was very handsome, and truly kind.  I sent him an extract from George Eliot’s letter to me, and I have a note from him, saying that ‘he has been much interested by it,’ and that ‘it has given him the greatest pleasure.’  Dickens adheres to his theory that the writer must be a woman.’  To George Eliot herself he wrote in February, 1858, ’You will recollect, when we proposed to reprint, my impression was that the series had not lasted long enough in the magazine to give you a hold on the general public, although long enough to make your literary reputation.  Unless in exceptional cases, a very long time often elapses between the two stages of reputation, the literary and the public.  Your progress will be sure, if not so quick as we could wish.’”

The success of the Clerical Scenes determined the literary career of Mrs. Lewes.  She began at once an elaborate novel, which was largely written in Germany.  It was sent to Blackwood for publication, and his nephew has given a full account of the reception of the manuscript and the details of giving the work to the public.

“Adam Bede was begun almost as soon as the Scenes were finished, and had already made considerable progress before their appearance in the reprint.  In February, 1858, the editor, writing to Mr. Lewes, says, ’I am delighted to hear from George Eliot that I might soon hope to see something like a volume of the new tale.  I am very sanguine.’  In a few weeks after, the manuscript of the opening chapters of Adam Bede was put into his hands, and he writes thus to Lewes after the first perusal:  ’Tell George Eliot that I think Adam Bede all right—­most lifelike and real.  I shall read the MS. quietly over again before writing in detail about it....  For the first reading it did not signify how many things I had to think of; I would have hurried through it with eager pleasure.  I write this note to allay all anxiety on the part of George Eliot as to my appreciation of the merits of this most promising opening of a picture of life.  In spite of all injunctions, I began Adam Bede in the railway, and felt very savage when the waning light stopped me as we neared the Scottish border.’  A few weeks later, when he had received further chapters, and had reperused the manuscript from the beginning, Mr. Blackwood wrote to George Eliot, ’The story is altogether very novel, and I cannot recollect anything at all like it.  I find myself constantly thinking of the characters as real personages, which is a capital sign.’  After he had read yet a little further he remarks, ’There is an atmosphere of genuine religion and purity that fears no evil, about the whole opening of the story.’  George Eliot made an expedition to Germany in the spring of 1858, and the bulk of the second volume was sent home from Munich.  Acknowledging the receipt of the manuscript, the editor wrote to Lewes, ’There can be no mistake about the merits, and I am not sure whether I expressed