The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-25 00:00:00

TfiV BUN, LONDON, "WEDNESI)A ■.DECEMB,.,J?

COURT CIRCULAIi

WINDSOR, TOESDAY.—Fier Majesty walked on the
terrace of the Castle to-day, attended by the Mar-
quis and Marchioness of Normanby, Viscoun t :Act-
bourne, Hon. Mss Anson, and the Hon. Mss Paget.
The Earl of P;ngali (Lord in Waiting) has taken
his departure, and Lord Byron has arrived at the
Castle. Sir Robert Otway, and the lion. Charles
Howard, have also left. The Hon. Berkeley, and Miss
Paget, arrived this morning at the Castle, and the Earl
and Countess of Albemarle, and the Hon. Miss Lister,
are expected this evening.
In addition to the visitors who have arrived to-day
the Royal dinner party this evening is expected to in-
elude the Rev. R. A. Musgrave, and Mr. and Mrs.
Harcourt (St. Leonard's), and the Hon. Miss Ca-
vendish.

knew how to thrash him like a goilleman ! This
is a splenetie remark ; but we are not surprised at
it. Great geniuses are fastidious, and not easily
pleased.
Next to Barrington and Dando in adroitness and
the successful application of talent, we incline to
rank that Great Unknown—" The Man with the
Carpet Bag." Perhaps no swindler that ever existed
creates such a sensation among Publicans as this
highly gifted artist. In their eyes he seems a
being endowed with übiquity. One day they hear
of him figuring as a gentleman of fortune, with his
famous carpet bag, at an hotel at the West End;
the next, he is taken up for playing his professional
pranks on a distracted Publican in Cheapside. Oa
Monday, the papers report him in gaol at some
sequestered English country town ; on Tuesday, he
forms the substance of an indignant local paragraph
at Edinburgh. His style of execution, though bril-
liant, is remarkable for its simplicity. A few bricks and
rags, wrapped up in straw, and packed up with singular
dexterity in his bag ; a swaggering air, accompa.
nied with a request to the unsuspecting landlord
that he will sec the said bag carefully deposited in
his chamber, as it contains articles of value—and
the thing is done, and the Publican ton! When
we last read LE: this accomplished Professor of
Kleptocracy—as Leigh Hunt wittily calls the science
—he was at Liverpool. He had ensconced
.himself,
observed aLancashireJournal in a paragraph over-
flowing with bitterness, at one of the best hotels
in that town ; had eaten and drank of the land-
lord's choicest meats and wines ; and had his car-
pet-bag carefully placed, according to his directions,
in the best bed-room ;---i.vhen, lo ! the next morn-
ing he was reported missing ; and, what was worse,
a pair of fine linen sheets, an or-molu clock, two
silver spoons, and a plated cruet-stand, were
missing also The sequel of this strange
affair cannot be read without tears. The
Publican—who is the amiable father of six small
children—no sooner discovered his loss, than he
went mad on the spot ; and now lies in a lunatic
asylum, with his head shaved, a strait-waistcoat on
him, and two determined keepers thrashing him
punctua:ly. twice a-day, by way of keeping him
quiet, and bringing him round to a right way of
thinking
But to quit these digressions, into which we
have been unwittingly seduced by our admiration of
genius. The little work before us treats of the
Art of Swindling in so knowing and profound a
style, that we fuel half inclined to suspect that the
author has duly qualified himself, by long pratice,
to write upon it—that he is, in fact, a sort of
Emeritus Professor of the Science I If so, we
would advise his Publishers to look to it,
or they may peradventure be done--though to do
a Publisher, requires a union of skill, cunning, and
experience, not often vouchsafed to the literary sons
of Adam. But to be serious—if it be possible to
be so on such a theme—this " Hand-book of
Swindling" is written throughout in a grave, caus-
tic style of irony, that at times reminds us
of Swift's " Directions to servants." The author
sets out with asserting that the propensity to swin-
dle is universal, and that men only want tempta-
tion ; and thus cleverly illustrates his theory :
"Jack Smasher was one of the prettiest hands at coin-
ing ; and more, he was blessed with a wife born, I should
say, with a genius for passing bad money. She took a
crown—one of her husband's base-begotten offspring—.,
and purchased with it three-pennyworth of rhubarb
from a quaker chemist, who—undone man !—handed
over four and ninepence change. Aminadab Straight..
back was, even among his brethren, the brightest child
of truth. In due season Aminadab detected the guile-
ful crown, and, in his own clear breast, resolved to
destroy it. However, it remained by the strangest ac-
cident in his till, and by an accident still more extraor-
dinary, was given in part of change for a guinea to a
gentleman a little the worse for liquor, who, on his way
home to bed took the precaution of dropping into
Straightback's for a box of his own patent—anti-bacchic
pills. In the morning, the vinous gentleman disco-
vered the pocket-piece, but as he had changed more than
one guinea, could not with certainty detect the giver
of the counterfeit. No matter it remained loose with
other money in his pocket, and one day, to his own
surprise, he found he had passed it. He had taken a
journey, and it was very dark when, in the handsomest
manner, he fee'd tho'coachman. The poor man who
drove the Tallyho did not realize more than 4001. per
annum, and could not afford to lose five shillings :
lit nee, Smasher's crown became, at a fitting opportunity,
the property of a sand-blind old gentlewoman, who, her
loss discovered, lifted up her hands at the iniquity of the
world, and put aside the brassy wickedness. Time good
old soul never missed a charity sermon. The Reverend
Mr. Sulphurtongue made a sweet discourse in favour
of the conversion of the Jews. and the churchwardens
condescended to hold each a plate. To the great dis-
gust, „of; the,dieredrerera,:. i bad drown was detected
amongst the subscribed half-croWns and shillings. The
beadle was directed to destroy it. He intended to do
so, but, in pure forgetfulness, passed it one day for purl ;
the landlady of the George' having, as she said,
taken it, wus resolved not to lose it,' and by some ac-
cident it was given to a pedlar, who, after a walk of
twenty miles, entered an ale-house, took his supper of
bread and cheese—went to bed—rose, and proffered for
his account Jack Smasher's pocket-piece. The pedlar
was immediately given into the hands of a constable,
taken before a magistrate, and ordered to be impri-
soned and whipped as a passer of counterfeit money."
The author is strongly opposed to the practice
of swindling in mustachios, and advises all artists to
victimize with clean lips. He also recommends them
to cultivate suavity of manner, adding that tradesmen,
in general, like to be diddled in a gentlemanlike
style. It flatters their self-love, and half reconciles
them to their loss. On the important subject of
doing tailors, he is express and particular. He
advocates their being swindled on all occasions, and
in the most remorseless manner, for—having them-
selves an innate genius for the art--they will be
sure to indemnify themselves by overcharging their
richest customers. This is a sound truth, and reads
like a Baconian axiom. As regards names, the
author is of opinion that the swindler, who wishes
to be honourably distinguished in his profession,
should choose—not a high-flown, aristocratic pa-
tronymic, but a chaste, rational English alias, which
will be sure to take with the sober class of trades-
men, when they would suspect a customer with the
lofty name of Altamont or Fitz-Fortesque. But
enough of this. Suffice to say, that the work be-
fore us is one of the most amusing little prose squibs
we have read for some time. No swindler's library
can be considered complete without it':