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

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

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

“The following calculation proves that 2l. per week can be made by selling baked potatoes:—

“1 cwt., containing 224 potatoes, sold in two
evenings, at 1d. each		 £0 18 8
Deduct cost 0 4 0
£0 14 8
3
Six evenings’ sale £2 4 0
Pay baker at the rate of 8d. per evening for
baking potatoes		 0 4 0
Net profit per week £2 0 0”

One more specimen of these baits for gudgeon, and we have done. We frequently see appeals to the benevolent for the loans of small sums. Some of these are doubtless written by innocent persons in distress, who confide in the good side of human nature; and we have been given to understand that in many cases this blind confidence has not been misplaced; for there are many Samaritans who read the papers nowadays, and feel a romantic pleasure in answering such appeals: at the same time, we are afraid that the great majority of them are gross deceptions. The veritable whine of “the poor broken-down tradesman” who makes a habit of visiting our quiet streets and appealing, in a very solemn voice, to “my brethren” for the loan of a small trifle, whilst he anxiously scans the windows for the halfpence, is observable, for instance, in the following cool appeal:—

To the benevolent.—A Young Tradesman has, from a series of misfortunes, been reduced to the painful necessity of asking for a trifling SUM to enable him to raise 10l. to save himself from inevitable ruin and poverty; or if any gentleman would lend the above it would be faithfully repaid. Satisfactory references as to the genuineness of this case.—Direct to A.Z., Mr. Rigby’s, Post-Office, Mile-end Road.

The receipt of conscience-money is constantly acknowledged in advertisements by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, and the sums which in this manner find their way into the Exchequer are by no means inconsiderable. It is honourable to human nature, amid all the roguery we have exposed, to find that now and then some conscience is touched by a very small matter, and that great trouble and no little expense is often gone to in order that others may not suffer through the inadvertency or carelessness of the advertiser. The following is a delicate example:—

To hackney-coachmen.—About the month of March last, a gentleman from the country took a coach from Finsbury Square, and accidentally broke the glass of one of its windows. Being unwell at the time, the circumstance was forgotten when he quitted the coach, and it would now be a great relief to his mind to be put in a situation to pay the coachman for it. Should this meet the eye of the person who drove the coach, and he will make application to A. B., at Walker’s Hotel, Dean Street, Soho, any morning during the next week, before eleven o’clock, proper attention will be paid to it.—Times, 1842.

The more curious advertisements which from time to time appear in the public journals, but particularly in the Times, do not admit of classification; and they are so numerous, moreover, that if we were to comment upon one tithe of those that have appeared within the last six years, we should far exceed the limits of this article. We make no apology, therefore, for stringing together the following very odd lot:—