After laying aside The Spanish Gypsy she began on another novel of English life, and Felix Holt:  the Radical was printed in three volumes by Blackwood, in June, 1866.  Shortly after, she printed in Blackwood’s Magazine—­an “Address to workmen, by Felix Holt,” in which she gave some wholesome and admirable advice to the operative classes who had been enfranchised by the Reform Bill.  In the same magazine, “How Lisa Loved the King” was printed in May, 1869.  This was the last of her contributions to its pages.  Its publisher gave her many encouragements in her literary career, and was devoted to her interests.  After his death she gave expression to her appreciation of his valuable aid in reaching the public, through a letter addressed to his successor.

I feel that his death was an irreparable loss to my mental life for nowhere else is it possible that I can find the same long-tried genuineness of sympathy and unmixed impartial gladness in anything I might happen to do well.  To have had a publisher who was in the fullest sense of the word a gentleman, and at the same time a man of excellent moral judgment, has been an invaluable stimulus and comfort to me.  Your uncle had retained that fruit of experience which makes a man of the world, as opposed to the narrow man of literature.  He judged well of writing, because he had learned to judge well of men and things, not merely through quickness of observation and insight, but with the illumination of a heart in the right place—­a thorough integrity and rare tenderness of feeling.

After a visit to Spain in the summer of 1867, The Spanish Gypsy was re-written and published by Blackwood, in June, 1868.  During several years, at this period of her life, her pen was busy with poetical subjects.  “A Minor Prophet” was written in 1865, “Two Lovers” in 1866, and “Oh may I join the Choir Invisible” in 1867.  “Agatha” was written in 1868, and was published in the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1869. The Legend of Jubal was written in 1869 and was printed in Macmillan’s Magazine for May, 1870.  In 1869 were also written the series of sonnets entitled “Brother and Sister.”  “Armgart” was written in 1870, and appeared in Macmillan’s Magazine in July, 1871.  “Arion” and “Stradivarius” were written in 1873.  “A College Breakfast Party” was written in April, 1874, and was printed in Macmillan’s Magazine for July, 1878. The Legend of Jubal and other Poems was published by Blackwood in 1874, and contained all the poems just named, except the last.  A new edition was published in 1879 as The Legend of Jubal and other Poems, Old and New.  The “new” poems in this edition are “The College Breakfast Party,” “Self and Life,” “Sweet Evenings come and go, Love,” and “The Death of Moses.”