Chapter II: Part 2

Whereas a Gentleman was, on the eighteenth at night, mortally wounded
near Lincoln's Inn, in Chancery Lane, in view, as is supposed, of the
coachman that set him down: these are to give notice that the said
coachman shall come in and declare his knowledge of the matter; if any
other person shall discover the said coachman to John Hawles, at his
chamber in Lincoln's Inn, he shall have 5 guineas reward.--_London
Gazette_, March 29th, 1688.

To this period also may be ascribed the rise of that romantic felon, the highwayman. The hue and cry after these genteel robbers is frequently raised during the reign of James II. In one case we have notice of a gentleman having been stopped, robbed, and then bound, by mounted men at Islington, who rode away with his horse; another time these daring gentry appeared at Knightsbridge; and a third advertisement, of a later date it is true, offers a reward for three mounted Macheaths, who were charged with stopping and robbing three young ladies in South Street, near Audley Chapel, as they were returning home from visiting. The following is still more singular, as showing the high social position of some of these gentlemen who took to the "road" for special purposes:--

_Whereas Mr. Herbert Jones_, Attorney-at-law in the town of Monmouth,
well known by being several years together Under-Sheriff of the same
County, hath of late divers time robbed the Mail coming from that town
to London, and taken out divers letters and writs, and is now fled
from justice, and supposed to have sheltered himself in some of the
new-raised troops. These are to give notice, that whosoever shall
secure the said Herbert Jones, so as to be committed in order to
answer these said crimes, may give notice thereof to Sir Thomas
Fowles, goldsmith, Temple-bar, London, or to Mr. Michael Bohune,
mercer, in Monmouth, and shall have a guinea's reward.

The drinking tendencies of these Jacobite times are chiefly shown by the numberless inquiries after lost or stolen silver tankards, and by the sales of claret and canary which constantly took place. The hammer was not apparently used at that time, as we commonly find announcements of sales by "inch of candle," a term which mightily puzzled us until we saw the explanation of it in our constant book of reference, the Diary of Pepys:--

"After dinner we met and sold the Weymouth, Successe, and Fellowship
hulkes; where pleasant to see how backward men are at first to bid;
and yet, when the candle is going out, how they bawl, and dispute
afterwards who bid the most. And here I observed one man cunninger
than the rest, that was sure to bid the last man and to carry it; and
inquiring the reason he told me that, just as the flame goes out, the
smoke descends, which is a thing I never observed before, and by that
he do know the instant when to bid last." (Sept. 3rd, 1662).

The taste for auctions, which became such a rage in the time of Anne, had its beginning about this period. Books and pictures are constantly advertised to be disposed of in this manner. The love of excitement born in the gaming time of the Restoration might be traced in these sales, and in the lotteries, or "adventures" as they were sometimes termed, which extended to every conceivable article capable of being sold. The rising taste of the town was, however, checked for the time by the Revolution, which was doubtless hastened on by such announcements as the following, which appeared in the _Gazette_ of March 1, 1688:--

Catholic loyalty, [Hand] upon the subject of Government and Obedience,
delivered in a SERMON before the King and Queen, in His Majesties
Chapel at Whitehall, on the 13 of June, 1687, by the Revnd. Father
Edward Scaraisbroke, priest of the Society of Jesus. Published by His
Majesty's Command. Sold by Raydal Taylor, near Stationers Hall,
London.

Up to this time advertisements only appeared in threes and fours, and rarely, if ever, exceeded a dozen, in any newspaper of the day. They were generally stuck in the middle of the diminutive journal, but sometimes formed a tail-piece to it. They were confined in their character, and gave no evidence of belonging to a great commercial community. Now and then, it is true, sums of money were advertised as seeking investment; more constantly a truss for a "broken belly," or an "excellent dentifrice," appeared; or some city mansion of the nobility is advertised to let, showing the progress westward even then, as witness the following:--

The Earl of Berkeley's House, with Garden and Stables in St. John's
Lane, not far from Smith Field, is to be Let or Sold for Building.
Enquire of Mr. Prestworth, a corn chandler, near the said house, and
you may know further.--_London Gazette_, August 17, 1685.

Here is an instance of the singular manner in which fire-insurances were conducted in that day:--

There having happened a fire on the 24th of the last month by which
several houses of the friendly society were burned to the value of 965
pounds, these are to give notice to all persons of the said society
that they are desired to pay at the office Faulcon Court in Fleet
Street their several proportions of their said loss, which comes to
five shillings and one penny for every hundred pounds insured, before
the 12th of August next.--_London Gazette_, July 6th, 1685.

Sometimes it is a "flee-bitten grey mare" stolen out of "Mary-le-bone Park," or a lost lottery-ticket, or a dog, that is inquired after; but they contained no hint that England possessed a commercial marine, or that she was destined to become a nation of shopkeepers. As yet, too, there was no sign given of that wonderful art of ingenious puffing which now exists, and which might lead a casual observer to imagine that the nation consisted of only two classes--cheats and dupes.

