hand, and as he comes back he scatters with his left. I was in the country just after this criticism on the design appeared in the papers, and actually saw a man sowing with his left hand; and, of course, I made the most of the circumstance. It was arranged that Thackeray was to write 'Lovel the Widower' for the magazine; but we thought it well to secure a second novel, and decided on asking Anthony Trollope to write a serial. In his Autobiography' Trollope describes his astonishment at finding the CORNHILL MAGAZINE, after its advent had been announced so long, still unsupplied with a serial, and he quotes this as a proof of Thackeray's incorrigible habit of loitering. Framley Parsonage,' he says, had to take the foremost place in the new magazine in default of a novel which Thackeray ought to have written but did not. But there was no default on Thackeray's part. His 'Lovel the Widower,' as had been arranged, made its appearance in the first number of the CORNHILL. Framley Parsonage' was given the place of honour in the new magazine by Thackeray's own arrangement and on grounds of pure courtesy; it was exactly as a host would invite a guest to walk into a room before himself. This is an example of Thackeray's quaint and chivalrous courtesy in literary matters. He would not claim the first place in his own magazine. He looked upon himself as the host, and upon Trollope as his guest. It occurred to me that if I could secure Tennyson as a regular contributor to the new magazine he would prove a great attraction. His Idylls of the King' had not long appeared, and I thought I would ask him to write for us another set of Idylls.' Tennyson was then on a visit to Mrs. Cameron on Putney Heath, and I wrote to ask if I might call upon him on a matter of business. He made an appointment, and during our interview I offered to pay him five thousand guineas for as many lines as were contained in the 'Idylls of the King' (in fact for 4,750 lines), on condition that the poems should be printed in the CORNHILL MAGAZINE and that I should publish them for three years afterwards. That offer was really a 'record' as far as the market rates of poetry up to that time were concerned. When compared with anything Tennyson had yet received for his it might fairly be described as extravagant. poems Tennyson listened to my proposal with entire calmness. He asked me to smoke with him and chatted pleasantly; but gave me no idea as to whether my offer was acceptable. Mrs. Tennyson presently came into the room, and Tennyson, addressing her, said: 'My dear, we are much richer than we thought we were. Mr. Smith has just offered me five thousand guineas for a book the size of the "Idylls." And,' he continued, 'if Mr. Smith offers five thousand, of course the book is worth ten!' A remark at which we all laughed. Nothing came of this proposal, which I had no temptation to renew after the rapid success achieved by the magazine. But Thackeray obtained from Tennyson his fine poem Tithonus' for the second number. We had secured a quite remarkable body of contributors; public attention was keenly fixed on the new venture, and when the first number appeared in January 1860 the sale was astonishing. It was the literary event of the year. Along Cornhill nothing was to be seen but people carrying bundles of the orange-coloured magazine. Of the first number some 120,000 copies were sold, a number then without precedent in English serial literature. The exhilarating effect of this success on its editor is amusingly described by Mr. James T. Fields in his 'Yesterdays with Authors.' Mr. Fields says: 'The enormous circulation achieved by the CORNHILL MAGAZINE, when it was first started with Thackeray for its editor-in-chief, is a matter of literary history. The announcement by his publishers that a sale of a hundred and ten thousand of the first number had been reached made the editor half delirious with joy, and he ran away to Paris to be rid of the excitement for a few days. I met him by appointment at his hotel in the Rue de la Paix, and found him wild with exultation and full of enthusiasm for excellent George Smith, his publisher. "London," he exclaimed, "is not big enough to contain me now, and I am obliged to add Paris to my residence! Great heavens," said he, throwing up his long arms, "where will this tremendous circulation stop! Who knows but that I shall have to add Vienna and Rome to my whereabouts? If the worst comes to the worst, New York, also, may fall into my clutches, and only the Rocky Mountains may be able to stop my progress!" Those days in Paris with him were simply tremendous. We dined at all possible and impossible places together. We walked round and round the glittering court of the Palais Royal, gazing in at the windows of the jewellers' shops, and all my efforts were necessary to restrain him from rushing in and ordering a pocketful of diamonds and "other trifles," as he called them; "for," said he, "how can I spend the princely income which Smith allows me for editing the CORNHILL, unless I begin instantly somewhere?" If he saw a group of three or four persons talking together in an excited way, after the manner of that then riant Parisian people, he would whisper to me with immense gesticulation: "There, there, you see the news has reached Paris, and perhaps the number has gone up since my last accounts from London." His spirits during those few days were colossal, and he told me that he found it impossible to sleep, "for counting up his subscribers."' The success of the CORNHILL was so far beyond my expectation that I thought that its editor ought to share in the fruits of that success; I told Mr. Thackeray he must allow me to double his editorial payment. He seemed much touched by my communication. I have said that our payments to contributors were lavish. As figures are generally interesting, I may mention that the largest amount expended on the literature of a single number was 1,183l. 38. 8d. (August 1862), and the total expenditure under that head for the first four years was 32,280l. 118., the illustrations costing in addition 4,376. 118. The largest payment made for a novel was 7,000l., to Mrs. Lewes (George Eliot) for 'Romola.' The largest payment made for short articles was 121. 