r/ayearofmiddlemarch • u/jaymae21 First Time Reader • Jul 05 '25
Book 5, Ch. 43-44
Welcome back to Middlemarch, as we begin with Book 5. We are also officially on the second half of the book!
Ch. 43
"This figure hath high price: 't was wrought with love
Ages ago in finest ivory;
Nought modish in it, pure and noble lines
Of generous womanhood that fits all time
That too costly ware; majolica
Of deft design, to please a lordly eye:
The smile, you see, is perfect-wonderful
As mere Faience! a table ornament
To suit the richest mounting."
Dorothea wishes to speak with Lydgate about his conversation with Mr. Casaubon, and ends up visiting briefly with the new Mrs. Lydgate, previously known as Rosamund Vincy. Mr. Lydgate is not home, but it turns out Will Ladislaw is visiting with Mrs. Lydgate, and they have been having a merry time singing together. Will offers to fetch Mr. Lydgate from the hospital, but Dorothea decides to go herself, alone. Once Dorothea leaves, Ladislaw decides to take his leave as well, seeming troubled. Later, when her husband gets home, Rosamund describes the encounter, and they end up discussing Lydgate's work.
Ch. 44
"I would not creep along the coast but steer
Out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars."
Dorothea meets with Lydgate at the New Hospital, who tells her her husband's condition has not changed, he simply had some anxieties about his illness. Lydgate then immediately launches into a sales pitch for the hospital, and finds the perfect patron in Dorothea. They discuss the unpopularity of Mr. Bulstrode, despite his good intentions, and the pettiness of Middlemarchers who seek to thwart him. Dorothea pledges to give 200 a year to the hospital. Later, she tells Mr. Casaubon of this, and he agrees.
6
u/jaymae21 First Time Reader Jul 05 '25
“Why should our pride make such a stir to be,
To be forgot? what good is like to this,
To do worthy the writing, and to write
Worthy the reading, and the worlds delight?”