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PUBLICITY.
AN ESSAY ON ADVERTISING.
1




www.
SHOPS IN WESTMINSTER HALL, A.D. 1790.
In the third chapter the reader will find a description of the above print. It formed a satire on the legal profession, and at the same time the
trade advertisement of a well-known firm of engravers possessing at that time the privilege of keeping a shop in the Hall.
[See page 75.
Frontispiece.
PUBLICITY.
AN ESSAY ON ADVERTISING.
1
BY AN ADEPT OF 35 YEARS' EXPERIENCE.
(EX-SHERIFF AND EX-M.P.),
MED ALLIST OF THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
Nico!! Donald
PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE FOR
PARLIAMENTARY, PATENT, AND ADVERTISING AGENCY,
15, CLEMENT'S INN, LONDON.
1878.
Price 5s. 6d., bound in cloth, and Illustrated.
r
BUTLER & Tanner,
THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
FROME, AND LONDON.
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PREFACE.
"Let those now advertise who never advertised before,
Let those who always advertise now advertise the more.'
Parnell, or Catullus paraphrased. Pervigilium Veneris.
UNCERTAINTY having existed in the mind of the
writer whether the subject and incidents herewith
offered for consideration came within the customary
province of an essay, he thereupon resolved to sub-
mit the entire ménu (collected with much care and
attention) to the judgment of a friend highly ex-
perienced in the literary world.
Answering the question, "What is an essay?"
our friend said, "It is neither more. nor less
than the result of bringing together any kind of
information serving to throw light on the subject.
chosen by the essayist." He further remarked,
“You have selected a theme which, in point of
extent assumes proportions of an oceanic cha-
racter, as scarcely any limit can be given to the
uses or expansive nature of advertising and its
correlatives. The writer of an essay takes out
letters of marque and reprisal, and is justified in
causing to be absorbed into his pages suggestive
(or illustrative) points made by authors of repute.
042142
راق
vi
PREFACE.
Our critic (continuing his observations) suggested,
"that an essay might justly be compared to the
famous Spanish dish, ollapodrida; because, how-
ever substantial and satisfying the work may be,
yet it would prove as nothing, or worse than
nothing, without being accompanied by a reasonable
proportion of condiment. Spice (he said) is not
always of home growth, therefore you may travel
abroad and collect it where you can, taking care,
however, that an overdose of seasoning is not served
up with other and more nutritious ingredients.
6
"It appears you have set out with the object,
of showing, by various authorities, that the strides
of civilization have created the food you call
'Publicity,' together with an insatiable appetite on
the part of the multitude, in fact a constant de-
mand like the cry of the descendants of the
daughter of the horse leech, Give! Give!" At
the same time, you have on just grounds claimed
the right to explain from facts mainly within your
personal knowledge and observation, that Publicity
(or Advertising) to be successful must exhibit in-
creased intelligence, and power of condensation ;
that is to say, more than has hitherto (as a general
rule) been devoted to the several purposes required
to be so influenced."
4
}
PREFACE
CONTENTS.
1
•
;
CHAPTER I.
Main Objects of the Essay Explained .
Starting-Point of Trading Publicity
Credentials of the Writer
•
Barnumism or Quackery to be Abjured by Advertisers
Patience, and a System, needful for Success
Long Credit versus Ready Money
The Subject of an Advertisement, and How to Publish it
A Combination of Wholesale with Retail Trades Highly
Advantageous
:
Co-operative Associations and Competitive Advertisers
Rowland Hill
Newspapers of the Olden Time
CHAPTER II.
Advantages of Employing an Advertising Agent
Dodges by Canvassers
Agents in Lieu of Principals
Circular Advertisements
George Robins-Drapery War
Hoardings and Posters
•
Pertinacious and Impertinent Systems by a Certain Class
of Advertisers
Park Walls and Poetical Advertisements
•
CHAPTER III.
Cabs and Elections
Dickens's Hackney Coach
PAGE
V.
1
5
6
9
10
11
13
14
15
20
21
25
26
31
37
•
39
45
47
49
51
52
viii
CONTENTS.
Cabby's Advertising Manoeuvres.
Mr. and Mrs. Manning
Hogarth an Advertising Agent, with an Illustration of
Tyburn
Earls Ferrers and Strafford-Photo of an Old Print
and Advertisement of the Execution of the latter,
also of his trial in Westminster, and description of
Frontispiece
Broughton's Academy and George Selwyn rivalled by a
would-be Successor to Calcraft .
CHAPTER IV.
Conviction of Crime Assisted by Advertisements
Advertised Chambers of Horror
Her Majesty Struck by a Miscreant
Bodies Advertised for-One found on Hampstead Heath
Public Authorities Utilised for a Private Puff
Matrimonial Advertisements Present and Past
Designs for Advertisements at Railway Stations
CHAPTER V.
Illustration of British Museum and Advertisements-Time
of Charles the Second-Photo of a Journal of that
Period and various Remarks thereupon, and Dr. John-
son on Advertising
PAGE
55
58
61
67
78
88
91
92
94
100
104
115
118
Old London Shops and Old Advertisements
142
Curious Poetry Illustrating the Apparel and Dangers of
Early Citizens
149
Advertisement of War between Turkey and Austria Two
Hundred Years ago
150
Pepys, and Site of an old London Theatre
152
Ancient Dwellings about Clements Inn-The Old Forge
Signboards.
and the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex.
Some London Journals, and “Twice Round the Clock
Hogarth and his Colleagues-Their Collection of Ancient
The Liber Albus, A.D. 1419
154
"
155
166
168
•
A
The Ancient City of Westminster and its Announcements 170
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CONTENTS.
ix
1
Metropolitan Board of Works and Abolition of Public
Signboards
A few more Quaint Advertisements, with Anecdotes of the
Shrievalty, and Site of New Courts of Law with
illustration of Old Site-Queer Acts of Parliament
CHAPTER VI.
Circulars-English Taste-American Smartness-Mad as
a Hatter-French Feuilletonistes
Whole-column Advertisements
·
Woolgathering at Temple Bar, by an Advertiser.
PAGE
171
172
•
:
187
193
Adhesive Labels and Practical Jokes.
194
195
F. M. the Duke of Wellington and a Lost Pocket-book,
by another Advertiser
196
A Furnishing Manoeuvre and Lavish use of Telegrams
Pyramids of Egypt not Sacred from Magic Paste and
197
Strops
198
The Abduction of Zazel-What is it?
199
Barnumism in England-Newspaper Paragraphs
202
CHAPTER VII.
Babylon the Great and Journalism in the Reign of
George the Fourth
204
Advertisements of the Period, their Nature and Effect
206
Reporting, how Managed then
210
The Times and its Management Contrasted with other
Journals in 1824.
211
Classification of Advertisements
212
Photo of the Leading Article sheet of The Times published
in 1824
214
Weekly Newspapers and Class Journals, also Magazines, for
Advertising Purposes.
217
CHAPTER VIII.
Theatrical Advertisements.
219
Ballooning-H. S. H. the Duke of Brunswick
The Sailor King
220
222
The Aërial Ship, Where can it be?
222
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CONTENTS.
Macaulay and Literary Puffs
New and Improved Way to form Trading and other Com-
panies
to Advertisers
Syndicates, 28th and 29th Vic., also Supplementary Counsel
PAGE
223
229
233
CHAPTER IX.
Withdrawal from Parliament of the Second Attempt on
Patent Law
248
Publicity" and Competition essential for the Public
Service
248
Inventors, their Treatment by Governmental Departments,
also as to Ironclads
249
·
Letter of a French Engineer anent the Admiralty
250
Appropriation by Government of Discoveries without pay-
ment.
256
Rights of the complaining Subject not Libellous
More Governmental Snubbing
256
257
Government Contracts and the Weedon Enquiry
Snider; Cort; Lord Melville
263
267
New First Lord and the Circumlocution Office
The Press, and Inventions to meet its Requirements .
Publicity in Police Courts sometimes Abused
273
•
'277
279
Technical Education promoted by City Guilds-Old Enter-
tainments-Charitable Advertisements also as to In-
dian Famine and the Poor Laws
CHAPTER X.
Patents, their Value to Advertisers, and Numerous Anec-
dotes connected therewith .
: 280
306
Watt, Lord Brougham's Epitaph to the Memory of
Earl Dudley Descended from an Inventor in the Black
Country
: 310
310
Lord Foley also so Descended-Lord Belper, from the
Patentee of a Stocking-frame
310
Wheatstone, Cooke, Armstrong, Whitworth, Brown,
Thompson, the two Fairbairns
311
High Prices Excite Infringement and Evasion of Patent
Rights
322
CONTENTS.
xi
F
Good and Bad Legislation in respect to Marks generally
The How-not-to-do-it Office, being a New Creation or In-
cubus upon Trade Marks
Merchants-Marks and Trade-Marks
PAGE
325
326
328
New Fashions-Registration of Desigus applicable thereto 329
CHAPTER XI.
Magna Charta the First Great National Advertisement
The English Mercurie, A.D. 1588, Reporting Spanish Ar-
mada.
330
330
The Weekely Newes, A.D. 1606, Reporting the Execution of
"The Gunpowder Plot" Conspirators, and their Por-
traits.
331
The London Gazette, A.D. 1666, and the Fire of London, fol-
lowed by Essence of various Old Journals
Official Report of the Battle of the Nile.-The Times, A.D.
1798
335
347
Official Report of the Death of Nelson.-The Times, A D.
1805
•
349
Official Report of the Battle of Waterloo.-The Times, A.D.
1815
•
Number of Newspapers and Periodicals now Published-
Their Views, Political, Religious, Commercial, etc.
Caxton's Advertisement, his Apprenticeship and Type-
Hesitation to Publish, and O. W. Holmes on a Similar
Subject
352
•
356
357
"
APPENDIX.
Circular of an Agency Office in Relation to Advertising,
etc.
Specimens of a few Specialties in 1877
Cost of English and Foreign Patents
Cost of Copyright for New Fashions.
Mercurius Domesticus "
Advertisements of various Journals.
372
374
•
378
388
•
390
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CHAPTER I.
Why then the world's mine oyster
Which I with sword will open."
EREMY BENTHAM once said, "Publicity is the soul
of justice;' and justice, in a certain sense, may be
accepted as meaning force applied to benefit the
public, with the intention to produce "the greatest
happiness of the greatest number"-a phrase of Dr.
Priestley's, but chosen by old Jeremy as the lode-
star of his life.
This essay, if probably in a new way, will at any
rate earnestly seek to explain the means whereby the
representatives of scientific, mercantile, and manu-
facturing interests may justly, forcibly, yet dis-
creetly, appeal to the public for profit and support
in relation to their several proclivities, rather than
remain dependent on a localised or circumscribed
few.
It will also be sought to lay bare the common
shoals, or rocks, on which many a goodly enterprise
has been stranded and wrecked, through spasmodic,
ill-considered, and ill-directed advertisements.
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PUBLICITY.
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To complete the programme, it may here be
mentioned that a considerable number of incidents
will be offered for consideration, notwithstanding
that many of them originated at comparatively dis-
tant periods; for instance, the earliest records
known of anything of the nature of advertisement
as we now accept its meaning to be) will be taken
to be those described by the sign-boards formerly
swinging from every shop or city booth, superadded
thereto by quaint cries from apprentices and serving
These cries are faithfully represented by Sir
Walter Scott in his charming work, "The Fortunes
of Nigel," especially where Jin Vin, and his brethren
of the bat with sparkling wit, recommend the wares
of their employers.
men.
"The shop of a London tradesman at that time,
as may be supposed, was something very different
from those we now see in the same locality.* The
goods were exposed to sale in cases, only defended
from the weather by a covering of canvas, and the
whole resembled the stalls and booths now erected
for the temporary accommodation of dealers at a
country fair, rather than established emporiums
of respectable citizens. Stout bodied and strong-
voiced apprentices, like unto Jin Vin, kept up
the cry of What d'ye lack? what d'ye lack?'
accompanied with the appropriate recommendations
of the articles in which they dealt. This direct
•
* The author of “The Fortunes of Nigel" refers to old Cheapside.
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PUBLICITY.'
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and personal application for custom to those who
chanced to pass by is now, we believe, limited to
Monmouth Street (if it still exists in that repository
of ancient garments), under the guardianship of the
scattered remnant of Israel. But at the time we
are speaking of, it was practised alike by Jew and
Gentile, and served, instead of all our present news-
paper puffs and advertisements, to solicit the atten-
tion of the public in general, and of friends in
particular, to the unrivalled excellence of the goods,
which they offered for sale upon such easy terms,
that it might fairly appear that the vendors had
rather a view to the general service of the public
than to their own particular advantage.
:
"The verbal proclaimers of the excellence of their
commodities had this advantage over those who, in
the present day, use the public papers for the same
purpose, that they could in many cases adapt their
address to the peculiar appearance and apparent
taste of the passengers. This became, however, a
dangerous temptation to the young wags who were
employed in the task of solicitation during the
absence of the principal person interested in the
traffic; and, confiding in their numbers and civic
union, the 'prentices of London were often seduced
into taking liberties with the passengers, and exer-
cising their wit at the expense of those whom they
had no hopes of converting into customers by their
eloquence. If this were resented by any acts of
violence, the inmates of each shop were ready to
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PUBLICITY."
pour forth in succour; and in the words of an old
song which Dr. Johnson was used to hum,-
'Up then rose the 'prentices all,
Living in London, both proper and tall.'
"Chaucer thus describes the London apprentice
and his irrepressible love of sight-seeing and tend-
ency for excitement:--
C6
'When there any ridings were in Cheap,
Out of the shop thither would he leap;
And till that he had all the sight yseen,
And danced well, he would not come again.'
Desperate riots often arose on such occasions,
especially when the Templars, or other youths con-
nected with the aristocracy, were insulted, or con-
ceived themselves to be so. Upon such occasions
bare steel was frequently opposed to the clubs of
the citizens, and death sometimes ensued on both
sides. The tardy and inefficient police of the time
had no other resource than by the Alderman of the
ward calling out the householders, and putting a stop
to the strife by overpowering numbers, as the Capu-
lets and Montagues are separated upon the stage."
Thus Jenkin Vincent, or Jin Vin as he was called,
addressed the passengers.
"What d'ye lack, noble sir?—What d’ye lack,
beauteous madam?' he said, in a tone at once bold
and soothing, which often was so applied as both to
gratify the persons addressed, and to excite a smile
from other hearers.-' God bless your reverence,'
to a beneficed clergyman; the Greek and Hebrew
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66 PUBLICITY.'
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have harmed your reverence's eyes. Buy a pair of
David Ramsay's barnacles. The King-God bless
his sacred Majesty !—never reads Hebrew or Greek
without them. What d'ye lack?' resuming his
solicitations Mirrors for your toilette, my pretty
madam; your head-gear is something awry-pity,
since it is so well fancied.' The woman stopped
and bought a mirror. What d'ye lack ?-a watch,
?—a
Master Sergeant-a watch that will go as long as a
lawsuit, as steady and true as your own eloquence.'
"Hold your peace, sir,' answered the Knight of
the Coif, who was disturbed by Vin's address whilst
in deep consultation with an eminent attorney;
'hold your peace! You are the loudest-tongued
varlet betwixt the Devil's Tavern and Guildhall.""
Starting, chiefly from the reign of the grandson
of the monarch figuring so conspicuously in the
narrative of the Great Wizard of the North, that is
to say, from the reign of Charles the Second, the
readers of this essay will be taken by several strides
till they arrive far into the present year of grace
1877.
In the course of our literary voyage we pur-
pose to give sketches of journalism associated with
advertisements, and as the same have prevailed
during the several periods referred to. From these
illustrations it will be seen that the progress of the
functions of journalists and advertisers from the
time of the Merry Monarch went hand in hand (or
rather, neck and neck) up to the early days of the
6
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PUBLICITY."
fourth of the Georges, when journalism sprang
rapidly ahead, the result being its present condition,
whereas advertising, though ever increasing in point
of quantity, nevertheless its nature or quality has
(from some unexplained cause) far from followed
suit.
It is, the intended mission or purpose of this
essay to show how the pace and style may be judi-
ciously stimulated, so that (to use another racy ex-
pression) more money may be safely put upon the
good nag Advertisement, with the hope that upon
better training, it may become a fit and stable com-
panion for its mighty compeer.
In the course of the essay it is proposed to deal
with those important questions, the co-operative or
wholesale warehouse systems, and to show that a
certain class of advertisers are more competent to
bring the consumer and producer into beneficial
contact than the promoters of either of the said
systems can possibly be.
The author will take leave to use the editorial we,
as such an arrangement has hitherto been found
convenient to the writers of essays. It may ab
initio be asked, what are the credentials constitut-
ing the present writer to be an authority upon the
subject on which he seeks to establish a claim to
be heard? Postponing the use of the said editorial
title in order to answer a question so peculiarly
personal in its nature, the writer desires very briefly
to state that he has the honour to possess medals
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PUBLICITY."
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and diplomas presented by the International Exhi-
bitions of London, Paris, Vienna, and Moscow,
and other similar awards, extending from the
year 1851 to 1873; and further, that the school
he has attended during many years is without a
royal approach, being strictly that of experience,
and of a costly nature; this may easily be under-
stood to be the case, when the writer states that
affidavits and pleadings in the Court of Chancery
show that in order to create a valuable trade-mark
he has (mainly by advertisements) spent over
£100,000.
But it may be said, "Is there any proof that
unusual opportunities have existed for acquiring
special knowledge of the various subjects in ques-
tion?" The answer to this is that the writer
has not only in mercantile pursuits held in charge
many important interests, but as a member of the
legislature, and in other offices, he has been called
upon to discharge the highest duties his fellow-
subjects have the power to confer; consequently
much information in respect to the requirements
of society at large has from time to time neces-
sarily been brought within his supervision.
The advice of the writer has been sought by
numerous beginners in business, especially with
regard to the formation of an advertising system,
or as they would call it in France, "the pièce de
résistance of a mercantile menu." Of course each
case, or nearly so, has been regulated by the
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amount of available capital, and other surround-
ings; but so few are the instances in which the
system (recommended by the writer) has failed to
lead to conspicuous success, that a rule has al-
most been established by the singular amount of
exception thereto.
One adventure was the source of considerable
personal loss to the writer; however, it was proved
by the public accountants employed on winding up
the affair, that the loss could in no way be attri-
buted to the system recommended, but that such
exclusively belonged to outside speculation and an
involvement in a great banking firm, which sud-
denly collapsed to the extent of £2,000,000 sterling.
The advertising system of business (stopped for
a very short time) was forthwith revived upon its
original basis, and reappeared as a highly pros-
perous concern, being free from its foreign and
parasitical claims.
We assert that advertising should be treated
scientifically; in other words, a carefully considered
plan should be outlined and subsequently persevered
in; therefore, assuming a merchant, scientific in-
ventor, manufacturer, or trader of any kind is
desirous to address the whole civilized world, or a
large section of it, and with the view to originate
or extend a business, not being content with such
opportunities as are afforded by merely local
position or chance custom, acting therefore on
such an assumption, we will first call attention
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"PUBLICITY.'
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to advertisements in public journals, and other
similar means, as the readiest methods for the
accomplishment of the desired end.
We are free to admit that a Barnum-like course
of publicity may occasionally be attended with suc-
cess, and chiefly by the amusing absurdity by which
such a system is generally accompanied; but we
maintain that unless the object or matter adver-
tised before the public has a sub-stratum of truth,
honesty, and propriety, then loss and not gain will
ensue. Moreover, the superstructure and promise
held forth to the world must be capable of bearing
reasonable and even rigid enquiry.
From the natural mystery of a quack doctor's
business, rank charlatanism has therein reaped de-
grading success, but to the honour and credit of
public journals of the present day, disgusting and
false appeals are now generally excluded from the
public gaze; and the newspapers have lost nothing
by their motion, as from the time of such exclusion
the number of advertisers largely increased. Few
like to see their names and honest intentions
brought into juxta-position with lying quackery,
either brazen-faced or artfully concealed. Most of
us regret that Hogarth, by one of his immortal plates,
unfortunately gave wide publicity to a well-known
quack doctor of his day; but for one speculator,
even in that way, who may have succeeded, we are
prepared to quote twenty whom the public have
repelled with disgust.
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PUBLICITY.'
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Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis." Now
more than ever is it found to be advantageous when
the matter advertised is one of general consump-
tion, and obviously tends to promote the comfort
and enjoyment of civilized life. In point of fact
these matters stand in the front rank, especially
where persons combine a wholesale with a retail
business. This point of view we will further refer
to while considering the remarkable results of the
efforts of modern co-operative societies, which, if
they mean anything by their avowed objects, really
represent an intention to bring the customer into
direct communication with the actual importer.
Scarcely any limit exists to the field now open
to judicious advertisers, and it is difficult to point
to any branch of industry, or development of human
knowledge, unavailable by means of this nature
for extended energy, skill, and capital. The lat-
ter, especially, must correspond with the intended
object of the advertiser, and some can make the
same amount do twice the quantity of work others
are able to effect. The given object must not only
be pursued with courage, but also with patience, as
frequently the advertiser must place himself in the
position of a cultivator of the soil, that is to say,
he must watch with resignation the seed he has
sown, and so much as may germinate he must pro-
tect, until fully ready for the public market. With
an advertiser, however, it is not merely a single
crop he has to regard, because when his name is once
66 PUBLICITY.'
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established upon the public mind, an unceasing and
almost involuntary fructification usually sets in, and
he may gradually create his own market, especially
if he has what is termed a specialty, and lets the
world become thoroughly acquainted with its merits,
and where and on what terms it can be obtained.
It will much facilitate success if the terms can be
represented by cash tenders, or as nearly so as may
be possible, seeing that it requires a large capital
(often enough to retire upon could it be realized) in
order to provide against the lock-up of a long credit.
system.
It is something marvellous to contemplate the
old state of things, particularly as regards traders.
These persons not only trusted their customers
with pretty well all their own capital, but all they
could themselves obtain on trust from warehouse-
men or merchants, who did the like with the original
producer, who again borrowed of his bankers, who
lent the money deposited with them by the said
original customers, who ought to have paid cash to
the retailer in the first instance, instead of turning
the old wheel round involving many deceptive and
useless profits. We have met with instances where
accounts opened by the grandfather have not been
balanced up in the time of their grandsons. The
trader may have regularly sent in his Christmas bill,
but he did not dare to press or dun his customer
for a settlement, and felt only too glad if he could
obtain some cash occasionally on account; it is true
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PUBLICITY."
his prices or profits were never questioned, and he
could thus afford to pay a high rate for the accom-
modation he and the other spokes of the wheel ne-
cessarily required. The recuperative effects of short
credit and quick returns are too well known to re-
quire illustration here; but it is pertinent to the
question under consideration if we state that it is
almost impossible for a well advertised specialty
to take any other course. We will here quote an
instance within the personal knowledge of the
writer. "What a vast number of entries under
the letters R. M. are in your ledger," said an
accountant to the advertiser of a specialty; "one
would think you had the whole of Her Majesty's
Royal Marines upon your books.' "R. M. means
'ready money,' was the reply;" because strangers
called and on paying for their purchases, took them
away; therefore entries of the several transactions,
under the initials R. M., were made in the books in
order to act as some sort of check against the
stock and the day's account of sales.
We pro-
pose in this work to consider the best means for
the creation of these profitable R. M. specialties,
and to show that the rapid accumulation of capital
may fairly content a dealer with small profits.
""
We have known advertising firms commence
moderately in the retail way, and be able soon to
add the wholesale trade thereto, turning over their
capital monthly-that is to say, their stock-in-trade
has in point of amount been sold out within each
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PUBLICITY.
month; and assuming their gain on the several or
individual transactions to have been only five per
cent., their gross annual profits upon capital actu-
ally invested would display a rich annual margin to
cover a liberal outlay for attractive advertisements.
It scarcely requires to be shown to any one who
has tasted the sweets of this system, that locked-up
capital, and entire dependence on what is called an
old connexion, is highly unsatisfactory.
/
The most profitable source for making money by
advertisements is the possession of a good trade
mark, a patent, or protection under the Registra-
tion of Designs Acts. The rules in connection with
these matters are given in the appendix to this essay.
Assuming that such a course is resolved upon,
would suggest that the advertiser should
select some leading article for the formation of a
concentrated system of attack upon the public
attention, by means of the public journals, and other
suitable ways adapted for the particular purpose.
But it should be borne in mind, that articles of con-
siderable cost and comparatively small demand are
not to be contemplated for this purpose; it is also
desirable, as far as possible, to have one uniform
character or quality, and price or scale of prices;
and these should be as permanent as the nature of
the market or sources of supply will permit.
If the advertiser desires to combine a wholesale
trade with his retail trade, he must be prepared to
share his own profit with his agents, who should
ནྟཾ
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"PUBLICITY."
sell to the public at the advertised rate, and up
to the full value the purchaser can obtain the
advertised article at the central depôt of the original
advertiser.
A great advantage to the public and all concerned
may thus be secured, the local retailer in a country
town being free from the effect of underselling by
any unfair rival in his neighbourhood; the owner
of the specialty is at the same time safe against
capricious refusal by retailers to keep the article in
stock, so as to supply any given locality, the remedy
existing in the fact that intending purchasers can go
to head-quarters for what may be noticed through
advertisements. And in such cases, but only in
such cases, should the central depôt supply the
public living at a distance therefrom; moreover,
its owners should positively refuse to sell where
good faith is shown by the agent dwelling near to
the customer, the local advertisements fully an-
nouncing who that agent really is.
This system does not present so much difficulty
as may at first be supposed to occur; in point of
fact, we have advised its adoption for many years.
past, and have found in various branches of industry
the plan to be one of invariable success. The con-
centration of capital on a few leading points, rapid
distribution, and short credit, gives the operator
practically the pick of the market, and source for
raw supplies; consequently such a person is in a
right position to become also the wholesale supplier;
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PUBLICITY.'
15
the smaller retailer, who buys to sell again, finding
advantage for other departments of his business
mainly through publicity and identification with
the sale of the advertised specialty or article of
established merit.
Annual sales or returns of three quarters of a
million sterling have thus been formed by firms
we have been connected with. The capital for the
retail part has in such cases usually been turned over
from eight to twelve times; and that for the whole-
sale department from three to four times each year.
This class of advertiser quickly becomes the
actual manufacturer, or the importer of the chief
items in the demand of his métier, and can compete
with co-operative stores, and go far ahead of these
associations; for like them, the advertiser offers
no profits between the consumer and vendor; but
having an amount of technical knowledge and skill,
co-operative storekeepers can rarely arrive at, and,
moreover, not having so many irons in the fire, the
advertiser can afford better value, as well as secure in-
creased economy, in the specialty in which he deals.
Co-operative stores are now little more than huge
bazaars filled with goods of all kinds, collected or
formed almost haphazard; and although the stores
give no credit, sell at small profits, take no trouble as
tò carriage, or even as to the making out of bills,
yet several of such associations have already come
to grief, and more are expected to follow suit. The
attention called by these associations to the great
3
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16
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PUBLICITY."
advantage customers derive by paying ready money,
causes the present time to be peculiarly favourable
to the establishment of depôts for advertised spe-
cialties of the nature hereinbefore described. A
co-operative store presents a strange jumble or
attempt to be a kind of Jack-of-all-trades; the
managers have but scanty technical knowledge of
the main departments of the business undertaken;
and as they try their hands at all things, they are
perfect in few. They often present a superficial
cheapness by their wares, but as a rule the best
goods are never under their control for this reason,
though the managers of stores carry ready money
in their hands, yet wholesale vendors or producers
of high standing decline to allow their names or
brands to be mixed up with clever imitations, or
with articles, cheap perhaps in point of lowness of
price, but which are frequently fictitious, and in
the end unsatisfactory to the consumer.
It is not the object of the writer of this essay
to attack the co-operative principle so long as the
promoters will seek to concentrate their business
upon reasonable objects, and confine operations to
their members or shareholders, taking no profit for
private division amongst their committees of man-
agement, etc. Such undertakings would thus sup-
ply the combination of wholesale and retail trade
recommended, the members becoming in fact part-
ners in trading speculations not requiring much
technical skill or knowledge.
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PUBLICITY.22
'
The Pall Mall Gazette thus describes co-operative
stores:
"There are certain drawbacks and inconveniences
inevitable to the co-operative system.
There is the
trouble of writing out the order and reckoning up
the total of the various articles, the trouble of going
to the different departments for the different things,
and there is no one at hand to guide you. You
have to go to the cashier yourself instead of having
your change brought to you; and it is often a very
long time indeed before you can be attended to at
all by either the counter assistants or the cashiers.
The demeanour of the young men, and especially of
the boy cashiers, may be described almost without
exception as being at the best barely civil. In fact,
their manners are so uncouth that it may be safely
asserted not one of them would earn his salt in a
shop frequented by the better classes. Of course
purchasers may if they choose complain to the
manager, and they are invited to do so; but it is
difficult to find anything tangible in mere manner.
A shopman need not throw your order at your head,
but he can yawn in your face, or turn his back on
you, or leave your questions unanswered as long as
he dares, or attend to his toilette instead of your
wants. It is quite possible, if you are in a hurry,
for him to look at you so as to let you know that he
sees it, that he thinks you foolish for being so, and
more still if you suppose he will hasten himself on
your account. All this is a matter of general com-
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PUBLICITY."
plaint, and we have heard no dissentient on this
point. Now, if we reckon up the expenditure of
time, of trouble, and of temper, it is quite evident
that no sensible man or woman would ever enter a
store if they were sure of getting commodities as
good and nearly as cheap at a shop. For these
reasons numbers of purchasers, especially ladies,
prefer the affiliated shops to the stores, nor is it
surprising competition and good sense on the part
of the shopkeepers have to a very great extent
brought this to pass. As regards wines, for in-
stance, especially the light French and German
wines, tobacco, cigars, and stationery, there are
many firms who supply these articles of undeniable
quality at the same, or very nearly the same, prices,
plus civility and carriage. The same thing may be
said of tea, coffee, tinned meats, bottled fruits,
pickles, and so on. As to provisions-bacon,
cheese, butter, etc.-if they are a halfpenny or so
cheaper by the pound the difference disappears in
the cost of carriage. On the whole, the tradesmen
and shopkeepers may take good heart. They have
only to persevere in what they have begun, in order
to win back their old customers and make new ones;
whereas the shareholders of co-operative stores and
their servants have only to continue their present
line of conduct to bring to a vanishing point not
only their popularity, but with it the support which
they at first commanded."
The public are beginning to find out that taking
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19
credit does not pay, at least that part of the public
who are not millionaires, having only moderate in-
comes to supply many mouths and backs with the
necessaries and comforts of life, and to keep their
loyal and local obligations as taxpayers. Most of
these persons find that advertising columns of news-
papers fairly describe articles suitable to their views
and which far from justify the ancient prejudice
attached to goods advertised. The pater-familias
of the olden time was formerly taught to believe
that high priced goods, supplied on credit, had
an intrinsic value beyond anything that could be
offered on moderate terms for ready money. Pre-
judice versus pocket does not operate in the present
day; therefore advertising is becoming more popu-
lar, and men of enterprise, resolving to take advan-
tage of this movement, discover that they cannot
afford to wait while customers find out by accident
the intention to serve them well.
Merely to open a fine shop, and deceptively to
ticket wares, has exploded, as all such petty con-
trivances will; and the sounder method of adver-
tising has taken its place, either on a small (local)
scale, or upon the larger one we have already
dwelt upon, that is to say, the combined whole-
sale and retail system, which seeks out through a
specialty a large proportion of the denizens of the
entire empire (or the civilized world) for customers.
There has been great damage done to the English
name at home and abroad by a spasmodic rush for
:
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20.
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66
PUBLICITY."
i
cheapness, a most unmeaning word as usually
applied, because, unless
because, unless a given production be
good and sound, lowness of price cannot alone
make it cheap. The great security for the public
is a respectable brand, which usually accompanies
a well-advertised specialty; for if the quality is
not maintained, the money spent in advertisements
is a bad investment. "Once bit, twice shy," is an
old adage.
In days gone by advertisers had not only to
encounter much prejudice, but there was a direct
tax of three shillings and sixpence paid to Govern-
ment upon each advertisement and, further, a duty
upon paper. It has been our agreeable duty, in a
legislative capacity, to aid in the removal of those
ancient scourges upon intelligence and industry.
We have now the penny post for letters, and half
that cost for circulars open at each end. The Echo
newspaper thus says:-
say,
"Thank Rowland Hill for this,' they used to
and we may reiterate the well-worn phrase;
for if there had been no letter rate of a penny there
would have been no sending a newspaper for half
that sum, though the uniform newspaper postage
of a halfpenny did not come into vogue until some
thirty years after a penny post. Splendid, how-
ever, as was that step in the advance of civilisation,
it was but one of those by which halfpenny news-
papers have been rendered possible. The abolition
of the advertisement tax, and subsequently the
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21
penny stamp and the paper duty; the extension
of the railway system, and the electric telegraphs;
and the perfecting of machinery by which papers
may be printed faster than a person can count-
these things combined have made the newspaper
of to-day what it is, in conjunction with individual
enterprise not surpassed in any other business or
profession in the world."
The management of newspapers during the seven-
teeth century is thus described in Chambers' "Book
of Days," published before the Echo at a halfpenny,
and postage at the same rate, existed. There
was no such term at that time as editor, implying
a literary man devoted to the general management
of a journal, with a share in such original compo-
sition as it required. We only hear of the printer,
or at most of the publisher.
In those days, the printer found himself sur-
rounded with difficulties, and often, from the imper-
fection and simplicity of his arrangements, he was
thrown into positions by no means dignified.
At the foot of a newspaper of the early part of
the seventeenth century, an invitation to amateurs
is given in the following quaint terms :-" Ale per-
sons who are pleased to favour us with any comical
or solid stories, may repair to the Three Kings,'
Ludgate, and they shall have them very carefully
put in "!
6
The circulation of newspapers may be considered
as having reached perfection when a penny could
22
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PUBLICITY.'
99
buy the sheet and another penny insure its quick
and safe transmission to any part of the country.
In such a state of things, it becomes difficult to
imagine or recall the difficulties which beset the
obtaining of a newspaper only a few years ago.
When we cast back our thoughts twenty years, we
find the sheet costing fourpence-halfpenny at the
least; when we go back twenty or thirty years
more, we find it was sevenpence, the greater part
of which sum went into the public exchequer. The
number of sheets printed by any journal up to 1814
was usually a few hundreds,-only two or three
came to thousands. It was, indeed, mechanically
impossible that there should be a newspaper circu-
lation above two or three thousands; for, before
any larger number could be thrown off, the news
would have been cold, and the next number in
requisition.
We go back a century or a century and a half,
we find that the journals of the empire were but a
handful. There was not one north of Edinburgh
till 1746; there was not one established on a per-
manent basis in Edinburgh till 1718.
News was
in those days sent about in private letters and in
gossip of conversation. The wandering beggar,
who came to the farmer's house craving a supper
and bed, was the principal intelligencer of the rural
population of Scotland so late as 1780. In Queen
Anne's time, to receive a regular news-sheet from
the metropolis was the privilege of lords, squires,
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PUBLICITY."
:
and men of official importance. At an earlier time,
this communication was not a printed sheet at all,
but a written sheet, called a news-letter, prepared
in London, copied by some process or by the hand,
and so circulated from a recognised centre. When
such a sheet arrived at the hall with any intelli-
gence unusually interesting, the proprietor would
cause his immediate dependants to be summoned,
and would from his porch read out the principal
paragraphs. So did the news of William's landing
at Torbay, of King Charles's restoration, of his
father's tragic death, reach the ears of a large
party of the people of England.
The reader of our national history will have a
very imperfect comprehension of it if he does not
bear in mind how slowly and imperfectly intelli-
gence of public matters was conveyed in all times
which we now call past; and how much of false
news was circulated. In the case of an insurrec-
tion, the whole surrounding circumstances might be
changed before a fourth of the nation was apprised
of what had taken place, or was prepared to move.
Or, supposing that a landing was expected on the
south coast, in connection with party movements
within the empire, the heads of the conspiracy
might all be in the Tower before any one could be
sure that the fleet was even in sight.
One peculiarity of the newspaper management
of old days is sufficiently obvious to any one who
examines the files: there was no adequate system
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PUBLICITY.'
1
of home reporting. It seems to have been mainly
by private and arbitrary means that a domestic
paragraph came to the office. An amusing illus-
tration of this primitive system of reporting occurs
in the Caledonian Mercury for March 3rd, 1724.
"We hear," says the paper, "that my Lord Arnes-
ton, one of the ordinary lords of session, is dead."
In next number appears this apologetic, but cer-
tainly very awkward, paragraph: "It was by mis-
take in our last that Lord Arneston was dead, oc-
casioned by the rendezvous of coaches hard by his
lordship's lodgings, that were to attend the funeral
of a son of the Right Honourable the Earl of Gallo-
way; wherefore his lordship's pardon and family is
humbly craved"!
:
CHAPTER II.
MUCH money may be thrown away by an injudicious
system of advertising; and every new effort in its
degree or peculiarity can be much benefited by the
advice of agents possessing trained advertising ex-
perience. We have known instances where thou-
sands have been expended where hundreds would
have sufficed to bring more abundant and better
fruit.
Lawyers may occasionally make their own wills,
and doctors safely prescribe for themselves; but most
of us know what the nature of the client is supposed
to be who becomes his own lawyer, and we can refer
to no class more urgently requiring intermediary aid
than advertisers in the distribution and even in the
construction of their advertisements. Moreover, it
is in many ways unwise or unsafe for the head of
a house of business so to engross his time; that is
say, if the advertising effort to be ultimately made
is of any considerable extent. It is unwise because
there will be no pecuniary advantage by not employ-
ing an agent to do the work, or to see that proper
value is obtained, and a proper medium is in each
case employed; it is unsafe because the occupation
is excessively absorbing.
to
Again, the apparent anomaly exists, that an agent
can carry out on cheaper terms a larger amount of
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26
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PUBLICITY.'
work than his principal. This may be at once ex-
plained. Say, for instance, the advertiser wishes to
insert his views in certain newspapers: the agent
has twenty other firms having the like object, the
same trouble taken for one suffices for all. This
remark also applies to checking the number of
insertions in the several media. Insecurity is
caused to the head of
of a firm who applies his
time to the thousand and one duties of arrang-
ing for a long period for terms and position of
intended advertisements in various journals, adapt-
ing matter for the various class papers; to such
a person we would say, Do what you can to avoid
it, you are constantly pestered with a swarm of
canvassers, who not only try to assail you in your
counting-house, where you may hedge yourself in,
but you are not safe in the street, or even at your
private dwelling.
Broken-down gentlemen, or even ladies, are
sometimes employed as canvassers for advertise-
ments; their appearance sustains the character
assumed, and clerks or servants are induced to
take in cards on matters of importance, stated to
occupy your time for a few moments only. Some-
times they write some fashionable address upon
their cards, or describe themselves as representing
a powerful journal, and desirous of giving an edi
torial notice of the merits of your specialty or in-
vention. Of course they will tell you that if you
will consent to appear in their advertising columns
2
"PUBLICITY."
27
हैं
it would be more natural for the notice (or puff)
subsequently to be printed.
We have known a card to be brought in with
the name of a leading Oxford college in one corner,
and before we could understand the object, a
copy of a periodical has been presented that would
be coming out shortly, and which, according to
the account given of it, would command a large
circulation amongst the intelligent classes. At the
same time we have been informed as a favour that a
few first-rate advertisers would be admitted, and a
position over the leader (if a journal), or the outside
or inside wrapper (if a periodical), or the page be-
fore or after matter, on very favourable terms, might
be secured.
It is seldom safe to intrust opportunities for this
kind of patronage to clerks or employés, as some are
liable to turn the same to their own private advan-
tage or gain; thus, for an order for a private box at
the opera or a theatre, a firm may be made respon-
sible for a twelvemonth's insertion of their advertise-
ment, almost unchecked as to position or as to the
number of actual appearances.
Some journals are the result of an industrious
application of scissors and paste, and a réchauffé
of merely stale news, served on nice-looking paper,
by nice-looking type, commencing with good decoy
advertisements, leaving just room enough for the
one sought in place of that of the eminent firm
about to make an alteration in their old space
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66 PUBLICITY.
(which if inquired into it would be found the eminent
firm had never agreed to fill). The copies published
of these nice-looking journals are a few over the
actual number of their advertisers, who duly re-
ceive (post paid) copies of the hashed-up rubbish
so dearly bought.
We remember being deceived by a person assum-
ing the position of editor to a journal of deserved
eminence and the owner of the card saying he would
not degrade himself by employing canvassers paid
by commission (it turned out afterwards that such
was his real status), who made assertions and pro-
mises which could not be realized, but being anxious
to have some particulars of a specialty we were in-
terested in, he thought he had better call personally.
These particulars having been thankfully rendered,
it was only while going to the door that the trail
of the serpent was nearly exposed. "By the bye,"
said the canvasser, "I do not think your name has
appeared in our columns; and our publisher told
me to say there is a space we can let to you for
twelve months. If it would suit you to secure it,
here is a form, or order to insert, ready for your
signature." The game had been played with such
an air of dignity that, shy as old birds generally
are, the name (or partially assumed name) of the
journal was too strong a bait for us, and we went
neck and heels into the trap, and had to pay for
twelve months' insertions, though we gave notice
of withdrawal upon finding that the journal (the
'
"PUBLICITY."
29
*
1
canvasser actually represented) had not a circu-
lation of as many hundreds as would correspond
with his declared thousands, and resisting in a
court of law the demand for payment, we also
suffered in costs, as the judge laid it down that it
was a contract in writing, and the proprietor of this
sham paper was not bound by the verbal pledges
of the canvasser (because, though unperceived by
us at the time of signature, there was on the back
of the printed form some notice to that effect).
!
It is impossible for the head of a firm to follow
up matters of detail, or to make very many needful
inquiries, especially if a wide range of advertise-
ments be necessary, or should he by chance have an
unworthy partner. Many do not show their true
nature till the energy of perhaps the founder of the
business begins to tell, then should the attention of
the confiding partner be coaxed into a field of wider
range, and to leave vital interests to the tender
mercies of his plotting and contriving associate,
then may the founder of possibly a grand busi-
ness find at the termination of the first period
of partnership (through the effluxion of time) that
he has been practically left out in the cold; for
while he may have taken all the out-door work,
opening new and profitable business; together with
the travelling and advertising departments, the
other partner may have been biding his time, and
many instances are known showing that such a
person can wait till the business has been built
up
:
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PUBLICITY."
by the sacrificing energies of his associate, whose
suspicion has been thrown aside possibly through
the faith of a nobler nature.
It is true honest partners, like honest employés,
can be found, but unhappily the character given
by Charles Dickens to Uriah Heep is too frequently
realized, and the coil of the serpent may not be per-
ceived by the victim, whose engrossed occupations
may have withdrawn him from looking into partner-
ship accounts.
The control of cash paid in, and cash with-
drawn, either for private or partnership pur-
poses, changes therein being usually frequent
and purposely confused-valuation of assets, and
preparation of balance sheets, are necessarily a
dangerous power, as they afford countless oppor-
tunities to manipulate in favour of its possessor,
who may perhaps practise his subtleties over a long
course of years, till the time shall arrive to ad-
minister the crushing hug, and the too-confiding
partner may be utterly ruined by reason of the
superior holding his treacherous associate has so
long sought to originate.
At the same time, it will be remembered that
even Uriah Heep eventually came to grief; for it
commonly happens that secret complicity with
subordinates cannot for ever be maintained.
that a court of equity, years after an apparent con-
donation, may afford relief to the injured partner.
So
Meanwhile, nothing, as a general rule, is too
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PUBLICITY.”
malignant or insulting for the purpose of the plot-
ter, especially while trying to account to mutual
friends for obvious ingratitude towards a benefactor,
and to whose generosity (as in the case of Uriah
Heep) he may owe even his presence in a business
in the creation of which he had not shared the
slightest risk.
"Odisse quem læseris" is a thesis
well known, as also the maxim conveyed by the
following couplet-
((
Forgiveness to the injured does belong,
But he ne'er pardons who has done the wrong."
While referring to the danger of blind confidence,
placed either in partners or in employés, perhaps it
may not be out of the way further to explain why
we believe that a neutral personage is best adapted
to fill a position like that of an advertising agent,
especially when a large and fluctuating account is
necessarily kept open; in fact, such a check appears
to be nearly as much required as the offices of a
public accountant are, to check monthly, and ulti-
mately prepare balance sheets, or adjust the capital
account and profits as between partners.
We remember a balance sheet having been pre-
pared by a partner controlling the counting-house
arrangements, and that his colleague, having occa-
sion to suspect something to be wrong, demanded
that a public accountant should be called in, where-
upon many thousands were taken from a fictitious
loss account previously presented.
32
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PUBLICITY.'
Obviously an employé is not often adapted for
the position, which should be filled by a disin-
terested accountant; and we maintain a clerk is
rarely, if ever, competent to discharge the func-
tions proper to advertising agents. No respectable
journal will allow such a person the discount or
commission allowed to established agents as the
remuneration for much trouble in preparing, dis-
tributing, checking insertions, and securing good
position or terms.
The publishers of some public newspapers have
made it a practice to give orders for the theatres,
and even present baskets of game, wine, etc., to
those who bring them advertisements.
On one
occasion we stumbled, in an odd sort of way, upon
an insight into a long-sustained dealing of this
nature. The serious illness of a friend caused us
temporarily to supervise his business. Struck by
certain signs, which experience had taught to us,
we persuaded the clerk charged with the advertising
department to take his customary holiday, this he
only consented to do upon making arrangements
for his department, in advance for the whole period
of his contemplated absence.
We thought fit, after consulting the sick prin-
cipal, to change the advertisements, and taking
cash in hand, personally went the round of the
metropolitan journals hitherto invested in. "Where
is Mr.?" said the newspaper office clerk.
"Oh, he is away for his month's holiday," was
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33
PUBLICITY."
the reply.
"But how about his discount ?" said
the inquirer. "Do everything that is usual, and
it shall be accounted for on his return," was the
reply. In some cases a handsome commission was
given back, which if long repeated must have
sensibly increased the annual stipend of the absent
clerk. In more than one case a remonstrance
was offered about the use of certain orders for
the theatres. “Our chief is kicking up a row,"
said one clerk of a newspaper office, "because the
proprietors of theatres complain of persons present-
ing orders for their dress circle whose appearance
required the boxkeeper to refuse admission." It had
been ascertained that the orders had been bought
at the bar of a tavern, that is to say, after having
been issued to the advertiser, or rather to his clerk,
whose presence in the business above referred to,
it need scarcely be said, the advertiser altogether
dispensed with, and in his place a respectable agent
was appointed to act in respect to advertisements.
There is at the present time considerable discus-
sion whether members of certain professions should
take commission from any other source than their
principal. It is asserted, and no doubt it is true,
that a few architects, accountants, surveyors, and
others, take double commission, though custom
has given them almost a fixed rate of costs, or
basis for remuneration; and it has yet to be found
whether this custom should also apply to advertis-
ing agents. At present their remuneration comes
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"PUBLICITY."
by custom almost entirely from the proprietors of
journals, and all well-established journals restrict
the allowance of commission or discount to agents
actually engaged in the advertising business.
The published tariffs of terms may in some cases
permit a commission to be given also to clerks or
principals; but such apparent saving, we assert,
cannot compare with the advantages already de-
scribed as being derived through trained assistance
entirely devoted to the work in question.
The door once opened for a private rebate, or
commission, to persons not being agents, a scale
of fancy prices is necessarily created, and irregu-
larity is established. Respectable journals, which
will not lend themselves thereto, at times receive a
scanty proportion of orders from clerks or em-
ployès, while illusory or trifling works, depending
chiefly upon their advertising sheets for an exist-
ence, receive a benefit they do not deserve, but for
which they regularly issue neatly drawn up ac-
counts, with the compliments of their several
proprietors, whose discreditable positions are estab-
lished by touting canvassers of a character so well
known to experienced agents that application to
the latter for copies of advertisements to publish
would be useless. It will be unnecessary to point
out that the time of advertisers would be much
saved if all such introductions, or canvassing (in
any form), were referred to an accredited agent.
If this be carried out we should not hear of such
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cases as the following, copied from the Globe
newspaper of 24th May, 1877:-
"A man calling himself Harrison, but whose real
name is supposed to be Franklin, of London, was
apprehended yesterday by the Glasgow police, for
receiving money for advertisements to be inserted
in the "Manufacturers' and Merchants' Directory of
Scotland," and the "Manufacturers' and Merchants'
Guide of Great Britain," which books are believed
to have no existence. From his books he must
have been receiving large sums weekly."
Now, a trained agent would know instantly what
such applications were worth from the constant
intercommunication of his office with those of pub-
lishers and others; but such plausible representa-
tions as have caught the simple, over-trusting men
of canny Scotland in this particular case would
never be taken to an established agency office. It
is really astonishing to credit the number of people,
keen in their business as a rule, who will com-
pletely succumb to any representation made with
an appearance of gentility or sham press association,
and thus spend, or rather throw away, thousands
of good money upon advertising.
The following satirical sketch appeared in the new
weekly journal Yorick. The writer of this essay has
already referred to the manner of getting up news-
papers for advertisers only, and the various methods
adopted for deception; that is to say, the persons
deceived are traders and others conducting the
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management of an advertising system within their
own counting-houses, and who eschew the employ-
ment of trained agents, fancying they are econo-
mising thereby, whereas they are paying dearly by
reason of their blindness:
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HOW TO MAKE A SIXPENNY PAPER PAY.
First, provide your capitalist; this is indispen-
sable. Having secured him, secure yourself against
possible loss, by possessing nothing at starting, not
even a shred of character. Purchase the services of
some Grub Street hacks by the promise to take their
copy; they may be useful to circulate that ingenious
and economic advertisement, known as the 'puff
preliminary.' As for ordinary advertisers, they may
always be had-after a time-by inserting announce-
ments from respectable firms gratis, and pretending
they are paid for, and slyly promising that you will
give each individual advertiser advantages no other
would obtain under any circumstances.
circumstances. In your
leading articles be careful to assume omniscience
supreme and integrity invulnerable; but above all
things, be impudent. Attack some Minister (people
in high places are safe objects of attack, as they
never retort), and cleverly hint that some other
Minister is at the bottom of the attack. Slate an
author, the more dependent on his pen the better,
and slate him unmercifully. In your Parliamentary
gossip, the spirit of uncharitableness must be as-
siduously cultivated; vulgarity and venom, a sneer
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at the cock of a senatorial nose, or the cut and
colour of a senatorial waistcoat, are sure to gratify.
Make believe to be in and of Society; this is not so
difficult as it may appear at first sight; a spicy con-
tribution may be cheaply and expeditiously manu-
factured out of audacious allusions to Royalty,
paragraphs from Debrett, imaginary descriptions
of Duke Humphrey's wine-cellar, excerpts from the
Divorce Court notices, re-hashed anecdotes from
Parisian papers, ribald personalities, and lies. To
make the dish appetizing, plentifully besprinkle it
with scandal. Nothing more is needful to run a
paper of this class-except, perhaps, a series of dull
riddles, and a threatened libel."
There is a system pursued in the drapery and
many fancy trades, mainly consisting in the forward-
ing of circulars and coloured drawings, also samples.
of stuffs, and sketches of fashions, etc., etc. We
can remember giving advice as to condensation and
method of arrangement in one particular case, by
which it was admitted that we had saved two
thousand per annum to the firm adopting the same.
Redundancy of expression is the fault common in
most of these cases, especially in the drapery busi-
ness. A kind of trade jargon is maintained in most
of the advertisements issued by that branch of
business. For instance, a certain house has bought
a stock at 53"off prime cost, which it is deter-
mined to offer," etc.; another, "regardless of cost,
has so marked the remainder of the season's stock,
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31 off invoice prices, to clear for extensive pur
chases at Roubaix. Lyons Gros Grain, 7s. 9d.,
now 3s. 1d., § wide, etc." If these advertisers
only knew how wearied the fastidious eyes of their
customers become, by hackneyed stringing together
of words and (to them) mystic figures, they (the
advertisers) would look upon the outlay as simply
one of very nearly sheer waste.
1
A liberal transmission of patterns of materials, if
referring to an undoubted specialty for any particular
season, is one of the best cards to be played by
drapers. Some few have caught at the specialty idea,
and now widely spread descriptions of same. All
these firms, we venture to say, have found reason to
be pleased with their investments in that direction.
But a large and almost unlimited field is ever open
to them to secure a specialty each season by the ever
variable fashions and taste belonging to their branch
of business. A few years ago many of the leading
firms now acting partially in this line would have
scorned the idea of becoming advertisers in any
shape or form.
Some of the metropolitan retail firms have taken
to the wholesale trade, and supply country shop-
keepers; and at the time we write, newspapers are
publishing articles headed "War in the Drapery
Trade." Old wholesale houses, or warehousemen,
as they are more usually called, have become
jealous, and have sought to issue a ban against their
gigantic retail rivals. They insist that liquidators,
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trustees, or others (having wholesale stocks to be
sold by tender) should confine the opening of
tenders for wholesale stocks to houses strictly whole-
sale in their dealings; that is to say, to those who
are called wholesale, and who sell wares that must
be sold again before reaching the consumer. They
-the warehousemen-have also sought to prevent
manufacturers calling upon the great retail trades,
the proprietors of which naturally desire to save the ·
warehouseman's profit, as the retailers can often buy
larger and pay quicker, from causes similar to that
we have already referred to. The following appeared
in Figaro on "The War amongst the Drapers."
"The Seventy-Two Wholesale Drapers, like the
Turks, treat Public Opinion with contempt. Perhaps
we wrong the Sublime Porte by the comparison, for
the sultan and his ministers have professed a desire
to do what is right, and have tried to grapple with the
arguments of the great powers. The Seventy-Two
firms have not attempted to defend nor excuse their
wrong. Yet we venture to say that a more indefen-
sible trade conspiracy was never heard of, and we
are confident that if it was brought before a court
of justice it would be unreservedly condemned.
"The Seventy-Two have combined not to tender
for stocks if other firms, those who have a retail
counter, are allowed to tender. We expected that the
breath of criticism would break up the combination.
The Seventy-Two include the names of men known
outside the trade, of men who take part in politics,
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who have a reputation for philanthropy, and who are
associated with religious movements. We felt con-
fident that the men we refer to had joined the league
without due thought, and that they would promptly
withdraw from a commercially immoral combination.
Our confident expectation has not been realised, and
therefore it is again necessary to direct public
attention to the subject.
"What would be thought if a number of furniture
brokers combined and gave notice to auctioneers
that they would not attend their sales unless the
auctioneers refused to allow other brokers to bid, and
if the auctioneers assented to the proposal? The
conduct of the Seventy-Two drapery firms is analo-
gous. A stock sold by tender is sold to the highest
bidder, to the person who offers to buy at the
least discount off the estimated cost value. The
Seventy-Two determine to restrict the competition.
With cynical candor they admit that their trade
rivals give higher prices. Manifestly, if that were
not the case, the Seventy-Two would not object to
their trade rivals tendering. The conspirators pro-
pose, then, to exclude the tenders of those who give
the highest prices, and consequently, if the con-
spiracy succeeds, the stocks of bankrupt drapers
will be sold for less than their market value. Talk
about the furniture brokers' knock-out dodge! It
is reputable and fair dealing compared to the im-
pudent attempt of the Seventy-Two to restrict com-
petition. Furniture brokers at an auction bid
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against private bidders, and then have a knock-
out,' that is, a re-sale of the goods amongst them-
selves, and by that means divide the profit or loss.
incident to their combination against the private
bidders. But they do not directly prevent com-
petition. They do not make it imperative for the
vendor to sell at the prices they choose to offer.
But the Seventy-two have combined to restrict the
bidding, and to exclude their trade rivals, who pay
better prices. They not only injure their trade
rivals, but they also prevent the owners of the
stocks from getting the highest market prices for
their property.
"Some of the retail counter firms do a wholesale
as well as a retail trade far larger than the wholesale
trade of some of the conspirators. The firms against
whom the Seventy-Two have combined sell cheaper
as well as pay better prices. They do not buy and
sell and live by a loss, but by their conduct of busi-
ness they can afford to take a less per centage of
profit. The conspiracy of the Seventy-Two is in-
jurious to the public, because if there is a monopoly
of buying there will be a monopoly of selling. The
combination will be able to fix the selling as well as
the buying price.
"We hold to the opinion that the combination of
the Seventy-Two is illegal, or at least that the scheme
for restricting competition cannot be worked with-
out a violation of the law. It is doubtful whether
men may lawfully conspire to close an open market
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against trade rivals. The law of conspiracy is very
elastic and comprehensive, and the courts look with
just disfavour on a combination in restraint of the
freedom of trade. But even if the conspiracy is not
per se unlawful, we are persuaded that an accountant
who has to dispose of a stock by tender would act
illegally in obeying the edict of the combination.
Will it be contended that it is at the discretion of
the accountant to restrict the competion? See to
what gross fraud such a discretion would open the
door. An accountant, not being a temptation-proof
Aristides, might so restrict the competition as to
favour a confederate. We apprehend that an ac-
countant has no such discretion, and that it is his
duty to invite tenders from all likely persons, and
to receive any tender that is sent in. Manifestly,
it would be a breach of duty to refuse to receive
offers for the stock entrusted to him for sale to the
highest bidder. An accountant so acting would be
civilly liable for the loss to his principal, and pro-
bably would be guilty of a breach of trust.
"The sooner the legality of the dodge to restrict
competition is tested the better. If the existing law
does not prohibit the novel scheme of the Seventy-
Two to prevent free trade competition, a new law
to meet the case should be speedily enacted."
Certain drapery establishments not many years.
since were very florid in the description not only of
the wares sold by them, but also as to the nature of
the divisional departments in which they were de-
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posited. For instance, one was especially devoted
to full mourning, and another to half mourning.
They thus described the difference: one was called
"heavy-woe department," and the other "mitigated-
grief." The ornate advertisements of auctioneers
in days gone by can never be surpassed; for in-
stance, we might quote the rhapsody of expression
or poetical license with regard to certain very old
masters of (Wardour Street). Another branch of the
profession, having to do with the sale or transfer of
landed estates, seemed to be constantly ransacking
the dictionary for high-flown language. But the
wealthy Anglo-Indian, after shaking the Pagoda
tree, no longer from the distant colony instructs his
agent to buy the earthly paradise described by the
George Robins of the period, referring possibly to
some dismal swamp around the bijou residence
committed to negotiation, the park-like grounds
leading through an avenue of trees (just planted)
towards an elegant porch ornamented with Corinth-
ian columns (stucco and whitewash), the foliage
of the trees (when grown) may yet to some appear-
"Thick as autumnal leaves that strew.
The brooks in Vallambrosa."
And in becoming candour they have gone on to say,
"It is only fair to state that the main drawbacks to
the neighbourhood are expected to proceed from the
deafening noise of nightingales, the powerful odour
from banks of violets, or the neglected deposit of
rose leaves, so fertile is the soil and sheltered the
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retreat now offered for competition by Messrs.
Knockemdown & Co."
In considering the more sober subject of public
charities, political or social institutions, or even pub-
lic and trading companies, with or without limited
liability, we may confidently assert that as a rule
fifty per cent. is wasted in the cost of launching
most of these, especially where capital or sympathy
is sought through advertisements; while if the
skilled knowledge of an experienced agent be con-
sulted, such a loss would be avoided. We once
came across an impudent offer made to a co-
operative society in the course of formation. The
offer was from a person who had filled a credit-
able position in society. He said, "If you will make
me your secretary for life, I will introduce directors
with handles to their names; but I must have as
a quid pro quo the exclusive farming of the adver-
tising sheets," meaning those to be bound up with
the catalogue of goods, issued to members and
shareholders.
The farming out to professional touters of adver-
tising space by publishers of periodical and other
works, is a plan to be deprecated, and thrusting
advertisement sheets into the body of a work, it
is to be hoped, has provided its own cure.
Some advertisers have been so ill-advised as to
think that certain catchpenny tricks which, by their
novelty, have for a time surprised or amused people,
may continue with impunity. Now, this is a great
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mistake. Talk well of me (these people think) if
you can; and if you cannot, then talk evil, but be not
so cruel as to avoid altogether thinking or speaking
of me. And nothing but loss through the disgust on
the part of the public will cure these shallow be-
lievers in a departed faith; still we occasionally see
flagrant instances of bad taste and sheer impudence
forced upon the public gaze.
There are at times inoffensive yet eccentric
methods of advertisement, which tell well through
the amusement and curiosity they excite.
excite. The
means thus chiefly employed is by billing or posting
on public hoardings or walls; also by animated
sandwiches, the first batch usually call attention
to something that will follow. The animated sand-
wiches are only moveable hoardings or walls, and
are usually the wretched sweepings of the work-
houses, the men bearing a placard on their breasts
and backs.
Placards or posters upon hoardings are sometimes
very costly: one block, taking up a large space, we
are told, cost five hundred pounds for the sketch
and cutting, irrespective of the paper and printing
in colours; the outlay for one week could not have
been less than fifteen hundred pounds.
Most of the more moderate posters commence with
an odd kind of name: sometimes a mere picture-frame
has been sketched, and the next week a word or two
asks the public to look for what may fill that frame
in the following week, etc. Then there have been
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irritating inquiries of "Who's Watkins? Then
we are told, "He is a safe man "; and "Do you
bruise your barley ?" or
or "Do you double up your
infantine conveyance?"
Some few years back a courageous advertiser laid
out about £10,000, without receiving a shilling in
return for a period of three months, and the town
was worried everywhere, upon walls and upon
paper, with a simple word, ultimately explained to
refer to a trade mark for a new kind of candle.
A blazing picture of an oriental scene also cost
many thousands of pounds in order to give birth to
a new pickle; and it was many months before it was
known that an odd expression about "Somebody's
luggage," advertised at lavish cost, had reference
to the Christmas number of the work of one of
our most popular authors.
A droll incident very nearly occurred a short time
since in reference to what is commonly called a
66
catch" advertisement. A considerable sum had
been laid out merely by announcing the two letters
XX. It was ultimately claimed by the advertiser
(the owner of the idea), for an article of Man-
chester produce sold by him; but a well-known
brewer, who like his compeers had used XX for
many years, was half induced, for the fun of the
thing, to take up the running made by this large
outlay prior to the real advertiser's plan ripening,
and it might have been effected by simply issuing
a placard, saying, "XX, so long advertised, can be
obtained at the Brewery."
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There is an old and obstinate system still in use,
and for certain matters is still a good one so long
as the advertisement is judiciously distributed. It
consists in describing merely the name, address, and
object of the business; and this becomes more valu-
able if it be accompanied by a characteristic and
telling trade mark. This plan, without alteration
of any kind, has made its impression upon the pub-
lic mind by the simple course of reiteration, being
ever present in the public journals and periodicals.
The services of an agent might at first sight appear
to be unnecessary in such a case, but we remember
a firm, which, for many years from father to son had
so advertised till they admitted a junior partner,
who fancied he could go into pastures new. So he
did; and though he diminished the item for adver-
tising from six to two thousand pounds in the first
year of his working, the returns and profits also
began to diminish so rapidly, that the firm gladly
renewed their confidence in their old agent, and at
the same time their customary outlay and channels
for advertising. It may be asked, How can this be
accounted for? What one man can do another can
also effect. What magic is there in the name of an
advertising agent? The answer is clear and simple,
such a person is, as before remarked, a collecting
medium, and carries many customers to each
journal or other such source for advertising, and
can get more favourable terms and position than an
outsider going to work singly. Then he obtains
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copies of every work or journal, so as to register the
number of appearances, the position, correctness of
copy, etc., and other matters of detail, a course
which the single advertiser cannot encounter with-
out greater cost and trouble. Some journals are
sent gratuitously, but these are not usually of the
nature to be recommended by an agent.
The posted circular may, if care be not taken,
become an unbearable nuisance, particularly those
sent with the word "Private on an outside corner
of the envelope, or closed with a coat of arms
stamped for a seal, and the address carelessly
written, sometimes with the words, "To be for-
warded." These go from post town to post town.
in the autumnal months, and we can fancy the in-
dignation with which any one who has just done
Mont Blanc, being called upon to pay heavy postage
costs, and then to find the contents of his letter
to be a suggestion that he had better try Smith's
celebrated corn plaister.
The best way with circulars is to write outside,
"Not to be forwarded," or to send them open at
both ends, when if through ill temper or not wanting
anything of the kind described, they should be ul-
timately cast into the waste paper basket, at any
rate they are not accompanied by the anathemas
of their recipients.
Illustrated circulars, especially of fashions, or de-
scriptions of any useful object, will generally obtain
fair attention; but much depends upon their "get-
66 PUBLICITY.'
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up," as it is called, or the condensation and neatness
of descriptive matter.
Many plans for advertising have passed away
since the days of our boyhood. Formerly the
walls and palings of parks and gardens in the
suburbs of large towns were important helps to
blacking makers and other bold advertisers. Hes-
sian and top boots were then in fashion; neither
cabs nor omnibuses existed, the pavements, or
rather footpaths, were dirty, and hackney coaches
dear to hire and few in number. The blacking
trade was then in its glory, as a speck upon the
hessians, or brilliant tops, was as grievous as if
seen upon the starched full frill then projecting
from the shirt and waistcoat. The wall round
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (about twenty
feet high) was a fine field for whitewash lettering,
and bill sticking in general.
For a long while high walls gave security and
privacy to the suburban retreat of the well-to-do
citizen, whose anger was frequently aroused by
finding that in the course of a night the surround-
ings of his home had been made the permanent
record of Dr. Easy's, or some other, pill or potion,
the best cure for gout, a complaint sufficiently
suggested by the fumes of a bottle or two of port,
independent of considerable part of a bowl of punch,
the frequent after-dinner quantity in the times when
a George was king. From the size of the letters of
these advertisements it must have taken several
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men with ladders, and several pails of whitewash,
to complete the work in one night, while the old
charlies or watchmen were asleep in their road-side
boxes, from whence they issued to call the hour, and
gave timely notice to bill stickers and burglars to
conceal themselves.
Later on we had gay carriages, of gigantic pro-
portions, displaying advertisements, till the nui-
sance became so great that the legislature put the
system down.
of
Then poetry seized the minds of advertisers, and
one clothing firm kept a poet on the premises, who
was said to be better clad, fed, and paid than any
his compeers in or out of Grub Street. The public
at length got wearied of the words " proposes,'
discloses," or even "froze-is," the latter being the
final resort, in great-coat weather, to form a rhyme
for the name of the poet's patron.
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CHAPTER III.
DURING parliamentary elections a favourite method
of impressing upon the minds of the public the
views of various candidates consists in a display of
advertisements pasted upon the backs of " crawlers"
or growlers."
CC
The candidate wealthy enough to engage most
public-houses for committee rooms, and public
vehicles for advertisements, has a great advantage,
independent of the conveyance of lazy voters to the
poll; thus aided he may perhaps enter parliament
as a free lance.
All he needs, especially for a large constituency,
is to gain a reputation for giving it to everybody
all round, as cabby eloquently describes him to be
able to do; and the chaff of this functionary is of
no small effect during a contest, supplemented by
assistance in occasionally hocussing a voter, and
drilling into a muddled brain the name of the
popular candidate, so as to enable the voter to mark
the balloting paper when inside the polling booth;
and in getting the voter there, cabby will often use
more than wordy arguments with opponents, for
whoever may have secured the panels of the cab has
obtained cabby's political heart and soul, at all
events till the next election.
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In this respect cabby is but a lineal descendant
of old jarvey, or "Ben, the Hackney Coachman
Rare," the hero of a well-known song when Sir
Francis Burdett contested Westminster. Some of
our readers may remember the words "Burdett and
Liberty" upon the wide expanse of panels afforded
by the old hackney coaches of that period.
These vehicles, however, commenced to be things
of the past as the life of William IV. drew to a
close, for the memorable Lord Chancellor of that
monarch had given his name to a one-horse carriage,
and the brougham finally drove from the field the
family coach and chariot, and thus cut off the
supply of future hackney coaches; and in its turn
the dilapidated brougham has become to some
extent the hackney cab, or four-wheeler, of the
present day.
That great word-painter Dickens has left an im-
perishable picture of the street conveyance on which
the Metropolis had long depended for locomotion.
To enter one of these a passenger had to have un-
folded for him, with great clatter, a flight of half a
dozen steps, and in his elevated position he had to
put up with a curious amount of smells, more like
those of Cologne in number than of "Araby the
blest;" for the capacious machine had been sleep-
ing-room, dining-room, dressing-room, not only for
jarvey, but also for a mangy cur or two, the street
or coach stand being a perpetual coach-house and
stable, the horses being fed, watered, and groomed
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there, of which fact unmistakable evidence could
be given by the curry comb, and other unsavoury
appliances usually to be found in the pockets of
the carriage, which at one time had held
had held my
lord's diamond snuff-box, or my lady's fan or
bouquet.
In "Sketches by Boz," Dickens thus describes the
old vehicle: "There is a hackney-coach stand under
the very window at which we are writing; there is
only one coach on it now, but it is a fair specimen
of the class of vehicles to which we have alluded-
a great lumbering square concern, of a dingy yellow
colour, like a bilious brunette, with very small
glasses, but very large frames; the panels are orna-
mented with a faded coat of arms, in shape some-
thing like a dissected bat; the axletree is red, and
the majority of the wheels are green. The box is
partially covered by an old great coat, with a multi-
plicity of capes, some extraordinary looking cloths,
and the straw, with which the canvas cushion is
stuffed, is sticking up in several places as if in
rivalry of the hay which is peeping through the
chinks in the boot. The horses, with drooping
heads, and each with a mane and tail as scanty and
straggling as those of a worn out rocking-horse,
are standing patiently on some damp straw, occa-
sionally wincing and rattling the harness; and now
and then one of them lifts his mouth to the ear of
his companion, as if he were saying in a whisper
that he should like to assassinate the coachman.
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The coachman himself is in the watering house, and
the waterman, with his hands forced into his pockets
as far as they can possibly go, is dancing the
'double shuffle' in front of the pump to keep his
feet warm."
Cabs of this year of Grace, 1877, are divided
into two classes-hansoms and four-wheelers; the
latter are sometimes called crawlers and growlers,
the exact reason for either distinction has been
left to our imagination. It has been said that no
great city has a more miserable class of public
vehicles than may be found in the principal city of
the wealthiest nation in the world. At the same
time, it will be admitted that, if not up to many
continental states in quality, certainly the deficiency
is fully compensated by quantity. In point of fact,
take the metropolitan radius occupied by four mil-
lions of people, to say nothing about fluctuating
thousands, coming into or passing daily through
London, it may be confidently stated that very
seldom need any individual go far in search of a
public vehicle.
Many assert that if the various metropolitan
authorities would provide suitable standing places
under cover, where drivers and their horses could
find shelter during long waits or inclement weather,
then a better class of men and vehicles would
quickly be found to meet an obvious demand.
Cabby at present is a kind of Arab, he must shift
about how he can, and get as much as he can,
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police regulations to the contrary notwithstand-
ing.
The driver sometimes turns his vehicle into an
advertising medium, irrespective of election times;
indeed, we have long had before us, on the splash-
ing boards of hansom (or two-wheel) cabs, the
names and addresses of a firm presumed to offer
cutlery of a cheap and useful nature. Cabby (four-
wheeler or growler) has been known to enter into
alliance with certain business firms, offering linen-
drapery or other attractions for the tender sex.
For instance, an unprotected female having chartered
cabby's services to convey her to some emporium,
is taken to cabby's employers with great zeal
should that be the address given; if not, he will
make it in his way and stop there, asking per-
mission of the fare (or fair creature), to remove a
stone from the shoe of his horse. He will then
exclaim, "By the way, marm, you was a-going
to a shop like this. Now, I won't charge you
much for waiting, and you would find here goods:
werry cheap; and this I do know, they is werry
civil."
Cabby often contrives to mix up much fun with
his trickery; for instance, we remember being
driven from the Hanover Square Rooms to the
Albany one cold, miserable night.
"How much?" was our question.
"Two shillings," was the reply.
"One too many," we said; "however, if you
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demand two shillings your number shall be
taken."
CC
Werry well, take it," said cabby.
"Your ticket is not reliable, neither is that num-
ber outside your cab; therefore we will copy those
brass figures fixed inside your cab," which being
accomplished, and finding it to be 1666, we said,
"It cannot be forgotten, it is the year of the Great
Fire of London.”
But while cabby was wheeling out of the court-
yard, he called out,-
"All them there sixes is on swivels."
Now, it was useless to apply for a summons
under such circumstances, as each figure of six
might by its swivel be made into a nine, and a
complication created almost impossible to deal
with.
Another instance of ready craft is within our
knowledge. A four-wheeler took us with two friends
a short way out of town for a temporary visit; but
having resolved to stay there, we agreed to dismiss
the cab. Three or four different paths led from the
house to the lodge gates, where cabby had placed
the nosebag on his horse and had begged for a pail
of water. Each of us, while strolling about the
grounds, had, unknown to the others, been to cabby
and paid his fare. Cabby touched his hat each
time, but said nothing about having een already
paid; and the lodge-keeper, when he came for
the pail, was assured that werry gerous people
!

