Not all the critics were so blundering as this one, however, and in the middle of April, The Times said there was no mistake about the character of Adam Bede, that it was a first-rate novel, and that its author would take rank at once among the masters of the craft.  In April, also, Blackwood’s Magazine gave the book a hearty welcome.  The natural, genuine descriptions of village life were commended, and the boot was praised for its “hearty, manly sympathy with weakness, not inconsistent with hatred of vice.”  Throughout this notice the author is spoken of as “Mr. Eliot.”  The critic of the Westminster Review, in an appreciative and favorable notice, expressed a doubt if the author could be a man.  He cited Hetty as proof that only a woman could have written the book, and said this character could “only be delineated as it is by an author combining the intense feelings and sympathies of a woman with the conceptive power of artistic genius.”  The woman theory was pronounced to be beset with serious difficulties, however, and the notice concluded with these words:  “But while pronouncing no decisive opinion on this point, we may remark that the union of the best qualities of the masculine and feminine intellect is as rare as it is admirable; that it is a distinguishing characteristic of the most gifted artists and poets, and that to ascribe it to the author of Adam Bede is to accord the highest praise we can bestow.”

With the writing of Adam Bede, George Eliot accepted her career as a novelist, and henceforth her life was devoted to literary creation.  Even before Adam Bede was completed, her attention was directed to Savonarola as the subject for a novel.  Though this subject was in her mind, yet it was not made use of until later.  As soon as Adam Bede was completed, she at once began another novel of English life, and drawn even more fully than its predecessors from her own experience.  Of this new work a greater portion of the manuscript was in the hands of the publishers with the beginning of 1860.  She called it Sister Maggie, from the name of the leading character.  This title did not please the publisher, and on the 6th of January, Blackwood wrote to her suggesting that it be called The Mill on the Floss.  This title was accepted by George Eliot, and the new work appeared in three volumes at the beginning of April, 1860.

In July, 1859, there appeared in Blackwood’s Magazine a short story from George Eliot bearing the title of “The Lifted Veil.”  This was followed by another, in 1864, called “Brother Jacob.”  Both were printed anonymously and are the only short stories she wrote after the Clerical Scenes.  They attracted attention, but were not reprinted until 1880, when they appeared in the volume with Silas Marner, in Blackwood’s “cabinet edition” of her works.  In March, 1861, Silas Marner, the Weaver of Raveloe, her only one-volume novel, was given to the public by Blackwood.