"Democrat."
—(Times, June 4, 1798.)
"We are sorry to hear that the Rat that wrote the famous letter, was cruelly murdered by the enraged servants. The Rat is now said to have been over-driven, and made mad in Downing St., in order that he might scratch the Knight into the Cat-aphobia. He anxiously expects the cat-astrophe. The Rat's letter has very much exasperated the Worthy Baronet to whom he addressed it."—(Times, June 8, 1798.)
"Colonel Twiss, and other officers of the engineers, have been employed by government to examine a proposition made by a Mr. Dodd, for forming a tunnel under the River Thames, from Gravesend, to Tilbury."—(Times, July 16, 1798.)
"Tower Hill is soon to lose that name, and, in compliment to the Trinity House, it is in future to be called Trinity Square."—(Times, July 16, 1798.)
They knew how to puff—in those days:—
"Advt.—Thirty Thousand Pounds gained for Five shillings, without a Lottery. A Gentleman of the Navy had, for some time, been paying his addresses to a Lady of Fortune, and gained her affections: being suddenly ordered off to the West Indies, the marriage was deferred until his return. On arriving at St. Domingo, he was attacked by the Yellow Fever, which appeared externally in scabby eruptions, arising from living in too free a manner in that destructive climate, which disfigured his face so much, that, on his return to England, the Lady was disgusted, and broke off the match. This turn so affected the Gentleman that a slow nervous fever resulted, which reduced him so low that his recovery was despaired of. Fortunately, an officer of the Guards, his intimate friend, calling on him, told him he thought the perusal of Dr. Brodum's Guide to Old Age would be of service: and, in consequence, purchased a Guide for five shillings, which, with the aid of the Dr.'s Botanical Syrup, completely restored him, and on calling on the Lady after his recovery, she was so well-pleased at his healthy appearance, as to immediately consent to unite herself with him, and make over a fortune of £30,000."—(Times, Nov. 20, 1798.)
"A story is told at Brighton of a certain Baronet having been most cruelly imposed upon by some young Bucks, at that place, who sent him a pretended letter from the wife of a Dentist, requesting a tender interview. The Baronet flew to her lodgings on the wings of love, but the first person he met was her husband. The Baronet, with a ready attention to professional circumstances, said he came to ask advice for the toothache: the operator rejoined, that an extraction was the most certain cure, and the unfortunate Baronet actually submitted to an incision in his jaw, to save the rest of it from being broken."—(Times, Nov. 30, 1798.)
"This being the first day of May, Mrs. Montague will give her annual entertainment of roast beef, and plum-pudding, to the Chimney-sweepers of the Metropolis, in the court yard of her house in Portman Square, in commemoration of discovering her child among them, long after it had been trepanned away."—(Times, May 1, 1799.)
"The donations given by Mrs. Montague, of Portman Square, every May-day, proceed from pure benevolence towards the distressed poor. The story, which has been generally believed, of her having once lost a child, who was trepanned from her house, is wholly unfounded."—(Times, May 2, 1799.)