Chapter VIII: Early Part of Eighteenth Century (1)

It is now apparent that advertising has become recognised as a means of communication not only for the conveniencies of trade, but for political, lovemaking, fortune-hunting, swindling, and the thousand and one other purposes which are always ready to assert themselves in a large community. It is also evident that as years have progressed, advertising has become more and more necessary to certain trades, the principals in which a comparatively short time before would have scorned the idea of ventilating their wares through the columns of the public press. So it is therefore as well to notice the rates which were charged by some of the papers. This was before the duty was placed upon advertisements, when the arrangement was simply between one who wished a notice inserted in a paper, and another who possessed the power of making such insertion. It is of course impossible to tell what the rates were on all papers, but as some had notices of price per advertisement stated at foot, a fair estimate may be made. The first advertisements were so few that no notice was called for, and it was not until every newspaper looked forward to the possession of more or less that the plan of stating charges became common. About the period of which we are now writing, long advertisements were unknown; they generally averaged about eight lines of narrow measure, and were paid for at about a shilling each, with fluctuations similar in degree to those of the leading papers of the present day. Various rules obtained upon various papers. One journal, the “_Jockey’s Intelligencer_, or Weekly Advertisements for Horses and Second-Hand Coaches to be Bought and Sold,” which appeared towards the end of the seventeenth century, charged “a shilling for a horse or coach for notification, and sixpence for renewing.” Still later, the _County Gentleman’s Courant_ seems to have been the first paper to charge by the line, and in one of its numbers appears the following rather non-sequitous statement: “Seeing promotion of trade is a matter which ought to be encouraged, the price of advertisements is advanced to twopence per line.” Very likely many agreed with the writer, who seems to have had a follower several years afterwards--a corn dealer, who during a great dearth stuck up the following notification: “On account of the great distress in this town, the price of flour will be raised one shilling per peck.” But neither of these men meant what he said, though doubtless he thought he did.

The first advertisement with which we open the century is of a semi-religious character, and betrays a very inquiring disposition on the part of the writer. Facts of the kind required are, however, too stubborn to meet with publication at the request of everybody, and if Mr Keith and other controversialists had been trammelled by them, there is every probability that the inquiry we now republish would never have seen the light:--

☞ WHEREAS the World has been told in public papers and otherwise of
numerous conversions of quakers to the Church of England, by means of
Mr Keith and others, and whereas the quakers give out in their late
books and otherwise, that since Mr Keith came out of America, there
are not ten persons owned by them that have left their Society, Mr
Keith and others will very much oblige the world in publishing a true
list of their proselytes.

The foregoing is from the _Postman_ of March 1701, and in July the same paper contains a very different notice, which will give an idea of the amusements then in vogue, and rescue from oblivion men whose names, great as they are in the advertisement, seem to have been passed over unduly by writers on ancient sports and pastimes, who seem to regard Figg and Broughton as the fathers of the backsword and the boxing match:--

A _Tryal of Skill_ to be performed at His Majesty’s Bear Garden in
Hockley-in-the-Hole, on Thursday next, being the 9th instant, betwixt
these following masters;--Edmund Button, master of the noble science
of defence, _who hath lately cut down_ Mr Hasgit and the Champion of
the West, _and 4 besides_, and James Harris, an Herefordshire man,
master of the noble science of defence, who has fought 98 prizes and
never was worsted, to exercise the usual weapons, at 2 o’clock in the
afternoon precisely.

Exhibitions of swordsmanship and cudgel-play were very frequent in the early part of the eighteenth century, but ultimately pugilism, which at first was merely an auxiliary of the other sports, took the lead, most probably through the invention of mufflers or gloves, first brought into notice by Broughton, who was the most skilful boxer of his time. This was, however, many years subsequent to the date of the foregoing.

The year 1702 is noticeable from the fact that in it was produced the first daily paper with which we have any acquaintance, and, unless the doctrine that nothing is new under the sun holds good in this case, the first daily paper ever published. From it we take the following, which appears on December 1, and which seems--as no name or address is given, and as the advertiser does not even know the name of the gentleman, or anything about him beyond what is told in the advertisement--to have emanated from one of the stews which were even then pretty numerous in London:--

MISSED, on Sunday night, a large hanging coat of Irish frieze,
supposed to be taken away (thro’ mistake) by a gentleman in a fair
campaign wig and light-coloured clothes; if he will please to remember
where he took it, and bring it back again, it will be kindly received.

We should imagine that, unless both coats and gentlemen were more plentiful, in proportion to the population, in those days than they are now, the rightful owner, who had probably also been a visitor at the establishment, went without a garment which, judging by the date, must have been peculiarly liable to excite cupidity. Nothing noticeable occurs for a long time, except the growth of raffle advertisements, and notices of lotteries. These arrangements were called sales, though the only things sold were most likely the confiding speculators. Everything possible was during this age put up to be raffled, though, with the exception of the variety of the items, which included eatables, wearing apparel, houses, carriages and horses, &c. &c., there is nothing calling for comment about the style of the notices. In the _Postman_ of July 19-22, 1707, we at last come upon this, which is certainly peculiar from more than one point of view:--

MR Benjamin Ferrers, Face-painter, the gentleman that can’t neither
speak nor hear, is removed from the Crown and Dagger at Charing Cross
into Chandois Street, next door to the sign of the Three Tuns in
Covent Garden.

