2 74 Four-m-Hand in Britain. 



was not a clear day, meteorologically considered, but 

 nevertheless it was a happy one for the coaching party. 

 Upon our return, a stop at Mr. N.'s magnificent resi- 

 dence was specially agreeable. He and his daughters 

 were most kind to us while in Edinburgh. Mr. N. gave 

 us a rare treat by showing us through their immense 

 printing establishment, where such exquisite things are 

 done, such Easter and Christmas cards, such friendship 

 tokens, and a thousand other lovely forms we had never 

 seen before, in their various stages of manufacture. 



I asked Mr. N. what he had to say in reply to the 

 admissions of the leading art authorities of the superior- 

 ity of American work in black and white, such as our 

 magazines excel in. He said this could not be ques- 

 tioned ; there was nothing done in British publications 

 that equalled the American. The reason he gave fur- 

 nishes food for thought. I pray you, fellow country- 

 men, take note of it. Two principal American illus- 

 trated magazines. Harper s and the Century, print each 

 more than one hundred thousand copies, while no Brit- 

 ish magazine prints half that number. The American 

 publisher can consequently afford to pay twice as much 

 as the British publisher for his illustrations. If this be 

 the true reason of America's superiority in this respect, 

 and I am sure Mr. N. knows what he is stating, then as 

 its population increases more rapidly than the British 

 the difference between their respective publications must 

 increase, and finally drive the home article into a very 