From the settlement of 1688 the true value of the advertisement appears to have dawned upon the public. The country evidently began to breathe freely, and with Dutch William and Protestant ascendancy, the peculiar character of the nation burst forth with extraordinary vigour. Enterprise of all kinds was called forth, and cast its image upon the advertising columns of the public journals, now greatly increased both in size and in numbers, no less than twenty-six having been set up within four years after the Revolution. It is observable, too, that from this political convulsion dates a certain rough humour, which, however latent, was not before expressed in the public papers, especially on matters political. Let us further elucidate our meaning by quoting the following from the _New Observator_ of July 17, 1689, setting forth a popular and practical method of parading the Whig triumph:--

Orange cards, representing the late King's reign and expedition of the
Prince of Orange: viz. The Earl of Essex Murther, Dr. Otes Whipping,
Defacing the Monument, My Lord Jeffries in the West hanging of
Protestants, Magdalen College, Trial of the Bishops, Castle Maine at
Rome, the Popish Midwife, A Jesuit Preaching against our Bible,
Consecrated Smock, My Lord Chancellor at the Bed's feet, Birth of the
Prince of Wales, The Ordinaire Mass-house pulling down and burning by
Captain Tom and his Mobile, Mortar pieces in the Tower, The Prince of
Orange Landing, The Jesuits Scampering, Father Peter's Transactions,
The Fight at Reading, The Army going over to the Prince of Orange,
Tyrconnel in Ireland, My Lord Chancellor in the Tower. With many other
remarkable passages of the Times. To which is added the efigies of our
Gracious K. William and Q. Mary, curiously illustrated and engraven in
lively figures, done by the performers of the first Popish Plot Cards.
Sold by Donnan Newman, the publisher and printer of the New
Observator.

The editor of the _New Observator_ was Bishop Burnet, and these political playing-cards were sold by his publisher; perhaps the great Protestant bishop knew something of their "performers." In the year 1692 an experiment was made which clearly shows how just an estimate was getting abroad of the value of publicity in matters of business. A newspaper was set up, called "The City Mercury, published gratis for the Promotion of Trade," which lasted for two years, and contained nothing but advertisements. The proprietor undertook to distribute a thousand copies per week to the then chief places of resort,--coffee houses, taverns, and bookshops. Even in these days of the "Times" double supplement such an experiment has often been made and failed; our wonder, therefore, is not that the _City Mercury_ went to that limbo which is stored with such countless abortive journals, but that the interest felt in advertisements should, at that early period, have kept it alive so long.

If the foregoing scheme proves that an attempt was then made to subdivide the duties of a newspaper--that of keeping its readers informed of the news of the day, and of forming a means of publicity for the wants and losses of individuals--the advertisement we are about to quote clearly shows that at the same time there was a plan in existence for combining the printed newspaper with the more ancient written newsletter. It is well known that long after the institution of public journals the old profession of the newsletter-writer continued to flourish. We can easily account for this fact when we remember that during the heat of a great rebellion it was much more safe to write than to print the intelligence of the day. Many of these newsletters were written by strong partisans, and contained information which it was neither desirable nor safe that their opponents should see. They were passed on from hand to hand in secret, and often endorsed by each successive reader. We are told that the Cavaliers, when taken prisoners, have been known to eat their newsletters; and some of Prince Rupert's, which had been intercepted, are still in existence, and bear dark-red stains, which testify to the desperate manner in which they were defended. It is pretty certain, however, that, as a profession, newsletter-writing began to decline after the Revolution; although we find the editor of the _Evening Post_, as late as the year 1709, reminding its readers that "there must be three or four pounds a year paid for written news." At the same time the public journals, it is clear, had not performed that part of their office which was really more acceptable to the country reader than any other--the retailing the political and social chit-chat of the day. We have only to look into the public papers to convince ourselves how wofully they fell short in a department which must have been the staple of the news-writer. This want still being felt, John Salusbury devises a scheme to combine the old and the new plan after the following manner, as announced in the _Flying Post_ of 1694:--

If any Gentleman has a mind to oblige his country friend or
correspondent with the Account of Public Affairs, he may have it for
twopence of J. Salusbury at the Rising-Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of
fine paper, half of which being blank, he may thereon write his own
private business or the material news of the day.

It does not say much for the energy with which the journals of that day were conducted, that the purchasers are invited to write therein "the material news of the day;" that, we should have thought, was the editor's business to have supplied; but it was perhaps a contrivance by which the Jacobites might circulate information, by means of the post, without compromising the printer. We have seen many such papers, half print, half manuscript, in the British Museum, which had passed through the post, the manuscript portion of which, the Home Secretaries of our time would have thought sufficiently treasonable to justify them in having broken their seals.

