Both Uses of

partisan
in
Middlemarch

And it happened that Mr. Bulstrode and Mr. Featherstone, two of Peacock's most important patients, had, from different causes, given an especially good reception to his successor, who had raised some partisanship as well as discussion.†
Chpt 1 *

But Lydgate had not been long in the town before there were particulars enough reported of him to breed much more specific expectations and to intensify differences into partisanship; some of the particulars being of that impressive order of which the significance is entirely hidden, like a statistical amount without a standard of comparison, but with a note of exclamation at the end.†
Chpt 5

Definitions:

(1) (partisan as in: partisan, not balanced)
having too much bias in favor of someone or something to judge related issues in a fair manner
(2) (partisan as in: a partisan of the political party)
someone who strongly supports someone or something
(3) (partisan as in: a partisan of the armed resistance)
a member of an armed resistance group; or related to such a group
(4) (partisan as in: killed with a partisan)
a weapon that resembles an elaborate spear and was popular from the 14th to the 17th century