstanding the fact 
 that the white had the first move, is already far 
 in the lead, two foolish moves in the early part 
 of the game had combined to place the white 
 queen, his strongest piece, in danger of a subtle 
 and almost defenceless attack. 
 
 "Tito wasj at one of those lawless moments 
 which come to us all if we have no guide but 
 desire, and the pathway where desire leads us 
 seems suddenly closed ; he was ready to follow 
 any beckoning that offered him an immediate 
 purpose."* 
 
 It is just at this point that Tito begins 
 a new phase of evil. Believing that Ro- 
 mola will no longer entertain any feel- 
 ing but scorn for him, he finds relief in the 
 trusting simplicity of the pretty Tessa. Till 
 now his relations with! her have been irreproach- 
 able, even commendable. It has delighted him 
 to bring a little pleasure into her simple life. 
 The enjoyment which he has experienced in her 
 presence is rather that of the author than the 
 
 *Romola, p. 138. 
 
46 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 recipient of pleasure. She is pretty, but what 
 is more charming she is so openly dependent for 
 her happiness upon the sunshine of his smiles 
 that she is simply irresistible. She sounds in 
 his nature a more impulsive, more sympathetic 
 chord than the gracious, more platonic love of 
 Romola can strike. With Romola gone, with 
 the prospects for a brilliant future withered, he 
 will, at least, forget the morrow in the pleasure 
 of the moment. In this intoxication of despair 
 he permits himself to go farther than he intend- 
 ed, so far, in fact, that he has not the moral 
 courage to retrace his steps while it is yet time. 
 An explanation of the joke would cause 
 Tessa pain and very likely be the means of 
 awakening in her a distrust for him. It would 
 be easier not to attempt an explanation nor was 
 such really necessary since he could intimidate 
 her into silence. Moreover the time might 
 come when he would be willing to make Tessa 
 his real wife, or she, the innocent child, might 
 serve him unwittingly as his mistress if she 
 were none the wiser. At least he would not 
 rashly run into an explanation which would lose 
 him Tessa, as he might lose Romola. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 47 
 
 "Poor little Tessa had disappeared among 
 the crowd of' contadini ; but the love which 
 formed one web with all his worldly hopes— 
 with the ambitions and pleasures which must 
 make the solid part of his days — the love that 
 was identified with his larger self — was not to 
 be banishedi from his consciousness. Even to 
 the man who presents the most elastic resist- 
 ance to whatever is unpleasant there will come 
 moments when the pressure from without is too 
 strong for him, and he must feel the smart and 
 the bruise in spite of himself. Such a moment 
 had come to Tito. There was no possible atti- 
 tude of mind, no scheme of action, by which the 
 uprooting of all his newly planted hopes could 
 be made otherwise than painful."* 
 
 When Tito learned that the dying monk's 
 breath had been preserved as by a miracle, that 
 he might make a disclosure to his sister, he felt 
 that his fate was decided. His mind rushed 
 over all the circumstances of his intended de- 
 parture from Florence. Did he mean to go and 
 rescue his father or simply escape from scorn- 
 ful looks and cutting words ? Suppose that he 
 
 *Romola, p. 153. 
 
48 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 intended to search for his father, would that 
 make any amends for his former conduct ? Was 
 it already too late for such an act to find its 
 least source in the merest spark of a noble im- 
 pulse or would it simply be making virtue of a 
 necessity ? 
 
 Certainly the impulse, if there were any, 
 proved too weak fori independent action ; for 
 the necessity for departure withdrawn, all trace 
 of the impulse vanished. 
 
