Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/99

 Wemyss Reid was already a publicist and journalist of note. He had made his mark as editor of the Leeds Mercury long before he became associated with Cassell's, and at the time of his engagement had undertaken to write the authorized biographies of W. E. Forster and Lord Houghton. These works appeared, the one in 1888, the other in 1890, and were followed by two other biographies, his "Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Playfair," in 1899, and the Life of his close personal friend, William Black, in 1902. A remarkably fluent writer, he was also a capital raconteur, an easy and graceful after-dinner speaker, and a popular clubman, who lived to become chairman of the Reform Club, an office in which he took great pride and delight. But no one, however great his admiration of Sir Wemyss Reid's gifts and qualities, could assert that he was adapted for the management of a great publishing house in difficult times.

In 1890, even before the Life of Lord Houghton was off his hands, he had started the Speaker, which was published by Cassell's, though not their property. For ten years he edited this review, and wrote its chief political articles, and when his connexion with the paper ceased he regularly contributed a political survey of the month to the Nineteenth Century, the publication of his last article almost synchronizing with the announcement of his death. For this division of interest and energy the time were peculiarly unsuitable. At an earlier period he might have held the general managership with credit. He was a popular figure among authors and journalists, and was able to secure for the House the books of some notable authors, such as J. M. Barrie. But during the 'nineties the people were forming new tastes in reading, spirited rival firms were springing up to minister to them, and no publishing house, however long established, that catered for the masses could afford to rest upon its laurels. It is not surprising, therefore, that the later years of Sir Wemyss Reid's period of management were marked by a serious ebb in the fortunes of the House.