The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-20 00:00:00

TO THI 'DITCH& OP m IMPRESS.

SlR,—The fortune-teller, of the poor are a motley,
and often a vagrant, body, men end women, sly and supple,
while the victims they pray upon are principally poor
women (but not this very poor), who are so 'ignorant as
they ere sanguine, and who will part with the means of
procuring a dinner, or some necessary article of attire, to
learn about the mysterious wealth and the approaching good
forune which will be theirs—" one of those days." Among
these credulous creatures are a good store of servant maids;
needlewomen who live barely, to spare a sixpence or •
shilling to the fortune-teller—(fourpenny and threepenny
" bits " not being rejected but pronounced " unlucky ;") and
a great number of street-walkers, both slatternly and well
dressed, who hiving been ruined in the past, are impover-
ished at the present, and think and hope only about the fu-
ture. Silly women, even with tolerable means of sub-
sistence, cannot rest without prying into " what the future
hes is store for them," and after having been a hundred
times defrauded auf deceived, come with renewed faith to
the hundred and Lint time of deceit. Spinsters wish to
know if their destiny be a rich husband and • handsome
family, and the wives of labouring men or small shop-
keepers what may be their lot—when widows.

One quiet mannered woman, now above 30, well and
even highly connected, but not well educated, the daughter
of a lieutenant who died in her infancy, has paid ls.
every week, at lent, to have her fortune told, and has
paid it for years. Her earnings are those of a shirt maker,
one of the first class, and her fortune to all who knew her
was told long before, for she was the mother of an ille-
gitimate child, the father being a coarse low fellow ; who
worked "very hard," he said, for his living, and who
loft his paramour, with her child, to her own resources.
_

Every Monday inorolag—for the fortune-teller told no
fortunes on a Sunday—the money was forthcoming from
Kiss —, to hear a lying old story, with variations ; or if,
from slackness of work, or sickness, it was not forthcoming,
• shawl or a gown was pawned, and the fortune-teller's fee
called forth another week's vain hopes or expectations.
Among snob people as eh..., smtrnlngry is rather hoots.),
as being "too far off to tell anything," while the astrologer
ridiculer t►e notion that the lines of the palm of the head
can indicate the past or the future. Fortunes are told for
small sums, by means of playing-earls (sometimes so dirty
as to be hardly,distinguishable); by the look and com-
plexion ; by the veins on the wrist, and the lines on the
palm (one being the "line of life") ; by the moles or marks
on the body, or the face or limbs; and chiefly by the guesses
and flattering prophecies of the fortune-teller. A fortune
will be told to a servant girl, at her master's door, in a mi-
nute or two, merely from the colour of her hair and eyes,
and a look at her palm, especially if she be, or thinks
herself to be, pretty. A natural defect is an advantage to a
low fortune-teller, for those who have faith in such knin-

