The Thames River in London

It was in the evening in July when Daniel was rowing down the Thames singing a song about misery when he save Mirah Lapidoth from trying to drown herself. We learn that she is english-born and jewish and that she is looking for her parents. She asks Daniel, "Do you despise me for it" (eliot 172), that being the fact that she is part Jewish.

Bad Homburg, Germany

Here in Bad Homburg, Germany, Eliot would receive inspiration for a scene in the beginning of Daniel Deronda where Daniel sees Gwendolen recklessly gambling at a Continental spa. In 1872, Eliot took a trip to the “German Spa of Bad Homburg” and witnessed a similar situation involving Lord Byron’s great-niece losing heavily while gambling, thus giving her the idea for the scene in the novel. It is interesting to discover more how these themes of gambling correlate to Eliot’s perspective of Jews.