Felix Holt, the Radical, Volume 1When the young nobleman Harold Transome returns to England from the colonies with a self-made fortune, he scandalizes the town of Treby Magna with his decision to stand for Parliament as a Radical. But after the idealistic Felix Holt also returns to the town, the difference between Harold's opportunistic values and Holt's profound beliefs becomes apparent. Forthright, brusque and driven by a firm desire to educate the working-class, Felix is at first viewed with suspicion by many, including the elegant but vain Esther Lyon, the daughter of the local clergyman. As she discovers, however, his blunt words conceal both passion and deep integrity. Soon the romantic and over-refined Esther finds herself overwhelmed by a heart-wrenching decision: whether to choose the wealthy Transome as a husband, or the impoverished but honest Felix Holt. |
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Page 8
... passed risen . The coach would be sure to overtake rapidly from one phase of English life to anoth- some of them on their way to their outlying er : after looking down on a village dingy with fields or to the market - town , sitting ...
... passed risen . The coach would be sure to overtake rapidly from one phase of English life to anoth- some of them on their way to their outlying er : after looking down on a village dingy with fields or to the market - town , sitting ...
Page 12
... passing under the stone archway and then wheeling round against the flight of stone steps , was at once merged in the sense that there was a dark face under a red traveling - cap looking at her from the window . She saw nothing else ...
... passing under the stone archway and then wheeling round against the flight of stone steps , was at once merged in the sense that there was a dark face under a red traveling - cap looking at her from the window . She saw nothing else ...
Page 13
... passed along a cor- ridor lit from above and lined with old family pictures . " I thought they would suit you best , as they all open into each other , and this mid- dle one will make a pleasant sitting - room for you . " " Gad ! the ...
... passed along a cor- ridor lit from above and lined with old family pictures . " I thought they would suit you best , as they all open into each other , and this mid- dle one will make a pleasant sitting - room for you . " " Gad ! the ...
Page 14
... passed , and few words had been spoken , yet with that quickness in weaving new futures which belongs to women whose actions have kept them in habitual fear of consequences , Mrs. Transome thought she saw with all the clearness of dem ...
... passed , and few words had been spoken , yet with that quickness in weaving new futures which belongs to women whose actions have kept them in habitual fear of consequences , Mrs. Transome thought she saw with all the clearness of dem ...
Page 17
... passed by with indifference by any one : it would have fitted an empress in her own right , who had had to rule in spite of faction , to dare the violation of treaties and dread retributive inva- sions , to grasp after new territories ...
... passed by with indifference by any one : it would have fitted an empress in her own right , who had had to rule in spite of faction , to dare the violation of treaties and dread retributive inva- sions , to grasp after new territories ...
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Common terms and phrases
believe better Bycliffe called chair Christian Chubb Church dear Debarry Debarry's Denner Dissenters door Duffield Esther eyes face father feeling Felix Holt fellow felt Garstin gentleman give Good-morning hand Harold Transome HARPER'S WEEKLY head hear heard Holt's James Clement Jermyn Johnson knew lady light Lingon live look Lyddy Malthouse Yard marry mind minister Miss Lyon morning mother Muscat navvies ness never North Loamshire once orphin paused person Philip political poor question Radical Rector round seated seemed sense side Sir Maximus smile Smyrna sort speak Spratt Sproxton Sugar Loaf suppose sure talk tell ther there's thing thought tion Tommy tone took Tory Tran Transome Court Transome's Trebian Treby Magna Trounsem truth turned understrapper Vesoul voice vote Wace walk Whig wish woman words young
Popular passages
Page 31 - For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool : for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
Page 121 - Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand Henceforward in thy shadow. Nevermore Alone upon the threshold of my door Of individual life, I shall command The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand Serenely in the sunshine as before, Without the sense of that which I forbore — Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine With pulses that beat double.
Page 53 - ... je cherche seulement un bien inconnu dont l'instinct me poursuit. Est-ce ma faute si je trouve partout des bornes, si ce qui est fini n'a pour moi aucune valeur? Cependant je sens que j'aime la monotonie des sentiments de la vie, et si j'avais encore la folie de croire au bonheur, je le chercherais dans l'habitude.
Page 29 - said Felix, bluntly. " He knew neither the complication of the human system, nor the way in which drugs counteract each other. Ignorance is not so damnable as humbug, but when it prescribes pills it may happen to do more harm. I know something about these things. I was 'prentice for five miserable years to a stupid brute of a country apothecary — my poor father left money for that — he thought nothing could be finer for me. No matter : I know that the Cathartic Pills are a drastic compound which...
Page 166 - I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
Page 25 - Holt as a basic statement of what this book is about: . . . there is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life, from the time when the primeval milkmaid had to wander with the wanderings of her clan, because the cow she milked was one of a herd which had made the pasture bare.
Page 10 - ... beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer — committed to no sound except that of low moans in the night, seen in no writing except that made on the face by the slow months of suppressed anguish and early morning tears. Many an inherited sorrow that has marred a life has been breathed into no human ear.
Page 113 - And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart...
Page 73 - Comprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not athirst for information, but, to be quite fair, we must admit that superior reticence is a good deal due to the lack of matter. Speech is often barren ; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting on one addled nestegg ; and when it takes to cackling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion.
Page 89 - For a moment he was fully back in those distant years when he and another brighteyed person had seen no reason why they should not indulge their passion and their vanity, and determine for themselves how their lives should be made delightful in spite of unalterable external conditions. The reasons had been unfolding themselves gradually ever since through all the years which had converted the handsome, soft-eyed, slim young Jermyn (with a touch of sentiment) into a portly lawyer of sixty, for whom...