The World Pays Its Tribute. 



477 



He acclimatised the " interview." He developed the 

 " crossheads." He extended the scope of the special 

 article and the signed conlributioh. He introduced 

 pictorial illustration. All these were the outward 

 signs of the current of fresh vigour and greater vivid- 

 ness of presentment which were an expression of his 

 personality. His taste was not impeccable ; but he 

 had at command a wealth of allusion, and he was a 

 master of nervous vivid language. He had a most 

 ingenious and fertile mind ; he was a subtle dialec- 

 tician ; and his copiousness was prodigious. He was 

 accessible to all comers, though a notice at the bottom 

 of the stairs used to run, " As callers are many and time 

 is short, the former are asked to economise the latter.' 

 His correspondence was enormous and he kept all 



his letters. He did not write shorthand — an idle feat 

 in one possessed of an unusually retentive memory. 

 He was beloved by all who worked with him, for he 

 was always helpful and indulgent and his flow of good 

 spirits was unfailing. His conversation w^as apt to be 

 monologue, but he was a brilliant and most entertaining 

 talker — full of vivacity, spontaneity, and picturesque 

 phrasing. He was frankly egotistical ; but he had a 

 keen sen.se of fun, he enjoyed nothing more than a 

 laugh at himself, and those who knew the man at 

 closest quarters liked him best. His generosity was 

 unbounded, and his death will be mourned by a 

 large number of persons of all sorts and con- 

 ditions whom he had befriended, encouraged, and 

 stimulated. 



VISCOUNT 



I .\M glad to contribute a few reminiscences to your 

 .Memorial Number. I shall confine myself to the years 

 during which I was so closely associated with your 

 father on the Pall Mali Gazette. No man of his time 

 had a fuller life or engaged in more various activities. 

 About most of these, other men are more competent to 

 speak than I am. But I doubt whether there is anyone 

 who has so intimate an inside knowledge, or so clear 

 a recollection of his work on the Pall Mall Gazette 

 between 1882 and 1885 as I have. 



Your father's editorship of the Pall Mall must have 

 begun atiout the end of '82, or in the very early days 

 of '83. For more than a year before that he had given 

 invaluable assistance to Mr. John — now Lord — Morley, 

 the previous editor, with whom, despite the extreme 

 contrast of their two striking personalities, he was 

 always on the best of terms. But, of course, his 

 accession to the editorship transformed the whole 

 character of the paper. It was then that the " new 

 journalism," in full blast, first burst upon an 

 astonished London. 



I do not think that within my recollection any 

 newspaper in any country has ever exercised so much 

 influence upon public affairs as the Pall Mall did during 

 the first years of your father's editorship. This was, 

 of course, entirely due to the force of his per- 

 sonality. My own poNition, I believe, was nominally 

 that of a-ssistant editor. I was certainly his closest 

 associate, and the relations between us were those of 

 the greatest intimacy and confidence. But, as far as 

 actual work was concerned, my ilulies were almost a 

 farce. No power on earth could have prevented your 

 father from doing all the work himself— not only 

 writing almost the whole of the literary matter in the 

 paper, but inspiring and controlling every part of it. 

 But if my position inside the paper wa.s as easy as it 

 was always fklightful, " external relations " were cer- 

 tainly not equally comfortable. To tell the truth, we 



MILXER. 



were always in not w-ater with one or other large 

 portion of the public. The tremendous energy — not to 

 say recklessness — with which the Pall Mall of those 

 days urged its invariably very pronounced opinions 

 naturally excited no little animosity. 



Not that I think we either of us minded much. 



Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Stead. 



P.iktii ilniint; llitir Moiicyiuooii. 



