MANUSCRIPT: HCL (H 94). Pencil.

PUBLICATION: LH 198-199.

Mrs. Ward's conjecture in LH that the woman here discussed was George Eliot seems probable. Reviews of Cross's biography were coming out and Mrs. Holland evidently sent clippings to ED. Most were laudatory, but some contended that George Eliot had been guilt of moral turpitude. The phrase "loves a shining mark" is from Young's Night Thoughts (Night Fifth, line 1013). The opening quotation is from Mark 8.36. "The foxes have holes" are the words of Jesus as given in Matthew 8.20. The expression "Crowner's Quest" is that of the gravedigger (Hamlet, V, i), who wonders whether the coroner's inquest will result in a Christian burial for Ophelia.