The Story of the House of Cassell
to a question as to the amount owing to him for the article: "You are indebted to me a penny a line; no more and no less. Of course, counted twopence through the double columns." Later letters contain further counsel and criticisms in respect to the Magazine of Art, and details of the articles which were to follow the first. They were to bear chiefly on "body-colour Turners," as a contrast to the introductory letter, and on "pure composition, as far as I can without being tiresome; and there will be something about skies and trees, and I'll undertake that the drawings I send shall be presentable, and not cost much in representing." But a period of indisposition followed, during which he subscribed himself: "And I'm ever your cross old J. R." Another spell of illness made him again seek complete rest, upon which it would have been cruel to break in. And so his intended series of papers remained incomplete, and "The Black Arts" remains as much a fragment of an intended whole as "Proserpina," "Our Fathers have told Us," and even "Præterita" itself.
In his coming-of-age article Mr. Spielmann expressed himself with cautious hopefulness about the future of the magazine. "What," he remarked, "is to be the degree of its prosperity in the future—what, indeed, is to be the term of its existence—depends wholly upon the encouragement and support awarded to it by the public. To deserve this support will, of course, continue to be the object, and as a good deal more than merely commercial considerations and business interest are involved in the publication and editing of the magazine, it is confidently hoped that practical encouragement will not be denied." The hope was not realized. The publishers' expectations were not excessive: they would have been content to continue the magazine if it had made a quite moderate return. It failed to do so, and in 1904 the editor, in a dignified valedictory notice, said farewell to his readers, as well as to the public and the critics who had "taken a kindly interest in the fortunes of the magazine" through-
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