This must have been one of the few cases in which physical disability becomes a recommendation. Yet the process of whitening sepulchres must after a time have become monotonous to even a deaf and dumb man. We suppose the highest compliment that could have been paid to his work was, that the ladies who were subjected to it looked “perfect pictures.” Just about this time the use of advertisements for the purposes of deliberate puffery began to be discovered by the general trader, and in the _Daily Courant_ of March 24, 1707, occurs a notice couched in the style of pure hyperbole, and emanating from the establishment of G. Willdey and T. Brandreth, at the sign of the Archimedes and Globe, on Ludgate Hill, who advertised a microscope which magnified objects more than two million times, and a concave metal that united the sunbeams so vigorously that in a minute’s time it melted steel and vitrified the hardest substance. “Also,” the notice went on to say, “we do protest we pretend to no impossibilities, and that we scorn to impose on any gentleman or others, but what we make and sell shall be really good, and answer the end we propose in our advertisements.” Spectacles by which objects might be discovered at twenty or thirty miles’ distance, “modestly speaking,” are also mentioned; “and,” the ingenious opticians finish off with, “we are now writing a small treatise with the aid of the learned that gives the reasons why they do so, which will be given gratis to our customers.” This is an effort which would not have disgraced the more mature puffers of following ages. But it aroused the anger and indignation of the former employers of Willdey and Brandreth, who having duly considered the matter, on April 16 put forth, also in the _Daily Courant_, an opposition statement, which ultimately led to a regular newspaper warfare:--

BY John Yarwell and Ralph Sterrop, Right Spectacles, reading and other
optic glasses, etc., were first brought to perfection by our own
proper art, and needed not the boasted industry of our two apprentices
to recommend them to the world; who by fraudently appropriating to
themselves what they never did, and obstinately pretending to what
they never can perform, can have no other end in view than to astonish
the ignorant, impose on the credulous, and amuse the public. For which
reason and at the request of several gentlemen already imposed on, as
also to prevent such further abuses as may arise from the repeated
advertisements of these two wonderful performers, we John Yarwell and
Ralph Sterrop do give public notice, that to any person who shall
think it worth his while to make the experiment, we will demonstrate
in a minute’s time the insufficiency of the instrument and the vanity
of the workmen by comparing their miraculous Two-Foot, with our Three
and Four Foot Telescopes. And therefore, till such a telescope be
made, as shall come up to the character of these unparalleled
performers, we must declare it to be a very impossible thing.

Then the old-established and indignant masters proceed to recommend their own spectacles, perspectives, &c., in more moderate terms than were employed by their late apprentices, but still in an extremely confident manner. This appeared for several days, and at last, on April 25, elicited the following reply:--

WHEREAS Mr Yarwell, Mr Sterrop, and Mr Marshall, the 2 first were our
Masters with whom we served our Apprenticeships, and since for several
years we have made the best of work for them and Mr Marshall. And now
they being envious at our prosperity have published several false,
deceitful and malicious advertisements, wherein they assert that we
cheat all that buy any of our goods, and that we pretend to many
impossibilities, and impose on the public, they having wrested the
words and sense of our advertisements, pretend that we affirm that a 2
Foot Telescope of our making will do as much as the best 4 Foot of
another man’s make, and they fraudulently show in their shops one of
their best 4 Foots against our small one, and then cry out against the
insufficiency of our instrument. Now we G. Willdey and Th. Brandreth
being notoriously abused, declare that we never did assert any such
thing, or ever did pretend to impossibilities, but will make good in
every particular all those [note, these are their own words]
(impossible, incredible, miraculous, wonderful, and astonishing)
things mentioned in our advertisements; which things perhaps may be
impossible, incredible, miraculous, wonderful, and astonishing to
them, but we assure them they are not so to us: For we have small
miraculous telescopes, as they are pleased to call them, that do such
wonders that they say it is impossible to make such, by the assistance
of which we will lay any person £10, that instead of 2 miles
mentioned, we will tell them the hour of the day 3 if not 4 miles by
such a dial as St James’s or Bow.

After this the recalcitrant apprentices repeat all their former boasts, and conclude: “All these things are as they say impossible to them, but are and will be made by G. Willdey and T. Brandreth.... Let ingenuity thrive.” Willdey and Brandreth now, no doubt, thought that they had turned the tables upon their former masters, and had all the best of the battle; but the duel was not yet over, as the second time this advertisement appeared (_Daily Courant_, April 26), the following was immediately under it:--