 The denunciation of Baldassarre was not 
 only a crime but a mistake. Absolutely as un- 
 necessary as it was unpremeditated. "Some 
 madman, surely.'' "He hardly knew how the 
 words had come to his lips : there are moments," 
 writes George Eliot, "when our passions speak 
 and decide for us, and we seem to stand by and 
 wonder. They carry in them an inspiration of 
 crime, that in one instant does the work of long 
 premeditation."* 
 
 If Tito had acknowledged his father, for- 
 giveness would have been easy, the temporary 
 embarrassment would quickly be explained 
 away and he could have restored the old scholar 
 
 *Romola, p. 219. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 49 
 
 to a place befitting his birth and scholastic at- 
 tainments. But Tito was subject to that inex- 
 orable law of humanity, "We prepare ourselves 
 for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice of 
 good or evil that gradually determines charac- 
 ter."* 
 
 He has taken the fatal step and he can not 
 go back, he is forced to plunge into a more ter- 
 rible crime. His safety depends upon proving 
 his words true. Tito grasped at a thought more 
 actively cruel than any he had ever previously 
 entertained — might not he affirm that Baldas- 
 sarre was mad and thus make void all of his 
 statements concerning himself ? 
 
 Any other man but Tito might have turned 
 back, sought Baldassarre again, confessed ev- 
 erything to him — to Romola — to the world. 
 But he could not. "He had no sense that there 
 was strength and safety in truth, the only 
 strength he trusted to lay in his ingenuity and 
 his dissimulation. "-j- Cool deceit and defensive 
 armor should be his fortification. 
 
 "It was a characteristic fact in Tito's experi- 
 
 *Romola, p. 222. 
 tRomola, p. 223. 
 
50 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 ence at this crisis," states the novelist, "that no 
 direct measures for ridding himself of Baldas- 
 sarre ever occurred to him."* 
 
 His policy in life had been to move along 
 what he considered to be the channels of least 
 resistance, and he wished to give no unneces- 
 sary pain to anyone. 
 
 If he had only had the presence of mind to 
 recognize Baldassarre under that surprise ! It 
 would have been happier for him on all ac- 
 counts ; for it pained him to think that he was 
 deliberately inflicting suffering on his father. 
 He would very much have preferred that Bal- 
 dassarre should be prosperous and happy. But 
 there was no alternative. The instinct of the 
 moral coward had asserted itself and become 
 master of the situation in an unguarded mo- 
 ment. His future is simply the working out of 
 this spirit of evil. 
 
 Tito has reached the limit, he can sink no 
 lower, his subsequent acts which we condemn 
 form no new phase in his downward progress, 
 they are simply the steps necessary to the con- 
 sistent pursuit of the evil policy upon which he 
 
 •Romola, p. 223. 
 
 L 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 51 
 
 has determined. The coat of fear, the sale of 
 Bardo's library, the hideous lie he creates 
 in answer to Baldassarre's declaration, his un- 
 faithfulness to Romola and his illicit relations 
 with Tessa are simply the natural manifesta- 
 tions of his lower nature which by frequent 
 tampering with evil he has enthroned supreme. 
 
 One of the saddest of these acts is the sale of 
 the library which is done as a means of provid- 
 ing himself ready money to> aid him, should he 
 be forced to suddenly quit Florence. This 
 causes the first serious breach between him and 
 Romola. Romola, who had lost first her broth- 
 er, later her father, was now forced to lose 
 faith in her husband. 
 
 Her life with Tito had not been altogether 
 happy. At first she ascribed it to the irksome 
 demands of her father. The dream of a triple 
 life with an undivided sum of happiness had not 
 been quite fulfilled, so that Romola with the 
 first outburst of sorrow at her father's death 
 was conscious of the thought that her life with 
 Tito would henceforth be more perfect. But 
 again she was disappointed. It was clear that 
 their natures differed widely. She tried to per- 
 
52 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 suade herself that the fault was hers. "Tito 
 was really kinder than she was, better tem- 
 pered, less proud and resentful ; he had no an- 
 gry retorts, he met all complaints with perfect 
 sweetness ; he only escaped as quietly as he 
 could from things that were unpleasant." "It 
 belongs to every large nature, when it is not 
 under the immediate power of some strong un- 
 questioning emotion, to suspect itself, and doubt 
 the truth of its own impressions."* All endur- 
 ance seemed easy to Romola rather than a state 
 of mind in which she would admit to herself 
 that Tito acted unworthily. 
 