See page 65.
展
​TYBURN GATE:
Showing part of the walls of Hyde Park in the time of the Regency and early part of the reign of George IV.
66
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;
lived up at that house, but he (cabby) should like
to know if it was a private lunatic asylum. On
mutual explanation the facts were discovered shortly
after cabby had disappeared, and we resolved upon
vengeance if possible. Consequently, not long after,
happening to meet our cabby coming out of a
railway station, we induced a policeman to obtain
his ticket. A summons was taken out, but on
attempting to serve it at the address described on
the ticket, the server was told the ticket belonged
to a man who had died of typhus fever a very short
time previously.
The "biter bit" was exemplified in a story told
in the newspapers of a young medical student, who,
forgetting that all his money had been spent, found
himself in a cab on the way to his lodgings. It
would not do to knock up his landlady so late at
night, being behind in his rent, therefore he re-
solved to cajole cabby.
"Wait while I unlock the door of my chambers,"
he said, "and get a candle to search for the sover-
eign somewhere mixed up in the straw at the bottom
of your cab."
As he surmised would happen, on looking out
of the staircase window, he found that cabby was
vanishing into the distance, ventre à terre, still
whipping the poor night-hack, probably a poor old
hunter, which ought long since to have been food
for the dogs, or have been converted into highly
flavoured sausage meat.
58
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:
A roomy four-wheel cab and one-horse omnibus,
to convey luggage and passengers to and from
the railways, would supply a great want, and
such might have their roofs (inside) and panels
(outside) decorated with highly remunerating ad-
vertisements. A specimen of this kind, during
the exhibition of 1867, was shown in Paris. It
seemed adapted for that powerful breed of Flemish
horses used for diligence work, and a still better
breed, known in this country as Pickford's van
horses, one of these can pull a ton of merchan-
dize or luggage at a fair pace; and if we re-
member right, the protecting screen for top lug-
gage could, in the exhibited vehicle, be turned
back, showing cushions for six outside passengers,
who might want the vehicle for a cheap outing,
there being room also for six passengers
side.
in-
The drivers of two four-wheelers on one occasion
had fares they did not bargain for when they were
called into the courtyard of the Old Bailey, to
receive Mr. and Mrs. Manning, it being the duty of
the writer as Sheriff of the day to carry out that
part of the sentence which required their removal
to Horsemonger Lane gaol, where they were exe-
cuted, that gaol being within the county where the
murder was committed. It occurred to the writer
as great excitement existed (and some fear of lynch
law by the populace), that the purposes of the
usual prison van would be better served by two
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four-wheelers. And it turned out to be the right
conclusion, as no one
no one suspected the quality of
cabby's passengers, who on their way noticed the
flaming announcements of the newspaper advertise-
ments referring to their crime.
"This is infamous; cannot these wretches be
punished?" said Mrs. Manning to the officers in
charge of her, when handbills were thrown into the
cab offering the fullest particulars of a confession
she had not made, and never did make.
However, she ultimately had her revenge upon
society, by driving out of use that (previously) indis-
pensable part of a lady's wardrobe, a rich black
satin dress; for she insisted upon wearing upon the
scaffold one given to her by a member of the noble
family on whom she had waited. After this it was
useless for linendrapers to advertise black satins to
be sold at even half their cost, as the material
remained upon their shelves till Mrs. Manning was
forgotten.
It may be mentioned with regard to this comely
murderess, the customary examination before mov-
ing convicts from one prison to another, disclosed
a sharp edged piece of glass, which she had
stealthily chipped from a scent bottle or from
some such ornament in personal use, and on being
asked the purpose of its concealment, she with a
shrug of the shoulders said in French,
"With
that I could have opened the femoral artery at
night, and by bleeding to death have disappointed
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Monsieur de Londres,* (your Jack Ketch) of
his amiable intention to encircle this neck of
mine.'
The discovery of the Mannings, was effected
mainly through advertising. The husband and wife
becoming alarmed agreed to separate; therefore,
after sharing the plunder of their victim, the man
went to the extreme south, the woman almost to
the extreme north. An account of his features
could easily be advertised, and through the pub-
licity thus given he was recognized in one of the
Channel islands, while his partner in guilt, "the
bait and scourge" of the trapped O'Connor, was
caught in Edinburgh, where she had changed
one of the bank notes advertised as part of the
produce of the horribly planned robbery and
murder.
The letter sent by Charles Dickens to the Times
in November, 1849, describing the scene of the
execution, gradually prepared the public for the
strangulation of culprits in private; and we believe
it only requires a powerful pen like his to prepare
the way for life penal servitude being substituted
for death. In fact, the extreme penalty of punish-
ment by death appears to be an error, as it formerly
did not deter persons from the commission of sheep
* Monsieur de Paris, it is pretty well known, was the old title
given to the public executioner of that city. Mrs. Manning was
a native of Switzerland and usually spoke French.
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61
or horse stealing, and many comparatively mild
offences.
The writer can remember being informed by an old
lady that she had been tempted by an advertisement
to go to a well-known west-end draper's and look at
the rich laces, shawls, and silks, offered at reduced
value because they had been taken from a female for
whom the draper's assistant had stolen the things
and had been executed for the offence: yet there are
now (it is believed) a smaller number of robberies
in dwelling-houses, though a few months' imprison-
ment is the substituted punishment for the penalty
of death.
A kind of fashionable fascination existed to hear
the condemned sermons preached in Newgate to
several human beings the Sunday before hanging
day, i.e., every second Monday in almost every
month throughout the year. Some people were
found to confess that they had never willingly
missed seeing a public execution, and asserted their
intention to die game when it was their turn to
be brought out before their old associates around
the gallows.
The well-known engraving of an execution scene
by Hogarth will exhibit for all time the brutal na-
ture of the public punishment once prevailing in
Christian England. Hogarth was the prince of
advertisers, or rather of advertising agents,-wit-
ness the thousand and one illustrated tradesmen's
cards or tickets, or those prepared for the entre-
:
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preneurs of balls and masquerades, which still live
as evidence of the wit of the artist and his position
as an exponent of his times. He did not in his
early days exhibit contempt for even the ambitious
desires of sign painters, as till very recently might
have been seen a well-known sign, painted by him,
over a tavern which the writer has (in a magis-
terial capacity) licensed to sell the liquid* Hogarth
much loved. The sign was known as "The man
loaded with mischief" (sic), and the artist, with
more drollery than gallantry, depicted a brawny
porter carrying a woman upon his back, holding
a glass of gin; while upon one of his shoulders
was perched an ape, and upon the other a mag-
pie.
Near to this hostelry was another, but on the
south side of the High Street, St. Giles, where a
tankard of foaming ale was brought out to the cri-
minals allowed to stop on their way to the fatal
tree at Tyburn. An engraving exists, and is attri-
buted to Hogarth, displaying the ghastly mirth of
a kind of Captain Macheath, who,—
"Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart,
And often took leave, but seemed loath to depart."
The sketch more particularly exhibits the hero blow-
ing away froth from the tankard, and below is a
mock heroic speech-"Gentlemen, to our next
*
See Hogarth's engraving, Beer-versus Gin.
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63
merry meeting! The ale sold here is good; I have
dispensed with the froth, as through life I have
found it is bad for the digestion." The custom
of ale-drinking at this spot was maintained for
centuries, and its founders it must be presumed did
not dream of creating a Hogarthian puff in favour
of an inn.
Thackeray thus writes of Tyburn, and Hogarth's
more celebrated engraving: "On the spot where Tom
Idle (for whom I have an unaffected pity) made his
exit from this wicked world, and where you see the
hangman smoking his pipe as he reclines on the
gibbet and views the hills of Harrow or Hampstead
beyond, a splendid marble arch, a vast and modern
city-clean, airy, painted drab, populous with
nursery-maids and children, the abodes of wealth
and comfort, the elegant, the prosperous, the polite
Tyburnia rises, the most respectable district in the
habitable globe!"
The Marble Arch, described by Thackeray, cost
from first to last nearly £200,000, that is to say
before being finally placed; an instance of the costly
whims of George the Fourth, called by some "the
first gentleman in Europe," but thought by others,
(and by Thackeray especially), to be its greatest
blackguard. It was reasonable that the refined taste
of the late Prince Consort should desire to get rid
of the incongruous mass of marble, at any rate
from the entrance to Buckingham Palace, and it is
believed that, with all his influence, his Royal High-
:
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ness could not get the Marble Arch placed in a
more favourable situation than that chosen for it in
1851. Had it been placed only a few feet further
west, within a deep quadrangle facing Edgeware
Road (as the writer suggested at the time), and
had the Road in the Park been slightly diverted
from its present line, an avenue might then have
been formed straight to the archway at Constitu-
tion Hill, and the present appearance of the hero
of Waterloo would have been much improved, pro-
bably on the principle that "distance lends en-
chantment to the view." However, there happened
to be Cumberland Gate close at hand; the Marble
Arch must (according to English notions) take
the place of the old gate, chiefly because it had
been called Cumberland in order to celebrate the
doubtful victorious feats of the duke of that name.
At this spot a conflict took place in 1821, and
some lives were lost by the soldiers obeying the
orders of the king, who, released from his marriage
Vow ("till death did them part"), advertised that
his consort's remains were to be treated with
studied disrespect. The people resented this an-
nouncement, and advertised their intention to stop
the cortége conveying out of the country the remains
of the unfortunate Queen Caroline, and they re-
solved to cause the same to be taken with honour
through the City of London.
At that time a tall wall extended round Hyde
Park (a part of it may be seen in our illus-
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65
1
tration), and we have already mentioned that this
wall formed a beloved medium for the proclivities of
advertising quack doctors and makers of blacking.
Byron has described the uses of the six hundred
acres over which the Crown has a quasi-right, but
which has recently been pretty well inalienably
assigned to the people. The author of "Don
Juan" says of Hyde Park, that it was one of—
"Those vegetable puncheons
Call'd parks, where there is neither fruit nor flower
Enough to gratify a bee's slight munchings;
But, after all they are the only 'bower,'
In Moore's phrase, where the fashionable fair
Can form a slight acquaintance with fresh air."
By the courteous consent of Messrs. Cassell,
Petter & Galpin, we are able to give an illustra-
tion of the spot in question as it appeared at the
time of the discreditable riot above referred to.
The turnpike gate stood close to where Tyburn
tree formerly stood, and many aver, from remains
found on the removal of the gate, that the gallows
was placed exactly there. Its ancient surroundings
are minutely described in Hogarth's engraving of
the Execution of Tom Idle. Iron railings subse-
quently displaced the wall shown upon our illustra-
tion, and in the brick work forming the support of
the railing a tablet has been inserted, on which is
inscribed a notice, to perpetuate the recollection of
the old site, connected with so many painful yet
historical recollections. Strong as these iron rail-
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ings undoubtedly were, they were nevertheless un-
able to resist the determination of the people to hold
a meeting within their boundary.
Advertisements had announced the intention of
certain advanced reformers to claim the right they
assumed to have, namely, to hold a public meeting
in Hyde Park. The Government had advertised
that the act would be illegal, and warned per-
sons that force would be employed to prevent the
meeting. A large number of soldiers and police
accordingly assembled within the Park, and the
gates of the Marble Arch were locked. The writer
happened to be passing the spot at the time
advertised for the meeting to take place, and he
witnessed a strange scene. The military and police
had evidently received fresh orders, but not till
the eleventh hour, for the Secretary of State feared
a fiasco like that which cost Louis Philippe his
crown; moreover he was a tender-hearted man,
so much so, that it was reported he had been
brought to tears; he therefore gave way upon
hearing the determination of the people, to risk
their lives rather than give up the right be-
lieved to be theirs. This railing (two miles in
length) was actually torn down by the popu-
lace in the face of the soldiers and police; sub-
sequently, the right of the people to hold political
meetings in the Park was confirmed by parliamen-
tary sanction.
It was in 1760 that Lord Ferrers was hanged
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""
here. He had assassinated his land steward at
Staunton, in Leicestershire, because of a refusal to
commit a criminal act, by signing a false document
much desired for Lord Ferrers' purposes.
His
lordship had been accustomed to madden his brain
with strong drink till at times he appeared to be
unconscious of the effect of his actions, but he
quickly found that drunkenness (by the law of this
country) is no excuse for crime, and it appears he
had made deliberate preparations for the death of
his victim.
He
A coroner's inquest pronounced a verdict of wilful
murder, and Lord Ferrers was sent to Leicester
Gaol, and thence to the Tower of London.
claimed his right to be tried by his Peers, and was
accordingly arraigned before the House of Lords.
Both Mr. Edward Walford, B.A. in "Tales of our
Great Families," and Mr. Hepworth Dixon, J. P., in
the work "Her Majesty's Tower," have given very
interesting accounts of the events leading up to the
imprisonment and execution of Lord Ferrers, also
of his trial at the bar of the House of Peers, where
Lord Henley presided (as Lord High Steward). The
trial lasted two days, and Lord Ferrers endeavoured
with great skill to make out (through the cross-
examination of witnesses) that he was afflicted with
insanity; — - however, each Peer having declared
66
upon his honour" that Lord Ferrers was guilty
of murder, he was therefore sentenced by the
President to be hanged by the neck till he was dead.
1
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After some delay, the Sheriffs of London and
Middlesex claimed his person of the keeper of the
Tower; but, being urged by powerful entreaty, they
spared him the shame and misery of being con-
veyed in the common open tumbril to the place
of execution, with his neck bare, and leaning
against his coffin, in the manner Hogarth has
so minutely painted as the treatment common to
murderers. Earl Ferrers not leaving a son, the
ancient family honours went to a relative, conse-
quently a supposed taint has not been carried down
in direct succession. The Gentleman's Magazine
gave the following description :—
"He was dressed in a suit of light coloured
clothes, embroidered with silver, said to have
been his wedding suit; and soon after the Sheriff
entered the landau, he said, 'you may perhaps,
sir, think it strange to see me in this dress, but I
have my particular reasons for it.' The procession
then began in the following order: A very
large body of constables of the county of Mid-
dlesex, preceded by one of the high constables;
a party of horse grenadiers and a party of foot;
Mr. Sheriff Errington in his chariot, accompanied
by his under-sheriff, Mr. Jackson; the landau, es-
corted by two other parties of horse grenadiers and
foot; Mr. Sheriff Vaillant's chariot, in which was
the under-sheriff, Mr. Nichols; a mourning coach
and six, with some of his lordship's friends; and
lastly, a hearse and six, provided for the conveyance

NUB
PARLAMENTVM LONDINENSE
Abbildung der Seffion des Parlaments zu Londen vber den Sententz des Grafen von Stafford.
A. The Kings Mai
B His feate of state,
Cthe Queenes Mai
D the Prince his highnes.
5. Thomas Earle of Arundell,
Lord high Steward of England
E the Lord Keeper
G the Lord Marques of Wincheller
H the Lord high Chamberlaine
of England,
I the Lord Chamberlaine, of
his Mai houthold,
Kthe Lord cheefe luftice of
the Kings bench,
L 2 Pryui Councellors,
M. the M of the rolls.
N. the ages and Barons of the
Exchequer.
O.the M of the Chancery.
P the Earles,
O the Vicecounts,
R the Baro
S. the Knights, Citizens, burs
geses of the howie of Commons,
the eldest Sonnes offome of the Nobility.
FACSIMILE OF A RARE PRINT
By Wenceslaus Hollar. A corresponding impression is in Sir Hans Sloane's collection in the British Museum.
T. the Clarkes
V the Earle of Strafford,
Wthe Lieutenant of the Towe
the Plainties,
Y the Deputis counesll officers
the Countos of Ardell,
G(
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1
of his lordship's corpse from the place of execu-
tion.
C
"The procession moved so slow that Lord Ferrers
was two hours and three-quarters in his landau;
but during the whole time he appeared perfectly
easy and composed, though he often expressed his
desire to have it over, saying, that the apparatus of
death and the passing through such a crowd of
people was ten times worse than death itself. He
told the sheriff that he had written to the king,
begging that he might suffer where his ancestor, the
Earl of Essex, had suffered-namely, on Tower Hill;
that he had been in the greatest hope of obtaining
this favour, as he had the honour of quartering part
of the same arms and of being allied to his majesty;
and that he thought it hard that he should have
to die at the place appointed for the execution of
common felons.' As to his crime, he declared that
he did it under particular circumstances, having
met with so many crosses and vexations that he
scarcely knew what he did; and in fine he protested
that he had not the least malice towards Mr.
Johnston."
We submit two photographs to our readers; both
were taken from impressions of very scarce proofs
from plates executed by the celebrated Wenceslaus
Hollar, the great master of early etchers, who was
from many causes suffering from impecuniosity, and
thus inclined to execute work his great patron the
Earl of Arundel would probably not have sanctioned,
!
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with
if indeed his lordship ever knew that the Dutch Gov-
ernment desired the publication of these prints.
Hollar's widow survived him many years, and sold
his collection to Sir Hans Sloane; ultimately it was
acquired by the British Museum, where counter-
parts of both these illustrations may be seen. The
copy in the Museum representing the Earl of Straf-
ford's trial is marked "très rare," though why it
should not be described in plain English "very
scarce" is not made clear.
This memorable trial occupied eighteen days,
before both Houses of Parliament, the one as ac-
cusers, the other as Judges. The king and queen
attended throughout, hoping, no doubt, by their
presence to bias the minds of the Judges, and as
Hollar in his own quaint way describes the scene and
those present, it requires nothing of us in that di-
rection. It may however be observed, that the king,
queen, and other members of the court, did not, like
the prince, sit in the body of the court, but in cabi-
nets hung with arras. The prisoner (Lord Straf-
ford), after his impeachment, was committed to the
Tower, and brought daily to Westminster, accom-
panied by several barges manned with troops, and
all the entries of Whitehall, King Street, and Palace
Yard were lined with guards.
The other illustration, also from the etching tool of
Hollar (to be found a few pages further on), is fully
understood to have been utilized in the manner de-
scribed namely, by their "High Mightynesses" of
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PUBLICITY."
the Batavian Republic, who no doubt did not fail at
the same time to announce, that where privileges were
concerned, the promises of kings could not be relied
upon by subjects struggling for liberty. The king
of England had solemnly promised his favourite mi-
nister that not a hair of his head should be hurt, yet
he sacrificed his servant and signed his death war-
rant, notwithstanding a clear right to refuse to do so;
it was however done to quiet the representatives of
the people, as they charged Strafford with the crime
of pure king-craft. This British Parliament, and
the events leading to Strafford's execution, are thus
described by Macaulay, in his comments upon Hal-
lam's History, and the dismissal of the Parliament,
condemning the king's and Strafford's designs upon
the Constitution of the nation.
"Defeat, universal agitation, financial embarrass-
ments, disorganization in every part of the govern-
ment, compelled Charles again to convene the
Houses before the close of the same year. Their
meeting was one of the great eras in the history of
the civilized world. Whatever of political freedom
exists either in Europe or in America, has sprung,
directly or indirectly, from those institutions which
they secured and reformed. We never turn to the
annals of those times without feeling increased ad-
miration of the patriotism, the energy, the decision,
the consummate wisdom, which marked the measures
of that great Parliament, from the day on which it
met to the commencement of civil hostilities.
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"The impeachment of Strafford was the first, and
perhaps the greatest blow. The whole conduct of
that celebrated man proved that he had formed a
deliberate scheme to subvert the fundamental laws
of England.
*
*
"We will premise that we think worse of King
Charles the First than even Mr. Hallam appears to
do. The fixed hatred of liberty which was the
principle of his public conduct, the unscrupulous-
ness with which he adopted any means which might
enable him to attain his ends, the readiness with
which he gave promises, the impudence with which
he broke them, the cruel indifference with which he
threw away his useless or damaged tools, rendered
him, at least till his character was fully exposed and
his power shaken to its foundation, a more dangerous
enemy to the Constitution than a man of far greater
talents and resolution might have been. Such
princes may still be seen, the scandals of the
southern thrones of Europe; princes, false alike to
the accomplices who have served them, and to the
opponents who have spared them; princes who, in
the hour of danger, concede everything, swear
everything, hold out their cheeks to every smiter,
give up to punishment every instrument of their
tyranny, and await with meek and smiling im-
placability the blessed day of perjury and re-
venge.
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ઃઃ
Many enemies of public liberty have been distin-
guished by their private virtues. But Strafford was
the same throughout. As was the statesman, such
was the kinsman, and such the lover. His conduct
towards Lord Mountmorris is recorded by Claren-
don. For a word which can scarcely be called rash,
which could not have been made the subject of an
ordinary civil action, he dragged a man of high rank,
married to a relative of that saint about whom he
whimpered to the Peers, before a tribunal of slaves.
Sentence of death was passed. Everything but
death was inflicted. Yet the treatment which Lord
Ely experienced was still more disgusting. That
nobleman was thrown into prison, in order to com-
pel him to settle his estate in a manner agreeable to
his daughter-in-law, whom, as there is every reason
to believe, Strafford had debauched. These stories
do not rest on vague report. The historians most
partial to the minister admit their truth, and
censure them in terms which, though too lenient for
the occasion, are still severe. These facts are alone
sufficient to justify the appellation with which Pym
branded him, the wicked earl.'
6
"In spite of his vices, in spite of all his dangerous
projects, Strafford was certainly entitled to the
benefit of the law,—but of the law in all its rigour,
of the law according to the utmost strictness of
the letter, which killeth. He was not to be torn
in pieces by a mob, or stabbed in the back by an
assassin. He was not to have punishment meted
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out to him from his own iniquitous measure.
But
if justice, in the whole range of its wide armoury
contained one weapon which could pierce him,
that weapon his pursuers were bound, before God
and man, to employ.
"If he may
Find mercy in the law, 'tis his: if none,
Let him not seek't of us.'
Such was the language which the Commons might
justly use.
*
*
"It is somewhat curious that the admirers of
Strafford should also be, without a single exception,
the admirers of Charles; for, whatever we may
think of the conduct of the Parliament towards the
unhappy favourite, there can be no doubt that the
treatment which he received from his master was
disgraceful. Faithless alike to his people and to
his tools, the king did not scruple to play the part
of the cowardly approver who hangs his accomplice.
It is good that there should be such men as Charles
in every league of villany. It is for such men that
the offers of pardon and reward which appear after
a murder are intended. They are indemnified,
remunerated, and despised. The very magistrate
who avails himself of their assistance looks on them
as wretches more degraded than the criminal whom
they betray.
1
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*
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"His subsequent dealings with his people, however,
clearly showed that it was not from any respect for
the Constitution, or from any sense of the deep
criminality of the plans in which Strafford and him-
self had been engaged, that he gave up his minister
to the axe.
It became evident that he had aban-
doned a servant who, deeply guilty as to all others,
was guiltless to him alone, solely in order to gain
time for maturing other schemes of tyranny, and
purchasing the aid of other Wentworths. He, who
would not avail himself of the power which the
laws gave him to save a friend to whom his honour
was pledged, soon showed that he did not scruple
to break every law and forfeit every pledge, in order
to work the ruin of his opponents.
"Put not your trust in princes!' was the ex-
pression of the fallen minister, when he heard that
Charles had consented to his death. The whole
history of the times is a sermon on that bitter
text. The defence of the Long Parliament is com-
prised in the dying words of its victim."
We have for the frontispiece to this essay an
illustration of a strange contrast to the scene pre-
sented at the trial of the Earl of Strafford, in West-
minster Hall; for at the time of the publication of
the original print forming our frontispiece (viz.,
1797), the wardens of the Fleet were, according to
Laud and Strype, permitted to let out parts of the
hall to booksellers, law stationers, milliners, etc.;
and Wycherley says, in the epilogue to the "Plain
Dealer,"
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"In Hall of Westminster
Sleek sempstress vends amid the Courts her ware.”
The banners displayed over the shops (or stalls)
thus let out to tradesmen were the ensigns of vic-
tory taken by the armies under the command of the
Duke of Marlborough. It is unnecessary to inform
even our country cousins that one of the finest halls
in the world is no longer encumbered with anything
of the nature depicted by our frontispiece; with the
old print, some verses appeared in the Hudibrastic
vein commonly employed a few years previously
by Hogarth, we mean in the engravings which had
for their object the advertisement of any particular
branch of trade or amusement. The lawyer's pro-
fession has at all times been an object of satire
and caricature; the artist and trader agreeing to
show how much purer they wished it to be sup-
posed their callings generally were, therefore they,
as Butler in his "Hudibras," declares,-
"Compound for sins they are inclined to,
By damning those they have no mind to.'
The following lines accompany the original sketch,
"When fools fall out, for every flaw
They run horn-mad to go to law.
A hedge awry, a wrong-placed gate,
Will serve to spend a whole estate;
Your case, the lawyer says, is good,
And justice cannot be withstood.
By tedious process from above,
From office they to office move;
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1


THE TRUE MANER OF THE EXECUTION OF THOMAS EARLE OF STRAFFORD,
Iaienant of Ireland vpon Tower hill, the 12" of May. 1641
HYBERNIA PROREGIS SUPPLICIVM-
LORD
A Doctor Viher, Lord Prima
le of Ireland,
B the Sherifes of London,
C the Earle of Strafford;
D. his kindred and Friends.
WH
Execution des Grafen Thomæ von Stafford Statthalters in Irland auf de Tawers plats in Londen 12 Maj 1641
A, Doct. Ufher Primat in Irland.
B.
Rahts Herzen von Londen
C Der Graf von Stafford.
D.
Seine anverwanten und freunde
FACSIMILE OF A PRINT
Issued by order of the Dutch Republic when advertising to Philip III. of Spain, &c., the Decline of Monarchical Supremacy in England.
Photographed and Printed by H. M. WRIGHT & Co., 61, Fleet Street, E. C.
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Through pleas, demurrers, the deuce and all,
At length they bring it to the Hall,-
The dreadful Hall, by Rufus raised,
For lofty Gothic arches praised.
"The first of Term, the fatal day,
Doth various images convey;
First from the Courts, with clamorous call,
The criers their attorneys call.
One of the gown, discreet and wise,
By proper means his witness tries ;
From Wreathcock's gang, not right, nor laws,
It assures his trembling client's cause.
This gnaws his handkerchief, whilst that
Gives the kind ogling nymph his hat;
Here one in love with choristers
Minds singing more than love affairs;
A serjeant, limping on behind,
Shows Justice lame, as well as blind.
To gain new clients some dispute;
Others protract an ancient suit;
Jargon and noise alone prevail,
While sense and reason's sure to fail."
The repetition of public executions like that of
Earls Strafford and Ferrers (both of which cases
were tried in Westminster Hall), no doubt tended
to brutalize the feelings and habits of all classes;
and as these scenes gradually ceased so did the pub-
lic taste improve, for we find that about a century
later "the noble art of self-defence" (as boxing and
prize-fights were designated) was under the highest
patronage, and recommended as a commendable
substitute for the use of the knife or dagger when
quarrels became desperate in their nature.
It is said that John Broughton was the founder
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of the science of boxing, that is to say, pugilism
with padded gloves over the clenched fists of the
combatants. Broughton was taken to be a kind of
national schoolmaster; and his lectures, or course of
teaching, was described in an advertisement pub-
lished in the Daily Advertiser, A.D. 1747 :—
"Mr. Broughton proposes, with proper assistance,
to open an academy at his house in the Haymarket
for the instruction of those who are willing to be
initiated in the mystery of boxing, where the whole
theory and practice of that truly British art, with
all the various stops, blows, cross-buttocks, etc.,
incident to the combatants, will be fully taught and
explained; and, that persons of quality and distinc-
tion may not be debarred from entering into a
course of those lectures, they will be given with
the utmost tenderness and regard to the delicacy of
the frame and constitution of the pupil, for which
reason muffles (boxing gloves) are provided that
will effectually secure them from the inconvenience
of black eyes, broken jaws, and bloody noses.'
وو
John Broughton was a great favourite of the
well-known Duke of Cumberland,—the hero of Cul-
loden, as the victorious Hanoverians called him, in
opposition to the title of "butcher," conferred upon
him by the Stuarts. The income made by Brough-
ton was very large, £150 being taken occasionally
in one evening at the doors of his "academy."
Broughton, as a kind of holiday, was taken for a
run on the Continent by his patron; and upon
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his being shown the regiment of tall Grena-
diers belonging to Frederick the Great, and asked
by the duke what he thought of any of them for a
set-to, Broughton replied, "I do not mind fighting
the whole lot, your royal highness; only be kind
enough to order me a breakfast between each fight,"
as he fully supposed each tall fellow would give him
a fair day's work.
Many of us are now old enough to remember the
newspapers teeming with the accounts of fights,
with the names of the distinguished patrons of
"the ring," together with advertisements of com-
ing fights; and few refused to read the works of
Pierce Egan, the author of "Tom and Jerry,"
whose literary talent has been inherited by his des-
cendants,-witness the writing of his son and grand-
son in one of the most popular of modern weekly
papers, namely, The London Journal, the illustra-
tions of which are alone worth the penny charged
for the paper; but it need scarcely be said that the
cause of pugilism is not represented in its pages.
The day is not far distant when it will scarcely
be credited that gladiators here in England were
respected, and even made wealthy, so late as the
nineteenth century. Gully, who fought publicly
for money in the prize-ring, lived to represent a
constituency in the British Parliament; the writer
can remember one night witnessing a gradually-
diminishing assembly in the House of Commons,
and learning that such was occasioned by many
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members wishing to rise for the early special
train, appointed to convey them and what was
still called "the fancy" or "the ring" to an ap-
pointed place of battle between the American cham-
pion, Heenan, and the British champion, Tom
Sayers. The latter was victorious, though the lives
of both were, by the fierceness of the duel, placed in
imminent danger. It need scarcely be added that
they did not fight with muffles on their fists,-as
referred to in Broughton's advertisement, or that
the winner gained not only a large sum of money,
or that he gained what was called the champion's
belt, which he retained so long as he was ready
to fight all comers (and, as the knights of old)
à l'outrance. If afterwards defeated, he, like his
predecessors, would have to resign the emblem of
former victory; but then he was contented by being
empowered to advertise himself as an ex-champion
of England and ready to give lessons in what he
would call "the noble art of self-defence."
Of course we have been unable to refer to any
living authority of Hogarth's period, yet an oppor-
tunity has occurred to the writer which has enabled
him to gather the personal recollections of an official
whose predecessor could remember the Gordon
Riots and destruction of Newgate. A cistern bear-
ing the date of that strange event may still be seen
near to what the prisoners call the Bird-cage Walk;
it is a wired-in passage, looking something like a
huge bird-cage, extending from the cells to the
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court where prisoners are tried; and if condemned
to die, the pavement on which the wretched crea-
tures walk will eventually cover their remains. The
official above referred to gave the writer an extra-
ordinary instance, proving that the punishment of
death has not always a deterring effect. He stated
that he remembered the body of a smasher (as false
money coiners were called) being sent to the dissect-
ing room; the students detected a slight pulsation,
and actuated by the instincts natural to a noble pro-
fession, reanimated the half-strangled wretch "La-
teat scintillula forsan" on the principle encouraged
by that benevolent institution the Royal Humane
Society, the winners of whose medals (the V.C. of
civil life) never stay to think of personal condi-
tion or surrounding circumstances, but determine
upon saving the life placed in danger before them.
The wretched man above referred to, therefore,
walked from the hospital a free man but was
advised to change his name and keep his secret.
He tried to do both, but returning to his old
practices was ultimately put to death, though not
before being recognized, and practically admitting
the correctness of a statement (found at his work-
shop) written at the back of one of the advertising
handbills then issued by Catnach of Seven Dials.
The statement was to the effect that "this last
dying speech and confession wasn't true, as the
person
described had recovered in the hospital." Penny news-
papers not existing in those days, Catnach was al-
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most the sole medium to inform his majesty's liege
subjects of the compulsory decease of their compeers.
Occasionally a reprieve would frustrate a dis-
tribution of copies printed in advance of the ex-
pected execution. The writer remembers an event
of this nature, namely, an occasion when he had
succeeded in obtaining the royal clemency for a
woman within comparatively a few hours of her
sentence being carried out; in fact, he had to pass
through the place where preparations for erecting
the scaffold and horrid apparatus were in progress
as he proceeded to the condemned cell to inform
the prisoner that the royal prerogative had merci-
fully been extended to her.
There was a tradition extant at that time with
regard to a circumstance said to have been the
main cause for the discontinuance of the custom of
sending the bodies of criminals to the public
dissecting rooms. The innocence of a person
having been proved shortly after an execution,
an attempt was made to make some reparation
to the relatives' feelings by causing decent inter-
ment to be given to the victim's remains. Unfortu-
nately such had been dispersed or destroyed in
the course of anatomical or chemical experiments;
but not to disappoint the public wish, some-
thing was deposited in the coffin, and it was
ultimately ascertained that the contents consisted
of the carcase of a donkey which had under-
gone dissection. Possibly the feelings of the stu-
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dents might by habit have become callous in respect
to the sanctity of the grave, from the fact that
resurrectionists, or body-snatchers, were constantly
employed by them to violate suburban graveyards;
at any rate a discovery of their disgraceful want of
feeling was not expected. But they did not count
upon some of the younger students who attended
the funeral, and were unable there to repress un-
seemly mirth when the chaplain read over the con-
tents of the coffin the words "our dear brother here
departed." An inquiry was instituted, but for the
sake of all concerned the matter was as far as pos-
sible hushed up. Now, whatever truth may exist
with regard to this Old Bailey tale, one thing is
certain, the order to bury executed criminals within
the precincts of the prison has become a custom,
albeit of comparatively modern origin.
The conveyance or rather procession from New-
gate to Tyburn in those days, by way of Snow Hill
and Holborn Hill (made easier now by a viaduct) to
Oxford Street (or Oxford Road), afforded ample
opportunities for the lovers of such ghastly sights
to witness the bearing of the criminal seated near to
his coffin in an open cart escorted by the sheriffs
and under-sheriffs in their gay carriages, with foot
men and javelin men, slowly wending to the place
now called Tyburnia.
The gallows at Tyburn was of a triangular form,
resting on three supports, and hence it is often
spoken of as "Tyburn's triple tree."
Tyburn's triple tree." It was a per-
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manent erection, being in constant use.
The under-
sheriffs of London and Middlesex derived consider-
able emolument in letting out seats similar to those of
a grand stand at a race course, especially upon occa-
sions when some celebrity played out the dismal
drama. Even the celebrated wit George Selwyn had
an inordinate relish or taste for attending public exe-
cutions. Jesse, in his memoirs, says that some ladies
rallied Selwyn about his want of feeling in going to
see Lord Lovat's head cut off. "Why," said he, "I
made amends by going to the undertaker to see it
sewn on again prior to the coffin being sent to the
family vault." Lord Holland, upon his death bed,
knowing Selwyn's strange passion for death views,
said to his servant: "The next time he calls, show
him up. If I am alive, I shall be delighted to see
him; and if I am dead, he will be glad to see me."
Selwyn went to Paris, in 1756, for the purpose of
witnessing the horrible tortures inflicted at the exe-
cution of Damiens for his attempt to assassinate
Louis XV. A French nobleman took Selwyn, from
the interest he exhibited, to be the English public
executioner sent over to see how these things were
done in France. "Eh, bien, monsieur," he said,
"êtes-vous arrivé pour voir ce spectacle?"
"Oui,
monsieur." "Vous êtes bourreau ?" "Non, non,
monsieur; je n'ai pas cette honneur; je ne suis
qu'un amateur." A less distinguished individual,
but an equal lover of bloodshed, existed in the person
of a man about the time Calcraft was taken ill
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and it was rumoured the sheriffs would have to
advertise for a common hangman, or that they would
have themselves to discharge the most horrible part
of the duty; whereupon the said man wrote to us
(as Sheriff of the period) asking permission to do
what he called "the job;" he would ask for no pay,
but if he did it well-" and he knew he should,
because he was well known in Fulham fields to be
strong in the twist," he would then ask for the berth
to be given to him permanently. Being curious to
know what his avocation might be, we sent to his
address and found he was foreman to a market gar-
dener, and could neatly and securely apply the twisted
withes, or willow twigs, round bundles of broccoli, as
prepared to be sent to Covent Garden market.
Having advanced the opinion that capital punish-
ment does not deter those capable of committing
the crime of murder, the writer trusts it may not
be considered digressing unduly if he quotes the
following facts recently advertised by Dutch and
American authorities:-
"The following concise and practical letter from
Holland (where capital punishment has been safely
discontinued for seventeen years) furnishes a reply
to the merely theoretical objections of the oppo-
nents of the abolition of the death-penalty. This
letter (one of a number of similar foreign communi-
cations received by the Howard Association) very
briefly but effectually deals with actual facts rather
than arguments :-
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AMSTERDAM, February 8, 1877.
'DEAR SIR,-In the Netherlands capital punishment was abo-
lished by the law of Sept. 17th, 1870. On that occasion the
Minister of Justice remarked that since the year 1860 no person
convicted of murder had been executed, but that murders had
not increased. Since the formal abolition the number of convic-
tions for murder has been-in 1871, five; in 1872, five; in 1873,
one; in 1874, two. The statistics for 1875 and 1876 are not yet
published.'"
Capital punishment in America is thus referred
to:-
"Two brothers in Rhode Island planned the
murder of another man, resident in the same State.
They had many opportunities of killing him there;
but they waited until he took a journey into the
neighbouring State of Massachusetts, whither they
followed him, and murdered him at Worcester,
knowing that they had come out of a State where
capital punishment is abolished into one where the
death-penalty is retained! But the reason is ob-
vious. Murderers have a better chance of escape
where jurors have to decide upon an irrevocable
fatal verdict than in countries where abolition
gives an opportunity of rectifying a mistaken con-
viction. It has been repeatedly shown, in various
countries, that conviction for murder is more cer-
tain where there is no death-penalty than where
it is retained. Rhode Island is a very populous
though small State, with a manufacturing and mari-
time population of two hundred and fifty-eight
thousand; yet there have been only twenty-three
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convictions for murder in the twenty-five years
since capital punishment was abolished (in 1852),
being an average of less than one per annum. In
some years there have been two or more murders,
but in others none at all, the average being less
than one. Capital punishment has also been dis-
continued in Michigan (for thirty-three years), Wis-
consin, Illinois, and Maine; also practically in
several other States, as in Indiana, Tennessee, etc.
If murders had been found to increase there can be
no doubt but that these States would long ago have
reinstated the gallows, but their united and per-
severing disuse of it tells its own tale."
6
"Let messieurs the murderers set the example,
said the old French cynic, when the proposal of the
abolition of death punishment was made to him.
Now we have an old English saying "that two
wrongs cannot make a right," but a nobler French-
man established a healthier epigram than his fellow
countryman, when speaking upon the same subject,
he said: "We who punish, should remember, that
the door of the tomb opens not inwards."" All
who have had to deal out the dreaded duty at
present imposed by the law, well know the hush
set up, when controverting evidence is offered too
late for a wrong judgment to be reversed; yet
there are many who almost ridicule the beautiful
thought expressed by Victor Hugo, viz.: "that the
day is not distant when public revenge shall cease,
and the cross shall displace the gibbet."
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CHAPTER IV.
THERE are sceptics in every faith, and persons are
found to disbelieve the value of advertisements.
Some say they never read them, and when they buy
their newspapers the supplement is thrown away,
if even taken from the newsboy; and if they do
not leave the entire paper in their railway carriage
on their way to town, it does service for light-
ing the next day's fire at their office. Fortunately
the true believers in advertising know that at
the present time, (taking the returns of four news-
papers only), at least one copy is daily printed for
That ad-
every fourth person in this country.
vertisements are extensively read was proved by
the various incidents attending the discovery of the
murder by the Mannings; and their conviction was
so remarkably connected with the power developed
by newspaper advertisements, that we shall prob-
ably further the object of this essay by relating a
few of the facts which, through the lapse of time,
have no doubt escaped the memory of those old
enough to remember their occurrence.
A man named O'Connor, known to be wealthy,
and tolerably regular in his habits, had been sud-
denly missed at his chambers. (First clue to the
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crime :) The police advertised a description of this
man, and were answered by persons stating they
had seen such a person often enter the dwelling of
a Mr. and Mrs. Manning, but the latter was sus-
pected to be the attraction for visits paid especially
in the absence of the husband. (Second clue:) At
O'Connor's chambers a memorandum was found of
certain documents, which would have passed un-
noticed except by the police. By this memorandum
scrip could be traced, and on further inquiry it was
found that since the disappearance of the murdered
man the missing scrip had been converted into bank
notes by a handsome woman muffled up in a thick
veil. The numbers of the notes were advertised.
(Clue the third :) Several visits of the police to Mr.
and Mrs. Manning ensued, and the latter uncon-
sciously gave the leading clue. She noticed a glance
of one of the officers upon the floor of the paved
kitchen, at the fire of which a goose was roasting.
"Are you looking for a goose?" said Maria
Manning, at the same time sweeping her dress over
a part of the pavement the officer saw had been
recently disturbed.
His second glance placed the woman further
on the qui vive; for that night, with her guilty
husband, she disappeared. The officers broke into
the house next day, and by digging beneath the
kitchen floor found human remains encased in lime
and earth. (Clue the fourth :) The action of the
lime having destroyed identity, advertisements were
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addressed to dentists, and the gold plate and false
teeth found in the grave were sworn to by a dentist,
who had read the description with that of the
features of his patient (the late O'Connor). (Clue
the fifth:) The husband's intended plea of justi-
fiable homicide, through alleged accidental discovery
of his wife's guilt and that of her paramour, was
soon met by the police, as premeditation was proved
by a new spade and pickaxe being shown to have
been bought by the male culprit several days before
the sudden disappearance of the victim from his
chambers. The trade marks on these tools (also
described through advertisements) brought their
vendors forward, who explained the date of sale.
She
One incident upon the trial can never be for
gotten by those who witnessed it. The woman had
considerable personal attractions, a singularly mu-
sical and sympathetic voice, which, with a gentle
manner, had made her the chosen distributor of
alms to the poor by the members of the noble
family whom she had served as lady's maid.
was thus known by many of the nobility who had
been the guests of her employers, and many were
upon the bench when she was asked the awful ques-
tion if she had anything to say why the sentence of
death should not be passed upon her. With a voice
and a gesture which, in point of effective expression,
could not have been surpassed by a Siddons, she,
grasping a handful of herbs, threw them violently
at all seated on the bench, exclaiming, "Cowards,
will you thus see a woman condemned to die!"
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The custom of spreading sweet-smelling herbs in
front of accused persons while in the dock origin-
ated in times when the wretched prisoners were
liable to gaol fever. The judges and others upon
the bench are still presented with bouquets of
flowers (not unlike those used by ladies at weddings
and at the opera). These were supposed during
ancient times to counteract the fever-giving odour
frequently brought into court by wretches who had
been unable to pay for the means of procuring
cleanliness or proper nourishment during their
incarceration previous to trial.
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While referring to the very questionable good to
be derived by the species of horrible canonization,
consisting of advertised shrines, or rooms of
horrors," we are reminded of the fact that a con-
siderable sum of money was offered to the Sessions
House attendants, by the proprietor of a public
place of exhibition, a session or two after the trial
of the Mannings. The offers were made for the
possession of a stick wherewith a brute (who had
once been a cavalry officer and a gentleman) had
struck Her Majesty in the face. The motive ap-
peared on the trial to be a determination to disgrace
his family for ever, through a refusal on their part
of money to support his rank and position in society.
The blow was given with great violence, as a livid
mark was seen by the writer when attending Her
Majesty's levée shortly afterwards. The miscreant
was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and
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to be severely flogged. What added, if possible, to
the enormity of the crime, consisted in the fact that
Her Majesty had in the carriage several of the royal
children. While passing over the pavement into
the gateway of Cambridge House, Piccadilly, to say
farewell to a beloved and dying relative, the Queen
was placed within reach of the miscreant's arm;
and it being an almost daily visit of his sovereign,
he could plan and successfully carry out his fiend-
ish intention. But we forget not the fact, that in
a characteristic spirit of Christian forgiveness, Her
Majesty personally directed a commutation of the
sentence so far as flogging was concerned; but
had the expression of the royal will been delayed
but a few hours, it would have been useless, as
Calcraft, the common hangman, had just received
directions forthwith to prepare to administer the
flogging.
The stick, like other things in those days found
on the persons of delinquents, became the property
of the sheriffs of London and Middlesex; and the
writer has in his possession a gracious letter of
thanks for obeying Her Majesty's wish, (expressed
through one of the equerries) to the effect that
the stick might be sent to Buckingham Palace.
Thus it was saved from being advertised as on
view daily for the enjoyment of morbid feelings
by visitors to chambers of horrors, or places of
the same nature.
Cabs, and the uses to which they have been
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applied, form so small a part of the subject of an
essay upon advertising, that we may appear to be
digressing unduly while describing these anecdotes,
which, as an Irish friend suggests, resemble a fifth
wheel to a four-wheeler. The excuse we shall offer
is to the effect that in the Appendix to this work
we shall have to produce some dry reading in the
shape of statistics, with the view of showing the
most advantageous subjects for investment, on the
part of advertisers.
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The following anecdote forms the substance of
a conversation between the writer and the Irish
friend already referred to. It originated in that
cosiest of all places of relaxation, the smoking-room
of the House of Commons, to which spot we had
both retired while a well-known bore was up for a
two hours' spin at his special hobby, with regard
to which Hansard might have gone to sleep, and
made a reprint of the speech uttered by the honour-
able bore during a previous session. We therefore
smoked the fragrant weed, and discoursed of our
friends, past and present. One of the past friends
my Hibernian gossip thus bitterly referred to:-
"I tell you he is alive. I saw him last year at
one of the continental gaming tables, and it's no
use your saying that a coroner's inquest has sat
upon him, and he was buried accordingly. This is
how it all happened. I will admit that I'm like
G. P. R. James, when beginning one of his novels;
but listen.
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As a dark and miserable night was drawing
to a close, a growler, or four-wheel cab, was seen
in the course of being driven towards a solitary
spot on Hampstead Heath. From a hasty glance
as it passed the policeman upon night duty, that
officer perceived inside the cab a muffled figure.
The cabman, with all his efforts to assume the sang
froid of his profession, bad an appearance that seemed
like one over-acting a part; and when he returned,
half an hour afterwards, with his cab empty, he
was still more anxious to pass unobserved. The
policeman thought cabby had taken to the heath
one of the artists who like to take sketches of a
sunrise over the metropolis; the early tints of the
dawn were even then making an appearance. The
policeman went on, and thought no more of the mat-
ter till later in the day, and then his suspicion was
aroused, upon the discovery near to a wild part of the
heath, of the dead body of one who had held office in
the Queen's Government, also in Parliament, there
being by the side of the body a silver cream jug,
engraved with the family arms of the distinguished
personage, the vessel still containing a few drops of
prussic acid. It is true he was identified by his
clothes and by his mug, or jug, his features having
the usual distortion of death from prussic acid.
The policeman then suspected suicidal complicity
on the part of the cabman he had seen slinking by ;
but no effort on the part of the police could
ascertain more about either driver or cab, than
;
PUBLICITY."
95
the fact that a similar cab (but without a driver)
was found on a stand near the docks, also that
the former proprietor of that particular cab had
emigrated, but not before selling it to a stranger,
with the horse and everything belonging to the
turnout.'
"Now," said our Hibernian friend, "let us shift
the scene in this apparent tragedy. Listen. Since
free trade, amongst its many blessings, did away
with burking and body-snatching, dead bodies have
been imported from all parts of the Continent free of
duty; and for the purposes of educational anatomy
a student may, by judiciously advertising in medical
journals on the Continent, obtain a corpse of any
complexion, size, or description, and even any
known cause of death may be so represented.
Now, the man we've been talking about was
the cleverest fellow I ever met with, and it is
my belief he knew where to advertise for the
right article. And when he had obtained it, he
prepared for his own final disappearance from
society; for after his departure it was discovered
that his defalcations would have entitled him to
wear Her Majesty's uniform, and to occupy his time.
upon public works of a totally different nature to
those he had previously been acquainted with. It
is my belief that the scoundrel drove his own
corpse to Hampstead Heath. And he knows now
that I know it; for when I came upon him at the
gambling rooms I have referred to, notwithstanding
!
96
66
PUBLICITY."
his wig and moustache, and dyed complexion, I
could not resist saying,- And is it yourself I am
talking to ?'
"Thrown off his guard by the sudden nature of
the rencontre, the salutation was momentarily reci- '
procated; but, remembering his position, he in
Yankee drawl, said,—
'Stranger, I reckon you've made a slight mis-
take.'
"Come out of that entirely,' I exclaimed; but
he shuffled off, muttering something about being
insulted, and before I got back to the hotel, an
American had suddenly paid up and skedaddled by
the train going north."
With regard to this spot on Hampstead Heath,
there can be no doubt a dead body was found there,
and under circumstances corresponding with the
above description. In point of fact, the writer can
well remember having to perform duty as a magis-
trate in that locality shortly after the event, and
that persons were constantly going to the place, ex-
cited by morbid curiosity; also that the keeper of
the heath complained of their removing, in memoriam,
turf and ferns, as such were in contiguity with this
scene, either of self-murder or that of perhaps the
cleverest and one of the most frightful deceptions of
the age.
The Globe newspaper recently published an article
on what is thought to be a singular choice on the
part of an American criminal, who preferred to
66
97
PUBLICITY."
"'
have carried out the original sentence of death,
upon becoming conscious of the awful punishment
of life-long imprisonment, that is to say, without
the slightest hope of a ticket-of-leave or commu-
tation of the sentence in any shape or form.
All who advocate the abolition of punishment of
death, are met by the argument, that instinctively,
life is clung to by the lowest and most brutal
portions of the creation; and they are further told,
that it is impossible to get behind the mind of the
murderer, that such a being will carry out his fell
purpose, and rarely realizes the result of the death
of his victim, so far as it may ultimately affect his
own; and if, while on the point of committing an
assault, he does reflect upon the probable conse-
quences, then it causes him to seek to run short
of actual murder. The answer given by the writer
to such remarks has generally taken the shape of
a narration of the following circumstance, by which
it will be seen he had an official opportunity to
form an estimate of the calculations likely to be
made by a wretch contemplating the shedding of
blood, and especially in cases of poisoning, which
are most numerous in civilized life, that is to say,
where death is probably the only means to take
from the path of the murderer any one interfering
with the accomplishment of some desired object.
The instance quoted by the writer, is that of a
woman who had undoubtedly poisoned her husband,
a wretch who it was proved had been probably
H
1
98
66
PUBLICITY."
as great a scourge to her married life as it was
possible for a man to be. Her sentence of death
was reluctantly given, and great exertions were
used to obtain a reprieve; but upon its receipt she
astonished the authorities by saying, "while she
was thankful for the kind intentions of those who
had obtained the same, yet she had now made
up her mind to her fate, and she preferred death
to living in perpetual imprisonment with the con-
stant contemplation of her crime;" moreover, "she"
had taken the chances of not being found out, and
many murderers, she had heard, were not discovery.
or even suspected;" also, she had thought, shú
fortune not so far favour her, then she could n
die by the hangman, in place of the gradual and
cruel death always before her eyes while he
wretched husband lived and brutally treated her.
In the face of this fact the writer felt very little
astonishment while reading the following extract.
Parenthetically we would here say, that the
wretched culprit, though in healthy and youthful
life at the time of the trial, died, it is supposed, with
remorse; at any rate her decease occurred after a
very few years of the imprisonment to which her
sentence had been commuted. The Globe says:—
66
/
"A very curious legal point has just cropped up
on the other side of the Atlantic. Some years ago,
a woman named Sarah Victor, having been con-
victed of poisoning her brother, was sentenced to
suffer death by hanging. Her friends managed,
66 PUBLICITY.'
99
i
however, to have the sentence commuted to im-
prisonment for life, and the criminal no doubt
congratulated herself on her escape from death.
After a time, she took a different view of the
matter. Imprisonment in a United States gaol is
by no means enjoyable, so the time arrived when
Sarah Victor changed her mind. Wearied of an
existence devoid of pleasure and cut off from hope,
she applied last year to have her original sentence
carried out an application of such an utterly un-
precedented nature that the highest legal authori-
ties have been puzzled to reply. After being taken
from court to court, her case is to be referred to
the last Court of Appeal. Judge Bingham, who
gave this order, had previously decided that the
applicant was in law an escaped prisoner, and
therefore directed her to be handed over to the
authorities of the county in which she was originally
convicted. On reconsideration, however, he deter-
mined to end the matter finally by sending it before
the Court of Appeal. The interesting point in this
curious case, is the corroboration it partly affords
of the theory that imprisonment for life is an even
less merciful sentence than death. Of course, it
would not be so if there were the slightest hope of
the term being abridged. But when, as in the
United States, life imprisonment is carried out
rigorously, and when the prisoner sees nothing but
a prospect of prolonged misery, it is easy to ima-
gine human beings longing for death, even by
1
1
100
66 PUBLICITY."
hanging, as a happy release.
At all events, here
we have this woman applying to be hanged with as
much pertinacity as if she were advancing a claim
to a huge estate or to a Scotch earldom."
In making remarks of this nature, the author of
this work sincerely trusts that his readers will not
consider that he has unduly dwelt upon such in-
cidents in his public career as have had relation to
what may be called "Publicity" in relation to the
consequences of crime. If for a moment such an
impression should arise, he begs to tender as an
excuse, not only the importance of the matter it-
self, but also the fact, that he set out with the
intention to deal with the subject of publicity in
its widest sense, and as it has affected social life
in every possible form. Moreover he has been far
from promising to restrict his recollections or com-
ments to the commercial tendencies of "Publicity."
With his friend the late lamented Charles Gilpin
(M.P. for Northampton) the author of this Essay
has worked early and late to urge the parliamentary
abolition of capital punishment; and having that
in view, he, with his late friend, welcomed as an
instalment the privacy of the present method of
executing criminals; and the author, while giving
very little (so far as these pages are concerned)
further reference to the subject, nevertheless feels
it to be right to state, that while death-punishment
exists as a custom of the land, he and others (shar-
ing his opinion) will always have some work to do,
66
101
PUBLICITY."
that is to say, in giving publicity to various in-
stances tending to prove the impolicy of the cus-
tom, and its brutalizing action upon society.
The regulations for metropolitan public vehicles,
and to a great extent of public exhibitions, are
controlled by the Chief Commissioner of Police,
under sanction of the Home Office, and the man-
dates of those functionaries, in a recent instance,
like unto scarecrows to which birds have become
accustomed, have actually been used as perches
whereon to profit, or to be made useful at conve-
nience. The following description is copied from
the Weekly Dispatch :-
66
Advertising has become not
but one of the finest of all arts.
C
the bill-sticker' is now the
only a fine art,
What used to be
publicity agent.'
He
But the adept at advertising, the accomplished pro-
fessor of the art, does not trust to the publicity
derived from hoardings paid for at so much a foot,
or newspaper columns at so much an inch.
scorns these mean ways. At the present moment it
is the fashion to puff newspapers in the House of
Commons. Hardly a night passes but what some
member is found to ask whether the Ministry is
prepared to say that something in some Eatanswill
Gazette is correct. In the case of a book or per-
formance, the way to make it succeed is to dissem-
inate the report that it is indecent. In the case of
a picture, which could not be so described, a safer
plan to make it notorious is to lose it and advertise
:
102
PUBLICITY.'
a large reward for its discovery. In every case the
aim is to get the person or thing talked about. To
devise a novel method of doing this is the aim of
the true artist in advertising, and we think the
managers of the Aquarium at Westminster have
succeeded. They have got the Chief Commissioner
of Police to order the discontinuance of a portion
of the performance at that establishment. In this
there is a touch of genius. The Commissioner is
afraid that some mischance might befall a lady who,
it seems, nightly startles the audience by being
blown out of a cannon, and he writes to express his
fears to the managers. Thereupon the managers
write to the Commissioner to assure him that there
is no danger to be apprehended. In fact, the Com-
missioner or the Home Secretary might at any time
prove this by permitting himself to be puffed into
space.' Whether either of these functionaries will
essay the experiment is at present unknown. The
managers, however, have secured their point in
giving publicity to the fact that a certain perform-
ance is considered dangerous by the police, and as a
consequence will get what they might not otherwise
have had-crowded houses."
6
But in the course of time, should the lady not
break her neck or be disabled, the interest may
cease, as a similar attraction commenced and ter-
minated on one of the bridges some years ago, when
a celebrated diver and swimmer advertised that he
The
would jump off, head first, into the river.
66 PUBLICITY."
103
receipts of the toll collectors increased on those
days till the novelty wore off; then the poor man
resolved to re-awaken the public sensation by an-
nouncing his intention of hanging by the chin from
a rope and by a jerk releasing himself and dropping
feet foremost into the stream. This plan succeeded
for a short time; but one day the public, after
applauding his remarkable struggles, at last re-
solved to see if anything was the matter, and the
man was found to have hanged himself in a manner
more effectual than Jack Ketch at times has mani-
fested the recent execution of a criminal at Leeds,
for instance, where the poor wretch had double
punishment, having to wait while the authorities
searched the gaol to find a rope stronger than the
one broken in the previous attempt to assert the
majesty of the law.
Since the abolition of the brutal custom of public
executions ten years have elapsed, and the increase
of the crime of murder threatened as the conse-
quence has been far from established.
The pro-
prietors of houses in the Old Bailey have probably
a grievance and claim for compensation in the
reduced value of their property; a window with a
good view on hanging days was worth several
guineas. Barham, in his "Ingoldsby Legends,"
describes the disappointment of my Lord Tom
Noddy; all of that class are now doomed to con-
tent themselves with chambers of horrors to satisfy
similar morbid tastes; and it is clear that the feel-
1
104
PUBLICITY."
ing still exists in certain minds, else why are
advertisements to be met with in every street de-
claring another addition has been made to previous
collections, and the features in wax-work of the
latest great murderer may be seen, together with
the actual knife or bludgeon used on the fearful
occasion.
For several years past a journal has existed with
the avowed object of promoting marriage through
advertisements published in its columns, or with the
view to make assignations, and to carry on corre-
spondence till the desired match has been completed.
It is not known whether the journalist receives a
commission on the fortune an adventurer may thus
acquire, or whether for a given sum he will provide
the wedding breakfast and favours, with blushing
members of the corps de ballet to act as bridesmaids,
and take, as the exigency may require, the office of
best man, or that of a fond father reluctantly giving
away, not his fair daughter, but a gentle customer
to his advertising sheet. Some of these advertise-
ments give a minute description of the charms of
the lady seeking a helpmate, and the manly virtues
or proportions of the stronger sex. A suit in
Chancery was recently instituted on the part of the
relations of an infatuated lady who married in the
manner above described, and an effort was made to
regain some of her fortune which had been thrown
upon the tender mercies of her future life associate,
the Daily News thus commented on the evidence :-
66 PUBLICITY.'
105
institution of
"The entirely modern art of advertising has
lately been applied to the ancient
marriage without complete success.
દ
Marriage is
a thing which has little need to be facilitated by
modern appliances. Most people find time for it
once or twice in the course of their lives, and the
mythical character whom the Scotch sexton de-
scribed as unco' wastefu' in wives,' entered the
holy estate no less than five times. Marriages by
advertisement seem less out of keeping with French
than with English ideas of matrimony. It is gene-
rally held in this country that French people do not
see much of each other before the arrangements
are concluded and the matrimonial bargain struck
The advertisers, we must in courtesy suppose, are
alone among civilized peoples in their way of look-
ing at matrimony. A stranger from a past age or a
distant planet might guess from matrimonial adver-
tisements that modern English men and women
really had not time to see and become acquainted
with and fall in love with each other. The Pacha
in Eothen,' whose formula was 'whiz, whiz, all by
wheels-fizz, fizz, all by steam,' would have thought
marriage by advertisement a natural result of our
fondness for machinery. We must have the print-
ing-press everywhere, and economise, by paying a
few shillings, the time which other nations think
not wasted in love-making. If this became general,
probably a good deal of the meaning would be
taken out of poetry. Genevieve, instead of confess-
C
ļ
1
1
106
66 PUBLICITY."
C
ing herself won by the graceful action described by
Coleridge, would telegraph her acceptance to the
office of the Matrimonial Agency, so as to forestall
the chance of higher offers. Marriages, instead of
being made in heaven, would be contracted for on a
large scale, large orders only would be received, and
it is possible to imagine an agent selling short,'
and rushing into the world in search of brides for
the colonies at an alarming sacrifice. Matrimonial
advertisers are generally either vulgar persons who
ave but this one theme on which to exercise their
; or other, and equally coarse characters, who
bect to find a little excitement, at worst, and a
tation, by the process. As advertisements of the
t do not die a natural death, the melancholy
tainty is forced on one, that a great many people
e coarse in their tastes, and will do anything for
poor joke or a dubious flirtation. This is an un-
comfortable conclusion; but it is better to hold by
this than to suppose that any honest people have
no time to lose their hearts, and no opportunities
of meeting in any sort of society."
i
Marriage fortunes were constantly advertised to-
wards the end of the last century. Such announce-
ments were given with less glaring precision than
those issued by persons before marriage in the
present day. Thus, in the Gazette of January 5th,
1789, we find: "Sunday se'nnight, at St. Aulk-
man's Church, Shrewsbury, A. Holbeche, Esq., of
Slowley Hill, near Coleshill, in this county, to Mrs.
+
66
107
PUBLICITY."
}
Ashby, of Shrewsbury, a very agreeable lady, with
a good fortune.' On the 2nd of January, 1792:
"Yesterday, at St. Martin's Church, William Lucas,
Esq., of Holywell, in Northamptonshire, to Miss
Legge, spinster, of this town; an agreeable young
lady, with a handsome fortune." And on the 29th
of October, 1798: "A few days ago, at St. Martin's
Church, in this town, Mr. William Barnsley, of the
Soho, to Miss Sarah Jorden, of Birmingham Heath,
an agreeable young lady, with a genteel fortune."
In other cases, where possibly the bride was penni-
less, her personal qualifications alone were men-
tioned, as this, in April, 1783: "(Married) on
Saturday last, Mr. George Donisthorpe, to the
agreeable Mrs. Mary Bowker, both of this town."
One of the latest notices of the kind occurs in
Aris's Birmingham Gazette, of July 14, 1800, being
that of the Right Hon. Mr. Canning, Under-Secre-
tary of State, to Miss Scott, sister to the Mar-
chioness of Titchfield, with £100,000 fortune.
Some of the contents of Cupid's Chronicle, A.D.
1669, are re-published; and there can be no doubt
that the object of the journal was to aid in the pro-
motion of correspondence and assignations with
the view to courtship and marriage; and looking at
the comparative coarseness of the time of its ori-
ginal publication, there does not seem to be more
sordid inclinations developed than may be found in
more modern issues for a like purpose. However,
we have felt it to be right only to lay before the
:
:
*
"
108
PUBLICITY."
readers of this essay a selection from the paragraphs
or advertisements. Some, in fact, require moré
explanation of the quaint language employed than
we are inclined to give.
In the letter addressed to "Deare Margery," a love-
token referred to, we may say, was one of the usually
embroidered handkerchiefs,—some were laced round
with gold,—and gallants wore them as favours in
their hats; letters in reply and appointments appear
to have been even then systematically arranged for
couples writing letters of the following nature:—
MADAM,
Can you love me? I have here sent you my picture, with
I am neither propper, nor petite; neither fair,
my properties.
nor deform'd: neither rich, nor poor; neither courtier, nor clown:
I am none of the best, nor yet of the worst: I am as I was made,
and somewhat better. I have mended my nature by education,
and bettered my estate by some addition. I am like the Poly-
pus, that appears of the colour of the rock it sticks to.
I am,
Madam, as you are, blith, buxom, debonaire, and coy too, if you
be so.
I can love you without idolatrie, and leave you without
despair. I can live with you, and I can live without you. I will
not marry my fancy to any, before she is married to me. I like
it best that both these Weddings should go together. 'Tis con-
fest, Madam, that I love this dish well; but if it must be set by
for a better friend, I can (maugre any sullen humour) feed upon
another. If you cannot love, I can leave, and if it were probable
that in protract of time I might gain your affection, yet I cannot
live long in hopes. For if my love goes the better part of the
way, I expect that yours should come the rest to meet it.
John Indifferent; and so is my love, until you shall turn the skale,
either by your denial, or acceptance of it, and me, Madam,
Your servant, &c.
I am
66
109
PUBLICITY.'
MADAM,
To say that you are only lovely, were to eclipse the sun in
its full glory, when as you are the Maker's masterpiece for beauty;
and to say that I only love you, were in effect to say nothing; for
if in mere friendship the least degree thereof carries in it a reason
for the like return, then much more may the height of your beauty
call for the height of my affection. Your beauty, Madam, is the
loadstone, with which my heart hath been so sensibly touch'd,
that it shall ever stand right to your service, and it shall not come
within the sphere of fortune to make it liable to the least varia-
tion. But as yet, Madam, I am but upon the dark side of the
cloud, in comparison of your far more splendid and diviner part,
your soul: a soul adorned with all the perfections of grace and
nature; a soul each faculty whereof is married to its proper
virtue. While this lady may be commended for piety; another
for prudence; and a third for patience; you may be truly com-
mended for all these; nay more, for all the graces. You are a
posie made up of all these several flowers. If the virtues were
lost (as truly, Madam, they were never neer losing than now) yet
might they readily be retrieved in you, their conservatrix. What
shall I say? save only in you, such a soul in such a body never
met. Now, Madam, you being so rare a mistress, pardon me, I
beseech you, that I am so ambitious to be your servant. What
know I but by your example I may become a follower of your
virtues, and be transform'd into your image. And whether you
can admit me into this your service, deliberate. I have read of
two hills, almost a mile distant at the bottom, yet at the top so
conjoyn'd that two may shake hands without fear of falling.
Seeing, Madam, that you have got up to the top of the one in
beauty, and I of the other in affection, let us forget those things
that are below, those personal differences of fortune and desert,
and let us joyn hands; and let the bond be matrimony, than
which no happiness under Heaven can be more acceptable to
Madam,
Your servant, &c.
DEARE MARGERY,-
After my hearty commendations, trusting in God that you
are in good health, as I am at the writing hereof, with my father,
પ
+
110
66
PUBLICITY."
my mother, my brothers and sisters, and all my good friends,
thanks be to God. The cause of my writing to you at this time is
that, Margery, I doe heare since my comming from Wakefield,
when you know what talke wee had together at the signe of the
Blue Cuckoe, and how you did give me your hand, and sweare
that you would not forsake me for all the world: and how you
made me buy a Ring and a heart, that cost me eighteene pence,
which I left with you, and you gave me a napkin to weare in my
hat, which I will weare to my dying day. And I marvell if it be
true as I heare, that you have altered your mind, and are made
sure to my neighbour Hoglin's younger son. Truly, Margery, you
do not well in so doing, and God will plague you for it: and I
hope I shall live, and if I never have you; for there are more
maids than Maulkin, and I count myself worth the whistling after.
And therefore praying you to write me your answer by this bearer
my friend, touching the truth of all how the matter stands with
you, I commit you to God. From Callowgreene,
Your true love, R. P.
TRUELY Roger, I did not looke for such a letter from your
hands. I would you should know I scorne it. Have I gotten
my father's and mother's ill will for you, to bee so used at your
hands. I perceive, and if you be so jealous already, you would
be somewhat another day. I am glad I finde you, that you can
beleeve anything of me: but it is no matter, I care not, send me
my napkin, and you shall have your ring and your heart, for I can
have enow if I never see you more; for there are more batchelors
than Roger, and my penny is as good stiver as yours, and there-
fore seeing you are so lustie, even put up your pipes for I will
have no more to doe with you. And so unsaying all that ever
hath been said betwixt us, make your choice where you list, I
know where to be beloved, and so I end. From Wakefield,
SWEET COUSIN,
M. R.
I am sorry to heare, that being so well at ease, you will
coozen yourselfe of quiet; and will put yourself in purgatorie
with a wife: but if it may bee that I speak in time, heare what I
!
"PUBLICITY."
111
C
+
say, if she be faire, it may breed jealousie: if foule, dislike and
change: if rich, take heed of pride: if poore, misery : if young,
beware the wanton: if old, take heed of the beldam: if wise, she
will govern thee: if foolish, fret thee: how deare soever she loves
thee, she will sometime or other, either crosse thee, or crowne
thee: and therefore if thou wilt be ruled by a friend, let neither
old nor young, faire nor foule trouble thee, beleeve me, as I have
read, these are the properties of most wives, to weaken strength,
to trouble wit, to empty purses, and to breed humors. But if I
be deceived in my reading, tell me your mind when we meet.
Till when, wishing the continuance of that quiet wherein you now
live, or the true contentment of the best love: leaving to your
owne discretion the managing of your affection, I am,
Thine as much as may be, N. B.
His Answer.
GOOD COUSIN,
I finde your kindnesse above your knowledge, in mis-
taking Paradise for Purgatorie: for a wife is the wealth of the
mind, and the welfare of the heart: where the best judgement of
reason finds discretion's contentment. May be, is a doubt; but
what is, must be regarded: in which sense, I am pleased. Where
youth with beauty, and wit with virtue hath power to command,
there kindnesse must obey. Povertie I feare not, and wealth I
seeke not, but it sufficeth mee to seeke no other fortune for the
summe of my world's happinesse: where the avoiding of evil, and
the hope of good, makes me know more comfort than you are
able to conceive, til you enter in that course, wherein the joy of
love is the second blessedness of this life. What shall I say, but
that I know not what to say to expresse the perfection of this
pleasure, which puts downe all idle imaginations. From which
hoping to see thee removed when I see thee, till then and ever, I
rest,
Thine as thou knowest, D. E.
We propose presently to refer to American eccen-
tricity in respect to advertisements having commer-
12
PUBLICITY."
cial objects in view, but the following article, taken
recently from the Daily News, on the marriage
speculation of the Kansas Times, and the advertise-
ments given to the world in relation thereto,
may excel, in point of general interest or amuse-
ment, the preceding matter:-
Though marriage has often been spoken of as a lottery, it
seems that, for some tastes, the element of chance does not enter
into it in sufficient proportion. The meeting of young men and
young women, their discovery that each is necessary to the life-
long happiness of the other, and the possible revelation of the
fact that this is an exaggerated view, all these things seem acci-
dental enough. One may get rid of the doctrine of chance by
adopting the more pleasing view that marriages are made in
heaven, or the Platonic notion that souls wander through the
world looking for their lost halves. On any of these hypotheses
marriage seems sufficiently remote from any action of the con-
scious exercise of free will which a man puts forth when, for
example, he buys a pair of boots. These he purchases because
he needs them, and knows it, whereas he may have been as
remote as Benedict from any sense of want when he suddenly
finds himself on the way to being a married man. These ideas
have occurred in the effete European civilization even to the
most excruciatingly feeble minds.' It remained for the glorious
genius of the West to discover that ordinary marriages are too
much matters of cool selection and selfish deliberation. It has
been decided that marriage should be a lottery in real earnest,
and that the tickets should be drawn, and the affairs made up,
in the office of the Kansas Times. The conductors of that enter-
prising print, as we gather from an advertisement in its columns,
have for some time been struck with the advantages of a system
of 'premiums.' Thus every subscriber was entitled to a lottery
ticket, and these tickets were drawn once a quarter. A constant
reader might secure a piano, or a pair of shoes, a hoeing
machine, or a basket of pumpkins. There was nothing very
original in this, but what is truly original is the idea of giving
young ladies as premiums, of rewarding the assiduous reader
$