As advertisements, from their earliest introduction, were used to make known the amusements of the day and the means of killing time at the disposal of persons of quality, it seems strange that it was not employed sooner than it was to draw a company to the theatres. We have looked in vain for the announcement of any theatrical entertainment before the year 1701, when the advertisement of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre makes its appearance in the columns of the _English Post_. The lead of this little house was, however, speedily followed by the larger ones, and only a few years later we have regular lists of the performances at all the theatres in the daily papers. The first journal of this description was the _Daily Courant_, published in 1709. In this year also appeared the celebrated "Tatler," to be speedily followed by the "Spectator" and "Guardian," the social and literary journals of that Augustine age. The first edition of the "Tatler," in the British Museum, contains advertisements like an ordinary paper, and they evidently reflect, more than those of its contemporaries, the flying fashions of the day and the follies of the "quality." In them we notice the rage that existed for lotteries, or "sales," as they were called. Every conceivable thing was put up to raffle. We see advertisements headed "A Sixpenny Sale of Lace," "A Hundred Pounds for Half-a-crown," "A Penny Adventure for a Great Pie," "A Quarter's Rent," "A Freehold Estate," "Threepenny Sales of Houses," "A fashionable Coach." Gloves, looking-glasses, chocolate, Hungary water, Indian goods, lacquered ware, fans, &c., were notified to be disposed of in this manner, and the fair mob was called together to draw their tickets by the same means. This fever, which produced ten years later the celebrated South Sea Bubble, was of slow growth. It had its root in the Restoration, its flower in the reign of Anne, and its fruit and _dénouement_ in the reign of George I. Before passing on from the pages of the "Tatler," we must stop for a moment to notice one or two of those playful advertisements which Sir Richard Steele delighted in, and which, under the disguise of fun, perhaps really afforded him excellent matter for his journal. Here is an irresistible invitation to his fair readers:--

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.--_Tatler_, May 8, 1709.

An excellent lion's mouth this wherein to drop scandal. A still more amusing instance of the fun that pervaded Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., is to be found in the series of advertisements in which he ought to have convinced John Partridge, the astrologer, that he really had departed this life; an assertion which the latter persisted in denying with the most ludicrous earnestness. Of these we give one from the "Tatler" of August 24th 1710:--

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 pleasant malice of the above is patent enough, but we confess we are puzzled to know whether the following is genuine or not. We copied it from among a number of others, from which it was undistinguishable by any peculiarity of type:--

_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._ 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.--_Tatler_, December 16, 1710.

To pass, however, from the keen weapons of the brain to those of the flesh, it is interesting to fix with some tolerable accuracy the change which took place in the early part of the eighteenth century in what might be called the amusements of the fancy. The "noble art of defence," as it was termed, up to the time of the first George seems to have consisted in the broadsword exercise. Pepys describes in his "Diary" several bloody encounters of this kind which he himself witnessed; and the following advertisement, a half-century later, shows that the skilled weapon had not at that time been set aside for the more brutal fist:--

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.--_Postman_, July 4, 1701.

The savage character of the time may be judged from this public boast of Mr. Edmund Button that he had cut down six men with a murderous weapon. We question, however, if the age which could tolerate such ruffianism was not exceeded by the change which substituted the fist for the sword, and witnessed women entering the ring in the place of men. Some of the earliest notices of boxing-matches upon record, singularly enough, took place between combatants of the fair sex. In a public journal of 1722, for instance, we find the following gage of battle thrown down, and accepted:--

CHALLENGE.--I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some
words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring satisfaction, do invite her
to meet me upon the stage, and box me for three guineas; each woman
holding half-a-crown in each hand, and the first woman that drops the
money to lose the battle.

ANSWER.--I, Hannah Hyfield, of Newgate Market, hearing of the
resoluteness of Elizabeth Wilkinson, will not fail, _God willing_, to
give her more blows than words, desiring home blows, and from her no
favour: she may expect a good thumping!

The half-crowns in the hands was an ingenious device to prevent scratching! A still more characteristic specimen of one of these challenges to a fisticuff between two women is to be found in the _Daily Post_ of July 7th, 1728:--

At _Mr. Stokes' Amphitheatre_ in Islington Road, this present Monday,
being the 7 of October, will be a complete Boxing Match by the two
following Championesses:--Whereas I, Ann Field, of Stoke Newington,
ass-driver, well known for my abilities in boxing in my own defence
wherever it happened in my way, having been affronted by Mrs. Stokes,
styled the European Championess, do fairly invite her to a trial of
her best skill in Boxing for 10 pounds, fair rise and fall; and
question not but to give her such proofs of my judgement that shall
oblige her to acknowledge me Championess of the Stage, to the entire
satisfaction of all my friends.

I, Elizabeth Stokes, of the City of London, have not fought in this
way since I fought the famous boxing-woman of Billingsgate 29 minutes,
and gained a complete victory (which is six years ago); but as the
famous Stoke Newington ass-woman dares me to fight her for the 10
pounds, I do assure her I will not fail meeting her for the said sum,
and doubt not that the blows which I shall present her with will be
more difficult for her to digest than any she ever gave her
asses.--_Note._ A man, known by the name of Rugged and Tuff,
challenges the best man of Stoke Newington to fight him for one guinea
to what sum they please to venture. N.B. Attendance will be given at
one, and the encounter to begin at four precisely. There will be the
diversion of Cudgel-playing as usual.

Other advertisements about this time relate to cock-matches, sometimes "to last the week," to bull-baiting, and, more cruel still, to dressing up mad bulls with fireworks, in order to worry them with dogs. The brutal tone of manners, which set in afresh with the Hanoverian succession, might be alone gathered from the so-called sporting advertisements of the day; and we now see that Hogarth, in his famous picture, had no need to, and probably did not, draw upon his imagination for the combination of horrid cruelties therein depicted.