 Her discovery of Tito's fear, the real mean- 
 ing of which he did not share with her, her fur- 
 ther discovery of Piero's distrust of him had no 
 doubt shocked her keener sensibility into a 
 vague suspicion of the truth that she did not 
 enjoy Tito's complete confidence, that there was 
 a side of his nature which she had not yet dis- 
 covered. The shock came with its full force 
 when she learned that her husband was wretch 
 enough to sell away the very library and an- 
 
 *Romola, p. 242. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 53 
 
 tiquities which remained to her the sole monu- 
 ment of her father's life work. 
 
 It was this act that opened the floodgates and 
 poured into Romola's soul the depth of sorrow 
 which makes of her the supreme character of 
 the book, because she does not succumb to grief 
 but learns from it the mission of endurance and 
 gathers from it a new and powerful vitality of 
 spirit, which makes of the too trusting wife a 
 well-rounded woman, a heroine of independent 
 action who not only endures her own sorrow 
 but seeks to alleviate the distress of others. 
 
54 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROMOLA. 
 
 ^^^^ HE steps in the evolution of Ro- 
 ■ mola's character are as clearly 
 
 ^^^> defined as those in Tito's decline, 
 they are fewer in number and 
 consequently more decisive, they require less 
 explanation because they are also more simple. 
 As we first know her, Romola is a cultured, 
 classically educated young woman whose en- 
 tire being may be described as filial devotion. 
 She is so wrapped up in the service of her blind 
 old father that she knows little or nothing of 
 real life save that which she gathers from the 
 pages of literature and philosophy over which 
 she spent her tender years. She knows nothing 
 of love save that which she bears her father and 
 her immediate relatives, and the first change in 
 her awakening spirit is the discovery of the new 
 vistas of joy which a realization of her love for 
 Tito discloses to her imprisoned soul. 
 Thus joy is the first means of her develop- 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 55 
 
 f' 
 ment ; and sorrow is the second. We have noted 
 the gradual growth of her sorrow, which, like 
 a smouldering flame, suddenly burst forth into 
 an unmistakable conflagration of all the hopes 
 of her bright young life. 
 
 The haughty Romola, instead of being 
 quelled into stupor by this sad revelation, 
 though wounded to the heart, becomes suddenly 
 terrible in her anger. Quick as thought she 
 deals a terrific thrust at the thief who has 
 stolen away, not only her father's treasure, but 
 her love and her joy. 
 
 "If my father had suspected you of being a 
 faithless man," said Romola in a tone of bitter 
 scorn, "he would have placed the library safely 
 out of your power. But death overtook him too 
 soon, and when you were sure his ear was deaf, 
 and his hand stiff, you robbed him." She 
 paused an instant and then added with gather- 
 ing passion, "Have you robbed anybody else, 
 who is not dead? Is that the reason you wear- 
 armor?"* 
 
 When she realizes the extent of her sorrow, 
 Romola naturally determines to leave Tito, and 
 
 *Romola, p. 286. 
 
56 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 does actually set out from Florence. It is on 
 this journey that she experiences the third stage 
 in the rectification of her womanly nature. Ro- 
 mola at this point may be defined as Purity un- 
 der trial. She abhors that which is evil and 
 flies from it, lest she be contaminated by its 
 very presence. But she is blind to her loftiest 
 obligations and is recalled to a true sense of her 
 position by the warning voice of Savonarola 
 who is at this point the expression of the recti- 
 fied intellect. Responsibility was incurred by 
 Romola when she married Tito in spite of her 
 brother's warning. She must now pav for her 
 'failure to heed that admonition. She is Tito's 
 wife and may not desert him even in his in- 
 famy. ' If he were a malefactor her place would 
 be in the prison beside him/ The ideals of 
 Christianity prevail over those of pagan purity, 
 the idea of sacrifice overcomes that of escape 
 from sorrow. The regeneration of Romola is 
 effected by means of this servant of God who 
 knew the depth of her sorrow. Savonarola 
 proves to be the stronger personality and Ro- 
 mola is obedient to the voice of the prophet. 
 She returns to a life of ministry and sadness. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 57 
 
 It is in the capacity of a sister of mercy that 
 Romola becomes acquainted with the misery of 
 other lives which gives birth to' her sympathetic 
 nature that had hitherto been dwarfed by her 
 too narrow outlook upon life. 
 
