Hope you had a good week, Middlemarchers! Discussion questions are in the comments as always.

Summary

Lydgate’s efforts to talk Farebrother up to Dorothea seem to have worked, because she chooses him to be Casaubon’s replacement! He finally has some financial stability and his mother, sister, and aunt are excited because he can marry. He doesn’t think any woman would have him, but they suspect he carries a torch for Mary Garth.

However, Fred confides in Mr. Farebrother and asks for his advice about becoming a clergyman. Farebrother is himself a reluctant minister, but he does not want to sway Fred either way. Fred reveals that he is in love with Mary, and asks Farebrother to intercede on his behalf. Farebrother does, only hinting about his true feelings to Mary. Mary is shocked that Farebrother might love her, but decides that she has loved Fred for her entire life and could not imagine herself with anyone else. She tells Farebrother that she would not marry Fred if he were a clergyman, because she thinks his father only wants him to join the church to elevate their social standing, and she thinks he would disrespect the church with his insincerity. Farebrother says he will tell Fred to find another career. He leaves quietly heartbroken.

Then we’re back to Stone Court and Bulstrode! Bulstrode has another run-in with Raffles, who enjoys tormenting and blackmailing him. We learn that Raffles lived in America for ten years, but has since returned. Bulstrode is very eager to get rid of him and offers to pay him off. Raffles teases him by implying that he wants to stay in Middlemarch. Raffles mentions that Bulstrode has a stepdaughter named Sarah, and implies that she is related to someone whose name he can’t remember. Later he remembers the name: Ladislaw!

References

Farebrother mentions that he might be accused of pluralism if he doesn’t give up the St. Botolph’s, his current living. Pluralism was the practice of clergymen holding more than one office.

In chapter 52, the four sentences in the conversation with Farebrother and Mary beginning with “before I enter” and ending with “my feelings” were added by Eliot to the proofs of the first edition based on anonymous feedback from a barrister that her depiction of Featherstone’s wills was inaccurate - the benefits of partial publishing!

When discussing Joshua Rigg’s desire to be a moneychanger, Eliot mentions that he is the opposite of Warren Hastings - Hastings was an East India Company agent who bought back his family’s ancestral home (although he was also a colonizer who quashed several rebellions in south Asia).

Ruffles mentions that “old Boguy” has tampered with his and Bulstrode’s looks over the years - this is an alternate spelling of Bogey, meaning the devil.

Ruffles says that Bulstrode is like a “bashaw,” this is an alternate spelling of the Turkish word pasha, meaning a high-ranking personage.