From 1859 on, the Leweses became friends with four leading English Positivists Richard – Congreve, J. H. Bridges, Frederic Harrison and Edward Spencer Beesly. Gordon S. Haight states categorically: The extent of George concern with Positivism has been greatly Eliot’s p. 302) and seeks to belittle the annual contributions exaggerated (George Eliot a Biography, which the Leweses made to the Positivist funds from 1864 until 1878. GE also offered to help pay for the costs of series of nine lectures given by Richard Congreve, the first English Positivist, at Sussex Hall London in 1867, four of which she attended. Since two major essays by Martha S. Vogeler (George Nineteenth Century Fiction Vol. 35 Eliot and the Positivists, Dec. 1980), and T. H. Wright (George The Modern Eliot and the Positivists a Reassessment Languages Review Vol.. 76 April 1981), it is, however, beyond doubt that Positivism was for the Leweses, as for many other Victorian intellectuals such J. S. Mill and Herbert Spencer, of considerable intellectual importance. But my article concentrates on an enormously important aspect of English Positivism, generally neglected by GE scholars and not mentioned in the articles by Vogeler and Wright, which is expressed best by the political work of the two Positivists with whom GE and GHL had the most contact, Edward Spencer Beesly and Frederic Harrison. I refer to the major role played by these two men, as advisors and propagandists, in the English labour movement primarily in London between 1864 and 1872. Especially contact with Beesly and Harrison has a great bearing on the central issue of GE’s this essay, and her place in the political spectrum of England of 1864 GE’s “conservatism” – 72. Although his George Eliot or George Henry Lewes, the social research didn’t include historian Royden Harrison has brilliantly and comprehensively documented the innumerable contributions made by Beesly and F. Harrison to the labour movement and what we would today call left-wing politics in the 1860s and 1870s, and some of this infringes on politics and the Leweses. Royden Before the Socialists, Studies in Labour and Politics Harrison’s book (Gregg Revivals 1994) and his long essay in two parts 1861 1881 E. S. Beesly and Karl –
From 1859 on, the Leweses became friends with four leading English Positivists – Richard Congreve, J. H. Bridges, Frederic Harrison and Edward Spencer Beesly. Gordon S. Haight states categorically: The extent of George Eliot’s concern with Positivism has been greatly exaggerated (George Eliot a Biography, p. 302) and seeks to belittle the annual contributions which the Leweses made to the Positivist funds from 1864 until 1878. GE also offered to help pay for the costs of series of nine lectures given by Richard Congreve, the first English Positivist, at Sussex Hall London in 1867, four of which she attended. Since two major essays by Martha S. Vogeler (George Eliot and the Positivists, Nineteenth Century Fiction Vol. 35 Dec. 1980), and T. H. Wright (George Eliot and the Positivists a Reassessment The Modern Languages Review Vol.. 76 April 1981), it is, however, beyond doubt that Positivism was for the Leweses, as for many other Victorian intellectuals such J. S. Mill and Herbert Spencer, of considerable intellectual importance. But my article concentrates on an enormously important aspect of English Positivism, generally neglected by GE scholars and not mentioned in the articles by Vogeler and Wright, which is expressed best by the political work of the two Positivists with whom GE and GHL had the most contact, Edward Spencer Beesly and Frederic Harrison. I refer to the major role played by these two men, as advisors and propagandists, in the English labour movement primarily in London between 1864 and 1872. Especially GE’s contact with Beesly and Harrison has a great bearing on the central issue of this essay, GE’s “conservatism” and her place in the political spectrum of England of 1864 – 72. Although his research didn’t include George Eliot or George Henry Lewes, the social historian Royden Harrison has brilliantly and comprehensively documented the innumerable contributions made by Beesly and F. Harrison to the labour movement and what we would today call left-wing politics in the 1860s and 1870s, and some of this infringes on politics and the Leweses. Royden Harrison’s book Before the Socialists, Studies in Labour and Politics 1861 – 1881 (Gregg Revivals 1994) and his long essay in two parts E. S. Beesly and Karl
george_eliot_and_conservatism_introduction.docx