ABSTRACT
Inpublishingwhatprovedtobeherlastnovel,Gaskellagreedtoits serialization,amethodshehadresistedafterNorthandSouthdespite Dickens'sblandishmentsandGeorgeSmith'spromptings,exceptfor romparativelyshortpieceslike'MyLadyLudlow'.Sinceanauthor waspaidfortheserializationaswellasvolumepublication,rewards weregreater,yetevenwithSmith,whomsheliked,Gaskellseemsto havebeenreluctanttoconsiderofferinganylongerworkforhis CornhillMagazine,partlyperhapsbecauseofanantipathyto Thackeray,editorfromitsfoundingin1860untilheretiredin March1862.Inaletter,aboutOctober1859,whenthenewmagazinewasseekingcontributors,Gaskellrevertedtoherfeelingsabout Thackeray'ssilenceatthenewsofCharlotteBtonte'sdeathand addedthat'myonlyfeelingaboutnotdoinganythingyouaskme fortheMagazineisbecauseIdon'tthinkThackeraywouldever quitelikeit'(576).Thisdidnotmeansheutterlyrefused(she declaresshe'llputasidethesefeelingsifpossible),andshesubmitted thecunningtrifle'CuriousifTrue'forthesecondnumber(February 1860),followingitwith'SixWeeksatHeppenheim'(May1862) andthesplendid'CousinPhillis'(November1863toFebruary 1864).Sylvia'sLovershadbeendesignedfromthefirst,th~ughwith neveradoubtthatSmithwastopublishit,asathree-volumenovel. Yetby1864Gaskellwasreadytochangehermind.Theremayhave beenthreereasonsforthis.First,sheneededasmuchmoneyas
possible, since she was planning to buy secretly a house as a place of retirement for herself and William and a home after their deaths for her unmarried daughters; it was here, at The Lawn, Holybourne, in Hampshire, that on 12 November 1865, the novel still unfinished, she was to die in the midst of tea-time conversation. Doublepayment for serial and book publication was a strong motive, then. Second, she published 'Cousin Phillis' in four episodes in the Cornhill without trouble from the demands of the method - things being easier than with North and South because she finished the work before publication began and ·(more importantly) because the greater length of the Cornhill episodes over those in Household Words meant she did not have to 'make effects' in the way Dickens wanted.1 Third, Thackeray gave over being editor in March 1862 and (under the nominal headship of G. H. Lewes) Frederick Greenwood, for whom she had no antipathy, became the Cornhill's effective editor. Her second contribution, 'Six Weeks', appeared close on Thackeray's resignation.
