With the materials that the famous authoress has left behind, the editors have endeavored to form an autobiography (if the term may be permitted) of George Eliot. The life has been allowed to write itself in extracts from her letters and journals. Free from the obtrusion of any mind but her own, this method perfectly shows the development of her intellect and character. By arranging all the letters and journals so as to form one connected whole, keeping the order of their dates, and with the least possible interruption of comment, the result was a narrative of day-to-day life, with the play of light and shade which only letters, written in various moods, can give, and without which no portrait can be a good likeness. This volume contains all three original books and the complete lifespan of George Eliot from her first letter in 1838 to her death in the year 1880.