E." and "E.C."; but in the course of the following year her name
appeared in full. She contributed a poem weekly for several years,
relinquishing her connection with the paper in 1850. Afterwards, in
1869, when the property changed hands, she wrote two or three poems.
Under the signature "Caustic," Mr. Serle, the dramatic author and
editor, contributed a weekly letter for about twenty-seven years; and
from 1856 till 1869 was editor-in chief. In 1841-42 the _Dispatch_ had a
hard-fought duel with the _Times_. "Publicola" wrote a series of
letters, which had the effect of preventing the election of Mr. Walter
for Southwark. The _Times_ retaliated when the time came for Alderman
Harmer to succeed to the lord mayoralty. Day after day the _Times_
returned to the attack, denouncing the _Dispatch_ as an infidel paper;
and Alderman Harmer, rejected by the City, resigned in consequence his
aldermanic gown. In 1857 the _Dispatch_ commenced the publication of its
famous "Atlas," giving away a good map weekly for about five years. The
price was reduced from fivepence to twopence, at the beginning of 1869,
and to a penny in 1870.

[Illustration: ST. BRIDE'S CHURCH, FLEET STREET, AFTER THE FIRE, 1824
(_see page 56_).]

The _Daily Telegraph_ office is No. 136 (north). Mr. Ingram, of the
_Illustrated London News_, originated a paper called the _Telegraph_,
which lasted only seven or eight weeks. The present _Daily Telegraph_
was started on June 29, 1855, by the late Colonel Sleigh. It was a
single sheet, and the price twopence. Colonel Sleigh failing to make it
a success, Mr. Levy, the present chief proprietor of the paper, took the
copyright as part security for money owed him by Colonel Sleigh. In Mr.
Levy's hands the paper, reduced to a penny, became a great success. "It
was," says Mr. Grant, in his "History of the Newspaper Press," "the
first of the penny papers, while a single sheet, and as such was
regarded as a newspaper marvel; but when it came out--which it did soon
after the _Standard_--as a double sheet the size of the _Times_,
published at fourpence, for a penny, it created quite a sensation. Here
was a penny paper, containing not only the same amount of telegraphic
and general information as the other high-priced papers--their price
being then fourpence--but also evidently written, in its leading article
department, with an ability which could only be surpassed by that of the
leading articles of the _Times_ itself. This wa