the mill on the floss

to my shame i'd never actually read it before, despite my love of middlemarch. i don't think any other writer manages a tone which achieves this effortless balance of mockery, empathy, humour, seriousness, insight and sheer delight in language. and i really don't think it's worth writing fiction unless you make some small attempt to write prose with this density and this grace: 

Mrs. Glegg had both a front and a back parlor in her excellent house at St. Ogg's, so that she had two points...