[See page 118.
1968
ת חיצים ותת ער
WHMDOCC
READING ROOM, BRITISH MUSEUM.
(6
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PUBLICITY."
1
with the hand of a bride. The Kansas Times has positively
advertised a scheme which reminds one of nothing so much as
the Babylonian marriage mart. Every one has heard of that odd
arrangement, by which the prices paid at auction for the fairer
maidens were given as dowers to the less lovely. Not long ago
in a ruined palace of Assyria some terra-cotta olive-shaped seals
were found, bearing the record of the price which each damsel
fetched. In married life ladies wore these little seals as amu-
lets, and it was easy for each to appraise her rival, and wonder
what men had seen in her to make her worth so many shekels.
The Kansas plan leaves far less to choice than the Babylonian
device, for of course no subscriber knows what sort of lady he is
going to draw in the lottery. This is no doubt the great charm
of the thing, though the enterprising manager has added some
further attractions which cannot but increase the circulation of
the Kansas Times.
“The advertisement from which we gather the interesting
particulars is dated June 14, and the drawing was to take place
on July 2nd. Subscribers by this time know their fate, and it
may be hoped that they do not repeat the lament of the young
American lady, 'There's good times in the world, and I'm not in
them.' Every effort was made to secure the good faith, and of
course the respectability, of the affair. All young ladies who
were inclined to offer themselves as prizes were directed to send
their names and photographs, and a document containing the
attested consent of their parents, to the editor.
'Their names
are not to be made public, and to be given only to the lucky
gentlemen who win them in the drawing. Each young lady on
the Times special premium list will be known to the public only
by her number, thus avoiding unnecessary publicity.' The
'number,' in short, plays the part of the flammeolum, the saffron
veil which covered the blushes of Roman brides. As for un-
married men, readers of the Kansas paper, they had merely to
sign a coupon, in which they stated that they were subscribers,
'and being unmarried are desirous of participating in your
special drawing for young lady premiums. The subscriber loses
nothing by his venture.' His regular ticket will be in the usual
wheel of those of all subscribers, and his unmarried man's
coupon ticket in the special premium wheel.' The names of
114
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PUBLICITY.'
99
prize winners were published yesterday, if the programme was
followed out, in the Kansas Times, and each fortunate mortal
received a letter inclosing the name, the address, and the photo-
graph of the damsel who fell to him. The laws of this nice
new game do not make it compulsory for the winner to take for
wife the lady whom chance assigns to him. Either party may
withdraw from the agreement, if disappointed by the actual
charms or possessions of the allotted partner. In short, little
beyond an organized flirtation will usually result from this pretty
sport. The men and maidens of Kansas will have new material
of gossip, and material of that particular sort which has such a
strange fascination for small minds. It has not been rumoured
by travellers who have visited the shores discovered by Columbus
that the young men and women have too few opportunities of
seeing each other in social intercourse. Nay, there have been
voyagers who have brought back a totally different report of the
manners and customs of our cousins beyond the sea. Yet in
Kansas there seems to exist what is called 'a felt want' of some-
thing more. Life and the great mundane movement do not
bring round adventures enough, do not throw men and women
into each other's path with picturesque variety. Any two people
may meet at a spelling bee, or a 'corn-shucking,' or even a sur-
prise party; but these encounters are not surprising enough, have
too little of what is startling and dramatic. Every one has
noticed the difficulty that novelists find in bringing people to-
gether. They need an earthquake, a railway accident, an adven-
ture with the tide, a runaway horse, or a sprained ankle, as occa-
sions to introduce Jane to James. The Kansas plan supplies the
want, and cannot the sensible heart imagine the shy premiums
watching from their lattices the approach of the fortunate
drawer of number nineteen?
"The whole affair may come to nothing but gossip, as the
patentee of the prize system knows. As an inducement to be
more serious and to accept the lover provided by destiny, the
Kansas paper offers real smart wedding presents. • The Times
will be very glad to provide a handsome wedding for them, here
in Kansas city, making the occasion one of unusual elegance in
every feature, paying all the expenses connected with the wed-
ding, and making the happy couple its special guests during
"PUBLICITY."
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3
*
The
their honeymoon stay in this city.' Of all ideal schemes of
marriage, from that of Plato to that aesthetic dream of Mr.
Ruskin, surely the Kansas idea is the most business-like.
rite of holy matrimony is reduced to the level of going about
with a
sandwich' advertisement on the back, and each happy
couple increases the circulation of an enterprising journal.
Happy result of Caxton's discovery blossoming on the free and
fertile soil of a Western State. Perhaps the slow mind of the
European reader recoils from this new way of love, perhaps he
still prefers the meetings that come by chance less carefully
organized, perhaps he even wonders that parents give their con-
sent and permit the shy maidens of Kansas to offer themselves
as prizes at roulette. But it must be remembered that 'lightly
come, lightly gone,' is not a proverb which applies only to goods
and gear in Kansas. These brides know that Kansas looks with
a friendly eye on Milton's doctrine of marriage, and that the
knot is not tied with inexorable severity in that liberal State.
Were it otherwise, perhaps matrimonial lotteries would have less
chance of success; but, after all, they are scarcely less pleasing
arrangements than the matrimonial agencies which date, in Paris
at least, from the remote days of Robert Macaire.”
Returning to the more common subjects adver-
tised we may say a deservedly high-class medium
for publicity consists in the opportunities railway
authorities, omnibus proprietors, and others afford
by the walls of their stations, platforms, and car-
riages. Many thousands of pounds have we gladly
paid for laying before passengers, and residents
descending at any particular station, an attractive
advertisement showing where they might obtain
any speciality under our charge, giving the name
and address of the local vendors or agents. The
wearisome-condition of persons detained by late
trains has, we are fain to believe, been sensibly re-
lieved by these tableaux.
1
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PUBLICITY.
The selection of a suitable design for any of the
above purposes, or for a trade mark, is by no means
an easy task; and though it may appear to be a
curious source to apply to, yet in many instances, as
a reader in the library of the British Museum, we
have found great assistance may be there obtained,
through the rich store of information in type and
illustration with which the shelves appear to groan.
1
We do not recommend mere copying, but there
being nothing new under the sun, a considerable ad-
vantage may be derived by seeing what has before
been done in a similar direction to that desired by
advertisers, many of whom fancy they have but to
go to the mechanical engraver, or lithographer, to get
all they want, whereas their ideas can frequently
be better brought about by going first to those
who will as artists seize merely the expressed
thoughts, and sketch them upon paper, wood, or
stone, for further and more mechanical operations.
Many persons of high breeding and education now
eke out an impoverished fortune by these means,
and it may not be digressing, from the purposes
of this essay if we assert the ability thus to shape
crude ideas is a kind of gift born with, and
not always acquired by, artists or authors. There
are the pencillings of Sir Thomas Lawrence when
a mere child, and the works of the boy-poet Chat-
terton, to prove the fact; and we can personally call
to mind the sketches of every novel scene a young
girl, nearly connected with us, either saw or had
"PUBLICITY."
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:
I
Է
described to her. She is happily married to a man of
fortune, and the cares of a family preclude the con-
tinuance of the numerous vignette or full sketches
to her former correspondence, that is to say, when
language could not fully illustrate the natural fun
or pathos of her imaginings. We once submitted
some of her drawings to a Royal Academician, who
promptly said, "Do not have this child taught by
an ordinary governess, or drawing-master, who
would perhaps crib, cabin, and confine, by hard
and fast rules, a facile imagination, and produce
possibly a distaste to that which may prove an
ever-ready source of enjoyment to herself and to
others."
*་
CHAPTER V.
We have already referred to the British Museum
as affording great facilities to advertisers and others
seeking information to guide them on towards an
intelligent advancement of their several projects,
and in illustration of this point of view we avail
ourselves of the following quotation from an inter-
esting article which recently appeared in the Globe
newspaper on the subject of Public Reading Rooms
and Libraries:-
"London is rich in reading rooms. In the
midst of the haunts of business or pleasure there
are quite spacious retreats consecrated to lettered
ease, to learned investigation, and also, in some
instances the humblest pursuit of knowledge. As a
matter of fact, there is hardly any city better fur-
nished with all the aids and appliances of study. Of
course, the one room, the best in London, the best
in the world, is that of the British Museum in
Bloomsbury. It was the aim of Mr. Panizzi to give
to every reader at the British Museum all the com-
fort and assistance which the richest might enjoy
in the seclusion of their private libraries.
promise and aspiration have been more than ful-
filled. Those who enjoy the most admirable private
libraries are compelled at times to resort to the
The
1
1
"PUBLICITY.
119
reading room of the Museum. It would be possible
to give a long list of the illustrious men who have
laboured there-of the great works that have been
in part composed beneath the gilded dome. Many a
young man has obtained the highest honours at his
university, has taken the best place in civil service
examinations, through work done at the Museum.
So keen is the perception of the advantages of the
reading room that, although the largest room in
the world, at some times in the day it is difficult for
a late comer to procure a seat. There is an inner
life about the place to which the habitués become
accustomed. There are some who literally pass the
best of their lives in the Museum, who day after
day for years together enter and leave the reading
room at a stated hour. The attendants know their
favourite seat, and bring them at once their accus-
tomed books. A great many literary acquaintances
are formed and flourish, as in the course of years
faces become familiar to one another. Indeed,
there is a kind of club life, several sorts of club life,
in fact, among the denizens of the reading room.
It is the Prague of the literary Bohemian. All
kinds of classes are represented there. You may
find an archbishop and a statesman working away in
one part of the room, and close by them some one
who comes for work as a copyist, or some hanger on
to the skirts of the literary profession. A classifi-
cation of readers curiously follows the classification
of books. Towards the end of the week the clerical
!
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element musters largely towards the shelves devoted
to theology; law students all the week through are
pulling down the vellum volumes of the law depart-
ment; medical students and others are similarly busy
with the collection of science books, which follows
next in order. The same kind of thing might be
traced pretty well all round the circle of the reading
The peculiar comfort of this reading room is
that you may have without stint any possible number
of books that you may care to call for. At the Bib-
liothéque at Paris there is a limit to two books, and
even at the Bodleian, though they will give you a
comfortable secluded room, the officials are quite
unaccustomed to the large demands which are made
readers at the Museum.'
room.
The writer of this essay is under great obligation
for assistance he has received from officials at
the British Museum in the research made by him
for the purposes of this publication, the result of
his labours being, that evidence of very nearly the
first appearance of advertisements he has been able
to find or as having been collected in anything
like a systematic manner, are fairly represented in
a newspaper published in the reign of Charles the
Second, and herewith photographed. From this
newspaper it would appear that so important had a
journalistic medium for publicity become, even at
that time, that (as may be perceived) the advertise-
ments occupy space nearly equal to all of the parts
given to the entire news of the nation.
It may
Humb. 1.
Mercurius Domesticus,
Or NEWES both from
CITY
and
COUNTRY.
Published to prevent false Reports.
Fryday, Decemb. 19, 1679.
London Decemb. 18.
Everal falfe and rediculous Reports being
ſpread abroad concerning Madam Ellin
Guyu, as to her death, or abfence from
her houfe, we are affured that there is
no ground for fuch a Report, the faid
Madam Ellin Guyn being now at her own houſe
in health, and has not been abſent, from it.
Mr. Bakbrou and Mr. Mswbray, who were
lately tent down into Fork-fhire, about fome pro-
ceedings in reference to the horrid Popis Plot,
returned to London again laſt night.
There has been much diſcourſe that Sir William
Waller, Jultice W'arcup and others of His Majel
ties fufliceent the Peace in the City of Westminster
and County of Middlejex, were turned out of the
Commiſſion of the Peace, but it evidently appears
to be fò far from truth, That on the contrary we
are cercunly informed, that the laid Jultices (in
parliance of His Majeſties ſtrict charge in Council
the eleventh inſtant) kitely met together to confult
of ſuch expedients as may be moſt effectual for
the putting in Execution His Majefties late Pro-
ekummation, commanding all Papifts to depart from
the Cities of London aïd Wejtminfler, &c.
This being the time of the year for the Schools
to break up, lome young Scholars of a Latin School
in Gang-n-fhost, to fhew their Deteftation and
Abhorrence of Papery and Slavery, Acted upon
or a Difenvery at the Debaucheries and Villas
If chiefly Night Lift the Fliflory of Pope
of the Papijh Faction; which was entertained with
the Great Applaufe of many Hundred Spectators
there prefent.
The Jaft Gazette tells us nothing from Edenburgh,
fo that you will not wonder that we have nothing
from thence.
your Cuftody the body of Francis Smith, here-
"with fent unto you for publishing feditious
“Queries upon the Act of Affociation in the
"time of Queen Elizabeth, and him fafely to
"keep, until he thall be delivered by due courſe
"of Law; for which this fhall be your Warrant.
"Given at the Court at Whitehall, this 17th, day
" of December, 1679.
Ts Captain Richardjon Keeper
of Newgate Prifan.
And he hath this day brought his Habeas Carpus,
upon the late Act of Parliament.
The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury
hath been lately ill, but is pretty well recovered to
the Joy of all Good Proteffants,
The Report of the Death of the Dutchess of
Cleaveland is altogether falle and groundlets, ſhe
having not been indiſpoſed of late.
There is a Report that three Suns were lately
feen about Richmond in Surrey, by divers credible
perfons, of which different obfervations are made
according to the fancy of the People.
There being Intimation given, that Mrs. Gelier
the Popish Midwife now a Prifoner in Newgate,
would make fome Difcovery both of the Plot, and
the Counter Plot; She was brought before the
Council last week, but would confels nothing i
whereupon Juftice Warcup produced fome Infor-
mations against her taken before him; upon which
The acknowledged the greatest part of what was
charged against her, and thereby gave very ſtrong
Confirmation to the Truth of Mr. Themas Danger-
fields Depolitions concerning that curfed Co-
fpiracy managed by the Lady Powis, hertelf, and
feveral others, for the deftruction of many Hun-
dreds of his Majefties Loyal Proteffant Subjećts.
It is reported, that a Quaker fell in love with a
Lady of very great Quality, and hath extraordinarily
petitioned to obtain her for his Wife.
Uponthe 18th.inſtant in the evening Mr. Dryden
the great Poet, was let upon in Refe-flreet in Covent
Garden, by three persons, who calling him rogue,
and Son of a whore, knockt him down and dan-
Francis Smith Bookfeller in Garnhill, was yet
terday brought before the Council, and charged
with publishing Seditions Queries upon the Allo-
ciation in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and upongerously wounded him, but upon his crying out
Examination was ordered to be Committed to
Newgate, in theſe words. "There are in His
“Majeſties name and by his expreſs command in
'Council to will and require you to receive into
murther, they made their efcape; it is conceived
that they had their pay beforehand, and defigned
not to rob him but to execute on him ſome Feminine
if not Papiſh vengeance.
On Tueſday Night laft there were four men
came to the houfe of one Hilliam Charles at the
Crown in Tatnam Court near Maribon, and after
their drinking about four hours they call'd for a
Bottle of Wine, and fwore they would have the |
master of the houfe come in or dle they would
not drink it; the Man of the Houfe was unwilling,
but by their Importunate defire he went, and as
foon as he came they fell upon him, telling him
they were Satisfied he had much Money, which
they would have before they went; la, binding
all the Family, they Rifled the houte, and took
away with them in Linnen and Silk, to the value
of threefcore pound.
We have an Account that a perſon of Quality
lately received a pacquet from Flanders by the Pott,
from an unknown perſon with a blank Cover, and
two books incloſed therein, the Contents whereof
were very ſcandalous and Treaſonable, vindicating
the Innocency of the five Jeluites, that were lately
executed to the diſhonour of His Majeſtics Govern-
ment, and the Justice of the Nation, who are fully
fatisfied of their guilt, and they particularly in-
veighed against the Kings Evidence, especially Dr.
Oates and Mr. Bedino.
In purſuance of His Majeſtics moſt ſtrict order
for the removing all Papijls and fufpećted Papiſts
from his Palace, the Dutchels of Portſmouths
Servants that are of the Romish Church are dif-
charged.
It hath pleafed His Majefty to take from His
Grace the Duke of Monmouth, the Office of
Maſter of the Horfe, that being the only place
which remained to him; but we know not yet
who ſhall fucceed him, and the Earl of Faversham
is made Maller of the Horſe to the Queen.
Advertiſements.
Whereas on Thursday the 18th. inftant in the
Evening, Mr. John Dryden was aflaulted and
wounded in Rafe-freet in Govent-garden, by divers
men unknown: if any Perfon fhall make difcovery
of the faid Offenders, to the faid Mr. Dryden, or
to any Juſtice of Peace for the Liberty of W-
minler, he thall not only receive fifty pounds,
Goldſmith, next door to Temple-Bar, for the faid
which is depoſited in the hands of Mr. Blanchard
purpofe; but if the difcoverer be himself one of
the Actors, he ſhall have the fifty pounds, with-
out letting his name be known, or receiving the
leaſt trouble by any profecution.
Loft on Saturday night lafl, in the Mall between
"Suffolk Areet and St. Jamel's, a fmall fallzw
Coloured and White Greyhound Bitch, most part of
her Body fallow colour, her Head and Neck white,
except her left Ear and left Eye, which were the
Colour of her Body, her Belly and Legs white, her
Stearn very small, and half white; a ſmall fireak
of white towards the top of her left buttock. Who-
ever hall bring this Bitch to the Porter at St.
Jamel's, or give Natice to bim where he is, fhall
have a Guing Reward, and if ang Perfon baze
bought her they fhall have their money again.
|
|
|
i
|
dure was an dikimit mode upon a
Man, on Friday night high, the 12
Dilam at Leaden-hall-ftreet; where he was much
abujud, but bi Hu, Ca This is in defire any
Perfon Perpins, who were Spectators of the
wring done bin, is Rspare at the Black Bear in
Cannon-freet, where they fhall be requited for
their trable.
Here are to be fold at Mr. Robert Raworth at
Flying Harfe in Fleetſtreet, wer againſt Shoc
lane. Fur pieces of Tapejlry Hangings, Antwerp,
full of Silk, and Lively Colours, Containing Four-
fiere Flemish Ells, near 8 Fest deep, and not the
worfe for ufing: And to be afforded a great Penny-
worth.
The Milliners Ceeds that was to be Sold at the
Naked Boy near Strand Bridge, are Seld at
Mr. Vanden Anker in Lime freet.
W Hereas que Jones Wiltington, Aged about 20
years, Deaf and Dum, by Trade a Painter,
bath lately gone away from bis Lodging at the
3 Kings without Ludgate, Intending for the Coun
trey, but is returned back to London, with a little
Black Mare 14 Hands high, with a Blaze en ber
Face, wherver can give Information of the jaid
Mari to Mr. John Fiſher, at the 3 Kings ofere
faid shall have Ten Shillings Reward.
A Treatife of the fear of Ged, Shewing a har
it is, and how dijlinguished from that which is
not fo. Aljs Whence it comes.
Ibo ha at
What are the Effects, ded what the Privi-
ledges of thoſe who have it in their bearts. By
John Bunyan.
There is newly publiſhed a Pack of Cards, csn-
taining an Flibery of all the Popish Plots that
have been in England; beginning with the in
Queen Elizabeths time, and ending with this laft
damnable Plst againjt bis Majefly Charles II.
Excellently engraven on Copper Plates, with very
large deferiptions under each Card. The like not
extant. Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-
hall and Benjamin Harris at the Stationers Arms
under the Royal Exchange in Cornhill.
THE
are to give Notice, That the Right Hencur-
able the Lord Maior, and the Commiſſioners of
Surveyors for the City of London, and the Liberties
theref; have conflituted and appointed Samuel
Potts and Robert Davies, Citizen, to be the
General Rakers of the faid City and Liberties,
and do keep their office in Red Lyon Court, in
Watling-Itreet, sebere any Perfin or Perfans that
are defircus to be Imployed under them, as Carters
and Swerpers of the Streets, moy Repair from Eight
a Clock in the morning, till twelve a Click at nõiu,
and from tws till fix at night, where they may be
entertained accordingly: dud if any Gardners,
Farmers or others will be furniſhed with any Dung
Suylar Compoft, may there agree for it at reaſonable
rates; and all Gentlemen having private Stables,
and all Inbokters and Maſters of Livery Stables,
and all others, are defired to repair thither for the
carrying away of their Dung and Seyl from their
effective Stables, and other places, according to an
Air of Common Council fer that purp:ji.
London, Printed for Benjamin Harris at the Stationers Armes in the Piazza under
the Royal Exchange in Cornbill, 1679.
BEING ONE OF
FACSIMILE OF
THE EARLIEST
A
NEWSPAPER (TIME OF
SPECIMENS OF TRADING,
IN A PUBLIC JOURNAL.
CHARLES 11.).
AND OTHER ADVERTISEMENT'S
Photographed and Printed by H. M. WRIGHT & Co., 61, Fleet Street, E. C.
"PUBLICITY.
121
also be seen that Bunyan and Dryden availed them-
selves of advertising columns, together with the
Corporation of London, and the latter had taken
in hand a sanitary movement, which for those times.
no doubt was considered to be of singular importance.
One of the earliest efforts to secure some liberty for
the press, by means of a new Act of Parliament,
(the Habeas Corpus Act) is also referred to in the
journal forming our illustration.
The photo is taken from what would seem to
be one of the comparatively numerous journals
published during the period it is understood that
journalism began to assert itself. The word Mer-
curius seems to have been a favourite adjunct to
some other word, so as to form a newspaper title
in those days; for instance, there was the Mer-
curius Anglicus.* But a journal known as Domestic
Intelligence appears to have been the most popular
newspaper of the period; it was published at the
same time and place with Mercurius Domesticus.
The Domestic Intelligence is supposed to have been
intended for the commonalty, and the Mercurius for
the Court. The latter journal, however, does not
appear to have had a long life, though the king's
mistresses and William Chiffinch, Esq., Keeper of
His Majesty's Closet and Back Stairs, were inte-
rested therein. Either Rochester or the libertine
Villiers Duke of Buckingham may have had some-
thing to do with the suppression of Mercurius; or,
probably, the royal and profligate master of Chiffinch
* See Appendix, p. 390.
:
122
66 PUBLICITY.".
did not like the prospect of anything bearing that
name acquiring domestication with the numerous
worshippers of Venus about his Court. Charles
II. is always supposed to have known of the
familiarities inferior persons took with the sultanas
of the royal harem; and the scene described by Sir
Walter Scott in "Peveril of the Peak," between
the king and Villiers (like most of the anecdotes
given by the great novelist), is probably founded
on fact; and the honour of some young girl, like
Alice Bridgenorth, was only saved from the lust of
either the king or the duke, possibly through the
temporary antagonism of those debased wretches,
Chiffinch and his paramour.
The reader will, we feel assured, be amply repaid
for the trouble of taking a close inspection of the
photographed news given by the court journalist,
one Benjamin Harris, who published the same "to
prevent false reports." This expression, it will be
observed, appears on the title-page, and we find it
also attached to Domestic Intelligence, another jour-
nal belonging to Harris. Both are printed on one
sheet only. The greyhound advertised for in the
photo is understood to be the property of one of
those females whom Chiffinch kept in reserve, "as a
cook might have done a newly-invented sauce, suffi-
ciently piquante in its qualities to awaken the jaded
appetite of a cloyed and gorged epicure," and pos-
sibly be the means, as Chiffinch said, "whereby a
few honest people might build a court fortune,"
J
[
(6 PUBLICITY."
123
especially if the reigning Sultana, the Duchess of
Portsmouth, could be supplanted in the mind of
Charles, for the gold received from the court of
France was ceasing to be so abundantly supplied for
the purchase of England's interests. Now, Chiffinch
had, in his horrid employment, the experienced aid
of a female whom some called Mistress Chiffinch,
and others, Chiffinch's mistress; Charles himself
described her as having obtained a brevet commis-
sion to rank as a married woman, without the in-
convenient and indissoluble ceremony of marriage;
and we read in works like those of Evelyn and Pepys
that the helpmate to the prime minister of Charles's
infamy was even forced upon the presence of the
neglected Portuguese Princess who held the titular
position of Queen of England.
In the advertising and other columns of journals
like that before us, possibly, Macaulay and Scott
found some of the skeletons which their imaginations
afterwards clothed, so as to produce models for
innumerable artists to display their gifts annually
upon the walls of the Royal Academy, and other
places for the exhibition of paintings. One of the
advertisements our photograph sets off pre-emi-
nently for public attention is the name of Madame
Ellin Gwyn (Nell Gwyn), who about this time had
been described as having personally addressed an
excited London rabble, by assuring the good people
"she was his most gracious Majesty's English w—,
and not the Duchess of Portsmouth, as they sup-
!
:
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"PUBLICITY."
posed." And from a further advertisement it will
be perceived the great foreign mistress, "la belle
Louise de Queronaille," was unpopular through being
a Romanist. The Duchess of Cleveland is also re-
ferred to, but somewhat sympathetically, being a
Protestant; and from the allusions to certain justices
of the peace for Westminster and Middlesex, it is
clear that the Protestant furore ran riot, in which
certain wretches were urged on by plotting cour-
tiers, like the Duke of Buckingham, whom Dryden
thus describes :-
"A man so various, that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome:
Stiff in opinions-always in the wrong-
Was everything by starts, but nothing long;
Who, in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon;
Then, all for women, painting, fiddling, drinking;
Besides a thousand freaks that died in thinking."
Titus Oates, and others of the Protestant gang,
were aided by Take-him-Topham, the officer of the
House of Commons, the power of which assembly was
then again in the ascendant.* A prominent member,
it will be remembered, was shamefully assaulted and
had his nose slit, it was generally supposed, through
having publicly denounced the follies of the king.
Poor Dryden, it will also be seen by the photo, had
* The ill-usage of Sir John Coventry by some of the life
guardsmen, in revenge of something said in Parliament concern-
ing the king's theatrical amours, gave rise to what was called
Coventry's Act, against cutting and maiming the person.
1
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125
PUBLICITY."
"'
1
sore bones from a similar cause; for then it was the
unworthy distinction of men of wit and honour
about town, to revenge their own quarrels with in-
Even in
ferior persons by the hands of bravoes.
the days of chivalry, the knights, as may be learned
from Don Quixote, turned over to the chastisement
of their squires such adversaries as were not dubbed;
and thus it was not unusual for men of quality in the
time of Charles II. to avenge their wrongs by means
of private assassination. Rochester writes com-
posedly concerning a satire imputed to Dryden, but
in reality composed by Mulgrave: "If he falls upon
me with the blunt, which is his very good weapon
in wit, I will forgive him, if you please, and leave
the repartee to Black Will with a cudgel." And,
in conformity with this cowardly and brutal inti-
mation, that distinguished poet was waylaid and
beaten severely in Rose Street, Covent Garden, by
ruffians who could not be discovered, but whom all
concluded to be the agents of Rochester's mean re-
venge. Possibly the immortal author of "The Pil-
grim's Progress was thus (according to his dis-
played advertisement) induced to write and offer
for sale "A Treatise of the Fear of God."
,,
By a copy of " Domestick Intelligence," published
four days after the journal here photographed, it
appears that a meeting took place in the Star
Chamber by the command of the king, and that
it was attended by all the justices of England, with
divers of the nobility, the Archbishop of Canter-
1
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"PUBLICITY.'
bury, and the Bishop of London; "and the lords
severally declared how the king was discontented
with a false rumour, and had made but the day
before a protestation unto them" (in respect to
such rumour, which alleged that he, the king, in-
tended to grant a toleration to Papists), "that he
never intended it, and that he would spend the last
drop of blood in his body before he would do it; and
prayed that before any of his issue should maintain
any other religion than what he truly professed and
maintained, that God would take him out of the
world." According to the faith promulgated by the
Jesuits (but not accepted by good Englishmen,
though followers of the ancient faith), Charles was
entitled to hold a mental reservation, even in so
solemn a protest as then made to the heads of the
nation with whom he had sworn to act faithfully and
truthfully; because we read in Macaulay's history
that six years afterwards, that is to say, on the
evening of Sunday, the 1st of February, 1685,-the
usual gamblers, prostitutes, and revellers had as-
sembled at his palace, and where was noticed the
approach of the hand of death, which within a few
days finally seized the dissolute and perjured mon-
arch, but not before Father Huddlestone had admin-
istered to him the last rites of the Roman Church
after which he could calmly see his natural children,
-the Dukes of Grafton, Southampton, and North-
umberland, born to him by the Duchess of Cleve-
land; the Duke of St. Albans, by Nell Gwyn, for
}
66 PUBLICITY.
127
1
whom he appealed to his brother thus: "And do not
let poor Nelly starve." Then there was the Duke
of Richmond, son of the Duchess of Portsmouth,
whose presence kept from the death-chamber the
lawful but neglected wife, the Queen of England.
The eldest and best-beloved child was an exile; for
the readers of our photographed journal will per-
ceive that the Duke of Monmouth had been deprived
of his office about the court.
Our illustration mentions an early exercise of the
Habeas Corpus Act, which is said to stand next in
importance to trial by jury, so far as the liberty
of the subject is concerned, the purport of the
entire publication of Mercurius Domesticus being to
prevent false reports. It may be seen that the
Government publicly denied having dismissed two
justices who were active in carrying out the procla-
mation against Papists; and the remark that "as
the Gazette has nothing from Edinburgh," may be
taken to mean that the court journalist has nought
to disavow; and the half-hidden prophecy in the
assumed different fancies of the people, as to the
paragraph about three suns being seen in Richmond,
it was then commonly understood to be a subtle com-
pliment to the young Duke of Richmond (the king's
son by the Duchess of Portsmouth), whom Macaulay
describes that his Majesty blessed with a peculiar
tenderness on his death-bed. And long before that
event it was thought the three suns, at any rate in
the mind of the ambitious Frenchwoman, predicted
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PUBLICITY.
three kingdoms shining under the influence of her off-
spring, should James, the heir presumptive that is to
say, continue sonless; all this was believed, notwith-
standing Charles had, while bending to the Protestant
storm, dismissed her servants of the Romish Church,
as announced in a paragraph of our illustration.
The Quaker therein said to have fallen in love with
a lady of very great quality, is understood to have
been Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and the
lady a disappointed mistress of the king. Penn did
not appear to need the fortune mentioned, as at the
present time, and for ever, his descendants are a
charge upon the pension list of the nation to the
extent of £4000 per annum.
The journal in its entirety bristles with historical
events. The young scholars of a Latin school, Can-
non Street, spoken of as acting Pope Joan, no doubt
were the lads upon the foundation of the Mercers'
School, still existing, and known by its teachers.
to be devoted to the interests of (the Protestant)
Church and State. The names of those wretches,
Oates, Bedlow, and Dangerfield also appear in
relation to their persecuting functions; and it
may not be out of the way to mention that
several advertisements touching the maddening
fever which fastened itself upon the public mind,
appeared in the various papers published at that
time. For instance, the following is a description
of "a certain pocket weapon, which, for its design
and efficacy, had the honour to be called a Protest-
66
129
PUBLICITY."
:
1
ant flail. It was for street and crowd work, and
the instrument, lurking perdue in a coat pocket,
might readily sally out to execution, and by clearing
a great hall, piazza, or so, carry an election, by a
choice way of polling called 'knocking down.' The
handle resembled a farrier's bloodstick, and the fall
was joined to the end by a strong nervous ligature,
that in its swing fell short of the hand, and was
made of lignum vitæ, or rather, as the poet termed
it, mortis."
The writer of this Essay has seen in Wardour Street,
and in old collections of antiquities, specimens of this
weapon; but we need not go beyond the memory
of living men to bring forward proofs of the panic
which will occasionally seize large masses of people.
For instance, many of us remember the universal
fear of stepping across the threshold after dark,
when it became known that Burke had secured, by
mouth plaisters, a few healthy bodies for surgical
practice. Then in later times we had the garotting
panic. Certain malefactors had discovered the
method of giving a hug which sometimes produced
death in anticipation of robbery. And curious were
the devices some of the advertisers assumed for
anti-garotting weapons. One we have in our study
now; it represents a leather collar for the neck,
bristling with steel points as sharp as needles. We
remember having to perform duty as a magistrate
in the parish which forms the boundary of that
where, two hundred years previously, the body of
K
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:
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PUBLICITY.'
Sir Edmondbury Godfrey was found; fearful tales of
garotting were brought to our knowledge; but on
investigation it was most usually proved that the
stupor perceived by the confiding wife and family on
the victim reaching his home after midnight, toge-
ther with his broken hat and muddy clothes, were
to be attributed to the strength of the liquor he had
taken, rather than to that of a garotting assailant.
One fearful accident happened through the universal
nervousness occasioned by reports of garotting in
the newspapers, and especially by the announce-
ments of the advertisers of the new weapons of
defence. One of these weapons, called "a life pre-
server," must have strongly resembled "the Pro-
testant flail," it was purchased by a peaceful
citizen living in the neighbourhood we have men-
tioned, and whose wife preferred his smoking a
cigar in the open air; therefore he turned out in the
gloaming for that purpose, though not without fear
of being garotted. A friend having called to play a
game of chess, and hearing which way the smoker
had gone, followed upon his steps, and foolishly
tapped the stroller smartly on his shoulders. Where-
upon the latter, whose mind was full of suburban
atrocities, dealt his supposed assailant such a blow
in the dark with his weapon that the poor fellow
uttered but one sound, and that was his last.
·
It is impossible to conceive the amount of injury
done to the cause of civilization by the foolish pre-
judices excited by the universal intolerance of the
(6 PUBLICITY."
131
The Marquis of
period our sketch represents.
Worcester was a Papist, therefore he was treated as
worse than a madman, notwithstanding the grand
discovery arising from his observation of the expan-
sive power of moisture rarified by heat, and which
he, for the public use, had advertised as an admir-
able and forcible instrument of propulsion. (See
Century of Inventions," 1663.)
66
The press of England was for a long while almost
exclusively represented in the metropolis; but a
complete list of all printing houses in 1724 will
be found in Nichols's "Literary Anecdotes." There
had then been a great increase within a few years
in the number of presses; and yet there were thirty-
four counties in which there was no printer, one of
those counties being Lancashire.
Before his disgrace, the Duke of Monmouth had
by journalists been looked upon in the light a Prince
of Wales would now be considered; and the press
of England, made free of the Court of the Star
Chamber, had taken up the cause of the young
Duke, who was eminently handsome and affable;
above all, he was Protestant. The Duke of York,
nearly as old as his royal brother, had then no male
heir, and all parties concurred in a desire to see a
peaceful and Protestant succession.
The press
freely spoke of a certain black box deposited in safe
hands, which would be opened on the decease of
the royal brothers; and proofs of the espousal of
Charles to Lucy Walters at the Hague were univers-
1
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"PUBLICITY."
ally believed in, especially in the West of England,
where Monmouth ultimately led so many of his fol-
lowers to their doom at and after the battle of
Sedgemoor. In fact, the very names of some of the
places, it is believed, still record the cruel deeds of
blood committed by Jeffreys upon his captives. Gore
Hedge, and many others of a similar nature, the
writer remembers, as describing the names of the
localities, the residents of which he has frequently
canvassed for their political suffrages.
Let us here interpose a short account of the plot
got up by Oates and others; and there is no more
odious feature of this detestable plot than that the
foresworn witnesses by whose oaths the fraud was
supported, claimed a sort of literary interest in their
own fabrications, by advertisements under such titles
as the following: "A Narrative and Impartial Dis-
covery of the horrid Popish Plot, carried on for
Burning and, Destroying the Cities of London and
Westminster, with their Suburbs, setting forth the
several Councils, Orders, and Resolutions of the
Jesuits concerning the same, by (a person so and so
named), lately engaged in that horrid Design, and
one of the Popish Committee for carrying on such
Fires."
At any other period it would have appeared equally
unjust and illegal to poison the public mind with stuff
of this kind, before the witnesses had made their
depositions in open court. But in this moment of
frenzy, everything which could confirm the existence
ઃઃ
133
PUBLICITY."
of these senseless delusions was eagerly listened
to; and whatever seemed to infer doubt of the wit-
nesses, or hesitation concerning the existence of the
plot, was a stifling, strangling, or undervaluing the
discovery of the grand conspiracy. In short, as ex-
pressed by Dryden,-
66
'Twas worse than plotting, to suspect the plot."
1
Besides the works of Evelyn and Pepys we have
those of North, Burnet, Cibber, Dugdale, Welwood,
all of which may be laid under contribution to aid
us in expounding the historical texts and advertise-
ments provided in the photographed illustration we
have laid before our readers. For instance, we
have Oates's personal appearance thus described :-
"He was a low man, of an ill cut, very short neck,
and his visage and features were most particular.
His mouth was the centre of his face; and a com-
pass there would sweep his nose, forehead, and chin
within the perimeter. Cave quos ipse Deus notavit.
In a word, he was a most consummate cheat, blas-
sphemer, vicious, perjured, impudent, and saucy,
foul-mouthed wretch; and were it not for the truth
of history, and the great emotions in the public he
was the cause of, not fit to be remembered."
Then we have a very interesting description by
North of the solemnity attending the funeral scene
of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey :-" The crowd was
prodigious, both at the procession and in and about
the church, and so heated, that anything called
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Papist, were it a cat or a dog, had probably gone
to pieces in a moment. The Catholics all kept close
in their houses and lodgings, thinking it a good
compensation to be safe there, so far were they
from acting violently at that time. But there was
all that which upheld among the common people an
artificial fright, so that every one almost fancied
a Popish knife just at his throat; and at the ser-
mon, beside the preacher, two thumping divines
stood upright in the pulpit, to guard him from being
killed, while he was preaching, by the Papists. I
did not see this spectre, but was credibly told by
some that affirmed that they did see it, and I never
met with any that did contradict it. A most por-
tentous spectacle, sure, three parsons in one pulpit !
Enough of itself, on a less occasion, to excite terror
in the audience. The like, I guess, was never seen
before, and probably will never be seen again; and
it had not been so now, as is most evident, but for
some stratagem founded upon the impetuosity of
the mob."
It may be, however, remarked, that the singular
circumstance of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, the justice
before whom Oates had made his deposition, being
found murdered, was the incident upon which most
men relied as complete proof of the existence of the
plot. As he was believed to have lost his life by the
Papists for having taken Oates's deposition, the
panic spread with inconceivable rapidity, and every
species of horror was apprehended--every report,
.. PUBLICITY.
135
the more absurd the better, eagerly listened to and
believed. Whether this unfortunate gentleman lost
his life by Papist or Protestant, by private enemies,
or by his own hand (for he was a low-spirited and
melancholy man) will probably never be discovered.
And North goes on to speak of his brother's
shrievalty of London and Middlesex. It can hardly
be forgotten that one of the great difficulties of
Charles II.'s reign was to obtain for the Crown the
power of choosing the sheriffs of London. Roger
North gives a lively account of his brother, Sir
Dudley North, who agreed to serve for the court:
"I omit the share he had in composing the tumults
about burning the Pope, because that is accounted
for in the Examen, and the Life of the Lord Keeper
North. Neither is there occasion to say anything of
the rise and discovery of the Rye Plot, for the same
reason. Nor is my subject much concerned with
this latter, farther than that the conspirators had
taken especial care of Sir Dudley North. For he
was one of those who, if they had succeeded, was to
have been knocked on the head, and his skin to be
stuffed, and hung up in Guildhall. But, all that
apart, he reckoned it a great unhappiness that so
many trials for high treason, and executions should
happen in his year. However, in these affairs, the
sheriffs were passive; for all returns of panels, and
other despatches of the law, were issued and done
by under-officers; which was a fair screen for them.
They attended at the trials and executions to coerce
136
"PUBLICITY."
the crowds, and keep order, which was enough for
them to do. I have heard Sir Dudley North say
that, striking with his cane, he wondered to see
what blows his countrymen would take upon their
bare heads, and never look up at it. And indeed,
nothing can match the zeal of the common people to
see executions. The worst grievance was the exe-
cutioner coming to him for orders touching the
abscinded members, and to know where to dispose
of them. Once, while he was abroad, a cart, with
some of them, came into the courtyard of his house,
and frighted his lady almost out of her wits; and
she could never be reconciled to the dog hangman's
saying he came to speak with his master. These
are inconveniences that attend the stations of public
magistracy, and are necessary to be borne with, as
magistracy itself is necessary. I have now no more
to say of any incidents during the shrievalty; but
that, at the year's end, he delivered up his charges to
his successors in like manner as he had received them
from his predecessor; and, having reinstated his
family, he lived well and easy at his own house, as he
did before these disturbances put him out of order."
The remains of Sheriff (afterwards Lord) North
are interred within the church attached to Glemham
Hall in Suffolk, as the writer knows full well, from
often seeing the record of the fact during a period
of much genial hospitality while beneath the roof
of Glemham Hall, during its occupancy, for many
years, by Abraham Garrett, Esq.
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►
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PUBLICITY."
Perhaps the greatest mystery of these remarkable
times was the career of the notorious Colonel Blood,
a person who was capable of framing and carrying
into execution the most desperate enterprises, was
one of those extraordinary characters who can only
arise amid the bloodshed, confusion, destruction of
morality, and wide-spreading violence which take
place during civil war.
In the period mentioned many may have sus-
pected, but they did not dare to mention, or to
publish their opinion, that Blood was really the
secret agent of Charles himself, who wished to raise
money on what racing men of the present day would
call the double event. Granting that Charles
wanted, as in fact he always did, large sums of
money to maintain his harem and his offspring,
granting Louis of France could not or would not
come to the rescue, then what could be more cha-
racteristic of our monarch, than to dispose of the
crown jewels, and probably obtain the sympathy,
with corresponding grants from Parliament to re-
store their place. So generally was it felt that the
agency was a reality, that the conspirator Blood
even fought or made his way into good society, and
sat at good men's feasts. Evelyn's Diary bears,
10th of May, 1671,-" Dined at Mr. Treasurer's,
where dined Monsieur de Grammont and several
French noblemen, and one Blood, that impudent
bold fellow, that had not long ago attempted to
steal the Imperial crown itself out of the Tower,
7
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PUBLICITY."
pretending curiosity of seeing the Regalia, when,
stabbing the keeper, though not mortally, he boldly
went away with it through all the guards, taken
only by the accident of his horse falling down.
How he came to be pardoned, and even received
into favour, not only after this, but several other
exploits almost as daring, both in Ireland and here,
I could never come to understand. Some believed
he became a spy of several parties, being well with
the sectaries and enthusiasts, and did his Majesty
service that way, which none alive could do so well
as he. But it was certainly, as the boldest attempt,
so the only treason of the sort that was ever par-
doned. The man had not only a daring, but a
villainous unmerciful look, a false countenance, but
very well spoken and dangerously insinuating."
Evelyn does not mention it; but the fact remains,
that the King not only pardoned Blood, but assigned
to him hush-money in the shape of a pension of
£500 per annum.
This is one of the many occasions on which we
might make curious remarks on the disregard of our
forefathers for appearances, even in the regulation
of society. What should we think of a Lord of the
Treasury, who, to make up a party of French nobles
and English gentlemen of condition, should invite
as a guest, any well-known chevalier d'industrie?
Yet Evelyn does not seem to have been shocked at
the man being brought into society, but only at his
remaining unhanged.
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139
3
We have been induced to introduce anecdotes
connected with this notorious man, on account of
his ultimate association with Oates and others re-
ferred to in our photograph. In fact we have been
told of a remarkable advertisement, exhibiting the
devout Protestant principles entertained or assumed
by this miscreant, who was another proof that
"the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
And from the following quotation from Roger
North it will be seen he (North) makes out that
Blood was licensed to advertise and sell some kind
of pamphlet in relation to the Plot.
",
"There was another sham plot of one Netterville.
And here the good Colonel Blood, that stole the
Duke of Ormond, and, if a timely rescue had not
come in, had hanged him at Tyburn, and after-
wards stole the crown, though he was not so happy
as to carry it off; no player at small games-he,
even he, the virtuous Colonel, as this sham plot
says, was to have been destroyed by the Papists.
It seems these Papists would let no eminent Protes-
tant be safe. But some amends were made to the
Colonel by sale of the narrative licensed to Thomas
Blood. It would have been strange if so much mis-
chief were stirring, and he had not come in for a
snack."
Every one professing the Roman Catholic faith
was in danger. The Queen herself was accused at
the Commons' bar. The city, for fear of the Pap-
ists, put up their posts and chains; and the Cham-
140
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39
berlain, Sir Thomas Player, in the Court of Alder-
man, gave his reason for the City's using that
caution, which was, that he did not know but the
next morning they might all rise with their throats
cut. The trials, convictions, and executions of the
priests, Jesuits, and others, were had and attended
with vast mobs and noise. Nothing ordinary or
moderate was to be heard in people's communica-
tion; but every debate and action was high-flown
and tumultuous. All freedom of speech was taken
away; and not to believe the plot, was worse than
being Turk, Jew, or infidel. Long before the day
of retribution came, when James II. ascended the
throne, the people had recovered their senses; and
there is nothing finer in the English language than
the description given by Macaulay in his History
of the trial and punishment of this gang of miscre-
ants, and especially of their chief, Titus Oates.
In a gossiping work of this nature it seems almost
remarkable that Pepys and his journal should only
onçe be referred to, and Boswell, the other prince
of gossips, or advertisers, should have been avoided
altogether; but his patron, the great tea-drinking
Doctor, will not be allowed to escape, as we cannot
help quoting from The Idler in which Dr. Johnson
has written the following in respect to puffery of
his day:
'Promise, large promise, is the
remember a wash ball that had a
soul of an advertisement. I
quality truly wonderful,----it
gave an exquisite edge to the razor. And there are now to be
"PUBLICITY.'
141
sold, for ready money only, some duvets for bed-coverings, of
down, beyond comparison superior to what is called ottar down,
and indeed such, that its many excellences cannot be here set
forth. With one excellence we are made acquainted—it is warm-
er than four or five blankets, and lighter than one.
There are
some, however, that know the prejudice of mankind in favour of
modest sincerity. The vendor of the beautifying fluid sells a lotion
that repels pimples, washes away freckles, smooths the skin, and
plumps the flesh; and yet, with a generous abhorrence of osten-
tation, confesses that it will not restore the bloom of fifteen to a
lady of fifty. The true pathos of advertisements must have sunk
deep into the heart of every man that remembers the zeal shown
by the seller of the anodyne necklace, for the ease and safety of
poor toothing infants, and the affection with which he warned
every mother that she would never forgive herself if her infant
should perish without a necklace. I cannot but remark to the
celebrated author, who gave, in his notifications of the camel and
dromedary, so many specimens of the genuine sublime, that
there is now arrived another subject yet more worthy of his pen,
-A famous Mohawk Indian warrior, who took Dieskaw, the
French general, prisoner, dressed in the same manner with the
native Indians when they go to war, with his face and body
painted, with his scalping knife, tom-axe, and all other imple-
ments of war! A sight worthy the curiosity of every true
Briton! This is a very powerful description; but a critic of
great refinement would say that it conveys rather horror than
terror. An Indian, dressed as he goes to war, may bring com-
pany together; but if he carries the scalping knife and tom-axe,
there are many true Britons that will never be persuaded to see
him but through a grate. It has been remarked by the severer
judges, that the salutary sorrow of tragic scenes is too soon
effaced by the merriment of the epilogue: the same incon-
venience arises from the improper disposition of advertisements.
The noblest objects may be so associated as to be made ridi-
The camel and dromedary themselves might have lost.
much of their dignity between the true flower of mustard and
the original Daffy's Elixir; and I could not but feel some indig-
nation when I found this illustrious Indian warrior immediately
succeeded by a fresh parcel of Dublin butter. The trade of ad-
142
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""
vertising is now so near to perfection, that it is not easy to pro-
pose any improvement. But as every art ought to be exercised
in due subordination to the public good, I cannot but propose it
as a moral question to these masters of the public ear, Whether
they do not sometimes play too wantonly with our passions? as
when the registrar of lottery tickets invites us to his shop by an
account of the prizes which he sold last year; and whether the
advertising controversists do not indulge asperity of language
without any adequate provocation? as in the dispute about
strops for razors, now happily subsided, and in the altercation
which at present subsists concerning Eau de Luce. In an ad-
vertisement it is allowed to every man to speak well of himself,
but I know not why he should assume the privilege of censuring
his neighbour. He may proclaim his own virtue or skill, but
ought not to exclude others from the same pretensions. Every
man that advertises his own excellence should write with some
consciousness of a character which dares to call the attention of
the public. He should remember that his name is to stand in
the same paper with those of the King of Prussia and the Em-
peror of Germany, and endeavour to make himself worthy of
such association."
A few words about the old London shops may
be a timely introduction here; they are to be found
in Chambers' "Book of Days," and in other works.
"Business in the olden time was conducted in a
far more open way than among ourselves. Adver-
tising in print was an art undiscovered. A dealer
advertised by word of mouth from an open shop,
proclaiming the qualities of his wares, and inviting
passengers to come and buy them. The principal
street of a large town thus became a scene of noisy
confusion. The little we know of the ancient state
of the chief London thoroughfares shows this to
have been their peculiarity. In the south of Europe
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we may still see something of the aspect which the
business streets of old London must have presented
in the middle ages. The Liber Albus, a century be-
fore Lydgate describes these shops, which consisted
of open rooms closed at night by shutters, the ten-
ants being enjoined to keep the space before their
shops free from dirt, nor were they to sweep it
before those of other people. At that time paving
was unknown, open channels drained the streets in
the centre, and a few rough stones might be placed
in some favoured spots; but mud and mire, or dust
and ruts, were the most usual condition of the
streets. On state occasions, such as the entry of a
sovereign, or the passage to Westminster of a coro-
nation procession from the Tower, the streets were
levelled, ruts and gulleys filled in, and the road new
gravelled; but these attentions were seldom be-
stowed, and the streets of course soon lapsed into
their normal condition of filthy neglect.
6
"Ponderous signs with their massive iron frame-
works, as they grew old grew dangerous, they
would rot and fall; and when this did not occur,
they made night hideous' by the shrieks and
groans of the rusty hinges on which they swung.
They impeded sight and ventilation in narrow
streets, and sometimes hung inconveniently low for
vehicles. At last they were doomed by Act of
Parliament, and in 1768 ordered to be removed, or,
if used, to be placed flat against the fronts of the
houses.
豁
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"They had increased so enormously that every
tradesman had one, each trying to hide and outvie
his neighbour by the size or colour of his own,
until it became a tedious task to discover the shop
wanted. Gay, in his Trivia,' notes how-
C
"Oft the peasant, with inquiring face,
Bewildered, trudges on from place to place;
He dwells on every sign with stupid gaze,
Enters the narrow alley's doubtful maze,
Tries every winding court and street in vain,
And doubles o'er his weary steps again.'"
The same writer goes on to relate some curious
advertisements in the olden time; for instance, we
read the following examples: "The much-approved
necklaces of joynts, of the great traveller J. C.,
which absolutely eases children in breeding teeth
by cutting them, and thereby preventing feavers,
convulsions, etc., are sold by T. Burrel, at the
'Golden Ball,' under St. Dunstan's Church, in
Fleet Street.”—1679.
6
"One Robert Taylor, a dancing-master, being in
company of several neighbours in Covent Garden
on Monday night last, about ten of the clock, upon
occasion of some words, killed one Mr. Price, of the
same place, at the Three Tuns' Tavern, in Shan-
dois Street. The said R. Taylor is a person of
middle stature, hath a cut across his chin, a scar in
his left cheek, having two fingers and a thumb of
one hand burnt at the ends shorter than the other,
round visaged, thick lipt, his own hair being of a
21
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145
light brown under a periwig; he lived in James'
Street, in Covent Garden. Whoever apprehends
him, and gives notice thereof to Mr. Reynolds, book-
seller, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, shall
have 10 pounds reward. And whereas it was
printed in last week's Intelligence that he was taken,
you are to take notice that it is most notoriously
false."-1679.
"The certain cure of agues of all sorts is per-
formed by a physitian of known integrity; they who
desire his assistance may repair to his house, which
is the first door on the right hand in Gun-yard, in
Houndsditch. His hours are from 8 in the morning
till 2 in the afternoon."-1680.
“William Deval, at the sign of the 'Angel and
Stilliards,' in St. Anne's Lane, near Aldersgate,
London, maketh castile, marble, and white sope, as
good as any man sells, tryed and proved, and sold
at very reasonable rates."-1680.
"Whereas one John Stuart, of a tall stature,
black brows, a wart upon his cheek, in a black
periwig, and a tawny or black suit, and campaign
coat, has been lately intrusted to sell several pieces
of black worsted, crapes, hair chamblets, black
philemot, and sky coloured mohairs, watered and
unwatered; with which goods he is run away, and
cannot yet be heard of. Whoever gives notice of
the man and goods (who, it is thought, is gone
towards Ireland) to Mr. Howard, in Milk Street
Market, shall receive 40s. reward."-1680.
L
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"A book in quarto, bound in parchment, about a
quire of paper nearly all writ out, being several
accompts for work done, being missing out of a
shop near Cheapside Conduit; supposed to fall off
the stall, or other wayes by some accident, lost about
the middle of September last. If any will bring the
said book to Mr. Hifftell's coffee-house, in Cheap-
side, near the Nagg's Head' Tavern, shall have 10s.
reward."-1680.
"
"October the 29th, there was dropt out of a
balcony, in Cheapside, a very large watch-case,
studded with gold; if any person hath taken it up,
and will bring it to Mr. Fells a goldsmith, at the
sign of the Bunch of Grapes,' in the Strand, or to
Mr. Benj. Harris, at the sign of the Stationers'
Arms,' in the Piaza, under Royal Exchange, in
Cornhill, shall have a guinney reward."-1680.
6
6
"This is to give notice to all the Marshals, both
in the city and countrey, that may be desirous to
come to their namesake's feast, which will be the
13th of March, 1679, at Mr. Edward Marshal's
house, at the sign of the Cock,' in Fleet Street,
where the tickets are delivered, and at Mr. Mar-
shal's, bookseller, at the 'Bible,' in Newgate Street."
"There is a side of a shop, ready furnished with
all sorts of millinary goods, to be sold, and the said
side of a shop to be let, all at a reasonable rate, at
the Naked Boy,' near Strand Bridge. Inquire at
the said shop, or at the house of Mr. Van Anker,
merchant, in Lime Street."-1680.
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"At Tobias' coffee-house, in Pye Corner, is sold
the right drink, called Dr. Butler's Ale, it being
the same that was sold by Mr. Lansdale in New-
gate Market. It is an excellent stomach drink, it
helps digestion, expels wind, and dissolves con-
gealed phlegm upon the lungs, and is therefore
good against colds, coughs, ptisical and consumptive
distempers; and being drunk in the evening, it
moderately fortifies nature, causeth good rest, and
hugely corroborates the brain and memory."-1680.
"At the 'Miter,' near the west end of St. Paul's,
is to be seen a rare collection of curiosityes, much
resorted to, and admired by persons of great learn-
ing and quality; amongst which a choyce Egyptian
Mummy, with hieroglyphics; the Ant Beare of
Brazil; a Remora; a Torpedo; the huge Thigh-bone
of a Gyant; a Moon Fish; a Tropick bird, etc."-
1664.
"Without Bishopsgate, near Bog Lane, over
against the Watch House, liveth one Jacob Summers,
a weaver; who maketh and selleth town velvets at
reasonable rates."-1664.
"Lost upon the 13th inst., a little blackamoor
boy in a blew livery, about 10 years old, his hair
not much curled, with a silver collar about his neck,
inscribed, Mrs. Manby's blackamoor, in Warwick
Lane.' Whoever shall give notice of him to Mrs.
Manby, living in the said lane, or to the Three
Cranes,' in Pater-Noster Row, shall be well rewarded
for his peynes."-1664.
C
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"Whereas his sacred majesty (Charles II.) has
been pleased, after the example of his royal ances-
tors, to incorporate the musitians in England, for
the encouragement of that excellent quality, and the
said corporation to impower all that profess the
said sciences, and to allow and make free such as
they shall think fit. This is to give notice to per-
sons concern'd, that the said corporation sits once
a week in ‘Durham Yard,' in pursuance of the trust
and authority to them committed by his most
gracious majesty.”—1664.
66
6
At the Angel and Sun,' in the Strand, near
Strand Bridge, is to be sold every day, fresh Epsum-
water, Barnet-water, and Tumbridge-water; Epsum
ale, and Spruce beer."-1664.
"These are to give notice to the heirs and trustees
of William Hinton, some time one of the servants
of the late King; and to the heirs or trustees of the
estate of one Christopher King, and Mr. Francis
Braddock, sometimes of London, gent.; that there
is a discovery of a concealment of some estate be-
longing to them or some of them, or to some persons
claiming from them; whereof they may be informed
if they repair to Mr. John Bellinger at his house in
Clifford's Inn Lane, in Fleet Street."-1663.
The general apparel of a citizen of London, the
friendly custom of borrowing and lending, and the
danger and difficulty of travelling at the period,
are all humorously sketched in the following lines
from a popular pamphlet, published in 1609, and
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149
forming rather a neat puff for one John Christie,
clothier, of Cheapside.
1
"A citizen, for recreation's sake,
To see the country would a journey take
Some dozen miles, or very little more;
Taking his leave with friends two months before,
With drinking healths and shaking by the hand,
As if he travelled to some new-found land.
Well, taking horse, with very much ado,
London he leaveth for a day or two:
And as he rideth meets
upon the way
Such as (what haste soever) bid men stay.
Sirrah!' says one, 'stand, your purse deliver,
I am a taker, thou must be a giver.'
Unto a wood, hard by, they drag him in,
And rifle him unto his very skin.
Masters,' quoth he, 'pray hear me ere you go;
For you have robbed me more than you do know:
My horse, in truth, I borrowed of my brother;
The bridle and the saddle of another;
The jerkin and the bases, be a tailor's;
The scarf, I do assure you, is a sailor's;
The falling band is also none of mine,
Nor cuffs, as true as this good sun does shine;
The satin doublet, and raised velvet hose
Are our churchwarden's, all the parish knows;
The boots are John the grocer's at the Swan;
The spurs were lent me by a serving-man.
All of my rings,-that with the great red stone
In sooth, I borrowed of my pretty gossip Joan :
Her husband knows not of it, gentle man!
Thus stands my case-I pray show favour then.'
"Why,' quoth the thieves, 'thou needst not greatly care,
Since in thy loss so many bear a share;
The world goes hard with us, and we do lack,
Look not, at this time, for one penny back.
i
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""
Go tell all London, you have met but four,
Who rifling thee, have also robbed a score.'
Some Christian wayfarers, whom he did meet,
Over his naked limbs did throw a sheet,
And led him to John Christie's, of Cheapside near,
Where he dressed well, at cost not dear."
The Vienna Presse of the present time publishes
the text of a declaration or advertisement of war
sent about 200 years ago by the Sultan Mohamed
IV. to the Emperor Leopold I. It runs as follows:-
(C
By the grace of the God that rules in Heaven, we, Mola
Mohamed, God on Earth, glorious and almighty Emperor of
Babylon and of India, of the East and the West, King of all
Earthly and Heavenly Kings, Great King of Holy Arabia and
Mauritania, born, fame-crowned King of Jerusalem, Master and
Lord of the Tomb of the Crucified God of the Infidels, pledge
our most sacred word to thee, Cæsar of Rome, and to thee, King
of Poland, as also to all your dependents, to the Incendiary of
Rome (the Pope), the cardinals, bishops, and all your many-
coloured abettors, that we intend to overspread your little terri-
tory with war; and that we shall bring with us 13 kings, with
1,300,000 men, infantry and cavalry, and with this army, of
which neither you nor your dependents ever had any idea, we
will without favour and without pity trample your little lands
and those of your dependents under our horses' hoofs, and give
them over to fire and sword. Above all things, we command
you to await us in your residence, the City of Vienna, in order
that we may cut your head off. And do you, little kinglet of
Poland, do the same. We will destroy you and all your depend-
ents with murder, robbery, fire, outrage, and plunder, and cause
to disappear from the earth the very last of God's creatures who
is only a Giaour. We will allow you and the King of the Poles
to live until you shall have been convinced that we have fulfilled
what is stated above. And this by way of after-reflection.
Given in our majestic chief and residence, City of Stamboul,
which has 1,659 streets, 90 hospitals, 1,000 baths, 999 wells,
?
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120 squares, 115 public buildings, 486 inns for foreign guests,
1,652 schools, small and great, 1,600 mills, and 4,122 mosques.
This great and strong city occupies a space of four miles, and is
adorned with 560 towers. My ancestors took this city by force
from the Infidels, after having first outraged and afterwards
massacred all its men, women, and children. We will continue
to hold this city as a defiance to you, Giaours. Given in the
25th year of our age, and in the 7th year of our almighty reign.
Mola Mohamed."
The Vienna journalist might have added that
this ridiculous announcement had an issue quite
as absurd. Mola laid siege to Vienna, but was
driven back from it by John Sobieski, King of
Poland, and on re-entering Turkey was thrown into
prison by his own subjects.
We believe it will be found on reference to old
authorities that Mola Mohamed did not lead the
army in person, such having been under the com-
mand of his Grand Vizier, the Sultan no doubt
sanctioned this declaration or advertisement.
"The Book of Days," we have been quoting
from, thus speaks of some of the quaint and inte-
resting buildings still in the city:
"We may bestow a brief notice upon them, more
particularly as they help us to comprehend its past
state. There are still some Elizabethan houses
leading toward Barbican; a few years ago there
were very many in this district. In Golden Lane
opposite, is the front of the old theatre, by some
London topographers considered to be 'The For-
tune,' by which Edward Alleyn, the founder of
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1
C
Dulwich College, made his estate; others say it is
Killigrew's play house, called The Nursery,' in-
tended to be used as a school for young actors.
Pepys records a visit there, in his quaint style,
"when I found the musique better than I looked
for, and the acting not much worse, because I
expected as bad as could be !"
This property, subsequent to the foregoing de-
scription of "The Book of Days," was purchased by
the writer of this essay, and on its site he caused to
be erected several factories and warehouses; the only
music heard there now is that of the steam engine,
and the acting only that of many factory hands.
"The Book of Days" goes on to say of old
London:
66
Ascending Holborn Hill, we see in Ely Place
the remains of the old chapel of the mansion once
there, with a very fine decorated window. This was
the town residence of the bishops of Ely from 1388.
It was a pleasantly situated spot in the olden time,
with its large orchards and gardens sloping towards
the river Fleet. Shakspeare, on the authority of
Holinshed, makes the crafty Duke of Gloucester
(afterwards Richard III.), pleasantly allude to its
produce ;-
66 6
'My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there;
I do beseech you send me some of them.'
"Saffron Hill, in the immediate neighbourhood,
carries in its name the memory of its past floral
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153
glories; and Gerard, whose Great Herbal was
published in the latter days of Elizabeth, dates his
preface from my house in Holborn, in the suburbs
of London.'
6
1
"We may walk as far as Staples Inn, opposite
Gray's Inn Lane, to see the finest row of old houses
of the early part of the seventeenth century remain-
ing in London. The quaint old hall behind them,
with its garden and fig-trees, preserves still a most
antique air. In Chancery Lane, the fine old gate-
house bears the date of 1518, and the brick houses
beside it have an extra interest in consequence of
Fuller's assertion that Ben Jonson, when a young
man, helped in the building, when having a trowel
in one hand, he also had a book in his pocket.'
Passing toward Fleet Street, we meet with no old
vestige, where, a few years since, they abounded.
Beside the Temple Gate, is a good old Elizabethan
house, with a fine plaster ceiling, with the initials
and badges of Henry, Prince of Wales, son of
James I. The Temple, with its round church and
unique series of fine monumental effigies, brings us
to the margin of the Thames, and is a noble con-
clusion to our survey, which the chances and
changes of busy London may alter every forth-
coming year."
From the windows of the chambers in which
many of these pages have been penned, the writer
can still see the site of the old forge and smithy,
for which (with other manorial rites), he has assisted
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at doing the suit and service required of the cor
poration of London. Now on this ancient site, the
new Courts of Law are in the course of erection, to
advance which many old buildings have disappeared.
Fortunately their history is recorded in a most
interesting way, by a work written by Mr. Diprose,
to be obtained of Messrs. W. H. Smith & Son,
Strand; the perusal of Mr. Diprose's work will
repay any one finding interest in old London.
Clement's Inn is an appendage to the Inner
Temple, and Dugdale shows that it has been an Inn
of Chancery for more than six hundred years; it
will soon become the permanent western boundary
of the new Courts of Law. Shakspeare thus refers
to Clement's Inn,-
"He must to the Inns of Court, I was of Clement's
once myself, where they talk of mad Shallow still."
2 Henry IV. iii. 2.
The
There is a life-size figure of a negro kneeling,
and bearing upon his head a sundial, in the centre
of a charming plot of green sward and flower
garden, girt with some fine
with some fine plane-trees.
statue was brought from Italy, and presented to
the Inn by Lord Clare, so says Mr. Diprose in his
national, rather than local, record; and that the
presentation took place about the beginning of the
eighteenth century.
A pleasing custom exists in this Inn at Christmas
time. The beadles call on the members or tenants,
and present them with all the old good wishes of
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the season, and each with an orange and a lemon.
Children for many a year have imitated the old
church bells in a well-known ding-dong song.
Another quaint custom is carried out by the
senior beadle, who waits upon the tenants once a
year with a parchment roll; each tenant is asked
to pierce the parchment with an awl carried by the
beadle, who receives four shillings for witnessing an
act required of those who could not write their
names; but the annual custom of pricking for
sheriffs still maintained by Her Majesty's judges
cannot be supposed ever to have afforded a like con-
venience.
Excepting as regards the Crown and the Duchy
of Cornwall, to the citizens of London belongs the
exclusive privilege of electing the high sheriff of an
English county, but the citizens cannot legally re-
elect the same person to that responsible office. A
rather amusing scene generally occurs when all the
judges meet to prick for sheriffs. Three persons are
generally summoned from each county, to attend the
meeting of these distinguished functionaries, who
moreover are aided by Her Majesty's Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and he for that day (and that day
only) in each year, puts on his embroidered official
robe. The amusement generally consists in the
reasons quoted by the several batches of county
magnates, who try to shirk the office, and to place
it on the shoulders of each other. One says he is
unmarried, and the judges prick him, as they say he
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""
can easily remove that difficulty. Another is too
much married: that is to say, he has a very large
family; he is told that he has an opportunity of
setting a noble example before many.
We remember an eccentric acquaintance (now no
more), who being the owner of a large estate in one
of the eastern counties, was required to show cause
why he should not be pricked for the office; his
reply was, firstly, "he would not like it; and he
had neither state carriage nor liveries adapted for
their lordships' comfort."
“Then make other arrangements,
arrangements," said the
judges.
"There is a splendid team of Jerusalem ponies in
the county town, and I will engage them for your
lordships' use," said the sheriff elect.
The judges smiled; but the two appointed to that
circuit were highly indignant when they found the
sheriff had really carried out his threat, by assem-
bling some donkeys in the caparisons and gay
hanging cloths usual to a Christmas pantomime, and
that some of his tenantry were also there, dressed in
the party coloured costume, with the caps and bells,
of ancient morris dancers. The judges sent for a
post-chaise, and the same day fined the sheriff £500.
On the assurances of many who knew the eccen-
tric habits of the new sheriff, that it was but a
sorry jest, and not a studied insult, the judges,
though somewhat reluctant, consented to meet him
at dinner; the senior judge, warmed by good wine,
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157
smoothed his frowning features, and according to
ancient custom, proposed the health of the high
sheriff, and took occasion to express regret that, in
the discharge of their duty, the judges had been
called upon to inflict so heavy a fine.
On rising to reply, in characteristic terms the
sheriff said, "Cheer up, my lords; I am far from
being made poorer by the affair; and in order that
your lordships may not have a sleepless night, I'll
tell you
you the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth.' It stands this way: Lord C—~—, who was
with me when your lordships pricked me, insisted
on betting me a thousand pounds that I would not
be as good as my word given to your lordships on
that occasion."
A burst of laughter ensued, in which the judges
after making much effort to the contrary were fain
to join, and it was some time before the sheriff (who
was still on his legs) could be heard, when he said:
"But, my lords, I am not going to stick to the
£500 over and above your fine, for when you come
this way again there will be a turn-out that shall be
a comfort to your optics. But I am not a good
hand at a speech, and every one about here knows
I can do better with a song, so with permission I'll
tip your lordships a stave," which turned out to be
a favorite air at the minor theatres, called, "Villi-
kins and his Dinah."
A learned Q.C. dining with them said, "I may
possibly be expected to move the court. I therefore
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propose that the sheriff shall, as soon as possible, be
RE-FINED." The judges concurred, but not in the
monetary sense or application of the word "refined.”
The writer had opportunities of learning that the
rough and eccentric squire was much liked by his
tenants, and was a good friend to the poor; also
that the High Sheriff did not mind unbending, even
to a game of skittles with the humblest person.
There was the other day in the Daily News a very
interesting criticism on a clever work, "The Royal
Parks and Gardens of London." It is understood
that the remarks thereon originated with a well
known and talented pen exercised by one who, like
the writer of this Essay, has daily evidence of the
good taste and urbanity of the Steward of Clement's
Inn, and we are glad to see that a grateful record is
given thereto in the following terms:
"Our climate, or rather our coal smoke, is a
formidable difficulty; but how much may neverthe-
less be done by care and pains and a supply of water
may be seen even in the very heart of town-in the
Temple, for example, or in the garden of Clement's
Inn, where the tastefully arranged flower beds are
just now in bright colour, and the grass green as
any well-kept lawn in the country."
In one of the plane-trees growing in this charm-
ing bit of garden, to the great joy of cockney boys,
there has annually gathered together a colony of
sparrows, who straightway build their nests there.
This year the nests are about ten feet higher up in
མ་
}
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the branches than usual, as a steam travelling crane,
used in building the new courts of law, previously
came uncomfortably near to the old nests; and
the custodian of the garden further says that it
is difficult to decide which are the most impudent
samples of the creation-cockney sparrows or
cockney boys. The sparrows beat him most, for he
thought they would be frightened away from his
seeds, by the old country method of tying feathers
to strings extended upon sticks thrust into the
flower-beds, but, as he said, "before I am up of a
morning they have made their breakfasts upon my
seed, and stolen my feathers wherewith to line their
nests." These nests exist within a few yards of
the site of the old forge for which the sheriffs of
London and Middlesex have done fealty for so
many centuries.
William Hone, in his "Year Book," thus describes
the ceremony appropriate to swearing-in the sheriffs
of London and Middlesex :-
1
"On the day after Michaelmas-day, or, if that day
fall on a Sunday, on the Monday following, the lord
mayor and aldermen proceed from Guildhall; and
the two sheriffs, with their respective companies,
proceed from their particular halls, and embark on
the Thames, his lordship in the city barge, and thus
go, in aquatic state, up the river to Palace Yard.
They land there, and proceed to the court of
exchequer, where, after salutations to the bench
(the cursitor baron presiding), the recorder pre-
:
+
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sents the two sheriffs. The several writs are then
read, and the sheriffs and the senior under-sheriff,
take the usual oaths.
The tenants of the manor in Shropshire are
directed to come forth to do their suit and service.
The corporation of London being tenant of the
manor, the senior alderman below the chair steps
forward, and chops a single stick, in token of its
having been customary for the tenants of that
manor to supply their lord with fuel.
"The owners of a forge in the parish of St.
Clement (which formerly belonged to the City, and
stood in the high-road from the Temple to West-
minster, but now no longer exists) are then called
forth to do their suit and service, when an officer
of the court produces six horse-shoes and sixty-one
hobnails, which are counted over in form before the
cursitor baron, who, on this particular occasion, is
the immediate representative of the sovereign. The
observance of this latter usage is required by a grant
in 1235, from Henry III."
tout cela:
Mais nous avons changé tout cela: cursitor
baron, pageant, and forge have passed away for
ever, and even the act of fealty is now performed
by deputy, some minor officials annually taking
a cab to meet other minor officials, and so per-
form the ancient ceremony in some modern hole
The site of the old forge was pointed
out to the writer of this essay in 1849, by his
old friend, the late Rev. W. W. Ellis, a prede-
or corner.
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161
cessor of the present respected Rector of St. Cle-
ment's Danes, the Rev. R. J. Simpson. The latter
as far as possible confirms the statement, and it
would appear from the plan in Messrs. Bull's office
(the contractors for the new buildings), and Mr.
Ellis's description, that the central hall of the New
Palace of Justice will cover the spot where the old
shrievalty forge once stood. Its connexion with
the shrievalty had raised a claim upon the sheriffs
(in 1849), to attend in full state at St. Clement's
Danes Church, to hear a sermon on behalf of the
local charities. Another old custom was carried out
in that year. The Corporation of London being then
Conservators of the Thames, from Yantlet Creek in
the east to Staines Bridge in the west, proceeded to
beat the eastern boundary of their authority. Now
there is a stone column erected at Yantlet Creek ;
and carved upon its face is the emblem of the
dagger that slew Wat Tyler (as it appears upon the
civic shield of heraldic arms). That this said obelisk
was hard stone, was soon demonstrated mentally
and physically in a manner that made the "custom
more honoured in the breach than the observance,"
for, after the manner of treatment of foundation
schoolboys, when their parish boundary is annually
inspected, a gang of civic watermen suddenly seized,
by command of the Lord Mayor, several persons of
high dignity, and bumped them against the obelisk,
to cause (as it was said) a remembrance of its exist-
ence. One worthy Alderman, to his credit be it
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mentioned, was not ashamed to admit that he re-
membered a similar occurrence (but for parochial
benefit) in his school-days, and when he possibly did.
not dream of the large fortune he ultimately left
to support the baronetcy conferred upon him during
his mayoralty.
That a sheriff, even in modern days, does not
always find a bed of down, was explained to
us by a predecessor in that office, he being, in
fact, our guide, philosopher, and friend in the
acquirement of a knowledge of official régime.
Our friend, as in duty bound, through his officers,
had served a writ issued by the Court of Queen's
Bench, and levied thereon in execution, and to the
discomfort of a servant to the House of Commons,
whereupon, as a Yankee would say, the dander of
the House riz, and our friend the sheriff was, with
his colleague, ordered into the custody of the
serjeant-at-arms, and straightway incarcerated for
several days and nights in the parliamentary dun-
geon devoted for such purposes. (It added to the
misery of our friend to remember that he had not
long been married to a young and charming lady.)
A stormy debate in the House of Commons ensued,
-was the House to be supreme ? seemed to be the
question. A struggle like that between Charles the
First and the assembly of his time (as the wags said)
foomed in the distance, and the House, becoming
conscious of an absurd, if not a false position, was
glad to cut the Gordian knot of the difficulty, and
f
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163
in the following manner. The sheriffs begged to be
heard, and the lachrymose petition-" to be allowed
to go home"-produced a burst of laughter; and
upon the rule that "there is but one step from the
sublime to the ridiculous," the sheriffs were, in
something like the words of Bombastes Furioso,
thus told: "Begone, brave men; but don't kick up
a row." Our friend said his woe did not end there.
Not waiting for the state carriage by which he had
been brought to his gaol, he took a cab from Palace
Yard to his home in Russell Square; but the inexpe-
rience of his helpmate had produced extra caution.
The action of the latch-key was resisted by bolts and
bars; and upon the knocker being lustily resorted
to, from a casement on the upper stories a musical,
yet timid voice, went forth upon the early morning
air, some alarm, no doubt, having been created by
the notorious practical jokes and love for door
knockers exhibited by the Marquis of Waterford,
and his wild companions of those days.
"Who are
you? and what do you want? demanded the
musical voice. "I am the Sheriff, and I want to
be let in," was the reply. "Go away, base man;
know that the Sheriff is where Guy Faux was once
concealed." The window went down with a bang,
indicating firm resolve; so our old friend, humming
the air of "All's well," like a "sentry, walked his
dreary round," till at length he was taken in with
the milk down the area steps of his mansion.
,,
Apropos to old London and its customs, "The
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"
Book of Days," we find, says that "Hogarth
has bequeathed us the most perfect series of
pictures possessed by any nation of the manners
and customs of its inhabitants. They go lower
into the depths of every-day life than is usually
ventured upon by his brethren of the brush. The
higher class scenes of his Marriage à la Mode'
teach us little more than we can gather from
the literature of his era; but when we study Gin
Lane,' in all its ghastly reality, we see-and shud-
der in contemplating it-the abyss of vice and
reckless profligacy into which so large a number of
the lower classes had fallen, and which was too dis-
gusting, as well as too familiar, to meet with similar
record in the pages of the annalist.”
C
There exists a curious octavo pamphlet, dedicated
by its author to Hogarth himself, which minutely
describes the occupation of the inhabitants of
London during the whole twenty-four hours. It is
unique as a picture of manners, and though rude in
style invaluable for the information it contains, and
which is not to be met elsewhere. It appears to
have been first published in 1759, and ran through
several editions. It is entitled "Low Life; or, One
Half the World Knows not how the other Half
Lives"; and purports to be "a true description of
a Sunday as it is usually spent within the bills of
mortality, calculated for the 21st day of June," the
anniversary (new style) of the accession of King
George II.
“PUBLICITY.”
165
}
Mr. G. A. Sala, in his volume entitled "Twice
Round the Clock," acknowledges that his descrip-
tion therein of the occupation of each hour of a
modern London day was suggested by the perusal
of a copy of this old pamphlet lent to him by
Mr. Dickens, and which had been presented to that
gentleman by another great novelist, Mr. Thack-
eray.
The author of "Twice Round the Clock (Mr.
G. A. Sala) has long been one of the principal con-
tributors to one of the mightiest pennyworths
ever placed at the service of millions of newspaper
readers, namely, the Daily Telegraph. Mr. Sala is
invested with a double gift of power, that of
wielding both pen and pencil, and it is understood
that in both capacities he will contribute as an
important correspondent to that valued source
of delight and information, the Illustrated London
News, especially during the present conflict between
Russia and Turkey, which may yet end in drag-
ging all Europe into war, with all its dreaded conse-
quences, in order that a solution of what is called
the Eastern question may possibly be obtained;
but whatever services Mr. G. A. Sala may yet
render to the public, none, perhaps, will excel his
contribution to literature, called "Twice Round the
Clock." Centuries hence that work may form a
vivid picture of London life of his time, and a
valued sequel to the record given a hundred years
ago by Hogarth and others. An amusing episode,
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mainly originating with that great artist, is thus
described:-
"On the evening of Tuesday, 23rd of March, 1762, the ladies
and gentlemen of London were informed at their tea-tables, by
means of the St. James's Chronicle, of the following fact:-
"PROSCRIPT.
“'INTELLIGENCE EXTRAORDINARY.
"Strand. The Society of Manufactures, Art, and Commerce,
are preparing for the annual Exhibition of Polite Arts, hoping by
Degrees to render this Nation as eminent in Taste as War; and
that, by bestowing Præmiums, and encouraging a generous Emu-
lation, among the Artists, the Productions of Paintings, Sculp-
ture, &c., may no longer be considered as Exotics, but naturally
flourish in the Soil of Great Britain.'
"Immediately under this notice was the following:-
"Grand Exhibition. The Society of Sign-painters are also
preparing a most magnificent Collection of Portraits, Landscapes,
Fancy Pieces, Flower Pieces, History Pieces, Night Pieces, Sea
Pieces, Sculpture Pieces, &c. &c., designed by the ablest Masters,
and executed by the best Hands in these kingdoms. The Vir-
tuosi will have a new Opportunity of displaying their taste on
this Occasion, by discovering the different Stile of the several
Masters employed, and pointing out by what Hand each Piece is
drawn. A remarkable Cognoscente who has attended at the So-
ciety's great Room, with his Glass, for several Mornings, has al-
ready piqued himself on discovering the famous Painter of the
Rising Sun, a modern Claude Lorraine, in an elegant Night-piece
of the Man-in-the-Moon. He is also convinced that no other
than the famous Artists who drew the Red Lion at Brentford, can
be equal to the bold figures in the London 'Prentice, and that the
exquisite Colouring in the Piece called Pyramus and Thisbe must
be by the same hand as the Hole-in-the-Wall.'
"Shortly after this advertisement, the Exhibition was opened.
It was held in Bonnell Thorton's chambers in Bow Street: the
hours were from nine till four, admission one shilling.. The
tickets had a catalogue prefixed to them. The names of the
signboard painters given in this catalogue were those of the jour
"PUBLICITY.
167
""
ney-men printers in Mr. Baldwin's office, where it was printed.
Hagarty alone was a transparent variation on the name of
Hogarth, who had largely contributed to the fun and humour of
the Exhibition.
"The opening of the saloons was the signal for a perfect storm
among the newspapers. The artists and their friends were terri-
bly ruffled, and persisted in seeing in it a persifflage of their
exhibition just then opened in the Strand. To this animosity,
however, we owe all the particulars of the signs exhibited.
Catalogues, criticisms, and reviews of the Exhibition were daily
brought before the public, giving full details."
To the Antiquarian nothing can prove more in-
teresting than records of the old signs exhibited by
traders before education had in any way reached the
masses. The above has been copied from an admir-
mirable collection (or history) of sign-boards, writ-
ten by Jacob Larwood and J. Camden Hotten
(published by Chatto & Windus, London). Through-
out the six hundred pages thus given to the subject
of public signs, information of the most valuable
nature is offered to the student, and with the view
to whet his appetite for more, and to illustrate the
advertising theory of this essay, we have selected
the following piquant specimens. The work of
Messrs. Larwood and Hotten carries its readers back
even to old Egyptian and old Roman days, and
most of the anecdotes related by them in respect to
more modern times we have copied at their several
fountain heads, namely the national libraries. The
above-named talented authors, have thus written:-
"In these modern days, the
object it was not always so.
signboard is a very unimportant.
At a time when but few persons
î
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"PUBLICITY."
could read and write, house-signs were indispensable in city life.
As education spread they were less needed; and when in the last
century, the system of numbering houses was introduced, and
every thoroughfare had its name painted at the beginning and
end, they were no longer a positive necessity—their original
value was gone, and they lingered on, not by reason of their use-
fulness, but as instances of the decorative humour of our ances-
tors, or as advertisements of established reputation and business
success. For the names of many of our streets we are indebted
to the sign of the old inn or public-house, which frequently was
the first building in the street-commonly enough suggesting its
erection, or at least a few houses by way of commencement. The
huge London Directory' contains the names of hundreds of
streets in the metropolis which derived their titles from taverns
or public-houses in the immediate neighbourhood. As material
for the etymology of the names of persons and places, the various
old signs may be studied with advantage. In many other ways
the historic importance of house-signs could be shown."
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
"Since all the pictorial representations were of much the same
quality, rival tradesmen tried to outvie each other in the size of
their signs, each one striving to obtrude his picture into public
notice by putting it out further in the street than his neigh-
bour's. The 'Liber Albus,' compiled in 1419, names this sub-
ject amongst the Inquisitions at the Wardmotes: Item, if the
ale-stake of any tavern is longer or extends further than ordinary.
And in book iii. part iii. p. 389, is said :—
CC C
Also, it was ordained that, whereas the ale-stakes projecting
in front of taverns in Chepe, and elsewhere in the said city, extend
too far over the King's highways, to the impeding of riders and
others, and, by reason of their excessive weight, to the great
deterioration of the houses in which they are fixed;-to the end
that opportune remedy might be made thereof, it was by the
Mayor and Aldermen granted and ordained, and, upon summons
of all the taverns of the said city, it was enjoined upon them,
under pain of paying forty pence unto the Chamber of the
Guildhall, on every occasion upon which they should transgress
such ordinance, that no one of them in future should have a stake,
bearing either his sign, or leaves, extending or lying over the
.
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169
PUBLICITY.'
King's highway, of greater length than seven feet at most, and
that this ordinance should begin to take effect at the Feast of
Saint Michael, then next ensuing, always thereafter to be valid
and of full effect.'
*
*
*
*
**
*
*
"Already, in very early times, publicans were compelled by
law to have a sign; for we find that in the 16 Richard II., (1393,)
Florence North, a brewer of Chelsea, was 'presented' ' for not
putting up the usual sign.'* In Cambridge the regulations
were equally severe : by an Act of Parliament, 9 Henry VI., it
was enacted: Quicunq: de villa Cantebrigg, braciaverit ad
vendend, exponat signum suum, alioquin omittat cervisiam.'-
Rolls of Parliament, vol. v. fol. 426 a.† But with the other
trades it was always optional. Hence Charles I., on his acces-
sion to the throne, gave the inhabitants of London a charter by
which, amongst other favours, he granted them the right to hang
out signboards:
'And further, we do give and grant to the said Mayor, and
commonalty, and citizens of the said city, and their successors,
that it may and shall be lawful to the citizens of the same city
and any of them, for the time being, to expose and hang in and
over the streets, and ways, and alleys of the said city and sub-
urbs of the same, signs, and posts of signs, affixed to their houses
and shops, for the better finding out such citizens' dwellings,
shops, arts, or occupations, without impediment, molestation, or
interruption of his heirs or successors.'
"In France, the innkeepers were under the same regulations
as in England; for there also, by the edict of Moulins, in 1567,
all innkeepers were ordered to acquaint the magistrates with
their name and address, and their 'affectes et enseignes;' and
Henri III., by an edict of March, 1577, ordered that all inn-
keepers should place a sign on the most conspicuous part of their
houses, aux lieux les plus apparents;' so that everybody, even
❖«The original court roll of this presentation is still to be found amongst
the records of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster."-LYSON'S Env. of Lon-
don, vol. iii. p. 74.
+ "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town of Cambridge, with intention of
selling it, must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale.”
"Art. XXIII.-Taverniers metront enseignes et bouchons.
•
Nul
ne pourra tenir taverne en cette dite ville et faubourgs, sans mettre enseigne
et bouchon."
་
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PUBLICITY."
those that could not read, should be aware of their profession.
Louis XIV., by an ordnance of 1693, again ordered signs to be
put up, and also the price of the articles they were entitled to
sell."
The writer of this Essay, many years ago, took
much interest in a wide-spread effort to urge the
institution of a great municipality for the govern-
ment of the entire Metropolis, and suggested in a
work Messrs. Collingridge (the proprietors of the
City Press and other high-class journals) published
for him in 1853, first, that each metropolitan and
parliamentary borough should be incorporated with
a separate mayor and court for local purposes,
and then these authorities should send delegates to
a central court, to be presided over by the lord
mayor, annually elected by the several courts, and
such a Board should, in the aggregate or in federal
union, deal with all great questions affecting the
Metropolis generally, such as gas, water, drainage,
police, and other such matters.
Opposition thereto was raised, to the effect that,
as corporate powers had never been exercised out-
side the city of London, it was therefore unwise,
and practically impossible, to incorporate any of its
immediate surroundings.
The writer proved by the court roll of the city of
Westminster (referred to in the Chelsea case quoted
by Messrs. Larwood and Hotton), that a separate
municipality had, from accident or design, become
in the course of years practically obsolete, and that
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171
1
such powers not only existed nearly five hundred
years ago, but they had been at one time constantly
enforced.
The Legislature at the time before-mentioned (in
place of separate municipalities) fell back upon the
old vestries; these now appoint members for the
Board of Works, and some are elected by the cor-
poration of London; by this new body a chairman
is chosen, with a handsome salary.
Proprietors of restaurants, or (in the older style)
mine hosts of ye Inns, no longer swing their mas-
sive signs across the streets, or, by the edict of
the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Court of
Commissioners of Sewers, can either now display
sign or name beyond the fascia of the house.
This new authority has done giant's work, wit-
ness its system of drainage, its Thames embank-
ment, its new streets,-which by the way are
improving off many old and interesting bits of
London, for" the greatest happiness of the greatest
number", still it is not without a pang we part from
many ancient sites of historical association. There-
fore, if the public way has been thus improved, either
above or below its surface, we must not regret the
needful disappearance of its old trading sign-boards,
the memory of which are fortunately so carefully
recorded by the valued efforts of Messrs. Larwood
and Hotten; à propos to what they say about the
ancient law of France in the exposure of the prices
of viands, etc., by innkeepers, this is now notably
J
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66 PUBLICITY.
carried out by Carr, at the corner of Clement's Inn,
and at the door-posts of his restaurant, to which
Charles Dickens gavé "advertisement."
There was in the olden time (it is very clear) a
peculiar advantage attached to the creaking sign-
boards of the old hostelries; it gave the roisterers
some notice of bad weather, if Gay is to be believed,
thus:
"But when the swinging signs your ears offend
With creaking noise, then rainy floods impend."
Gay also says that sign-boards were useful as
follows:-
"If drawn by Bus'ness to a street unknown,
Let the sworn Porter point thee through the town;
Be sure observe the Signs, for Signs remain
Like faithful Landmarks to the walking Train."
In what is now Change Alley (where the writer of
this Essay for many years held offices) there was a
coffee house, thus described in 1662:-
"MORAT. YE. GREAT. MEN. DID. MEE. CALL
WHERE. ERE . I . CAME . I. Conquer’d. All.”
On the reverse :
66
Coffee, tobacco, sherbett, tea, and chocolat retail'd in Exchange
Alley."
"A¹
T THE COFFEE-HOUSE in Exchange Alley is sold by Retail
the right Coffee-powder, from 4s. to 6s. per pound, as in
goodness that pounded in a mortar at 3s. per pound; also that
termed the right Turkie Berry, well garbled, at 3s. per pound-the
ungarbled for less; that termed the East India Berry at 20d. per
pound, with directions gratis how to make and use the same. Like-
66 PUBLICITY.'
173
wise, there you may have Tobacco, Verinas and Virginia, Choco-
latta-the ordinary pound-bozes at 2s. per pound; also Sherbets
(made in Turkie) of Lemons, Roses, and Violets perfumed; and
Tea according to its goodness, from 6s. to 6os. per pound. For all
of which, if any Gentleman shall write or send, they shall be sure
of the best as they shall order; and to avoid deceit, warranted
under the House Seal-viz., MORAT THE GREAT.”—Mercurius
Publicus.
In Banks's collection, and no great distance from
Change Alley, it appears that a poetical puff gave
fame to a tobacconist, which was promulgated, not
by the medium of public journals, for the simple
reason described in the Critic, anent the Spanish
Fleet, viz., that such "had not come in sight," but
Peter effected his object by printing verses on the
paper wrappers containing the tobacco, thus:-
“At DRUGGER'S HEAD, without a puff,
You'll ever find the best of snuff,
Believe me, I'm not joking;
Tobacco, too, of every kind,
The very best you'll always find,
For chewing or for smoaking.
Tho' Abel, when the Humour's in,
At Drury Lane to make you grin,
May sometimes take his station ;
At number Hundred-Forty-Six,
In Fenchurch Street he now does fix
His present Habitation..
His best respects he therefore sends,
And thus acquaints his generous Friends,
From Limehouse up to Holborn,
That his rare snuffs are sold by none,
Except in Fenchurch Street alone,
And there by Peter Cockburn.”
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PUBLICITY.”
While upon the subject of tobacco, it may not be
inappropriate to refer to its congener snuff, and the
common sign used by its manufacturers, namely,
"the Rasp," usually accompanied by the emblem of
a crown. The writer of this essay for some time served
as chairman of the licensing division of magis-
trates, acting for the neighbourhood in which the
premises he is about to refer to is situate, and he
remembers seeing there over a celebrated snuff shop
the sign of The Rasp and Crown. The rasp was
essential to those taking snuff, as will be apparent
from the following account given of it in the
History of Signboards":-
66
“The oldest form of taking snuff was to scrape it with a rasp
from the dry root of the tobacco plant; the powder was then
placed on the back of the hand and so snuffed up; hence the
name of râpé (rasped) for a kind of snuff, and the common
tobacconist's sign of LA CAROTTE D'OR (the golden root) in France.
The rasps for this purpose were carried in the waistcoat pocket,
and soon became articles of luxury, being carved in ivory and
variously enriched. Some of them, in ivory and inlaid wood,
may be seen at the Hôtel Cluny in Paris, and an engraving of
such an object occurs in 'Archæologia,' vol. xiii, One of the first
snuff-boxes was the so-called râpé, or grivoise box, at the back of
which was a little space for a piece of the root, whilst a small
iron rasp was contained in the middle. When a pinch was
wanted, the root was drawn a few times over the iron rasp, and
so the snuff was produced and could be offered to a friend with
much more grace than under the above-mentioned process with
the pocket grater."
A very few steps from Fenchurch Street, where
Peter Cockburn advertised his wares, there dwelt
some years afterwards, Dirty Dick, his name was
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175 ..
..
Richard Bentley. The articles sold by him are thus
described:
"Who but has seen (if he can see at all)
'Twixt Aldgate's well-known pump and Leadenhall,
A curious hardware shop, in generall full
Of wares from Birmingham and Pontipool?
Begrimed with dirt, behold its ample front,
With thirty years' collected filth upon't;
In festoon'd cobwebs pendant o'er the door,
While boxes, bales, and trunks are strew'd around the floor.
Behold how whistling winds and driving rain.
Gain free admission at each broken pane,
Save when the dingy tenant keeps them out,
With urn or tray, knife-case or dirty clout.
Here snuffers, waiters, patent screws for corks,
There castors, cardracks, cheesetrays, knives and forks;
There empty cases piled in heaps on high,
There packthread, papers, rope, in wild disorder lie."
Jumping from Dirty Dick's warehouse to a more
central district of London, we find in the Daily
Courant, 1711, the following curious advertise-
ment:
AT THE UNION SOCIETY at the Black Lion against Short's
Garden in Drury Lane, a Linen Draper's, on Thursday the
21st past, was opened three offices of Insurance on the birth of
Children, by way of dividend. At the same place two offices for
marriages."
-and the Public Advertiser of 1759, published an
advertisement referring to a well-known inn close at
hand, as follows :—
"TO BE SOLD, a fine Grey Mare, full fifteen hands high, gone
after the hounds many times, rising six years and no more;
:
:
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moves as well as most creatures upon earth, as good a road mare
as any in 10 counties and 10 to that; trots at a confounded pace;
is from the country, and her owner will sell her for nine guineas;
if some folks had her she would fetch near three times the money.
I have no acquaintance, and money I want, and a service in a
shop to carry parcels or to be in a gentleman's service. My
father gave me the mare to get rid of me, and to try my fortune
in London, and I am just come from Shropshire, and I can be
recommended, as I suppose nobody takes servants without, and
have a voucher for my mare. Enquire for me at the Talbot Inn
near the Church at the Strand.
"A. R."
The church just referred to, viz., that of St.
Clement's Danes, the chimes, it may be remembered,
Falstaff said he had heard with Justice Shallow,
—who was a member of Clements' Inn, close by,-
these chimes now give the Easter Hymn, 104th
Psalm, or the Lass o' Gowrie almost continuously,
as we full well know, being many hours each day
close at hand. We say, near to this Church formerly
stood common inns or hostelries, and other places
highly favoured with advertisers having strange
vocations, for the Publick Advertiser of 1769, thus
announces :
TO BE SOLD, a Black Girl, the property of J. B-, eleven
years of age, who is extremely handy, works at her needle
tolerably, and speaks French perfectly well; is of excellent temper
and willing disposition. Inquire of W. Owen, at the Angel Inn,
behind St. Clement's Church, in the Strand.”
Travelling westward we find about the same period
an advertisement in the London Evening Post, issued
by a prominent member of a profession then for the
first time coming to the front, which profession has,
-