 Now it is, she learns the truth of Baldas- 
 sarre's misery. Now it is she discovers Tito's 
 other wife. The sin and shame of the world, 
 the suffering of humanity, which were totally 
 unknown to her girlhood, have left their trace 
 of sadness on her beautiful face. Yet with the 
 growth of her sympathies she forgets herself 
 and her sorrows while her lofty spirit gradually 
 measures up to the responsibility of service, to 
 the grandeur of humility. 
 
 Romola even tries to become reconciled with 
 Tito. "Tito," she said in a tone of agonized en- 
 treaty, "if you would once tell me everything, 
 let it be what it may — I would not mind pain — 
 that there might be no wall between us ! Is it 
 not possible that we could begin a new life ?"* 
 "O God, I have tried — I cannot help it," ex- 
 claimed Romola when her effort at reconcilia- 
 tion had only drawn from Tito a lie and a re- 
 
 *Romola, p. 410. 
 
58 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 buke, "We shall always be divided unless mis- 
 ery should come and join us."* 
 ■■" So far Romola has not proved to be the 
 strongest character in the book. There is one 
 to whose will she has been subject because he 
 was the expression of the higher life. Savona- 
 rola had always proved to be the stronger per- 
 sonality, Romola had always been forced to ac- 
 cept his admonition, to abide by his commands. 
 
 It would not be in keeping with the writer's 
 art to permit him to hold the ascendancy over 
 her throughout the entire piece. Romola as the 
 supreme character of the book must show her- 
 self able to become independent of him when 
 he fails to measure up to her ideals. 
 
 Savonarola's connection with the political 
 forces in Florence gives Romola a chance to 
 assert her independence of him, her superiority 
 over him. That which in this case brought her 
 into antagonism with him was the fact that he 
 turned a deaf ear to her entreaty to save her 
 venerable godfather's life. 
 
 "You brought me life and strength," she 
 pleaded, "but I submitted because I felt the 
 
 *Romola, p. 412- 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 59 
 
 proffered strength — because I saw the light. 
 Now I cannot see it. Father, you yourself de- 
 clare that there comes a moment when the soul 
 must have no guide but the voice within it to 
 tell whether the consecrated thing has sacred 
 virtue. And therefore I must speak." 
 
 "Do you then know so well what will further 
 the coming of God's kingdom, father, that you 
 will dare to despise the plea of mercy — of jus- 
 tice — of faithfulness to your own teaching? 
 Has the French King then brought renovation 
 to Italy? Take care, father, lest your enemies 
 have some reason when they say that, in your 
 visions of what will further God's kingdom, you 
 see only what will strengthen your own party." 
 
 "And that is true!" said Savonarola, with 
 flashing eyes, "The cause of my party is the 
 cause of God's kingdom." 
 
 "I do not believe it !" said Romola, her whole 
 frame shaken with passionate repugnance. 
 "God's kingdom is something wider — else let 
 me stand outside it with the beings that I love." 
 Romola hastily covered her head and went out 
 in silence.* 
 
 Thus Romola fortified by her generous devo- 
 
 *fvomola, p. 488, 
 
60 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 
 tion to her godfather proves herself greater 
 than the dogmatic priest. She assumes the 
 highest place by reason of a truer sympathy and 
 a broader view. Still forced to endure at the 
 hands of a more bigoted, more powerful physi- 
 cal nature, her spirit refuses to be longer sub- 
 servient to the Dominican's hitherto overmas- 
 tering power. 
 
 From this point on Savonarola declines whilt 
 Romola becomes the one character of the book. 
 
 The drifting away of Romola is an almost 
 poetic expression of the depth of her despair af- 
 ter the cruel execution of her godfather. The 
 lack of the benediction of the Great Comforter 
 is felt. The highest life cannot be attained by 
 the self alone. 
 