vish foretelling believe that deformity, or deafness, or
dumbness, is atoned for by the 'filleted having the gift and
privilege to know alike the put end future of the owner of
• sixpence. I witnessed, by chance, the truth of this. I
was making inquiries of two respectable and elderly
women on the subject of their business, when a fortune-
teller arrived with a note from • friend, a few allies dis-
tant, who spoke highly of his skill and trustiness, while
he was deaf and dumb, and she had known him long.
This seemed to be really the cue. The family was called
in, and five shillings was paid by five persons to the man
for his answers to the Questions to be put to him. He had
no tongue, as he soon displayed to the company. He drank
some gin, but only a little, and, in swallowing it threw up
his bead like a chicken, making a low, gurgling noise.
He was well dressed, and, when he sat quiet, was not •
vulgar-looking man. lie carried with him a slate and pen.
cil, sad the inquirer wrote a question on the elate, to which
the f, rtune-teller wrote, in a sprawling 'band, a not very
ill-spelt answer. To the inquiries of the mistress of the
house he wrote the following information, sometimes volun-
teering a remark, rapidly scrawled.
" You have had two husbands ; the ;second is living, but
living with aaother women ; ho is not a good man. Yon
have a son, J. L. (he always used initials to indicate any
person), and he is married, and has a child. He is about
clocks, and watches, and rings, and jewellery. He
has had ill health, but will live long, for he has baffled two
doctors. You once thought he wouldn't live a month ; he
had blisters on his chest. You'll leave this house through
• shop. You have money you're entitled to on a lady'.
death in Dublin, but you won't get it. That is (seeing his
(varlet look blank), you'll not get it yet. You'll do very
well ; you'll have a good spring and a good summer this
your. Your second husband never liked your sister, and
your son never liked him. I never saw your son or your
husband ; I never saw any one in this room before. I Gan
tell all that has happened or will happen, fur I've been
Misted from my birth."
The fortune-teller then answered some questions put by
the sister (a widow) of the first inquirer, and his answers
she said were quite correct. To a sister-in-law, who had
ferried a second time, he also returned proper answers,
"Your first husband lost his reason,' he said;
"M died mad, in a strait-waistcoat. I never knew
bra; no more than I know the Queen, that I never
saw. Yee, if she'd been sitting here, I should have known
wilts she was. Nut from seeing ber picture. hut because I
leaf power. Your husband lost his reason from a dream.
Tee lost a child, it was scalded to death." The women
new looked very much frightened at all this man knew,
sad he answered the husband of his lest questioner, that
be had been a soldier, and had marched with the Duke to
Paris, but his regiment came too late for Waterloo. To a
sisighbour who was present he answered a question which
Minified her so that she would auk no more. The man then
went his way with his easily d 5.., and the neigh-
bour said that she was too religious to believe that this man
bog his power from God, for she went to church twice every
Biteday, and her husband had an office under government ;
bat the fortune-teller had his knowledge from the devil.
Twenty-one years ago she met withauch another man, but
he Would only admit one person at a time into his room,
and be, she was certain, had dealings with the devil.
It may be mentioned that all these people were respeet-
able in their way. They were aware, too, for he wrote
it on his slats, that the man had been in prison as an
impostor in preteadingg to toll fortunes; and yet every on.
expressed belief in his more than natural powers, 'tor
he could know nothing about them, and all he said was
true." The mention of leaving the house " through a shop "
was explained, as the landlord was about to convert the
house into a new workshop, hie own premises running up
to the back. It appeared- to me that the fortune-telling
man was not deaf, even if dumb ; but that is only conjec-
ture. He was in the habit of taking refreshment at an inn
where the landlady had consulted him as to the best way of
=rid of her husband, for he made bar unhappy, and
landlady came the note. The inn Is very probably
a place of gossip, and there this "dumb genius" of
tame picked up the information he detailed ; besides that I
the women spoke freely to each other all the time, relying
es the fortune-teller's deadness. An elderly woman,
manly dressed sad with a strong squint, so that no one
been which way was looking is a purchaser of old
dikes and * forinne-teller, from the marks on
the fan sad pfrosa. A maid servant who had
Awed some . with her mistress's unction—for her
Miff wee wig s--inquired of this woman, who
gad ell Wiese, if a jour eyman sawyer who was keep-
illeggla essEy, wanted to marry her, because ale had
rasa" e uthings-baek book, or if he loved her for
Issollf 1 " witch," as the servant called her, received
a dialft, sad closely examined a mole on the left side of
the rer's forehead, covered by the hair and cap, and •
kris*lnele on her right shoulder. The fortuneteller said
it was a remarkable ease. and she would consult her books
sold think over it, sad dream on it, and all next day, when
is would require another shilling. She called accordingly,
Mg said if Blisabeth had been a man she would be luoky
A buildings, and make • deal of money from the mole on
her forehead, backed by that on her shoulder, for every
