While the scheme of the “London Charivari” was under consideration, “the Town,” a weekly journal as notorious for its grossness as its vulgarity, and of which burly Renton Nicholson, a broken-down pawnbroker, was editor and proprietor, was having a large and increasing sale. It published on its first page either a sketch of some familiar London type, or the portrait of a noted west-end demirep from the pencil of Archibald Henning, son of a well-known sculptor, and brother-in-law of Kenny Meadows, and subsequently Punch's original cartoonist. Henning had precisely the qualification that Nicholson needed, being somewhat of a loose fish and a frequenter of sporting “publics” and other low haunts of that epoch. As for the letterpress of “the Town,” this dealt with the shadiest subjects, including some which no publication of to-day would even hint at.

After a time Nicholson got into collision with Barnard Gregory of “Satirist” notoriety, and the pair fell to abusing each other in their respective organs. As Nicholson managed to fling the most mud, Barnard Gregory, by some roundabout manoeuvre, set the law in motion against “the Town,” and Nicholson was sent for trial. Thereupon, the latter, posing before his readers as the champion of moral purity and the meritorious exposer of the blackmailing fraternity to which his opponent notoriously belonged, appealed for support in aid of his defence. Several hundred pounds were subscribed, and the case was removed to the Court of Queen's Bench; but on its being called on, no prosecutor appeared in support of it, and Nicholson was acquitted.