To settle the matter, there ensued a most voluminous correspondence between the pair—a correspondence which, unrestricted by any fear of the _Times’_ editor, swelled out to sheet after sheet of letter-paper closely written. A few copies of that correspondence, printed at the time for general circulation, and freely advertised in the _Times_, are still extant, and may be perused by the curious in such matters, when down for a month at the seashore, or recovering from serious illness, or at any other peculiarly leisure period. The pamphlet was to be had gratis at the Company’s offices, Lincoln’s Inn Fields; it was forwarded free by post to all parts of England; it was made the subject of newspaper comment and private criticism, until, in absolute despair, Lord Kemms cursed the Protector, and Mr. Black, and all his own kindred, and, under the shades of his ancestral trees, vowed a vow that the next time he rushed into print he might be pilloried, and pelted with eggs, and bespattered with mud and dirt, as had been the case latterly. But he stuck to his point; and, although right is not always might, in the hands even of a nobleman, still Lord Kemms may have been pronounced the victor, insomuch as he contrived to do the Protector a vast deal of injury; to shake the Company to its very foundation; to create an enormous amount of alarm amongst the shareholders; and to cause the directors much perplexity and annoyance. After all, a company is very like a woman; once blown upon, its credit is worth but little from that time forth for ever. It may demean itself with the extremest propriety; under circumstances of temptation it may remain honest and fair dealing, it may struggle for a livelihood, and earn one in the properest manner possible; and yet, when all these things are placed to the credit side of the account, they shall not outweigh the damning fact that a shadow once fell over it; that it was “talked about;” that there were diversities of opinion as to its conduct; that there were doubts expressed as to its perfect and immaculate purity. Thus, at any rate, affairs turned out with the Protector. By a curious feminine logic, ladies discovered that the quality of the Company’s bread was affected by the newspaper correspondence.