BUTCHER HALL LANE.
Formerly an approach (on the western side) to Temple Bar, erected by Sir Christopher Wren, and
now in the course of removal. The site of Butcher Hall Lane is absorbed by the New Law
Courts.
[See page 177.
PUBLICITY.'
177
by the way, since done much (through the medium
of "publicity") to place the power to masticate
within the possession of many to whom nature has
been unkind in the matter of teeth. The Professor
thus describes his abilities:-
"Ye Beauties, Beaux, ye Pleaders at the Bar,
Wives, Husbands, lovers, every one beside,
Wh'd have their heads deficient rectify'd,
The Dentist famed who by just application
Excels each other operator in the Nation,
In Coventry's known street, near Leicester Fields,
At the Two Heads full satisfaction yields.
Teeth artificial he fixes so secure,
That as our own they usefully endure;
Not merely outside show and ornament
But ev'ry property of Teeth intent;
To eat, as well as speak, and form support
The falling cheeks and stumps from further hurt.
Nor is he daunted when the whole is gone,
But by an art peculiar to him known,
He'll so supply, you'll think you've got your own.”
Messrs. Cassell, Petter & Galpin have published
a delightful work, called "Old and New London,"
and the labours of some of our most talented
authors are connected therewith. We are indebted
to them, not only for information culled from this
work, but also for permission to republish some
illustrations which are pertinent to our Essay; for
instance, we here produce a representation of
Butchers' Row, which is part of the site of the New
Courts of Law. In Butcher Row it would appear
that the Gunpowder Plot was concocted, as from
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178
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PUBLICITY.'
the confession of Winter, one of the conspirators,
they took an oath of secrecy, and heard mass, and
received the blessed Sacrament in a room behind St.
Clement's Church. We are also indebted to Messrs.
Cassell for the opportunity we have exercised in
respect to the representation of the portraits of the
conspirators, while quoting from the" Weekeley
News," a journal published in the time of James I.
This journal, together with many other quaint old
newspapers and quotations, will be found in the
eleventh chapter of this book.
As a counterpoise to the horrible bigotry and
utter want of charity connected with the Gun-
powder Plot, we may say that Butcher Row, the
subject of our illustration, was the birth-place of a
most benevolent Englishman, Dr. Andrew Reed, who
founded two of our most important orphan asylums.
Upon his son, Sir Charles Reed, his mantle has evi-
dently fallen; for every public man amongst us is
well acquainted with the energy and self-sacrifice
this gentleman has devoted to the duties of Chair-
man of the London School Board, and so giving
practical issue to the course so earnestly recom-
mended by our great statesman, the Right Honour-
able W. E. Gladstone, who has created a new
epigram, by recently calling education man-making.
Chief Justice Saunders was another celebrity of
the neighbourhood; his life was recently referred to
in an article published by The Globe, and in the
following terms:-
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}
"What a Hogarthian picture Roger North draws of a great
English lawyer in the reign of Charles the Second. This Silenus
of the bench was a street boy who lived about Clement's Inn,
waiting on the clerks. Seeming ambitious to learn to write,
and being famous for his diligence and quickness, a kindly
attorney knocked a board up at a staircase window, that the
boy might practise writing. He soon became expert enough to
take in copying, and in time became an exquisite entering clerk.
The year of the Restoration he became a member of the Middle
Temple, and was on the high road to success.
He was very
corpulent, says North, a mere lump of morbid flesh from con-
tinual sottishness, for, to say nothing of brandy, he was seldom
without a pot of ale at his nose.' He took no exercise, and when
not at his desk was smoking and drinking at his lodgings at a
sister's in Butcher Row. Yet this Falstaff and Sly commingled
was a dexterous special pleader, full of wit, and rather than lose
a cause he would resort to any witty trick, careless of reprimand,
and shameless to the backbone. Out of the court Saunders was
the most good-natured of men, amusing the students, and before
the court sat delighting to stand at the bar putting cases and
debating, to rouse them to work; and in the Temple he seldom
moved without a parcel of youths hanging about him, and he
merry and jesting with them. This unscrupulous man the
Government employed in party prosecutions (such as Lord
Shaftesbury's), and he was to have helped to cancel the Charter
of the City of London; but he died of apoplexy the year he
became Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Saunders's reports
are so admirably simple and precise that Lord Mansfield called
him the Terence of law reporters.
In a preceding page we have given Hone's descrip-
tion of the ceremony for swearing-in the sheriffs;
though the pageant upon the Thames is now a matter
of the past, its remembrance will be ever kept up
while The Illustrated London News maintains its
heading, and it may not be out of the way to say
a few words about what is being done over the site
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i
of the old forge Hone has referred to. Hundreds
of workmen are busy there erecting the new Palace
of Justice, where possibly law and equity may be
at length welded together; and it is to be hoped
that the judges may in their new courts have
less trouble than the legislature have hitherto
given them, especially in seeking to make out its
intention, in various crude and unintelligible Acts
of Parliament. Take for instance a letter which
appeared in The Times, June 27th, 1877, on the
much vexed question of crossed banker's cheques.
The letter refers to a previous leader in that journal
on this subject, the communication being penned by
a Governor of the Bank of England. In one para-
graph he uses these words: "So long as the Act (on
this subject) stands unamended, bankers will enjoy
the distinction of being privileged receivers of stolen
cheques, and the public will be deprived of the pro-
tection they desire." Now the said Act is a tinkered-
up amendment of a miserable specimen of legisla-
tion, passed in 1858, when the bankers used all their
great influence in Parliament to prevent useful legis-
lation, because it brought upon them (the bankers)
a slightly increased amount of responsibility.
The Bill of 1858 was introduced by the Govern-
ment, and was entitled "The Drafts on Bankers
Law Amendment Bill." Now if it had been dealt with
fairly it would have given the protection sought by
the community in respect to, crossed cheques. It
cannot be denied that if such a custom could not be
"
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somehow maintained, that not a tithe of the business
of the country could be carried on.
In point of fact, the metallic currency and na-
tional paper would be at an enormous premium, or
the practice of barter must ensue. At the eleventh
hour, by the banking interest in the House of Com-
mons, July 24th, 1858 (see Hansard 2076, vol. cli.),
there was introduced a clause, with regard to which
the writer of this Essay felt it to be his duty to move
"that the effect of the new clause would be to render
the entire measure perfectly useless, except for the
lawyers, for whom," he said, "it would yield a plen-
tiful crop of litigation. He most earnestly pointed
out that if the clause in question was allowed to
stand part of the Bill, no security could be obtained
for crossed cheques; and he hoped the Government
would consent to withdraw the Bill rather than thus
to let it pass." With this object before him, the
writer moved as an amendment, that the Bill be read
a third time that day three months, this view being
supported by other members. The Attorney-General
admitted there was a proper and a strong objection
to the clause, and that at that late period of the
session he had been compelled (by others about him)
to insert the clause so as to save the Bill, which he
hoped would otherwise be useful to the country,
and he promised to obtain the withdrawal of the
obnoxious clause in the House of Lords, if it was
allowed to proceed there through the writer con-
senting to withdraw his motion.
H
182
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!
Now, as an instance of how laws are mauled
and often made practically useless, it may be
mentioned that the Bill did go to the Upper House,
and, with a huge batch of others received the
Royal assent twenty-four hours after this discussion
had taken place, and that the Attorney-General did
not, as he promised to do, get the objectionable
clause withdrawn; consequently, for nearly twenty
years the judges could do nothing with the Act,
hence the strong remarks given now through The
Times, and the ex-Governor referred to.
It is to be hoped that some provision will be made
in the new Courts of Law for the consideration of
hasty and imperfect legislation. Perhaps the Lords
Justices might be convened to advise the Crown upon
each public Bill during the usual interregnum, before
such bills become law, and the Royal assent might
be delayed till the report is received as to the cor-
rect drawing of the Bills and as to the Statutes
which may have been intended to be repealed, or
that such shall have been duly set forth and so dealt
with. These reports, and all new Acts of Parliament
should be advertised in the London Gazette, as by
popular or legal credence every subject of the realm
is supposed to know the law.
At present all parties are banged about from
court to court till the Lords Justices or the House
of Lords finally declare what the intention of
the legislature really was in passing the Act, and
how far unrepealed law thwarts its action. The
:
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principle of Bills need not be called in question,
but it would be better upon such reports for the
ministers of the Crown to submit the same for
amendment (by Parliament) before any imperfect
Bill becomes full-blown law, rather than to let (as
in the case of crossed cheques) the evil run on for
twenty years. More Lords Justices may be needful,
but on the score of national economy there would
even thus be much gain.
The Select Committee of the House of Commons.
appointed to consider whether any, and what,
measures can be adopted to improve the manner and
language of current legislation, presented a long
report in 1875. Objections have arisen, first, from
the mode in which a Bill itself may be prepared, and
the extent to which it may vary or deal with previous
statutes; second, from the uncertainty which often
arises from inconsistent and ill-considered amend-
ments; third, from the want of consolidation where
groups of statutes on similar subjects are left in
a state of great perplexity; and fourth, from the
absence of any better classification of the public Acts
of Parliament. As a remedy for these objections the
Committee advert, in the first instance, to the re-
commendation of the Statute Law Commissioners in
1856, that an officer or board with a sufficient staff
of assistants should be appointed to superintend and
advise upon Bills in their passage through the Par-
liament. It appeared to the Committee, however,
that the objections to a board of recommission were
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practically insuperable. The present system, as
originally passed in 1869, of having a Parliamen-
tary counsel for the purpose of providing for the
preparation of English Government measures, should
in the main be adhered to. With regard to the pre-
paration of the Bill itself, it has been suggested that
a breviate or short statement should accompany it,
and that this breviate should point out the general
object of the measure, and the particular statutes
which would have to be dealt with. A breviate of
this nature was usual in former times, and the Com-
mittee are of opinion that scme such plan might be
advantageously reverted to, at all events in those
cases where the matter is complicated or where
previous legislation to any great extent is affected
by it. To many it would be more acceptable if the
Judges who afterwards have to ban or bless the Act
should, as herewith suggested, report thereon prior
to its coming into operation. The adoption of the
report would no doubt tend to improve the con-
struction of Acts of Parliament, but by many the
supervision of the Judges, and ultimate translators
of the law, would be preferred.
The Scotch lad was of opinion that if a bless-
ing could be asked over every barrel of pork it
would save much time, and many a poor lad
from a cold dinner. Now a certain ill-cooked
dish of law has been preached over in every court
of law, till four Judges assembled, to say whether
the legislature intended the Companies Act (with
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185
limited liability) to protect persons who obtain large
sums of money from the public, having caused con-
tracts to be concealed or suppressed, which common
sense (if not common law) ought to say should be
revealed in the prospectus, and investors thereby
taken in at any rate with their eyes open. Two of
the four judges said the legislature by its act per-
mitted of a common sense construction, the other
two could not so read the words of the Act, the
same being doubtful in meaning and application.
It is a miserable specimen of law-making; it bristles
with unnecessary difficulties; one or two wretched
shareholders may now thrust a good Company into
Chancery, and play the bully in order to be bought
out; or they will taint a business which by merit and
costly advertisements, may have produced deserved
public favour. Now no matter whether this law be
altered or not, the greatest possible care should
always be taken in advertising the grounds upon
which the public are invited to co-operate; much
sound advice of a practical nature may, in the in-
ception of a Company, be given by an advertising
agent of admitted experience. The agent can at
any rate point out the rocks on which many an
enterprise, good, bad, and indifferent, has been
wrecked, or, on the other hand, the course taken
which has led on to fortune."
66
The following is a specimen of the evidence now
being submitted before the Select Committee of the
House of Commons appointed to consider the opera-
tion of the Public Companies Acts, 1862 and 1867,
i
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t
and to whom has also been referred Mr. Chadwick's
Bill for the amendment thereof, Mr. R. Lowe in the
chair. Mr. Church, chief clerk to the Master of the
Rolls, was examined at some length. He stated that
in his opinion the present mode of winding-up com-
panies in Chancery was very costly, and more dila-
tory than it need be. Much of the work was done
twice over and paid for twice over. The liquidator
was called upon to discharge duties which he ought
not to have to discharge, such as attending before
the chief clerk with the books. He saw no objec-
tion to the books being in the possession of the
solicitor, and he thought the duties of the liquidator
might be restricted within very narrow limits, merely
the receipt and payment of moneys, but there might
be cases in which the services of an experienced
accountant might be required. In some cases the
payment to the liquidator was exorbitant, but in some
of the smaller cases it was hardly sufficient. His
remedy for that was a revised scale of charges, and
subjecting them to taxation in the same way as a
solicitor's bill was, but officers would have to be ap-
pointed for that purpose. Mr. Chadwick (a witness)
explained the objects of his Bill, which were to pro-
vide more effectually than did the Act of 1867 for
the disclosure in the prospectus of companies of all
contracts affecting them; that no company should
be established until two-thirds of the proposed capi-
tal had been subscribed, and that balance-sheets
showing the condition of the company should from
time to time be issued.
CHAPTER VI.
As we do not propose to write a history of adver-
tising, but only to refer to various incidents as
they naturally crop up in the usually discursive
course of an essay, we proceed with the necessities
of our work, and especially such as immediately
relate to or are involved in improvements which
we desire to advance in respect to modern adver-
tising, using past matters as sign-posts or warnings
against error. But we ask leave to postpone
further historical anecdotes, and now to take
into consideration modern circulars, a form of
advertisement much abused. "C
Anything is good
enough for a circular," say some people. So
far as the detail, or raw collection of data is
concerned, such a view is not worth while to call
in question; but the shaping of a circular into
profitable and creditable use may somewhat bear
comparision with the efforts of an inexperienced
or ungifted worker upon a mass of clay, to those
of a true sculptor. Circulars are like English
houses; if you see one, you see the nature of all,
and most of our architectural efforts support the
assertion that as a nation Great Britain has long
been under the thraldom of a bad system of artistic
education, or of no education at all. It is one of
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the miseries of our life that we (who assert this)
cannot very well escape a daily inspection of stuc-
coed abominations connected with one of the best
opportunities ever given to an architect in the
metropolis of Great Britain. Regent's Park pos-
sesses enough huge columns supporting almost
cottage-sized roofs, together with sham classical
outlines and statuary, as would sufficiently serve to
condemn the national taste. (Some punster spelt
it nash-ional, as an architect of the name of Nash
thus spoilt the neighbourhood of this important
metropolitan lung; and, what is quite as bad, he
caused the interiors of dwellings there erected to
be made dark and inconvenient.) The rapid
growth of practical or technical education, may
do much for our future; but a rule of thumb
and sheer ignorance has in the past almost de-
stroyed our comfort.
--
Publicity, competition, and schools for the million,
may assist the advertising columns of newspapers
by promoting general good in these respects. At
any rate, it must be a subject of congratulation if
our assertion is maintained, viz., that the advertiser
of the present day does better by observing
truth and good manners, than by what is called
in the United States a smart style. We have
not yet seized upon the rocks upon our shores to
act as huge hoardings for flaming advertisements,
or intercepted lovely views of landscapes by built-up
timber work, placarded with the lively intelligence
}
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"'
3
3
that Jenkins's is the best bug and flea destroyer in
all creation.
"Mad as a hatter" is one of the phrases we have
borrowed from our trans-Atlantic cousins. It is
true a kind of mania set in here in that branch of
business at the time when the four-and-ninepenny
chimney-pots for human skulls were in demand, and
floss silk took the place of beaver skins, used for
the ugly shaped coverings which unfortunately
still hold sway over the heads of the civilized
world.
But the American hatter does really appear to
have occasionally gone mad. When Jenny Lind
first appeared in New York, there was a sale by
auction of conspicuous stall tickets. Two hundred
dollars was paid for the assistant of a well-known
hatter to occupy the best seat, and between the acts
to display upon his head his master's handiwork,
labelled with the address, where other hats could
be obtained like the one exhibited. This movement
has not been tried here; perhaps our gallery gods
are too fond of practical jokes, for when they may
have exhausted apples and oranges, they might use
empty beer bottles at a target of so tempting a
nature.
The shrewd American printer used to relate
an anecdote corresponding somewhat with a well
known fable. In this case Franklin said, "He once
knew a man commence business as a hatter, and
who went to great expense in producing a highly
:
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190
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decorated sign-board for his shop. It bore the
following inscription,-