A CONFIDENT Mountebank by the help of his bragging speech passes upon
the ignorant as a profound doctor, the commonest medicines and the
easiest operations in such an one’s hand, shall be cried up as
miracles. But there are mountebanks in other arts as well as in
physick: Glasgrinding it seems is not free from ’em, as it is seen in
the vain boastings of Willdey and Brandreth. ’Tis well known to all
gentlemen that have had occasion to use optic glasses that J. Yarwell
was the true improver of that art, and has deservedly a name for it,
in all parts abroad as well as at home. He and R. Sterrop, who lives
in the old shop in Ludgate Street, have always and do now make as true
and good works of all kinds in that art as any man can do. And we are
so far from discouraging any improvement, that we gladly receive from
any hand, and will be at any expence to put in practice an invention
really advantageous in the art. But Willdey’s performances are so far
from improvements that we are ready to oppose any of our work to his
and stake any wager upon the judgment of a skilful man. And because he
talks so particularly of his two foot telescope, to let the world see
that there is nothing in that vaunt, we will stake 10 Guineas upon a
two-foot telescope of ours against the same of his. And further to
take away all pretensions of our preparing one on purpose, if any
gentleman that has a two-foot telescope bought of us within a year
past, and not injured in the use, will produce it, we will lay 5
Guineas upon its performance against one of theirs of the same date.
This is bringing the matter upon the square, and will, we hope,
satisfy the world that we are not worse workmen than those we taught.

Again the young men ventured into print (May 1, 1707), to reply, and to defend what they were pleased to call the naked truth, “against the apparent malicious lies and abuse” of their former employers, in whose last advertisement they pointed out some inconsistencies, claimed the invention of the perfected spectacles as theirs, and ended in offering to bet “20 guineas to their 10, that neither they nor Mr Marshall can make a better telescope than we can.” This, though rather a descent from the high horse previously occupied by them, was sufficient to rouse the anger of an interested yet hitherto passive spectator, and Mr Marshall presently (May 8) indignantly growled forth:--

THE best method now used for Grinding Spectacles and other glasses,
was by me at great charge and pains found out, which I shewed to the
Royal Society in the year 1693, and by them approved; being gentlemen
the best skilled in optics, for which they gave me their certificate
to let the world know what I had done. Since which I have made
spectacles, telescopes, and microscopes, for all the Kings and
Prince’s Courts in Europe. And as for the 2 new spectacle makers, that
would insinuate to the world that they were my best workmen for
several years: the one I never employed, the other I found as I doubt
not but many gentlemen have and will find them both, to be only
boasters and not performers of what they advertise, &c. &c.

After pursuing this strain till he had run down, Mr Marshall concludes by saying, “What I have inserted is nothing but truth.” At the same time Yarwell and Sterrop overwhelmed the raisers of this hornets’ nest with a new attention, in which among other things was the following:--

Mr Willdey and Brandreth have the folly to believe that abundance of
words is sufficient to gain applause, and therefore throw ’em out
without regard to truth and reason, but as that is an affront to the
understanding of gentlemen that use the goods they sell, they being
persons of discerning judgment, there needs no other answer to what
they have published than to compare one part with another. They set
forth with a lying vaunt that their two-foot telescope would perform
the same that a common four-foot one would do, and when ’twas replied
that was false, and a four-foot one offered to try, they poorly shift
off with crying “That’s one of your best four-foot ones.” Now we
profess to make none but best, the glasses of every one being true
ground and rightly adjusted, and the difference in price arrises only
from the goodness, ornaments, and convenience of the case, neither can
he produce a four-foot one of anybody’s make, that does not far exceed
his two-foot, nor does his two-foot one at all exceed ours, which they
don’t now pretend. And therefore the lie is all on his side, and the
impossibility in his pretensions is as strong as ever, and what we
have said is just truth, and his foul language no better than
Billingsgate railing. But it seems because we do not treat him in his
own way and decry his goods as much as he does other men’s, he has the
folly to construct it as an acknowledgement that his excel. But we are
so far from allowing that, that we do aver they have nothing to brag
of but what they learnt of us, and Brandreth was so indifferent a
workman that Marshall, who had taken him for a journeyman, was fain to
turn him off. The secrets they brag of is all a falsehood, and the
microscope the same that any one may have from Culpeper who is the
maker. We have already told the world that we will venture any wager
upon the performance of our two foot telescope against theirs, and we
would be glad to have it taken up that we might have the opportunity
of showing that ours exceeds, and letting the world see that his brags
are only such as mountebanks make in medicine.

Finally, in the _Daily Courant_ for May 12, 1707, Willdey and Brandreth once again insert their vaunt, and then proceed to demolish their late employers thus:--

We do affirm it [the telescope made by W. & B.] to be the pleasantest
and usefullest instrument of this kind, and what our adversaries have
said against it is false and proceeds from an ill design; we have
already offered to lay them 20 guineas to their 10 that they could not
make a better, but they knowing they were not capable to engage us in
that particular, said in their answer that there needs no more than to
compare one instrument with another that they may have the opportunity
of shewing that theirs exceeds; to which proposal we do agree, and to
that purpose have bought 3 of their best telescopes that we might be
sure of one that was good, though they say in their advertisements
that they make none but the best, and we are ready to give our oaths
that no damage has been done them since they were bought. And now to
bring these matters to an end, we will lay them 20 guineas to their
10, that 3 of our best of the same sizes are better than them; and any
gentleman that will may see the experiment tried in an instant at our
shop, where they may also see that our best pocket telescope comes not
far short of their best large 4 Foot one. And several other
curiosities all made to the greatest perfection. And whereas Mr
Yarwell, Mr Sterrop, and Mr Marshall have maliciously, falsly, and
unjustly insinuated that we are but indifferent workmen, several
persons being justly moved by that scandalous aspersion, have offered
to give their oaths that they have often heard them say that we were
the best of workmen, and that we understood our business as well as
themselves. And as such we do each of us challenge them all 3
severally to work with them, who does most and best for £20. As for
the Microscope it is our own invention, and 2 of them were made by us
before any person saw them, as we can prove by witnesses; as we also
can their railing and scandalous aspersions to be false. All persons
may be assured that all our instruments do and will answer the
character given them in the advertisements of T. Brandreth and G.
Willdey, &c. &c.

