and it was he who sent her first story, "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton," to Mr. Blackwood, editor of Blackwood's Magazine, as the work of an anonymous friend. The editor at once perceived the merit of the tale; but as it was offered as the first of a series, he requested to see the others before coming to a decision. His letter to Mr. Lewes concluded with the words:
"If the author is a new writer, I beg to congratulate him on being worthy of the honors of print and pay. I shall be very glad to hear from him or you soon."
The first half of the story occupied the place of honor in Blackwood's Magazine for January, 1857, and it was concluded in the following number. By that time "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story" was completed. It had not been even begun when the editor desired to see the rest of the series, and the "Scenes of Clerical Life" appeared regularly each month until they concluded in the November number for the same year, with "Janet's Repentance." As they proceeded, Mr. Blackwood became more and more firmly convinced of the genius of his new contributor. He did not know her sex or name, and during the earlier portion of their connection she had not even assumed a nom-de-plume.
In one letter, referring to her first story, he addresses her, for lack of any more definite title, as "My dear Amos."
"I forgot," he writes, "whether I told you or Lewes that I had shown part of the MS. to Thackeray. He was staying with me, and having been out at dinner, came in about eleven o'clock, when I had just finished reading it. I said to him, 'Do you know that I think I have lighted upon a new author who is uncommonly like a first-class passenger.' I showed him a page or two—I think the passage where the curate returns home and Milly is first
