The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

wins.

.'Text time flu, flu?ly prOposes -to toss for atother
or perchance for a 'cigar; but his companion is not ,?lways
so fortuna'e.

Well, .what does the Flat say, to tossing for haYla.cr own?
The Fiat • is again -unfortwitatC, and produces .the
forfeited coin.

Oh no, it's of no consequence; the .13;,c11y does not care
for money. Say double or quits. -
The Flat doubles, and of course loses. Whin-the sum
has been by this means somewhat increased, he probably
manifests a reluctance to toss 'anymore, upon which the
Bully becomes excessively friendly, and volunteers to take
him to havee-a nights enjoyment.
He is "on the spree ;" he' knows one or two nice girls
just turned out; he is going' up to night—unll the pat
come? • :

The Flat's head is rather confused wiih spirits; ba' he
is undecided.

Oh, come on ! The Bully is determined to have some
fun; he has a ten-polnl note to spare. Who cares? Come!
[This individual's language is of course plentifully seasoned
with expressions best omitted in print].
7he Flat doesn't mind, so the worthy pair exeunt; the
Bully getting stilt more continunicativc, declaring he and
his companion are not old men, enunciating an express
injunction never to say die, and announcing a vocal
deter;ni .ation not- to "go home till morning, till day-light
doeh a plEar." In this hilarious condition they arrive at
tleeßully s donticile, that gentleman "of course pretending to
be a 37 ranger or mere acquaintance of the people of the
house.

" !Veil, yils, kw are yoU? Fird-rafe? That's the
style! Me and my friend, lu 'ies. I say fitissus, where's
the2ndevilish nice girls you told me of? Here's a friend of
mine. woe's- particulary hanxious to •ctiltirate their ac-
quaintance—eh old fello ":" and :the facetious gentleman
slaps his friend on the back, who thereupon tries to look
excessively knowing, and winks.
_ .

Upon the skim; th. of that wink the Bully introduces his
victim to the ladies,- and proposes to los; for a .bottle of
wine; the Flat of coarse loSes, and pays for the Wine, out
of Which —133,r pareutheie —a clear gain of from, five to ten
per bottle is deduced., • The reipetive profits on
these liquors may be estimated as. fo'lOws

Cost prica of Charip?gne, 4s. 61. retailed at 0 153. Od
Clara .. 4 6 --- 015 0 per battle
if mulled 1 0 0
Pint of Conimln Sherry 1 70 (de2anted

With aqua p•tra)_...
Throe Glasses Brandy .. 1 6 ditto

7 0
5 0

Bottle c•f Soda water
Half Glass Brand)!

.. 0 3 ,
0 3 I retailed at 2 r;

The same exorbitant charges are ,resorted to i;z. Nooses of
an inferior class, only on a smaller scale, the tqefling net
being btesPd with so mn-elt capital. For example:—

Cost price of Pint Gla 101. ratalled at 2s. 6d.
---- 1 Quart Ale 4 1 0
P. Got. Porter 3 - 1 0

71ie practice of tossing continued as long as possible,,,
for the purpose of fleecing the victini, and it is .itterly
impossible for the latter to win, as the half-penny, shilling,
or half crown, which the Bully uses, is ma,nifactured in
the folloWing•manner. One side of the c )in —say- .the head
—is scooped out in a c ,neave form, ant fittsel Tz;2, the similar
side of another c in, so that the two appeF is one, when
lying On the table with the hollowed piece Uppermost, dis-
closing the tail impression. If the victim guess ".tail" the
hol'owed coin, is dexterously whipped op and palthei, and
the under
,piece shows a head ;.if he cry out "head," the
upper coin is left ou, appea,ing tail As every bully and
sivindl.r carries one of do se " Shells," " Bonnets." or
" Caps," 'as they are called, the deluddi Flat must infallibly
loose Or OCCUio2ldly win) at his opponents pie 'sure. I
would warn the unitiated ; that the best p, eventive to being
" done," is to insist on the coin being spun on the table, or
shaktn in a hat ; if they suffer .any other method, they
do so at their own risk.