Whether the game was too expensive, or whether the old firm was shut up by this, we know not, but anyhow they retired from the contest, and it is to be hoped found that rivalry fosters rather than injures business. We have given particular attention to this conflict of statements, as it shows how soon advertisements, after they had become general, were used for aggressional and objectionable trade purposes. Passing on for a little space, until 1709, the _Tatler_ appears on the scene, and commences with a full share of advertisements, and very soon one is found worthy of quotation. This appears on March 21, and is a form of application which soon found favour with the gallants and ladies of pleasure of the day:--

A GENTLEMAN who, the twentieth instant, had the honour to conduct a
lady out of a boat at Whitehall Stairs, desires to know when he may
wait on her to disclose a matter of concern. A letter directed to Mr
Samuel Reeves, to be left with Mr May, at the Golden Head, the upper
end of New Southampton Street, Covent Garden.

There are about this time many instances appearing in the notice columns of what has been called love at first sight, though from the fact that advertisements had to bring their influence to bear on the passion, it looks as though the impression took some time to fix itself. Otherwise the declaration might have been made at once, unless, indeed, timidity prevented it. Perhaps, too, the occasional presence of a gentleman companion might have deterred these inflammable youths from prosecuting their suits and persecuting the objects of their temporary adoration. Just after the foregoing we come upon a slave advertisement couched in the following terms:--

A BLACK boy, twelve years of age, fit to wait on a gentleman, to be
disposed of at Denis’s Coffee house in Finch Lane, near the Royal
Exchange.

There is no mincing the matter about this, and as, at the same time, a very extensive traffic was carried on in “white flesh” for the plantations, the advertiser would doubtless have regarded sympathy with his property as not only idiotic but offensive. And then we light on what must be regarded as an advertisement, though it emanates from the editorial sanctum, and is redolent of that humour which, first identified with the _Tatler_, has never yet been surpassed, and, as many still say, never equalled:--

ANY ladies who have any particular stories of their acquaintance which
they are willing privately to make public, may send ’em by the penny
post to Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., enclosed to Mr John Morpheu, near
Stationers’ Hall.

What a chance for the lovers of scandal, and doubtless they readily availed themselves of it. Many a hearty laugh must Steele have had over the communications received, and many of them must have afforded him the groundwork for satires, which at the time must have struck home indeed. In the following year “Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire,” seems to have taken it into his head that John Partridge, the astrologer, ought to be dead, if he really was not, and so inserted a series of advertisements to the effect that that worthy had really departed this life, which, however amusing to the _Tatler_ folk and the public, seem to have nearly driven the stargazer wild.[28] One of the best of this series, which appears on August 10, 1710, runs thus:--

WHEREAS an ignorant Upstart in Astrology has publicly endeavoured to
persuade the world that he is the late John Partridge, who died the 28
of March 1718, these are to certify all whom it may concern, that the
true John Partridge was not only dead at that time but continues so to
the present day. Beware of counterfeits, for such are abroad.

The quiet yet pungent drollery of this is almost irresistible, but it has the effect of making us rather chary of accepting any of the remaining advertisements which look at all like emanations from the quaint fancy of the editor. Take the following, for instance, which is found among a number of others of an ordinary character, undistinguished from them by any peculiarity of type or position. It seems, however, to betray its origin:--

_The Charitable Advice Office_, where all persons may have the opinion
of dignified Clergymen, learned Council, Graduate Physicians, and
experienced Surgeons, to any question in Divinity, Morality, Law,
Physic, or Surgery, with proper Prescriptions within twelve hours
after they have delivered in a state of their case. Those who can’t
write may have their cases stated at the office. * * The fees are only
1_s._ at delivery or sending your case, and 1_s._ more on
re-delivering that and the opinion upon it, being what is thought
sufficient to defray the necessary expense of servants and
office-rent.

The theory of advertising must about this time have been found considerably interesting to men who were unlikely to participate in its benefits unless it were through the increased prosperity of the newspapers to which they contributed, for essays and letters on the subject, some humorous and others serious, appear quite frequently. Most noticeable among the former is an article from the pen of Addison, which appears in No. 224 of the _Tatler_, date September 14, 1710. It will speak better for itself than we can speak for it:--

“_Materiem superabat opus._--OVID. MET. ii. 5.

“The matter equall’d not the artist’s skill.--R. WYNNE.

“It is my custom, in a dearth of news, to entertain myself with those collections of advertisements that appear at the end of our public prints. These I consider as accounts of news from the little world, in the same manner that the foregoing parts of the paper are from the great. If in one we hear that a sovereign prince is fled from his capital city, in the other we hear of a tradesman who has shut up his shop and run away. If in one we find the victory of a general, in the other we see the desertion of a private soldier. I must confess I have a certain weakness in my temper that is often very much affected by these little domestic occurrences, and have frequently been caught with tears in my eyes over a melancholy advertisement.

