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INTRODUCTION xvii
lucre, for I see the use and comfort of it every day more and
more. What a blessing not to mind about bills !" . . .
Another letter sent by my father from Coire was to Mr. George
Smith concerning the Magazine.
"September 29, 1869.
" Have you found a title ? St. Lucius, who founded the church of
St. Peter, Cornhill, is buried here. Help us, good St. Lucius ! and
I will be your faithful W. M. T."
It will be remembered that Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co.'s offices
were then at 65 Cornhill, within the radius of St. Lucius's jurisdiction.
Good St. Lucius did not turn a deaf ear to the appeal, for on
October 4th my father writes again, dating from Zürich :—
" I see Macmillan's advertisement and am glad he appears in
November. The only name I can think of as yet is The Cornhill
Magazine. It has a sound of jollity and abundance about it."
The following letter has lately been sent me from the North,
by a friend who has collected various memoranda belonging to those
times :—
" 36 ONSLOW SQUARE, S.W.,
" November 1,1859.
"Our storehouse being in Cornhill, we date and name our
magazine from its place of publication. We might have assumed a
title much more startling ; for example, ' The Thames on Fire' was
a name suggested ; and placarded in red letters about the city and
country, it would no doubt have excited some curiosity. At our
social table we shall suppose the ladies and children always present;
we shall not set rival politicians by the ear; we shall listen to every
guest who has an apt word to say, and I hope induce clergymen of
various denominations to say grace in their turn. The kindly fruits
of the earth which grow for all, may we not enjoy them with friendly
hearts ? The field is immensely wide, the harvest perennial, and
rising everywhere; we can promise competent fellow-labourers a
welcome and a good wage, and hope a fair custom from the public
for our stores at The Cornhill Magazine."
I can still see my father walking about the house, coming in
and out of the rooms, and sitting down and getting up again as he
thought over his plans and the name of the forthcoming magazine.