JOHN THOMPSON, HATTER,
MAKES AND SELLS HATS
FOR READY MONEY.
Above the inscription was the ordinary figure of
a hat. But he thought he would submit the com-
position to his friends for amendment. The first
he showed it to thought the word "hatter" tautolo-
gical, because followed by the words "makes hats,"
which showed he was a hatter. It was struck out.
The next observed that the word "makes" might
as well be omitted, because his customers would not
care who made the hats; if good, and to their mind,
they would buy, by whomsoever made. He struck
that out also. A third said he thought that the
words "for ready money" were useless, as it was
not the custom of the place to sell on credit-
every one who purchased expected to pay. These
too were parted with; and the inscription then
"Sells
stood, "John Thompson sells Hats."
Hats!" says his next friend; "why, who expects
you to give them away? What, then, is the use
of the word?" It was struck out, and "Hats" was
all that remained attached to the name of John
Thompson. Even this inscription, brief as it was,
was reduced ultimately to "John Thompson," with
the figure of the hat above it.
66 PUBLICITY."
191
!
:
If hatters are called madmen, one at least re-
turned the compliment, but it was in Dutch.
(C
'Hier maakt men sterke hoeden om de hersens in te sluyten
Opdat het los verstand daar niet mag vliegen buyten.”
The following is a translation:-
'Strong hats made here to enclose the head,
In order that the soft [loose] brains may be kept together."
The limelight transparency did pretty well for
advertisements upon the Broadway of New York,
as it has done on the boulevards of Paris; but
in this country it chiefly provides an opportunity
for picking the pockets of the few evening strollers
of our streets.
We have not quite arrived at the opportunities
for the concealed advertisements of the French,
which are ingeniously introduced into the feuilletons
of their public journals. The heroine of the story is
there made to disclose where she buys her ribbons
or garters, and there is the exact number and street
where the hero obtains the pistols which have never
missed fire, or the rapiers which have never failed in
the inevitable duel; and then no one could be more
sympathetic to the sorrowing widow and children
than the director of funerals on a large scale,
numéro trois, Rue Père la Chaise. And the feuilleton
goes on to say:
66
Scarcely had the principal undertaker removed
the mournful object, when the grooms of the
chamber, clad in the magnificent liveries furnished
by M. Culotte, who had been tailors to the martyred
192
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king, these domestics, we say, threw open the
doors of the salon and announced the Count de
Camombert to wait upon the duchess. Upon the
latter, with the taste of an artist, Vorth, of Rue de
la Madeleine, had made even black to look becoming.
The count crept towards her, or rather glided like
the reptile who ruined our first mother; the blood
of his victim scarcely dry upon those hands now
fitted with the exquisite gloves of M. Gantier, upon
whom the count had called on his way, as well
as upon the eminent jeweller M. Diamant, and
M. Violet the perfumer, all on the Boulevarts
des Italiens. He (the count) had not forgotten
(besides contributions from these eminent firms)
also to precede his visit by a bonbonnière of choice
comfitures from the magazines of M. Sucre, of Rue
de la Paix (numéro six). But to proceed, the
count (demon as he was) could not resist a falter-
ing tone, as in a rich deep voice he exclaimed--
(To be continued in our next)."
English writers and English cooks have not the
ingenuity of our volatile neighbours; the Frenchman
turns everything to account, and gives an appe-
tizing flavour to most things he takes in hand. We
will not, however, carry the illustration so far as to
apply it to the very old story about a certain regi
ment of cuirassiers, who, being short of provisions,
fell back upon their jack-boots and leather breeches
till the siege was duly raised, but not in time to save
needful associations with civilized comfort, High-
land regiments alone excepted.
}
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While it is not necessary that the highest in-
genuity should be exercised by English advertisers,
it is simply a wasteful act to occupy column after
column, circular after circular with announcements,
which but for the difference in the name and address,
are identical in language, substance, and form, though
no doubt each advertiser, in his own sight has a
different view, and pays dearly for the object. An
entire column in the newspapers was at one time a
novelty, but in cuckoo-like manner one advertiser
has followed another, at a cost per annum, if fully
carried out daily, of about £6000. Another way
exists of columnising, i.e., a collection of words,
each taking say a ten shilling space, and so carrying
what is in itself a short advertisement all the way
down the column. This still tells if well con-
structed; but an occasional column broken up into
neat telling bits, descriptive of a specialty, some-
times in a continuous kind of story, will always be a
good medium for those who can afford to pay for it.
Fat, lumpy, muddled up stuff, no matter what the
cost may be, or how superior the medium, if coarsely
put together, the sated readers of advertisements
will pass as they would that paradise of flies a
butcher's shop on a sultry day.
We may be asked by chamber bachelors, Are
the readers of advertisements numerous ? Our
answer would be to any such person, Perhaps you
find scarcely any interest in the supplement of a
newspaper beyond its columns for hatches, matches,
;
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"PUBLICITY.'
and despatches, as some one has described the list of
births, marriages, and deaths; but there are persons
blessed with a quiver full of youngsters to support,
or who have to maintain large establishments, and
to seek many of the constant wants the consequence
of their position, these persons do resort (as most
of us know) to the advertising columns, such being
something like a guide to them in the maze of
trading descriptions.
use.
In the belief that a notice of some of the past
methods for obtaining publicity may not be unin-
teresting, or outside the scope of this Essay, we will
refer to a few which have been brought to our
knowledge. There was a short rage for a kind of
adhesive label, which, if moistened like a postage
stamp, would take much scraping to remove when
once it was attached to any object. It gave rise to
many practical jokes, and so deservedly went out of
Accidents also happened which were amusing
(except to the sufferer); for instance, a newspaper
described a lady, fashionably dressed and of goodly
proportions, after having sat down in a draper's
shop just where one of these tablets had been placed
in a moistened state to be ready to serve the pur-
pose of a shop-ticket. Now, its absence was not
perceived by the shopkeeper till the lady had gone
away, and she could not (till her return home) un-
derstand the smiles of those who passed her on the
promenade; but the words written upon the ticket,
66
Try our stout Jean, warranted to wash," fully
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PUBLICITY.'
195
satisfied her as to the cause of the universal merri-
ment which had accompanied her journey.
We remember a practical joke being played by
one friend upon another, who had frequently done
something of a like nature whenever he had an
opportunity,—they were both comedians in pos-
session of high popularity. One fine afternoon, with a
large party, they were enjoying a fête champêtre given
by the writer, near to London; one of these gentle-
men, much to the admiration of the other, had
driven down in a dashing curricle, and while getting
ready to leave the fête for a turn in Hyde Park, his
friend was busy attaching adhesive tablets to the
back of the splendid vehicle, whereby the fashion-
ables in the park were advised to go and see
Gimlet at a rival theatre.
We can call to recollection Temple Bar being
utilised for an advertising purpose. An extensive
clothier wished it to be known that he had bought at
the wool sales all of a certain quality of that year's
clip, also that it was about to be made into cloth for
a paletôt in great demand. The wool being actually
required to be sent from the City to the Great Western
Station at Paddington, the bales were piled (purposely)
so high, that a considerable stoppage of the traffic
took place owing to Temple Bar not being tall enough
to let the wagons pass, therefore several bales had to
be unladen upon the spot. A great outcry was made
upon the ugly structure, and references to the clo-
thier were abundant in almost every public journal.
!
A
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PUBLICITY."
About that time the same advertiser seized upon
another opportunity to cause a considerable amount
of attention to be drawn to his warerooms. The
late Duke of Wellington having gone there to make
some purchases, no doubt a considerable crowd
had gathered to see the old warrior come out
and mount his horse; that was not to be wondered
at, but it was by some thought curious that
for several months the public should have con-
stantly before them, in that highly-prized position,
the second column of The Times, a notice of a re-
ward of one hundred guineas for a blue morocco
pocket-book, containing important correspondence
in cypher, and supposed to have been lost in the
crowd waiting while F. M. the Duke of Wellington
was in the warerooms of Messrs.
Thus the text for much amusing correspondence
was given, as the French difficulty (the Pritchard
matter,) was fresh, and the Spanish marriages of
the citizen king were exciting a British war policy.
It was even said the emissaries or spies of France
watched every action of men of eminence here.
The trade paragraph part did not ruthlessly come to
the front, but it glimmered sufficiently, and amidst
much speculative opinion as to the object of the spy
upon the movements of the hero of Waterloo; then
it was rumoured that the pocket-book had been
found, and was in the hands of the Foreign Office,
where the key of the cypher had been discovered.
It was not absolutely asserted that Prince Joinville
of
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i
was in the crowd, but it was well known that his
frigate, La Belle Poule, was hovering about our coast,
and officers of the French navy were supposed to be
busy in obtaining British uniforms, to deceive our
colonists, when French war vessels would steal se-
cretly into their ports to destroy them; and Messrs.
of were well known to be largely engaged
in the production of uniforms for every branch of
the English service, and thus the presence of the
owner of the pocket-book at that spot might be
accounted for, etc., etc.
One of the boldest advertisements ever carried
out in modern times occurred on the part of a large
furnishing firm, who issued from various telegraph
offices five thousand messages, timed so as to arrive
at the fashionable dinner hour, when most of the
best families would be assembled. Upon the buff
coloured envelope being delivered and forthwith
opened, many thousands of eyes must have watched
the features of the readers of these telegrams. No
doubt considerable amusement was caused, as the
advertiser supposed would be the case, when every
one read that twenty thousand bedsteads were
always ready at Messrs.
and that all
about to marry were advised to buy their furniture at
this depôt. The firm referred to having been informed
that they had caused many an anxious moment or
flutter of the heart, never repeated, but always re-
gretted, the step they had taken, because amongst
five thousand recipients, many would at the moment
of
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PUBLICITY."
be expecting news from those near and dear to them,
and whose health was known to be precarious.
There is a French saying, that "Nothing is sacred
to a sapeur, or fireman of the brigade." About forty
years ago, one of the most genial of our advertisers.
(during the period when Christian men shaved most
religiously) occupied the public mind everywhere
with his magic razor-strop and paste; even the Pyra-
mids of Egypt were not sacred to his bill-stickers.
"Bismillah!" cried the awe-stricken Arab, when
he saw the mighty works of the Ptolemys utilized
by large placards recommending the virtues to be
imparted to razors. "What!" said he, "is he not
content with causing the chins of his own people
to be shaved; but, by my father's beard, does he
demand ours also !”
From the number of years which have glided
away since Tom Thumb was exhibited in the princi-
pal room of the Egyptian Hall, and crowds flocked
to see the amusing dwarf, paying a large amount
for the privilege, but at the same time unconsciously
driving poor Hayden into suicide, because all had to
pass the door of an adjoining room, where Hayden's
master-pieces were on view for one shilling only.
We say, from such a lapse of time, the great Ameri-
can showman might naturally be supposed to have
"shuffled off this mortal coil;" but by the following
advertisement, copied from The Daily News, it would
appear that he is very much alive, and that a handle
has grown to his name in the interval.
"
65
199
99
PUBLICITY.'
1
:
ONE THOUSAND POUNDS REWARD, or 5000 Dollars.—
It having come to the knowledge of the undersigned that a
conspiracy exists on the part of the Hon. P. T. BARNUM for
the abduction of ZAZEL, the above reward will be paid to any
one giving such information as will lead to the conviction of the
said Hon. P. T. BARNUM.
Signed {W. A. FARINI.
S W. W. ROBERTSON.
Royal Aquarium, July 20, 1877.
It is to be hoped that the fair Zazel will not be
too much puffed up, either by the advertisement, or by
too much powder being placed in the cannon from
which she is shot nightly, in the presence of crowds
of people. But should she suddenly disappear (at
the end of the season), let us further hope she will
leave even so slight a trace as the tag of a stay-lace
upon which a coroner's inquest may be held; without
that, the public may believe the professional abduc-
tion to have taken place, especially if she re-appears
in New York under the protecting wing of the
Honourable, at any rate the busy, B
The
question is, will the public expect the rights of the
proprietors of the Aquarium to be exercised under
the provisions of the Extradition Treaty, or shall
the great showman be left to the profitable éclat of
taking a rise out of the Britishers? Nous verrons.
Perhaps the nearest attempt to outvie Barnum's
woolly horse and manufactured mermaid by specu-
lative showmen in this country, was seized by what
we suppose we must call the proprietor of a natural
monstrosity. It represented to a great extent the
form of a human being, but was covered with so much
i
}
.
200
"PUBLICITY."
hair as to require but little assistance to render the
skin a counterpart of that of one of the gorilla tribe
of animals. There was enormous strength in its
arms, hands, and feet, the latter could be made
to grasp by its pliability and finger-like toes any-
thing in the same way hands might naturally
accomplish. The consequence of this was that
the deformed creature had been exhibited in the
theatres nightly suspended and crawling over flat
surfaces, like a huge fly. Suddenly this method of
exhibition stopped, and the creature was supposed
to be dead, When this had been reported suffi-
ciently, the metropolis was placed on the qui vive by
large posters and the continued announcement of
the discovery of a wonderful specimen of the gorilla.
tribe, caught in the forests of the interior of Africa;
so wonderful was it, that the zoological societies
on the Continent had in vain offered large sums of
money for its possession, but its proprietor had
resolved to exhibit it here, and private views at a
guinea per head would be conceded, but in the case
of a family, or a reasonable number of persons in
one party (a school for instance), then a reduction
would be made,-the public, however, would be
admitted at certain hours for half a crown each
person. There was a kind of apology for always
calling it "It," not that any doubt as to the sex
really existed, but even the savans and naturalists
had found difficulty in assigning a proper name to
this wonderful animal.
}
66
201
PUBLICITY.”
It is supposed that several thousand pounds were
invested in exciting the public attention towards
this monstrosity, and when the doors of the place
of exhibition were opened, the creature was seen up
a gum-tree, or something of that kind, chattering
some hideous gibberish. The natural gloom of the
teeming vegetation of his native forests was well
copied. "Pray do not go too near the bars of
the cage, or give it food of any kind," said the
keepers, who had an apparent control over it, and
could produce laughter by obtaining some such
sound as the talking seals have made when asked
about their dinner. Then it would tumble, or crawl
over the roof of its cage upon certain signs; and all
went merry as a marriage bell, till a rival showman,
who had previously been mixed up with the ex-
hibit, saw, or thought he saw, something that re-
minded him of an old acquaintance, and he ventured
to say to it, "Come out o' that
"Come out o' that gammon, Vill'am,'
which proved too much for the gravity of his quon-
dam friend, namely the gorilla it, for a familiar voice
said with a laugh, "Stow your chaff, Jack." The
proprietor immediately urged a retirement to arrange
terms with Jack, the new discoverer; but an indig-
nant public had participated in the discovery, and
demanded their money back, and wrote to the de-
ceived newspapers, after which the gorilla it was
never heard of again, and its proprietor had to
submit to a very heavy loss, for the whole show dis-
appeared like the baseless fabric of a vision.
!
202
CC
PUBLICITY."
We repeat that the Barnum movement has never
succeeded, and it is to be hoped never will, in
this country, where time, even to those unoccu-
pied by business or employment of any kind, is
considered of so much value that the strongest in-
terest is taken in those subjects most readily to be
understood, and an intelligent public quickly rebels
against humbug, diluted facts, or trashy descriptive
matter. The advertiser is generally too fond of his
children to cut off any part of what he believes to
be their fair proportions, but which a trained writer
would treat as mere excrescence, disfiguring per-
haps the goodly proportions of a tolerably fair
outline.
There are many matters of sufficient merit
demanding the notice of journalists; take for in-
stance a new invention or process by which the
enjoyment of life is much promoted, a sanitary
system of construction, a cheap substitute for coal
or steam, and a thousand other things of commercial
and scientific import. An advertising agent can
find the means (which an inventor or discoverer
can seldom effect) to induce lecturers and others.
to explain the merits of the matter in hand, so as to
afford an amount of interest therein otherwise not
attainable. It is the business of such agents to find
out all who have a special knowledge for any of the
purposes usually required by persons seeking to ob-
tain publicity. The agent is necessarily brought in
contact with writers, draughtsmen, modellers, and
1
t
!
66
PUBLICITY.'
99
203
literary and scientific men, whose descriptions are
welcomed by journalists seeking to convey useful
information to the public.
How often do we read of provincial journals re-
quiring the services of good shorthand writers and
paragraphists to describe novelties in science, me-
chanism, and industrial pursuits. These constantly
afford new food for their columns, which of course
they take care shall be truthfully supplied, and, in
a condensed form, facts of great importance to the
civilized world are thus submitted.
1
+
CHAPTER VII.
THE programme offered in the opening pages of
this Essay states the full intention of the writer to
call attention to the rapid strides journalism has
taken since the days of George IV.; and the follow-
ing remarks of a pungent author of that period,
published by Charles Knight, of Pall Mall East,
may possess much interest in the minds of those
desirous of contrasting the present with the past,
especially in respect to journals and their advertise-
ments.
The work from which we quote bears the follow-
ing title, "Babylon the Great: a Dissection and
Demonstration of Men and Things in the British
Capital." At the time this work was written gas
was only beginning to take the place of oil in the
metropolis, railways were comparatively speaking
unknown, also telegraphy and photography; and
while penning these lines, the writer cannot help
mentally speculating upon the wonders his grand-
children may, half a century hence, have occasion
to record or witness. The author of " Babylon the
Great" commences his remarks upon the press and
the advertisements issued under its influence about
the period of the year 1824.
"The times when one lie was as acceptable to
(C PUBLICITY.
205
the editor of a daily paper as two truths, inasmuch
as it furnished him with one paragraph in the asser-
tion and another in the contradiction, have, in as
far at least as the more respectable of the modern
newspapers are concerned, passed away; and not
only this, but it has become in a great measure
unnecessary that each of those personages should
have his political preserve.
“I do not mean to say that this improvement has
been owing to any voluntary increase of editorial
talents and virtue; for there is no need of defending
so doubtful a position as this, while so satisfactory
a reason is at hand in the greater number of occur-
rences, and the greater readiness with which, in con-
sequence of the superior facility of conveyance,
accounts of those occurrences can be obtained.
66
Reporters for the daily newspapers are now
reckoned as necessary adjuncts as the woolsack in
the Lords, the sounding box in the Commons, wigs
in a court of law, or worship among a quorum of
magistrates. Men with pens in their hands and ink.
horns at their sides are now prowling about in
every public and almost every private place of the
Babylon called London, so that not a mouse can
stir, of which somebody shall not write down the
history. Further every mail coach and every
packet, in their daily and almost hourly arrivals,
come with a certain quantity of information. In-
deed, the materials are thus rendered so abundant,
that in this department there is no temptation, and

206
66
PUBLICITY.'
hardly any room, for inserting that which is not
true.
"There are so many visitors in London possessing
more money than wit, and so many of the people
themselves constructed exactly after the same
fashion, that all that an adventurer requires, in
order to possess himself of their money upon easy
terms, is to procure circulation to the praises of
some article which, though it may be as common as
fog, and as useless as dust, he pretends to have
discovered or invented for the sole benefit of that
public, to whose health, whose beauty, whose com-
fort, or whose wealth he pretends that he comes in
all the disinterestedness and in all the power of a
ministering angel.
"Medicines, which not even the vendor could have.
courage to give to a cur that bit him in the streets,
if he were forced to avow himself to stand by and
to abide the issue; cosmetics, which would stain a
shoe or disfigure a lamp-post; lotteries, in which
gaining a part of the whole offered would be a very
ample fortune;-teachers, who have never themselves
been instructed, and who therefore cannot instruct
others; projectors, who try to gain a living by
something new, which they have failed in by every-
thing existent; authors, of whose lumbering lucu-
brations nobody would ever think of reading a
single line, if the merits were not previously re-
corded in the diurnal oracle,-these, and a thousand
others, all different in degree and in mode, but all
"PUBLICITY."
207
aiming at the same object, are adequate to the
supply of as ample a commodity of lying as a man
of the most giant conscience could desire.
"But the grand source to which the London
journals look for their emoluments, is the crowded
advertisements of the redundancies and wants of
the public. The immense mass of these which
appear every day produces a very considerable
revenue to the State, besides affording such a profit
to the journalist, as enables him to carry on the
more laborious but less lucrative departments of his
profession. Nor do they, by any means, furnish
either an inaccurate or an uninteresting picture of
what is going on; and perhaps nothing enables a
stranger' to form a more correct idea of the great
wealth of London, the rapidity with which it circu-
lates from hand to hand, and the readiness with
which every species of property and of labour finds
both its value and its price, than a glance over the
morning papers; and when it is considered that a
considerable number of persons take an interest in
each of the thousand or two thousand advertise-
ments, which in the aggregate make their
every day, one can form some estimate of the great
hold which the daily papers through their advertise-
ments take upon the commercial world, and the
great services which they render it. Reports of
public transactions, and of such private ones as it is
supposed will furnish interest or amusement to the
public, giving publicity to every desire of the man

appearance
:
208
66
PUBLICITY.”
of business which can be shaped into words, and
printed as an advertisement, and lending the bellows
to all descriptions of quacks to blow the fire withal,
form the three staple elements or avocations of the
daily journalist; and the merit and consequent
circulation of his journal depend very much upon
the skill and honesty that he displays in the first of
these, while his reward is very much in proportion
to his encouragement in the second of them.
66
Independently of these, however, almost every
journalist has his under plot, his part which he plays,
his favourites whom he patronises, and his enemies
whom he pelts and persecutes, either for his own
interests or sometimes his whim, directly; or for his
own interest, through the medium of a party by
which he is praised and patronised, and which he,
as in duty bound, praises and patronises in return.
In proportion as he is absolved from the trammels
of party, he becomes, cæteris paribus, a safer guide
in all matters of argument from the facts; but even
in the most independent of the journals, and in
those which are conducted by persons of the
greatest talents, the argumentative part is seldom
the most valuable. One who writes of the day and
for the day, and who both knows and wishes that
the topic about which he to-day concerns himself so
much shall be forgotten, in order to leave the field
clear for the topic-very different, perchance, both
in its nature and in the spirit in which it is dis-
cussed—of the morrow, has no time and no tempta-
PUBLICITY."
209
tion to go to the bottom of any subject. Both in-
terest and necessity demand that what he says,
while it sparkles to the eye of the reader, should
not take much study in the comprehension, because
those who read this part of a newspaper with any
view to utility, read it not as the basis of profound
thought, or indeed of any thought at all, but merely
adopt and use it as a species of ready-made conver-
sation, which shall enable them to carry on the
external formalities of speech, at the same time that
the internal machinery is drudging away at the
intricacies of their own business. Hundreds of men
whom you meet on the Exchange, or at the lounges,
speak The Times, the Chronicle, the Herald, or the
Post, at the same time that the inward thought
is just as unconscious of the outward words, as
though they were at the opposite extremities of the
island.
"The daily newspapers vary in the labour, the
expense, and the value of their contents, with the
periods at which they appear, the morning papers
being those which collect at great expense and with
varied shades of taste the transactions of a whole
day; while the evening ones, in the more costly
departments, content themselves with borrowing
from these, and adding such matters of the morning
as can be collected and put in types before two or
three o'clock,-the hour at which they usually go
to press. The morning paper is therefore to be
regarded as the true Babylonian diurnal, while the
Р
210
66 PUBLICITY.'
evening one is little better than a second edition,
abridged in the main, but with some few things
added,―got up against the departure of the post,
for the information of the provinces.
"The way in which a morning paper is managed
is this: There are connected with the paper some
fifteen or twenty reporters, who are all retained,
and occasionally occupied in attending and writing
accounts of public meetings, and dinners, and trials,
and sporting-matches, and all sorts of matters in
which people are supposed to take any interest,
throughout the whole year. At the commencement
of the session of Parliament these are mustered in
London; one or two of them are delegated to take
charge of the more important cases in the courts
of law; one or two more, who are often either
superannuated or supernumerary, are appointed to
look after the peers, report when it pleases their
lordships that there shall be no debate, and take a
part and ask assistance for the remainder, when
their said lordships are visited by the spirit of
eloquence; and these two detachments being sepa-
rated, the remaining and more effective men are set
to note down the words of the wisdom of St.
Stephen's. This they do by attending the House
in rotation for a longer or a shorter time, according
to the effective strength of the corps, taking notes
in any way that they may find most convenient
while there, and then hurrying away to their re-
spective offices, to write at length that of which
<211
"6
PUBLICITY."
they have taken notes. The reporters of a morn-
ing paper, of any parliamentary character, never
remain longer than an hour at a time, and unless it
be when a debate lasts very long, is in one house
only, and is of the utmost importance, they seldom
remain a shorter time than three-quarters of an
hour. Notwithstanding all the wit, all the replen-
ishing which the exhaustion of such steam-engine-
like labour requires, each reporter contrives, at the
end of every minute or two, to toss from him a slip
of paper so carefully written, that it requires no
further correction, and so close to the subject that
he of whose speech it forms a part, has no disposi-
tion to quarrel with it.
"In consequence of this promptitude and divi-
sion of labour, it very often happens, that before a
parliamentary orator has got half way to his pero-
ration, the editor or other director is reading in
print the opening part of his speech, and cudgelling
his editorial intellect as to how he may give effect
or answer according as it happens to fall in or not
to fall in with the view which it pleases or suits his
editorial ardour or his editorial policy to take of
the matter at issue.
"Among the whole diurnal publications of the
British metropolis, The Times obviously deserves
the first place. Various other journals, both daily
and weekly, are established either for the avowed or
the desired purpose of defending the principles and
.conduct, and combating the enemies, of certain
1
N
"
212
"PUBLICITY."
parties or classes of men in the country; but the
foundation upon which The Times rests is far more
extensive, and therefore far more secure. It is
purely an English paper.
"The very circumstance of The Times having origi-
nated and being conducted without party connection
and solely as a mercantile speculation-a speculation
of the same kind which has raised so many men of
England to the summit of opulence and usefulness,
renders it, if not a better guide to the formation of
public opinion, yet a more express image of that
opinion as it is formed than any other journal of the
day. Readers are recommended to compare the
number and the variety of real business advertise-
ments which The Times contains with those con-
tained in any other paper.
"These cannot be obtained by private influence
with any person or any class, for they come alike
from all classes in proportion as they have to make
their wants or their wishes known through the
medium of a newspaper. The object of every one
who advertises is that his advertisement should be
seen by as many persons as possible; and the fact
that The Times contains, upon an average, more
than twice as many advertisements as any other
paper, is a proof that it has at least twice as many
readers. It is, indeed, the only paper in which this
very useful department is reduced to anything like
a regular system. In some journals you find them
jumbled together in the same confusion in which
1
66 PUBLICITY."
213
"
6
C
they are delivered at the office; and notices of 'A
Charity Sermon by the Bishop of Chester,' 'Im-
portant Advice to Both Sexes,' by an advertising
quack, The Book of the Church,' by His Majesty's
Poet Laureate, and A Child's Caul to be sold,
Twenty Guineas,' by some old clothesman about
Houndsditch,—may all be found hugging each
other, as though, notwithstanding the impossibility
of anything like relationship, there were still some
mystical principle of affinity which had drawn them
together. In The Times, on the other hand, if you
wish for any particular kind of vendable commodity,
or if you have anything of which you wish to dis-
pose, you know not merely the page, but column,
and the place of the column in which to look for
that which you want. Perhaps this arrangement,
this making so many miscellaneous things to serve
as their own index, may be one of the reasons why
so many persons prefer The Times as an advertising
paper; and though it be but a trifle in itself, it is
exceedingly convenient, and saves a great deal of
time."
Only a few of the journals referred to by the
Author of "Babylon" now exist, and these have
been remodelled on the basis established by The
Times. Now, if the writer of the above work be alive
(a possible but highly improbable circumstance), he
must admit that the purity of every leading journal,
whatever its political views may be, cannot at the
present time be called in question, and he would
214
66
PUBLICITY."
C
find The Times is no longer the main exception to
the rule laid down by him; for instance, to speak.
only of the other morning or evening metropolitan
papers, viz.: The Daily Telegraph, Daily News,
Standard, Morning Post, Advertiser, Daily Chronicle;
or could he see the present evening papers, the
Globe, Pall Mall Gazette, Standard, Echo, Shipping
and Mercantile Gazette, he would confess that they
are wholly different from journals of a time now
happily passed away, when it might have been cor-
rectly said, from beginning to end each was but a
reflex of a morning issue. All the present evening
papers form an excellent medium for those adver-
tisers whose views can be condensed and set up so
as to suit the hasty glance usually given thereto.
The weekly and provincial Journals are also of vital
importance for purposes referred to in this work.
In order to give the readers of this Essay some
notion of the great advance journalism has made
in the last half century, we have caused to be
photographed a copy of the leading article sheet
of the period in question, published in The Times.
The stamp duty was fourpence for each copy, sub-
ject to a discount of 20 per cent., and the price of
the paper was seven-pence.
From a copy of The Times (now before us) issued
ten years prior to that we now illustrate through
photography, larger type is displayed with much
less matter, but the copy was nevertheless sold for
sixpence-halfpenny, bearing a stamp costing three-

PORTUGUESE LOAN
The RALF
WARLY
CITY LONDONGENGAL PENSION SOCIETY
TW ALLIANCE BRITISH
FOREN'S LITE FIRE ARGE
DIRECTORS
LIVERPOOL and MANCHESTER RAIL ROAD
MINE
Depoty Chairm
THE TIMES
TURATRE BOTAL DREBYLINE
THIS EVENING for FACKUNST
MARE
To imale
VOLT, E
THEATRE WT I COPECTRANDEN.
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February, be propel to the Vimy say be
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FLETOEK
LAW REPORT.
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COURT OF CHANCERY, FRIDAY, Nov. 15.
during many grande lave fex most pomanly for
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desire to paruke
this was made to the
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which Me. Fandy is confined: dar es wer
Mr. Fasades, is wide, and her, and the two frienly Can I pwr my
aleeting, Mr. Fenderry's was a spectate
propel by detaching the army of de wuh against him
As the meine Valez fond to bribe klasse
THIEVESONG, DER Fcacion by a pane of 20,000 dars and www employ es The wore a described luxing bem byly with peepy s
To which we play
THEATRE ROVIGENGLICHOFFE HOONE
AUTHENS AT HOW THES
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ph of March, which, as the latter is the proclamation be
fore us declare,nly
Loss or Tax Des GTAX-On Monday last, a
to gan ael we rada wong b
the part of the for All the palations of di
tension, OLANETA, coming to his own by mh e, and
rictly obered Os the trary, be scurs de
Liens of caching on ble serviary, and linking
is power. Boly vu de vary and by the
Vierey, when VALDER and as ander rousing
dock pane the try and intrated to his by dri ipo-
lates Coder vel pa uops were led
to desert his standard, and join the forers of his sypours
An er Lins as army bad and the ;
LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1104
The Freach papers of Waldry, which dived last
wight, are as devaid of sees they bars teus for ach, CANTERAC mile widmal forc
days past. We are told that the briar DALLARTYLOS ha BOLA The General, in tha manife, presen
been paying his our to the Duke of A The all the artiflors, and debe de the trait of
Dela ust ham reedved him uc amal
fal Ornerala. The following are extraca
Of the Mira of Weiner, N17.)
MADRID, Nov.
Ein by One Army of Opera b
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are ander im on Maja 1900
manded by the Calcel of Be it whic
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2
key and perfily. Pies to loyalty to his King, and
dens in the support of his troops, le vest
tals his ground again the faction of the Constationalists
Carrion, he adds, that they pred to blach
Tres Gonem,pable with the crangay
of America, I use my rigs is dril
www, and myself of arms to repel is My desde 1
favour the yable viabos by being the King
It was my day
for mainsaling
Dute won
Teof
shels of December
(Fk, del Today, Nov. 13
PARIS, N. 12.
de eject of my love and by faigus.
how to Peru thegs which I am
war which has been declan agal
words wywell for wiges, the King, and the
win laws, which unfuriately law be
bag resly
" Is the press of information T
pecting Porn, weld be set date
the ela soph of the parti the mating
by which they are aged, or the ale which ther
may altowarly have in view. It appears erides from tha
clamation, OLAVITA to FOARD and Spain
dat die factim of La SA, VALD, and CATERA,
are opposed to OSAKET-and that the Tory
BERITA at posed to both. But for whom or for what
Trocls any : Cina this mida Gris ? NG FAN,
whose hele wervices and pres their
ad to On Kag of Fen by being
for pain, which is ruled by Fre-l not for
Independents, who demy their claimsand fight again re
We have just had time to go awek med
the Land-Litant and Magicness of the
TACYCH Fes-Pas 17 per Cindrant
Non Dends
Moyal Spanish L
pugno, D. Exchange i
24 Cory As
on to this pamphlet, may be con is stain that e
Baron d'Ensether is Mr. WETE, Mber for Lock, wie stands
very nearly for the ages, labentes,
active, and carful Coustry Gen of England Mr.
Is the Arg, Ayres paper, of the of A-Weres's sjeci this why ring the d
get, we fola culos proclamation manisin of Gentile of pakepint deal is
ral OLANETA, ademend to the inhab of Pedalal el-be reformation of the who have alway
Dr Pend, Jason Is th document the Bayala Go-cared it, and dent and pronation of these
meral delivers hés political croad respecting green and who have no B's reftium es tres tem in
allation, or a big, dess the petalis tour the many part of the kingdom, and
of war and proscripalem palo all than who fe wird by mlp which well derve the
n of Pa
w is its leads. Say, the patient bername and of de Magicy before ajudes on
Is Ela opinion as to be-at those who deny the Famla hasty ration, la appears to be of the most
mental principle of the malth, the right of the mful appels which has pred from the pe
ther to the base of Pro, but-La BANA, CANTER, this pale and digel grades
VALET, and the party who supporial the rights of the
tha lagainos regreting
mother resory analys Iterally Daches of Cow Her Royal Ru
would appear to repels good deal of beldesining a litle bet The Fria Sopila, the Doct
who bad blow held under the Cout of Kem, led by the Prisons Fendere al Vis
anal Gert and show around his other, the Duchess of Glo and the Prim
and the parties, nonly dalming the iv Ayday
During the pedig durenim regecting the French
Dreedom which that German polt, bat ere to sin, way expect every day a wndes of
manding and anoring the all independent of Spain, the state of de gansion. In the letters med yday
to declare himself not only again the Telependents, but Paris, by me, it is and that the enaces el
against the aray and the Generals who still held eft proiing the period of the accumuli for demon
Ferdinand ham drawn the French Minky, a m
the King who be prended to me. The principles The argumined to his Cathalie Majesty is lo
and defe of unch a man hell be hol frength has bede i dira before t
I have never," says by bon emirdimal; deprived of the proven of the French coop chungs
and whether it was by nie lecination, by the pesos pled by hos en army is the 4fect dis
ren of Spain, onder teplane when local cinemates
viction that the ale herty b nishing huta che le lly in with the clay. The will
a fatal to the happins of mankind, have always of our pire rom to banding and chimeand
pel, and candy shyed, the paternal Genes and of the year whe
ue no enlaced with erity, to thing of be
shesin prodsend by was fine Spanish wal-
have always in Kings d vaated the ery, and west of many to pay der wang rape
loud of the Lexs, who have shed malt If correctly and the new should ree from dis
rale of Mesing These have pealed the fabed and be, that it is dicta lely by the draine
and oppetias of the Comtales of Proof Fed to pasand at the expiration f
prolment aceia, some farther expeless will be found
- I have been trutal by car parking another repel Brush which
Rayslia, worie, and fanatic Batismo-cherie terially await bis
-le Incloution, yalin which die Ta anacher part of
paber will be found the grapes
respect the rights of there Peisen, not preventing the ring golt
in from acting and the Jains when be done read been that team and Manchun; fw rarrying
Lent has binbury, de
loss effet, app is to
He always, bow, ale led the
of Seval politics, and and to the happi in the enges Of dari pasiblity a
rity of ale power. The which he fais tosh a scheme, we are on meam of Judging bermd what
the mind of de Fresiam, of the children and bank beve, in sarung, das in where the
A stated in the proper sed There can be kale
gins bans of the malaking be al capable of eating that which
cely py of that which way draws in the praca is proposes to desing of time, dan, and
ale of the Orgel Bgy, the manife of the mey, is the comication beorers tw places of ch
Trappi would thorace be perfus to traurtive of grand & malleation has bere
ribe any of us eugmasis Debelost med mng the casal proprietors in this line of
Find it to the deption el de Vimy PETELL Command sa streton Lu bas malfond,
mincing with this act, the Groeral draws up a long till of sand, to alfer opposition it in Pulammt. Nech vypo
matte Constational party, and the faced by emeletion in which the
han Saueresel, et ping The rebas
tion which, though app to him, all espera the onset of called s largest the
of a That faction dimland from explayment all mugs prisly played: viberals are found bet-
to when try empecial of lyd and then dhe lary est, in this ar
The union, in berty, berwes the porces, res
posted to all en, did sal ry, there may the basines of innen be bel elital by
herals What, to och a car, hoek, gt, men of canala of rails? If by the former, the paras
be the condant of a Rayala General Toppe kime, ed is the ham thing to str
with all bi forces, cigious drgra late-te if by the latter, the public mal and might be the bey
"the chansest tomb isoisy. The war ay Bara Mer Corregendent
molations Firm in my pape of apparting at all Erst of the immense elu degard by Mr. Burke f
kazale the rights of religion and of the Kw, and with the triar of the King's Library wasdeed at the nee
that it which the danger demanded, I aged then lay they are af de el Phad greate
wests of repreading the pride of the base minds who del to have them bighly poland they see
and the shafts Inches lag, in te pie. It is in
the less war endee could away. At the af ograwn ountry, and perion us any brought f
when OLANETA was forming these (which hope and depend at them, they are incoming
fore this he kept himself, the sew of the cal pois ef view.
Kina's was, and of the events of the Squalib
GEVERAL EXEcnax-ft is puried with woma
Contides, rived Is Pere The party epped to
hal expand no si palos rogersing
de Spanish war day bed wrely lavciched against the
ess prise of the Dals of Avery, and the conduct of
de French Get The war with which the
Inte genes from Calls was reaved by then not there
fare be abject of date OLASITA es den of wib-
Ing to preserve Pera arefage for de exles of the Cortes;
but, he that is may, he shows the gth of the party
sad the weakon of bla was, by the admin that the
dvision of mops which beaded was the only part
of the any pel to their designs Afarming
this fact, the Omer to the
eimal Calood of s
Chris's Hopial and
Us Malay the clension of the Land Review
ployed to disband his faro, to drive blas of iu condenor, Ray for Wa
to remembra fr. Then manses, and
the male is which they were eaded, are to us of a lide
political Lmportance as the event of a fecks Ia oving w
following
37
In the cine
of the chap
Cond
evilly hat
FACSIMILE
OF
101
A PAGE OF "THE TIMES" CONTAINING THE FIRST RAILWAY
ADVERTISEMENT.
Photographed and Printed by H. M. WRIGHT & Co., 61, Fleet Street, E.C.
66
215
PUBLICITY.'
""
pence-halfpenny, subject to discounts at the rate of
£16 per cent., and an additional 18s. per cent.; the
photographed copy is preferred as an example,
because at that period (viz., in 1824) the journal
had evidently settled down into the form it after-
wards enlarged upon, till the present gigantic pro-
portions became the result. At that period nearly
ten years of peace had given this country great
opportunities for commerce, especially in filling up
the ravages created by war with almost every other
nation. Money was also abundant, and speculation
rife; in fact too much so, for the monetary panic of
the following year was one of the most injurious we
have ever had to encounter. However, the great
journal we have selected for the purpose of illus-
tration was then, small as we should now think it,
taken to be a gigantic effort, and a wonderful repre-
sentation of the enterprise of "the times."
Taking hap-hazard (and to serve as a contrast)
the copy of The Times issued June 1st, 1877, we
find it contains eight times the matter presented by
our photo, including 2236 advertisements, and is
sold for less than half the cost, by one halfpenny,
than its predecessor the subject of our illustration.
By taking a magnifying-glass, or a person with
strong powers of sight may, in the second or leading
article, discern many points of interest; but before
referring to them we would state that this copy
(1824) was preferred by us, to serve as an illustra-
tion, not only on account of its representing the
216
<< PUBLICITY.'
period we have first dwelt upon, but from the ad-
mirable arrangements then first made, and subse-
quently continued, in respect to the classification of
advertisements. In this copy there are 227 adver-
tisements, one, it may be perceived by the photo..
is (evidently on account of its importance) placed in
the first of the five columns, and next to the leading
articles, one of which deprecates the parliamentary
opposition threatened against the Liverpool and
Manchester Railroad, and with its usual foresight
recommends that fair-play should be given to the
new kind of enterprise, i.e., in respect to rail-
roads generally, and it is highly amusing now to
read the humility expressed for having to run
within two miles of a nobleman's hall, also the
reasons advanced by the promoters of the said rail-
road for claiming public encouragement and support.
There is in another part a painful reference to Faunt-
leroy the banker, then under sentence of death for
forgery.
There is also a description of an early attempt to
supply London (through a company) with pure milk ;
and on the principle that history repeats itself, we
find Mr. Kean, while playing Richard III., engaged
in a conflict somewhat corresponding with one on
the boards of Drury Lane last year (1876), when
Mr. Barry Sullivan was accidentally wounded by a
brother actor in the same play and combat scene.
The great weekly newspapers, and class jour-
nals published weekly, require to be dealt with
"PUBLICITY."
217
specially. Thus through many of the weekly
newspapers advertisers should submit subjects
which are attractive to, or used by, the million,
and some skill is required in arranging even the
most homely materials, in order that advertisers.
may obtain a profitable return. The readers of
each class journal should undoubtedly be ad-
dressed according to their bent. The writer on
one occasion assisted to alter an advertisement
so as to render it suitable for a dozen different
class papers; though the actual subject remained
alike in substance, each commenced in a varied
way, and comparatively very few of the same words.
were repeated; moreover, the peculiarities or pos-
sible wants of each class were carefully introduced.
In this way class journals may be utilised by adver-
tisers to a much greater extent than hitherto, and
practically form a new field, for we know of very
few objects beyond the area of raw material not
capable of being so treated, and even that may be
made acceptable to various eyes, and for various
purposes, in place of the customary disregard to
construction or arrangement given thereto by
advertisers.
In respect to periodicals or magazines, and the
numerous subjects in which the well-to-do and upper
classes take an interest, advertisements in connection
with refined or scientific purposes should appear in
such publications. These advertisements frequently
require engravings, or peculiar arrangements, to give
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"PUBLICITY."
them effect in the pages set apart for the same, where
they should steadily re-appear during a long period,
and outside or inside covers, or pages next to matter,
should never be abandoned by those who can once
secure them, and especially when a telling woodcut
can be made to assist. A circular artistically embel-
lished, and occasionally stitched into the advertising
sheets, commands a notice which will be found very
valuable, if the matter be made interesting. Opinions
of the press, or certificates of excellence, should not
be diffuse. Some of these are repeated ad nauseam ;
we could write half of them blindfold from memory,
especially where they accompany patent medicines,
and describe the symptoms of ancient sufferers, now
restored to health through taking the, etc., etc.
#
CHAPTER VIII.
In some countries the drop scenes of theatres are
utilised for the purposes of advertisements
the
plan has been tried here, but the notion has not met
with encouragement. The harlequinades of panto-
mimes occasionally serve to introduce the views of
those seeking publicity; but there is generally an air
of clumsiness and obvious intent in the set scene or
piece of mechanism, causing the whole affair to fall
flat, stale, and most unprofitable.
Theatrical per-
sonages cannot dispense with advertisements. One
advertisement a short time since was made to
parade the streets by means of what are called
animated sandwiches-men decorated with some
such notice as the following: on
on the
board might show, "Do not look at my back,"
which of course every one straightway did, and was
there recommended to see Gimlet in "Dearer than
the
breast
Life." The deservedly popular comedian whom
we have in our mind's eye at this moment, and
whose real name is for ever associated with the
charming drama, "Dearer than Life," is probably
one of the most successful his profession has ever
known. He gathers to his aid a small but clever
company, and so stars the provinces for a large
part of each year. But before arriving at any town
upon his programme, he sends his secretary in
:
220
66
PUBLICITY."
advance, and the billstickers make Her Majesty's
lieges well acquainted with the welcome bill of fare
to be provided for them at the local theatre upon
the arrival of "the talented company, under the
direction of the inimitable Gimlet, etc."
Some few of us can remember the early days of
the reign of the Sailor King, when aërial naviga-
tion was a kind of furore. Balloons went up in
all the suburban tea-gardens; and while over the
metropolis, the occupants of the cars cast over-
board thousands of handbills on behalf of certain
enterprising advertisers. His Serene Highness the
late Duke of Brunswick, who lost his sovereignty
through certain eccentricities at home, did not
hesitate to let his name and person be advertised as
about to go higher up in the world than either had
ever been before. H.S.H. accordingly stated that
from the Flora Tea-gardens (where Hyde Park Gar-
dens now stand) he would, with no other companion
than a beautiful lady, ascend in a balloon to cross
the English Channel, and thus inspect his dukedom
from an elevated position, and one safer (so far as
he was concerned) than terra firma could be.
All London paid its half-crown to see an ex-
sovereign duke, and a lovely woman, commence
this dangerous adventure. The public were not
ascent of the balloon
spectators anxiously
disappointed, so far as the
was concerned, and the
waited for the newspapers to let them know
the result. However, their curiosity was some-
66 PUBLICITY.'
221
what appeased when they found the wandering
couple had descended in a field no great distance
from the metropolis, where the duke failed to ex-
hibit the gallantry of his long line of ancestors, or
even a regard for his relationship to the throne of
England, for he sprang, coûte qui coûte, from the
car just as it touched the earth.
Now, the balloon being so suddenly lightened by
the exit of so great a personage, shot straightway
up into the air with a considerable rebound, and the
poor lady had great difficulty in opening the gas
valve, but happily succeeded in effecting another
descent, though not without some personal injury,
chiefly caused through the violence with which she
had been jerked about by the sauve qui peut and
selfish conduct of H.S.H. the Black Brunswicker,
or King of Diamonds, as he was then called. The
disposition of the proceeds of the sale of his gems
after his decease has not yet been forgotten; in fact
the contest of his next heirs has not yet terminated
in respect to his bequest (to the puritanical city of
Geneva) of enormous wealth, upon the condition that
a huge mausoleum should be erected, to advertise
and perpetuate for all time the memory of a man
whose life had not been such as would generally be
supposed to recommend itself to the goody goodies
of the most virtuous community in Christendom.
Of course advertisers were all agog for every-
thing of a nautical nature, seeing that the near
relative of H.S.H., our own sovereign, had so long
1
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222
"PUBLICITY."
22
been at the head of the most popular of our national
services. Some adventurers, catching up the two
sources of public attention at that time, viz., bal-
loons and ships, raised some canvas walls near to the
spot where the Albert Hall of South Kensington
is at present erected; behind the canvas screen
they had a huge mass of silk inflated with gas,
and kept down to mother earth by strong chains
and land anchors. The shape of this silken mon-
strosity was something like that of an immense
engine-boiler, i.e., oval in form,
to this was
attached a car like the hull of a ship. Officers
in uniform took five shillings from each person ad-
mitted within the screened area, and half a crown
extra from those who participated in the ascent
to the extent permitted by slackened ropes, they
could thus better see the action of the clock-work,
or moving bat-like wings, forming the motive
power which would (as the proprietors said) help
the vessel to steer its way through the atmosphere,
and towards the distant lands to which the grand
placards and advertisements described that at least
half a hundred persons would shortly take their
departure. We remember thus spending the tip a
kind uncle gave to us while at school in old Ken-
sington, and our finding that the Sailor King more
than once, with almost every celebrity and savant of
the nation, had been to see this wonder, which sub-
sequently disappeared, being either (in the course
of one night) rolled up and removed with all the coin,
H
!
66
223
PUBLICITY.'
or, relieved of the weight of the latter, the ship had
burst from its moorings, never more to be heard of
on earth, and by this time may possibly be exciting
the curiosity of the inhabitants of the moon.
In the foregoing pages we have referred to some
amusing methods to gain publicity through the
puffs issued in the daily feuilletons of French
journals. Macaulay, in one of his essays, severely
lashes the interested criticisms of certain English
newspapers and magazines published about the time
William the Fourth came to the throne. Some of
these journals a short time afterwards had their
revenge upon the talented historian, who had given
to the world a communication headed "Windsor
Castle," to which royal residence he had received an
invitation to stay for a few days, and it was said by
his assailants "that he thus contrived by the puff
oblique, to let all Christendom become acquainted
with the fact that the eminent contributor to the
Edinburgh Review had received a suitable recognition
from his sovereign, having special regard to the
modesty and worth by which the author had always
been distinguished." Macaulay says:-
"A butcher of the higher class disdains to
ticket his meat. A mercer of the highest class
would be ashamed to hang up papers in his window
inviting the passers-by to look at the stock of a
bankrupt, all of the first quality, and going for half
the value. We expect some reserve, some decent
pride, in our hatter and our bootmaker. But no
:
|
224
"PUBLICITY."
artifice by which notoriety can be obtained is
thought too abject for a man of letters."
C
wit,'
C
"It is amusing to think over the history of most
of the publications which have had a run during the
last few years.
The publisher is often the pub-
lisher of some periodical work. In this periodical
work the first flourish of trumpets is sounded. The
peal is then echoed and re-echoed by all the other
periodical works over which the publisher, or the
author, or the author's coterie, may have any in-
fluence. The newspapers are for a fortnight filled
with puffs of all the various kinds which Sheridan
enumerated, direct, oblique, and collusive.' Some-
times the praise is laid on thick for simple-minded
people, 'pathetic,'' sublime,' splendid,' 'graceful,'
'brilliant wit,' 'exquisite humour,' and other
phrases equally flattering fall in a shower as thick
and as sweet as the sugar-plums at a Roman carni-
val. Sometimes greater art is used. A sinecure
has been offered to the writer if he would suppress
his work, or if he would even soften down a few of
his incomparable portraits. A distinguished military
and political character has challenged the inimitable
satirist of the vices of the great, and the puffer is
glad to learn that the parties have been bound over
to keep the peace. Sometimes it is thought ex-
pedient that the puffer should put on a grave face,
and utter his panegyric in the form of admonition:
'Such attacks on private character cannot be too
much condemned. Even the exuberant wit of our
!
66
225
PUBLICITY."
"'
We
author, and the irresistible power of his withering
sarcasm, are no excuses for that utter disregard
which he manifests for the feelings of others.
cannot but wonder that a writer of such transcend-
ent talents, a writer who is evidently no stranger to
the kindly charities and sensibilities of our nature,
should show so little tenderness to the foibles of
noble and distinguished individuals, with whom it is
clear from every page of his work, that he must
have been constantly mingling in society.'
"
"These are but tame and feeble imitations of the
paragraphs with which the daily papers are filled
whenever an attorney's clerk or an apothecary's
assistant undertakes to tell the public in bad Eng-
lish and worse French, how people tie their neck-
cloths and eat their dinners in Grosvenor Square.
The editors of the higher and more respectable
newspapers usually prefix the words Advertise-
ment,' or 'From a correspondent,' to such para-
graphs. But this makes little difference. The
panegyric is extracted, and the significant heading
omitted. The fulsome eulogy makes its appearance
on the covers of all the reviews and magazines,
with The Times or Globe affixed, though the editors.
of The Times and the Globe have no more to do with
it than with Mr. Goss's way of making old rakes
young again.
6
"How many profound views of human nature,
and exquisite delineations of fashionable manners,
and vernal and sunny,' and 'refreshing thoughts,'
6
i
226
C
66 PUBLICITY."
'
and high imaginings,' and 'young breathings,' and
'embodyings, and pinings,' and minglings with
the beauty of the universe,' and 'harmonies which
dissolve the soul in a passionate sense of loveliness.
and divinity,' the world has contrived to forget.
The names of the books and of the writers are
buried in as deep an oblivion as the name of the
builder of Stonehenge. Some of the well puffed
fashionable novels of eighteen hundred and twenty-
nine hold the pastry of eighteen hundred and thirty;
and others, which are now extolled in language
almost too high-flown for the merits of Don Quixote,
will, we have no doubt, line the trunks of eighteen
hundred and thirty-one. But though we have no
apprehensions that puffing will ever confer perma-
nent reputation on the undeserving, we still think
its influence most pernicious. Men of real merit
will, if they persevere, at last reach the station to
which they are entitled, and intruders will be ejected
with contempt and derision. But it is no small evil
that the avenues to fame should be blocked up by a
swarm of noisy, pushing, elbowing pretenders, who,
though they will not ultimately be able to make
good their own entrance, hinder in the mean time
those who have a right to enter. All who will not
disgrace themselves by joining in the unseemly
scuffle must expect to be at first hustled and
shouldered back. Some men of talents, accord-
ingly, turn away in dejection from pursuits in which
success appears to bear no proportion to desert.
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227
PUBLICITY."
Others employ in self-defence the means by which
competitors, far inferior to themselves, appear for a
time to obtain a decided advantage."
Before giving data in respect to the best methods
for the acquisition of specialties, trade marks, pa-
tented or registered rights, and carefully selected
statistics showing the most favourable openings for
commercial investments, we desire to render an
epitome of the general purport of our work, which
the patient reader of the preceding pages will find
to have taken a wider range than most would have
thought to be possible, though we have endea-
voured to keep steadily in view our text," How,
when, and where to advertise," we might also add,
what to avoid in that respect; and we trust our
diligently-collected anecdotes may not be without in-
terest upon matters affecting advertisers, in relation
to results of advertisements in various ways. We
have also urged that fortunes may be made and lost
by this nature of investment or by an improper mode
of its treatment; and, above all, sought to explain
that it is invariably successful when left to the hands
of trained experts. We have sought to be consistent
with the motive with which we started. We have
taken the whole subject of publicity as one which
should be treated with intelligence, practical know-
ledge, perseverance, and a plan or system carefully
adapted for the means to be judiciously applied.
The days of advertising mere slap-dash and humbug
are over, and no profitable result would now ensue
228
1
66
PUBLICITY.'
by many such incidents as we have recalled to the at-
tention of our readers, or as the same have occurred
in days gone by, not only in this country, but also
in France and America. In the latter country,
however, some relics of Barnumism still tickles the
public palate; but in Great Britain or its colonies
advertisers to succeed must show reasonable foun-
dation and a fair quid pro quo. We have shown to
the merchant and trader that the principle of bring-
ing the consumer into more direct contact with the
importer or manufacturer by way of advertisement
is the best means to combat the antagonistic objects.
of co-operative associations, and that the public are
now alive to the unfair and high profits of the old
and almost exploded (long) credit system. There-
fore we say, now is a good time to let the world
become acquainted with those who deal in sound
and useful specialties and thus to give and receive
the advantages of quick returns and small profits.
We have tried to make it clear to our readers.
that employers and employés cannot with advantage
attend to the duties of distributing and checking
advertisements. We have described some of the
dodges (if we may be allowed the expression) by
which advertisers have been deceived, and still will
be if they act personally and not by an agent. A
respectable agent, we have maintained, will save
his principal both time and money, and set him.
free to attend to more vital interests, which he
should chiefly deal with. Of course there are agents
PUBLICITY.”
229
and agents. Let us content ourselves with those
who follow the legitimate part of their business,
who have a trained staff to secure proper insertion
and position for the views of their clients, and who
do not give credit, or are not of that class of agents
who will what they call "float a company," in con-
junction with certain sharks of the purlieus of the
Stock Exchange, and through whose instrumentality
joint-stock companies are fast becoming a bye-word
and a shame in a country where they ought to be a
source of benefit and prosperity.
One of this class of advertising agents, identi-
fied with the period of company making, we have
been informed, took as much as ten thousand
pounds in one haul, and the broker a like sum,
from a promoter who had thrice the amount. In
fact, the promotion was practically with three
parties, the agent and his colleagues jointly forming
a direction, issuing a prospectus, and attending to
the press, as it was politely termed; there was also
an operation of manufacturing a premium for placing
shares, etc.
The duties of advertising agents who do not take
to the above species of gambling our pages have
fully described; but before quitting this subject, we
would refer to a new source of utility in the launch-
ing of legitimate public companies. A circular
has been issued by those interested in the move-
ment in question, and it more particularly de-
scribes that which it is believed cannot fail to
1
1
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230
PUBLICITY.”
be instrumental for good; the nature of the busi-
ness however may be thus described :-Take, for
instance, the owner of a mine, or an invention,
which has suddenly developed signs of a most
profitable issue, but from its extent and nature it
can only be worked by combined capital. Take
the clear prospect of gain from new branches of
railways, of tramways, of new lines of omnibuses,
or steamboats. Take gas, water, or roadway
schemes; and, above all, take the numerous trading
companies, which, through the decease or retire-
ment of partners and capitalists, can only be taken
up by joint stock enterprise. Matters such as
these (being bona fide affairs) it is proposed to aid
by bridging over their starting difficulty. The cir-
cular we have referred to appears in extenso in the
Appendix to this work, and suggests as follows:
-Experts should agree to act when applied to
through some such agency, and there should be
provided a temporary board-room, staff of clerks,
and, above all, the services of a secretary (pro tem.)
trained to the legal and commercial objects of
issuing a safe and honest prospectus, also for
collecting the resources whence the capital and all
other matters needful can be obtained.
We have already sought to show, that till the law
is amended, it is generally speaking inexpedient to
originate a business to be worked under the author-
ity of the Joint Stock Companies Act. A weak-
minded Vice Chancellor can do incalculable mischief
66
231
PUBLICITY."
>'
¡
by capriciously ordering a wind-up on the prayer of
a litigious shareholder. It is true, an appeal will
generally quash such an order; for there are Vice
Chancellors and Vice Chancellors now. As a matter
of public interest, it is to be hoped that an active
representative in Parliament will some day move
for a return of the number of successful appeals
against the decision of a well-known, but most
incompetent Vice Chancellor, who was promoted
to the Bench, quite as much to get rid of his
tedious loquacity in Parliament as to the faith-
ful following he had given to his party. Now,
it is a deplorable custom, that a seat in Parliament
should by each of the great political parties of the
country be considered a needful stepping-block
whereby a partisan lawyer may reach the Bench.
It is ever an amusing scene for any one attending
this Vice Chancellor's court (of course always ex-
cepting the poor suitors), for there is a droll yet
pompous assertion of dignity by its president;
there is a perpetual interpolation of remarks, all of
an un-Solomon-like nature; there is the squabbling
of counsel, who do not like their clients' interests to
be burked half heard; then comes an ugly rush from
the great man upon the bench, and "Let it be wound
up" is the decree; but which decree (almost with
contemptuous phrase) is frequently set aside in a
court of appeal, and the costs often fixed upon some
man of straw unable to pay the same. But the very
attack and suspension of operations caused by the
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temporary decision of the Vice Chancellor is an ul-
timate cause of decay, or fatal injury. For, like the
fable about the boys pelting frogs, the sport is most
amusing, except so far as the frogs are concerned.
The frequent arbitrary determination to act in
favour of a miserable minority of shareholders
by the above-described functionary, is fortunately
curbed by the decisive nature of the appeals made
against his decisions. Now, a short Act of Par-
liament clears shareholders or partners from this
source of danger, and the Act is considered by
many as the model of what an Act should be; for
it does not give the official discretion (or indiscre-
tion) thus claimed by the above judge; it is entitled
"An Act to Amend the Law of Partnership" (28th
and 29th Vic.); it protects an investor from any
loss exceeding the amount of his investment. For-
merly an unlimited partnership was almost as a
matter of course created by a person taking a profit
of more than five per cent. out of any concern he
might be disposed to aid in carrying on; and should
a great fire, flood, or other unforeseen calamity take
place, he would have been made liable to his last
penny for the losses that might ensue. Now, by the
above-named Act, persons are no longer driven to
find refuge for their capital in 3 per cent. consols or
3 per cent. freehold rentals, for a going concern,
which under their own eyes and knowledge may
safely pay them an interest annually of 20 per cent.,
may be safely invested in clear of the Companies
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PUBLICITY."
Act and all its Vice Chancery dangers, above de-
scribed. These investments often remain unknown
from the want of facilities of bringing the borrowers
and lenders together in the manner a reliable agency
can alone provide. We have known cases, chiefly
those caused by the death of a leading partner,
when capital has been suddenly withdrawn by the
executors of the deceased; and where to bend steps
to obtain the replacement of the withdrawn capital,
the existing partners and chief employés seldom
know. Now, it should be the duty of professional
agents (such as we have described) to be prepared
with the names of capitalists who have recorded
their desire to find investments of this nature; and
under the said Act of 28th and 29th Vic. the
desired arrangement may become mutually advan-
tageous; otherwise many a good business gradually
for want of life-blood,
may die away
"And like the baseless fabric of a vision
Leave not a wrack behind."
Syndicates are also an excellent method whereby
a large property may be acquired, and worked in a
given number of shares. Careful professional assist-
ance is, however, much needed, especially in the
formation of original contracts.
There are excellent sources for investment in local
wants, such as railway branches, street tramways,
gas and water companies, etc. But many Metro-
politan arrangements are required even for pro-
vincial speculations, especially of the nature of a
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و,
Parliamentary Agency; sometimes a large part
of the required working capital may be found
in London. Now, from a want of cohesion or a
starting point, many of these, and possibly good
paying matters, stand without "a local habitation
or a name." An agency under such circumstances
is a natural source to apply to, and frequently it
will meet a difficulty presented by a conflict arising
through local jealousies.
The observations made here with regard to the
existing Joint Stock Companies Act, it will be under-
stood, apply chiefly to entirely new ventures, say
for the purchase or working of mines, patents,
or other speculative projects,-in which capital in
shares of small amount is sought from the outside
public. The Act, it is true, as applied to old-estab-
lished trading concerns, has done fairly well in many
instances, though the change, has merely assumed
the appearance of the word "Limited" after the
old and well-known names of Brown, Jones, Robin-
son & Co., etc., etc.
The introduction of new capital is usually in a
concentrated form, or it may be found in the accu-
mulated savings of the employés themselves; but
whether from the flagging energies of the outgoing
partner, or from any other cause, important depart-
ments or facilities for business have been found
at times to be much neglected; in such cases a
well-suggested plan of advertising will always bene-
ficially step in to the rescue. The contemplated
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new company should send to an established agent,
and say, "We intend to lay out so much per annum
in advertisements. We may change the matter
monthly, or with each season, but we want a scheme
for judiciously placing the advertisements, and say
we begin at an annual outlay of twelve hundred per
annum. Now, as you have to go to the newspapers
and journals with ready money in your hand,-in
order to do us full justice-take one month's outlay
on account, and bring to us the vouchers prior to
the commencement of the next month's outlay."
So far as regards advertising to be applied to form-
ing Syndicates, it may happen that the agent may only
be able to place a few of the shares, then the co-
lumns of the public journals may be used to find the
remainder, say for instance, a brewery, a distillery,
a ship-building, a soap-boiling, a foundry, or glass
works,―say that any of these affairs are sought to be
worked under a Syndicate, and the capital required is
£100,000, requiring twenty shares of £5000 or 100
at £1000, each of which may be broken up into half
or quarter shares privately as may be agreed to.
The agent may thus know of a certain number of
opulent men prepared to enter into the speculation.
An advertisement,-issued on the part of the agent,
without the slightest compromise or responsibility
to any other person concerned,-will usually fill up
the vacant or required number. Advertising in
respect to private bills in Parliament, especially in
the early stages of any contemplated public improve-
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ment, it is needful to avoid; but the services of an
agent are obviously needful, in order to launch the
affair and to cause it to be steered carefully in
respect to preliminary notices, so as to comply with
the standing orders of Parliamentary Committees.
Now, before any expense for advertising is incurred,
it is highly desirable that the promoters of these
public improvements should obtain a professional
and preliminary opinion, upon even the barest out-
line of public advantages, or possible opposition.
As to ordinary trading pursuits, especially where
beginners in the science of publicity are concerned,
it may be well to offer for consideration, in a con-
densed form, what may be termed
J
SUPPLEMENTARY COUNSEL TO ADVERTISERS,
And a few of the reasons which we think ought
to have weight with intelligent advertisers.
1st. A varied and extended experience, usually
possessed by an agent, must be some advantage,
even to ordinary traders.
着
​2nd. An organization for transacting business
promptly, whether with one newspaper or a thou-
sand.
3rd. The certainty that he can always procure
the best terms.
4th. The employment of experience and skill in
every department, so to avoid expense on the part
of the advertiser.
With regard to general views, a special canvasser
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1
is necessarily the agent of but one party, and, being
so, invites distrust; and intelligent advertisers
naturally must know that an agency covering a
wide field, having the confidence of publishers,
should, or ought to have, the best claims for the
best terms.
It is unnecessary to say, the value of an adver-
tisement is not so much in its size or the frequency
with which it is printed, as in the completeness
with which it supplies the desired information to
the reader.
To address a newspaper audience so as to secure
attention, requires skill and experience; and to be
able to do so from day to day is a labour requir-
ing much ingenuity and constant study. In this
respect we have already explained that an agent may
be highly useful.
Care should be taken to see that every advertise-
ment expresses a business idea clearly and definitely,
so as to be easily remembered. It should be con-
spicuous, and care should be taken to see that under
all circumstances this latter quality is maintained.
Printed proofs should be prepared for the ap-
proval of the advertiser before publication.
An invitation to purchase in the columns of a
newspaper should aim to attract the attention, and
an effort should be made to have it fresh, and so
written as to invite intelligent readers.
Newspaper advertising may be compared to a
vigilant and watchful salesman, who seeks after
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PUBLICITY.'
business early and late; saying only the right thing
in the right place and at the right time.
Until within a few years, advertisers had but
little or no means of knowing the names of the
best journals for their business out of the locality
where they lived. In the interest of both publisher
and advertiser an agent makes a complete list of all
the newspapers in the country, combining the fullest
and latest information as to circulation, etc.
A man intending to do business must first prepare
himself to meet the requirements of his customers;
next, he must let every possible or probable cus-
tomer know that he is so prepared. In a very small
place he may TELL all the people what he can do.
In a larger sphere of action a printed handbill,
poster, or circular, properly distributed, will be
efficacious; but WHOEVER IS IN A PLACE LARGE ENOUGH
4
TO SUPPORT A NEWSPAPER WILL FIND THAT TO BE THE
CHEAPEST MEDIUM THROUGH WHICH TO ADDRESS THE
PUBLIC.
REASONS WHY NEWSPAPERS ARE THE BEST ADVERTISING
MEDIUMS.
In every locality the local newspaper is taken by
the best people. The newspaper is the only adver-
tising medium that is bought and paid for by the
persons whose attention the advertiser desires to
attract. Every man thinks more of the paper for
which he pays than of a gratuitous sheet or circular
which is thrust in at his door. An advertisement
"PUBLICITY."
239
in his own paper attracts his attention and secures
his confidence without any officious solicitation,
almost without his knowing it. The STRONG reason
why the newspaper is the best advertising medium
is because it is PAID FOR by the recipient. The sub-
scriber pays the cost of manufacture and distribu-
tion; the publisher can therefore give publicity to
an advertisement at a lower price per hundred or
per thousand than could be afforded under other
circumstances.
No other medium has ever com-
peted successfully with the newspaper as a general
advertising medium.
An advertiser should only use newspapers whose
circulations are in localities from which it is possible
for him to secure trade. Questions of freight, local
prejudice, and competing markets are to be con-
sidered. An advertiser doing a trade in a country
town may advertise in his local paper and in the
papers circulating on lines of road leading into or
through his place of business, while it would hardly
pay to insert advertisements in distant towns, where
customers (before reaching the advertiser) must pass
through larger places, offering facilities for supply-
ing wants to better advantage.
per-
A trade in those articles which require to be
sonally inspected by the purchaser, can only be built
up profitably in the districts the people are in the
habit of visiting.
Nothing, unless of universal use, can be indis-
criminately advertised to advantage; and no one
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"PUBLICITY."
should commence an extensive system of uni-
versal advertising without experience. Without
experience every advertiser should begin moderately
and move cautiously, feeling the way, as it were.
Goods for which there is a universal demand,
and which can be sent by post or in small express
packages, for instance, by Sutton, if in England,
may be advertised in papers circulating over the
entire country, even if but a comparatively small
amount is to be expended on each article; but
bulky articles, which involve heavy freight charges
in the delivery, should not be pushed by advertising
in fields where the goods have not been previously
placed on sale. A limited amount of advertising
even in that class, might not be injudicious, if done
with the intention of causing inquiry, for the pur-
pose of preparing dealers to take an interest in the
new candidate for their favour, travellers should
then be employed to follow up with samples and
power to appoint agencies.
SEASONS FOR ADVERTISING.
Almost every advertiser has his theory about the
proper season for advertising. Some say that there
is no use in trying to force trade when it is dull;
others say that trade is good enough at certain
seasons, and they only want more trade in such and
such months. Hence they advertise at that time
only; and we say advisedly, the latter are wrong in
their belief.
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PUBLICITY."
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Nothing is more common than the complaint,
My advertising did not pay me because I com-
menced too early," or, "My advertising was so late
when it appeared in the papers that the season for
purchasing had gone by."
Some regard must be paid to season, without
doubt; and advertisements should be so worded as
to be seasonable. But people read the newspapers
about as much at one time as another, and if at
certain periods an advertisement is not likely to be
clearly productive, that fact keeps small capitalists
and competing advertisements out of the newspaper
columns, and consequently gives the whole field to
the man who does advertise at that time. Outside
of a few articles which have their seasons, it is
admitted by the best advertisers that it is
BEST TO ADVERTISE ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
A good reason why advertisers should be in the
papers all the year round may be found in the fact
that, as a general rule, contracts by the year cost a
very much lower price per month than when made
for a shorter time.
HOW TO ADVERTISE.
It is a pretty well established fact, as in the
earlier part of our work we have fully shown, that
an article cannot have a permanent sale unless
meritorious. Although it is, perhaps, true enough
that any preparation which could be sold once to
every person in this country would make the for-
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PUBLICITY."
tune of the advertiser, yet it is best to start with
something of general merit or utility.
No matter what the value of the article may be,
it is not wise to thrust it on the market without
having first experimented, to see the results of ad-
vertising in each particular case. It is best to com-
mence near home, taking every means to secure for
the article local celebrity. If this succeeds fairly,
take all the papers in the county, then an ad-
joining county, or all towns on roads which come
into or through the town. If the goods are well
received, it may be considered safe to foretell
a similar success in other localities. If the adver-
tising done near home has paid, the same course
pursued over other sections of country will also
pay. Never change the style of a trade mark; use
the same label and the same paper for wrappers
for the twentieth year, seeing the public is sus-
picious of any change, and one has rarely been
made without costing the proprietor dearly.
On yearly contracts the country press is by far
the cheapest advertising medium. On short con-
tracts the papers of large metropolitan circulation
give great service for the money. He who would
become a successful advertiser must keep out
of his mind two ideas which are very prevalent.
1st. He must not think because a paper has a very
small circulation that it is of no value as an adver-
tising medium. 2nd. He must not think because a
penny paper has a very large circulation that a high
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price for advertisements cannot be demanded. It
is an unfortunate thing, perhaps, but it is never-
theless true, that there is no standard price for
advertising.
WHAT PAPERS TO ADVERTISE IN.
Old-established journals of large circulation de-
mand prices that seem excessively high. And it
must specially be borne in mind that while high-
priced papers charge the same price for each in-
sertion, those which are lower priced often allow
reductions on long advertisements when continued
by the month, quarter, or year.
Some advertisers will only advertise in those
journals which are patronized by others in their
business, on the ground that their more experienced
rivals have decided on these papers because they
have been found to pay; others take the ground
that papers which do not receive the general run
of advertisements possess an especial value on that
account, their readers being more likely to be at-
tracted by the promises which the advertiser sets
forth.
ELEMENTS OF VALUE.
A newspaper, if devoted to a speciality, as A CLASS
JOURNAL, is worth an extra price to those adver-
tisers who would appeal to that class. If particu-
larly well printed, it is worth more, as a medium,
than if poorly printed. A paper which carefully
classifies every advertisement, giving them in effect
extra display, is much to be prized by traders.
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PUBLICITY."
The value of a newspaper as an advertising
medium is mainly fixed by its circulation; without
a fair circulation, no other quality or combination
of qualities can make it a good source of investment.
Yet it is nevertheless true that there are occasions
when an advertiser need not examine into the
merits of a paper in respect to its circulation. In
point of fact, the only paper in a town of some im-
portance, or the best paper in a good district, can
frequently demand prices which its circulation will
not entitle it to claim.
$
HOW TO WRITE AN ADVERTISEMENT.
There is one rule which has been found a good
one by which to write an advertisement. It is to
first write out, no matter at what length, all that
is needful to be said; next to examine critically what
has been written, experiment carefully upon it, and
ascertain how many words can be struck out with-
out injury to the sense; and then submit the MS.
to an experienced advertising agent, and procure
a printed proof. It is rare to see a six-line ad-
vertisement which cannot be expressed in five.
An advertisement should be plain and honest, not
flowery-nothing need be said in it for mere orna-
ment. It should claim nothing which is not strictly
true, but should be sure to claim AS MUCH as is true.
Whenever the case will admit, it is well to add the
words, "send stamp for a circular." A well-pre-
pared pamphlet or circular, setting forth the merits
PUBLICITY.”
245
of a business, is a good thing to have, and it will
pay to forward a copy to any one who is sufficiently
interested to write for it. Whatever a man invests
a stamp to obtain, he will be sure to look at when it
reaches him.
WHAT IS AN ADVERTISING AGENCY ?
The advertising agent, from the knowledge
gained by experience, becomes an expert. He
learns from papers the lowest prices which they
say they will accept for advertisements. He knows
the strong points and the weak points of the pub-
lishers, and what papers will take advertisements
low, and what class of advertisements they will take
lowest.
WHAT THE ADVERTISER GAINS BY EMPLOYING AN
AGENT.
"What do I gain by going to the Advertising
Agency, in preference to going to the paper
direct?" is the question most frequently pro-
pounded by the novice in advertising. To this
the true answer can only be, Convenience and the
benefit of experience.
The experienced agent knows the value of papers,
their prices, and he knows how advertisements
should be "set up" to secure the best display in the
smallest space, and how to order insertion so that
the publisher will not find a justification for an extra
or increased charge. The advertiser has little to
gain by transacting his business through an agency
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except the convenience of making one transaction,
verifying one account at one place, at one time,
and paying one bill instead of many. Yet the old
advertiser deals mainly through agencies for this
reason and the saving of time, stationery, and
postage, and he can then personally attend to
other and equally vital business.
So
It is a notorious fact, that as soon as advertisers
begin to do business through agencies, their bills
decrease, and the amount saved can thus be de-
voted to extending announcements in other jour-
nals, procuring thereby a wider circulation.
thoroughly is it understood that no advertiser now
deals direct who understands his interests, that it
is often considered an evidence of irresponsibility
or incapacity for an advertiser to apply direct for
terms of advertising.
The advertiser not unfrequently finds, by after
experience, that the agent is able to procure for him
a greater reduction than he can obtain himself,
especially for a period.
A moment's careful consideration will convince an
advertiser, that although a publisher would prefer
the order direct, when sure of his pay, for the sake
of saving the reduction taken by the agency for a
commission, yet if the reduction must be made in
one shape or another, leaving him nothing to gain,
he will prefer to give it to the agent, to whom it
can be allowed without seeming to break down his
rates.
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247
To sum up, we may say that the advantages of
the Newspaper Advertising Agency to the adver-
tiser are these-Experience without cost, one contract
instead of many, protection against unnecessary
charges, and great saving of time and personal
labour.
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CHAPTER IX.
Two abortive attempts (1876 and 1877) having been
made to push through Parliament a measure called
an amendment of the Law upon Patents of Inven-
tion, it may now be supposed that patentees and
patent agents will be left alone for a few years; we
therefore describe in the Appendix the cost of Eng-
lish and foreign patents, but again impress upon
our readers that serious loss must almost inevitably
ensue, if they dispense with the trained knowledge
of a patent agent,-whenever they may desire safely
to acquire patent rights, a more absurd effort at
economy cannot possibly be made, than the avoid-
ance of the small amount of commission charged
for professional services of the nature in question.
An inventor not only risks his invention, but all
his outlay for stamps, etc., for like old theatrical
announcements, "no money is returned after the
drawing up of the curtain."
Competitive examination and "Publicity" are
gradually making their mark upon England's future.
There is, however, a spirit of parsimony invading,
and to a great extent defeating, the objects intended
to be developed. Advertisements on the part of the
powers that be are few and far between; they
usually fail to describe the matter under competi-
"PUBLICITY."
249
tion; there is the greatest difficulty in obtaining
information as to when, where, and under what
conditions persons may compete; and the sight of
models, samples, or papers, needful to form an
estimate upon all these matters, are hedged round
with so much doubt by even local authorities, that
governmental departments are not the only source
for the too common belief, that public employment
has not ceased to be a hidden mystery, or a matter
of hereditary right. We maintain that the adver-
tising columns of the leading journals, metro-
politan and provincial, should be more freely
sprinkled with advertisements in respect to vacant
offices or subjects offered for public competition.
While the cost of patent rights are almost crush-
ingly heavy here, there is no place in commercial
England equal to the interesting collection of
models and drawings ever open to the poorest
American. An unknown man is never listened to at
our public offices, he is an inventor,-away with
him and his rubbish! The other day the model of
a torpedo shell was taken to the War Office, and its
inventor was so treated that he took it to the Conti-
nent; and it is confidently asserted that our Govern-
ment is paying at the rate of nearly one million
sterling per annum for a supply from a rival nation,
of what has been there found to be the best instru-
ment for naval war ever yet placed before the world;
it was nevertheless turned away from England in
the first instance almost with contempt.
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66 PUBLICITY.'
We nearly lost two great ironclads a short time
since,—only one, however, did go to the bottom; its
fate being brought about by collision in a fog out at
Whereupon inventors were startled with an
innovation, or sudden fit of virtue taken by the
authorities; and advertisements appeared for in-
ventors and others to tender for the job of bringing
to the surface the half-million of sovereigns repre-
sented by the sunken Vanguard. The terms, or
conditions, to engineers of all nations were so
ludicrous and one-sided, that the good ship still
remains where she went down. In point of fact, no
one outside a lunatic asylum would conform to the
advertised conditions.
A letter from a French engineer to an English
friend of the same profession, written about that
time, is amusing from its satirical recognition of
the supposed treatment of technical knowledge
pursued in the naval service of England. The
vein of humour is necessarily much cramped by
the translation of the letter,-
"Mon ami,—I have read the advertisement of your
Admiralty asking engineers of all nations to come
and get up your Vanguard; and the conditions of
salvage advertised make me rub my eyes, and look if
it is your Punch, and not your Times, I am reading.
They are the conditions of our Robert Macaire,
when playing toss-halfpenny with a simpleton,-
heads I win, and tails you lose. O my friend!
confess that yours is an eccentric nation; your
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251
*
existence depends upon your steam fleet,-and
your chiefs should have practical knowledge.
But behold the little history of your affair as I
read it,-
"You have ever a good country magistrate, who,
whether Whig or Tory, can punish little rogues who
steal birds' nests, or fish for tittlebats in the lake
where sails the vessel which gives all the knowledge of
navigation or ship building required. Ah! toujours,
there is one such country squire straightway made
First Lord of your Admiralty, and accordingly builds
or unbuilds your war vessels; he also appoints their
commanders (who are his friends). These officers
take your fleet to Ireland, where they dance and
have viskey à l'outrance; now to take off the fumes
of the latter, they go to sea in one of your per-
petual fogs; the commander goes below, when one
of the many vessels all about him, going full speed
in the darkness, bumps a hole in his side, and brings
him with sleepy eyes upon deck. The one I now
speak about must have been very drowsy, because
with the help of his friend, who treated him to a
bumper, the Vanguard might have been towed back
to the scene of the dance and viskey, seeing that it
was a very long while that his ironclad was finding
its final resting-place. Your commander who went
below is condemned by court martial, but your First
Lord will not let his friend be punished. However,
as some one must go into the wilderness, his lieu-
tenant (pour encourager les autres) being an unknown
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man is extinguished, so that all might learn that
the proper place for a British officer (when danger
arises) is his snug little cabin down below.
"Albion is rich, and can spare 12,500,000
francs,-vraiment, it looks a large sum in francs,
the cost of each of these vessels; mais pardon,
mon ami, you must be consoled in thinking that
it is only one the less which in our next tussle
we French engineers will be placing a torpedo
beneath or against; for though you may have a
Nelson in command of every vessel, yet he will
know nothing, or next to nothing, of engineering;
and those few on board who are called Engineers,
are, in point of treatment, little more than stokers.
What is an Engineer, my good friend, in your ser-
vice? Is he not made to herd with inferiors? What
promotion or pay has he in proportion to the part
he should play ?-or to induce him to leave behind
the prizes that come to skilled followers of the civil
part of his professsion ?"
So much for our French correspondent.
Now Burns says,—
"O wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad from mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion."
"Publicity" through the press of our country is
fortunately coming to the front in this respect, and
bold discussions now appear in journals representing
the naval and military services; for we read thus,—
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253
"Much mischief may arise from the ignorance
which naval commanders maintain as to the proper
rank of engineers. An engineer of eight years'
standing, entitled by a recent order to "rank with,
but after, lieutenants," was put under arrest for
having added two new gold lace rings to his uni-
form cuff. Reference to the Admiralty justified the
engineer, and he was liberated; but he is not likely
to have conceived any overpowering veneration for
his commander, or any deeper love of the service
during the time when he paid for his legitimate
finery by the sacrifice of his liberty."
Now, plenty of epaulettes and gold lace rings, or
cuffs, were on board the Thunderer when she put to
sea a few weeks after the Vanguard went down, but
for the want of sufficient engineering knowledge, or
skill (above or below deck), signals of distress were
soon flying, calling for help from shore, as another
half-million of the tax-payers' money was in danger;
and the number of killed and wounded on that
occasion was scarcely surpassed by any of Nelson's
first-raters, after the battles of the Nile or Trafal-
gar. The truth is, John Bull cannot realize the
revolution science has effected, and he thinks that
mechanical knowledge and technical skill may still be
snubbed, or partially ignored. The engineers on board
his ships, and on whom so much in future must de-
pend, have no better status than a village black-
smith; and scientific or educated men are driven
from the service by wretched treatment and pay.
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The Daily News says,
"Proof of the importance
of the naval engineer now-a-days is afforded by
the new barbette ship, the Téméraire, which has,
we are told, no fewer than thirty-four engines on
board, exclusive of the powerful pistons and cylin-
ders that propel the ponderous vessel. The giant
capacity of these latter are equal, it is said, to 7,000
horse-power indicated, and must entail, therefore,
considerable responsibility upon the engineering
staff to begin with. Their care and superintendence
constitute but a section, however, of the work to
be performed by the chief engineer on board, who
has a score and a half of other engines to look
after as well. There are feed engines and start-
ing engines, steering engines and capstan engines,
engines to pump with and engines to hoist with;
there are even engines to aid in working the
guns, to assist in torpedo services, and for turning
the magnet machine that gives out the electric
light. For each and all of these the engineer is
responsible, and if that officer cannot, or does not,
fulfil his duty, captain, commander, and lieutenants
can do nothing with the vessel. In fact, practically,
the engineer commands the ship, which is useless to
sail, or to fight, if he and his staff are not thoroughly
efficient and well organized. On some of our
modern battle-ships, the Alexandra for instance, the
engineering duties are so arduous that no fewer
than a dozen officers, of one rank or another, are
to be found on board; while in the case of turret
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vessels, such as the Thunderer and Devastation,
which are mastless, and therefore solely and entirely
in the engineer's hands, the work of the latter is
more responsible still. Yet, strange to say, with all
the work and responsibility upon his shoulders, the
chief engineer of a modern ironclad ranks among
the civil officers under a paymaster. He is told in
an Admiralty circular recently issued that he may
mess in the ward room, with the lieutenants, that is,
if he pleases; but the meaning of this can only be
that his company must be borne by the ward room
officers should he desire at any time to thrust it
upon them. This gracious privilege is only per-
mitted the chief engineer. His subordinates, al-
though they rank with a lieutenant, are placed in
the table of precedence after him. Is it surprising
that, under these conditions, there should be a lack
of good and capable men endowed with technical
and scientific ability in this branch of the service?
We ask a man to take charge of a ship and ma-
chinery of the value of half a million, and offer him
a position which any civil engineer of good standing
would look down upon with contempt.
وو
The writer of this Essay, in a professional capacity
is brought into frequent contact with inventors and
inventions of all kinds; and it is with sincere regret
he is obliged to hear that cases still require the
grave attention of Parliament and the nation, in
respect to the internal management of many depart-
ments in the public service. Charges are made ex-
!
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hibiting gross favouritism and incapacity, and the
injustice with which inventors are treated has passed
into a proverb. "Your plan is not new"; some in-
ventors are told, or "We have already tried similar
means," or "There are some improvements in hand
of the same nature.' Patents have after such pleas
been secured by Government officers; and though
their best exertions should be the property of
their employers, yet royalties, or profits, have
become their private property, and it is even said
that such officers still officially pass productions
for the public service which bring grist to their
private mill. If not carried into effect directly, it
has been managed indirectly and in the name of
a relation or friend. Names, etc., are given to
the writer; but, however true the circumstances
may be in relation to the particular officials, the
peculiarities of the law of libel prevent a minute.
disclosure of the facts. It is an expensive and
thankless task to assume the duties of a public
prosecutor; for though we may substantiate before
a jury ninety-nine points in any one case, and go
near to prove the hundredth, we may find ourselves
out in the cold, with no end of costs to satisfy.
We have a lively recollection that bona fides will not
alone protect a defendant from the visitation of
costs; for instance, about the period of the last
Crimean war, the writer contested with a young
nobleman the representation of a constituency in
Parliament. The community, however, we subse-
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1
quently had occasion to inform by an address, that
could we have foreseen the future, or the political
course the noble lord would ultimately take, then the
writer and his friends would have been slow to
oppose on the occasion here mentioned'; but our
opponent (now a peer and a deservedly popular Lord
Lieutenant of his county) happened to be asso-
ciated with, and to be accompanied to the hustings
by, persons who were far from popular, and their
views were taken to be his lordship's, consequently
a disturbance ensued; whereupon a magistrate (a
strong political partisan) read the Riot Act, and
called in the yeomanry to aid the special con-
stabulary in preventing the windows from being
broken in the market place, and many heads were
fractured while saving the glass. The whole of
these proceedings, it was well understood, did not
meet with our opponent's concurrence. The rash
conduct of the magistrate induced about three
hundred inhabitants to sign a petition for his re-
moval from the Commission of the Peace; the
petition was sent to Lord Palmerston, the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department-Parlia-
ment not sitting at the time. Actions were
then brought for libel, and £10,000 claimed from
each of the three hundred signatories. Now, as
the writer presented the petition, he felt that he
accepted its full responsibility, and coute que coute,
defended his friends, and thus was made morally if
not legally liable for many thousands of pounds; the
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costs alone (winning or losing) were enormous, as
several coach loads of witnesses had to attend the
trial in an adjoining county, the venue having been
changed owing to local excitement,-now, notwith-
standing bona fides was ultimately proved to the
satisfaction of the jury, covering pretty well every
allegation, yet as some points were weak, the jury
gave the magistrate forty shillings damages, which
in those days necessarily carried costs. On an ap-
peal, a point was raised to the effect that a petition
presented to the Secretary of State was privileged,
and the judges for the first time so decided the
point, and entered the verdict in our favour.
Children about us now may wonder what the fight
was all about; they may be reminded of old Kaspar's
description of the battle of Blenheim to young Peter-
kin and little Wilhelmina,-
"And everybody praised the man
Who such a fight did win;'
But what good came of it at last ?—
Quoth little Peterkin.
Why, that I cannot tell, said he,
But 'twas a famous victory."
The little Peterkins, whose grandsires were in-
terested with us in the squabble referred to, might
possibly also be told that, though Englishmen may
at times establish good legal precedents for the
safety of the community at large, yet must heavy
private costs be borne by those who "bell the
cat," even though it prove "a famous victory."
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Future Peterkins will hardly be able to compre-
hend the nature of the old Saturnalia, when hus-
tings were raised for the amusement of a huge
mass of people, of which not one-hundredth part
had anything to do with the election of the can-
didates whose persons, nomination, and speeches
they alternately hooted, cheered, and fought for.
The present change and quietude (further promoted
as it is by the ballot) was at the period in question
repelled by a large majority of our politicians as
being un-English and as favouring republicanism.
It was then pretty generally believed, at any rate it'
had never been proved to the contrary,-that the
Divinity which doth hedge a king" shed a corre-
sponding halo round all the king's justices; and,
except through an address to the Crown from Par-
liament, the published grounds for an application to
cause the removal of an offending magistrate could
not be protected by privilege; in fact, it was al-
leged, and believed, that the authority or agency of
the Crown had never been sufficiently delegated to
the Secretary of State for any
any such
purpose. The
judges' decision to the contrary, however, was use-
ful, though for all time it may possibly be said, as
it was said then,-
66
"But man, proud man!
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep."
Before passing from the consideration of "Pub-
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licity" in relation to Parliamentary Elections, we
may point out that the services of advertising
agents may occasionally be found highly useful,
especially where a millionaire, or a great local
potentate, has retained every printing press within
a small Borough. To secure every hotel, and all
the public houses as Committee Rooms is an old
move; now, where an opposing candidate cannot
obtain the aid of a local printer, or bill-sticker, he
may resort to any of the well-known Metropolitan
agents, who will send a staff, and materials, which,
so far as circulars and bills are concerned, will
sufficiently place the constituency en rapport with
every view and needful fact.
Reverting to the Admiralty, we may say that
the authorities also advertised for the best fog-
signals on the occasion of the Vanguard affair; and
the terms being fairer than the salvage question,
many sent models. One set, constructed by a clever
mechanician, was, to our personal knowledge, or-
dered to be returned, with the statement "that the
method was not approved." There was in this case
a singular illustration of the customary fate of un-
known inventors, so far as Government treatment
is concerned. It thus occurred. The inventor na-
turally expected to be sent for when a trial was
made, if only to explain how to use his model. Now,
it was fastened up in a way he alone could unfasten,
consequently it could not be tested without that
operation being detected. The instrument came
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F.
back just as it went, and no further inquiry was
made about it, though, as in the case of the tor-
pedo already mentioned, it was warmly welcomed
elsewhere.
The inventors of this country contribute largely
to its taxes, besides a direct tax for stamps and
fees, in round numbers, of about £100,000 per
annum. It may be said, What is the remedy for
the state of things herewith described? Now, the
answer is, Let us do as other countries have done
-especially the United States; let us remove
heavy costs in the inception of patent rights; let
us afford opportunities for competition, the con-
ditions being fairly and duly advertised, and espe-
cially let there be public institutions in the great
centres of industry for the exhibition of models
and giving of lectures. A deputation to the Prince
of Wales (as the head of the Exhibition Commission)
(with this object in view), was recently received, and
it was earnestly recommended by the heads of the
principal municipalities of the country that such a
course would be the most fitting manner for the
disposal of a large part of the million sterling-
the proceeds of the most gigantic advertising and
educational movement of this or any other age;
namely, the Great Exhibition of 1851. We say to
inventors, Put no reliance on Governmental Depart-
ments, or expect fair consideration for any effort
you may make to improve the public service, unless,
of course, you can be backed up by powerful in-

