A History of Advertising from the Earliest Times.

by Henry Sampson

Offer of Marriage.

COUNT SARSFIELD, Lord Lucan, descendant of the royal branches of Lorraine and Capet, and other sovereigns of Europe, wishes to contract an alliance with a lady capable from her rank and talents of supporting the dignity and titles, which an alliance so honourable would confer on her. Address, Poste Restante à Paris.

The name of Sarsfield is highly distinguished in the military annals of Ireland: during the eventful period subsequent to the expulsion of James II. from England, Sarsfield was General-in-Chief of the Irish troops, and was one of those who took advantage of the capitulation of Limerick to transfer himself and family to another country. But for all his great name and historical associations, this Sarsfield was but a poor adventurer; for he did not succeed in getting any rich parvenue to nibble at his bait, as is evidenced by this, which seven years afterwards appeared in a London newspaper:—

COUNT SARSFIELD LUCAN, lineal descendant of the royal line of Lorraine and Capet, and other sovereigns of Europe, desires to join in an alliance of marriage with a lady whose qualities and abilities will enable her to support the rank and titles she will obtain by this honourable alliance. Address to Count Sarsfield Lucan, Poste Restante à Paris.

In a handbill circulated about the year 1820, a “new matrimonial plan” is ventilated. The advertiser states that he possesses “an establishment where persons of all classes who are anxious to sweeten life by repairing to the altar of Hymen, have an opportunity of meeting with proper partners. . . . Their personal attendance is not absolutely necessary, a statement of facts is all that is required at first.” The method propounded was for all anxious to secure husbands or wives to become subscribers to the institution, the amount of subscription to be regulated according to the class in which they place themselves, the classes being described thus in the plan:—

Ladies.
1st Class.	I am twenty years of age, heiress to an estate in the countyof Essex of the value of 30,000l., well educated, and ofdomestic habits; of an agreeable, lively disposition, andgenteel figure. Religion that of my future husband.
2nd Class.	I am thirty years of age, a widow, in the grocery line inLondon—have children; of middle stature, full made, faircomplexion and hair, temper agreeable, worth 3,000l.
3rd Class.	I am tall and thin, a little lame in the hip, of a lively disposition,conversible, twenty years of age, live with myfather, who, if I marry with his consent, will give me1,000l.
4th Class.	I am twenty years of age; mild disposition and manners;allowed to be personable.
5th Class.	I am sixty years of age; income limited; active, and ratheragreeable.
Gentlemen.
1st Class.	A young gentleman with dark eyes and hair; stout made;well educated; have an estate of 500l. per annum in thecounty of Kent; besides 10,000l. in three per cent. consolidatedannuities; am of an affable disposition, and veryaffectionate.
2nd Class.	I am forty years of age, tall and slender, fair complexionand hair, well tempered and of sober habits, have a situationin the Excise, of 300l. per annum, and a small estate inWales of the annual value of 150l.
3rd Class.	A tradesman in the city of Bristol, in a ready-money business,turning 150l. per week at a profit of 10 per cent.,pretty well tempered, lively, and fond of home.
4th Class.	I am fifty-eight years of age; a widower, without encumbrance;retired from business upon a small income; healthyconstitution; and of domestic habits.
5th Class.	I am twenty-five years of age; a mechanic of sober habits;industrious, and of respectable connections.

It is presumed that the public will not find any difficulty in describing themselves; if they should, they will have the assistance of the managers, who will be in attendance at the office, No. 5, Great St. Helens, Bishopsgate Street, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, between the hours of eleven and three o’clock.—Please to inquire for Mr Jameson, up one pair of stairs. All letters to be post paid.

The subscribers are to be furnished with a list of descriptions, and when one occurs likely to suit, the parties may correspond; and if mutually approved, the interview may be afterwards arranged.

About 1840, some adventurers anxious to emulate the success achieved by matrimonial agencies in Paris and other towns on the Continent, set up an office in the neighbourhood of Cavendish Square, and issued a prospectus, which stated that it was written by a clergyman of the Church of England, who was also a graduate of the University of Oxford—a kind of double guarantee as to purity of morals and excellence of style—and which, after setting forth the advantages of such an establishment properly conducted, and the success which had attended on similar ventures in other countries where people were less prejudiced, went on thus:—

It is conducted by a gentleman and his wife, both persons of the highest character, respectability, and connexions. They have separate houses at some distance from each other, at which the husband gives interviews to gentlemen and his wife to ladies. The negotiations are conducted in conformity with printed rules, from which not the slightest deviation will be allowed, and everything is managed in a manner which cannot offend the most fastidious delicacy, or deter the most easily excited diffidence. It is quite impossible that ladies or gentlemen applying to the establishment can see each other, until a meeting be finally and satisfactorily arranged, and all effects of idle curiosity are effectually checked. The rules are to be published for ten shillings—the price is set upon them for no other reason than as some guard against the thoughtless, the idle or the ill disposed—at Mr Proudfoot’s, 63, Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, and they entitle the purchaser to a speedy interview.