Chapter IX: Sidenote: Journal, 1859 (3)

_March 21._--Finished this morning "The Mill on the Floss," writing from the moment when Maggie, carried out on the water, thinks of her mother and brother. We hope to start for Rome on Saturday, 24th.

_Magnificat anima mea!_

The manuscript of "The Mill on the Floss" bears the following
inscription:

"To my beloved husband, George Henry Lewes, I give this MS.
of my third book, written in the sixth year of our life
together, at Holly Lodge, South Field, Wandsworth, and
finished 21st March, 1860."

[Sidenote: Letter to John Blackwood, 22d March, 1860.]

Your letter yesterday morning helped to inspire me for the last eleven pages, if they have any inspiration in them. They were written in a _furor_, but I dare say there is not a word different from what it would have been if I had written them at the slowest pace.

We expect to start on Saturday morning, and to be in Rome by Palm Sunday, or else by the following Tuesday. Of course we shall write to you when we know what will be our address in Rome. In the meantime news will gather.

I don't mean to send "The Mill on the Floss" to any one except to Dickens, who has behaved with a delicate kindness in a recent matter, which I wish to acknowledge.

I am grateful and yet rather sad to have finished--sad that I shall live with my people on the banks of the Floss no longer. But it is time that I should go and absorb some new life and gather fresh ideas.

_SUMMARY._

JANUARY, 1859, TO MARCH, 1860.

Looking for cases of _inundation_ in _Annual Register_--New
House--Holly Lodge, Wandsworth--Letter to John
Blackwood--George Eliot fears she has not characteristics of
"the popular author"--Subscription to "Adam Bede" 730
copies--Appreciation by a cabinet-maker--Dr. John Brown sends
"Rab and his Friends" with an inscription--Letter to
Blackwood thereon--Tries to be hopeful--Letters to Miss
Hennell--Description of Holly Lodge--Miss
Nightingale--Thoughts on death--Scott--Mrs. Clarke
writes--Mr. and Mrs. Congreve--Letter to Mrs. Bray on effects
of anxiety--Mrs. Clarke dying--Letter to John
Blackwood--Wishes Carlyle to read "Adam Bede"--"Life of
Frederic" painful--Susceptibility to newspaper
criticism--Edinburgh more encouraging than London--Letter to
Blackwood to stop puffing notices--Letter from E. Hall,
working-man, asking for cheap editions--Sale of "Adam
Bede"--Death of Mrs. Clarke--1800 copies of "Adam Bede"
sold--Letter to Blackwood--Awakening to fame--Letter to
Froude--Mrs. Poyser quoted in House of Commons by Mr. Charles
Buxton--Opinions of Charles Reade, Shirley Brooks, and John
Murray--Letter to John Blackwood--Warwickshire correspondent
insists that Liggins is author of "Adam Bede"--Not flushed
with success--Visit to Isle of Wight--Letter to Miss Hennell
on rewriting, and pleasure in Mr. and Mrs. Congreve--Letter
to _Times_, denying that Liggins is the author--Letter to
Blackwood--The Liggins myth--Letter from Bulwer--Finished
"The Lifted Veil"--Writing "The Tullivers"--Mrs.
Congreve--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--Faith in her--Letter from
Madame Bodichon--Reply breathing joy in sympathy--Letter to
Major Blackwood--Mr. Anders's apology for the Liggins
business--"Adam Bede" worth writing--Dulwich
gallery--Blackwood gives £400 more in acknowledgment of "Adam
Bede's" success--Letter to Miss Hennell on Mrs. Congreve--On
difficulty of getting cheap music in England--Professor
Aytoun on "Adam Bede"--Letter to Major
Blackwood--Liggins--Mrs. Gaskell--Letter to Mrs.
Congreve--Dislike of Wandsworth--To Crystal Palace to hear
"Messiah," and reveals herself to Brays as author of "Adam
Bede"--Letter to Brays--Bad effect of talking of her
books--Letter to Charles Bray--Melancholy that her writing
does not produce effect intended--Letter to Mrs. Congreve--To
Switzerland by Paris--At Schweizerhof, Lucerne, with
Congreves--Mr. Lewes goes to Hofwyl--Return to Richmond by
Bâle and Paris--Fourth edition of "Adam Bede" (5000) sold in
a fortnight--Letter to Mrs. Bray on Mrs. Congreve--On the
effect of her books and fame--Herbert Spencer on "Adam
Bede"--Pamphlet to prove that Scott's novels were written by
Thomas Scott--Letter from Dickens on "Adam Bede" referred
to--Letter to John Blackwood on "Pug"--Letter to Charles
Lewes--"The Physiology of Common Life"--American proposition
for a story for £1200--Letter to Madame Bodichon--Distance
from experience artistically necessary--Letter to John
Blackwood--Development of stories--Visit to
Penmaenmawr--Return by Lichfield to Weymouth--Sixth edition
of "Adam Bede"--Back to Richmond--Anxiety about new
novel--Journey to Gainsboro', Lincolnshire--Letter to Miss
Hennell--End of Liggins business--Letter to John Blackwood--A
correspondent suggests a sequel to "Adam
Bede"--Susceptibility to outside opinion--Seventh edition of
"Adam Bede"--Blackwood proposes to pay £800 beyond the
bargain for success of "Adam Bede"--Dickens dines at Holly
Lodge--Letter to Miss Hennell--Quotes letter from Mrs.
Gaskell--Miss Martineau--Dickens asks for story for _All the
Year Round_--"Adam Bede, Junior"--Reading Darwin on "Origin
of Species"--Bunyan--Letter to Mr. Bray--Article on "Adam
Bede" in _Bentley_--In _Revue des Deux Mondes_, by Emile
Montégut--Reviews generally--16,000 of "Adam Bede" sold in
year--Darwin's book--Letter to Charles Lewes--Mentions
fondness of algebra--Letter to Madame Bodichon quoting Mrs.
Gaskell's letter--Rewards of the artist lie apart from
everything personal--Darwin's book--Molière--Letter to Miss
Hennell--Likes to see Shakspeare acted--Hears from M. and
Mme. d'Albert--_Cornhill Magazine_--Blackwood's terms for
"Mill on the Floss"--Christmas-day with Congreves--Letter of
sympathy from Professor Blackie--Third edition of "Clerical
Scenes"--Letters to Blackwood--Thanks for concession of
copyright of "Adam Bede"--Title of new novel
considered--Suggestion of the "Mill on the Floss"
accepted--The third volume of "Adam Bede" written in six
weeks--Depression with the "Mill"--Sir Edward Lytton--"Adam
Bede" translated into Hungarian and German--"Mill on the
Floss" finished--Letter to Blackwood--Sad at finishing--Start
for Italy.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Miss Emily Bury, now Mrs. Geddes.

[8] Madame Bodichon.

[9] Professor Blackie.

[10] Mrs. Congreve's sister.