of _The Inquirer_. I wrote for _The Weekly News_--Parliamentary
Sketches--and for that purpose had a ticket for the gallery of the House
of Commons, where, however, I much preferred to listen to the brilliant
talk of Angus Reach and Shirley Brooks, as they sat waiting on the back
bench to take their turns, to the oratory of the M.P.'s below. Let me
not, however, forget my obligations to Sir John Robinson. It was to him
that I owed an introduction to _The Daily News_, and to his kindness and
liberality, of which many a literary man in London can testify, I owe
much. Let me also mention that again I became connected with Mr. John
Cassell when--in connection with Petter and Galpin--the firm had moved to
Playhouse Yard, next door to _The Times_ printing office, and thence to
the present magnificent premises on Ludgate Hill. At that time it became
the fashion--a fashion which has been developed greatly of late years--to
print for country papers a sheet of news, or more if they required it,
which then was filled with local intelligence, and became a local paper.
It was my duty to attend to the London paper, of which we printed fresh
editions every day. In that position I remained till I was rash enough
to become a newspaper proprietor myself. Mr. John Tallis, who had made a
handsome fortune by publishing part numbers of standard works, was
anxious to become proprietor of _The Illustrated London News_. For this
purpose he desired to make an agreement with Mr. Ingram, M.P., the
proprietor of the paper in question, but it came to nothing, and Mr.
Tallis commenced _The Illustrated News of the World_. When he had lost
all his money, and was compelled to give it up, in an evil hour I was
tempted to carry it on. It came to an end after a hard struggle of a
couple of years, leaving me a sadder and a wiser and a poorer man. Once,
and once only, I had a bright gleam of sunshine, and that was when Prince
Albert died, of whom and of the Queen I published fine full-length
portraits. The circulation of the paper went up by leaps and bounds; it
was impossible to print off the steel plates fast enough to keep pace
with the public demand, but that was soon over, and the paper sank
accordingly. Next in popularity to the portraits of Royalty I found were
the portraits of John Bright, Cobden, Spurgeon, and Newman Hall. For
generals, and actors and actresses, even for such men as Gladstone, or
Disraeli, or Charles Kingsley, the public