 That which recalls Romola from the aban- 
 donment caused by her own sorrows is the cry 
 of distress. She awakes again to the larger 
 mission of living for others, of courageous en- 
 durance, and here she reaches the very highest 
 plane of her spiritual development. A sympa- 
 thetic soul' which has known unlimited sorrow 
 is noble enough to finally undertake the protec- 
 tion and guidance of the sorrow-stricken Tessa 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 61 
 
 and her fatherless children, the woman who had 
 innocently robbed Romola of her husband's pu- 
 rity. Can there be longer doubt why the book 
 is entitled "Romola" ? 
 
62 A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FEW OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 ^F^9 HERE are a few questions sug- 
 
 ■ gested by the book which may 
 
 ^^^^ lead to interesting discussion. 
 
 ~ Does George Eliot refute the 
 
 idea that scholarship is conducive to character? 
 
 I should say that she does not necessarily do 
 
 so. Tito's scholarship was narrow, refined in 
 
 the humanities, but pagan through and through. 
 
 It was not the scholarship of growth, it did not 
 
 bring him into the presence of living beings or 
 
 their Creator, but simply the works of pagan 
 
 philosophers and poets, long dead. 
 
 Does not the real harm of this book lie in the 
 terrible thirst for vengeance which Baldassarre 
 exhibits ? What a terrible lesson of retribution ! 
 What an unchristian lack of forgiveness ! ''Ven- 
 geance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay." 
 In appealing thus strongly to the spirit of re- 
 venge, George Eliot strikes the lowest chord of 
 human nature. 
 
A STUDY OF "ROMOLA" 63 
 
 One very marked touch of the writer's art 
 is shown in this. Two sons, Dino and Titc ; 
 both desert their fathers and leave them when 
 their need becomes greatest and yet each son 
 serves the other's father in that hour of need, 
 Tito by carrying on the literary pursuits for 
 which the blind Bardo had long missed his 
 son ; Dino by delivering to Tito information of 
 Baldassarre's condition. 
 
 Another artistic touch is the vision which the 
 dying Dino discloses to Romola. The blank 
 face of the unknown man corresponds to the 
 unknown character of Tito at the beginning of 
 the story. The) tempter's face is not revealed 
 until it is too late. 
 
 The book of Romola is to me a great piece 
 of music, a Beethoven's symphony, a composi- 
 tion which I enjoy, which to some slight degree 
 I understand, but whose beauty and power can 
 not be thoroughly explained. 
 
 The different characters seem to me like the 
 different parts of the orchestra, all working in 
 harmony, yet each following its own particular 
 scroll. Some of these parts I can single out 
 and appreciate. Savonarola is like the deep 
 
64 A STUDY OF "ROAIOLA" 
 
 bass undertone which gives a steady majesty to 
 the entire piece, Tito is some splendid tenor 
 part which at first captivates the ear but grad- 
 ually dies into insignificance, Baldassarre is 
 some hoarse instrument which sounds the note 
 of alarm and seems to bring a triumphant dis- 
 cord into the melody, while Romola is the glo- 
 rious soprano which from a humble beginning 
 gradually asserts itself until in the end it car- 
 ries almost alone the soul and theme of the 
 piece. To him that endureth to the end shall be 
 a crown of life. "For what is a man profited, if 
 he shall gain the whole world and lose his own 
 soul?"* 
 
 Thus George Eliot employs art to teach again 
 the old, old story. 
 
 "Why take the artistic way to prove so much? 
 
 Because it is the glory and the good or art, 
 
 That Art remains the one way possible 
 
 Of speaking truth, * * * 
 
 So may you paint your picture, twice show truth, 
 
 Beyond mere imagery on the wall, — 
 
 So note by note bring music from your mind, 
 
 Deeper than ever the Andante dived, — 
 
 So write a book shall mean, beyond the facts, 
 
 Suffice the eye and save the soul beside." 
 
 ♦Matthew XVI, 26. 
 
 The Ring and the Book, XII, 837-840, 858-863.