All this work, done with wonderful perseverance, under great disadvantages, was presented to a limited public only, and has long since been forgotten. But in the autumn of the year 1831 she conceived the idea of presenting, in the shape of popular tales, the principles of political economy. She persisted in this idea, notwithstanding the steady refusal of the London publishers to have anything to do with the scheme; she went to London to push the matter personally; and at last succeeded in making an arrangement, on iron terms, with Mr. Charles Fox, the brother of the editor of the Repository. To the great surprise of this gentleman, and the calm satisfaction of the author, the first numbers of ILLUSTRATIONS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY met with immediate and immense success. The first tale was published in February, 1832, and Harriet Martineau became famous at once. In November she came to live in London. She was received as a lion in society, but abated no jot of her labor, producing every month a number of from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pages. On the completion of her _Illustrations_, two years after her coming to London, she travelled for two years in America, where she displayed, by her affiliation with the Abolitionists, no little moral courage. She returned to England in August, 1836, and turned her recent experiences to account in writing, during the next six months, a three-volume work called _Society in America_, for the first edition of which she received £900. This was followed by her _Retrospect of Western Travel_, which was sold for £600. She contributed to various magazines; produced in 1838 a work called _How to Observe in Morals and Manners_, and also some little books ordered by the Poor-Law Commissioners for a series of ‘Guides to Service.’ She began her novel, _Deerbrook_, in June, 1838, and visited Scotland in August and September. _Deerbrook_ appeared in the spring. It is generally considered her weakest work.