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fluence. Fortunately, you have an ever-ready
market for your genius or skill in an intelligent
public, as we shall presently show; and we only
wish here to add that advertisements will bring you
aid in that direction and in the shape of capital
(should it be needed) to work your patent; or ad-
vertising will bring you purchasers, or persons
ready to adopt and pay you remunerative royalties.
If you are not of the family of Barnacles, we again
say, eschew dependence on Government officials, or
be prepared to accept the heart-sickening disap-
pointment so powerfully described by Dickens as
the common fate of those who would carry perhaps
the work and study of a life to the Governmental
market.

66
It is not long since that a dreadful railway acci-
dent happened, and an outcry existed to the effect,
'Why are not railway directors placed upon their
trial for manslaughter?" it being assumed that inven-
tions exist, the use of which might, in all human
probability, have prevented the loss of life which
then occurred. Now, the directors well know that
they are practically powerless, as their shareholders
would not agree to an outlay for purposes not pre-
viously sanctioned by the Board of Trade. The
officers of that department say, on their part, that
it is not their duty to examine or report upon bene-
ficial inventions. In almost as many words, such a
communication was sent to the writer of this Essay
shortly after the accident herewith referred to; and
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the following is a brief account of the circumstances,
which we relate, as they really form a fair instance of
the course of Governmental snubbing administered.
to inventors. A man with mechanical skill, and in
poverty,—in fact, this was a similar case to that of
the celebrated Watt,-this inventor brought some
drawings and plans to the writer; and as such
appeared to be reasonable in their nature, and were
backed by the opinion of one of our best-known
engineers, an advance was in due course procured
which enabled the inventor to complete his working
models. By these (and without difficulty) a common
railway porter or signalman could, from a station or
at any given point, warn a train rushing to destruc-
tion. No matter whether trucks or vans were being
shunted on the same line of rail, or some other ob-
struction was there, the warning could in any case be
effected by an automatic movement of the machinery,
and utilized three-quarters of a mile in advance of
the coming danger, notwithstanding fog or snow
excluded the sight of the usual warnings. Engi-
neers of eminence reported that nothing could be
more simple or efficacious for the required purpose
than these models purported to prove. Now, let us
see what took place. The President of the Board of
Trade referred the matter to the Railway Depart-
ment, and permission was given for the models to
be sent there; but from experience we knew they
would come back with the sentence (almost as a
matter of course) "Not approved" attached there-
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to. Moreover, they were bulky, and required the in-
ventor's description; so we obtained permission to
address the examiners employed by Government,
and whose duty it is to report on the causes of acci-
dents. These gentlemen were informed that the
working models had been put together and waited
inspection within a short distance from their offices.
The inventor also was in attendance (daily) to ex-
plain and work the models, and a testimonial in
favour of the excellence of the invention, written
by a practical railway engineer, accompanied the
request for an appointment to inspect. Now, the
result was practically to the effect as we have
already described, viz., that these officers are only
appointed to report upon accidents after the event;
therefore "it was no part of their duty to find out
means to prevent the same." If a few officers pos-
sess technical knowledge, they are usually tied up to
a hard and fast line of duty by the red tape of their
superiors. Parliamentary Committees have sat, and
recommended that the Civil departments of the State
should be directed by technical knowledge, and
the influence of the family of the Barnacles should
cease; that is to say, it should no longer exist to
the exclusion of technical knowledge. But the dis-
pensers of patronage on both sides of the House
over-ride the decisions of Parliament, by claiming
pre-eminence for what is conveniently called " "high
administrative capacity."
In former days the gallant defenders of our coun-
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";
tem.
try were slain more by the deficiencies of the ser-
vice than by the steel or lead of the enemy. The
writer, while in Parliament, assisted in the demand
for an inquiry into our Governmental contract sys-
On reference to "Hansard's Debates," he
finds that he used words to the following effect :-
"That if competent persons were appointed to act
in the contemplated commission of inquiry, an ex-
posure of as great a mass of corruption would take
place as perhaps had ever existed."
The Royal Commission was appointed, and the
Report was the cause of much public improvement;
in fact, no longer can it be a family affair for con-
tractors in every department, or for officers with
incomes of only £800 to live at the rate of £8000
per annum; no longer can filthy food in tins be sent
out to our soldiers and sailors; no longer in every
governmental department can respectable manufac-
turers (not placed within the charmed circle) have
their tenders repulsed or, worse still, their goods
subsequently and unfairly returned upon their hands,
the nature of the goods causing them to be avail-
able for one (the Government) market only; hence
these goods were often sold at a loss, except to the
favoured few who could get them passed, notwith-
standing previous refusal. No longer do the colonels
get additions to their incomes at the cost of the
value of clothing or accoutrements served out to the
men under their command; no longer are twenty
thousand boots adapted for the right foot sent into
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one store, and twenty thousand for the left sent to
another a hundred miles away; and when the mis-
take in each place is found out, no longer can each
lot be sold separately at public auction as spoilt
stores; nor, by a further dispensation, can the two
lots be bought by one favoured contractor, who
may possibly be thus paid twice for his wares.
con-
About the time of the inquiry referred to some
technical information and suggestions were
veyed by the writer to the late Mr. Sidney Herbert
and others in authority, and competition for the
supply of some of the stores is now invited by adver-
tisement. Samples are in some departments also
exhibited; but, above all, it is now arranged that,
should any dispute arise between the Government and
the manufacturer, then the matter has occasionally
to be decided by disinterested and technical judges.
The writer has been honoured by being selected
thus to act; and notwithstanding the improvement
he has described, touching the source of supplies
for ordinary stores, he must still deprecate the
efforts of his friends being addressed to inven-
tions for Government purposes, at all events till
such time as Parliament shall enforce that technical
knowledge shall be to a great extent the distin-
guishing point of the Service, with fair play in com-
petition in respect either to tenders of personal
service or for supplies of material, also that publicity
shall be widely given concerning requirements or
vacancies in all matters and departments.
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Smith, the ingenious farmer, was many years
trying to obtain public recognition of his public
services in respect to the screw propeller. Poor
Snider went to an early grave, impoverished and
heart-broken, though he knew his rifle was to be
adopted as the weapon to be put into every soldier's
hand; it is true a grateful nation gave to his widow
and children a sum sufficient to erect a monument
to his memory, upon which might have been in-
scribed the following words: "A warning to inventors
who devote their services to the British nation."
We have a more recent case of the danger of even
bringing to the knowledge of Government officials
the main principles of an invention. Within the
last few months the Crown was sued for adopting
without remuneration a new and important process
in the manufacture of cannon. The officers of the
Crown resisted the claim for compensation when
made by the inventor; but in this case the latter
was wealthy enough to carry on litigation, and thus
succeeded, but not without much risk.
The following is an extract from Iron, a valuable
journal devoted to the interests of the thousand and
one purposes to which that metal is devoted :—
"We have described the nature and discussed the merits of
Henry Cort's inventions, and we now come to the personal his-
tory of his struggles in effecting their first practical applications.
According to the estimate of his family, he expended in the
first place the whole of his fortune, about £20,000, in making
experiments, and otherwise bringing his invention into practi-
cally successful working. Those who have had experience in the
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building up and pulling down of furnaces, and the other pro-
ceedings that are necessary for practically perfecting inventions
of this kind, will not be surprised at the magnitude of this
amount.
"This being the extent of Mr. Cort's own means, he entered
into an agreement with Mr. Adam Jellicoe, Deputy-Paymaster of
the Navy for an advance of £27,000, on the security of an as-
signment of the patent rights and a partnership in the profits;
Mr. Samuel Jellicoe, a son of Adam Jellicoe, and clerk in the
Navy Pay Office, being his father's representative.
"This being settled, and the partnership well understood and
accepted by the Navy Board, this Board entered into large con-
tracts with the firm of Cort and Jellicoe, and not merely did
this, but publicly advertised, on April 16th, 1789, that no
tenders for this iron will be regarded but from persons who prove
that they make it agreeable (sic) to Messrs. Cort and Jellicoe's
patent.'
"This, however, was not all; for, presently, Jellicoe senior died,
and then it was proved that the £27,000 he advanced to pur-
chase his share in Cort's patent was cash that he had stolen from
the public purse, or which, as it is mildly stated, 'he had with-
drawn from cash balances lying in his hands.' This £27,000 was
not the only amount that the Deputy-Paymaster had 'with-
drawn,' and consequently two Government extents' were issued
-one against the property, works, and trade effects of the firm
of Cort and Jellicoe, at Fontley and Gosport, and the other
against the private estate of Mr. Jellicoe deceased, which in-
cluded the patent rights assigned by Cort.
"There is no evidence upon which we can positively judge
whether or not Cort had any guilty knowledge of the infamous
character of the official fraternity with whom he had associated
himself; but, be this as it may, he was, of course, liable to the
natural consequences of such a co-partnership. Neither he nor
his children would have had any ground for complaint had the
whole estate been fairly sold in order to liquidate the claim of
the Government. This, however, was not done. Instead of the
Hampshire works being sold for this purpose, they were coolly
handed over to the son and representative of the culprit, to Mr.
Samuel Jellicoe; Cort being pushed out from them, and hist
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patent rights were treated as valueless, estimated at £100, and
entirely confiscated.
"Mr. Cort's representatives justly maintain that, had the patent
rights been temporarily sequestrated, and the royalties added to
the £17,000 which, according to the sheriffs' valuation, was the
worth of the works, the deceased Mr. Jellicoe's debt, principal,
and interest, might have been paid six times over. They further
maintain that by the arbitrary procedure that was adopted, pro-
perty to the amount of £250,000 was either absolutely annihil
ated or disposed of in a manner to which there is now no clue.
"The injustice of this valuation, when it was thus made, in
favour of Cort's residual interests, is painfully demonstrated by
what followed-when the patent rights were re-valued on behalf
of the captain of the gang of scoundrels in which Jellicoe was a
subaltern.
"The following is from the published and unrefuted 'Statement
of the Claims of the Surviving Members of the Family of Henry
Cort for National Compensation,' signed by James Booth, LL.D.,
F.R.S., chairman of the Cort Committee, and quoted by Dr.
Percy in his carefully elaborated statement of Cort's history:-
'To the treatment of Henry Cort by the Naval Administra-
tion, that of the Treasurer of the Navy, Lord Melville, by the
heads of the Government, affords a striking contrast. In the year
1800, a few days after Henry Cort's death, when he could no
longer claim any share of remuneration, and his infant children
were incapable of asserting their rights, Lord Melville presented
a memorial to the Lords of the Treasury, setting forth the great
merit and uncontested value of Henry Cort's inventions, and
petitioning on that account a release to himself of nearly £25,000
(being the amount for which he stated himself to be then re-
sponsible on account of Jellicoe's defalcation) towards the dis-
charge of his own defaults as Treasurer (at that time exceeding
£190,000), which grant, as Mr. Pitt admitted on Lord Melville's
impeachment, was forthwith made to the petitioner without hesi-
tation or inquiry, by writ of Privy Seal dated 27th May, 1800.'
“To understand this fairly, it should be noted that the £25,000
credited to the relief of Lord Melville was for the value of the
same patent rights at the same date as when they were valued in
Cort's favour at £100.
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When, in 1803, Parliament had appointed a Commission of
Naval Inquiry to examine the irregularities of the Treasurer,
Lord Melville, and his paymaster, Alexander Trotter, they mu-
tually agreed, a few weeks before the sitting of the Commission
(by a joint release exhibited on the subsequent impeachment of
Lord Melville) to burn, and accordingly did burn, their accounts
for £134,000,000 of public money which had passed through
their hands. The evidence of Henry Cort's wrongs was de-
stroyed with the rest, and the parties implicated refused, before
both Houses of Parliament, to answer any questions tending to
criminate themselves.'
"Those who are crying out so loudly about the peculations of
Turkish pashas, and are thanking God that we Englishmen are
not as these infidels are, should ponder on the above, which
occurred here, and in the present century; and should couple it
with the fact that, although these robberies in high places were
perpetrated when the common Monday morning recreation of the
people was to enjoy the hanging of half a dozen or so of men or
women for sheep-stealing, forgery, and similar offences, neither
Lord Melville, Alexander Trotter, Adam Jellicoe, or any other
members of the high-placed official fraternity who robbed the
public purse of hundreds of thousands, were hanged. The son
of Lord Melville, in consideration, no doubt, of his father's
exemplary conduct, was promoted to the position of First Lord
of the Admiralty, which post he held in 1812, when he was ap-
pointed as one of the committee to report on the petition of Cort's
family for national compensation. This First Loru of the Ad-
miralty-this son of the peculating Treasurer, who, but twelve
years before, had claimed and obtained £25,000 for himself on
account of 'the great merit and uncontested value of Henry
Cort's inventions,' now reported to the effect that Cort was
only one of several individuals to whose inventions the vast
extension of the British iron trade during the preceding thirty
years was attributable, and that his merits had been sufficiently
acknowledged by the pensions conferred on himself and his
widow.
"The pensions were as follows:-£200 a year to Cort, reduced
by deductions to £160. This he enjoyed for six years before his
death, when it was stopped. After his death a pension of £125,
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reduced by deductions to less than £100, was granted to his
widow, for the support of herself and her ten children.
"On the death of Mrs. Cort, in 1816, the pension to the family
was reduced to £25, amounting, after deductions, to £20.
"Such was the reward apportioned to the inventor and his
family, in consideration of the fact that he had expended the
whole of his fortune of £20,000, and given up all his life to per-
fect an invention to which we are so largely indebted for one of
the most important elements of British prosperity.
"Now let us look at what the Government did for the other
parties concerned, and for their families. The son and repre-
sentative of Jellicoe was presented with the works erected by
Cort, and valued at £17,000, in consideration of the fact that
his father had robbed the public purse of the money by which
he purchased an interest in Cort's invention; and Lord Melville
was credited with £25,000 by the British Government, in ac-
knowledgment of his share in Jellicoe's rascality. The son of
this model Treasurer of the Navy was promoted to the First
Lordship of the Admiralty in less than nine years after his
father's culminating infamy of burning the national archives in
order to conceal the crimes of himself and his confederates."
In respect to this Lord Melville, "The Rolliad,
while holding his name up for public reprobation,
describes him as one-
Whose exalted soul
No bonds of vulgar prejudice control;-
Of shame unconscious in his bold career,
He spurns that honour which the weak revere.”
Well was it said of old, to the effect, that a great
evil may produce much good. It was the infamy of
this nobleman (heaven save the mark, or misnomer),
it was his crime, and that of the heads of his de-
partment, which led to the energetic foundation of
the model, upon the lines of which has been built
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the independence and truth of the fourth estate in
these realms.
+
The late Dr. Richardson, who spent the greater
part of his long life as a member of the staff upon
The Times, was by the writer heard to say, that the
success of that paper dated from the period when
its proprietor (the late Mr. John Walter) threw over
the Government, or rather the Government threw
him over, for attacking the above-named nobleman.
Incensed by the withdrawal of the appointment of
Printer to the Customs, and stoppage at the various
ports of all news, as far as The Times was concerned,
Mr. Walter, at an enormous outlay, had the fastest
sailing vessels he could procure; and with these and
relays of couriers, special correspondents, etc., he
received intelligence earlier than the Ministry, espe-
cially from the seat of war upon the Continent; and
the public found they could rely upon the truth of
reports published in The Times, which was not always
the case in respect to the Government despatches.
Looking back to our previous remarks on this
Journal, we find that we have omitted to state that
its first copy appeared January 1st, 1788, and
contained only sixty-three advertisements, includ-
ing one in respect to a marriage, and another to
a death, also a notice at Garraway's of "a sale by
candle." In the opening address of the new paper,
the proprietor states that it was founded on the
lines of another journal, called The Daily Universal
Register; and for a time those words were associated
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with the new title. The proprietor bitterly com-
plains of the jealousy of printers, and announces that
The Times will be the production of a new process,
which formed the subject of a patent. The small
number of advertisements with which The Times
commenced, may to a great extent be attributed
to the then existing taxes upon knowledge. In fact,
for a long while prior to the year 1833, the duty on
every advertisement amounted to three shillings and
sixpence; it was then reduced to eighteen-pence, and
in 1853 finally abolished. It is said that the sum
now annually paid to the proprietors of The Times
for advertisements amounts to over a quarter of
a million sterling; the process for printing the
paper is protected by patent rights granted in
1866 to Messrs. J. C. Macdonald and J. Calverly;
both gentlemen are known to hold responsible
appointments in conducting the journal.
After the foregoing comments on the Admiralty
had been written, in fact after they had actually been
despatched to the printers, the decease of a very
good man, but not supposed to be a clever First
Lord, created a vacancy in what Dickens christened
"the Circumlocution Office;" and for once the
claims of bucolic county magnates and the tribe of
Barnacles has been set aside by the appointment
of the M.P. for Westminster, a gentleman of great
experience and commercial knowledge, who, no
doubt, acquired the same from his business pur-
suits as the most prominent member of the pro-
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fession of Advertising Agency. From him much,
no doubt, may be expected in the direction of a
department said, at all events till very lately, to be
not very different in its working from when Dickens
wrote about it in generic form, quoad Government
works, as follows:
"The Circumlocution Office was (as everybody
knows without being told), the most important
department under Government. No public business.
of any kind could possibly be done at any time,
without the acquiescence of the Circumlocution
Office. Its finger was in the largest public pie, and
in the smallest public tart. It was equally im-
possible to do the plainest right and to undo the
plainest wrong, without the express authority of the
Circumlocution Office. If another Gunpowder Plot
had been discovered half an hour before the lighting
of the match, nobody would have been justified in
saving the Parliament until there had been half a
score of boards, half a bushel of minutes, several
sacks of official memoranda, and a family vault full
of ungrammatical correspondence on the part of the
Circumlocution Office.
"Numbers of people were lost in the Circumlocu-
tion Office. Unfortunates with wrongs, or with
projects for the general welfare (and they had better
have had wrongs at first, than have taken that bitter
English recipe for certainly getting them), who, in
slow lapse of time and agony, had passed safely
through other public departments; who, according
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to rule, had been bullied in this, over-reached by
that, and evaded by the other, got referred at last
to the Circumlocution Office, and never reappeared
in the light of day. Boards sat upon them, secre-
taries minuted upon them, commissioners gabbled
about them, clerks registered, entered, checked, and
ticked them off, and they melted away. In short,
all the business of the country went through the
Circumlocution Office, except the business that
never came out of it, and its name was Legion.
"Because the Circumlocution Office went on me-
chanically every day, keeping this wonderful, all-
sufficient wheel of statesmanship, How not to do it,
in motion. Because the Circumlocution Office was
down upon any ill-advised public servant who was
going to do it, or who appeared to be by any sur-
prising accident in remote danger of doing it, with
a minute and a memorandum, and a letter of in-
structions, that extinguished him. It was this spirit
of national efficiency in the Circumlocution Office
that had gradually led to its having something to
do with everything. Mechanicians, natural philoso-
phers, soldiers, sailors, petitioners, memorialists,
people with grievances, people who wanted to pre-
vent grievances, people who wanted to redress griev-
ances, jobbing people, jobbed people, people who
couldn't get rewarded for merit, and people who
couldn't get punished for demerit, were all indis-
criminately tucked up under the foolscap paper of
the Circumlocution Office.
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"The Barnacle family had for some time helped
to administer the Circumlocution Office. The Tite
Barnacle Branch, indeed, considered themselves in a
general way as having vested rights in that direction,
and took it ill if any other family had much to say
to it. The Barnacles were a very high family, and
a very large family. They were dispersed all over
the public Offices, and held all sorts of public places.
Either the nation was under a load of obligation to
the Barnacles, or the Barnacles were under a load of
obligation to the nation. It was not quite unani-
mously settled which; the Barnacles having their
opinion, the nation theirs."
The writer of so powerful a satire upon this
governmental office would probably have been
the first to congratulate the distinguished writer
of fiction, now Premier of England, for his courage
and patriotism in appointing to high office one
clearly fit for business, from the skill with which he
has organized and brought to a high state of pros-
perity the great establishment devoted, under his
name, to advertising in the Strand. Doubtlessly,
Dickens would cheerfully have looked forward to
such improvements as would attract beneficial
invention, and enforce needful "publicity," also
that fair business treatment would be in future
dealt out to all comers to the department over
which the M.P. for Westminster has lately been
called upon to preside.
to preside. To the opportunity for
making extraordinary exertions, with nations, as
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with, individuals, the bard of Avon's words will
apply,-
"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”
For instance, the Crimean War,-by letting day-
light into home affairs, and thus laying bare the
enormities of our contract system,-produced a
thirst for early and cheap information on the part
of the million. Most persons could ill afford to
buy high-priced newspapers; successful efforts were
therefore made to remove what were called "the
taxes upon knowledge." The penny daily press
burst into existence; and that mighty penny-worth,
The Telegraph, prints sheets which, if pasted to-
gether, in one year would suffice to cover the entire
surface of the country. The Standard jumped from
its death struggles by reducing its price, and became
the mighty power into which it has grown under
the influence of the immortal penny. The Daily
News came sturdily to the front by a similar oper-
ation, and especially by its wonderful and accurate
information, given for the same small coin, during
the Franco-German war; and one thing is certain, its
much-questioned truthfulness in respect to the Bul-
garian outrages will never be raised again in Parlia-
ment or elsewhere. Similar remarks will apply to
other journals which have come under the influence
of an enlarged public demand. It has yet to be
seen whether the price of a daily newspaper can
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be further reduced, though somebody has said,
"The Echo must ANSWER, or change its name."
Necessity is said to be the mother of invention.
Hoe produced his many-feeding press to meet the
demand for quick and cheap printing. An impor-
tant discovery was recently brought to the know-
ledge of the writer of this Essay by a member of
the enterprising firm printing the same. It is a
machine for composing-i.e., to set up type for print-
ing. It resembled an old-fashioned chamber organ
in its outward form, but in this case the player is
the COMPOSER, who causes the type to fall from the
various tubes in the place of musical sounds. This
is effected by pressure upon the keys, each of which
represents a letter of the alphabet; other ranges of
keys represent capitals and stops for punctuation.
It is even contemplated to form complete words, re-
presenting all the articles, pronouns, prepositions, and
other words in constant use. We shall soon require
a thinking machine; and electricity, through the
means of telegraphy, has made considerable tracks
in that direction, as Brother Jonathan would say.
The freedom of the press is one thing, its
abuse is another. An account without malice of
whatever occurs before a public tribunal, righteously
protects the newspaper publishing the same, and
instances of unfairness are seldom heard of. No
doubt the detection of crime is much facilitated by
the publication of facts which transpire at our police
courts; but modern legislation has thrown so much
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power and work in the direction of these courts,
that the conduct of their reports is getting to be
a very serious question. Many
Many magistrates are
painfully aware of the fact that publicity of ex-parte
statements is becoming in many cases a dangerous
instrument for dirty hands. Inquisitors knew
that the threat of being put to the question often
induced many a victim to say or to pay anything,
rather than undergo the torture worse than death.
The police courts are fast becoming small debts
courts; an unscrupulous tradesman or creditor
has but to go to an unscrupulous lawyer and
threaten an allegation of fraud, the publication of
which would ruin the social position of any one,
and the money is straightway extracted, with costs,
however unjust the extraction in law or equity
may be. Possibly the readers of the report of an
ex-parte statement do not also read its complete
answer, on the next or some other day; and an
honourable man's reputation may remain for ever
sullied in the minds of the readers of a shameful
charge. Charges to extort money under menaces,
few have the courage to prefer; and the same re-
mark applies to alleged misdemeanour under the
Fraudulent Trustees and many other comparatively
recent Acts of Parliament; thus much crime is actu-
ally fostered, to the profit of practitioners who dis-
grace a liberal profession. Surely the law officers
of the Crown are paid well enough to devise some
means whereby the liberty of the press shall not be
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assailed or fair publicity be discouraged, yet, at the
same time, to provide that the present dangerous
licence in respect to ex-parte statements on a merè
summons to a criminal court should have reasonable
control; many think they should also urge that
all such courts shall have an official short-hand
writer, as all parliamentary committees are required
to have. This regulation, checked, as it should be,
by a positive duty that magistrates, like other
judges, should take notes, thus possibly protecting
from evil consequences many innocent persons
wrongfully accused, and mainly by a reliable record
of facts existing, in place of the mere copies of
depositions of the clerks, when a committal takes
place; again, to the necessarily condensed reports
of police intelligence publicity is too often hastily
given, and sometimes to the charge only, i.e., without
the reply being also ultimately described. So far
as the detection of crime is concerned, that duty
should be left to a police paid well enough to re-
move from them the fearful temptation recent
charges have brought to light. The suggestion
that public prosecutors should be appointed in
England as they are in Scotland, was warmly ad-
vocated by the writer of this Essay while in
Parliament.
The cultivation of technical knowledge, whether
it be for Government or ordinary commercial pur-
suits, is becoming one of the questions of the day;
and if the Corporation of London should ever be
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281
reformed, or should reform itself,-and the latter
is more likely to happen,-the new corporation
will have some difficulty in setting a better example
in the way of aiding the cause of education than
what it has recently sought to do. Take, for in-
stance, its establishment of the City of London
School, and the Library ever open to youth, upon
almost the sole condition of fair character and good
behaviour. In the Library some very interesting
advertisements exist, especially in respect to ancient
historical pageants: here are a few we have taken
leave to copy:-
"The Copie of a Letter sent in to Scotlande of the
ariuall and landynge and moste noble marryage
of the moste illustre Prynce Philippe, Prynce of
Spaine, to the most excellente Princes Marye
Quene of England, solemnisated in the citie of
Winchester and how he was receyued and in-
stalled at Windsore, and of his triumphyng entries
in the noble citie of London. Whereunto is added
a brefe overture or openyng of the legacion of the
most reverende Father in God, Lorde Cardinall
Poole, from the Sea apostolyke of Rome, with the
substaunce of his oracyon to the kyng and quene
magestie, for the reconcilement of the realme of
Englande to the unitie of the Catholyke Churche.
With the very copye also of the supplycacio ex-
hibited to their highnesses by the Three Estates
assembled in the Parlamente, wherin they, repre-
senting the whole body of the realme and do-
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minions of the same, have submitted theselves.
to the Pope's Holynesse. 1555."
"A Speach delivered to the Kinges most excellent
Majestie in the name of the Sheriffes of London
and Middlesex. By Master Richard Martine of
the Middle Temple. 1603."
"The magnificent Entertainment giuen to King
James, Queene Anne his wife, and Henry Frederick
the Prince, upon the day of his Majesties triumphant
passage (from the Tower through his honourable
Citie (and Chamber) of London), being the 15 of
March, 1603, as well by the English as by the stran-
gers; with the Speeches and Songes delivered in
the severall pageants. By Thomas Dekker. 1604.”
"The most Royall and Honourable Entertainment
of the famous king Christiern the Fourth, King of
Denmark, with a relation of his meeting by our
royall king, the prince, and nobles of our realme;
with the royal passage, on Thursday the 31st July,
through the citty of London, and honourable shewes
there presented them. 1606."
"Heauens Blessing and Earths Joy; or a true
relation of the supposed sea fights and fire-workes
as were accomplished before the royall celebration
of al-beloved mariage of the two peerlesse paragons
of Christindome, Fredericke and Elizabeth, with
triumphall encomiasticke verses, consecrated to the
immortall memory of those happy and blessed nup-
tials. By John Taylor. 1613.”
"Two Royal Entertainments, lately given to the
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22
most illustrious prince Charles, Prince of Great
Britaine, by the high and mighty Philip the Fourth,
King of Spaine, &c., at the feasts of Easter and
Pentecost. Translated out of the Spanish originals,
Printed at Madrid. 1623."
"A True discovrse of all the Royal Passages,
Tryumphs, and Ceremonies obserued at the con-
tract and mariage of the high and mighty Charles,
King of Great Britaine, and the most excellentest of
ladies, the Lady Henrietta Maria of Burbon, sister
to the most christian King of France. Together
with her journey from Paris to Bulloigne, and
thence unto Douer in England, where the king met
her, and the manner of their enterview. As also
the tryumphant solemnities which passed in their
iournies from Douer to the citie of London, and so
to Whitehall. 1625."
"The manner of his Lordships entertainment on
Michaelmas day last, being the day of his honour-
able election, together with the worthy Sir John
Swinarton, knight, then Lord Maior, the learned
and iuditious Sir Henry Montague, maister recorder,
and many of the right worshipfull the aldermen of
the citty of London, at that most famous and ad-
mired worke of the running streame from Amwell
head into the cesterne neere Islington, being the
sole inuention, cost, and industry of that worthy
Maister Hugh Middleton, of London, Goldsmith,
for the generall good of the citty. 1613."
C6
Metropolis Coronata: the Triumphes of Ancient
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Drapery; or Rich Clothing of England, in a second
yeeres performance. In honour of the aduance-
ment of Sir John Jolles, knight, to the office of
Lord Maior of London, and taking his oath for the
same authority, on Monday, being the 30 day of
October, 1615. Performed in heartie affection to
him, and at the bountifull charges of his worthy
brethren the truly honourable society of Drapers,
the first that received such dignitie in this citie.
1615."
<<
Chrysanaleia the Golden Fishing, or honour of
Fishmongers; applauding the aduancement of Mr.
John Leman, alderman, to the dignitie of Lord
Maior of London; taking his oath in the same
authority at Westminster, on Tuesday, being the
29 day of October, 1616. Performed in hearty loue
to him, and at the charges of his worthy brethren,
the ancient and right worshipfull company of Fish-
1616."
mongers.
"The triumphs of health and prosperity. A noble
solemnity performed through the city, at the sole
cost and charges of the honourable fraternity of
Drapers, at the inauguration of their most worthy
brother the right honourable Cuthbert Hacket,
lord mayor of the famous city of London. 1626."
"Porta Pietatis, or the port or harbour of piety;
expressed in sundry triumphs, pageants, and showes,
at the initiation of the right honourable Sir Mavrice
Abbot, knight, into the majoralty of the famous and
farre renowned city London. All the charge and
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285
!
expence of the laborious projects, both by water
and land, being the sole undertaking of the right
worshipfull company of Drapers. 1638."
Londini Status Pacatus, or London's peaceable
estate; exprest in sundry triumphs, pageants, and
shewes, at the initiation of the right honourable
Henry Garway into the majoraty of the famous and
farre renowned city London. All the charge and
expence of the laborious projects, both by water
and land, being the sole undertakings of the right
worshipful society of Drapers. 1639."
"London's Glory, or the Lord Mayor's Show;
containing an illustrious description of the several
triumphant pageants, on which are represented
emblematical figures, artful pieces of architecture,
and rural dancing, with the speeches spoken in each
pageant: also three new songs, the first in praise of
the Merchant-Taylors, the second the Protestants
Exhortation, and the third the Plotting Papists
Litany, with their proper tunes, either to be sung or
play'd performed on Friday, October xxix. 1680,
for the entertainment of the right honourable Sir
Patience Warde, Knight, Lord Mayor of the city
of London, at the proper cost and charges of the
right worshipful company of Merchant-Taylors.
Invented and composed by Thomas Jordan, gent.
Pictoribus atque poetis
Quidlibet audcndi semper fuit æqua potestas.'
1680."
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""
"The Lord Mayor's Show; being a description of
the solemnity at the inauguration of the truly loyal
and right honourable Sir William Prichard, knight,
lord mayor of the city of London, president of the
honourable Artillery-Company, and a member of
the worshipful company of Merchant-Taylors.
Perform'd on Monday, September xxx. 1682, with
several new loyal songs and catches. 1682."
"London's Royal Triumph for the City's loyal
Magistrate in an exact description of several
scenes and pageants, adorned with many magnifi-
cent representations, performed on Wednesday,
October xxix. 1684, at the instalment and inaugu-
ration of the right honourable Sir James Smith,
knight, Lord Mayor of the city of London: illus-
trated with divers delightful objects of gallantry
and jollity, speeches and songs, single and in parts.
Set forth at the proper costs and charges of the
worshipful company of Drapers. 1684."
"London's Triumph, or the Goldsmiths' Jubilee ;
performed on Saturday, Oct. 29, 1687, for the con-
firmation and entertainment of the right hon. Sir
John Shorter, knight, Lord Mayor of the city of
London; containing a description of several pa-
gaents and speeches made, proper for the occasion,
together with a song, for the entertainment of his
Majesty, who, with His Royal Consort, the Queen
Dowager, their Royal Highnesses the Prince and
Princess of Denmark, and the whole Court honour
his Lordship this year with their presence. All set
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287
forth at the proper costs and charges of the wor-
shipful company of Goldsmiths. 1687."
Technical education, as a reforming element, is
finding its way into the ancient guilds of the city
of London; or, it might be more properly said, the
principle in question is finding its way back to the
object and purpose for the establishment of these
guilds. The jealousy with which despotic mon-
archs and feudatory chiefs once viewed the attrac-
tion to the various guilds, caused several enactments
to restrict their results, and to require that the
serfs should arrive at no superior condition of life,
but be ever ready to till the lands or to fight in
their lords' quarrels.
We are indebted to an old friend, E. C. Morley,
Esq., Clerk and Solicitor to the Worshipful Company
of Turners, for information to the effect that his
court has not only granted prizes, but other induce-
ments to become free of their company, through
technical skill in turning; and we now see adver-
tisements in various parts, informing the public
that several who are seeking "publicity" in their
business, hold the certificates for merit issued by
the ancient Guild of Turners. The vast amount of
money frittered away, or appropriated contrary to
the common-sense view and honest spirit or inten-
tion of benevolent persons, who by their wills have
left the City Guilds trustees, to educate and bind
apprentice the youth of both sexes all over the
country, the interest of these moneys would suffice
"
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to build a wing, or adjunct, to every school under
the various school boards, to be appropriated to
teaching handicrafts; and periodical notices, ad-
vertised in journals, would find employment for
skilled pupils, now difficult through the absence of
the needful groundwork.
While this work is being written, a great famine
in India is, by advertisements, made palpable to the
people of this country. We take the following para-
graphs from The Globe and The Daily News as in-
stances of what is sought to be done to meet the
calamity.
"The Lord Mayor received a communication from
the Prince of Wales stating that the distressing ac-
counts from India of the terrible famine now raging
in that country,-more especially in the southern
parts of India,—have caused the greatest concern to
His Royal Highness, who enclosed a cheque for 500
guineas as a donation in aid of the rund now being
raised by the Lord Mayor for the relief of the suf-
ferers. His Royal Highness also expressed a sincere
hope that the appeal to the public for the relief of
our starving fellow-creatures in Southern India
would meet with the prompt and generous response
it deserves."
"The Lord Mayor has received from Sir Thomas
Biddulph a telegram as follows:- 'The Queen
commands me to inform you that Her Majesty will
give £500 towards the Indian Famine Fund.' The
total amount received at the Mansion House, up to
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289
last evening, was £16,700. At a meeting held at
Manchester yesterday, a resolution was passed
declaring it to be the duty of the Government to
organize, at the cost, if necessary, of the national
exchequer, adequate measures of relief."
The amount described is simply the result of a
few hours' appeal; and what may follow from the
thousand and one rills of charitable associations
and benevolent institutions, corporate guilds, etc.,
from their almost unbounded resources, may be
gathered from reading the following:
"At the next quarterly communication of the
United Grand Lodge of Freemasons, Grand Master
the Prince of Wales will move a grant of 200 guineas
from the fund of general purposes towards the relief
of the sufferers by the fire at St. John's, New Bruns-
wick, and a grant of 100 guineas towards the allevi-
ation of the distress caused by the recent earthquake
in Peru. Mr. John M. Clabon will at the same time
move a grant of 1,000 guineas to the Indian Famine
Relief Fund."
We may therefore expect, under such examples,
that a vast sum, perhaps a million, will be collected
in favour of the starving subjects of Her Majesty's
empire in the East. We also find that Her Royal
Highness the Princess of Wales has largely contri-
buted to this fund.
Now it is not to be expected that these august
personages can do more than they are ever ready
to do in such matters. The noble example set by
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Her Majesty in the case of the Welsh miners, and
almost in every other similar or national calamity,
necessarily precludes applications being often made
in that direction, or claims to be raised of merely
a local nature; but it is to be hoped that royal and
general patronage may some early day be extended
to the means of meeting a state of things in this
nation much to be deplored, where it is said, the rich
are every day becoming richer, and the poor poorer
we mean the once well-to-do ratepayers, or others,
the subject of unforeseen misfortunes. What a
glorious work it would be for our genial and
generous Prince to follow up the painstaking and
energetic course of his lamented father when seek-
ing to deal with any national object! We say, what
a noble work it would be for the Prince of Wales
to patronize, if not to organize, a central council
to aid local committees for out-door relief, especi-
ally when some calamity happens wholly beyond the
resources of the locality where it may have occurred!
The Mansion House is at present the only medium;
but the business is necessarily spasmodic in its
nature, and there is ever a new Lord Mayor and
a new committee, while it appears to us that a
system of a more permanent nature, and a better
trained medium would supply a desirable means
for a desired end.
Alongside of this appeal made to the nation for
India there is a simple record of an occurrence,
the frequency of which and its causes few take the
PUBLICITY.'
291
%
trouble to describe; it tells, however, a frightful,
but common tale; at any rate it is so to the writer,
who finds himself in frequent communication with
people enduring suffering, which in point of in-
tensity and its results are scarcely to be surpassed
by such as are now being experienced by our Indian
fellow-subjects. The same newspaper column which
records the royal munificence also states:-
"An inquest was held yesterday on the body of
Mr. Fairburn, which was found lying in the furze
bushes on Wandsworth Common last week. It was
stated that deceased had been a market gardener,
but had become reduced in circumstances in conse-
quence of speculation. A verdict was returned in
accordance with the medical evidence, which showed
that the deceased had died of starvation."
Almost every wealthy person in this country in-
dulges his sympathy towards the sufferings of dis-
tant nations, and, having paid his poor rates, gene-
rally thinks home has been sufficiently attended to.
The writer could only wish that a few more glances
were given upon the cause which sends men con-
stantly in this Christian land of England, to die in
the manner poor Mr. Fairburn died, in preference to
becoming recipients of relief from the houses for
the
66
poor, over the fascia of which should be written,
They who enter here leave hope behind."
The writer, as an ex-officio guardian of the poor,
has taken his turn in testing the results of the ad-
vertisements for tenders for supplies, and done other
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99
duty in relation to the huge establishments called
union workhouses, which many think the word bas-
tille would better describe, so far as the infirm, the
aged, the very young, and unfortunate are concerned.
That there are poor and poor, is constantly
brought to the knowledge of the writer. Take, for
instance, an old man we know of, who for fifty years
has paid rates and taxes: he, a crossing sweeper
now, is a frequent recipient of stray halfpence; and
when a bad attack of rheumatism has ensued the
poor man has been urged to go into the workhouse.
"Rather wish me under a wheel of a passing omni-
bus, and then take me to the mortuary of the work-
house." He used language so similar to that of
Betty Higden, in Dickens's work, as to tempt us to
quote from "Our Mutual Friend."
66 In my social experiences, since Mrs. Betty Hig-
den came upon the scene and left it, I have found
circumlocutional champions disposed to be warm
with me on the subject of my view of the poor law.
My friend, Mr. Bounderby, could never see any dif-
ference between leaving the Coketown 'hands' ex-
actly as they were and requiring them to be fed with
turtle soup and venison out of gold spoons. Idiotic
propositions of a parallel nature have been freely
offered for my acceptance, and I have been called
upon to admit that I would give poor-law relief to
anybody, anywhere, anyhow. Putting this nonsense
aside, I have observed a suspicious tendency in the
champions to divide into two parties: the one con-
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tending that there are no deserving poor who prefer
death by slow starvation and bitter weather to the
mercies of some relieving officers and some union
houses; the other admitting that there are such poor,
but denying that they have any cause or reason for
what they do. The records in our newspapers, the
late exposure by The Lancet, and the common sense
and senses of common people, furnish too abundant
evidence against both defences. But, that
But, that my view of
the poor law may not be mistaken or misrepresented,
I will state it. I believe there has been in England,
since the days of the Stuarts, no law so often infam-
ously administered, no law so often openly violated,
no law habitually so ill supervised. In the majority
of the shameful cases of disease and death from
destitution that shock the public and disgrace the
country, the illegality is quite equal to the inhuman-
ity; and known language could say no more of their
lawlessness."
At our chambers we had a call from a poor lady
and her daughter, the latter old enough to be pre-
sented at Court (as we know her father and mother
had been when in affluence); they were till recently
houseless, and actually dying for want of food.
Many years had elapsed since we had met the hus-
band and father, and in answer to our question,
"Where was he ?" we were told that they did
not know, for he had left them rather than be a
burthen upon the small pittance they could occasion-
ally earn by addressing circulars; this failing, they
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said, "we have nothing before us but death under
some archway or the fields in the suburbs, for if we
went into the workhouse and claimed our parochial
settlement, there would be handbills on its gates and
advertisements sent to the station houses, giving a
full description of the poor man, and a reward for
his arrest on account of deserting us, and charging
our maintenance upon the rates."
A few weeks back a poor gentleman in an adjoin-
ing set of chambers to those in which we are now
writing had (mainly through illness) found his legal
practice vanishing into other channels; and for
some weeks prior to his suicide, he had actually
depended for the necessaries of life upon the charity
of the porter of the inn, till the hope of supplies
from a wealthy brother was finally cut off. Then,
rather than carry his enfeebled frame within the
pitiless walls of the union workhouse, he died the
death of the old Roman patrician, namely, by
opening a vein in his foot, and bleeding gradually
his life away. For the incorrigible local vagabond,
or the equally lazy tramp, let these bastilles still
exist, and even place their walls several feet higher
if the Poor Law Board shall so decree; and let their
officers be supplied with more chilling power, so as
to further freeze up the milk of human kindness
and manufacture out of the customary elements a
continuous pauper population. It is well known
that thousands of this class who fill the union houses
can vary their monotony by discharging themselves
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from the House, and, after harvest or hop-picking,
take their chance of a visit to one of the many gaols,
the doors of which readily open to them; and they
go on breeding children to inherit the workhouse
look, the workhouse slouching gait, and workhouse
whine, which many who discharge public duties are
constantly called upon to witness.
In answer to questions to the effect, Would you
return to the old out-door-relief system? We frankly
reply, Yes; that is to say, in all such cases as may be
fairly attributed to misfortune. Then our questioners
say, "You will offer a premium for idleness at the
cost of ratepayers, frequently themselves upon the
verge of poverty." That need not be so, has been
our reply. Let local committees be organized to dis-
tribute voluntary contributions; and to the remark,
What machinery have you for the needful collec-
tion of such a fund? we say, Let a line like that
which usually appears for a church rate,—now
voluntarily paid in many instances, where formerly
the same was refused upon a compulsory demand,
—let such a line, we say, with its penny or pence
in the pound appear in favour of an out-door
relief-rate, and upon the usual rate-application-
papers, then let the proceeds be distributed unosten-
tatiously by a specially appointed local out-door-relief
committee, elected by those who pay. At present a
few willing hands are over-worked, and the wealthy
and the well-to-do are driven to rely upon spasmodic
appeals to dispose of their abundance, and often in
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distant lands, while very little "publicity" is given
to the uncomplaining misery at the very thresholds
of their luxurious homes.
There is another subject of vital importance which
Dickens has not directly referred to in the post-
script to "Our Mutual Friend," probably because the
operations of the poor law are not the sole cause of
the national disgrace known as the system of baby
farming. In such cases, where the child lives after
the mother's decease, then we know what its work-
house treatment would be, from the picture Dickens.
drew of the early days of Oliver Twist. The extract
here made is taken from The Globe, August 24th,
1877.
(6 ALLEGED MURDERS BY PARENTS.
"Some sensation has been caused in a manufac-
turing district by a statement made by a medical
man, at a recent inquest on the body of a child
which had apparently died from neglect. A special
committee of the Town Council has commenced a
series of sittings to inquire into the truth or other-
wise of the statement in question, as to the excessive
infantile mortality and prevalence of infanticide. At
the inquest referred to, Mr.
said he was
able, as a medical man, to bear testimony to the
amount of indirect child murder which took place
from year to year in
Scores and scores of
children, he said, were habitually and purposely neg-
lected; but it was done in such a manner that it was
difficult for the law to step in and make an example.
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Though he and his medical brethren could always find
any amount of moral proof of child murder, the neces-
sary legal proof could not be got at, and they were
simply obliged to pass over cases in which the people
were as guilty almost as if they had cut the children's
throats. There was no doubt that year by year scores
and scores of children were sacrificed in this way.'
Take up what newspapers we may, we daily
find cases of starvation, corresponding with the
advertised distress in India. The day after the
report about the once well-to-do market-gardener,
found as we have already described, starved to
death amongst the furze bushes of a small com-
mon within the sound of the Big Ben of Parlia-
ment, many may have read the following, which
for horrible circumstance cannot be surpassed by
anything we may hear from Madras or elsewhere.
Barnet, we may say, is but a short distance from the
Metropolitan boundary, and perhaps is the nearest
point thereto where the seclusion needful for pre-
serving game in a wild state can be maintained, yet
we take from a newspaper evidence given at an in-
quest there upon a starved outcast as follows:—
66
George Carter, gamekeeper on Earl Stafford's
estate, said that on the afternoon in question he was
passing along Hubbard's Fields, when his dog (a
retriever) drew his attention to something in the
ditch, and on pushing aside some bushes he saw the
body of a man. He immediately proceeded to the
police-station and gave information.
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"Dr. Charles Gadson said that he saw the remains
on Friday. The head was separated from the trunk,
one hand, the feet, and other portions of the body
had been eaten away by rats, while the portions left
were in such a state of advanced decomposition that
he could not say they were of any value for medical
evidence.
“The coroner having summed up,—
"The jury returned a verdict of 'Found dead; but
how, or by what means, there was no evidence to
show.""
The Hindoo custom of taking children to the Gan-
ges, and leaving them there, is not more unnatural
than that of the wretched English mother driven
to the baby farm, as witness the report of another
inquest recorded immediately under the above para-
graph.
“On Friday evening Dr. Hardwicke held an inquiry
at the St. Pancras Coroner's Court, concerning the
death of a child. In May last the deceased was
born in the St. Pancras Workhouse, and three weeks
afterwards the mother, a domestic servant, quitted
the institution, and placed her baby with a widow
who carried on a baby-farming establishment. The
jury returned a verdict that deceased died from
want of proper food and want of proper attention
and nursing.'"
<
It may be mentioned that Dr. Hardwicke is the
acting coroner for one of the wealthiest districts of
the metropolis, and, taken with the above inquest,
!
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(published in The Echo) immediately after the forego-
ing case, it is clear that something very much of the
nature of infanticide is common to the metropolis,
as well as in the manufacturing districts. It is
true the poor-law rules will allow the poor infant to
see light within the walls of the bastilles, but its
wretched mother generally takes it away to a baby-
farming establishment as quickly as possible, for
she may not leave the child and go to honest work.
"No," says the Board, "we will have both or neither.
If you like not this place, go;-starve !—or commit
murder if you will."
"BABY FARMING.-Yesterday Dr. Hardwicke held
an inquest on the body of an infant, five months old,
the son of a domestic servant residing at Weymouth
Street, Portman Square. The deceased had been
put out to nurse to three different people. In the
hands of the last it died, the parish doctor stating
that it had succumbed from want of proper food."
There is much good work open to women, especi-
ally in matters where their sex is more directly con-
cerned. Our School Boards started the wholesome
principle that the governing influence should no
longer be exclusively in male hands. It would be a
welcome boon to humanity if means could be sug-
gested for a part of the proposed out-door-relief
system being extended to the subject which our pub-
lication of the manufacturing district case opens
out for consideration. A central Council, assisted by
members of both sexes, might deserve the recognition
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of "the mothers of our kings to be." The writer, as
the owner of property and occasional resident in many
of our great hives of industry throughout the land,
is unhappily able to corroborate the belief that the
unnatural (though indirect) crime of child murder,-
or child-quieting as it is called,-is very general in
places where female employment abounds. Many
writers show that factory hands quit their parents'
roof (if even they have ever known one) at a very
early age; and girls set up housekeeping at fifteen
years of age, and too often share their lot with lads
not much older-the offices of the church, chapel, or
Registrar having seldom intervened or been contem-
plated. "Trade is not brisk," we have said to fac-
tory chiefs, "yet I see you are advertising for hands."
"Oh! we have always a certain number going off
work to become mothers; or, if they have not let
their mode of living come to that condition of things,
they have shaken their constitutions in their efforts
to prevent it." As an agreeable contrast to this
fearful and almost national stigma, the writer would
here describe an interview he was once favoured
with by one of the principal manufacturers upon
the Continent. During an inspection of his exten-
sive works, conversation fell upon the above subject.
He said that the condition of things we have just
described also existed there when he succeeded his
father as head of the firm; and he had many diffi-
culties to contend with he would rather not explain
minutely, as our religious creeds differed, and his
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had something to do with the course he had taken.
Suffice it to say, when a factory girl was by her
elders discovered to be approaching maternity, she
was carefully advised,—and, though unmarried, she
was in due course allowed, - to bring her child,
and give to it her cares at certain intervals in a
kind of crèche, attended to by good women; the
children in course of time supplied the demand
for young and quick fingers needful upon delicate
machine work. "But do you not offer a danger-
ous premium?" was the natural observation of a
friend by whom we were accompanied. "That is
not the case, though it may seem so," said the
manufacturer; "for it has turned out that the uni-
versal respect given to all the girls who wait till a
fair age shall arrive before entering married life,
has done more for propriety than all the sermons
preached in favour of such a course. Perhaps,"
said our foreign friend, "the views of matrons and
virtuous women here have never been so strongly
expressed as in your country towards the fallen. I
mean the outward glance, if not actual words, say-
ing, 'Stand thou apart, I am holier than thou.' At
any rate, we shall now bear comparison with your
factory districts, either in the general matter of im-
morality or its consequences.
It is upon occasions when some sudden calamity
throws out of work a large number of our labouring
class, that one of the worst features of our poor-
law system is presented. The solemn direction of
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our National Church lays it down, that those whom
God had joined together no man should put asunder.
True, a Board is not a man, with a soul to be saved
or a body to be kicked; therefore, being almost be-
yond attack, it directs with impunity that father
and mother should be separated, if driven into the
workhouse, and the children taken from them,
except when the Board thinks it cheaper to have
an infant fed from nature's fount, and graciously
extends the privilege of temporary association be-
tween mother and child. It is this brutal outrage
upon the feelings of the honest and industrious
labourer that drives him to distant lands; and, as
we have found, none are so loud in expressions of
enmity towards England as these emigrants are
under their new citizenship. Why, you were born
in old England," we said to an emigrant who pos-
sessed an extraordinary amount of intelligence. His
language was something to the following effect:—
<<
"Yes, and I was very near dying there, for when
's works were stopped, they wanted me,
my missis, and kids to go into the Union and be
parted; and we should never have come out again,
for I know many a strong man there brought down
to be so weak that he wasn't no good to himself
nor to no one else; and emigration people wouldn't
take him and his lot out of a workus. England
is a werry nice place for them as is rich; but they
wants to get rid of us poor folk, who may come
upon the rates by sudden distress; and more than
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that, when the streets we town mechanics alone can
afford to live in becomes dangerous, or likely to be a
rookery as they call it, down it comes, to make way
for smarter houses, and we must emigrate or crowd
into some over-crowded place. Now, in the ship
that brought my little lot out, there were many
country-folk. What brings you here?' says I to
one of 'em; 'they ain't been and pulled your cottages
down? Yes they have,' says he. What for?' says
I. Why, you see, some people who had got sud-
denly rich came and bought the estate of the old
family; and as there was no park, they pitched us
out, and took our gardens in, and pulled down the
hedges to make a park; and they only left the old
church standing in the parish, except their Hall,
and some of the tombstones as says for two hundred
years or more that our people, from father to son,
have lived and died in the old village; so we took
the money they gave for our passage, and come out,
rather than be chucked into the union miles off,
before we could find other homes and work to do,
and work we was always willing to do, but would
starve rather than take to the workus.'"
We can fancy certain of our critics saying, Is all
this outcome due to the writer having come across
certain advertisements connected with an Indian
Famine? We give our answer in anticipation, and
say that the mission of this Essay has to do with
Publicity in every shape and form, and our news-
papers teem with announcements in favour of charit-
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able objects, and our library table is covered with
applications with a like purpose, therefore we con-
sider we are not out of order in referring thereto,
or to maintain that it is more from carelessness
than design so much distress is felt amongst the
poor, whom we would see relieved by local out-
door-relief committees, with a centralized council
for national objects, the whole to be supported by
voluntary contributions and in the manner we have
already sketched out.
In the year M. Guizot escaped with a “Mr. Smith'
who had long been an occupier of the Tuileries, we
attended a public dinner, presided over by the present
Premier of England; the dinner was given in favour
of a great metropolitan hospital, and the French
statesman, being one of the lions of the day, was in
due course trotted out for post-prandial performance.
In the course of his speech M. Guizot said, that
the puzzle our institutions usually presented to the
minds of foreigners like himself, was answered by
the words which were inscribed over the greater part
of the public buildings in England, and even more
abundantly than the words Liberté, Egalité, Frater-
nité, to be found on similar edifices in the country he
had hastily quitted. The English words were, "Sup-
ported by Voluntary Contributions." And in closing
this subject, at any rate so far as this work is con-
cerned, the writer would add, that if the suggestion
he has ventured to make finds favour in the earnest
minds of others, he shall be glad to receive their
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communications, addressed to the publishing office
of this Essay,* and in the hope that preliminary
steps may be taken to urge further inquiry so as
to deal with the harsh and un-English regulations.
created by the greatest curse modern legislation
has enforced upon perhaps the most generous and
charitable community upon the face of the earth.
* The modus operandi suggested for consideration of a new
voluntary system for out-door relief is to the following effect.
1stly. Inasmuch as the question proposed to be raised re-
presents the cause of common humanity, and is unsectarian
in nature, therefore it is a platform on which persons of every
shade of political opinion may meet in amity.
2ndly. A preliminary meeting in London should meet to draft
out a circular embodying the views of the promoters of the
movement for the out-door relief of the poor.
3rdly. A committee appointed for the purpose should prepare
a Permissive Bill, to be laid before Parliament (in the first in-
stance for England only); and such Bill should contain only one
compulsory clause, i.e., All vestry clerks should, immediately
after the passing of the Act, cause to be printed with other
parochial demands a claim of a penny or pence in the pound (as
the case may be, and assessed after the manner of the
poor rate)
in favour of a fund for out-door relief of the poor in the parishes
wherein the said vestry clerks are appointed to act; and only
those who shall pay such rate as aforesaid shall be entitled to
vote, or exercise any right under the said Act in respect to the
administration of out-door relief for the poor. And in order to
ascertain who are willing to be assessed in manner aforesaid, the
said vestry clerks shall, immediately after the passing of the said
Act, apply (in the manner aforesaid) for a rate of not less than
one penny in the pound, and upon ascertaining the result of such
application the said vestry clerks shall advertise, that a meeting
will on a stated day take place, when the payers of the rate for
out-door relief will elect a committee to exercise control, and
from time to time make rules for the distribution of the said rate;
that also a given number of the members of the said committee
should go out of office annually, and their names be offered for
re-election in the usual way.
X
CHAPTER X.
TRUSTING we may convince our readers that the
possession of patent rights (except where the Go-
vernment is concerned) much facilitates the oper-
ations of advertisers, we will take leave to quote
some signal instances of success, on the part of
patentees, from the pages of a little work, edited by
a friend of ours of thirty years' standing.*
"The
'faculty of invention," says the writer, "one of the
'noblest attributes of man, pre-eminently distin-
'guishes him from all other created beings: for they,
'animated by instinct, are unable to deviate from
'the ways of their progenitors; but man is perpetu-
'ally devising new modes and forms of action; and
'the more he invents, the more he seems capable of
'inventing. It is to the exercise of this faculty of
'the human mind that we owe our advanced state of
'civilization; without inventors we should still be
' in a state of semi-barbarism. Muirhead, in his Life
'of Watt, remarks: The respect which in all ages
'and countries has ever been paid to inventors seems
'indeed to rest on something more profound than
'mere gratitude for the benefits which they have
'been the means of conferring on mankind, and to
'imply, if it does not express, a consciousness that
by the grand and original conceptions of their
*"How to Make Money by Patents." By Charles Barlow.
London: E. Marlborough & Co.
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'minds they approach somewhat more nearly than
their fellows to the qualities and pre-eminence of a
higher order of being.' The dignity,' says Lord
Bacon, of this end of endowment of man's life
'with new commodity appeareth by the estimation
'that antiquity made of such as guided thereunto :
'for whereas founders of states, lawgivers, extir-
'pators of tyrants, fathers of the people, were
'honoured but with the titles of demigods, inventors
were ever consecrated among the gods themselves.'
'We have of late recognised the claims of inventors
to national honours in several living instances, and
this is better than awarding posthumous praise;
'but we are still backward in this respect, and the
'chief reward which an inventor can truly rely upon
is to be derived from a grant of LETTERS PATENT.
'
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"The gift of invention is indeed one of the most
'exalted attributes of man; and when we contrast
• modern civilization with the barbarism of savage
life, we must own that all the arts which minister
to our wants and conveniences we owe to inventors.
'But for them we should still paddle in canoes, grind
(
{
corn by the primitive hand-stones, cover our floors
'with rushes, and go to battle armed only with the
spear or cross-bow. All those arts which have
'placed conveniences and luxuries within the reach
of the poorest classes which were unattainable
'formerly even by the rich, are due to inventors.
6
• Neither has the art of war been slow to avail itself
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of the talents of the inventor. If the invention of
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'gunpowder, as we all know it did, completely re-
'volutionized the art, the ingenuity of inventors in
'the perfection of warlike instruments has effected
'almost as great a change since the days of Waterloo.
'If society has been benefited by the introduction of
steam, steam navigation, the paddle, screw, power-
'loom, the locomotive, the electric telegraph, the
'submarine cable, photography, and electro-plating;
war has been shortened and made more decisive by
the use of improved arms of precision-the Colt,
'Snider, needle-gun, chassepot, and Martini-Henry
'rifles, together with the Armstrong, Whitworth,
'Palliser, and Moncrieff ordnance, and by the in-
'troduction of a variety of powerful projectiles.
'The royal navy has been reconstructed several times
'since the days of Nelson, and owes still more to
'inventors than even the other branch of the service.
It is but a few years since the Admiralty timidly
'permitted the use of steam in the royal navy as an
auxiliary power.' Now, no ship is built to sail
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only, and it may be said that wind is the auxiliary
'power. Notwithstanding the adoption of armour-
'plating and of turret ships, the navy seems to invite
and demand still further efforts of inventive genius
'to solve problems which perplex the best of our
'naval architects and engineers. Much as we are
'indebted to inventors for the past and present,
England may be said to be absolutely dependent on
'them to maintain her position in the future. The
'power, pre-eminence, and wealth mainly acquired
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'by the inventions of Watt and Arkwright need to
'be replenished by further grand discoveries, or by
opening up new manufactures, otherwise it is to
'be feared this nation will enter upon an era of de-
cadence. Wealth and luxury, it is true, abound;
'but they abounded in the latter years of the Roman
"empire.
6
:
"In many of the manufacturing arts, wherein
'England for fifty years has been pre-eminent, such
progress has been made by Continental rivals,
many of whom have directed more attention to
'the technical education of the people than we have
'done, that we are outstripped in many branches
of trade. A few inventors, equal in the originality
' and usefulness of their ideas to those who flourished
in the latter part of the last century, would effect
'more good for the welfare of England than armies
' and navies can ever effect.
"Let us hope that this century will yet produce
'some further great improvements in the peaceful
'arts-in those arts which improve the dwellings of
'the peasant and add to his comforts, in those arts.
'which freight our ships to the uttermost parts of
the earth, and which profitably employ our super-
abundant population. These are the triumphs
'which may be gained by future inventors.
"
"If we do not, after the manner of the ancients,
'deify our Inventors, we occasionally award them
honours, and accord them the more substantial
reward of wealth. To Watt has been erected a
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'suitable monument in Westminster Abbey, with one
of the most appropriate epitaphs ever placed on a
tomb, written by Lord Brougham, and commencing
with these words: This monument was erected,
'not to perpetuate a name which must endure while
'the peaceful arts flourish, but to show that man-
'kind have learnt to honour those who best deserve
'their gratitude.' Fitting words in praise of one
'who, as Sir James Mackintosh said, must be
'placed at the head of all inventors in all ages.'
Three descendants of inventors sit at present in
'the House of Peers: Earl Dudley, a descendant of
'Dudley, an inventor in iron manufacture; Lord
'Foley, a descendant of Foley, another inventor
' in iron making; and Lord Belper, descended from
'Jeremiah Strutt, patentee of the stocking frame.
'Of Foley, who was one of the originators of the
'iron manufacture, the following story is told. He
'commenced life about two centuries ago as an
'itinerant musician at Stourbridge, and was fami-
liarly known as 'Foley the Fiddler.' Hearing that
'the Swedish ironmasters had a machine for slitting
'iron into bars, a process which in this country
was most laboriously performed by hand, and that
'the construction of this machine was a secret
'jealously guarded, Foley set off one morning on
'a bold and ingenious expedition. He fiddled his
way to Hull, worked his passage across to Stock-
'holm, and thence by the aid of his fiddle penetrated
'the Swedish iron district. Here, like a true dis-
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ciple of Orpheus, he so charmed the iron-workers
'that they admitted him to the very mills he had
gone expressly to see; and while his fingers were
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busy with the fiddle, his eyes and head were at
'work in mastering all the details of the machine.
In due time the long-lost fiddler again turned up
in Stourbridge, and by the prudent use of the
'secret he had thus steadily won he effected almost
'a revolution in the English iron trade, accumu-
'lated a large fortune, and founded a family.
6
"Two of the direct descendants of Arkwright
'sit in the House of Commons, to which, indeed,
numerous other inventors have been elected; and
'the Crown has recently bestowed honours on
'several distinguished inventors, notably on Wheat-
'stone, Cooke, Armstrong, Whitworth, Brown,
'Thomson, Ronalds, the two Fairbairns, Petitt
Smith, etc. If we investigate the history of the
'manufactures of this kingdom during the last 100
years, we shall find that the tendency of patents
'has been to foster and encourage art, and that
patentees, who are almost always identified with
'manufactures, have been highly successful and
largely remunerated by means of their patents.
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"Who have been more prosperous for years than
'machine-makers and engineers who design ma-
chinery for spinners and weavers?
How many
'almost fabulous fortunes have been gained in the
'cotton and cotton-printing manufactures, mainly,
if not absolutely, from patent inventions! Look
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'again at our mining industry and smelting trades:
what do they not owe to patentees? Before Watt
'made the steam-engine an effective power, most of
'our mines, more especially the Cornish, were inun-
'dated with water, which could not be pumped out,
and they had ceased to pay dividends; indeed,
many could not be worked. Watt's engines alone
' restored them to a paying condition. The great
'improvers of the manufacture of iron, which has
'been so profitable to the country, built up their
'fortunes on patents, and owe all their means to
'their patents. When Cort commenced his inven-
tion in furnaces for smelting and in rollers for roll-
ing iron, the make of iron in this country was not
more than 400,000 tons per annum (A.D. 1820),
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' while at the present time we produce over 4,000,000
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tons of pig iron per annum, an increase admittedly
due chiefly to the inventions of one man. The
'manufacture of steam-engines, stationary, locomo-
tive, and marine, entirely dependent on Patents,
'has enriched numerous patentees, whose names are
'known and appreciated in all parts of the habitable
'world. Self-acting tools, the creation of patents,
have been equally remunerative to their inventors.
'Chemical patents have proved not less beneficial
to manufacturers than profitable to their owners.
In such manufactures as soda ash, sulphuric acid,
'stearine, dyes, oils, etc., patentees have been highly
'successful. The most recent emanations of chemical
'science, the aniline dyes, have returned very large
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'profits to the patentees. Price's Candle Company,
'which is said to be the most extensive candle
'factory in the world, is also the largest holder of
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patents for treating stearine. The returns made by
'Young's Paraffin Company were stated on a trial
at law to be over half-a-million per annum. The
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carpet trade, again, has handsomely repaid paten-
tees, and it has largely availed itself of patent pri-
vileges: one firm has been known to secure upwards
'of fifty patents in one year. Among those patents
'which have confessedly made large returns to in-
'ventors may also be enumerated those for sheathing
'ships, for gutta-percha and india-rubber, for tele-
graphy, for submarine cables, for electro-plating,
'for railway plant, and railway signals. Conspicu-
ously remunerative also have been numerous patents
'for sewing-machines and for musical instruments.
'As showing the influence of patents on manufactures,
it may be noted that in the year 1700, when manu-
'factures here were at a low ebb, there were only two
English patents granted; in 1750 there were seven;
' in 1800, 96; in 1855, 2250; in 1863, 2523; in
1872, 2771 patents were sealed, and about 4000 ap-
plications for provisional protection were presented.
Since then the number has increased enormously.
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"The struggles of Palissy, the potter, in his en-
'deavours to discover a good vitreous enamel, have
'formed the theme for many a tale; how, in sheer
despair, he over and over again destroyed his fur-
naces, and commenced afresh his tedious labours.
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'Lombe risked his life when, in disguise, he visited
'the Italian silk factories, in order to acquire a know-
'ledge of silk-throwing machinery, which he after-
'wards introduced into this country with so much
advantage. Arkwright overcame difficulties suffi-
'cient to daunt the strongest will. He was only a
'poor country barber, and was compelled to neglect
his business in order to complete his models and
experiments. His wife became so exasperated by
his indifference to his legitimate business that, in a
'fit of passion, she destroyed all his models, which
'to him and to the world were of priceless value.
'Nevertheless, he persevered, and, despite all oppo-
sition, established the value of his ideas, and lived
'to become high-sheriff of his county, and to ac-
'cumulate an enormous fortune.
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"The ordinary modes of what is called 'making
'money' are, as we know, somewhat prosaic, al-
though safe. They involve the exercise of much
'industry, accompanied by integrity and persever-
'ance. The plodding tradesman who spends less than
'he earns, may, in the course of time, come to be a
capitalist. The foreman may, after a lapse of years,
come to be a master, and the steady apprentice may,
in due season, arrive at the stupendous dignity of
6 mayor of his native city. This is all as it should
'be, for in the ordinary course of life neither fame
nor fortune is to be acquired at a jump. Neverthe-
'less there are exceptional ways of acquiring a place
in the temple of fortune, whereby a man suddenly
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'finds himself enriched. Sometimes it is by means
' of an investment in mining shares, or by a fortunate
contract, or what is called a speculation in cotton,
'oil, or tallow. These and numerous other modes
' of acquiring wealth are more or less hazardous, and
are not comparable to the safe means by which the
'same end may be attained by a patent. For all the
'
ways above indicated depend on circumstances
'quite beyond the control of the investor or spe-
'culator, whereas a patentee has his expenditure
and his risk under his own control. To obtain any
'appreciable result in the one case, a man must
speculate with a considerable sum of money; by an
'expenditure of £50 or so on a patent an inventor
may, and frequently does, realize thousands of
'pounds. The privileges conferred by letters patent
are more frequently undervalued than overestimated
in this country. They practically involve the grant
of a monopoly for fourteen years, with the power to
'license the use of the invention to an unlimited
'extent. There is no other privilege known to the
'law of this nation which is so important. Neither
the Crown nor the Legislature can confer like privi-
'leges and advantages to any other person than to
'the patentee of an invention. If there be any
' analogous grant, it is that of an Act of Parliament
'for a railway company; and then the analogy is not
'complete, for every railway company is bound to
'permit any other company to make use of the line
upon specified terms. The patentee can impose
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'such terms as he pleases for the use of his inven-
tion, and is only bound to supply the Crown at
'reasonable prices. It is true he can force no one to
'make use of his invention, but he has only to show
'the advantages which must flow from its adoption
'to insure its being used. The force of competition
'is so great in trade in the present age, that when a
cheaper or a better way of manufacturing an article
can be shown, want of success must arise from want
of energy or tact. If wanting capital himself, a
patentee can generally call capital to his aid, pro-
'vided his invention possesses intrinsic and undeni-
'able value.
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Generally, then, it may be asserted, without fear
of contradiction, that patents are perhaps one of
'the safest means by which wealth may be acquired.
What to-day is a mere idea, a suggestion, a thought
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which, without protection, is at anybody's service,
'becomes to-morrow, by virtue of the grant, a pro-
'perty which none can invade with impunity, a
'property capable of returning even a princely in-
'come, and which may be enjoyed for fourteen years
'with the certainty that its results will reach far
'beyond that term; for whenever there is value in an
'invention, the good-will, so to speak, it brings to its
owner lasts long after the expiration of the term of
'the patent. Many, indeed it might be said nearly
´ all, of the most flourishing houses of business owe
'their origin and their continued prosperity to the
'fact that the founder was a patentee. When a
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'manufacturer acquires celebrity for a patent article,
'the public will continue to resort to his house long
after the expiration of the patent, even although
'competitors should arise in every direction, and that
'the goods are become common articles of trade. A
prestige appertains to the first manufacturer which
'invariably gives him pre-eminence over his rivals-
in this respect the value of a good patent is in-
'calculable. We may here remark that when a
'manufacturer, who had been successfully working
an invention, finds that his term of patent right is
'about to expire, he should, prior to the expiration
of the term, so improve, if possible, the process as
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to warrant his procuring another patent, and thus,
'although the market may be flooded with the origi-
'nal article, he will still alone possess the right to
manufacture the improved; and the fact of his
obtaining a fresh grant will in most instances pre-
'vent others from interfering with him. There may
'be instances when this course will not be practicable,
simply because the invention cannot be improved,
but this will rarely happen. Almost every process
' and nearly every machine or mechanical arrange-
'ment can be modified, if not absolutely improved,
' and this to an extent sufficient to bring it within
'the grasp of the patent law; while with most vend-
ible articles of merchandise it is always possible
"by the exercise of a little ingenuity to improve and
'better. Thus may be engrafted on the old stock a
'new shoot capable of bearing good fruit, and of flour-
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'ishing during at least another fourteen years, and
' in twenty-eight years' time, a manufacturer ought
'to be able to hold his own against all the world.
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Nothing succeeds like success.' When once a
patentee begins to be successful he will find its flow
'continuous and increasing. Mankind all the world
'over patronizes him who shows his talent by his
'works, and when the momentum of success is once
acquired, its impetus is ever in an increasing ratio.
"Whether or not the best inventions have origi-
'nated from persons external to the art to which
they are related may be an open question, but cer-
tain it is, many remarkable discoveries have been
'made by persons who had little or no previous
'knowledge of the subject. Watt was not educated
'as an engineer, but as a philosophical instrument
'maker. Arkwright, beyond residing in a manu-
'facturing town, had not the slightest connection
'with cotton machinery, being by trade a barber.
Neither Ratcliff, Crompton, Hargreave, nor George
'Stephenson were skilled in the trades in which they
'effected such vast improvements. The inventor of
'a grand improvement in calico printing was a com-
´mercial traveller. Lee and Cartwright, to whom
we are indebted for improvements in the manufac-
ture of lace and stocking webbing, were clergymen.
Singularly, the inventor of naval tactics as practised
'under the old régime was also a clergyman; Ber-
thollet, the inventor of bleaching by the use of
chlorine, was a physician; Henry Cort, the improver
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of iron manufactures, was a navy agent; Paxton
'was not an architect, but a gardener; Petitt Smith,
'who assisted greatly in the introduction of screw-
'propelling, was a farmer; Sir William Armstrong
'was originally a lawyer. In endeavouring to dis-
cover the reason why men, previously unacquainted
'with the theory and practice of an art, should be
' able to improve it, we must take into consideration
'the fact that invention may be the result of intuition,
' of induction, of experiment, or of accident. Some-
'times the mind of an inventor intuitively perceives
'what is required to render (say) a machine efficient.
"This happened when Watt discovered that the
'then ineffective 'fire' engine might be improved
by condensing steam in a separate cylinder. This
'happy idea was purely an intuitive one, which was
'afterwards proved to be sound by experiment and
' practice.
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Among the inventions born out of time and be-
'fore the world could make adequate use of them we
'can only find space to allude to a few, though they are
'so numerous that one is almost disposed to accept
'the words of Chaucer as true, that 'There is nothing
new, but what has once been old;' or as another
writer puts it, 'There is nothing new, but what has
'been before known and forgotten;' or in the words
' of Solomon, 'The thing that hath been is that which
'shall be, and there is no new thing under the sun.'
Friar Bacon, who flourished in the thirteenth cen-
tury, seems fully to have anticipated, in the follow-
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'ing remarkable passage, nearly all that steam could
accomplish, as well as the hydraulic engine and the
diving bell, though the flying machine remains to
be invented. 'I will now,' says the friar, men-
'tion some of the wonderful work of art and nature,
' in which there is nothing of magic, and which magic
'could not perform. Instruments may be made by
'which the largest ships, with only one man guiding
them, will be carried with greater velocity than if
they were full of sailors. Chariots may be con-
'structed that will move with incredible rapidity,
'without the help of animals. Instruments of flying
may be formed, in which a man sitting at his ease,
and meditating on any subject, may beat the air
with his artificial wings, after the manner of birds.
'A small instrument may be made to raise or depress
'the greatest weights, as also machines fed by com-
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pressed air which will enable men to walk at the
'bottom of seas or rivers without danger, and thus
'effectually deal with torpedoes.'
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"We may be supposed to have arrived at that stage
when the patentee may properly consider what are
'the best means he can adopt to bring a return, or
to make money,' out of his patent. Occasionally
'an inventor may be found who is animated by phi-
'lanthropic motives, or by the desire of acquiring
'fame; but in general in this, as in most other pur-
'suits in life, the chief stimulus to labour and exer-
'tion is the hope of acquiring, if not wealth, at least
'an adequate pecuniary reward.
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"Lord Beaconsfield, in one of his works, remarks,
"that the great secret of success in life is for a man
'to be ready when his opportunity comes'; and this
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applies with great force to the case of a patentee.
He should be prepared to seize an opportunity,
' and even to create one. And first of all he should
'properly appreciate his position, and endeavour to
'form an accurate estimate of the value of his inven-
tion. His position, he may bear in mind, is that of
'sole proprietor of a valuable property, a property
'as sacred in the eyes of the law as that of land
tenure, or any other prescriptive right; a property
capable of being subdivided to an unlimited extent,
'and of yielding returns, not merely remunerative,
'but absolutely lucrative. His position is similar to
'that of a man who possesses a rough diamond, which
needs judicious cutting and polishing; or it may be
'likened to that of the owner of a mine rich in ore,
'which awaits the skill and energy of the miner.
'Always assuming that his invention is really good,
he has in his own hands the carving out of his own
fortune. By the exercise of prudence, by energy,
‘and, above all, by means of that invaluable quality
'called 'tact,' he may attain results beyond even
the dreams of avarice: he is, however, in this re-
spect, the sole arbiter of his destiny; he alone has
any power to deal with the patent.
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"Not a few novices in patents fall into the error
' of demanding exorbitant prices for their merchan-
'dise they assert that there would be little advant-
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age in a patent did it not enable the owner to
'gain high profits. Certainly a higher profit than is
usually made in trade is due to the patentee, who
'is taxed for his privilege, and who has to incur
'heavy expenses in experiments, models, and trials.
'But sound policy will dictate moderation, and the
patentee will find it to his real interest to cultivate
'an extensive trade at fair and reasonable prices.
The effect of placing too high a price upon the
'articles is to prevent trial of them, and it should be
'the object of the patentee to promote by all means
' in his power a speedy demand.
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High prices invariably excite competition, in-
'fringement, and evasion, just as high fiscal duties
'invite smuggling. The frightful litigation respecting
'sewing-machines which occupied the courts of law
'for years, was solely caused by the excessively high
'prices required by patentees in the first instance,
' and there is little doubt they would have been the
' richer in the end if they had commenced with mode-
rate prices, notwithstanding that many of them
' recovered large amounts as damages at law.
'need scarcely be said the patentee must not hide his
light under a bushel. He must constantly keep his
name before the public. In these times advertising
'is all powerful, and the patentee must not fail in
this respect.
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"In addition to direct advertising, which, to be
permanently beneficial, must be systematically and
'constantly adopted, he may avail himself of that
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indirect mode of advertising which the press can
'offer him in the shape of articles and notices. If
'his invention be of a scientific character, he has
'ample means of effecting this object, for never were
there so many excellent journals published as there
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' are now.
"Persons about to purchase protected rights of
any kind, especially patents, which, rightly used,
' are productive of benefit both to the public and to
'patentees, are occasionally abused and made instru-
'ments for purposes of fraud and deception. In the
hands of designing and plausible men they may
readily be converted to illegitimate objects, and the
'injury thus done to ill-advised persons who become
'the victims of fraud is of a twofold character. It
'not only entails loss on the party so deceived, but,
so far as his influence extends, it is the means of
'preventing other persons from embarking capital in
· furtherance of bonâ fide projects; for when money
'is lost through investing it in a patent, which is
simply got up' to sell, the injured person takes
'his revenge by condemning in future all such invest-
'ments, and becomes a voice crying in the wilderness
against having anything to do with patented inven-
tions. Such patents are now and then taken, and
may be recognised from the extravagant promises
'of profit held out by the owners. If persons were
'to consult a patent agent before advancing money
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on any patent whatever, they would infallibly escape
'becoming the victims of unscrupulous men who put
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'forth inventions as a stalking-horse to cover their
designs on the pockets of their neighbours; and
'they would thus save themselves from very serious
consequences.
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“Patentees are frequently injured in business or
in reputation by dishonourable persons, who do not
scruple to counterfeit manufactures, or to apply
'the words, By Royal Letters Patent,' 'By Her
Majesty's Patent,' or simply Patent' to articles
' which never were the subject of any privilege, and
' when this is the case the patentee should put in
'force the provisions of the Merchandise Marks Act.
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"At the same time it may be well to caution
patentees, and persons who are proprietors of
'registered designs, that they have no lawful right
'to apply the word 'Patent,' or any other of similar
'import, or to use any mark importing registration
'after the expiration of Patent-right or Copyright
'under a design; and, as will be seen on reference to
'the Act, they by doing so render themselves liable
'to penalties. This Act of Parliament permits sum-
mary proceedings before Justices of the Peace to
' recover penalties, and is therefore a valuable im-
provement over Lord Brougham's Act (5 and 6
'William IV.). It is so common a practice, unfor-
'tunately, for traders to use the words Patent' or
"Registered' without warrant, that we think we do
patentees a service in calling their attention to the
'Act in question, by means of which they may readily
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protect their own interests."
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The Merchandise Marks Act was creditable to a
Parliament largely constituted of commercial men,
as it made it to be "a misdemeanour fraudulently
to copy any name, signature, word, letter, device,
emblem, figure, sign, seal, stamp, diagram, label,
ticket, or other mark of any other description, law-
fully used by any other person to denote any chattel,
or (in Scotland) any article of trade, manufacture, or
merchandise, to be an article or thing of the manu-
facture, workmanship, production, or merchandise
of such person," etc., etc. The complete Act, dated
7th August, 1862, can be bought for a few pence of
Messrs. Spottiswoode, the Queen's printer, near to
Fetter Lane, London. There also can be bought
another Act, which in general opinion is a discredit
to its authors; it is called "An Act to Establish a
Register of Trade Marks, dated 13th August, 1875."
The said Act required rules to be prepared by cer-
tain officials, who were to lay the same before both
Houses of Parliament at its next meeting (affording
one month for consideration); but being nobody's
business, it must be presumed that no one of im-
portance saw them, as few could be found to sanc-
tion, even by silence, the mass of red tape which
effectually strangles the benefits of the preceding
Act, and even the old custom of trade (by some
called the great unwritten law of England). These
rules (and much in the Act itself) create pit-falls in
all directions, consequently it requires skilled pro-
fessional aid to steer the footsteps of the unwary.
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This new department should be really called the
Office of "How-not-to-do-it," and we venture to
predict that its powers will be shortly improved
off the face of the statute book, that is to say when
its effects are sufficiently known. It is within
our personal knowledge that this office will take
the fees of an applicant, criticise his design or
chosen device, and even when the officials have
approved alterations made upon their own views
(given ex cathedra), as testified by calling upon the
applicant to proceed and to furnish this How-not-to-
do-it Office with a wood-block, or stereotyped cast-
ing, in order to record the said device or trade
mark, and though months had elapsed after such
practical approval in the case we refer to, and the
applicant had proceeded by printing and other works
to an outlay of one thousand pounds upon what he
believed to be his completed and registered trade
mark, yet he was suddenly compelled to lose this
sum, as the How-not-to-do-it Office had, notwith-
standing the practical approval, capriciously re-
solved to send back all the papers, to pocket the
fees, and exercise with impunity the dangerous
power officials have contrived to reserve in respect
to trade marks. The officials also refused compen-
sation; consequently the applicant must either sub-
mit to the cruel sacrifice thus unnecessarily and
arbitrarily occasioned, or sue the Crown, and every
one knows what that leads to.
The old unwritten law was a better state of things,
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for this last enactment has called into existence
several suits in Chancery which may last as long as
that of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, and produce the same
results. The legal-helps, as it is proposed to call
the future jackals for the Bar, whenever the millen-
nium shall arrive and the two existing branches of
the legal profession are blended, these and their
greater associates of the Bar will, as usual, no doubt
share the proverbial oyster, also the shells if any-
thing can be got for them. Firms hitherto content
to use the same trade mark subject to some local
trading distinction must, by this new law, fight
in Chancery to ascertain with whom the exclusive
right to the trade mark exists. Formerly a tanner
in Bermondsey used the goat under a pair of
compasses, a tinman at Birmingham, and a to-
bacco merchant at Bristol,-all these might with
security continue to use the device for their separate
trade marks; but now incalculable damage must
be done to two of the said interests because,
notwithstanding the fact that no confusion has
arisen, probably by reason of the difference in the
nature of avocations, their brands (perhaps cen-
turies old) must become practically valueless. A
recent decision of a learned judge has laid it down,
that an established brand is quite as vendible as a
lump of pure gold; to use his own words he had
known one such trade mark to be sold for many
thousands of pounds, a fortune in fact, therefore he
held, that the brand in the question then before,
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him should pass, like other assets, to the trustees
of the last possessor who had moved for its acquisi-
tion.
To be strictly in order, we should have first dealt
with trade marks for the formation or distinguishing
the kind of speciality so strongly recommended by
us, because such are far older as a custom than
protection derived by a patent; the latter of course
is quicker in result it is true, and the products to be
sold have in themselves a declared monopoly.
Trade marks are supposed to have originated with
the exposure of sign-boards. Hogarth, as we have
already explained, and older authorities, exhibit them
in sketches of ancient London. The origin of one
well known sign "the Bull and Mouth" is attribu-
ted to the time of King John, when the clergy largely
contributed towards forcing the signature to be given
to Magna Charta, and chiefly by fulminating the
Pope's Bull. Some who could paint a device at
that time became popular by painting over their
hostelries a monk from whose mouth proceeded cer-
tain words purporting to be those of the Pope's Bull.
Those traders who could not shape a device wrote
over their doorways the Bull and Mouth-piece; the
piece" subsequently dropped. As to the sign of
the Goat and Compasses, first referred to, that was
said to be derived from an old way of giving ex-
pression to the favourite motto, "God encompasses
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We shall show in the Appendix to this Essay the
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protection afforded under the Copyright of Designs
Acts (Useful and Ornamental), to many branches
of business which, from the nature of the brief
demand occasioned by changes of fashion, many
traders may with great advantage avail themselves
of the protection afforded under the said Acts.
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CHAPTER XI.
MAGNA CHARTA has been pronounced to be the great-
est of public advertisements, giving as it did, the
beneficent information, that irregular taxation should
cease, and merchants and people of lower degree
should not illegally, or at royal or feudal caprice, be
made liable to penalties; hence the germ or foun-
dation of a prosperous middle class in Old England,
encouraged by the protection thus instituted in
favour of commerce, whereof the coping-stone has
been, and will always be "publicity." Now after
the lapse of nearly seven hundred years, this
precious advertisement of freedom (the actual docu-
ment in fact) may still be seen in the British
Museum, by any orderly person, British-born or
not, as the case may be.
The readers of Scott's novel, "Kenilworth," will
find a pleasing account of some of the trading habits
and customs in England during the reign of Elizabeth,
and we would offer in addition thereto, a reprint of
The English Mercurie, a newspaper once believed to
have been published at the time the dreaded Spanish
Armada "did fright the isle from its propriety," or
rather did awake its courage. The journal is stated
to have been published on behalf of the Crown, to
authenticate the glorious news, through one Chris-
topher Barker, the Queen's printer, and for the en-
couragement of loyal volunteers, also to calm the
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anxiety of those whose age or sex alone prevented
their arming for the conflict. If the occasion per-
mitted, the writer of this Essay, as an old volunteer
officer, would say a word or two on the unwise
Governmental neglect of the volunteer force, espe-
cially upon the sea-board; and should it happen
that this country were threatened as it was by
the Armada, it may be found that a numerous fleet
of small craft with heavy guns and torpedoes, leav-
ing every bay or creek round "the sea-girt isles,'
would do more good service than all the huge iron-
clads now above or beneath the surface of the ocean,
or their whimsical constructors, can ever hope to
create, in order to protect the industrious and peace-
loving people of England. We are restrained from
offering to our readers a copy of The English Mer-
curie, one of the authorities at the British Museum
having denied the antiquity of the copies now in the
Library.
Following up our tracing of the origin of ad-
vertisements through the medium of journalism,
especially of subjects of a public nature, we reprint
part of a copy of The Weekely Newes, which was
distributed with the object of letting the nation.
become acquainted with the result and circum-
stances connected with "The Gunpowder Plot."
The paper omits altogether to describe any kind
of trading advertisements, and represents only its
own direct purpose and caution against plotters
against the Protestant faith.
A
332
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THE
Numb. 19.

