This stimulus appears to have had its effect; and after the January number, each succeeding issue of _Blackwood's Magazine_ contained an instalment of the series known as _Scenes of Clerical Life_, until it was concluded in the number for November, 1857; the whole series embracing the three stories of _Amos Barton_, _Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story_ and _Janet's Repentance_. It was only while the second of these--_Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story_--was appearing in the Magazine that our George Eliot was born; for it was at this time that the editor of the Magazine was instructed to call the author by that name. The hold which these three stories immediately took upon all thinking people was remarkable. In January, 1858, that is two months after the last instalment of _Janet's Repentance_--I find Charles Dickens writing this letter: "MY DEAR LONGFORD-- "Will you--by such roundabout ways and methods as may present themselves--convey this note of thanks to the author of 'Scenes of Clerical Life,' whose two first stories I can never say enough of, I think them so truly admirable. But, if those two volumes or a part of them, were not written by a woman--then should I begin to believe that I am a woman myself. Faithfully Yours Always, CHARLES DICKENS." It is especially notable to find that the editor of the Magazine himself completely abandoned all those conservative habits of the prudent editor which have arisen from a thousand experiences of the rapid failures of this and that new contributor who seemed at first sure to sweep the world, and which always teach every conductor of a great magazine at an early stage of his career to be extremely guarded in his expressions to new writers however promising they may appear. This traditional guardedness seems to have been completely swept away by these stories; Mr. Blackwood writes letter after letter to George Eliot, full of expressions that the hackneyed editor would ordinarily consider extravagant: and finally in a letter concerning the publication in book-form of the magazine-stories: "You will recollect ... my impression was that the series had not lasted long enough in the Magazine to give you a hold on the general public, although long enough to make your literary reputation. Unless in exceptional cases, a very long time often elapses between the two stages of reputation--the literary and the public. Your progress will be _sure_, if not so quick as we could wish."