thing special in shirts," said
Jones, as though the whole merit of the transaction were his own.

Gloves was another article to which considerable attention was
given;--

BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON have made special arrangements
with the glove manufacturers of Worcestershire, and are
now enabled to offer to the public English-sewn Worcester
gloves, made of French kid, at a price altogether out of
the reach of any other house in the trade.

B., J., and R. boldly defy competition.

When that notice was put up in front of the house, none of the firm
expected that any one would believe in their arrangement with the
Worcestershire glove-makers. They had no such hope, and no such wish.
What gloves they sold, they got from the wholesale houses in St.
Paul's Churchyard, quite indifferent as to the county in which they
were sewn, or the kingdom from which they came. Nevertheless, the
plan answered, and a trade in gloves was created.

But perhaps the pretty little dialogues which were circulated about
the town, did more than anything else to make the house generally
known to mothers and their families.

"Mamma, mamma, I have seen such a beautiful sight!"

one of them began.

"My dearest daughter, what was it?"

"I was walking home through the City, with my kind cousin
Augustus, and he took me to that wonderfully handsome and
extraordinarily large new shop, just opened by those
enterprising men, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, at No. 81,
Bishopsgate Street. They call it 'Nine Times Nine, or
Magenta House.'"

"My dearest daughter, you may well call it wonderful. It
is the wonder of the age. Brown, Jones, and Robinson sell
everything; but not only that,--they sell everything good;
and not only that--they sell everything cheap. Whenever
your wants induce you to make purchases, you may always be
sure of receiving full value for your money at the house of
Brown, Jones, and Robinson."

In this way, by efforts such as these, which were never allowed
to flag for a single hour,--by a continued series of original
composition which, as regards variety and striking incidents, was,
perhaps, never surpassed,--a great and stirring trade was established
within six months of the opening day. By this time Mr. Brown had
learned to be silent on the subject of advertising, and had been
brought to confess, more than once, that the subject was beyond his
comprehensio