“But to consider this subject in its most ridiculous lights, advertisements are of great use to the vulgar. First of all as they are instruments of ambition. A man that is by no means big enough for the Gazette, may easily creep into the advertisements; by which means we often see an apothecary in the same paper of news with a plenipotentiary, or a running footman with an ambassador. An advertisement from Piccadilly goes down to posterity with an article from Madrid, and John Bartlett[29] of Goodman’s Fields is celebrated in the same paper with the Emperor of Germany. Thus the fable tells us, that the wren mounted as high as the eagle, by getting upon his back.

“A second use which this sort of writings have been turned to of late years has been the management of controversy, insomuch that above half the advertisements one meets with nowadays are purely polemical. The inventors of ‘Strops for Razors’ have written against one another this way for several years, and that with great bitterness;[30] as the whole argument _pro_ and _con_ in the case of the ‘Morning Gown’ is still carried on after the same manner. I need not mention the several proprietors of Dr Anderson’s pills; nor take notice of the many satirical works of this nature so frequently published by Dr Clark, who has had the confidence to advertise upon that learned knight, my very worthy friend, Sir William Read:[31] but I shall not interpose in their quarrel: Sir William can give him his own in advertisements, that, in the judgment of the impartial, are as well penned as the Doctor’s.

“The third and last use of these writings is to inform the world where they may be furnished with almost every thing that is necessary for life. If a man has pains in his head, colics in his bowels, or spots in his clothes, he may here meet with proper cures and remedies. If a man would recover a wife or a horse that is stolen or strayed; if he wants new sermons, electuaries, asses’ milk, or anything else, either for his body or mind, this is the place to look for them in.

“The great art in writing advertisements, is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader’s eye, without which a good thing may pass unobserved, or be lost among commissions of bankrupt. Asterisks and hands were formerly of great use for this purpose. Of late years the N.B. has been much in fashion, as also little cuts and figures, the invention of which we must ascribe to the author of spring-trusses. I must not here omit the blind Italian character, which being scarce legible, always fixes and detains the eye, and gives the curious reader something like the satisfaction of prying into a secret.

“But the great skill in an advertiser is chiefly seen in the style which he makes use of. He is to mention the ‘universal esteem,’ or ‘general reputation’ of things that were never heard of. If he is a physician or astrologer, he must change his lodgings frequently; and though he never saw anybody in them besides his own family, give public notice of it, ‘for the information of the nobility and gentry.’ Since I am thus usefully employed in writing criticisms on the works of these diminutive authors, I must not pass over in silence an advertisement, which has lately made its appearance and is written altogether in a Ciceronian manner. It was sent to me with five shillings, to be inserted among my advertisements; but as it is a pattern of good writing in this way, I shall give it a place in the body of my paper.

“The highest compounded Spirit of Lavender, the most glorious, if the
expression may be used, enlivening scent and flavour that can possibly
be, which so raptures the spirits, delights the gusts, and gives such
airs to the countenance, as are not to be imagined but by those that
have tried it. The meanest sort of the thing is admired by most
gentlemen and ladies; but this far more, as by far it exceeds it, to
the gaining among all a more than common esteem. It is sold in neat
flint bottles, fit for the pocket, only at the Golden Key in Wharton’s
Court, near Holborn Bars, for three shillings and sixpence, with
directions.

“At the same time that I recommend the several flowers in which this spirit of lavender is wrapped up, if the expression may be used, I cannot excuse my fellow-labourers for admitting into their papers several uncleanly advertisements, not at all proper to appear in the works of polite writers. Among them I must reckon the ‘Carminative Wind-Expelling Pills.’ If the Doctor had called them ‘Carminative Pills,’ he had been as cleanly as any one could have wished; but the second word entirely destroys the decency of the first. There are other absurdities of this nature so very gross, that I dare not mention them; and shall therefore dismiss this subject with an admonition to Michael Parrot, that he do not presume any more to mention a certain worm he knows of, which, by the way, has grown seven foot in my memory; for, if I am not much mistaken, it is the same that was but nine feet long about six months ago.

“By the remarks I have here made, it plainly appears, that a collection of advertisements is a kind of miscellany; the writers of which, contrary to all authors, except men of quality, give money to the booksellers who publish their copies. The genius of the bookseller is chiefly shown in his method of ranging and digesting these little tracts. The last paper I took up in my hands places them in the following order:--

“The true Spanish blacking for shoes, etc.

“The beautifying cream for the face, etc.

“Pease and Plasters, etc.

“Nectar and Ambrosia, etc.

“Four freehold tenements of fifteen pounds per annum, etc.

“The present state of England, etc.

“Annotations upon the _Tatler_, etc.

“A commission of Bankrupt being awarded against R. L., bookseller, etc.”

