The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-03 00:00:00

A Matrimonial Hoax at Birkenhead.

Notwithstanding the number of knaves or simpletons who
have from time to time been exposed and punished for ad-
vertising for wives in the newspapers, there are still some
who appear not to profit by the misfortunes which have be-
fallen their class. A case of this sort transpired this week,
in which the principal actor was a young Frenchman who
has not been long in this country. A few days ago there
appeared in one of the local papers an advertisement under
the head of "Matrimony," in which it was stated that "a
gentleman desired to make the acquaintance of a young
lady to whom he would make himself both useful and
agreeable." This advertisement, no doubt, was read
by many of the fair sex, but whether any of them replied
to " the gentleman" who wouia make himself " useful
and agreeable" has not transpired. advertisement
met the eyes of a number of gentlemen who frequent a
certain " public" at Birkenhead, and being desireue °f a
little fun in this dull winter weather they resolved to cor-
respond with the advertiser. A female friend was con-
sulted, and she agreed to write the letters under the signa-
ture of ." Edith," An answer was soon obtained, and it
then turned out that the " gentleman" was a
Frenchman, Ile immediately proposed an inter-
view, and named Thursday afternoon last at four
o'clock for the happy meeting. " I shall wear
(said the writer) a dark blue coat, buttoned, and a
black and violet silk scarf ;" and he concluded by saying,
"I hope the weather will bo favourable for us—at all events
I shall be there, counting the minutes till that blessed mo-
ment. Believe me, with kindest regards, yours sincerely,
ERNEST."

The place fixed for the meeting was not far from the prin-
cipal entrance to the Birkenhead Park. True to his appoint-
ment, .the "gentleman" made his appearance at 4 o'clock.
He was a little personage and well dressed, partaking some-
what of the " dandy." The rain came down heavily at the
time,but notwithstanding this drawback he walked jauntily
about in his coat of " dark blue." After he was tolerably wet,
"Edith" (or rather the conspirators) sent him a note,stating
that owing to the unfavourable weather she could not
meet him at the place fixed upon, but inviting him into the
"public" already referred to. The bait took. The little
gentleman appeared not to have the slightest suspicion that
he was about to fall into the hands of the Philistines.
Smiling and smirking he accompanied the messenger
into the " public," where he was ushered into a
parlour and told that "Edith" would be with
him in a minute. Instead, however, of being introduced
to a young lady, fifteen or sixteen gentlemen rushed
in the room and began to congratulate him upon the happi-
ness that was in store for him. The Frenchman,tinstead of
exhibiting any despondency on account of his love-dream
having so suddenly vanished, treated the affair in quite a
philosophical manner, and joined in with the vociferous
laughter which was raised at his expense. " Edith" and her
friends had prepared to give the advertising " gentleman" a
demonstration that he would not readily have forgotten, but
finding that he was a foreigner, and not accustomed to the
usages of English society, they agreed to let him go un-
molested provided he stood " gam." To this proposition the
Frenchman did not object. He paid for two bowls of punch,
joined the company in drinking it, and favoured his new
friends with one or two French songs. He also "stood"
•any number of cigars, and after spending the greater part of
his money he took his departure in a cab for Woodside
Ferry, a hearty cheer being raised by "Edith" and her
friends when he left the "public." The Frenchman, before
leaving, stated that he lived in Islington, in this town,—
Liverpool Mercury.

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