Goddard, who used to buy from him, tells me that he made very
excellent goods, and "came for his money every week." He was a very
excellent workman, and possessing as he did the native perception of
fitness which we call "taste," he soon obtained abundance of orders,
and became prosperous.

At this time the steel pen trade, which has since grown to such
enormous dimensions, was only in a tentative condition. Josiah Mason,
in conjunction with Perry, of _The Morning Chronicle_ newspaper, was
experimenting, and two brothers, named respectively John and William
Mitchell, were actually making, by a tedious method, a fairly good
article. They were assisted in their work by a sister. By some
fortunate accident, Gillott and Miss Mitchell met, and after a brief
courtship they entered into an engagement to marry. She spoke to her
intended husband of the nature of her occupation, and Gillott at once
conceived the idea that the _press_, the useful implement then used
principally in the button trade, might, if proper tools could be made
to suit, produce pens in large numbers very rapidly. With his own
hands, in a garret of his house, he secretly worked until he had
succeeded in making pens of a far better quality than had yet been
seen. His process was one in which, unassisted, he could produce as
many pens as twenty pairs of hands, working under the old system,
could turn out. There was an enormous demand for his goods, and as he
wanted help, and secrecy seemed needful, the young people married, and
Mr. Gillott used to tell how, on the very morning of his marriage, he,
before going to the church, made with his own hands a gross of pens,
and sold them at 1s. each, realising thereby a sum of L7 4s.

Continuing to live in the little house in Bread Street, the young
couple worked in the garret, no one else assisting. As an illustration
of the primitive condition of the steel pen trade then, it may be
mentioned that at this period the pens were "blued" and varnished in
a common frying-pan, over a kitchen fire. Orders flowed in so rapidly,
and the goods were produced in such quantities, that the young couple
made money faster than they knew what to do with it. They were afraid
to invest it, as they did not wish it to ooze out that the business
was so profitable. It has been stated that Mr. Gillott had several
banking accounts open at this time, being afraid that, if he paid all
his profits into one bank, it might excite cupidity, and so