To fail to emphasise the broadly democratic character of the world of stamp collectors would be to overlook an important aspect of the popularity of this science, or, as it is to the majority, the "hobby" of stamps. I have already indicated the dual side of the collecting in the 'sixties, when the boy-collector predominated in numbers, but the adult student had the influence that gave "Philately" or "Timbrologie" a permanent place among the recreative studies. A note on the "Postage Stamp Exchange" in _The Express_, in April, 1862, indicates the benevolent toleration on the part of the outside public and the press concerning the new "mania." "... We may mention that the mania has been increased in such a degree as to lead to the formation of a postage-stamp exchange, the locality being Change Alley, leading out of Birchin Lane. There every evening about fifty boys, _and some men, too_, may be seen industriously exchanging old disfigured stamps, most of which are carefully fastened in books. The earnestness and assiduity with which the 'trade' is carried on is very remarkable." "'Some men, too,'" says Mr. Mount Brown in sending me the paragraph, "is very lovely." It would be idle to disguise the fact that the mantle of bare toleration of the "mania" has not been entirely discarded by the uninitiated, and it has been a very disconcerting privilege to have for chairmen at lectures on postage-stamps, at literary and scientific institutions, gentlemen who have introduced the subject by confessing that they had once been collectors themselves, _but that was when they were at school_. The press, however, has shown a greater respect for the substantial basis of scientific interest which underlies the hobby, and to-day _The Daily Telegraph_, which has led the modern journalism in the matter of regular specialised articles, has its column of "Postage Stamp" notes every week, and so too has _The Evening News_. To-day, the press frequently discusses interesting new issues of stamps, and much publicity is now given to that _argumentum ad populum_, the remarkable prices which are constantly being realised in the stamp-market. Considering that stamp-collecting can scarcely be regarded as having started prior to 1860-61, the prices of stamps quickly attained respectable proportions. In _The Young Ladies' Journal_ of December 14, 1864, there is this paragraph:-- "We had almost heard nothing of late of the postage-stamp collecting mania, till suddenly the formidable announcement is made by advertisement that an amateur is ready to sell his collection--for what sum would it be thought?--nothing less than £250." Had the doubting Thomas[17] (for I dare say gentlemen edited ladies' papers in those days, much as they undertake the duties of "Aunt Molly" and the "Editress's Confidences" in the ladies' journals of to-day) had the foresight to buy a collection worth £250 in 1864, it would have been worth not less than, say, £25,000, probably more, to-day.