On their return from Germany they went to the sea-shore, that Mr. Lewes might perfect his Sea-side Studies.  George Eliot entered heartily into the work.  “We were immensely excited,” she says, “by the discovery of this little red mesembryanthemum.  It was a crescendo of delight when we found a ‘strawberry,’ and a fortissimo when I, for the first time, saw the pale, fawn-colored tentacles of an Anthea cereus viciously waving like little serpents in a low-tide pool.”  They read here Gosse’s Rambles on the Devonshire Coast, Edward’s Zoology, Harvey’s sea-side book, and other scientific works.

And now at thirty-seven George Eliot was to begin her creative work.  Mr. Lewes had often said to her, “You have wit, description, and philosophy—­those go a good way towards the production of a novel.”  “It had always been a vague dream of mine,” she says, “that sometime or other I might write a novel ... but I never went further toward the actual writing than an introductory chapter, describing a Staffordshire village, and the life of the neighboring farm-houses; and as the years passed on I lost any hope that.  I should ever be able to write a novel, just as I desponded about everything else in my future life.  I always thought I was deficient in dramatic power, both of construction and dialogue, but I felt I should be at my ease in the descriptive parts.”

After she had written a portion of Amos Barton in her Scenes of Clerical Life, she read it to Mr. Lewes, who told her that now he was sure she could write good dialogue, but not as yet sure about her pathos.  One evening, in his absence, she wrote the scene describing Milly’s death, and read it to Mr. Lewes, on his return.  “We both cried over it,” she says, “and then he came up to me and kissed me, saying, ‘I think your pathos is better than your fun!’”

Mr. Lewes sent the story to Blackwood, with the signature of “George Eliot,”—­the first name chosen because it was his own name, and the last because it pleased her fancy.  Mr. Lewes wrote that this story by a friend of his, showed, according to his judgment, “such humor, pathos, vivid presentation, and nice observation as have not been exhibited, in this style, since the Vicar of Wakefield.”

Mr. John Blackwood accepted the story, but made some comments which discouraged the author from trying another.  Mr. Lewes wrote him the effects of his words, which he hastened to withdraw, as there was so much to be said in praise that he really desired more stories from the same pen, and sent her a check for two hundred and fifty dollars.

This was evidently soothing, as Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story and Janet’s Repentance were at once written.  Much interest began to be expressed about the author.  Some said Bulwer wrote the sketches.  Thackeray praised them, and Arthur Helps said, “He is a great writer.”  Copies of the stories bound together, with the title Scenes of Clerical Life, were sent to Froude, Dickens, Thackeray, Tennyson, Ruskin, and Faraday.  Dickens praised the humor and the pathos, and thought the author was a woman.