Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/182

 of Dublin's literary coterie, and father-in-law of Teignmouth Shore; John Timbs, a dear old boy, a Brother of Charterhouse, who used to give me a shilling every time I got a cheque cashed for him; and Edmund Ollier. Godfrey Wordsworth Turner, a writer of extremely graceful verse, often called on his way to the Daily Telegraph; and many a chat I have had with Captain Mayne Reid and with W. H. G. Kingston, both of whom had real sympathy with lads. Dr. Robert Brown was another regular visitor after he came to live in London; and W. C. Bennett, a little man with long grey locks, constantly wrote verses for the Quiver or Cassell's Magazine, and used to leave his 'copy' with me. Among the novelists the biggest men in my days were Wilkie Collins and Charles Reade and Sheridan Le Fanu. Reade wrote a splendid hand, and though there were no literary agents in those days, both he and Wilkie Collins were excellent men of business."

The A. H. Wall of whom Mr. Harrison speaks was not only one of the early contributors to Cassell's periodicals, but for some years a member of the staff. Born in Charterhouse Square in 1828, he died only a few years ago after a particularly varied career, in which he had been author, editor, actor, scene-painter, miniature painter, and finally librarian at Stratford-on-Avon. Another old contributor whose career showed astonishing like variety was Matthias Barr, a native of Edinburgh, who died in South London in 1911, in his eighty-first year. "I was always a Jack of all trades and master of none," he said in an interview shortly before his death. "First I was a flautist and violinist and 'cellist. Then an artist, the only picture which remains to-day as a result of my dabblings being retained for the frame's sake. Next I was a clay-modeller, and again I produced just one work of art as a memorial of my student days—a statue of Sir William Wallace. Then I turned my attention to the theatre, and the manager of the Royal, Edinburgh, staged one of my plays, which retained the boards for six