Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/155

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Dr. Bonavia Hunt

manager of Messrs. Geo. Newnes, Limited, was at La Belle Sauvage as a boy. He tells how Manville Fenn would ring his bell and say, "Harrison, do you think you could get me a cup of tea?"

"I would reply, 'Yes, sir,'" says Mr. Harrison. "He little knew where I got it. There were no A.B.C.'s or Lyons's in those days, and I had to go as far as the Viaduct, where there was a dirty little coffee shop. Of course, by the time I got back to the office the tea was nearly cold, and Mr. Fenn would say to me, with a humorous twinkle in his eye, after smelling and tasting the brew, 'Well, Harrison, it is just warm, and it is sweet, and that's all I can say for it. Anyhow, I am very much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken. Here's sixpence for you.' So that wretched cup of tea used to cost him ninepence! I thought him one of the most delightful and lovable men I ever knew. It was a pleasure to do anything for him, quite apart from the generous recognition which he never omitted."

When Manville Fenn's connexion with the magazine ceased it was recast with a more domestic touch, the title was again changed to Cassell's Family Magazine, and Bonavia Hunt of the Quiver was appointed to the editorship. Hunt was a quick and deft worker and a man of varied activities. A few years after assuming the editorship of Cassell's Family Magazine he took holy orders, and thenceforward, until the end of his life, discharged regular clerical duties, first as curate, afterwards as vicar. A musical enthusiast, he became a Doctor of Music of Trinity College, Dublin, and member of the Senate. To his efforts was mainly due the founding of Trinity College, London, a musical institution now well known throughout the United Kingdom, which grew out of a choral society he had organized.

Dr. Hunt, to give him the style by which he was known in his later years, was fortunate in having, on both his magazines, an exceptionally capable assistant in Frank Holderness Gale, who had entered the service of the firm

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