Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/59

 Persian visitors were intrigued by the illustrations, and he naively wrote:"Many are thus introduced to the leading facts and the truths of the Holy Scripture whom it would be difficult to interest in them in any other way. For example, a Persian prince of the highest rank who visited me turned over with his own hand every leaf of the Old Testament, looking with eager delight on every one of the hundreds of engravings, while I sat by his side and explained them to him."

Cassell, in this great and costly enterprise, again proved his deep knowledge of human nature and circumstance. His motto for it was: "Something to please old eyes and those who cannot read." "I know from experience," he said, "what an impression illustrations make upon ignorant minds. They were very ignorant in Lancashire when I was a boy, and an old Bible with a few illustrations was treasured in the most ignorant families. 'Thou canst read,' a proud mother would say to her son; "thou'lt jist tell me, lad, what the old Book says about yon picter.' I have done it myself, and seen tears trickling down old women's cheeks. They never forget the stories, fastened in their memories by the pictures." When the work was complete he had a copy handsomely bound in morocco and himself took it to Manchester to give to his mother. He counted this, he said, one of the happiest memories of his life.

Next came another famous serial, the "Illustrated History of England." This popularly written story of the nation, which aimed at describing its social and commercial as well as its political life, was issued in weekly and monthly parts, and finally reached eight volumes, containing about 2,000 illustrations. The novel writer, J. F. Smith, was first charged with the work, but he was a better romancer than historian, and the task was transferred to William Howitt. Mr. Farlow Wilson tells a moving story of the perils of serial publication:

"One evening, when the compositors were engaged upon the current number, an accident happened, the serious nature