The very same tone pervaded the gallantry of the day, and we print two advertisements, one of the time of Anne, and the other of the age we are now illustrating, in order to contrast their spirit. We give the more polished one precedence:--

A gentleman who, the twentieth instant, had the honour to conduct a
lady out of a boat at Whitehall-stairs, desires to know where 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.--_Tatler_, March 21,
1709.

A certain courtly style and air of good breeding pervades this advertisement, of which Sir Richard Steele himself need not have been ashamed; but what a falling-off is here!--

Whereas a young lady was at Covent Garden playhouse last Tuesday
night, and received a blow with a square piece of wood on her breast;
if the lady be single, and meet me on Sunday, at two o'clock, on the
Mall in St. James's Park, or send a line directed for A. B., to Mr.
Jones's, at the Sun Tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard, where and when I
shall wait on her, to inform her of something very much to her
advantage on honourable terms, her compliance will be a lasting
pleasure to her most obedient servant.--_General Advertiser_, Feb. 8,
1748.

It would seem as though the beau had been forced to resort to a missile to make an impression, and then felt the necessity of stating that his intentions were "honourable," in order to secure an interview with his _innamorata_. Imagine, too, the open unblushing manner in which the assignation is attempted! We are far from saying that such matters are not managed now through the medium of advertisements, for we shall presently show they are, but in how much more carefully concealed a manner! The perfect contempt of public opinion, or rather the public acquiescence in such infringements of the moral law, which it exhibits, proves the general state of morality more than the infringements themselves, which obtain more or less at all times. Two of the causes which led to this low tone of manners with respect to women were doubtless the detestable profligacy of the courts of the two first Georges, and the very defective condition of the existing marriage law. William and Mary, and Anne, had, by their decorous, not to say frigid lives, redeemed the crown, and, in some measure, the aristocracy, from the vices of the Restoration. Crown, court, and quality, however, fell into a still worse slough on the accession of the Hanoverian king, who soiled afresh the rising tone of public life by his scandalous connection with the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of Darlington; whilst his son and successor was absolutely abetted in his vicious courses by his own queen, who promoted his commerce with his two mistresses, the Countesses of Suffolk and Yarmouth. The degrading influence of the royal manners was well seconded by the condition of the law. Keith's chapel in May Fair, and that at the Fleet, were the Gretna Greens of the age, where children could get married at any time of the day or night for a couple of crowns. It was said at the time, that at the former chapel six thousand persons were annually married in this off-hand way; the youngest of the beautiful Miss Gunnings was wedded to the Duke of Hamilton, at twelve o'clock at night, with a ring off the bed-curtain, at this very "marriage-shop." The fruits of such unions may be imagined. The easy way in which the marriage bond was worn and broken through is clearly indicated by the advertisements which absolutely crowd the public journals from the accession of the House of Brunswick up to the time of the third George, of husbands warning the public not to trust their runaway wives.

We have referred, in an early part of this paper, to the taste for blackamoors, which set in the reign of Charles II., and went on increasing until the middle of the next century, at which time there must have been a very considerable population of negro servants in the metropolis. At first the picturesque natives of the East were pressed into the service of the nobility and gentry, and colour does not appear to have been a _sine quâ non_. Thus we have in the _London Gazette_ of 1688 the following hue-and-cry advertisement:--

Run away from his master, Captain St. Lo, the 21st instant, Obdelah
Ealias Abraham, a Moor, swarthy complexion, short frizzled hair, a
gold ring in his ear, in a black coat and blew breeches. He took with
him a blew Turkish watch-gown, a Turkish suit of clothing that he used
to wear about town, and several other things. Whoever brings him to
Mr. Lozel's house in Green Street shall have one guinea for his
charges.

The next advertisement we find also relates to what we must consider an East Indian. The notion of property in these boys seems to have been complete; their masters put their names upon their collars, as they did upon their setters or spaniels:--

A black boy, an Indian, about thirteen years old, run away the 8th
instant from Putney, with a collar about his neck with this
inscription: 'the Lady Bromfield's black in Lincoln's Inn Fields.'
Whoever brings him to Sir Edward Bromfield's at Putney shall have a
guinea reward.--_The London Gazette_, 1694.

The traffic in African blacks, which commenced towards the end of the seventeenth century, seems to have displaced these eastern servitors towards the end of the century, for henceforth the word negro, blackamoor, or black boy, is invariably used. No doubt the fashion for these negroes and other coloured attendants was derived from the Venetian Republic, the intercourse of whose merchants with Africa and India naturally led to their introduction. Titian and other great painters of his school continually introduced them in their pictures, and our own great bard has for ever associated the Moor with the City in the Sea. In England the negro boys appear to have been considered as much articles of sale as they would have been in the slave-market at Constantinople. In the _Tatler_ of 1709 we find one offered to the public 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.

Again, in the _Daily Journal_ of September 28th, 1728, we light upon another:--

To be sold, a negro boy, aged eleven years. Enquire of the Virginia
Coffee-house in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange.

These were the overflowings of that infamous traffic in negroes, commenced by Sir John Hawkins in the year 1680, which tore from their homes, and transferred to Jamaica alone, no less than 910,000 Africans between that time and the year 1786, when the slave-trade was abolished.

