Picturing Will

In George Eliot’s first published fiction, ‘The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton,’ there is a sly detail which strongly suggests her familiarity with the writings of Jane Porter. Eliot wrote ‘Amos Barton’ in late 1856, hot on the heels of her notorious essay ‘Silly Novels by Lady Novelists.’ Porter is not mentioned in the essay, which focuses on recent publications, but her surname appears most suspiciously in the fiction that followed it. The Reverend Barton comes under the spell of the mysterious and beautiful Countess Czerlaski, but he is also taken by the countess’s romantic tales of her recently deceased husband. According to his neighbor Mr Farquhar, Barton ‘believth the whole thtory about her Polish huthband and hith wonderful ethcapeth; and ath for her — why, he thinkth her perfection’ (38). In a demystifying passage (as if we needed it after Farquhar’s lispy description), we learn that the countess was born lowly Caroline Bridmain, and that she met Czerlaski when she served as governess — and he as dance-instructor — to the daughters of one Lady Porter. Her seven-year marriage to Czerlaski leaves Caroline with ‘not, indeed, any very ripe and comprehensive wisdom, but much external polish,’ the last phrase a near-perfect pun on the measurable depth of Caroline’s nobility in exile (41). Amos Barton falls for the same romantic notions that no doubt charmed the daughters of Lady Porter and the literary daughters of Jane Porter. 1 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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