This essay probably aroused a good deal of attention, and among the letters of correspondents is one from a “Self-interested Solicitor,” which appears in No. 228, and runs thus:--

“_Mr Bickerstaff._

“I am going to set up for a scrivener, and have thought of a project which may turn both to your account and mine. It came into my head upon reading that learned and useful paper of yours concerning advertisements. You must understand I have made myself Master in the whole art of advertising, both as to the style and the letter. Now if you and I could so manage it, that nobody should write advertisements besides myself, or print them anywhere but in your paper, we might both of us get estates in a little time. For this end I would likewise propose that you should enlarge the design of advertisements, and have sent you two or three samples of my work in this kind, which I have made for particular friends, and intend to open shop with. The first is for a gentleman who would willingly marry, if he could find a wife to his liking; the second is for a poor Whig, who is lately turned out of his post; and the third for a person of a contrary party, who is willing to get into one.

“Whereas A. B. next door to the Pestle and Mortar, being about thirty years old, of a spare make, with dark-coloured hair, bright eye, and a long nose, has occasion for a good-humoured, tall, fair, young woman, of about £3000 fortune; these are to give notice That if any such young woman has a mind to dispose of herself in marriage to such a person as the above mentioned, she may be provided with a husband, a coach and horses and a proportionable settlement.

“C. D. designing to quit his place, has great quantities of paper, parchment, ink, wax, and wafers to dispose of, which will be sold at very reasonable rates.

“E. F. a person of good behaviour, six foot high, of a black complexion and sound principles, wants an employ. He is an excellent penman and accomptant, and speaks French.”

And so on, advertisements being then considered proper sport for wits of all sizes and every peculiarity. In 1711 we come upon the first edition of the _Spectator_, which certainly did not disdain to become a medium for most barefaced quacks, if we may judge by this:--

AN admirable confect which assuredly cures Stuttering and Stammering
in children or grown persons, though never so bad, causing them to
speak distinct and free without any trouble or difficulty; it remedies
all manner of impediments in the speech or disorders of the voice of
any kind, proceeding from what cause soever, rendering those persons
capable of speaking easily and free, and with a clear voice who before
were not able to utter a sentence without hesitation. Its stupendous
effects in so quickly and infallibly curing Stammering and all
disorders of the voice and difficulty in delivery of the speech are
really wonderful. Price 2s. 6d. a pot, with directions. Sold only at
Mr Osborn’s Toyshop, at the Rose and Crown, under St Dunstan’s church
Fleet street.

This is a truly marvellous plan for greasing the tongue. The only wonder is that the advertiser did not recommend it as invaluable to public speakers for increasing the fluency to such an extent that the orator had but to open his mouth and let his tongue do as it willed. And certainly the most rebellious and self-willed tongue could hardly give utterance to more remarkable statements, if left entirely to itself, than appears in the following, which is also from the original edition of the _Spectator_:--

LOSS of Memory, or Forgetfulness, certainly cured by a grateful
electuary peculiarly adapted for that end; it strikes at the primary
source, which few apprehend, of forgetfulness, makes the head clear
and easy, the spirits free, active, and undisturbed, corroborates and
revives all the noble faculties of the soul, such as thought,
judgment, apprehension, reason and memory, which last in particular it
so strengthens as to render that faculty exceeding quick and good
beyond imagination; thereby enabling those whose memory was before
almost totally lost, to remember the minutest circumstances of their
affairs, etc. to a wonder. Price 2s. 6d. a pot. Sold only at Mr
Payne’s, at the Angel and Crown, in St Paul’s Churchyard, with
directions.

It is sometimes possible to remember too much; and if the specific sold by Mr Payne had but a homœopathic tendency, and caused those who recollected things which never happened to become cured of their propensities, it is a pity its recipe has to be numbered among the lost things of this world. In the beginning of 1712, one Ephraim How seems to have been possessed of a fear that evil folks had been trying to injure him or his business, or else he felt it incumbent on himself to take the hint thrown out in the _Tatler_ essay. Accordingly he published in the _Daily Courant_ the following:--

WHEREAS several persons who sell knives, for the better vending their
bad wares spread reports that Ephraim How, Cutler of London is
deceased. This is to certify That he is living, and keeps his business
as formerly, with his son in partnership, at the Heart and Crown on
Saffron Hill; there being divers imitations, you are desired to
observe the mark, which is the Heart Crown and Dagger, with How under
it.

About this period shopkeepers were or pretended to be particularly loyal, for a very large percentage of their signs contained the emblem of royalty, coupled with various other figures. Though the Methuen treaty, which favoured the importation of Portuguese wines, and discouraged the use of claret, was signed in 1703, it does not appear to have made much difference in this country for some years, as the first mention we find of the new wine is in a _Postboy_ of January 1712, and is caused by the rivalry which sprang up among those who first began to sell it:--

NOTICE is hereby given, That Messieurs Trubey, at the Queen’s Arms
Tavern, the West End of St Paul’s Church, have bought of Sir John
Houblon, 76 pipes of _New_ natural Oporto Wines, red and white,
perfect neat, and shall remain genuine, chosen out of 96 pipes, and
did not buy the cast-outs. Also they have bought of other merchants
large quantities of _new_ natural Oporto wines, with great choice (by
the last fleet). And altho’ the aforesaid did buy of Messieurs Brook
and Hellier, _new_ natural Oporto wines of the earliest importation,
which they have yet by them; and ’tis not only their own opinion, that
the said Sir John Houblon’s and other merchant’s Oporto wines, which
they have bought are superior, and do give us more general
satisfaction: for the same is daily confirm’d by gentlemen and others
of undoubted judgment and credit. Further this assertion deserves
regard, viz. That the said Messieurs Brook and Helliers have bought of
several merchants entire parcels of Oporto and Viana wines, red and
white, good and bad, thereby continuing retailing, under the specious
and fallacious pretences of natural red and neat of their own
importing.

