We open another Saturday in Middlemarch, where we join Ladislaw and Lydgate in closer quarters. Welcome back!

Summary:

"Pues no podemos haber aqullo que queremos, queramos aquello que podremos" [Since we cannot get what we like, let us like what we can get] -Spanish Proverb

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Chapter 46 opens with Mr. Brooke and Will Ladislaw discussing the current events in politics, including a Reform Bill that is not to be. Mr. Brooke is focused on Parliament and Ladislaw on their newspaper, the Pioneer, to influence public opinion and guide people to reform. Will has hung up his literary ambitions for political operations, in order to be closer to Dorothea. He wonders if he can help Mr. Brooke find office and, in turn, find a position for himself. However, Middlemarch tended to side with Mr. Casaubon in viewing Ladislaw as a ne'er-do-well, who was eccentric and a foreigner to boot. The rival newspaper, the Trumpet, railed against him in obstruse language. We learn he has a troupe of children he entertains, which is a new aspect of his character. We also learn he likes to loll on people's carpets, although, naturally, not at Bulstrode's. He is a favorite with the Farebrother ladies, and he is good friends with Lydgate and Rosie. We find them together one evening, when Lydgate begins a quarrelsome conversation about Brooke, political reform with imperfect politicians, being your own person, and much more. Topics which are preying on both their minds in different ways. The scene closes with the revelation that Lydgate is actually worried about an unpaid bill that has come in for the furniture- and that Rosamond is pregnant- so he does not want to worry her with this information.

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"Was never true love loved in vain/For truest love is highest gain/No art can make it: it must spring/Where elements are fostering. So in heaven's spot and hour/Springs the little native flower/Downward root and upward eye/Shapen by the earth and sky"

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Chapter 47 finds Ladislaw still perturbed by his conversation with Lydgate late into the night. He mediates on Dorothea to clear his mind and we learn he idolizes her in an aesthetic way, not necessarily romantic, as Mr. Casaubon suspects. He makes the decision to attend Sunday service in Lowick to see her, debating whether or not he should go. The morning is glorious, he is in song, and sits in the curate's pew. He suddenly feels awkward, sitting apart from the others, since his usual family, the Tuckers, were not there. Dorothea and Casaubon enter, Dorothea makes a polite bow to Will and nothing else, but he can sense she is upset. Casaubon's presence makes him freeze and he feels so trapped, he doesn't even sing the hymns. At the end of service, Casaubon avoids meeting his eye, but Dorothea bows again, looking teary. He is downcast as he returns.

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Context and Notes:

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In politics, Lord John Russell, the 1831 Reform Riots, Edmund Burke and his Pocket Borough, and Edward Stanley, the 14th Earl of Derby.

Mr. Keck calls Ladislaw an energumen, thinking it referred to the French Revolution, but, in fact, it is a French word that goes back to Ancient Greek. Ladislaw is followed around by urchin children dressed in galligaskins.

Thomas Middleton's play, The Witch. Michael Dayton's Poem, Idea 6: How Many Paltry, Foolish, Painted Things. Hanover by Croft and Grant.

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