We have brought the reader up to the date of the final battle which extinguished the hopes of the Stuarts and settled the line of Brunswick firmly on the throne. The year 1745 witnessed the commencement of the _General Advertiser_, the title of which indicates the purpose to which it was dedicated. This paper was the first successful attempt to depend for support upon the advertisements it contained, thereby creating a new era in the newspaper press. From the very outset its columns were filled with them, between fifty and sixty, regularly classified and separated by rules, appearing in each publication; in fact, the advertising page put on for the first time a modern look. The departure of ships is constantly notified, and the engravings of these old high-pooped vessels sail in even line down the column. Trading matters have at last got the upper hand. You see "a pair of leather bags," "a scarlet laced-coat," "a sword," still inquired after; and theatres make a show, for this was the dawning of the age of Foote, Macklin, Garrick, and most of the other great players of the last century; but, comparatively speaking, the gaieties and follies of the town ceased gradually from this time to proclaim themselves through the medium of advertisements. The great earthquake at Lisbon so frightened the people, that masquerades were prohibited by law, and the puppet-shows, the rope-dancing, the china-auctions, and public breakfasts henceforth grow scarcer and scarcer as the Ladies Betty and Sally, who inaugurated them, withdrew by degrees, withered, faded, and patched, from the scene.

The only signs of the political tendencies of the time to be gathered from the sources we are pursuing, are the party dinners, announcements of which are now and then to be met with as follows:--

To the Joyous.--The Bloods are desired to meet together at the house
known by the name of the Sir Hugh Middleton, near Saddler's Wells,
Islington, which Mr. Skeggs has procured for that day for the better
entertainment of those Gentlemen who agreed to meet at his own house.
Dinner will be on the Table punctually at two o'clock.--_General
Advertiser_, Jan. 13, 1748.

Or the following still more characteristic example from the same paper of April 12:--

Half-Moon Tavern, Cheapside.--Saturday next, the 16 of April, being
the anniversary of the Glorious Battle of Colloden, the Stars will
assemble in the Moon at Six in the evening. Therefore the Choice
Spirits are desired to make their appearance and fill up the
joy.--ENDYMION.

Within five-and-twenty years from this date most of the existing morning journals were established, and their advertising columns put on a guise closely resembling that which they now present. We need not therefore pursue our deep trenching into the old subsoil in order to turn up long-buried evidences of manners and fashions, for they have ceased to appear, either fossil or historical; we therefore boldly leap the gulf that intervenes between these old days and the present.

The early part of the present century saw the commencement of that liberal and systematic plan of advertising which marks the complete era in the art. Princely ideas by degrees took possession of the trading mind as to the value of this new agent in extending their business transactions. Packwood, some thirty years ago, led the way by impressing his razor-strop indelibly on the mind of every bearded member of the empire. Like other great potentates he boasted a laureate in his pay, and every one remembers the reply made to the individuals curious to know who drew up his advertisements: "La, sir, we keeps a poet!"

By universal consent, however, the world has accorded to the late George Robins the palm in this style of commercial puffing. His advertisements were really artistically written. Like Martin, he had the power of investing every landscape and building he touched with an importance and majesty not attainable by meaner hands. He did perhaps go beyond the yielding line of even poetical license, when he described one portion of a paradise he was about to submit to public competition as adorned, among other charms, with a "hanging wood," which the astonished purchaser found out meant nothing more than an old gallows. But then he redeemed slight manoeuvres of this kind by touches which really displayed a genius for puffing. On one occasion he had made the beauties of an estate so enchanting, that he found it necessary to blur it by a fault or two, lest it should prove too bright and good "for human nature's daily food." "But there are two drawbacks to the property," sighed out this Hafiz of the Mart, "the litter of the rose-leaves and the noise of the nightingales!" Certainly the force of exquisite puffing could no further go, and when he died the poetry of advertising departed. Others, such as Charles Wright of Champagne celebrity, have attempted to strike the strings; and Moses does, we believe, veritably keep a poet; but none of them have been able to rival George the Great, and we yawn as we read sonnets which end in the invariable "mart," or acrostics which refer to Hyam and Co.'s superior vests. Twenty years ago some of the daily newspapers admitted illustrated advertisements into their columns; now it would be fatal to any of them to do so. Nevertheless, they are by far the most effective of their class, as they call in the aid of another sense to express their meaning. All but the minors of the present generation must remember George Cruikshank's exquisite woodcut of the astonished cat viewing herself in the polished Hessian, which made the fortune of Warren. But in those days tradesmen only tried their wings for the flight. It was left to the present time to prove what unlimited confidence in the power of the advertisement will effect, and a short list of the sums _annually_ spent in this item by some of the most adventurous dealers will perhaps startle our readers.

