to leave it to them to make what profits they chose in disposing of the books to their customers. Smith was not averse to make the experiment which Ruskin desired, but the booksellers did not welcome the new plan of sale, and the circulation of Ruskin's books declined. Further difficulties followed in regard to reprints of his early masterpieces, 'Modern Painters' and the 'Stones of Venice.' Many of the plates were worn out, and Ruskin hesitated to permit them to be replaced or retouched now that their original engraver, Thomas Lupton, was dead. He desired to limit very strictly the number of copies in the new editions; he announced that the time had come for issuing a final edition of his early works, and pledged himself to suffer no reprint hereafter. These conditions also failed to harmonise with the habitual methods of the publishing business. A breach proved inevitable, and finally Ruskin made other arrangements for the production and publication of his writings. In 1871 he employed Mr. George Allen to aid him personally in preparing and distributing them, and during the course of the next six years gradually transferred to Mr. Allen all the work that Smith, Elder, & Co. had previously done for him. On 5 Sept. 1878 Ruskin wholly severed his connection with his old publisher by removing all his books from his charge.
Despite many external calls on Smith's attention, the normal work of the publishing firm during the seventies and eighties well maintained its character. The 'Cornhill' continued to prove a valuable recruiting ground for authors. Mr. Leslie Stephen, after he became editor of the magazine in 1871, welcomed to its pages the early work of many writers who were in due time to add to the stock of permanent English literature. John Addington Symonds wrote many essays and sketches for the magazine, and his chief writings were afterwards published by Smith, Elder, & Co., notably his 'History of the Renaissance,' which came out in seven volumes between 1875 and 1886. Mr. Leslie Stephen himself contributed the critical essays, which were collected under the title of 'Hours in a Library;' and his 'History of Thought in the Eighteenth Century,' 1876, was among the firm's more important publications. Robert Louis Stevenson was a frequent contributor. Miss Thackeray's 'Old Kensington' and 'Miss Angel,' Blackmore's 'Erema,' Black's 'Three Feathers' and 'White Wings,' Mrs. Oliphant's 'Carità' and 'Within the Precincts,' Mr. W. E. Norris's 'Mdlle. de Mersac,' Mr. Henry James's 'Washington Square,' Mr. Thomas Hardy's 'Far from the Madding Crowd' and 'The Hand of Ethelberta,' and Mr. James Payn's 'Grape from a Thorn' were 'Cornhill' serials while Mr. Stephen guided the fortunes of the periodical, and the majority of them were afterwards issued by Smith, Elder, & Co. in book form. Another change in the personnel of the office became necessary on the retirement of Smith Williams in 1875. On the recommendation of Mr. Leslie Stephen, his intimate friend, James Payn the novelist, who had previously edited 'Chambers's Journal,' joined the staff at Waterloo Place as literary adviser in Williams's place. Payn's taste lay in the lighter form of literature. Among the most successful books that he accepted for the firm was F. Anstey's 'Vice Versa.' In 1882, when other duties caused