_N.B._--The intentions of the above-named Vintners are not any way to
reproach or diminish the reputation of their brethren, nor insinuate
to their detriment, sympathizing with them. Note the aforesaid _new_
natural Oporto wines, are to be sold by the aforesaid vintners at £16
per hogshead, at 18d. per quart, without doors, and at 20d. per quart,
within their own houses.

Brook & Hellier, whose wine is spoken of so slightingly, kept the Bumper Tavern in Covent Garden, which had formerly belonged to Dick Estcourt. They seem quite able to bear what has been said of them, for they have the _Spectator_, who has evidently tasted, and quite as evidently liked their wines, at their back, one of the numbers of this disinterested periodical being devoted almost entirely to their praise. The _Spectator_ was by no means averse to a bit of good genuine puffery, and Peter Motteux, formerly an author who had dedicated a poem or two to Steele, and who at that time kept one of the Indian warehouses so much in fashion, received kindnesses in its columns more than once. So did Renatus Harris the organ-builder, who competed with Smith for the Temple organ, and many others. So it is not extraordinary that their advertisement is found in the _Spectator_ very shortly after that just quoted. They seem, however, to have been disinclined to quarrel, as their notice makes no mention of their rivals:--

BROOK and Hellier, &c. having discovered that several gentlemen’s
servants who have been sent to their taverns and cellars for neat
Oporto wines (which is 18d. per quart) have instead thereof bought the
small Viana, which is but 15d. a quart; and that some who have been
sent directly to the above taverns and cellars have never come there,
but carried home (like traitors) something else from other places for
Brook and Helliers. Gentlemen are therefore desired, when they suspect
themselves imposed on, to send the wine immediately to the place they
ordered it from, or a note of what it was they sent for, in order to
know the truth, and Brook and Helliers will bear the extraordinary
charge of porters on this occasion.

From this and kindred advertisements it looks as though gentlemen were not at the time in the habit of keeping large quantities of wine in the house, but rather of having it in fresh and fresh as required from the tavern, or of going round themselves, and taking it home under their belts. Also the servants of the time do not appear to be possessed of much more honesty than falls to the lot of the domestics of even these degenerate days. The effect of the rage for port as soon as it was once tried, is shown by the following, which also appeared in the January of 1712, in the _Daily Courant_:--

THE first loss is the best especially in the Wine Trade, and upon that
consideration Mr John Crooke will now sell his French Claret for 4s. a
gallon, to make an end of a troublesome and losing trade. Dated the
7th of January from his vault in Broad street, 5 doors below the Angel
and Crown Tavern, behind the Royal Exchange.

JOHN CROOKE.

But this appeal to the lovers of bargains, as well as of claret, was evidently a failure; for three or four days afterwards, and also in the same paper, another, and quite different attempt, is made to draw the unwilling drinkers to the Angel and Crown:--

IT having been represented to Mr John Crooke that notwithstanding the
general approbation his French claret has received, yet many of his
customers out of a covetous disposition do resort to other places to
buy much inferior wine, and afterwards sell the same for Mr Crooke’s
claret, which practices (if not timely prevented) do manifestly tend
to the ruin of his undertaking, and he being firmly resolved to
establish and preserve the reputation of his vault, and also willing
to give his customers all fitting encouragement; for these causes and
others hereunto him moving, he gives notice that from henceforth he
will sell his very good French claret for no more than 4s. a gallon at
his vault.

The fight between port and claret was very fierce this year, but the new drink had almost from the first the best of the battle, if we may judge from the strenuous appeals put forth by those who have much claret to sell, and who evidently find it very like a drug upon their hands. One individual seems at last to arrive at the conclusion that he may as well ask a high price as a low one for his claret, seeing that people are unwilling to buy in either case. The advertisement occurs in the _Daily Courant_ for December 29, 1712. The wily concocter of the plan also thinks that by making three bottles the smallest limit of his sale, the unwary may fancy a favour is being conferred upon them, and buy accordingly:--

THE noblest new French claret that ever was imported, bright, deep,
strong and of most delicious flavour, being of the very best growth in
France, and never in any cooper or vintner’s hands, but purely neat
from the grape, bottled off from the lee. All the quality and gentry
that taste it, allow it to be the finest flower that ever was drunk.
Price 42s. the dozen, bottles and all, which is but 3s. 6d. a bottle,
for excellence not to be matched for double that price. None less than
3 bottles. To be had only at the Golden Key, in Haydon Yard, in the
Minories, where none but the very best and perfectly neat wine shall
ever be sold.