When the Bully has. pretty well cleared the- Flat out,
sometimes with the help of canf'der.zte swindler, —an
adept in practising th )se arts of gambling tending to enrich
his impoverished trea,ury —he consigns his dope to the
care of his finalecoadjutarits, who finish the operation of
demolishing the Flats capital. During the play, of course
the politic company have been unremitting in their atten-
tions towards their visitor; and the wine and bra,idy he

has imbibed, combined with the blandishments of the ladies,
have rendered his perceptions rather vague and chaotic ;
besides he could not refuse to "fork out!' liberally, while.
his companion (whom, he still believes. a stranger to the
women,) has been so very profuse in his
_expenditure. In
this rather muddled statf of mind, he is completely fleeced
of every farthing, and aftervias ds discarded, and left to
his own solution of the problem—whither the evenings'.
amusements will always bear. the mornings' reflection,
If however the Flat should prove obstreperous, and reef icse
either to toss in the first place, or to aecompany the Bully
to his house, the latter has a means of sharping his, dupe
by starting a conversation and introducing certain words,
obSolete in their present use but to be foind in JohaSon's,
Walker's, Or other Dictionaries: for instance, "displosion"
instead of "explosion," " int,rtunate" instead of "un-
fortunate," "hale" for "haul.," and "resolve" for " dis-
solve" Or he may allide to a previous argument on tho
correct orthography of a word; on the noon " ability " fur
example, which he insists on spelling wl'h, an, "h." The
Flat immed'ately contradicts hint, triumphantly asserting
he is in the wrong, but the other' quietly maintains his owe
views; the Flat eagerly closes with a bet, and a dictionary
it produced, where "liability" is duly discovered. Other
words may be similarly employed, as "dier," meaning
"dyer.", and "reindeer" for "reindeer." This practice
is Itot suppositional; it is 'nightly performed on the most
extensive scale. Often the Sharp has confederate oppanents
to draw the others on, upon which occasions, scores of
pounds change hands.
I With 'victims of e tower .class, pully's manner is

rougher-and m're swaggering. As his services are seldom.
required to entrap sailors or workingmen, he generally
leaves that operation to the females, and he himself acts as a
reserve in case the unfortunate fellow should manifest any
objection to being robbed. He then bullies and menaces the
-other, turning him into the street, and sometimes forcibly
taking poisesNion of his clothes; in some instances he
" tveuses" him, or drugs his drink, and afterwards
" weeds" him, ie., purloins part of his money and leaves
the rest, so that when he recovers he is easily persuaded to
having spent it. • - .

Of all kinds and genera of reprobates and ircznips these
bullies are by far"the vilest and most degraded. No wretch,
however despic ible and Meretricious he may become can
exceed or even approach them in their unutterable depravity.

litany of them have actuary married women, in order that
their wives might prostitute their own bodies, to support
them in sin and wickedness. That such a thing should be
snffered, and cvsn c nottenanced in a Christian community—

'thzt such iizen should be tolerated in society, and receiv:d
with open arms, instead of being hoofed out as a lcathsoine.
reptile, •is mlnstrous and incredzb:c. Words cannot be
found by which to designate these abhorred pests, and their
practices. ; how they live with the harridans, who uphold
`their villanous machinations—how they delude innocent
girls to
_th it own purposss—and halo they drag other
- victims to their accursed level—language is impotent to
describe, -and powerless to _canvey. Imagine a chvil invested
with all the attributes of the Author of Evil, wile all his
diabolical qualities, including murder itself, indirectly and
_ _

before Heaven, if not in a legal sense, imag;ne t is devil
possessing a human form, and humau language, and"
Working illimitable woe aMo,g mankind, and you have a
feeble idea of the character of the atrocious Bully. Far be

it froin no to insinuate that these wretches are irrtc
ably beyond :divine redemption—with God al:ne rests the
power; but .viewing the prospect of their anielioratioa
from a human standard, it appears hopekes and without