SOURCE: A letter to George Eliot on March 20, 1860, in The George Eliot Letters, Vol. III: 1859-1861, edited by Gordon S. Haight, Yale University Press, 1954, pp. 276-77.

In the following letter written to Eliot, her publisher praises the manuscript of The Mill on the Floss.

My Dear Madam

Your second last chapter arrived safely today and will go out in proof to you along with this. I must write you a line of congratulation without waiting for the last chapter, which I hope to see on Thursday morning. The Mill on the Floss is safe for immortality.

Of course in spite of Lewes' strict injunctions I fastened upon these two last chapters the moment I secured them. Nothing short of a point of honour would have restrained me.

Bob Jakin's attempt to convey his sympathy to Maggie is beyond price. Never surely were pathos and exquisite humour more beautifully...