age bad its fate. On Sunday week she was to walk in
liple.park, no matter for what quarter, or for what time
easy, for she (the witch) had worked " • charm" from her
Item. A builder would speak to her, and he would be
dot mon she would marry, and when they had • li ea
together a week, all her building luck would be
shared by him. " Aye, my dear,' she said, " you
may depend on all I say. The son of a woman who
lives in the same house as I do, was a sailor, and had made
a voyage. He had moles on **eh side of his windpipe, and
I told his mother not to let him go a second time, for it
would be sudden death. He would go, and was drowned."
This shallow trap secured the silly girl's two shillings.
Cards, it is • maxim among soak fortune-tellers, when
dealt in a particular way by them, cannot err. " It's non-
sense," said an elderly woman with a bloated countenance,
whom a young man consulted, writing down at length all
she bad said, which I °oedema, "it's all nonsense calling
cards the devil's books, for the Queen plays them ; and
when I was young I lived with • very rich parson, who war
a great card-player, and • very good charitable man. He
used to tell fortunes with cards in • joking way like, when
I'd put the wine on the table ; but I learned a few things
by watching him. There (dealing the cards), all that's rub-
bish, except the nines and deuces. It's the court cards that
tells the fortune. Here you go with a one and a two, and
this is the luckiest pack of cards in London. I wouldn't
have them cleaned on any account. From what I've seen
of them, it would spoil them, and I wouldn't take five
pounds for the pack; I can depend so upon it. I have
a system of my own, you may depend, and I'll keep it to
myself. Now, that's you (the king of hearts), you're a fair
man, you know, and so is he. What next ? The nine of
diamonds. That's queer now ; that's the Pepe, and is
called the curse of Scotland ; it's all on the cards, popes
and all. And here's the Jack of spades. 0, dear, but we are
getting into mischief. Will you send for a qusrtern, eir ?
and that may brighten the cards and the luck ; not as I
care about it myself." The gin was procured and drunk,
and the rest of the deal, or whatever it may be called,called
proofs of coming good luck to the young man in some un-
exPit'.ned way, which was the woman's secret. She offered
also to interpret his dreams, for all dreams, in her own
words' were " omiums "
. The foregoing incidents, which might be greatly multi-
! idapllliesueipl,ardsel:oiftow how
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Legs in estrologinal end other fortune-telling, but I did not
Lear Of my a! the cement Inquiry. Dr. Parent Duchatelet
Pomp outi Ily the evils of fortune telling in Paris, and
more particularly on his priecipal subject, and he recom-
mends that in schools, children should be instructed that
fortune-telling is a thing based on folly end rottenness. Per-
haps °fall the poorer, or poor classes, in Lmilsn, the Irish
Catholics are the only one whom the exhortations of their
priests keep from this idle wastefulness. Some fortunes are
told for drink is the top-rooms and beer-shops, but the
landlords diseoursge it.
One great evil among the low women fortune-tellers is
their connection with thieves and ho,sebreakers, and their
kitchen to
tefrom hese
the
being often thieves themselves. If one of these women
dm coax the female servants to admit her into
the
their fortune
perhapsteld ,she
will
of
long practice, to detail to her " pals" the state of the
i
house and the possibility of entering it burglarionsly. Such
a woman will carry off any portable thing she can secure,
and the ratsdo not like to accuse one they have ad-
mitted "without leave," and perhaps some innocent person
is blamed. These fortune-telling women, when they have
an opportunity, recomme• d" • charm"—a word which is
very attractive to their dupes. The charm, usually con-
sisting of money, is tied up, by the fortune-teller of course,
in a bankerchief, or even sewn into a hem of the victim's
petticoat ; it is left in her possession with a strict charge
not to leek upon it until a certain hour, or the charm will
be broken and the fortune spoiled ; the shillings are found
to be farthing.. Police report* show instances of this,
but for one culprit brought before a magistrate fifty
at least escape. The servants are afraid to tell all
they know, and the master or mistress will not take the
trouble to prosecute, it is disagreeable and a sacrifice of
time; or it may be difficult to insure conviction from the
reluctant evidence of the servants, who are sent " about
their business" without a character, and perhaps are lost
for life. Many of the servants. in London, heavy, fate
checked, and ignorant young women, are from the
country, and are preferred is having no to*n con-
nexions," and so being the more likely to be honest, but
they are more easily imposed upon than the London-bred
girls. Some of the fortune-telling thieves are gipsies, but
they are less numerous than they were, the atmosphere of
fairs and races suiting them better.
The domestic servants are the most numerous of all the
callings in the metropolis; and the excitement caused by the
fraudulent fortune-tellers amongthe maid servants fora know-
ledge of lovers who are to become husbands is not easily sib-
deed, and so householders are robbed and the domestics
themselves impoverished or corrupted. Of the number of
such fortune-tellenthereis no sure criterion : but there

are prubattly kola 300 to 400 of them.
A VOICE FROM THE STREETS.