"Professor" Holloway, Pills, etc. £30,000
Moses and Son 10,000
Rowland and Co. (Macassar oil, &c.) 10,000
Dr. De Jongh (cod-liver oil) 10,000
Heal and Sons (bedsteads and bedding) 6,000
Nicholls (tailor) 4,500

It does seem indeed incredible that one house should expend upon the mere advertising of quack pills and ointment a sum equal to the entire revenue of many a German principality. Can it possibly pay? asks the astonished reader. Let the increasing avenue of assistants, to be seen "from morn to dewy eve" wrapping up pills in the "professor's" establishment within the shadow of Temple Bar, supply the answer.[2] Vastly as the press of this country has expanded of late years, it has proved insufficient to contain within its limits the rapid current of puffing which has set in. Advertisements now overflow into our omnibuses, our cabs, our railway carriages, and our steamboats. Madame Tussaud pays 90_l._ monthly to the Atlas Omnibus Company alone for the privilege of posting her bills in their vehicles. They are inked upon the pavement, painted in large letters under the arches of the bridges and on every dead wall. Lloyd's weekly newspaper is stamped on the "full Guelph cheek" of the plebeian penny; the emissaries of Moses shower perfect libraries through the windows of the carriages which ply from the railway stations; and, as a crowning fact, Thackeray, in his "Journey from Cornhill to Cairo," tells us that Warren's blacking is painted up over an obliterated inscription to Psammetichus on Pompey's Pillar!

Having shown the reader the slow growth of the advertising column; having climbed, like "Jack in the Bean-stalk," from its humble root in the days of the Commonwealth up its still increasing stem in the succeeding hundred years, we now come upon its worthy flower in the shape of the sixteen-paged _Times_ of the present day. Spread open its broad leaves, and behold the greatest marvel of the age--the microcosm in type. Who can recognize in its ample surface, which reflects like some camera-obscura the wants, the wishes, the hopes, and the fears of this great city, the news-book of the Cromwellian times with its leash of advertisements? Herein we see how fierce is the struggle of two millions and a half of people for dear existence. Every advertisement writhes and fights with its neighbour, and every phase of society, brilliant, broken, or dim, is reflected in this battle-field of life. Let us tell off the rank and file of this army of announcements. On the 24th of May, 1855, the _Times_, in its usual sixteen-paged paper, contained the incredible number of 2,575 advertisements. Amazing as this total appears, we only arrive at its full significance by analyzing the vast array. Then, indeed, we feel what an important power is the great British publie. Of old the antechambers of the noble were thronged with poets, artists, publishers, tradesmen, and dependants of all kinds, seeking for the droppings of their favour; but what lordly antechamber ever presented such a crew of place-hunters, servitors, literary and scientific men, schemers, and shopkeepers as daily offer their services to the humblest individual who can spare a penny for an hour's perusal of the _Times_? Let us take this paper of the 24th of May and examine the crowd of persons and things which cry aloud through its pages, each attempting to make its voice heard above the other. Here we see a noble fleet of ships, 129 in number, chartered for the regions of gold, for America, for India, for Africa--for every port, in fact, where cupidity, duty, or affection holds out an attraction for the British race. Another column wearies the eye with its interminable line of "Wants." Here in long and anxious row we see the modern "mop" or statute-fair for hiring; 429 servants of all grades, from the genteel lady's-maid or the "thorough cook," who will only condescend to accept service where two footmen are kept, to the humble scullery-maid, on that day passed their claims before us for inspection. Another column is noisy with auctioneers; 136 of whom notify their intention of poising their impatient hammers when we have favoured them with our company. Here we see a crowd of booksellers offering, hot from the press, 195 new volumes, many of which, we are assured by the appended critique, "should find a place in every gentleman's library." There are 378 houses, shops, and establishments presented to us to select from; and 144 lodging-house keepers, "ladies having houses larger than they require," and medical men who own "retreats," press forward with genteel offers of board and lodging. Education pursues her claims by the hands of no less than 144 preceptors, male and female; whilst the hair, the skin, the feet, the teeth, and the inward man are offered the kind attention of thirty-six professors who possess infallible remedies for all the ills that flesh is heir to. The remainder is made up of the miscellaneous cries of tradesmen, whose voices rise from every portion of the page like the shouting of chapmen from a fair. In the midst of all this struggle for gold, place, and position, which goes on every day in this wonderful publication, outcries from the very depths of the heart, passionate tears, bursts of indignation, and heartrending appeals, startle one as they issue from the second column of its front page. Here the father sees his prodigal son afar off and falls upon his neck; the heartbroken mother implores her runaway child to return; or the abandoned wife searches through the world for her mate. It is strange how, when the eye is saturated with the thirst after mammon exhibited by the rest of the broadsheet, the heart becomes touched by these plaintive but searching utterances, a few of which we reproduce:--

The one-winged Dove must die unless the Crane returns to be a shield
against her enemies.--_Times_ of 1850.

Or here is another which moves still more:--

B. J. C.--How more than cruel not to write. Take pity on such patient
silence.--_Times_, 1850.

The most ghastly advertisement which perhaps ever appeared in a public journal we copy from this paper of the year 1845. It is either a threat to inter a wrong body in the "family vault," or an address to a dead man:--

To the Party who Posts His Letters in Prince's Street, Leicester
Square.--Your family is now in a state of excitement unbearable. Your
attention is called to an advertisement in Wednesday's _Morning
Advertiser_, headed, "A body found drowned at Deptford." After your
avowal to your friend as to what you might do, he has been to see the
decomposed remains, accompanied by others. The features are gone; but
there are marks on the arm; so that, unless they hear from you to-day,
it will satisfy them that the remains are those of their misguided
relative, and steps will be directly taken to place them in the family
vault, as they cannot bear the idea of a pauper's funeral.