WEEKELY NEWES.
London: Printed for JEFFREY CHORLTON, and are to be Sold at his Shop, at
the great North Door of St. Paul's; 1606.—MUNDAY, 31ST JANUARY, 1606.
A BRIEF DISCOURSE upon the Arraignment and Execu-
tion of the eight traytors-Digby, the two Winters,
Graunt, Rookewood, Keyes, Bates, and Johnson, alias
Guy Fawkes, four of which were executed in St. Paul's
Churchyard, in London, upon Thursday, the 27th last,
the other four in the Old Palace Yard, in Westminster,
over against the Parliament House, and with a relation
of the other traytors which were executed at Worster,
NOT
OT to aggravate the sorrow of the living in the shame of
the dead, but to dissuade the idolatrously blind from
seeking their own destruction, the following account is written of
the carrage of the eight papists herein named, of their little show
of sorrow, their usage in prison, and their obstinacy to their end.
First for their offence-it is so odious in the ears of all human
creatures that it could hardly be believed that so many monsters
in nature should carry the shapes of men-murder! Oh! it is
the crying sin of the world, and such an intended murder as, had
it taken effect, would have made a world to cry; and, therefore,
the horror thereof must needs be hateful to the whole world to
hear of it. My intent is chiefly to make report of the manner of
their Execution for after their apprehension in the country they
were brought up to London upon the appearance of their foul
treason before his Majesties most honourable Council, they were,
by their commandment, committed to his Majesty's Tower of
London, where they wanted, nothing that, in the mercy of a
Christian Prince, was thought fit, and indeed too good for so
unchristian offenders.
:
After the traytors went from the Tower by water, and came to
Westminster, before they came into the hall they made some
half-hour stay or more in the Star Chamber, wether being brought
and remaining till the Court was all ready to hear them. It was

