Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 13.djvu/225

 her that she had true genius. In 1856 they visited Ilfracombe, where Lewes was occupied in the study of marine zoology. While at Berlin she had read to him a fragment of a description of life in a Staffordshire farmhouse, composed, it seems, some years previously. Doubts of her possession of dramatic or constructive power had prevented her from attempting a novel. Lewes now entreated her to try, and after retiring to Richmond she began ‘Amos Barton’ on 22 Sept. 1856. Lewes saw at once the merits of the story, and offered it, without giving the writer's name, to John Blackwood [q. v.], declaring his conviction that in ‘humour, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation,’ it had not been equalled since the ‘Vicar of Wakefield.’ Blackwood, though less enthusiastic, was appreciative, and the first part of ‘Amos Barton’ appeared in Blackwood's ‘Magazine’ for January 1857. Blackwood thought so well of it as to make proposals at once for a republication of the complete series. The author now took the name of ‘George Eliot,’ under which all her later writings appeared. She had begun ‘Mr. Gilfil's Love Story’ on Christmas day, 1856; ‘Janet's Repentance’ was finished on 9 Oct. 1857, and on 22 Oct. she began ‘Adam Bede.’ The collected series of ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ appeared at the beginning of 1858. The most competent critics recognised their power. The most remarkable letter came from Dickens, who not only appreciated at once the power of the new writer, but detected her sex, a point upon which some critics were curiously (as it now seems) uncertain. In some respects, the ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ were never surpassed by the author. Their unforced power, their pathos, and the sympathetic appreciation of the old-fashioned life by a large intellect give them a singular charm. They did not, however, sell at first so rapidly as had been hoped. The author was introduced in her own person to Blackwood in February. His brother, Major Blackwood, had already divined the secret in a previous interview (10 Dec. 1857). After a tour to Munich and Dresden, ‘Adam Bede’ was finished, and the last pages sent to Blackwood on 16 Nov. He gave 800l. for four years' copyright. In February 1859 the Leweses settled at Holly Lodge, Wandsworth, where she formed a very intimate friendship with Mr. and Mrs. Richard Congreve. ‘Adam Bede’ appeared at the same time, and was received with universal applause. Sir Edward (afterwards Lord) Lytton admired it, and Charles Reade pronounced it to be the ‘finest thing since Shakespeare’ (ib. ii. 77, 82). Sixteen thousand copies were sold in the first year. A claim to the authorship was set up on behalf of a Mr. Liggins, which seems to have caused a needless amount of irritation to the true author before the claim was finally dispersed. The chief result was the more rapid divulgement of the secret. Blackwood added another sum of 800l. in acknowledgment of the extraordinary success of the book (ib. ii. 116, 129), and returned the copyright to the author.

‘Adam Bede’ at once placed its author in the front rank of contemporary literature. Her success was astonishing to herself, and it increased her confidence in her own powers. But it did not remove the diffidence connected with her frequent nervous depressions. The fact that ‘Adam Bede’ would be the most formidable rival to any later productions induced her to spare no pains in the effort to maintain her standard. The ‘Mill on the Floss,’ first called ‘Sister Maggie,’ was begun soon after the publication of ‘Adam Bede;’ the first volume was finished in October 1859, and the third in March 1860. It appeared in April, and six thousand copies were sold by the end of May. Some complaints were made of the third volume. She admitted, in answer to some criticisms from Lord Lytton, that her love of the childish scenes had led to a ‘want of proportionate fulness in the treatment of the third,’ which she would always regret. The third volume has been to most readers not only disproportionate but discordant; but the first two volumes owe to her fond memory of the childish scenes a charm never surpassed by herself, if by any one. The end of her first literary period was marked by ‘Silas Marner,’ begun by November 1860, finished on 10 March 1861, and published in one volume directly afterwards, which has often been regarded as her most perfect composition.

She had visited Italy in the summer of 1860, and during a fortnight's stay at Florence in May projected an historical novel of the time of Savonarola. She paid another visit to Florence (4 May to 7 June 1861) to increase her knowledge of the subject. She began to write it on 7 Oct. 1861, having previously put the subject aside to write ‘Silas Marner.’ She made another beginning on 1 Jan. 1862. In February 1862 Messrs. Smith & Elder offered her 10,000l. for the copyright of the new novel, and she ultimately accepted 7,000l. for its appearance in the ‘Cornhill Magazine.’ She was not decided, says Lewes, by the ‘unheard-of magnificence of the offer,’ but by the advantage to the book of being read slowly. The first part appeared accordingly in July 1862, and the last in August 1863. She wrote the last page on 9 June 1863. It was illustrated