Being Engaged

George Meredith (1828–1909) was a journalist, poet and novelist. He married the widowed daughter of Peacock (see extract No. 40). His greatest novels were The Ordeals of Richard Feverel, 1859, The Egoist, 1879, The Tragic Comedians, 1880, and Diana of the Crossways, 1885. His heroines are usually very spirited girls, perhaps rather far removed from the prevailing ideal of his own century.