Clement Walton; or, The English Citizen

Clement Walton; or, The English Citizen

Gresley, William

London: Burns, 1840

Internet Archive

1840

George Eliot to Maria Lewis, 30 March 1840. "Mr. Harper lent me a little time ago a work by the Revd W. Gresley, begging me to read it, as he thought it was calculated to make me a proselyte to the opinions it advocates. I had skimmed the book before ("Portrait of An English Churchman") but I read it attentively a second time and was pleased with the spirit of piety that breathes throughout. His last work is one in a similar style, "The English Citizen," which I have cursorily read, and as they are both likely to be seen by you, I want to know your opinion of them. Mine is this: that they are sure to have a powerful influence on the minds of small readers and shallow thinkers, as, from the simplicity and clearness with which the author, by his beau idéal characters, enunciates his sentiments they furnish a magazine of easily wielded weapons for morning calling and evening party controversialists, as well as that really honest minds will be inclined to think they have found a resting-place amid the foot-balling of religious parties. But it appears to me that there is unfairness in arbitrarily selecting a train of circumstances, and a set of characters as a development of a class of opinions. In this way we might make atheism appear wonderfully calculated to promote social happiness. I remember, as I dare say you do, a very amiable atheist depicted by Bulwer in Devereux, and for some time after the perusal of that book, which I read 7 or 8 years ago, I was considerably shaken by the impression that religion was not a requisite to moral excellence." GEL 1: 45

Gresley, William, Clement Walton; or, The English Citizen, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57179

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/46e140f5f8fd855cc89c997b91c600dc.pdf