lysis ever attempted by an author; and in his
wonderful portrait, which must be closely studied, and not epitomized or
reproduced in extracts, we see glowing enthusiasm united to cabalistic
profundity, and the most morbid tension of the intellectual powers united
to clear and well-defined hopes. How has the author succeeded in making
Mordecai so human and so true to nature? By mixing the gold with an alloy
of commoner metal, and by giving the angelic likeness features which are
familiar to us all."

Another Jew has borne equally hearty testimony to the faithfulness with
which George Eliot has described Jewish life and the spirit of the Jewish
religion. "She has acquired," this writer says, "an extended and profound
knowledge of the rites, aspirations, hopes, fears and desires of the
Israelites of the day. She has read their books, inquired into their modes
of thought, searched their traditions, accompanied them to the synagogue;
nay, she has taken their very words from their lips, and, like Asmodeus,
has unroofed their houses. To say that some slight errors have crept into
_Daniel Deronda_ is to say that no human work is perfect; and these
inaccuracies are singularly few and unimportant." [Footnote: James
Picciotto, author of "sketches of Anglo-Jewish History," in the Gentleman's
Magazine for November, 1876.] Still another Jewish critic says that in her
gallery of portraits she "gives in a marvellously full and accurate way all
the many sides of the Jewish complex national character." He also says that
Mordecai is a true successor of the prophets and moral leaders of the race,
that the national spirit and temper are truly represented in him.
[Footnote: Joseph Jacobs, in Macmillian's Magazine for 1877.]

That the main purpose of _Daniel Deronda_ is not that of defending Judaism,
must be apparent to every attentive reader. The Jewish race is made use of
for purposes of illustration, as a notable example in proof of her
theories. There is a deeper purpose conspicuous throughout the hook, which
rests on her conceptions of the spiritual life as a development of
tradition. This larger purpose also jests on her altruistic conception of
the moral and spiritual life. As Professor Kaufmann has pointed out, the
story falls into two widely separated portions, in one of which the Jewish
element appears, in the other the English. Jewish life and its religious
spirit are contrasted with English life and a common type of its religion.