Robert
Winter
Christopher John
Wright
Wright
Thomas Guido
Percy
Robert
Fawkes Cates by
Bates
Thomas
Winter
COPY OF AN OLD PRINT REPRESENTING THE CONSPIRATORS IN THE GUNPOWDER PLOT.
See reprint of part of a newspaper published in the reign of James I., page 332.
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strange to note their carriage even in their very countenances-
some hanging down the head as if their hearts were full of
doggedness, and others forcing a stern look as if they would "fear
death with a frown," never seeming to pray-unless it were by the
dozen upon their beads-and taking tobacco as if that `hanging
were no trouble.to them; craving mercy of neither God nor the
King for their offences, and making their conscience, as it were,
as wide of the mind, and to the very Gates of Hell to be the
cause of their Hellish courses to make a work meritorious.
Coming into the Hall, and upon the scaffold at the bar, they
all pleaded "not guilty," but they were all found "Guilty."
Digby-without craving mercy or favour of either God or the
King-made only five requests: That his wife might have her
jointure; his children the lands entailed by his father; his sisters.
their legacies in his hands unpaid; his debts paid; and for his
death, to be beheaded and not hanged.
Robert Winter, in like manner, thinking himself already have
a saint for his whole villainy, said little to any purpose, but only
made a request to the King for mercy towards his brother in
regard of his offence, as he said, “Through his only persuasion."
His brother said little, but, with a guilty conscience, swallowed up
a concealed grief with little show of sorrow for that time.
Graunt, stubborn in his idolatry, seemed nothing penitent for
his villainy, asked little mercy; but as it were, careless of grace,
received the doom of his desert.
Rookewood, out of a studied speech, would fain have made his
idolatry and bringing up an excuse for the foul deed, but he had
his judgment with the rest of the traytors. Now, after their con-
demnation and judgment they were sent to the Tower of London,
and when the day of execution arrived they were drawn upon
sledges and hurdles into Saint Paul's Churchyard, four of them—
namely, Everard Digby, the elder Winter, Graunt, and Bates.
First went up Digby, a man of goodly personage and a manly
aspect, but with vain and superstitious crossing of himself he
betook himself to his Latin prayers, mumbling to himself, refusing
to have the prayers of any but the Roman Catholicks, went up
the ladder, and, with the help of the hangman, made an end to
his wicked days in this world.
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After him Winter went up the scaffold, and staid not long for
his execution. Then came Graunt, who followed him, showing
how so bloody a religion can make such bloody consciences.
Then came Bates, and when he was hanged the Executioners
prepared to Draw and Quarter them; and when this was done.
the business of the day was ended.
The next day being Friday, were drawn from the Tower to the
Old Palace Yard in Westminster, Thomas Winter, Rookewood,
Keyes, and Fawkes. Winter went first up the scaffold, and pro-
tested that he died a true Catholick, with a very pale face and
dead colour, he went up the ladder, and, after a swing or two
with the halter, to the quartering block was drawn, and there
quickly despatched.
Next came Rookewood, who protested to die in his idolatry a
Roman Catholick, went up the ladder, hanging till he was almost
dead, then was drawn to the block, where he gave up his last
gasp.
Then came Keyes, who was so sturdy a villain that he would
not wait the hangman's turn, but turned himself off with such a
leap that he broke the halter with the swing; but after his fall he
was drawn to the block, and there he was divided into four parts.
Last of all came the great Devil of all, Guy Fawkes, alias
Johnson, who should have put fire to the powder. His body
being weak with the torture and sickness he was scarce able to go
up the ladder, yet, with much ado, by the help of the hangman,
went high enough to break his neck by the fall. He made no
speech, but with his crosses and idle ceremonies made his end
upon the gallows and the block, to the great joy of all beholders
that the land was ended of so wicked a villainy.
In the memorable letter to Lord Monteagle, sent
by one of the conspirators, and which led to their
discovery, the following words appear: "And think
But it will be
not lightly of this advertisement."
unnecessary to follow up this or other points so well
known to history, especially as to the mass of con-
jecture touching the motives of the criminals, which
:
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:
are fully dwelt upon by The Weekeley Newes, or the
speeches of counsel arrayed against them, or the
flowery language touching the sagacity of James I.;
in the latter respect all have been made fully ac-
quainted with its nature during that monarch's
reign, especially when reading the address published
in the Bible by its translators, who describe that
royal personage as the Sun of strength succeeding
that bright Occidental Star, Queen Elizabeth.
One of the first newspapers of importance con-
taining personal announcements, combined with
official intelligence, we take to be the London
Gazette, issued at the time of the Fire of London;
and in the latter part of the following selections
the journal may be perceived by our readers to
present an effort of certain burnt-out Aldermen to
acquaint the public of their new location:
THE LONDON GAZETTE.
Published by Authority.
From Monday, Septemb 3, to Monday, Septemp 10, 1666.
Whitehall, Sept. 8.
Τ
HE ordinary course of this paper having been interuppted
by a sad and lamentable accident of Fire lately hapned
in the City of London: it hath been thought fit for satis-
fying the minds of so many of His Majesties good Subjects who
must needs be concerned for the Issue of so great an accident,
to give this short, but true Accompt of it.
On the second instant, at one of the clock in the Morning,
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there hapned to break out, a sad in deplorable Fire in Pudding-
lane, neer New Fish-street, which falling out at that hour of the
night, and in a quarter of the Town so close built with wooden
pitched houses spread itself so far before day, and with such dis-
traction to the inhabitants and Neighbours, that care was not
taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of it, by pull-
ing down houses, as ought to have been; so that this lamentable
Fire in a short time became too big to be mastred by any Engines
or working neer it. It fell out most unhappily too, That a violent
Easterly wind fomented it, and kept it burning all that day, and
the night following spreading itself up to Grace-church-street and
downwards from Cannon-street to the Water-side, as far as the
Three Cranes in the Vintrey.
The people in all parts about it, distracted by the vastness of
it, and their particular care to carry away their Goods, many at-
tempts were made to prevent the spreading of it by pulling down
Houses, and making great Intervals, but all in vain, the Fire seiz-
ing upon the Timber and Rubbish, and so continuing it set even
through those spaces, and raging in a bright flame all Monday
and Teusday, not withstanding His Majesties own, and His
Royal Highness's indefatigable and personal pains to apply all
possible remedies to prevent it, calling upon and helping the
people with their Guards; and a great number of Nobility and
Gentry unwearidly assisting therein, for which they were requited
with a thousand blessings from the poor distressed people. By
the favour of God the Wind slackened a little on Teusday night
& the Flames meeting with brick buildings at the Temple, by little
and little it was observed to lose its force on that side, so that on
Wednesday morning we began to hope well, and his Royal High-
ness never despairing or slackening his personal care wrought so
well that day, assisted in some parts by the Lords of the Council
before and behind it that a stop was put to it at the Temple
Church, neer Holborn-bridge, Pie-corner, Aldersgate, Cripple-gate,
neer the lower end of Coleman-street, at the end of Basin-hall-
street by the Postern at the upper end of Bishopsgate-street and
Leadenhall-street, at the Standard in Cornhill at the church in
Fenchurch street, neer Cloth-workers Hall in Mincing-lane, at the
middle of Mark-lane, and at the Tower-dock.
t
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On Thursday by the blessing of God it was wholly beat down
and extinguished. But so as that Evening it unhappily burst out
again a fresh at the Temple, by the falling of some sparks (as is
supposed) upon a Pile of Wooden buildings; but his Royal High-
ness who watched there that vvhole night in Person, by the great
labours and diligence used, and especially by applying Powder to
blow up the Houses about it, before day most happily mastered it.
The London Gazette then amplifies the above
announcement, and gives what it calls a "Farthur
Account of this Lamentable Fire." It also imputes
its origin to the treachery of Foreigners and
Papists,-witness the inscription of popular feeling
which for years appeared chased upon the pedestal
of the Monument, erected on the spot where the
fire commenced, and as Pope said,-
"Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies."
The London Gazette much be-praised the King, the
Duke of Albemarle (who made him king), the Lords
of Council, and the Lord Mayor for their exertions
during the fire. It describes the sufferings of those
driven to camp out in the fields (happily it was then
September), and it concludes with a summary and
the advertisements herewith described.
The following list of buidings destroyed in this terrible disaster
hath been taken :-
13,200 Houses
87 Churches
6 Chapels
The Royal Exchange
The Custom House
Jail at Newgate
Three City gates
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The Guildhall and
Four Bridges.
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Edenburg Aug 29 Scarce a day passes vvherein some Prizes
are not bough in by our Privateers, amongst the rest one of them of
six guns has lately siesed on a very rich Prize` laden vvith Spices
bound for Denmark, and in her (as 'tis said) a Natural Son of the
King of Denmark.
Southwold Sept 2 A French vessel called the Hope of Quelle
boeuf, laden vvith 1750 firkins of Butter and 400 Pigs of Lead
vvas put ashore about a league to the south-ward of this Town,
and split in pieces; but the Goods are most of them saved and
preserved for the owners, it being one of those vessels that
bought over the Lord Douglas' Regiment and vvas permitted to
lade home.
:
Plymouth Sept. 2. Yesterday arrived here Ostenders laden
vvith salt &c. from Rochelle, from vvhence they came the 16 of
August last, and report the D. de Beaufort vvas then in there with
his Fleet of about 40 sayl, great and small, Men of War and Fire-
ships, vvhereof 3 Dutch; and vvere making all the preparations
they could for the Sea, but their going out was uncertain.
Pendennis Sept 3. On Friday morning arrived here La Signoria
de la Gratia, a Venetian Vessell, hired by Mr Abraham Walwynn,
who laded Currans and Oyle at Zanti and Gallipoli, and vvere
bound for London; by the vvay the Venetians, Maltesians, and
other Italians vvith vvhom she was mann'd designed the destruc-
tion of the Merchant and those belonging to them; intending
afterwards to carry off the ship vvith its fraight; and in execution
of their purpose had fallen upon the Merchant vvhom they
vvounded in several places, and had undoubtly kill'd him, but
that Captain Lucy in the Victory, a Privateer, came by providence
to its rescue, and seizing their principals secured them from
from further attempts.
Weymouth Sept 3. On the first instant a small French vessel
vvith Ballast, taken by one of our Frigots, vvas sent in hither and
by the vvay ran on ground in the storm, but by the assistance of
several persons she got off, being robb'd vvhilst she lay there of
all her Rigging Sayles, and Tackle.
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Dublin Aug 28. On the 25 instant his Grace the Lord Lieu-
tenant came safe to Kilkenny, intending from thence to visit all
the most considerable places in Munster. The Lord Chancellour
is vvell recovered, and vvas yesterday abroad and intends speedily
to follow. All countries are in very good order, the Toryes no
more heard of, and the Militia is generally settled in a very good
posture.
Norwich September 5. The account of our Bill of Mortality for
this last week runs thus, buried of all Diseases 162. Whereof of
the Plague 147. Besides at the Pest house 12.
Portsmouth Septemb 7. Yesterday, his Grace the Lord General
passed hence for London, leaving the Fleet refitted after the late
Storm ready to put to Sea again vvith the first fair vvind.
Notice is hereby given, That Sir Robert Viner is now settld in
the Affrican house near the middle of Broard-street London,
where he intends to manage his affairs (as formerly in Lumbard-
street) having by the good providence of God been entirely preserved
by a timely and safe removal of all his concerns, almost twenty-four
hours before the furious fire entered Lumbard-street.
Also Alderman Meynell, and Alderman Backwell, with divers
others of Lumbard Street, being likewise preserved in their estates, do
intend to settle in a few daies in or near Broard Street.
THE
'HE General Post-office is for the present held at the two Black
Pillars in Bridges Street, over against the Fleece Tavern,
Covent Garden, till a more convenient place can be found in London.
Royal Charles in St. Helen's Road, Sept 2. On the 30th past,
by six in the morning, our Fleet weighed Anchor at Sole Bay, but
it proving a calm, and the tide against us, we were forced to come
again to an Anchor before we had made a league of vvay, and so
rid that day without farther intelligence of the Enemy.
The 31 by 7 in the morning we were under sayl, and stood a
course towards the Long-sand-head, till about II at noon, when
off Balsey Cliffe, we discovered the Enemy bearing S. and by E,
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whereupon we steered S. E., being assured by our Pilots to be
clear of the Galopes, but yet we past not so well, but that this
Ship struck upon the sand, but was so fortunate to get off again
without prejudice: Which stop brought us into better order to
steer after the Enemy with the White Squadron in the Van and
the Blew in the Rear, till 12 at night, keeping the Wind, at which
time we guess the Dutch were tacked, seeing them neer us, and
some of our sternmost ships and the Enemy firing, which made us
tack also and stand to the northward.
Sept I. We saw the Vice-Admiral of the Blew to the Leeward
with some few ships, and finding the Dutch were gone away from
us towards Calais, we stood a Course after them, and found some
of them merely Anchored, and others standing in, but at our
approach they all got Under sayle, and stood for Bullogne Road,
haling in close to the shore, being sure to weather us if we pass
the Point, the Wind then E. by N. and E.N.E. as much as we
could carry our Topsails half-mast high: Whereupon we lay by
short of the place till all our Fleet came up; but then the storm
growing greater, and having no hopes, by reason of the ill-weather,
of attempting further upon the enemy; who durst not adventure
out of the shelter of the shoar. It was found best to lay bye and
bring the Fleet together, and the next day to betake ourselves to
St. Helen's Bay-the place appointed for our Rendezvous, as the
most proper station to hinder the Enemies conjunction with the
French, we being ready with the first fair wind to seek out the
enemy.
In the storm two of our ships struck upon the Riprap Sands
viz. the Andrew and the Happy Return, but we got well off again;
The rest of our Fleet in good condition. What loss the enemy
sustained by the storm we know not, only we are assured, they
were forced to blow up one of their greatest ships; another a
Flagship wholly disabled was seen driving before the vvind, and
that several others of them were much damnified and disabled;
and of the rest four vve could see run upon the Sands, and with
great difficulty got off again.
Dover Sept 8 This afternoon the Dutch Fleet weighed from
Bullen Road, and are now standing towards their own coast.
London
Printed by Tho. Newcomb. 1666.
;
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341
In respect to books and printers from the time
of Caxton's press to that of Thomas Hacket, we have
the enumeration of 2926 books in Dr. Dibdin's
work. The "Typographical Antiquities" of Ames
and Herbert comes down to a later period. They
recorded the names of three hundred and fifty prin-
ters in England and Scotland, or of foreign printers
engaged in producing books for England, that
flourished between 1474 and 1600.
The same
authors have recorded the titles of nearly 10,000 dis-
tinct works printed during the same period. Many
of these works, however, were only single sheets.
In describing a few of the newspapers published
subsequent to and about the period of Mercurius
· Domesticus (the subject of our photograph), we
would again call attention to the remarkable fond-
ness of publishers for Mercury in some shape or
form, especially in association with some other word,
either in English or Latin, and thus to form a dis-
tinctive title for their journals.
The Continuation of our Weekely Avisoes.
This was probably the first newspaper printed in
Great Britain. It originally appeared in 1622, and
was brought out by Nathaniel Butter.
"If any gentleman or other accustomed to buy
the weekly relations of newes be desirous to con-
tinue the same, let them know that the writer, or
transcriber rather, of this newes, hath published two
former newes, the one dated the 2nd and the other
the 13th of August, all of which do carry a like title
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with the arms of the King of Bohemia on the other
side the title page, and have dependance one upon
another; which manner of writing and printing he
doth purpose to continue weekly by God's assist-
ance, from the best and most certain intelligence:
farewell, this twenty third of August, 1622."
The earliest newspaper systematically illustrated
was the Mercurius Civicus, the first number of which
appeared on the 2nd of June, 1643. No 11 contains
a portrait of the King and an engraving of a new
weapon called the "Round-head." The first news-
paper, however, containing an illustration was the
Weekeley Newes of the 20th of December, 1638,
which has an account of a "prodigious eruption of
fire, which exhaled in the middest of the Ocean Sea,
over against the Isle of Saint Michael, one of the
Terceras, and the new Island which it hath made."
The illustration shows "the island, its length and
breadth, and the places where the fire burst out."
Mercurius Britanicus. No. 82. May 12th, 1645.
"This was the most successful of the Parliamen-
tary prints. Each number contains plenty of abuse
of Aulicus, the King's newspaper. Mercurius Bri-
tanicus was written by Marchmont Needham, who
was originally an attorney's clerk. The Parliament
not having rewarded him according to his own esti-
mation of his merits, he, in 1648-9, brought out
Mercurius Pragmaticus in the King's interest. For
this he was thrown into the Tower, and only re-
gained his liberty by promising to write the Mercurius
}
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343
He
Politicus in the interest of the Independents.
subsequently wrote the official Weekly Intelligence, but
was dismissed from the post in 1659. He then went
abroad, but obtained a pardon at the Restoration."
Mercurius Aulicus. April 9, 1643.
"This paper was commenced on the 1st of January,
1642, at Oxford, the King and his court being resi-
dent there. The Court Mercury was written by Sir
John Birkenhead. After the surrender of King
Charles by the Scots to the Parliament, numerous
Royalist newspapers sprang into existence. They
were in all cases secretly printed.”
Mercurius Elencticus.
..
"In No. 54 (December 6, 1648) we read of a pro-
posal that honourable and victorious Fairfax or
Cromwell' be elected king, in whom dwelleth the
spirit of Truth, Meekness, and Holiness.' In No.
55 (December 12, 1648) it is stated that St. Paul's
Cathedral is filled with hay, horses, etc. In No. 57
(December 26, 1648) we read that the House re-
solves that liberty of conscience be granted to all,
even though they be Papists and Episcopalians. In
No. 59 (January 9, 1648-9) there is a record of an
'awful judgement' which happened to one of the
'saints' whilst teaching his horse to walk up the
steps into St. Paul's Cathedral. The horse fell over,
and the trooper was killed."
6
"Severall Proceedings in Parliament. No. 102.
September 11, 1651. Printed at London for Robert
Ibbitson, dwelling in Smithfield, near Hosier Lane."
344
66
PUBLICITY."
"This paper contains two despatches from Crom-
well to Mr. Speaker Lenthall, describing that 'crown-
ing mercy,' the Battle of Worcester, fought on the
3rd September, 1651. The watchwords of the Par-
liamentary soldiers were the same as at the Battle of
Dunbar fought exactly one year before, 'The Lord
of Hosts,' Isaiah li. 15. It also contains lists of
the prisoners, commencing with the Duke of Hamil-
ton, and a proclamation against Charles Stuart,
offering £1000 for his capture."
"Mercurius Democritus, or a True and Perfect
Nocturnall, communicating many strange Wonders
Out of the World of the Moon, the Antipodes,
Maggy-Land, Tenebris, Fary-land, Greenland, and
other adjacent Countries. Published for the right
understanding of all the Mad-Merry People of Great
Bedlam. No. 80. November 2, 1653."
“The earliest facetious newspaper.
وو
Mercurius Politicus. No. 579. July 21, 1659.
"The House of Commons votes £29,640 in pay-
ment of the debts of Richard Cromwell, son of the
late Lord Protector.'
99
Mercurius Publicus. No. 47. November 22, 1660.
“Disbandment of the army.
6
,,
"On the 31st August, 1663, Roger l'Estrange
was appointed Surveyor of the Printing Presses
and Licenser of the Press.' Twenty years pre-
6
viously Roger l'Estrange was under sentence of
death in the Tower, and his life was saved only by
Prince Rupert threatening to retaliate on some
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345
soldiers of the Parliament whom he had taken
prisoners. The liberty of the press was virtually
destroyed by Roger's appointment, and no
and no new
paper could appear without a licence. In January,
1664, l'Estrange started a paper, which was pub-
lished twice a week. The Monday edition was called
The Intelligencer, and the Thursday edition was
named The Newes. This paper was published
'with privilege;' but towards the close of 1665,
Roger was out of favour; he lost his appointment,
and The London Gazette took the place of his paper."
The Ladies' Mercury. No. 2. March 6, 1693. 2pp.
"In No. 1 it says:- We shall make it our study
to avoid even the least offensive syllable that may
give any rude shock to the chastest ear. We de-
clare ourselves such Religious Homagers of Vertue
and Innocence that we would not force a Blush into
a Virgin Cheek, having that true value for Beauty,
as to adorn it with no other Vermilion but its own.'
Notwithstanding these elaborate assurances of pro-
priety, the paper is grossly immoral."
The Jovial Mercury. No. 2. March 3, 1692. 2 pp.
Among the subjects discussed in this number is
the following:- Whether at the Skip of a Flea the
Earth is mov'd out of its Center ?' It is decided
in the affirmative."
The Tatler. 1710.
"This paper was written by Addison and Steele,
the latter being the principal contributor. It was
very successful, and brought into existence numerous
:
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PUBLICITY.
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imitations, among them the Tell-Tale, the Tory Tat-
tler, the Tattling Harlot, and the Female Tattler, by
Mrs. Crackenthorpe, A lady who knows every-
thing.' It was discontinued, however, and made
room for the Spectator."
The Spectator. 1712.
"This famous newspaper, of which 638 numbers
appeared, met with the most extraordinary success.
Addison wrote 274 of the essays, Steele contributed
240, and the remainder were furnished by various.
writers.'
""
The Public Advertiser. June 9, 1764.
"This paper originally appeared, in 1726, as the
London Daily Post and General Advertiser. In 1742
its first title was dropped, and it became known as
the General Advertiser. Again, in 1752, it under-
went another change of name, and was styled the
Public Advertiser. It was rendered famous by the
appearance of the letters of Junius in its columns,
and on account of the controversy which has since
taken place with regard to their authorship. These
letters extended over a period of three years, com-
mencing with the 21st of January, 1769."
The North Britain. No. 218. Price 2d. 4 pp.
"This paper was established by John Wilkes,
assisted by John Churchill and Lord Temple, in op-
position to Dr. Smollett's paper, the Briton. In
No. 45, the king was charged with falsehood in his
speech on the opening of Parliament in 1762.
Wilkes was arrested for this, and thrown into the
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Tower; and the House of Commons ordered ‘No.
45' to be burnt by the common hangman in Cheap-
side. The Wilkes and Liberty' riots, the actions
instituted by Wilkes and his printer and publisher
on account of their illegal arrest, and the frequent
elections of Wilkes for the City of London and the
County of Middlesex, caused intense public excite-
ment for a lengthened period."
There are several copies of newspapers before us
of various dates between the period of the publica-
tion of the Mercurius Domesticus (photographed
and appearing in earlier pages), and that which the
author of "Babylon the Great" dealt with fifty-
three years ago, but there is very little of special
interest in the several journals, or at least of
sufficient importance (for the purposes of this
Essay) as to need our dwelling thereon; we will
make exception however to the following:-The
Times (October 3rd, 1798), covers its first of four
pages with twenty advertisements without the
slightest classification; it has only twelve additional
advertisements on its fourth page, and the other
pages are almost entirely filled-with an account of
the Battle of the Nile thus officially announced.
ADMIRAL NELSON'S VICTORY.
The official news of the GLORIOUS VICTORY obtained by
Admiral Nelson over the French Fleet, near Rosetta, arrived
at the Admiralty yesterday morning at a quarter past eleven
o'clock. It was brought by the Hon. Captain Capel, one of
Lord Essex's sons, and lately made master and commander
:
1
348
f
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PUBLICITY.
:
into the Mutine cutter, from the Admiral's flag-ship.
He was
detained at Naples one day, owing to some necessary ceremonies
of Quarantine. The Park and Tower guns, and the merry peals
of the bells from the steeples of several churches, soon anounced
this happy news to the public. Lord Spencer wrote official
information of it to the Lord Mayor; and Mr. Winchester, the
messenger, was sent off express to the King at Weymouth, in
order that his Majesty might learn the glad tidings before he
went to rest. Yesterday evening the following Gazette Extra-
ordinary was published:--
LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY.
Admiralty Office, Oct. 2.
The Hon. Captain Capel, of his Majesty's sloop Mutine,
arrived this morning with despatches from Rear-Admiral Sir
Horatio Nelson, K.B., to Evan Nepean, Esq., Secretary of the
Admiralty, of which the following are copies :-
"Vanguard, Mouth of the Nile, Aug. 7.
"SIR,-Herewith I have the honour to transmit you a copy of
my letter to the Earl of St. Vincent, together with a line-of-
battle of the English and French squadrons, also a list of killed
and wounded. I have the pleasure to inform you, that eight of
our ships have already top-gallant yards across, ready for any
service; the others, with the prizes, will soon be ready for sea,
In an event of this importance, I have thought it right to send
Captain Capel with a copy of my letter (to the Commander-in-
Chief) over land, which I hope their Lordships will approve; and
beg leave to refer them to Captain Capel, who is a most excel-
lent officer, and fully able to give every information; and I beg
leave to recommend him to their Lordships' notice.
"Evan Nepean, Esq."
I have the honour to be, &c.,
"HORATIO NELSON.
"P.S.-The Island I have taken possession of, and brought off
the two 13 inch mortars, all the brass guns, and destroyed the
iron ones."
A similar description of the appearance of The
Times might be given of its issue on November
66
349
PUBLICITY."
7th, 1805, except as regards the news it contained,
such having regard to the Battle of Trafalgar,
fought the 21st of the previous month, and its
account of the death of the hero of that day.
LONDON,
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1805.
The Publication to the Newsmen finished this morning at half-past
seven.
The official account of the late naval action, which terminated
in the most decisive victory that has ever been achieved by
British skill and gallantry, will be found in our paper of this
day. That the triumph, great and glorious as it is, has been
dearly bought, and that such was the general opinion, was
powerfully evinced in the deep and universal affliction with
which the news of Lord NELSON's death was received. The
victory created none of those enthusiastic emotions in the public
mind, which the success of our naval arms have in every former
instance produced. There was not a man who did not think
that the life of the Hero of the Nile was too great a price for the
capture and destruction of twenty sail of French and Spanish
men-of-war. No ebullitions of popular transport, no demonstra-
tions of public joy, marked this great and important event. The
honest and manly feeling of the people appeared as it should
have done; they felt an inward satisfaction at the triumph of
their favourite arms; they mourned with all the sincerity and
poignancy of domestic grief their Hero slain.
To the official detail we are enabled to add the following
particulars respecting the death of as great an Admiral as ever
wielded the Naval thunder of Britain. When Lord NELSON
found that by his skilful manœuvres he had placed the enemy in,
such a situation that they could not avoid an engagement, he
displayed the utmost animation, and with his usual confidence of
victory he said to Captain HARDY, and the officers who sur-
rounded him on the quarter-deck, "Now they cannot escape us;
I think we shall at last make sure of twenty of them. I shall
probably lose a leg, but that will be purchasing a victory
.
350
'PUBLICITY.'
cheaply." About two hours before the close of the action his
Lordship received a wound in the shoulder from a musket ball,
which was fired from the tops of the Santisima Trinadada, with
which ship he was closely engaged. The ball penetrated his
breast, and he instantly fell; he was immediately carried below,
and the surgeons pronounced the wound mortal. His Lordship
received the intelligence with all the firmness and pious resigna-
tion to the will of Divine Providence, of which he has given such
frequent and signal examples during his brilliant course of peril
and of glory. He immediately sent an Officer to Admiral
COLLINGWOOD, the second in cómmand, with his instructions for
continuing the action which he had so gallantly commenced, and
the melancholy bequest of his last farewell.
During the short interval between his receiving the wound
and his final dissolution he remained perfectly collected display-
ing in his last moments the heroism that had marked every
action of his glorious life. In that trying moment, cut off from
nature and from glory's cause, all his anxiety, all his thoughts,
were directed to his country and her fame.
A few minutes before he expired he sent for Captain HARDY;
when the Captain came he inquired how many of the enemy's
ships had struck. The Captain replied that, as nearly as he
could ascertain, fifteen sail of the line had struck their colours.
His Lordship then, with that fervent piety which so strongly
marked his character, returned thanks to the Almighty; then
turning to Captain HARDY he said, "I know I am dying. I
could have wished to have survived to breathe my last upon
British ground, but the will of God be done!" In a few
moments he expired.
晨
​If ever there was a man who deserved to be "praised, wept,
and honoured" by his country, it is Lord NELSON. His three
great naval achievements have eclipsed the brilliancy of the
most dazzling victories in the annals of English daring. If
ever a hero merited the honours of a public funeral and a
public mourning, it is the pious, the modest, and the gallant
NELSON the darling of the British Navy, whose death has
plunged a whole nation into the deepest grief, and to whose
talents and bravery even the enemy he has conquered will bear
testimony.
}
66 PUBLICITY."
351
The principal Theatrical advertisement of that
day, and the following anecdote, may be interest-
ing:-
!
THE TIMES.
*
THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.
THIS EVENING, VENICE PRESERVED.
Jaffier (1st time), Mr. C. Kemble; Pierrie (1st time), Mr. Kemble; Belvidera,
Mrs. Siddons.
After the play will be presented a Loyal, Musical Impromptu, called
NELSON'S GLORY.
The principal characters by-Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Incleden, Mr. Hill, Mr.
Taylor, Mrs. Atkins, Mrs. Margerum, Mrs. Martyr, Miss Tyrer. To conclude
with a Representation of the late Triumphant Naval Engagement, fought on
the 21st October, 1805.
To which will be added, the QUAKER.
The Bravo of Venice will be repeated every evening till further notice.
To-morrow, Wild Oats.
(C
LORD NELSON'S LAST MOMENTS.
When Lord NELSON was shot, and was yet in the arms of the
men who were supporting him, his eye caught the tiller rope,
which was unusually slack; he exclaimed, with much emphasis
Tighten that rope there!" an eminent proof that his pro-
fessional ardour still survived the brilliancy of the flame of life
When he saw his Secretary and his friend, Mr. Scorт thrown
overboard, uncertain of the disfigurement of the wound and the
confusion of the fight whether it was him or not, he inquired,
with affectionate ardour-" Was that poor Scott?" An impres-
sion seems to be made on Lord NELSON, for as the men were
carrying him down to the cockpit he said-"Don't let me be
thrown overboard; tell Hardy to carry me home."
A man was so completely cut in two by a double-headed shot,
that the whole of his body, with the exception of his legs up to
his knees, was blown some yards into the water; but, strange to
tell, his legs were left standing on the deck with all the firmness
and animation of life!
2
352
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PUBLICITY.”
A midshipman of the name of PRICE, was brought into the
cockpit, with his leg cut off up to the calf: he was an heroic youth
of 17. The surgeons could not attend him at the moment. He
drew out a knife, and cut off a piece of flesh and the splinter of
the bone with great composure. "I can stay," said he; "let me
doctor myself." When the surgeon attended him, it was found
necessary to amputate above the knee. He submitted to the
operation without a groan. "It is nothing at all," he said; "I
thought it had been ten times worse."
The appearance of The Times in respect to the
arrangement of news and advertisements continued
for a short time after the Battle of Waterloo,
a wonderful description of which event was given
in the report written on the field of battle by the
Duke of Wellington, and published in the number
of June 22nd, 1815. This report occupies about
one page, and the following is an extract from the
leading article which like the preceding editorial
reference, touching the battle of Trafalgar, exhibits
a power of description which has secured for The
Times, not only the commendations given to it by
the author of "Babylon the Great," but has neces-
sarily offered for many years large attraction for
readers, and that which is perhaps more apposite
for the purposes of this work, it forthwith assumed
to be one of the most valuable of the media for
public advertisements.
"PUBLICITY."
353
"
:
THE TIMES.
LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1815.
OFFICIAL BULLETIN.
“DOWNING STREET, June 22 1815
"The Duke of WELLINGTON's Dispatch, dated, Waterloo, the
19 June, states, that on the preceding day BUONAPARTE attacked,
with his whole force, the British line supported by a corps of
Prussians; which attack, after a long and sanguinary conflict,
terminated in the complete Overthrow of the Enemy's Army,
with the loss of ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY pieces of CAN-
NON and TWO EAGLES.
During the night, the Prussians under Marshal BLUCHER, who
joined in the pursuit of the enemy, captured SIXTY GUNS,
and a large part of BUONAPARTE'S BAGGAGE. The allied
armies continued to pursue the enemy. Two French Generals
were taken.
Such is the great and glorious result of those masterly move-
ments by which the Hero of Britain met and frustrated the
audacious attempt of the Rebel Chief. Glory to WELLINGTON, to
our gallant Soldiers, and to our brave Allies! BUONAPARTE'S
reputation has been wrecked and his last grand stake has been
lost in this tremendous conflict. TWO HUNDRED AND TEN
PIECES OF CANNON captured in a single battle, put to the
blush the boasting column of the Place de Vendome. Long and
sanguinary, indeed, we fear, the conflict must have been; but
the boldness of the Rebel Frenchmen was the boldness of despair
and conscience sate heavy on those arms which were raised
against their Sovereign, against their oaths and against the
peace and happiness of their country. We confidently antici-
pate a great and immediate defection from the Rebel cause.
We are aware that a great part of the French nation looked to
the opening of this campaign with a superstitious expectation
of success to a man, whom, though many of them hated, and
many of them feared all had been taught to look on as the first
captain of the age. He himself went forth boasting in his
strength, and still more in his talents. He had for many years
A A
·
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PUBLICITY."
ridiculed CARNOT's plan of a Northern campaign, and had openly
avowed at Paris his intention to break through the Allied
Armies, instead of moving round both their flanks. With as
little reserve had he declared that he would open the campaign
on the Meuse and Sambre. In short, by a refinement in finesse.
he had exposed his true plan imagining that nobody would be-
lieve that such was his real intention. We do not deny that his
plan might have been one of considerable ability; but he did
not take into the account that he was to be opposed by abilities
superior to his own. That unpalatable truth his vanity would
not allow him to believe nor would it easily find credit with his
admirers; but the 18th of June we trust, will satify the most
incredulous. TWO HUNDRED AND TEN PIECES OF
CANNON! When, where, or how is this loss to be repaired?
Besides, what has become of his invincible Guard, of his ad-
mired and dreaded cuirassiers? Again we do not deny that
these were good troops; but they were encountered by better.
We shall be curious to learn with what degree of coolness, of
personal courage and self possession, BUONAPARTE played his
stake, on which he must have been well aware that his preten-
tions to Empire hung. It is clear that he retreated; nor are we
prepared to hear that he fled with cowardice; but we greatly
suspect that he did not court an honourable death. We think
his valour is of the calculating kind, and we do not attribute his
surviving the abdication at Fountainebleau entirely to magna-
nimity.
To the Officiol bulletin we have as yet little to add. The
dispatches, we understand, was brought by Major PERCY, Aide
de Camp to the Duke of WELLINGTON; and we have heard but
we hope the statement is premature, that among the British
slain was that gallant and estimable officer Sir THOMAS PICTON.
But whoever fell on this glorious day cannot have fallen in vain.
The fabric of rebellion is shaken to its base. Already we hear
numerous desertions have taken place from the Rebel standard;
and soon, it is to be hoped, the perjured wretches NEY and DES-
NOUETTES, and EXCELMANS, and LALLEMAND and LABEDOYERE and
their accomplices in baseness and treason, will be left alone as
marks for the indignation of Europe and just sacrifices to in-
sulted French honour.
६
(
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PUBLICITY.”
I
Those who attended minutely to the operations of the Stock
Exchange yesterday, was pursuaded that the news of the day
before would be followed up by something still more brilliant
and decisive. Omnium rose in the course of the day to 6 pre-
mium, and some houses generally supposed to possess the best
information were among the purchasers. For our own parts,
though looking forward with that confidence which we yesterday
expected, we own this full tide of success was more than we
anticipated. We were very well satisfied that Mr. SUTTON'S
account, so far as it went was correct,—that BUONAPARTE'S grand
plan had been frustrated, and that he had not only been pene-
trating between the English and Prussian armies, but forced to.
fall back again behind the Sambre. How far the Duke of
WELLINGTON and Prince BLUCHER might have thought it prudent
to pursue him, was a point on which we did not conceive our-
selvess warranted to form any decisive opinion from the evidence
before us.
We had no doubt that he would be harassed in his
retreat, and perhaps ultimately driven into his entrenched camp,
or under the guns of his fortresses; but without some distinct
official information, we repeat, that we could not have ventured
to anticipate such a triumphant result as that on which we have
now to congratulate our country and the world.
The management of The Times becoming naturally
jealous of the exclusive nature of its published in-
formation, issued the following notice in the fourth
or last page of the journal of the day in question.
Subsequently the names of the authors of articles,
or even a nom de plume, altogether ceased to be
assumed by any one connected with the paper.
A WEEKLY PAPER, entitled "The Sunday Monitor," has, we
learn, published, or does still publish, some letters with the signa-
ture of “Vetus," intimating to its readers that they are the pro-
duction of our valued correspondent who uses that signature.
We do not know what kind of readers they are that may be im-
posed upon by such a fradulent insinuation-enlightened ones,
no doubt-but we assert, with the utmost confidence, that the
356
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PUBLICITY.”
person whose designation is thus surreptitiously adopted has
never since written or suggested a line of politics to any other
journal whatsoever than THE TIMES.
1
The figures 1780, as nearly as possible, repre-
sent the number of newspapers now published
in the United Kingdom, a large majority being
issued in England; 57 therein are daily papers;
100 are sold for a halfpenny; 915 for one penny ;
515 are liberal in politics; between 60 and 70
are liberal-conservatives; 295 are strictly con-
servative, and the remainder neutral or fluctu-
ating; nearly 50 are devoted to some religious
view; 85 are illustrated, a few in colours, or
by photography; six are published in French,
one in German, one in Arabic, one in Spanish,
nine in Welch, one in Gaelic, and one in
the Lancashire patois. There are 780 magazines,
reviews, and what are generally known as periodi-
cals published in Great Britain, issued chiefly
monthly, and by far the greater part in the metro-
polis, their prices vary from one halfpenny to six
shillings; 350 represent religious views of various
sects; some are illustrated at great cost, and nearly
one hundred are addressed to Young England, i.e.
its boys and girls. Nearly one hundred are charged
purely with certain trade interests, and fifteen take
the labour question in hand. Temperance being
represented in sixty papers.
The period during which this work was drawing
towards completion happened to be that selected for
"PUBLICITY."
357
commemorating the labours of the great English
printer Caxton, who gave to this country the earliest
facilities for advertising, and while we do all honour
to his memory we must not forget how much is also
due to Peter Schoeffer.
"Palmam qui meruit ferat." It is even said that to
the love of a fair young maiden the incentive for his
great invention may be attributed, as, till the dis-
covery, the father of Schoeffer's sweetheart had con-
tempt for poor Peter's suit, but afterwards cheerfully
gave him the girl, together with a blessing; and it
is further recorded that the announcement of the
betrothal was made through the medium of the new
type. It has always seemed to us that it is one of
the pleasantest of German customs, that of adver-
tising in the public journals the various betrothals,
with names and addresses in full, together with those
of the parents on both sides. The following is a
description of Caxton and his advertisement, as
described in the Daily News' leading article upon the
subject of the commemoration :-
"ERASMUS, LINACRE, GROCYN, had not yet introduced the new
learning into England, and CAXTON did what was in his power
for the learning which actually existed. Coarse printing he
executed as a matter of business purely. If it please any man,
spiritual or temporal, to buy any pyes of two or three comme-
morations of Salisbury all emprinted after the form of the
present letter, let him come into Westminster at the Almonry
and he shall have them right cheap." This was CAXTON's adver-
tisement, or part of it, and there is a fine air of leisure about it.
One can see the spiritual and temporal gentry coming into West-
minster, and casting about to find the sign of the red pole at the
i
1
358
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PUBLICITY.'
Almonry. One can fancy the curiosity with which they, to whom
proof-sheets were as strange rareties as to Colonel NEWCOME,
would handle CAXTON'S wares. They would be full of sugges-
tions; some great clerks urging the printer to use "the most
curious terms that he could find," while other gentlemen were all
for "old and homely terms." The Abbot of Westminster wanted
to go back on the English of some old charters 'more like to Dutch
than English.' Then the spelling was all arbitrary and dialects
prevailed."
Charles Knight, by the publication of "The Old
Printer," conferred upon the literary world a great
boon, as the history of Caxton should be known to
every advertiser. He was apprenticed to one Robert
Large, mercer of London.
The gravity and the
prosperity of the citizens of that day have been
well described by Chaucer :-
"A Merchant was there with a forkéd beard;
In motley, and high on horse he sat,
*
And on his head a Flaundrish beaver hat.
His bootés claspéd fair and fetisly;
His reasons spake he full solemnély,
Sounding alway the increase of his winning:
He would the sea were kept † for any thing,
Betwixen Middleburgh and Oréwell.
Well could he in exchanges shieldiés ‡ sell,
This worthy man full well his wit beset; §
There wisté no wight that he was in debt,
So stedfastly did he his governance
With his bargains, and with his chevisance." ||
Knight says,
"When we look at William Caxton as .
the apprentice to a London mercer, his position does
*Neatly.
+ Guarded.
French crowns, which were stamped with a shield.
§ Employed.
|| An agreement for borrowing money.
•
.1
tr
359
PUBLICITY.'
not at first sight appear very favourable to that cul-
tivation of a literary taste, and that love of books,
which was originally the solace, and afterwards the
business, of his life. Yet a closer insight into the
mercantile arrangements of those days will show us
that he could not have been more favourably placed
for attaining some practical aquaintance with books,
in the way of his ordinary occupation. When books
were so costly and so inaccessible to the great body
of the people, there was necessarily no special trade
of bookselling. There were indeed stationers, who
had books for sale, or more probably executed
orders for transcribing books. Their occupation is
thus described by Mr. Hallam, in his "Literature
of Europe: ""These dealers were denominated
stationarii, perhaps from the open stalls at which
they carried on their business, though statio is a
general word for a shop, in low Latin. They
appear by the old statutes of the University of
Paris, and by those of Bologna, to have sold books
upon commission; and are sometimes, though not
uniformly, distinguished from the librarii; a word
which, having originally been confined to the
copyists of books, was afterwards applied to those
who traded in them. They sold parchment and
other materials of writing, which, with us, though,
as far as I know, nowhere else, have retained the
name of stationery, and naturally exercised the
kindred occupations of binding and decorating.
They probably employed transcribers." The mercer
360
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PUBLICITY."
ترو
in those days was not a dealer in small wares
generally, as at an earlier period; nor was his trade
confined to silken goods-such an one as Shakspeare
describes, "Master Threepile, the mercer," who had
thrown a man into prison for "some four suits of
peach-coloured satin." The mercer of the fifteenth
century was essentially a merchant. The mercers
in the time of Edward III. were the great wool-
dealers of the country. They were the merchants
of the staple, in the early days of our woollen
manufacture; and the merchant adventurers of a
later period were principally of their body.
their traffic with other lands, and especially with
the Low Countries, they were the agents by which
valuable manuscripts found their way into England;
and in this respect they were something like the
great merchant princes of Italy, whose ships not
unfrequently contained a cargo of Indian spices and
of Greek manuscripts.
In
It is much to be regretted, that soon there must
be scattered in various directions the interesting
collection of objects connected with printing and
the great English printer.
At the present moment (August, 1877) not the
least part of the pleasure to be derived by well-
wishers to England, is an opportunity to witness
the stream of intelligent, and often very humble folk
brought from all parts of the country to South Ken-
sington in order to do homage to the memory of the
London 'prentice. And upon the lucus a non lucendo
"PUBLICITY."
361
principle established by the lad who, when asked if
any of his relations were in the military service,
said, "not exactly, but I have a cousin who is often
in charge of the police;" or perhaps by the natural
though remote feeling of esprit de corps, the writer
has some pleasure in reflecting, that in almost an
uninterrupted line, he was about the 400th successor
to Robert Large, Sheriff of London and Middlesex,
who no doubt had something to do with the forma-
tion of that enterprising industry, which induced
his apprentice (Caxton) to follow up the discoveries.
of Guttenberg, Faust, and Schoeffer.
The concourse of artisans and others daily at
South Kensington, corresponds no doubt to some
extent with the assembly at Mentz, or Mayence,
forty years ago, called upon to inaugurate the statue
of Guttenberg, who, for all practical purposes, may
be said to be the main discoverer of the Art
of Printing. It is unknown whether any one of
that class, happily fast becoming extinct, even in
the palatial surroundings of South Kensington,
who are said occasionally to object to the fustian
jacket coming "twixt the wind and their nobi-
lity," we say, that we have not heard that any
such exquisite specimen of humanity has exclaimed,
as a tourist on the Rhine once did to another
traveller, about the period of the festival in 1837,
"Oh! pray do not go near to Mayence just now, as
thousands of the German unwashed have gathered
together there, to do honour to the memory of their
¡
362
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PUBLICITY.'
countryman, a printer fellow who lived in that
neighbourhood, and who was out on strike, or did
some other radical thing, so as to become locally
celebrated." Now the words of Scott, in "Quentin
Durward," may justly be applied to the efforts of
Guttenberg and other printer fellows, and in no
small degree to Caxton. We refer to the passage
where Louis the Eleventh of France and Martivalle
Galeotti the astrologer speak of the invention of
printing, and the sage predicts "the lot of a
succeeding generation, on whom knowledge will
descend like the first and second rain, uninterrupted,
unabated, unbounded, fertilizing some grounds and
overflowing others; changing the whole form of
social life.
Between printing and advertising an indissoluble
affinity necessarily exists. In point of fact, no
office for a first-class advertising agency can be con-
sidered perfect, without it also has a press ready
for clerks to pull off copies of manuscript advertise-
ments, so that the setting up and principal points
may be open for needful correction, prior to any
cost being incurred by the parties immediately con-
cerned. The following extracts from the Catalogue
of the Caxton Exhibition must be welcome to all
interested in printing and advertising.
66
The principle of the Art of Printing was not
altogether unknown to the ancients.
The Baby-
lonian bricks brought to this country are stamped
with various characters, and there is evidence to
66 PUBLICITY."
363
}
C
prove that the ancient Romans made use of stamps,
with which they marked their articles of luxury and
use, and branded their cattle. Landseer observes
in his Lectures on the Art of Engraving,' 'Had
the modern art of making paper been known to the
ancients, we had probably never heard of Fust and
Finiguerra, for with the same kinds of stamps which
the Romans used for their pottery and packages,
books might have been printed.'
"We must, however, turn our eyes further east-
ward in order to discover the first indications of the
earliest form of printing, namely, of transferring
impressions from wooden blocks to paper.
"The Chinese, it is believed, were the first nation
who practised this art, many years before the com-
mencement of the Christian era, the complicated
nature of their written language rendering any other
mode of printing impracticable.
J
"It is not unreasonable to suppose that the Vene-
tians, from their early intercourse with that nation,
acquired a knowledge of the art from them, which
they introduced into Europe, and that in the course
of time the artists of Germany, Holland, and other
parts found out their secret, and practised it them-
selves.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
"Had it not, however, been for the capture of
Mentz by Adolphus of Nassau, an event which dis-
persed so many of Guttenberg's and Fust's workmen,
!
N
¡
364
PUBLICITY.
the development of the art of typography through-
out the world might have been deferred for an
indefinite period. At Cologne, Ulric Zel commenced
printing in 1466, and Augsburg acquired a know-
ledge of the art from Gunther Zainer. At Nurem-
berg, where Koberger acquired the name of Libra-
riorum Princeps,' Sensenschmidt, one of its citizens,
was the first to print in 1470.”
6
This dispersal of the works at Mentz (or Mayence
as it is best known here) speedily produced great
results at Bruges, for the Catalogue goes on to say,
"Among all Caxton's contemporaries there is no
printer whose books show so close an affinity to
his own as those of Colard Mansion-specimens
of whose press are much more scarce and quite
as valuable as Caxton's.
"Colard Mansion was a book-writer and illuminator
of Bruges and a member of the Guild of St. John
of which he was 'doyen' or dean for two years,
1471. As Caxton supplied the English nobles with
beautiful manuscripts he probably purchased some
from Mansion. About 1474 he began to print books
in two rooms over the church porch of St. Donatus;
and here it was that Caxton, anxious to multiply
quickly copies of his newly translated Recuyell
of the Histories of Troye,' learnt the art from
Mansion, who made or procured the fount we call
Caxton's No. 1 for the purpose. The technical
peculiarities and habits of the two printers are
identical, and an examination of the types from
6
..
365
PUBLICITY."
1
:
6
the two presses shows the hand of the same artist.
It is worth noting also, that the plan of casting a
new fount of letter by using the old letters touched
up with a graver as punches, was common to both
printers. Van Praet published in 1829 a Notice
sur Colard Mansion,' since which time but little
has been added to our knowledge of his press.
Mansion had two founts of type only, the earlier
evidently closely connected with Caxton's No. 2,
and like that also with two distinct castings, the
later a semi-roman character. Nothing is known
of Mansion after 1484. During the ten years he
was a printer he produced twenty works, some of
them magnificent folios with large woodcut illus-
trations."
CAXTON'S TYPE AND TRANSLATION.
nd GOD ſaide Eet lyahte be, and anone
lyghte Bas.
A
O
O the right noble/right excellentz vertuous pince
George duc of Clarence Erle of waroopk andr of
JabſBurpe/grete chamberlayn of Englonde & leutenant
of Irefonds oldest broder of kynge Edward by the grace
of god kynge of England and of france / pour most
Humble feruant william Carton amonge other of pour
feruantes sendes vnto yow peas. Helthe. Jope andy victo
rye vpoy your Enempes /
(The latter paragraph is a copy of Caxton's dedication to his patron, the
Duke of Clarence.)


66
367
PUBLICITY."
The two top lines in the specimen of Caxton's
type represent his translation of the third
verse of the first chapter of Genesis, and it
has often been thought illustrative of the result
of the natural gifts granted to the old London
'prentice and printer, for it has been said, that
when printing was applied to multiply the Book
of books, a combined lever and fulcrum was
called into existence effectually to move the dark
mass of ignorance which till then had encumbered
the earth.
·
The English language in Caxton's time may be
said to have been then in the course of formation,
and the translation given in his type is supposed to
have been accepted as correct up to the time of
James I.; since then, thanks to the Bible and other
kindred societies, the greater part of the whole
world has been made acquainted with the more
correct reading of the verse, "And God said, Let
there be light and there was light." Caxton was
restricted from printing entire copies of the Bible
for distribution owing to the interdiction, then
extant, relative to Wickliffe; but unquestionably
he led the way, that others might follow upon the
relaxation of Romish law.
The second paragraph in Caxton's type refers
to the unfortunate Prince whose dream Shak-
speare describes in the play of Richard III. That
king is supposed to have ordered the murder of
his brother by drowning in a butt of Malmsey
'
.
1
368
:
66
PUBLICITY."
wine. Clarence, speaking of his dream, is made to
say,-
"Lord! Lord! Methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears !
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnawed upon.
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
Which wooed the shining bottom of the deep,
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by."
It has been clearly ascertained that the direct
descendants of this Prince ultimately came down to
a very reduced condition of life; in point of fact,
one was not long since following the humble calling
of a cobbler at Newport, in Shropshire, his legiti-
mate pedigree from the daughter and heiress of
Clarence having been completely established.
The mental struggle, or rather natural reservation
which restrains many from authorship, is so charm-
ingly described by Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his
book called "The Poet at the Breakfast Table," that
the author of this Essay ventures to quote the follow-
ing, as an illustration of the hesitation he for some
time felt on the subject of publishing the foregoing
matter. Oliver Wendell Holmes says:
tr
"I suppose we all, those of us who write in verse or prose,
have the habitual feeling that we should like to be remembered.
"FUBLICITY."
369
!
It is to be awake when all of those who were round us have been
long wrapped in slumber. It is a pleasant thought enough that
the name by which we have been called shall be familiar on the
lips of those who come after us, and the thoughts that wrought
themselves out in our intelligence, the emotions that trembled
through our frames, shall live themselves over again in the minds
and hearts of others.
"But is there not something of rest, of calm, in the thought of
gently and gradually fading away out of human remembrance ?
What line have we written that was on a level with our concep-
tions? What page of ours that does not betray some weakness
we would fain have left unrecorded? To become a classic and
share the life of a language is to be ever open to criticisms, to
comparisons, to the caprices of successive generations, to be called
into court and stand a trial before a new jury once or more than
once in every century. To be forgotten is to sleep in peace with
the undisturbed myriads, no longer subject to the chills and heats,
the blasts, the sleet, the dust, which assail in endless succession
that shadow of a man which we call his reputation. The line
which dying we would wish to blot has been blotted out for us
by a hand so tender, so patient, so used to its kindly task, that
the page looks as fair as if it had never borne the record of our
infirmity or our transgression. And then so few would be wholly
content with their legacy of fame.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
"There are times when the thought of becoming utterly nothing
to the world we know so well and loved so much is painful and
oppressive; we gasp as if in a vacuum, missing the atmosphere
of life we have so long been in the habit of breathing. Not the
less are there moments when the aching need of repose comes
over us and the requiescat in pace,-heathen benediction as it is,—
sounds more sweetly in our ears than all the promises that Fame
can hold out to us.
“I wonder whether it ever occurred to you to reflect upon
another horror there must be in leaving a name behind you.
Think what a horrid piece of work the biographers make of a
man's private history! Just imagine the subject of one of those
extraordinary fictions called biographies coming back and read-
B B
370
66
PUBLICITY."
ing the life of himself, written very probably by somebody or
other who thought he could turn a penny by doing it, and have
the pleasure of seeing
'His little bark attendant sail,
Pursue the triumph and partake the gale.'
The ghost of the person condemned to walk the earth in a bio-
graphy glides into a public library, and goes to the shelf where
his mummied life lies in its paper cerements. I can see the pale
shadow glancing through the pages and hear the comments that
shape themselves in the bodiless intelligence as if they were
made vocal by living lips.
*
*
***
*
*
*
*
"I should like to see any man's biography with corrections
and emendations by his ghost. We don't know each other's
secrets quite so well as we flatter ourselves we do. We don't
always know our own secrets as well as we might.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
“Let us summon him in imagination and ask him a few ques-
tions.
"Isn't it like splitting a toad out of a rock to think of this man
of nineteen or twenty centuries hence coming out from his stony
dwelling-place and speaking with us? What are the questions
we should ask him? He has but a few minutes to stay. Make
out your own list; I will set down a few that come up to me as
I write.
-What is the prevalent religious creed of civilization?
-Has the planet met with any accident of importance?
-How general is the republican form of government?
-Do men fly yet?
-Has the universal language come into use?
-Is there a new fuel since the English coal-mines have given
out?
-Is the euthanasia a recognised branch of medical science?
-Is the oldest inhabitant still living?
* 'Is the Times still published?
-And the Evening Pall Mall?
* Here a slight alteration from the original has obviously been made.
"PUBLICITY."
371
-Is there much inquiry for "Publicity," an Essay upon
Advertising, the work of a writer of the nineteenth century,
by-the-name-of-of--
"My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth. I cannot im-
agine the putting of that question without feeling the tremors
which shake a wooer as he falters out the words that make him
happy or wretched.
"Whose works was I going to question him about, do you ask
me?
"Like the French Feuilleton, an answer is promised in our
next [edition], should such have a ghost of a chance."
:
H¦
APPENDIX.
COPY OF CIRCULAR ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMEN-
TARY, PATENT, AND ADVERTISING AGENCY
OFFICE.
15, CLEMENT's Inn,
London, W.C.
I AM desired to state that your interests will be carefully and
confidentially treated in the event of any of the matters here-
with referred to being entrusted (either by you or through your
influence) to this Office.
Upon my being made acquainted with the nature of the
special business required, I shall no doubt be fully able to make
satisfactory arrangements. I may, however, mention that the
following gentlemen have consented to aid in the matters apper-
taining to their several professions:-
For Private Bills in Parliament, Standing Counsel, Macrae
Moir, Esq., M.A., Barrister-at-Law.
Consulting Engineer, Railway, Tramway Works, etc., Robert
Walker, Esq., C.E.
For Patents, Registration of Copyright for Designs, Charles
Barlow, Esq.
For Valuation of Mines and Minerals, W. D. Winn, Esq.
Surveying for Engineering Works (Consulting), E. W. Lewis,
Esq.
Manufacturing Chemistry (Consulting), W. Perkins, Esq.
Compensation Valuer, House and Land Property, H. Vulliamy,
Esq.; also J. J. Gibson, Esq.
Translator of Commercial Papers into Foreign Languages, J.
Riddel, Esq., late Consul General; also M. de Beauvoisin.
1
APPENDIX.
373
↑
Accountancy and Trustee duties will be undertaken by
gentlemen of eminence in their profession, and the utmost
confidence may be placed in all steps preliminary to an intro-
duction through this Office.
Cases are arranged for compensation in respect to compulsory
acquisition of house and other property, for public improve-
ments; and opposition may be lodged thereto in the Private Bill
Office of either House of Parliament.
The conversion of (bona fide) trading and other interests into
Joint Stock Companies may also be carried out by the replace-
ment of capital withdrawn from any cause whatsoever; and in
such cases, should preliminary negotiations fall through, the
consulting parties will incur no responsibility; meanwhile, for
their requirements, temporary offices and the aid of a trained
Secretary may (pro tem.) be retained.
With regard to Parliamentary and Patent Agency, the fees
and costs correspond with those of other and similar Offices; but
in most cases a preliminary and free opinion can be obtained by
clients, which may save unnecessary outlay on their part.
For ordinary advertisements the tariff of the various news-
papers and journals will form the charges of this Office, except
upon special contract to the contrary. No charge will be made
to clients for re-arranging, condensing, or generally advising as
to the disposition of advertisements, or for translating the same
into foreign languages, or for recording the number of insertions,
or for arranging for appointments pending negotiations, or for
registering replies to advertisements issued under initials.
I am, your obedient servant,
DONALD NICOLL.
i
í
374
APPENDIX.
SPECIALITIES UNDER NEGOTIATION
AT THE AGENCY OFFICE, 15, CLE-
MENT'S INN, LONDON, W.C., IN THE
AUTUMN OF THE YEAR 1877.
To Wholesale Chemists, etc. Letters Pa-
tent for sale, by private tender.
"TEA-LIEBIG."-This combination of food
substances is one of the most valuable intro-
ductions to commerce. Alcohol cannot more
rapidly revive exhausted human vigour. A
cupful of this pleasant beverage is within
the compass of very nearly the poorest of
Her Majesty's subjects. It is produced
exactly as tea is now prepared for drink-
ing, only in place of milk or
sugar or
any other condiment Liebig's extract is
combined with the pure tea-leaf; in this
condition it is enclosed in a capsule of gela-
tine, which dissolves in the tea-pot on the
application of boiling water. One pound of
the extract is known to be equivalent to 45
lbs. of butcher's meat. The essence of the
tea, while soothing the nervous system, im-
parts by its aroma all the flavour required,
or found grateful by the wearied. The only
instructions needful for the production of
the reinvigorating draught is that known
by all good brewers of "the cup that cheers
but not inebriates," viz., see that the water
is wholesome and soft, that the water boils
and the infusion has a fair chance by allow-
ing the tea-pot to be first well warmed, and
to stand for seven or eight minutes after the
water has been poured upon the tea; and
either then to cover the pot with what is
called a "cosy" (wadded worsted work in
the shape of the old "cocked hat"), or for it
to be wrapped over by any substance that
will serve as a non-conductor of heat all the
while the process of distillation proceeds.
TEA, COFFEE, Cocoa. Merchants re-
quiring a wholesale speciality in respect to
either of these substances, may acquire
under patent rights a process for preserva-
tion, and cheap distribution, by means of
packets which are incapable of being tam-
pered with for subsequent adulteration. The
patent for France and right to exhibit these
in the Paris Exhibition during 1878 is also
open for treaty.
TEXTILE FABRICS.-Bleachers' Finishers
can negotiate for the possession of a pa-
tented process (founded on a previous pa-
tent) for rendering window curtains and
other textile fabrics uninflammable; good
appearance is increased, but not so the cost,
at any rate to any appreciable extent, espe-
cially as regards finishing same for selling
in bulk. Medals and certificates of merit
have been granted at most of the Interna-
tional Exhibitions, and the mosquito cur-
tains in Her Majesty's hospital service have
been freed from danger through fire by the
patented process now offered for sale.
TOBACCO MERCHANTS.-A speciality with
patent rights can be obtained for preserving
and economically distributing tobacco for
ship, or regimental, or (in screws) for public-
house purposes. Terms on application.
COAL. An exceedingly advantageous
purchase of a small Freehold Estate, in
which the silkstone seam abounds, may be
obtained either by purchase (£25,000), or
the same be worked under a royalty by pre-
sent occupant paying the freeholder at least
15 per cent. for his investment. Informa-
tion given to principals only or their solici-
tors.
SHIPOWNERS.-A patent for using an im-
perishable compound, for preserving iron
and wooden ships from incrustation on sub-
merged surfaces, and to cause cargoes to be
less liable to damage by leakage, while the
effect from collisions will be considerably
reduced. The rate of royalty for ships ex-
ceeding 100 tons will be 2s. per ton, and in
like proportion for yachts. The same in-
vention can be applied for the preservation
of dock gates, and other purposes where
wood and iron are liable to decompose from
damp and exposure.
TIMBER MERCHANTS AND BUILDERS.-Im-
provement on a patent for making panel-
ling, joists, flooring, etc., incombustible,
i.e., such will char only, and not burst into
flame. Certificates of eminent experts may
be seen, and the right obtained to use the
discovery at the price of twenty guineas (in
each instance).
MERCHANTS FOR BOTTLED BEERS, OR VEN-
DORS OF AERATED DRINKS.-Patented vessels,
capable of holding large quantities and of
distributing their contents by single glasses,
retaining at the same time effervescence to
the last glass. These vessels are orna-
mented so as to be used on sideboards, and
the liquid, be it wine, beer, or mineralized
water, may be iced to suit a warm climate.
For each license to use this patent a mode-
rate charge is made, and will be thrown
over a period of thirteen years if desired.
TELEGRAPH CONTRACTORS.-An improve-
ment on a patent for coating wires to serve
under ground, at less cost than upon poles,
and free from accidental electrical influence
or from storms of wind or snow, and being
concealed not liable to malicious damage.
APPENDIX.
375
1.
Any artisan accustomed to lay ordinary
water or gas pipes, and to make junctions
to thereof, could carry a wire at small cost
from farms or mansions to the nearest post
towns, and by Wheatstone's new machines,
a child can send or receive a telegram.
Terms on an interview.
ROAD SURVEYORS.-A patent for an inex-
pensive system, combining the safe footing
(for horses) to be obtained on macadamized
roads with the quietude of asphalte, and as
easily cleansed from mud or dust. Terms
given according to the extent of roads or
district. This system also allows repairs to
be effected, and gas, water, or sewer pipes
to be laid quickly.
RAILWAY ENGINEERS. Patent for con-
structing chairs and sleepers, so as to re-
lieve passengers (of all classes) from dis-
comfort and danger, saving also rolling
stock from at least 50 per cent. of the pre-
sent damaging effects of percussion by
heavy weights or high velocity of trains on
the bearing points of the permanent way.
A specimen may be seen, and the cost for a
royalty will be a few pence on each chair or
sleeper.
WHOLESALE CHEMISTS.-A registered trade
mark, for the sale of a discovery made by
a former president of the Royal College of
Surgeons. When generally known, all retail
chemists will keep this article, which till
this time has been limited to a private prac-
tice. The price for the trade mark will
either be a fixed ready sum, or it may be
thrown over a number of years.
MANUFACTURERS OR VENDORS OF CLOTH.
An improvement on a patent for waterproof-
ing woollen cloth, benefiting its appearance
and wear, especially when applied to tweeds,
friezes, or homespuns, the fibres of the
wool exhibiting increased softness; the
process may be easily effected in a paved or
asphalted yard or basement. Price ten
guineas for each copy of the process and
right of use.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT MAKERS having
a connection amongst farmers, or those
supplying them. A patent for a cheap,
durable, and ready method for forming
sheds adapted for the shelter of ewes in
lambing time or cattle during inclement
weather. Any labourer can put up this
shedding on any part of a farm, and to any
extent for which sustaining poles are af-
forded. Although strong, the slabs of this
new material are easily moved about. The
invention is of great importance for large
farms or for sheep tracts in Scotland, Ire-
land, or the colonies.
WHOLESALE SUPPLIERS OF BUILDING MA-
TERIALS.-A patent for a waterproof prepar-
ation for paving basements, yards, foot-
paths, rope-walks, laundry-grounds, or for
sheltering newly-moulded bricks, or for the
floors of cattle sheds. A cheap and lasting
substance, the use of which may be secured
either by a royalty or by an exclusive righ
to the invention. It can be laid in slabs
(like paving stones) by any labourer.
SHIP CARPENTERS AND FITTERS.-A patent
for the manufacture of linings for the di-
visions, roofs, and floors of cabins, which
are capable of being easily detached from
the permanent timbers of the vessel, and
may quickly be used in the formation of
life rafts, as they are fixed in large slabs,
distinct from each other. In case of ship-
wreck, they could be easily used in erecting
temporary huts on shore; the materials are
so buoyant as to be able to support enor-
mous weights in water. This patent is very
inexpensive on being carried into effect, and
terms for its use, with foreign rights, may
be obtained on an interview.
TO RAILWAY DIRECTORS AND ENGINEERS.—
Machinery for laying down fog signals on
the permanent way of railways, by which
the signalman in the box can place any re-
quired number of detonators on the rails,
thereby dispensing with the extra men
ordinarily required to lay them, and by
which means also the detonators can be
immediately taken up when the fog has
dispersed. Applicable also for stopping
passing trains on emergencies. By this
invention any signalman or passenger can
cause a train to be stopped; no other has
yet been effectual for this object. It can be
seen that the alarm may now be given to
guard or driver by any one at work on the
line, or by the passengers from each and
every carriage by night or by day. It is
inexpensive, and can be applied to existing
rolling stock or permanent way.
ERBSWURST.—Shippers can purchase ex-
clusive rights for the preparation of an im-
provement of the condensed Pork and Pease
sausage food called erbswurst, used by the
Prussian armies in their rapid marches
during the Franco-German War; as it
forms good ordinary ships rations, ships
containing same as a large part of their
cargoes could not be seized as containing
articles contraband of war. The patents
for France, Belgium, and United States also
on sale.
376
APPENDIX.
FREEHOLD INVESTMENT, PERPETUAL
5 PER CENT. INTEREST GUARANTEED.
RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS FOR FAMILIES.-
Communications are invited to be addressed
to the Secretary of the Agency Office, above
described, on the following subject:-It is
proposed (as soon as a sufficient number of
investors have agreed thereto) to prepare
plans in detail for the purpose of providing
dwellings, arranged in what are now com-
monly known as chambers or suites of
rooms, and sets varying from three to ten
rooms on the same level, varying in annual
amount of value or rent. There will be a
fee farm rent for repairs, held in trust by a
committee of management, as in the Albany
Chambers, Piccadilly; but there will here
be a service and hydraulic lifts provided for
each floor, from entrance hall and central
stairs. The materials employed in the con-
struction will be almost entirely of an un-
inflammable nature, so that danger from
fire need not be apprehended. The ventila-
tion, sanitary, and filtered water arrange-
ments will be of the most perfect nature,
and rules maintained for watching and
warming, also for the exclusion of irregular
or improper tenants. There will be a li-
brary, newspaper, and writing rooms; but
drawing and refreshment rooms will not be
provided for the use of tenants in common,
or by their visitors. Each suite of rooms will
be daily supplied with a carte de jour, or tariff
prices, the whole to be strictly maintained
on club principles, and distinct from that
of restaurants, or hotels requiring a license.
There will be dry fire-proof strong rooms
in the basement for the deposit of articles of
value during the absence of the tenants,
whose furniture may be acquired through
the secretary, upon the three years' payment
system, or the same may be thus disposed
of through unavoidable absence, or it may
be mortgaged by employing the same me-
dium; but there will be a restriction as to
power of alienation of interest, only, how-
ever, so far as will fairly enable the trus-
tees to exclude improper persons or the
use of the premises being converted for
purposes inconvenient or distasteful to the
general body of tenants. All value over
and above the said guaranteed five per
cent. per annum, or from any source what-
soever, to be divided as a bonus amongst
the holders of A, or original shares, after
deducting costs of management and other
similar outlay (sanctioned by committee
of trustees), cost of insurance, maintenance
reserve fund; and power with said A, or
original shareholders, will exist for the
appointment and remuneration of the trust
committee and secretary. The said A, or
original shareholders, will be protected from
accumulating risk by the Limited Partner-
ship Act, 28th and 29th Vic., cap. 86, and
their number will be limited to the first
subscribers. A site in a healthy and favourite
part of the West End of London has been se-
lected, and by the entire scheme of arrange-
ment it will be perceived residents will be
able to receive the comforts of a well regu-
lated, well situated, and well attended estab-
lishment free from the usual costs and trouble
of houses and house attendants. The value
of frontage in a good situation is met by the
height of the houses, and it is proposed to
make these residences very lofty. The ven-
dors, after the acquisition of the property
and advances for building purposes by
them, will be the said A, or original share-
holders, having power to sell sets of cham-
bers with freehold rights, subject to the fee
farm rent and conditions herein before de-
scribed; the first purchasers of same may
either buy on reduced terms, if they finish
interiors, decorate, etc., or the same will be
carried out for them.
DISTILLERY.-One of the finest freehold
properties for this purpose, and in full
working order, can be acquired either by a
direct purchase, or by the formation of a
syndicate to carry on the concern,-the
purchase money, £100,000; half may remain
on mortgage (33 per cent. per annum), or if
a syndicate is to be formed, a further a-
mount of £50,000 would have to be provided.
The advantages of the property are of an
exceptionally sound and profitable nature.
NEWSPAPERS.-An undertaking protected
by the Limited Partnership Act is about to
commence, with the view to introduce a
much required Family Weekly Journal free
from political and religious bias of any kind,
it being desired simply to record the gather-
ings of general opinions and interesting
news of the day-the main effort will be to
give the information of each week as it
passes, and as late as possible for distribu-
tion during Saturdays. Concurrent with
the Metropolitan Journal, the large towns of
England and Scotland will have local issues,
i.e., the same will be combined in a novel
but profitable manner; and there is room
for the co-operation of five gentlemen with
£2000 each, which would undoubtedly confer
upon them large pecuniary profits with com-
paratively small risks. With the view to
bona fide negotiations, information can only
be given upon an exchange of references.
APPENDIX.
377
1
PENNYWORTHS FOR THE MILLION. The
wonders of the nimble penny will never
cease, as the coin of the proverb ever as-
serts its ubiquitous service, and the number
of useful manufactures or products offered
to be sold for a penny daily becomes more
marvellous! We have penny newspapers,
penny postage stamps, penny rides by rail,
river, or 'bus; and it is not too much to
assert, that a large majority of our hand-
workers (of both sexes) are now engaged in
the production of articles which, after la-
bour, material, and other prime costs are
duly allowed for, will reach the consumer
on the outlay of the above small coin.
Franklin long since advocated the economy
and power of pence, and the growth of the
system of quick returns has developed a
desire on all sides for condensation of every-
thing within the smallest convenient form,
especially for small purchasers, who have a
lively appreciation of the desirability of
original freshness, hitherto only available
to the wealthier purchasers of large quanti-
ties. The method of packing, so as effectu-
ally and economically to
economically to exclude the
atmosphere from perishable articles till
such are required for use, has been the main
difficulty to deal with; this, however, is now
provided for by a patented process, which
will shortly be placed before the public, and
whereby the chief necessaries of life can be
packed and kept fresh within most ingen-
ious and inexpensive capsule. The process
frees the contents from any chance of adul
teration, and pennyworths may be shortly
obtained of each of the following substances,
viz., tea, coffee, cocoa, preserved milk,
sugar, spices, drugs, tobacco, farinaceous
food, &c., and there can be no doubt the
Patentees are offering a public benefit by
transferring their rights to the great whole-
sale houses engaged in the several branches
of commerce referred to; and thus pure
articles may everywhere be available to the
million through the retail shopkeepers to
whom the public are accustomed to apply
for small but needful rations.
The above paragraph has been copied
from journals circulating in the North of
England and refers to specialities, also un-
der negotiation at the Agency Office, 15,
Clement's Inn, London.
TRAMWAYS. Prejudice against these
means of transit being gradually in the
course of removal, several projects are in
progress, especially with regard to the utili-
zation of steam power, now for the first
time receiving legislative recognition and
encouragement. Plans, completed too late
for the present Session, are now to be seen
at this office (confidentially), having refer-
ence to a most important portion of the
Metropolitan area; and prior to next Session
it is proposed to form a Syndicate of a
given number of shareholders, several of
whom have already subscribed, and either
to work or ultimately to dispose of the line
on the same been sanctioned.
SYNDICATE: RAILWAY.-Plans are prepar-
ing to be lodged at the Private Bill Offices.
of both Houses of Parliament, in refer-
ence to a short line of railway to connect
two important main systems in England
-the line will only be twenty-five miles
in length, though it will command a large
passenger and mineral traffic and save a
costly detour now made by same. The line
has long been contemplated, but owing to
powerful opposition (now removed) has ne-
cessarily been postponed, although power
had been taken to work the line with run-
ning powers over other lines, yet the present
intention is presently to dispose of the
project to one of the main lines referred to;
and with that object in view, a small SƑn-
dicate of ten members of £1,000 each will
only be required, four of these shares have
already been secured.
RAILWAY ENGINEERS.-A patent for an
invention which will offer great secur-
ity from accidents happening to persons
who attempt to leave or enter railway
carriages while a train is in motion; there
is also a provision for causing notice to be
given to approaching trains half a mile
ahead of the stations where other trains may
be in the course of shunting or where any
other such stoppage of the line may sud-
denly be caused. Particulars, in confidence,
may be obtained as above, and where models
may be seen.
378
APPENDIX.
SYNOPSIS OF PATENT LAW.*
j
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
PATENT LAW AMENDMENT ACT.
15 & 16 Victoria, Cap. 83.
1. The Lord Chancellor, Master of the Rolls,
the Attorney and Solicitor General for England,
the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor General for
Scotland, the Attorney and Solicitor General for
Ireland, for the time being, are appointed Com-
missioners of Patents for Inventions, with Seal
of office and power to make Rules and Regula-
tions.
2. Provides that a provisional Specification shall
be filed with every petition for Letters Patent,
which is to be referred to the Law Officers, who,
when satisfied that the provisional Specification
describes the Invention, shall allow the same, and
give a certificate, and thereupon the Invention may,
during the term of six months from the date of
the application, be used and published without
prejudice to any Letters Patent to be granted for
the same, and such protection is called Provisional
Protection.
3. The applicant may, instead of leaving a pro-
* Extracted from "How to Make Money by Patents," herein-
before referred to.
APPENDIX.
379
}
visional Specification, file a complete Specification,
which will in like manner protect the Invention
during six months; but each complete Specification
shall be open to the inspection of the public from
the time of depositing the same.
4. Notice to proceed for Letters Patent may
be given immediately after allowance or deposits
of complete Specification, which notice is to be
advertised in the London Gazette, and during
twenty-one days, notice of opposition may be
given. If opposition be entered, the matter is
to be referred to the Law Officer, who shall
decide the matter, and may make an order for
the payment of the costs of opposition, which
order may be made a Rule of Court, and Ex-
ecution be issued thereon.
5. The Law Officer thereafter may cause. a
Warrant to be made for Sealing Letters Patent,
and the Lord Chancellor may seal the same, but
nothing is to abridge or affect the prerogatives of
the Crown in relation to granting or withholding
Letters Patent.
6. All Letters Patent are to contain conditions.
that the Powers and Privileges granted are to
cease, unless there be paid before the expiration
of three and of seven years respectively, the sum
of £50 and £100 respectively.
7. The privileges of the Patent extend only
to Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, and not to any Colony.
+
380
APPENDIX.
8. Letters Patent may be granted to the per-
sonal representatives of an applicant who may
have died during the continuance of Provisional
Protection, at any time within three months of
such death.
9. Letters Patent to be antedated from the date
of the day of application.
10. Patents granted here for a foreign Invention
are not to be in force for a longer period than
the original Foreign Patent.
11. All Specifications filed are to be printed
and indexes prepared and printed.
12. A Register of Proprietors is to be made
and kept, wherein all Assignments, Licences, and
other matters affecting Letters Patent, are to be
entered and open for inspection; and further, it
is provided that until such entry shall be made
in such Register, the Grantee or Grantees of the
Letters Patent shall be deemed and be taken to
be the sole and exclusive Proprietor or Proprietors
of such Letters Patent.
13. In any suit at law for infringement, the
plaintiff is to deliver with his declaration particulars
of the breaches complained of; and the defendant
on pleading thereto shall deliver particulars of any
objections on which he means to rely at the trial.
And any Court of Record may make an order for
an injunction, inspection, or account, and may
order the costs of any trial to be paid as between
Attorney and Client.
APPENDIX.
381
*
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
1. An Inventor, whether citizen or alien, only
can procure an American Patent, but his executors
and administrators are entitled to the privilege
in case of death before grant is made.
2. The Invention must not previously have been
described in any publication.
3. Applications must be made upon oath, and
a model or sample is required to be deposited.
4. The duration is seventeen years; but in the
case of foreign Inventors, who have obtained
foreign Patents, the duration of the American
will not extend beyond the foreign.
5. Fees payable to Patent Office, thirty-five
dollars.
6. All applications for Patents, with the Speci-
fications, are submitted to examination in the Patent
Office, and if found to conflict with Caveats or
with other Specifications, or not to be new, may
be rejected, subject to amendment and to appeal.
7. Caveats can only be entered by citizens, or
such as intend to become citizens.
FRANCE.
1. Foreigners may obtain Patents for any new
Invention other than pharmaceutical compounds.
An Invention will not be deemed new which has
received sufficient publicity to enable the same to
be worked before the date of the application.
382
APPENDIX.
2. The duration of the Patent must not exceed
that of any foreign Patent.
3. The Invention must be worked in France
within two years from the date of the signature
of the Patent, and must not cease to be worked
during two consecutive years; and will be forfeited
if any patent articles are imported by the Patentee
into France from abroad. And all articles made
under a Patent must be marked with the words,
"Sans Garanti du Gouvernement."
4. The annual tax is 100 francs.
BELGIUM.
1. All new discoveries or improvements applic-
able to industry and commerce, whether made by
natives or foreigners, may be patented.
2. No Patents are granted for a longer term
that twenty years. Foreign Patents only until the
expiration of original Patent.
3. Patents are subject to a progressive annual
tax: first year, ten francs; increasing ten francs
each year.
Working.-Patented articles must be worked
within one year of being. worked elsewhere.
4. Patents of improvements are granted to
original Inventors.
HOLLAND.
All protection by Patent has been abolished.
1
APPENDIX.
383
-
AUSTRIA.
1. Patents are granted to foreigners for any new
Invention except those relating to food, beverages,
and medicines, and which has not been worked or
become known through publications in the Empire.
2. Duration is limited to that of foreign Patent.
3. Must be worked within one year and not cease
to be worked for two consecutive years.
4. Tax is progressive, viz., 100 florins for first five
years, 200 florins for second five years, and 400
florius for third five years.
RUSSIA.
1. Patents are granted to foreigners for Inventions
the detailed descriptions of which have not been
published and which have not been used in
Russia, and all applications are submitted to
examination as to novelty, and no Patents can be
granted for war materiel, such as cannon, but may
be granted for small arms, with leave to the army to
try them and use them.
2. Duration must not exceed that of any foreign
Patent.
3. Must be worked within the first quarter of the
term granted, and a certificate from the local
authorities shown to that effect.
4. No joint-stock company can be formed to
work a Patent without authority from the Govern-
ment.
384
APPENDIX.
5. The fee payable for a Patent of a foreigner
for six years, is 360 silver roubles.
ITALY.
1. Law dated 1864. At present this law is in
force in the Pontifical States, Parma, Modena, and
the Two Sicilies.
2. Patents are granted to foreigners for all
inventions except medicines. Duration not more
than fifteen years. The Invention must be worked
within one or two years, according to the term of
the Patent.
3. An annual tax is payable, viz., 40 lira for the
first three years, 65 for the subsequent three years,
90 for the seventh, eighth, and ninth years, in-
creasing each year after.
SPAIN.
1. Patents in this country are granted to for-
eigners for a term of five years only, and may
be legally procured for an object already worked
abroad.
2. Must be worked within one year from date,
and the working must be uninterrupted afterwards.
3. The fees payable for a Patent of five years are
3080 reis. Specifications are secret.
PORTUGAL.
1. Patents are granted to foreigners only for five
years or less, and they must work them within the
first half of their term.
2. The tax is 3 dollars 200 reis per annum.
APPENDIX.
385
DENMARK.
1. There is no written law for Patents, but grants
of monopolies are made. The application is sent
to the Polytechnic School for report as to novelty
and utility, and the Patent is generally allowed for
anything new and useful.
2. Foreigners can never obtain a Patent for more
than five years, and the Invention must be worked
within a year, and continued successively.
SWEDEN.
1. Foreigners, under a royal ordinance, may obtain
a Patent for the same duration as the original.
2. There is a peculiar provision that Patentees
must publish their Specifications in the Official
Gazette three times within two months of the date
of the Patent; and the Invention must be worked
within two years, which time, however, may be ex-
tended to four years on application.
NORWAY.
1. Foreigners may obtain Patents for a term not
exceeding ten years.
2. Foreign Inventions must be put into practical
operation within two years.
INDIA.
1. India has a Patent law passed by the Legis-
lative Council of India, and which has received the
assent of the Crown.
со
386
APPENDIX.
2. An Inventor who has obtained Letters Patent
in the United Kingdom may, within twelve months
from the date of his Patent, petition the Governor-
General of India in Council for leave to file a
Specification of such Invention, which shall be
deemed a new Invention in India, although it
may have been publicly known or used in some
part of the United Kingdom, or in India before the
time of petitioning in India; and the term shall
not extend beyond that of the English grant.
C
CANADA.
1. This Colony has a Patent law of its own.
An English Inventor may, within a year from
the date of his English Patent, apply for a Cana-
dian Patent, which may be granted for five, ten,
or fifteen years. The Invention must be worked
in Canada within two years, and be successively
continued.
The Canadian grant will cease at the same time
that any
other Patent for the same Invention may
expire.
2. Models, when practicable, are required.
3. The use of the word "Patent " is prohibited
to all who are not actual patentees in Canada.
AUSTRALIA.
1. Each Province has a separate Patent Law.
New South Wales.
1. Letters of Registration (equivalent to Patent)
i
APPENDIX.
387
are granted for not less than seven and not more
than fourteen years.
Victoria.
1. Letters Patent may be procured by an Eng-
lish Patentee in this Province. There are taxes
payable at the end of three and of seven years,
respectively, of £15 and £20.
A Victorian Patent will expire at the same time
that any other Patent, for the same Invention, shall
run out.
South Australia.
1. Letters of Registration are granted for seven
and not more than fourteen years for any Invention
not put into operation within the Province.
Tasmania.
1. Letters Patent are granted in this Province,
but the term must not exceed that of any other
Patent obtained elsewhere for the same Invention.
Taxes, payable at three and seven years, £15 and
£20.
New Zealand.
1. Letters of Registration of an English Patent
may be obtained in this Province.
Letters Patent or Letters of Registration may be
obtained in most of the other British dependencies,
including Natal, Newfoundland, Jamaica, British
Guiana, British Honduras, Cape of Good Hope,
1
1
?
388
APPENDIX.
Ceylon, and in must of the South American States;
including Brazil, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay,
Mexico, Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, the West
India Islands and Cuba, also in Japan.
COPYRIGHT OF DESIGNS FOR ARTICLES OF
UTILITY.
By provisional registration under the Designs Act, 1850 (13
& 14 Vic., c. 104), a copyright for one year (which may be
further extended for six months by order of the Board of Trade),
is given to the author or proprietor of any new or original design.
for the shape or configuration either of the whole or of part of
any article of manufacture, such shape or configuration having
reference to some purpose of utility, whether such article be made
in metal or any other substance. During such terms the pro-
prietor of the design may sell the right to apply the same to an
article of manufacture, but must not, under the penalty of nulli-
fying the copyright, sell any article with the design applied
thereto, until after complete registration, which must be effected
prior to the expiration of the provisional registration.
By complete registration under the Designs Act, 1843 (6 & 7
Vic., c. 65), a copyright of three years is given to the author
or proprietor of any new or original design, for the shape or con-
figuration either of the whole or of part of any article of manu-
facture, such shape or configuration having reference to some
purpose of utility, whether such article be made in metal or any
other substance.
To obtain this protection it is necessary,—
1st. That the design should not have been published either
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, or elsewhere, previous to the registration.
2nd. That after registration, or provisional registration,
every article of manufacture made according to
such design, or to which such design is applied,
should have upon it the word "Registered," or
"Provisionally Registered," with the date of re-
gistration.
#
APPENDIX.
389
In case of piracy of a design so registered, the same remedies
are given, and the same penalties imposed (from £5 to £30 for
each offence) as under the Ornamental Designs Act, 1842 (5 & 6
Vic., c. 100), and all the provisions contained in the latter Act
relating to the transfer of ornamental designs, in case of purchase
or devolution of a copyright, are made applicable to those useful
designs registered under these Acts.
In addition to this, a penalty of not more than £5 nor less
than £1 is imposed upon all persons marking, selling, or adver-
tising for sale any article as "Registered," unless the design for
such article has been registered under one of the above-men-
tioned Acts.
ORNAMENTAL.
COPYRIGHT OF DESIGNS
FOR ORNAMENTING ARTICLES OF
MANUFACTURE.

By provisional registration under the Designs Act, 1850 (13
& 14 Vic., c. 104), a copyright of one year (which may be
further extended for six months by order of the Board of Trade)
is given to the author or proprietor of original designs for orna-
menting any article of manufacture or substance. During such
terms the proprietor of the design may sell the right to apply the
same to an article of manufacture, but must not, under the
penalty of nullifying the copyright, sell any article with the de-
sign applied thereto until after complete registration, which must
be effected prior to the expiration of the provisional registration.
By complete registration under the Designs Act, 1842 (5 &
6 Vic., c. 100), a copyright or property is given to the author or
proprietor of any new or original design for ornamenting any
article of manufacture or substance for the various terms speci-
fied in the following classes, which terms may be extended under
special circumstances.
Under the Designs Act, 1858 (21 & 22 Vic., c. 70), a copy-
right is given for articles in class 10, for a term of three years,
ubject to the proviso therein contained.
Provisional registration can be effected for one guinea, and
mplete protection for ten guineas. The fees vary in some
es, but the advice of a Patent Agent is needful in all.
་་
i
390
APPENDIX.
MERCURIUS DOMESTICUS."
The British Museum does not possess a copy of "Mercurius
Domesticus," therefore the antiquity of that journal has been ques-
tioned. It is however perfectly clear that copies of other journals
are there to be found corresponding in nearly every way with the
subject of our illustration; one especially has much matter identical
with "Mercurius Domesticus," and is also published by Benjamin
Harris, who from his associations with many similar projects appears
to have been a considerable speculator in journalism during the
reign of Charles II. Probably "Mercurius Domesticus" was an
experimental issue or an effort specially made to please the court
of that period, but ultimately abandoned in favour of another
journal, which no doubt was publicly distributed in the month and
year described by our illustration.
OCT 30 1919


:
1
i
BOUND
MAR 28 1940
UNIV OF MICH.
LIBRARY.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06387 0862