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George Eliot (Memoirs of George Eliot two)

IN the memoirs of George Eliot two books are mentioned which have a special interest, one being the first book she ever read as a child, called "The Linnet's Life," which gave her great happiness, and the other Scott's "Waverley." Her friend Miss Simcox's article in "The Nineteenth Century Review" tells of George Eliot's appetite for reading. "Somewhere about 1827 a friendly neighbor lent 'Waverley' to an elder sister of little Mary Ann Evans. It was returned before the child had read to the end, and in her distress at the loss of the fascinating volume she began to write the story as far as she had read it for herself, beginning naturally where the story begins, with Waverley's adventures at Tully-Veolan, and continuing until the surprised elders were moved to get the book back again."