There is good reason to believe that the claret which had been so popular up till this period, was a very different wine from that which is now known by the same name. It was, most probably, a strong well-sweetened drink; for, as it has ever been necessary to make port thick and sweet for the public taste, it is most likely this was at first done for the purpose of rivalling the claret, and folk would hardly have turned suddenly from one wine to another of a decidedly opposite character. The amount of advertising, probably fostered by the wine rivalry, grew so much this year, that the Ministry were struck with the happy idea of putting a tax upon every notice, and accordingly there is a sudden fall off in the number of advertisements in and after August, the month in which the change took place. In fact, the _Daily Courant_ appears several times with only one advertisement, that of Drury Lane Theatre, the average number being hitherto about nine or ten. However, the imposers of the tax were quite right in their estimate of the value of advertisements; as, though checked for a time, they ultimately grew again, though their progress was comparatively slow compared with previous days. We find a characteristic announcement just at the close of the year, one not to be checked by the duty-charge, and so we append it:--

THIS is to give notice That there is a young woman born within 30
miles of London will run for £50 or £100, a mile and an half, with any
other woman that has liv’d a year within the same distance; upon any
good ground, as the parties concern’d shall agree to.

Unnatural and unfeminine exhibitions, in accordance with this advertisement, of pugilism, foot-racing, cudgel-playing, &c., were at this time not unfrequent, and the spectacle of two women stripped to the waist, and doing their best to injure or wear down each other, was often enjoyed by the bloods of the early eighteenth century. At the same time that the tax was placed on advertisements, the stamp-duty on newspapers became an accomplished fact, and Swift in his journal to Stella of July 9, 1712, says, “Grub Street has but ten days to live, then an Act of Parliament takes place that ruins it by taxing every half-sheet a halfpenny.” And just about a month after, he chronicles the effect of this cruelty: “Do you know that Grub Street is dead and gone last week? No more ghosts or murders now for love or money. I plied it close the last fortnight and published at least seven papers of my own, besides some of other people’s; but now every single half-sheet pays a halfpenny to the Queen. The _Observator_ is fallen; the _Medleys_ have jumbled together with the _Flying Post_; the _Examiner_ is deadly sick; the _Spectator_ keeps up and doubles its price. I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked with? Methinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny.” Thieves about this time seem to have had delicate susceptibilities, for it was the custom to advertise goods which were undoubtedly stolen as lost. Thus we see constantly in the reign of Queen Anne such notices as this: “Lost out of a room in Russell Street a number of valuable objects.... Whoever brings them _back_ shall have ten guineas reward, or in proportion for any part, and no questions asked.” This style of advertising grew so that just about the middle of the century it was found necessary to put a stop to it by Act of Parliament, which took effect on the 21st of June 1752, the penalty being £50 for any one who advertised “no questions asked,” and £50 for the publisher who inserted any such notice in his paper. Haydn gives this date as 1754, but a reference to the _General Advertiser_ of February 21, 1752, in which the notice of the date on which the law is to come into effect appears, shows that it was two years earlier. Also a reference to any Parliamentary record of forty years before that will show that not in 1713, as Haydn has it, but on the 22nd April 1712, Mr Conyers reported from Committee of the whole House, who were considering further ways and means for raising the supply granted to her Majesty; when among other measures it was resolved that a duty of 12d. be charged for every advertisement in any printed paper, besides the stamp-duty which was at the same time imposed on the newspapers. This and other extra taxes were levied, because France having refused to acknowledge the title of Queen Anne till the peace should be signed, it was resolved to continue the war “till a safe and honourable peace could be obtained.” For this purpose money was of course required; and if they never did good any other way, or at any other time, quacks and impostors, libertines and drunkards, did it now, as they mainly contributed all that was gathered for some years by means of the advertisement tax. There seems to have been a good deal of drunkenness going on in the time of Queen Anne, and the tavern keepers contributed in many ways to swell the revenue. But even their advertisements drop off after the imposition of the tax, as do those of promoters of nostrums and lotteries, and the managers of theatres. These public benefactors are, however, not so blind to their own interests, but that they soon return.

Notwithstanding the many important events of the next few years, nothing worthy of chronicling in the way of advertisements is to be found till 1720, when we come upon the following, which is peculiar as being one of the earliest specimens of the ventilation of private quarrels by means of advertisements. It occurs in the _Daily Post_ of January 16th:--

WHEREAS an advertisement was lately put in Heathcote’s Halfpenny Post,
by way of challenge for me to meet a person (whose name to me is
unknown) at Old Man’s Coffeehouse near Charing Cross, the 28 instant
in order to hear that said person make out his assertions in that
Dialogue we had in Palace Yard, the 11th of November 1718, This will
let that person know that as he would not then tell me his name, nor
put it to his advertisement, I conclude he is ashamed to have it in
print. When he sends me his name in writing, that I may know who to
ask for, I shall be willing to meet him at any convenient time and
place, either by ourselves or with two friends on each side, till then
I shall have neither list nor leisure to obey his nameless summons.

ROBERT CURTIS.

Southwark, Jan. 13th, 1719-20.

Certainly time enough seems to have elapsed between the dialogue and the publication of this advertisement to allow of all angry passions to have subsided; but Robert Curtis, whose name is thus preserved till now, would seem to have been a careful youth, picking his way clear of pitfalls, and with shrewdness sufficient to discover that anonymity but too often disguises foul intent. In that particular matters have not considerably improved even up to the present time.