Teignmouth Shore and John Williams
to be very proud of, and, though he was diligent and excellent at his work, with nothing of the fainéant about him, nevertheless, his real world was the West End.
Fortunately for the success of this theory of life, Shore had a wonderful helper in John Williams, his second in command. Educated at Marlborough and at Queen's College, Oxford, of which he was a scholar, Williams brought to La Belle Sauvage an exact knowledge of the classics and a high degree of literary ability. With such a man at his right hand it was small wonder that in the later years of his chief editorship Shore was able to present the object lesson just mentioned. No proofs, whether of books or magazines, went to press until they had been initialed "J. W." When Shore retired Williams was his inevitable successor. But his reign lasted only three years, a rare nervous disease carrying him off in 1891 while he was still in his prime. It was Williams who laid out the schemes of the great topographical works issued in the 'seventies and 'eighties—"Picturesque Europe" and the rest of the series, as well as "Cathedrals, Abbeys, and Churches of England and Wales." He was especially happy in the choice and invention of titles. Mr. W. W. Hutchings, the present editor of medical books, who was Williams's assistant for three years in the early 'eighties, mentions that among his inspirations was "Noughts and Crosses," the taking name of "Q's" first collection of sketches and short stories.
"Long before Teignmouth Shore's retirement," says Mr. Hutchings, "it fell to Williams to do most of the bargaining with authors. His endless fund of good stories was freely drawn upon to smooth the path of negotiation, and the author usually went away smiling, if not satisfied. His self-control was remarkable, and I have known it to be proof against even extreme provocation from men whom he liked and for whom he could make allowance. To strangers his manner sometimes leaned, perhaps, to severity rather than to the irresistible suavity so characteristic of Teignmouth Shore; but he was essentially a man
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