Sometimes we see the flashing eyes of indignation gleaming through the very words. The following is evidently written to an old lover with all the burning passion of a woman deceived:--

It is enough; one man alone upon earth have I found noble. Away from
me for ever! Cold heart and mean spirit, you have lost what
millions--empires--could not have bought, but which a single word
truthfully and nobly spoken might have made your own to all eternity.
Yet you are forgiven: depart in peace: I rest in my
Redeemer.--_Times_, Sept. 1st, 1852.

Sometimes it is more confiding love "wafting a sigh from Indus to the pole," or, finger on lip, speaking secretly, and as he thinks securely, through the medium of cipher advertisements to the loved one. Sweet delusion! There are wicked philosophers abroad who unstring the bow of harder toil by picking your inmost thoughts! Lovers beware! intriguers tremble! Many a wicked passage of illicit love, many a joy fearfully snatched, which passed through the second column of the first page of the _Times_ as a string of disjointed letters, unintelligible as the correspondents thought, to all the world but themselves, have we seen fairly copied out in plain if not always good English in the commonplace books of these cunning men at cryptographs. Here, for instance, we give an episode from the life of "Flo," which appeared in the _Times_ of 1853-54, as a proof:--

Flo.--Thou voice of my heart! Berlin, Thursday. I leave next Monday,
and shall press you to my heart on Saturday. God bless you!--_Nov. 29,
1853._

Flo.--The last is wrong. I repeat it. Thou voice of my heart. I am so
lonely, I miss you more than ever. I look at your picture every night.
I send you an Indian shawl to wear round you while asleep after
dinner. It will keep you from harm, and you must fancy my arms are
around you. God bless you! how I do love you!--_Dec. 23, 1853._

Flo.--My own love, I am happy again; it is like awaking from a bad
dream. You are, my life; to know that there is a chance of seeing you,
to hear from you, to do things to enough. [There is some error here.]
I shall try to see you soon. Write to me as often as you can. God
bless you, thou voice of my heart!--_Jan. 2, 1854._

Flo.--Thou voice of my heart! How I do love you! How are you? Shall
you be laid up this spring? I can see you walking with your darling.
What would I give to be with you! Thanks for your last letter. I fear
nothing but separation from you. You are my world, my life, my hope.
Thou more than life, farewell! God bless you!--_Jan. 6, 1854._

Flo.--I fear, dearest, our cipher is discovered: write at once to your
friend "Indian Shawl" (P.O.), Buckingham, Bucks.--_Jan. 7, 1845._

The advertisement of January 7th is written in a great fright, and refers to the discovery and exposure of the cipher in the _Times_ newspaper; for whenever the aforesaid philosophers perceive that a secret correspondence has arrived at a critical point they charitably insert a marplot advertisement in the same cipher. The "Flo" intrigue was carried on in figures, the key to which is as follows:--

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
y. u. o. i. e. a. d. k. h. f.
s. t. n. m. r. l. d. g. w. p.
x. c. b.
v.

The reader will perhaps remember another mad-looking advertisement which appeared in the year 1853, headed "Cenerentola." The first, dated Feb. 2nd, we interpret thus:--

Cenerentola, I wish to try if you can read this, and am most anxious
to hear the end, when you return, and how long you remain here. Do
write a few lines, darling, please: I have been very far from happy
since you went away.

One of the parties cannot frame an adequate explanation of some delicate matter clearly, as we find on the 11th the following:--

Cenerentola, until my heart is sick have I tried to frame an
explanation for you, but cannot. Silence is safest, if the true cause
is not suspected; if it is, all stories will be sifted to the bottom.
Do you remember our cousin's first proposition?--think of it.

The following, which appeared on the 19th of the same month, is written in plain language, and is evidently a specimen of the marplot advertisement before alluded to:--

Cenerentola, what nonsense! Your cousin's proposition is absurd. I
have given an explanation--the true one--which has perfectly satisfied
both parties--a thing which silence never could have effected. So no
more such absurdity.

The secret of this cipher consisted in representing each letter by the twenty-second onward continually. One more specimen of these singular advertisements and we have done. On Feb. 20, 1852, there appeared in the _Times_ the following mysterious line:--

Tig tjohw it tig jfhiirvola og tig psgvw.--F. D. N.

The general reader, doubtless, looked upon this jumble of letters with some such a puzzled air as the mastiff gives the tortoise in a very popular French bronze; but not being able to make anything out of it, passed on to the more intelligible contents of the paper. A friend of ours, however, was curious and intelligent enough to extract the plain English out of it, though not without much trouble, as thus:--If we take the first word of the sentence, Tig, and place under its second letter i the one which alphabetically precedes it, and treat the next letters in a similar manner, we shall have the following combination:--

T i g
h f
e

Reading the first letters obliquely we have the article "The;" if we treat the second word in the same manner, the following will be the result:--

T j o h w
i. n. g. v.
m. f. u.
e. t.
s.

which, read in the same slanting way, produces the word _Times_, and the whole sentence, thus ingeniously worked out, gives up its latent and extraordinary meaning, thus--

"The _Times_ is the Jefferies of the press."

