by any other method. In 1823,
accordingly, Mr. Clowes erected his first steam presses, and he soon
found abundance of work for them. But to produce steam requires
boilers and engines, the working of which occasions smoke and noise.
Now, as the printing-office, with its steam presses, was situated in
Northumberland Court, close to the palace of the Duke of
Northumberland, at Charing Cross, Mr. Clowes was required to abate the
nuisance, and to stop the noise and dirt occasioned by the use of his
engines. This he failed to do, and the Duke commenced an action
against him.

The case was tried in June, 1824, in the Court of Common Pleas. It was
ludicrous to hear the extravagant terms in which the counsel for the
plaintiff and his witnesses described the nuisance--the noise made by
the engine in the underground cellar, some times like thunder, at other
times like a thrashing-machine, and then again like the rumbling of
carts and waggons. The printer had retained the Attorney-general, Mr.
Copley, afterwards Lord Lyndhurst, who conducted his case with
surpassing ability. The cross-examination of a foreign artist, employed
by the Duke to repaint some portraits of the Cornaro family by Titian,
is said to have been one of the finest things on record. The sly and
pungent humour, and the banter with which the counsel derided and
laughed down this witness, were inimitable. The printer won his case;
but he eventually consented to remove his steam presses from the
neighbourhood, on the Duke paying him a certain sum to be determined by
the award of arbitrators.

It happened, about this period, that a sort of murrain fell upon the
London publishers. After the failure of Constable at Edinburgh, they
came down one after another, like a pack of cards. Authors are not the
only people who lose labour and money by publishers; there are also
cases where publishers are ruined by authors. Printers also now lost
heavily. In one week, Mr. Clowes sustained losses through the failure
of London publishers to the extent of about 25,000L. Happily, the
large sum which the arbitrators awarded him for the removal of his
printing presses enabled him to tide over the difficulty; he stood his
ground unshaken, and his character in the trade stood higher than ever.

In the following year Mr. Clowes removed to Duke Street, Blackfriars,
to premises until then occupied by Mr. Applegath, as a printer; and
much more extensive buildings and offices were