Had they not been invented, Rowland Hill's penny postage
scheme would probably have failed. There would not have been, in the
whole world, geese enough to supply quills to make the required number
of pens. Had Byron lived a little later on, his celebrated couplet
would not have apostrophised the "gray goose quill," but would
probably have run something like this:
"My Gillott pen! thou noblest work of skill,
Slave of my thought, obedient to my will."
My purpose, however, in this sketch is not to write a history of the
trade by which Mr. Gillott raised himself to fame and fortune,
but rather to describe the man himself, as he moved quietly and
unobtrusively among his fellow men. One of his chief characteristics,
it has always struck me, was his intense love of _excellence_ in
everything with which he had to do. It was a frequent jocular remark
of his that "the best of everything was good enough for him." In
this--perhaps unknowingly--he followed Lord Bacon's advice, "Jest in
earnest," for he, certainly, earnestly carried out in life the desire
to do, and to possess, the "best" that could be attained.
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