What could have induced any one to take so much trouble thus to plant a hidden insult into the leading journal, we cannot divine. "East," "He Blew," "Willie and Fanny," "Dominoes," and "My darling A.," need not feel uncomfortable although we know their secrets. We have said quite enough to prove to these individuals that such ciphers as they use, are picked immediately by any cryptographic Hobbs; indeed, all systems of writing which depend upon transmutations of the letters of the alphabet, or the substitution of figures for letters, such as we generally find in the _Times_, are mere puzzles for children, and not worthy of the more cunning or finished in the art.

It is not to be expected, with all the caution exhibited by the morning papers to prevent the insertion of swindling advertisements that rogues do not now and then manage to take advantage of their great circulation for the sake of forwarding their own nefarious schemes. Sir Robert Carden has just done good service by running to earth the Mr. Fynn, who for years has lived abroad in splendour at the expense of the poor governesses he managed to victimize through the advertising columns of the _Times_. One's heart sickens at the stream of poor young ladies his promises have dragged across the continent, and the consequences which may have resulted from their thus putting their reputation as well as their money into his power. Such scandalous traps as these are, of course, rare; but the papers are full of minor pitfalls, into which the unwary are continually falling, sometimes with their eyes wide open. Of the latter class are the matrimonial advertisements; here is a specimen of one of the most artful of its kind we ever remember to have seen:--

To Girls of Fortune--Matrimony.--A bachelor, young, amiable, handsome,
and of good family, and accustomed to move in the highest sphere of
society, is embarrassed in his circumstances. Marriage is his only
hope of extrication. This advertisement is inserted by one of his
friends. Ingratitude was never one of his faults, and he will study
for the remainder of his life to prove his estimation of the
confidence placed in him.--Address, post-paid, L. L. H. L., 47, King
Street, Soho.--N.B. The witticisms of cockney scribblers deprecated.

The air of candour, and the taking portrait of the handsome bachelor, whose very poverty is converted into a charm, is cleverly assumed. An announcement of a much less flattering kind, but probably of a more genuine and honourable nature, was published in _Blackwood_ some time ago, which we append, as, like Landseer's dog-pictures, the two form a capital pair illustrative of high and low life.

Matrimonial Advertisement.--I hereby give notice to all unmarried
women, that I, John Hobnail, am at this writing five-and-forty, a
widower, and in want of a wife. As I wish no one to be mistaken, I
have a good cottage, with a couple of acres of land, for which I pay
2_l._ a year. I have five children, four of them old enough to be in
employment; three sides of bacon, and some pigs ready for market. I
should like to have a woman fit to take care of her house when I am
out. I want no second family. She may be between forty and fifty if
she likes. A good sterling woman would be preferred, who would take
care of the pigs.

The following is also matter of fact, but it looks suspicious:--

Matrimony to Milliners and Dressmakers. A young man about to EMIGRATE
to SOUTH AUSTRALIA would be happy to form an alliance with a young
woman in the above line possessing 60_l._ or 100_l._ property. Any one
so disposed, by applying by letter (post-paid) to T. Hall, 175, Upper
Thames Street, till Saturday next, appointing an interview, may depend
on prompt attention and strict secrecy.--_Times_, 1845.

The matrimonial bait is so obviously a good one, that of late years we see advertisements of institutions, at which regular lists of candidates for the marriage state, both male and female, are kept, together with portraits, and a ledger in which pecuniary and mental qualifications are neatly posted. Such springes are only suited, however, for the grossest folly; but there is another class of advertisements which empties the pockets of the industrious and aspiring in a very workmanlike manner: we allude to such as the following:--

Gentlemen having a respectable circle of acquaintance may hear of
means of INCREASING their INCOME without the slightest pecuniary risk,
or of having (by any chance) their feelings wounded. Apply for
particulars, by letter, stating their position, &c., to W. R., 37,
Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square.

Gentlemen whose feelings are so delicate that they must not be injured on any consideration, who nevertheless have a desire for lucre, we recommend not to apply to such persons, unless they wish to receive for their pains some such a scheme as was forwarded to a person who had answered an advertisement (enclosing, as directed, thirty postage-stamps) in _Lloyd's Weekly Journal_, headed "How to make 2_l._ per week by the outlay of 10_s._":--

"First purchase 1 cwt. of large-sized potatoes, which may be obtained
for the sum of 4_s._, then purchase a large basket, which will cost
say another 4_s._, then buy 2_s._ worth of flannel blanketing, and
this will comprise your stock in trade, of which the total cost is
10_s._ A large-sized potato weighs about half a pound, consequently
there are 224 potatoes in a cwt.

"Take half the above quantity of potatoes each evening to a baker's,
and have them baked; when properly cooked put them in your basket,
well wrapped up in the flannel to keep them hot, and sally forth and
offer them for sale at one penny each. Numbers will be glad to
purchase them at that price, and you will for certain be able to sell
half a cwt. every evening. From the calculation made below you will
see by that means you will be able to earn 2_l._ per week. The best
plan is to frequent the most crowded thoroughfares, and make good use
of your lungs; thus letting people know what you have for sale. You
could also call in at each public-house on your way, and solicit the
patronage of the customers, many of whom would be certain to buy of
you. Should you have too much pride to transact the business yourself
(though no one need be ashamed of pursuing an honest calling), you
could hire a boy for a few shillings a week, who could do the work for
you, and you could still make a handsome profit weekly.

"The following calculation proves that 2_l._ per week can be made by
selling baked potatoes:--