250 mr. sponge's sporting tour, 



instead of on a Saturday as heretofore, whereupon Mr. Grimes, who 

 had never been able to fill a single sheet properly, now doubled his 

 paper, lowered his charge for advertisements, and hinted at his inten- 

 tion of publishing an occasional supplement. 



However exciting it may be for a time, parties soon tire of 

 carrying on a losing game for the mere sake of abusing each other, 

 and iEneas M'Quirter not being behind the generality of his country 

 men in " canniness" and shrewdness of intellect, came to the conclu- 

 sion that it was no use doing so in this case, especially as the few re- 

 maining friends who still applauded, would be very sorry to subscribe 

 anything towards his losses. He therefore very quietly negotiated 

 the sale of his paper to the rival editor, and having concluded a satis- 

 factory bargain, he placed the bulk of his property in the poke of his 

 plaid, and walked out of Swillingfordjust as if bent on taking the air, 

 leaving Mr. Grimes in undisputed possession of both papers, who forth- 

 with commenced leading both Whig and Tory mind, the one on the 

 Tuesday, the other on the Saturday. 



The pot and pipe companions of course saw how things were, but 

 the majority of the readers living in the country, just continued to pin 

 their faith to the printed declarations of their oracles, while Grimes 

 kept up the delusion of sincerity by every now and then fulminating a 

 tremendous denunciation against his trimming, vacillating, inconsistent 

 opponent on the Tuesday, and then retaliating with equal vigour upon 

 himself on the Saturday. He wrote his own " leaders," both Whig 

 and Tory, the arguments of one side pointing out answers for the 

 other. Sometimes he led the way for a triumphant refutal, while the 

 general tone of the articles was quite of the " upset a ministry" style. 

 Indeed Grimes strutted and swaggered as if the fate of the nation 

 rested with him. 



The papers themselves were not very flourishing-lookiDg concerns, 

 the wide-spread paragraphs, the staring types, the catching advertise- 

 ments, forming a curious contrast to the close packing of the Times. 

 " Gutta Percha Company," " Locock's Female Pills," " Keating's 

 Cough Lozenges," and the " Triumphs of Medicine," all with staring 

 woodcuts and royal arms, occupied conspicuous places in every paper. 

 A new advertisement was a novelty. However, the two papers answer- 

 ed a great deal better than either did singly, and any lack of matter 

 was easily supplied from the magazines and new books. In this depart- 

 ment, indeed, in the department of elegant light literature generally, 

 Mr Grimes was ably assisted by his eldest daughter, Lucy, — a young 

 lady of a certain age — say liberal thirty — an ardent Bloomer — with a 

 considerable taste for sentimental poetry, with which she generally 

 filled the poet's corner. This assistance enabled Grimes to look after 

 his auctioneering, bleaching, and paper-hanging concerns ; and it 

 so happened, that when the foregoing run arrived at the office, he, 

 having seen the next paper ready for press, had gone to Mr. Vosper's, 