128. a page, to Mr. Thackeray, for his 'Roundabout Papers.' In regard to the payment to Mrs. Lewes, an incident seems to deserve honourable record as a signal proof of the author's artistic sensibility. Mrs. Lewes read part of 'Romola' to me, and anyone who has heard that lady read and remembers her musical and sympathetic voice will understand that the MS. lost nothing in effect by her reading. On the following day I offered her 10,000l. for the book for the CORNHILL MAGAZINE, and for a limited right to subsequent publication. It was stipulated that the book should form sixteen numbers of twenty-four pages each. Before the appearance of the first part Mrs. Lewes said that she found that she could not properly divide the book into as many as sixteen parts. I took exception to this alteration of our arrangement, and pointed out that my offer was based on the book being in sixteen parts, and that my calculations were made with regard to the MAGAZINE being able to afford a payment of so much a number. She said that she quite understood that the alteration would make a difference to me, but that she supposed the amount of the difference could easily be calculated. George Lewes and I did all we possibly could to persuade her to reconsider her decision, but in vain. We pointed out to her that the publication in the MAGAZINE was ephemeral, and that the work would be published in a separate form afterwards and be judged as a whole. However, nothing could move her, and she preferred receiving 7,000l. in place of 10,000l. for the book. 'Romola' did not increase the sale of the MAGAZINE; it is difficult to say what, if any, effect it had in sustaining the sale. As a separate publication it had not, I think, the success it deserved. The first novel written by Miss Thackeray, the charming 'Story of Elizabeth,' appeared in the CORNHILL MAGAZINE towards the end of 1862. As I was coming away from her father one morning early in that year, she slipped out of the dining-room, put a packet into my hand, said in a pretty, shy manner, 'Will you, please, read this, Mr. Smith?' and disappeared. The packet contained the Story of Elizabeth'; after reading it I had it put into type for the CORNHILL, and sent a proof to her father. When I next saw him I asked if he had read it. No,' he said; I tried to, but I broke down.' This was only one of a thousand indications of Thackeray's sensibility and of the great love between the father and daughter. The first article Miss Thackeray wrote for the MAGAZINE was called 'Little Scholars,' and was printed in the fifth number. Thackeray sent it to me with a letter containing the following passage: 'And in the meantime comes a little contribution called "Little Scholars," which I send you and which moistened my paternal spectacles. It is the article I talked of sending to "Blackwood;" but why should CORNHILL lose such a sweet paper, because it was my dear girl who wrote it? Papas, however, are bad judges-you decide whether we shall have it or not!' I find a characteristic postscript to this letter. 'Mrs. C me to dinner.' growls-is satisfied-says she shan't write any more-and invites I must say that I think our success was well deserved. Our contributors gave the new magazine of their very best. No other group equally brilliant had ever been brought together before within the covers of one magazine. During the first year there were articles from the following writers: ANTHONY TROLLOPE G. H. LEWES REV. F. MAHONY (FATHER SIR JOHN BURGOYNE THORNTON HUNT ALLEN YOUNG MRS. ARCHER CLIVE M. J. HIGGINS (JACOB OMNIUM) ALFRED TENNYSON GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA MRS. GASKELL FREDERICK GREENWOOD REV. S. R. HOLE JOHN RUSKIN ADELAIDE PROCTER T. ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE CHARLES LEVER The CORNHILL MAGAZINE during many years contained illustrations, and it was no less distinguished for its artistic merit than for its literature. Among the artists whose drawings appeared in the magazine were the following: JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS F. SANDYS F. LEIGHTON RICHARD DOYLE FREDERICK WALKER GEORGE DU MAURIER SIR NOEL PATON CHARLES KEENE F. W. BURTON S. L. FILDES HUBERT HERKOMER G. D. LESLIE F. DICKSEE E. J. PINWELL. 6 I may possibly at a future time ask the Editor of THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE' to allow me to submit to him a few jottings from my memory of some of these writers and artists. Although we did our best to make the new venture a success, yet accidents will happen, and the launch of the CORNHILL was attended with one somewhat exasperating business blunder. When I had got the first number ready for press I was rather knocked up, and went with my wife for a three weeks' holiday to the Lakes. Those three weeks indirectly cost us a considerable loss in the advertising pages of the CORNHILL. I left instructions with my staff not to make any advertising contracts without reference to me. They received offers extending over twelve months at 61. 68. or 7. 78. a page-sufficiently good rates for magazines with the ordinary circulation. They forwarded these proposals to me, intimating that, unless they heard from me to the contrary by a given date, they would close with them. There was delay in the letter reaching me, and the contracts were made at those rates. But with the circulation reached by the CORNHILL the mere printing and paper cost us much more than the amounts we were to receive under the contracts. When I returned to London I made the rate twenty guineas per page. In this connection I had a rather curious exposition of the science of advertising. The rate we charged was high; but measured against our circulation it was really much lower than that of any other magazine; and I was a little surprised that, considering the enormous publicity our pages offered to advertisers, they were not better filled. I found myself at a dinner-party sitting next to a well-known advertiser, and I thought I would try to get a solution of the puzzle. I began by saying I was not a canvasser for advertisements, but I wanted information. You advertise largely,' I said, 'in a certain magazine. You pay five guineas a page, and you know that the circulation of that magazine is not 10,000 copies. The CORNHILL has a circulation of more than |